WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 334: Perru's Moving Castle

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When morning came, the horrors of the previous day lay bare.

The wide plain was covered in the remnants of battle. Bloodstains, heaps of ash, and even grotesquely gouged craters. The land, carved with every imaginable scar, looked not just hideous but pitiful.

Even so, the jackals cheerfully rummaged through the corpses.

Mounts, weapons, tools, everything on the bodies was valuable property. The jackals who had fled returned in droves to claim the spoils left behind by the Dragonhawk Corps and the others.

The jackals filled their bellies amid a festival of corpses. The only reason fresh bodies were not piling up was probably because the camp leader kept strict order.

"Hey! Bury the corpses you loot properly!"

One scavenger, who had been about to take the valuables and leave the body behind, clicked their tongue.

"Tch. What a pain. They're dead anyway."

"I'm not telling you to respect the dead. At least show some respect for the person funding you!"

"Fine. Digging a hole to bury a benefactor is cheap enough."

While the scavenger grumbled and buried the corpse, the camp leader let out a deep sigh and approached us.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I wanted to deal with the bodies before Perru left. If their bodies remain, the fleeing Dragonhawk Corps might return to retrieve them."

Naturally, it was not out of camaraderie. The Dragonhawk Corps' bodies contained far too many resources they needed. With their mobility, they could launch a raid, take only the wings and engines, then flee. That was likely what the camp leader feared.

Still...

I glanced at Hilde. Noticing my gaze, Hilde gave a carefree smile.

"Hehe. What is it, Father?"

"It's nothing."

Was it really? Hilde had killed more than half of the Dragonhawk Corps by stealing the faces of their comrades, flying through the sky, and assassinating them one by one from above. The Dragonhawk Corps had scattered and fled not because they were a disorganized mob, but because they could no longer tell friend from foe.

That's terrifying. It gives me chills.

The regressor asked the camp leader, "Where is the Verdigris Lord?"

"At the camp. Perru is unsealing the juggernaut."

"Still?"

"It should be finished by now. Follow me."

The camp leader left the rest to their subordinates and headed for the camp.

Most of the jackals were outside enjoying their windfall, so the camp was pleasantly uncrowded. It was so full of life that it was hard to believe hundreds had died on this ground.

It was not that strange. The Lesser States were a land of wanderers. It was exceedingly rare for jackals who had parted ways to ever meet again. To them, death meant the same thing as separation.

As the camp leader walked between those gathering valuables, they spoke.

"Since it is already known, I will say it plainly. Perru is the Verdigris Lord. She simply travels alone and has not built a faction of her own."

"So she's a loner. She did seem like one."

"...That isn't wrong. Her ability makes it difficult for her to accumulate wealth."

Having voiced an uncomfortable truth, the camp leader added as if in explanation.

"Still, looking at it another way, it is difficult to find a Lord safer than Perru. Look at Heatblast Lord Rowkett. They and their subordinates go around blowing money away. No matter how much they spend, it is never enough, so they are always hunting others. Perru, by comparison, has little interest in money."

"Because anything she gathers will eventually disappear because of her ability?"

"...I have not entered Perru's mind, so I cannot say. In any case, she is a gentle person who avoids fighting."

The camp leader shot me a subtle glare, then turned to look elsewhere.

"She may not receive a warm welcome, but you have no reason to be hostile to her. Please look after her."

"Yes, Father. Don't worry. We'll handle things on our end."

"...Excuse me, is this person always so loud?"

Unable to bear it any longer, the camp leader complained to the regressor. The regressor then asked me, "What are you dissatisfied with?"

"They keep beating around the bush. I tried provoking them into saying what they really meant instead of pretending to be polite."

"That's what he says."

"...Forget it. I should not have said anything."

The camp leader shook their head and continued walking. We gradually made our way deeper into the camp.

"We're here. That is it."

Perru stood before a furnace billowing thick white smoke. There was something lonely about the sight of her throwing broken pieces of metal into it. The camp leader called out to her.

"Perru. They have arrived."

Perru turned at the sound of the camp leader's voice. After confirming we were there, she looked back at the furnace.

"...Wait. There's still some left."

"Understood. I have work to do, so I will take my leave. Stay safe."

"...Thank you."

The camp leader gave a small bow and withdrew.

Silence followed. Perru kept throwing metal into the furnace without a word until the regressor asked impatiently, "What's left that you keep putting in there?"

"...Dragonhawk."

"Dragonhawk? The animal?"

"...No. Rowkett's weapon."

There was only one weapon that could mean: the Dragonhawk, his juggernaut.

The moment she realized it, the regressor asked in shock, "A juggernaut? There's a juggernaut inside that furnace?"

"...Yes."

"I heard only the Lord of Gold could refine one. What are you?"

"...It's not refinement. I can only break things down."

