WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 312: You Worked Hard, Now Rest

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Even if they said they'd treat us like generals, I couldn't rest easy at the inner-circle command headquarters, where actual generals were everywhere. If I truly relaxed while acting as though I were on par with real generals, I might get shot. In a serious situation, you had to know when to keep your head down.

Especially when we were the ones who had caused that situation.

So we slipped out of the inner-circle command headquarters and headed to a hotel nearby. It was a special lodging facility for outsiders who had business at headquarters without being soldiers.

Master Sergeant Elpasa, the facility's highest-ranking administrative supply officer, snapped off an enormous salute toward Historia.

"Y-y-y, it is an honor! Major General Historia and four others, confirmed! Orders have been issued to provide general-grade treatment to all of you! Accordingly, Master Sergeant Elpasa of the military state administrative supply corps will attend to you!"

'Wooooow! It's really one of the Six Generals! It's really Major General Historia! I thought I'd never get to see her face since outsiders don't stay at this hotel! Dreams really do come true someday!'

Master Sergeant Elpasa looked like a worshipper welcoming a god. Tyr leaned close and whispered into my ear.

"It seems that human has not heard that the female general betrayed the military state for a man."

"Well, the military state wouldn't explain the circumstances to someone this far down the chain."

"Did they not say they received a transmission?"

"There are different kinds of military state transmissions. Facilities at Level 2 or below like this only have communications golems for emergencies, and most orders are delivered through transmitters."

"Transmitters?"

"Yes. See that over there?"

Where I pointed stood a huge golem statue covered in intricate magic circles. A noncommissioned officer sat beside it at a desk, so overwhelmed by the sight of Historia that they couldn't even rise from their seat.

"That giant statue is a transmitter. It's a facility that greatly enhances only part of a communications golem's functions. It relays a communications officer's orders, amplifies them, and sends them to other transmitters. Voices can be transmitted through it without a communications officer directly connecting to it."

Right then, the golem's mouth moved. The noncommissioned officer, who had been craning their neck to see Historia, hurriedly picked up a pen and began writing down the transmitted order word for word.

Seeing that, Tyr groaned as though something had come to mind.

"Mm."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I simply feel displeased, so do not mind it."

"You made me curious and now you're telling me not to mind it. Stop testing the waters and just say it. I can answer most things."

I'd already read her mind, so it would be strange not to answer.

Tyr frowned.

"...It reminds me of the temple's white wall."

"Do you mean the Rakion Great White Wall?"

At the Sanctum's main headquarters stood a wall so vast it could be compared to a fortress wall.

The Rakion Great White Wall.

A pure, noble wall said to convey divine will, white as freshly fallen snow.

Tyr grimaced as though merely hearing about it repulsed her.

"If possible, could you include something unpleasant before that name when you say it in front of me?"

"Ah, sorry. You mean that painfully white wall, so blinding it looks like it could drive someone insane just by looking at it?"

There was a reason the Rakion Great White Wall was maintained without a single flaw.

Paper had to be white. Otherwise, black writing wouldn't show clearly.

If someone wrote on the Great White Wall with ink, those words would simultaneously appear on the white wall of every temple in the world.

Its shape and material didn't matter. If the place was a temple and one side of a wall was white, the words written on the Great White Wall would appear there exactly as they were. No matter how distant or remote the place was, they appeared equally everywhere.

It was divine power based on the legend that the First Holy Maiden had written in the sky long ago. It was also why rulers had felt reluctant to destroy temples despite countless periods of chaos.

It hadn't protected anyone from vampires, though.

"Good. In any case, that's what I meant. The arrangement, with a scribe waiting in front of it, looks just like the White Wall."

"Well, I suppose it does."

The military state was a country where the Holy Maiden who had seen everything in the world had gathered every "good thing" in the world and stuck them together.

Tyr interpreted my words a little differently and nodded.

"True. If there are things with similar uses, they would be used similarly."

Historia finished the check-in procedures during our conversation. Master Sergeant Elpasa handed over several keys and clothing packets, then saluted with tears in their eyes.

"U-understood. We will give you the entire annex. We will avoid disturbing you as much as possible, so please rest comfortably. If you need a meal, we will prepare one immediately."

"...Good work."

"No, ma'am! It is an honor to serve a hero such as yourself!"

Looking a little tired, Historia picked up the luggage and gestured to us. We left the main building and headed for the annex.

The annex had already been prepared so cleanly that we could lie down at once. The military state certainly acted like the military state.

"Hm. I don't see any hidden golems. Good. It's safe here."

The regressor swept her green eyes over the building and nodded.

"Now, as for our future schedule..."

"What schedule?"

You sure lead a busy life. What schedule?

I strode into the innermost room, stuck half my body inside, and waved to everyone.

"We worked hard, so let's rest first. Good night, everyone."

"Sleep? It's daytime."

"Day? Night? Don't get hung up on such trivial things. You sleep when you're tired. Don't make yourself fit the world, make the world fit your body. Become the king of yourself!"

"What is this..."

"Mm, mm. Those are truly correct words. Why should one's body be ruled by something as insignificant as the sun?"

The regressor looked dumbfounded, but Tyr happened to nod in agreement beside her, leaving her speechless for a moment.

"Wait! Do we have time to sleep? There are still things we haven't decided..."

Heh heh, regressor. Rest wasn't something you did according to a schedule. You just followed what your body told you to do.

Ah, I was reaching my limit. My ordinary body had held out for quite a while.

As the regressor's voice seemed to grow distant, I collapsed face-first at the entrance and fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, the world was pitch-black.

