WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 316: The Secret of Birth

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'Of course. Would someone with such extraordinary abilities suddenly call Hyu Father for no reason? She must be a child of the previous King of Humanity.'

This misunderstanding was heading somewhere I had never expected!

Until now, I had been content to read her thoughts and watch because it was amusing to see her dig herself deeper. But this was no good. It was about to reach the point where I could no longer clear up the misunderstanding. I had to straighten things out before it became any more tangled...

'That strange ability to change into another human. There are differences, but isn't that power similar to Hyu's? When Hyu restored my heart, at that moment... Hyu became me. His appearance did not change like that child's, but I clearly felt it.'

After reading Tyr's thoughts, I paused at a sudden inspiration.

...Hm. Wait a moment.

I could read people's thoughts. Yet I could not predict what they would do. Human thoughts clashed and pushed against one another, creating bizarre possibilities no one could expect.

That was why I could not become a prophet. I could only watch the possibilities they created as an observer.

The possibility Tyr had found was worth watching.

Fine. I would let her misunderstand for now.

"Now, now. Enough of this pointless argument about age. What does it matter whether someone's young or old? Mr. Shei here is still wet behind the ears, yet he goes around speaking casually to everyone with no regard for age or manners."

"What did you call me, bastard?"

"See? Honestly, being called Father is better than being called this bastard or that bastard. At least it has some respect in it."

"That's right! I call him Father out of respect and reverence!"

The regressor looked sick of it.

"We've barely known each other. Respect and reverence... Whatever. If you two want to play like that, it isn't my business."

"If you want in, just say the word, Mr. Shei. I wouldn't mind having two children."

"I'll make a special exception and call you Big Brother Shei!"

"Shut up! Don't drag me into your little game!"

As we teased the regressor, Tyr's thoughts came through.

'If Shei is the son and Hilde is the daughter... Hehe. There is only one place left.'

Tyr cleared her throat, then joined in to scold the regressor.

"Shei. Do not put up such walls. We shall be seeing one another often for quite some time, so should you not get along?"

"I'd rather never see you again than get along like that!"

"...Is that so? What a shame."

"I don't regret it at all!"

Then, with a jolt, the Cataphract came to an abrupt stop. Azzy, who had been sitting on its roof, barked in surprise.

"Woof!"

We could not see much of the outside from within the Cataphract, so I called toward the driver's seat.

"DG?"

There was no answer. The golem gripping the steering wheel, no, some structure that only roughly resembled a golem, merely continued driving without reacting.

Patiently, I called the communications officer again.

"Captain DG."

I tapped it as I spoke, and only then did it react. A crackling voice echoed from the rough speaker.

[Crackle, bzzz... This is military state communications officer Captain DG... Did you call... ?]

"Why did we stop?"

[Checking. Bzzz... This unit is currently stationary. We are waiting for a movable bridge to cross the Meta Conveyor Belt...]

"Ah. Then we must have finally left the Inner Circle."

The Meta Conveyor Belt, a river of flowing land, ran in a circuit around the military state. Like a river, it offered tremendous benefits when one moved with its flow, but traveling against it or crossing it was quite troublesome. Vehicles especially were almost certain to overturn if they tried to cross it directly.

The special-purpose golem driving the Cataphract spoke in a dying voice.

[That is correct... We arrived two minutes ahead of schedule, so, excuse me, but we had no choice but to stop... Please wait a moment...]

"All right. Shall we take a look outside?"

As I tried to open the Cataphract's hatch, I felt something heavy on top of it. Azzy was sitting on the hatch. I knocked on it twice.

"Azzy! Move over!"

"Woof woof?"

The weight disappeared. I threw open the hatch, poked my head out, and looked outside.

The Meta Conveyor Belt flowed before me, set against a vast expanse of land.

The sight of earth rippling as it flowed was as magnificent as ever. Huge containers drifted along the muddy-brown current like flotsam. No matter how sturdy the Cataphract was, it did not look as though it would survive being struck by a container flying past at full speed. Well, if we got on top of it, we would not be hit unless we deliberately crashed into one.

I sat on the edge and blankly watched the view when a black parasol suddenly rose through the passage. I moved aside, and Tyr emerged beneath the parasol before sitting beside me to watch the flowing river.

"Hm. Certainly, it seems difficult to cross with this sluggish carriage. Shall I carry it across?"

She wanted to pick up and move the Cataphract, which weighed several tons. Was that how it worked when someone possessed strength beyond common sense? No plans or devices were needed.

Then again, if there were plans and devices, no strength beyond common sense was needed either. I pointed ahead.

"I don't think that will be necessary. The bridge is arriving over there."

"The bridge is arriving...? Are you saying the bridge moves?"

Seeing was better than hearing. I watched five containers approaching side by side in the distance, with steel plates laid over them. Tyr also looked closely in the direction I pointed, curiosity clear in her eyes.

Until they drew near, the containers were nothing more than box-shaped flotsam. Once they approached us, though, they changed.

Several golems suddenly sprang out. Right afterward, the containers transformed. Clank, clank. Their sides opened and separated, becoming an arched metal bridge. The ends of the containers left the Meta Conveyor Belt and anchored themselves to the stationary land.

Rumble.