Perru shook her head and placed the last remaining piece into the furnace. Having swallowed so much prey, the furnace trembled as though it might explode at any moment.

"...Heatblast tried to self-destruct with the juggernaut. If that had happened, a valuable juggernaut would have been lost. That's why I stopped him. I didn't intend to save you."

"Hmph. Do you think I'd die just because something like that exploded?"

"...That's not important."

Perru shook her head and turned the lever attached to the furnace. Its lid closed at an angle, and a rough ship's horn sounded through the gap. Perru's low voice came between its blasts.

"...When war breaks out and wreckage piles up, the Lesser States grow rich. But many will die. The jackals and the military state's soldiers too."

"Hmm? I don't think the military state would lose to the Lesser States, though~."

"...That isn't important either."

Neither the regressor nor Hilde seemed to understand what Perru meant.

Their values were different, so they were talking past each other. The regressor and Hilde were discussing the outcome of a battle, but Perru did not care about that. To an alchemist like her, which side someone was on was not important.

"What matters to you isn't victory or defeat, but the total value, right? You dislike the losses caused by battles and wars."

"...Yes."

"That's an alchemist's way of thinking. Though I didn't expect the value of an entire nation to be on one side of the scale."

"...It's not my scale. It's the Lord of Gold's."

Finally, Perru activated her Innate Arcane.

I recoiled in alarm, but thankfully, her Innate Arcane did not touch me this time. Perru's power, which broke down matter, affected only the inside of the furnace.

With Perru's power added to it, the furnace began to heat up in the truest sense.

Most furnaces ran on mana. Before alchemy appeared, people had supposedly built enormous fires to melt metal, but that method had faded away with the development of alchemy and white magic. They either refined metal directly with mana or, when that proved difficult, created flames with mana to process it.

Yet the juggernaut bestowed by the Lord of Gold heated the furnace with Perru's Innate Arcane. An Innate Arcane was the act of laying one's own rules over the world. Because its rules were unique, it was usually incompatible with everything else...

But the Lord of Gold's juggernaut was a mystery beyond even an Innate Arcane.

Power and heat escaped from the steel broken down by Perru's Innate Arcane. They were trapped within the Lord of Gold's metal and compressed still further. Then, the instant they crossed a certain threshold, they flowed through complex machinery and spread throughout the juggernaut.

The furnace began to move with a heavy clunk.

A stern rose from beneath the piled earth. Massive tracks climbed through the cascading dirt and sand. Swimming through a sea of soil and sand, the juggernaut hidden beneath it revealed itself.

The furnace was only one part of this juggernaut. Including the portions buried underground, it was several times larger. With its streamlined tracks, the juggernaut looked like a massive ship using the furnace as its horn.

The juggernaut landed heavily on the ground. An unlucky fence in front of it snapped apart with a crash, but no one had time to care. Before a vehicle so enormous that even its wheels were over three meters tall, a fence was not even a pebble in the road.

"...That's why I hope you won't fight."

Perru walked up onto it. At the stairs leading inside, she turned back to us.

"...Get on. I'll guide you."

There was no reason to refuse. We nodded and silently climbed onto the juggernaut...

Then Hilde suddenly asked, as though remembering something.

"Wait. What about 'our' Cataphract?"

"This looks much better, so let's leave it behind."

"What are you talking about?! The military state's Cataphract is the most advanced, outstanding all-terrain vehicle there is! It's more economical and quieter than a needlessly huge juggernaut, and even ordinary soldiers can use it. It is the very essence of the military state's technology!"

"Sorry, Hilde. But now that I've ridden a juggernaut... That little vehicle just won't satisfy me anymore."

"This is why you can't trust men! You all think bigger and grander is always better! You shouldn't abandon your first wife!"

"There was Azzy's dog sled before the Cataphract. If we're counting, that was our first vehicle."

"Woof! Never again! It was exhausting!"

Azzy shook her head as though sick of the idea. She probably did not mean that pulling the sled itself was tiring, but that it was difficult to keep me safe while I was hanging from the back. It looked like riding the dog sled would be difficult from now on.

At that moment, Perru, who had been listening, pointed at the deck.

"...Bring it. There's space to load it."

"I don't like that suggestion! It sounds like you're boasting that the juggernaut is so amazing, it can carry 'my' Cataphract with room to spare!"

"It was probably a sincere offer until you said that yourself."

"That makes me hate it even more! I'd rather you bragged!"

Why was Hilde being so fussy? Did Hilde hate being compared to the Lesser States? Sigh. It was obvious Hilde loved the military state more than anyone.

Oh, wait.

"Hold on, Hilde. Where did we park the Cataphract?"

"Outside the fence, of course... Huh?"

Hilde looked down. Beneath the crushed fence was a familiar sight.

And so was the familiar piece of machinery that had been smashed apart and flung away.

The military state takes another loss.

Footnotes:

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