Was it too dark to see because it was nighttime? No, this was the military state. It was a mad country where night and darkness were no excuse to stop working. Mana lamps were always lit on the streets, so unless the curtains were tightly wrapped shut, enough light should leak in to reveal the outlines of objects.

Yet I couldn't even see my own hand.

Could this be the afterlife...? Let's keep stupid remarks like that as jokes. This harsh world would never make a space for some dead beast.

Then what was this darkness covering me?

It wasn't difficult to deduce. This texture, which obscured even my own hand. Darkness like black ash...

It was the darkness of Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka.

Then getting out of it was simple. I shot upright and shouted.

"The answer is, Tyr covered me in darkness!"

Well, I already knew from the thoughts I could hear beside me.

Once I got up, I could see a bright sky outside the window. The weather was clear, yet the room remained dim. The reason was right beside me.

When I turned my head, Tyr was sitting atop a coffin, gazing quietly at me. She gave me a gentle smile and lightly tilted her parasol.

"Hyu. You're awake."

"Judging by how bright it is outside, I guess I didn't sleep very long."

"Of course not. You only slept for one day."

"Ah, yes. Only one day... Wait, a whole day?"

From a vampire's perspective, even a day seemed to count as only a short while. Hm. Had fatigue really built up that badly? My body had felt strangely stiff.

I clasped my hands together and stretched them over my head...

"Aaaaaagh! My arms! My muscles!"

"W-what is wrong, Hyu?"

I hadn't noticed because my muscles had stiffened while I slept, but the moment I moved, agonizing soreness swept through my entire body.

I was the King of Humanity, but I'd lost my strength because of certain events. This body was extremely ordinary. Yet yesterday, I had walked around all day on drugs and mind-reading, climbed up and down ladders, ran between gears, and even fought.

My overworked body was staging a spectacular strike against my brain.

I groaned and shouted.

"Q-quick, drugs! If there are no drugs, then get me a doctor!"

"Have you not put those in the wrong order? Fine, I shall get a doctor..."

'Wait a moment. Though it was over a thousand years ago, I did work as a physician... In a sense.'

"Hm, Hyu. I have a technique that loosens congealed blood."

"Sorry, but if you're planning to put blood inside my body and do something with it, I'll refuse. Please don't do that unless I'm about to die."

"How cold..."

Of course I felt repulsed. She said she was going to directly knead my blood vessels. No matter how recklessly I lived, I wouldn't extend my life by putting someone else's blood into my veins.

Maybe if that became common sense for everyone, but that was impossible.

How much would the world have to turn upside down for that to happen?

"Urgh. Is there no one who can treat these aches...? I should ask Shei for some mana herbs."

As it happened, the regressor was sitting in a corner with her back against the wall, nodding off. I forced up my stiff body and approached her.

"Excuse me, Shei. Are you dozing off in broad daylight? Stop sleeping and give me some medicine that works well on my body..."

Just before my hand touched the regressor's body.

An invisible blade flew toward my neck.

A sharp gust brushed against my throat, then scattered. The chilling sensation froze me where I stood. If I moved even a little farther, my neck would be cut by exactly that much.

...Wait. What was this? I hadn't read anything at all.

No, more importantly!

She was still asleep!

I knew the regressor could move faster than expected with the Heaven-Reversing Boundary. But back then, she had been conscious of using qigong.

Right now, she was completely asleep.

"...Yawn. What? Why?"

She reacted even while asleep? What had she carved into her body?

I lifted my chin slightly and spoke.

"Could you put this away first?"

"Huh? Ah. Mm."

The regressor yawned lazily and recalled Skywarbler. After another small yawn, she said bluntly,

"Don't touch me carelessly when I'm asleep next time. I'm relatively safe right now, so it only stopped at your neck. But if I'm seriously injured or mentally exhausted, I might cut your neck without realizing it."

"Who would've thought I'd be attacked for waking someone who was sleeping deeply in broad daylight? Isn't that a bit much for waking up cranky?"

"Hmph. Listen to yourself. You slept all day yesterday too."

"I'd earned my rest. I took down Maximilien with Ria."

"I could take down someone like Maximilien too! Over something so trivial!"

'Exactly. You were lucky to take him down. Before I had Jizan, I could barely defeat Maximilien only when I caught him separated from that steel-whatever bug. Even with the Gun-Sword Total Intent, the Gunslinger would still have had a hard time.'

Her inner thoughts were secretly kind. Why not try doing the opposite?

"Anyway, don't you have any medicine? Preferably a drug that makes me forget the pain."

"I told you, I don't do drugs. Once you take that stuff, you'll want to keep relying on it."

"Why? Is relying on something bad?"

"It feels unpleasant to be bound by something."

Her only reason for avoiding drugs was that dependence felt unpleasant. Truly like a regressor.

She was strange. Her thoughts were not particularly deep, and she didn't agonize over complicated questions of existence. Even saving the world was closer to an instinct for survival than a sense of duty.

Mana herbs were the same. It was natural to dislike controlling her body with outside substances.

Maybe she was the most human person here.

"True. You did say you were a child who had not yet tasted enough of the world's bitterness."

"Don't be ridiculous! I've experienced several times more than you have!"

'About thirteen times more!'

"And for my qigong, the Heaven-Reversing Boundary, I always have to keep my senses sharp! If I used drugs, it would weaken that much!"

It was best not to use them at all, really. I was an unusual case with almost no side effects because of mind-reading...

Though I still became stupid if there was no one around with normal thoughts.

"Owww. Do I just have to endure this pain...?"

"You mustn't, Father!"

The door flew open, and Historia and "Historia" appeared.

Footnotes:

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