Like an iron bird spreading its wings, the bridge rose across the Meta Conveyor Belt in an instant.

A golem standing at the bridge's edge snapped into a salute.

[Captain Pidget of the Metaconveyor Belt detail, reporting! Bridge installation complete!]

[Bzzz... This is military state communications officer Captain DG. Bridge installation confirmed! Yahoo! Departing immediately! Everyone, hold on tight!]

Rumble.

The Cataphract began moving again. Its dozens-of-tons body moved nimbly onto the bridge. The bridge supported the Cataphract with durability that was hard to believe for a hastily assembled bridge.

[Mission complete! DG, the rest is yours!]

[Acknowledged! Here we gooooo!]

Rumble.

The Cataphract sped across the bridge at nearly full speed. It raced roughly over the flowing earth below us. The steel plates rattled and shook.

Tyr looked at the bridge that had appeared in an instant with great curiosity.

"Ho. It is intricate. When you said movable bridge, I thought of a pontoon bridge. To think you would make a bridge in this manner. Did those dolls accomplish this?"

"That's right!"

Hilde, who had climbed up at some point, flopped down on my left and grumbled.

"This is such outrageous preferential treatment. So many communications officers supporting one person this much. Even I've never enjoyed such luxury! If I'd known, I would've recruited a communications officer too!"

"Then why go through the trouble of setting up a bridge? Would it not be convenient to build a sturdy bridge in advance?"

"Hehe, take a guess!"

"Ho."

Tyr seemed fairly interested in this exchange. She straightened her posture and accepted Hilde's quiz.

"There must be some problem with building a bridge in advance. Did you leave no bridge in order to prevent someone from crossing as they pleased?"

"Half right. The Meta Conveyor Belt may flow like a river, but land is still land. If one person truly wishes to cross it, they can!"

"Hm. Is it because something large might pass beneath and strike the bridge?"

"That is also half right. Most containers are standardized, so they will not strike the bridge. Even now, containers are passing beneath the bridge, aren't they?"

"How fussy. If there are two half-right answers, should they not make one whole answer together?"

"It is a quiz. I cannot accept secondary benefits as the answer unless you give the most important reason!"

"Umm..."

Tyr's groan grew longer. Since nothing resembling the answer had come to mind, she did not seem likely to solve it soon.

Unlike ordinary people, Tyr was the kind of person who could easily spend around ten days pondering a single question. She might even stay awake trying to find the answer.

If that happened, I would have to read Tyr's thoughts as she pondered all day long. For my own mental health, that would be troublesome.

"Would you like a hint?"

Tyr answered my offer gladly.

"Yes. I shall gladly accept your kindness. Not because I could not answer, but because I cannot refuse your kindness."

"The Meta Conveyor Belt is land that flows like a river. But people get confused by the word land. In reality, the Meta Conveyor Belt serves the role of a river. Travel, transportation..."

"Yes. I can see that myself. But were we not discussing why there are no bridges?"

"Tyr. Imagine it. If the Meta Conveyor Belt is a river, it flows in a great circle around the military state. What does that resemble?"

Tyr did not ponder for long. It was an answer she already knew well.

"...A moat?"

She spoke with a trace of distaste.

"Correct. What is a moat for?"

"To prevent us from approaching the castle."

By us, she surely meant vampires. I understood perfectly why she had put it that way.

Flowing water was one of vampires' most persistent weaknesses. Vampires could remain unharmed after being cut by blades or shot by guns, but the boundary between their insides and outsides was so faint that they sometimes mistook river water for their own bloodstream. They said it felt like their bodies were melting and scattering apart, and for vampires whose control over blood had weakened, it did not always end as a feeling.

That was why vampires instinctively avoided flowing water.

"Of course, it is not built solely for vampires. Moats trouble ordinary humans too."

"So it is to keep enemies from entering?"

"Yes. Enemies can build bridges too, but then, as you said earlier, we can dump huge containers on them and bring them down with a crash!"

"That is why you called it half right!"

Tyr openly admired the answer. She had been greatly enjoying the quiz that relieved her boredom, but Hilde, who had posed it, looked dissatisfied.

"That is so unfair! I was the one who made the quiz. How can Father give away all the answers? That is cheating!"

"That is why the person who shows off their knowledge first wins. You should have stopped having fun and explained it sooner."

"A lesson for life... I will remember that."

While Hilde muttered sulkily, Tyr suddenly seemed to remember something and asked a question.

"The moat was made to block us vampires."

"I do not think that is necessarily true. Is that not a bit of a victim complex?"

"Whatever the case, a moat is useful only when there is an enemy. Then what is the military state's enemy? What enemy must they guard against so vigilantly that they need flowing land and prevent bridges from being built?"

Ah, that. There was no need to say it.

Tyr had been asleep for a long time, so it was understandable that she did not know... If war broke out, it could only be against that country.

"That would be..."

Just as I opened my mouth,

[Emergency! I have checked the communication that just came in! Communications officer Captain DG warns all Cataphract passengers!]

The golem's urgent voice rang out from within the Cataphract.

[An enemy force has been sighted! Prepare for an attack!]

"Tch. They will not even give me time to explain. How dull."

Behind my muttering, the communications officer's urgent voice continued.

[It is the Lesser States' mobile unit, the Jackals!]

Footnotes:

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