WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 35: Smile and Fortune Follows

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The concrete floor drank the blood of the fallen, while endless darkness swallowed those burdened with their own stories. In the Abyss, cursed even by the merciful Earth Mother, foolish children could not restrain themselves and committed yet another sin. The knight who had wanted to leave even a single line of his name in history ultimately met his end alongside the four young people who had followed him.

Yet time flowed like a great river, carrying everything away and flattening uneven lives into the level ground of everyday life. Yesterday's deaths sank away, unknown to anyone and leaving no impression behind.

The same old routine returned to me.

"Woof!"

Mm. It felt like it had been a while since I'd heard that alarm. I rolled over and reached out. Azzy rubbed her nose against my hand and arm, barking insistently. When I still wouldn't get up, she even gave me a little bite.

"Woof! Woof!"

"All right, all right. I'm getting up."

I stretched lazily, gave my alarm a pet as a reward, washed my face with today's ration of water, then washed my hair with the water from the next room. I felt refreshed. If only there were warm morning sunlight and a cool breeze, I could ask for nothing more.

I inserted the instructor-uniform packet into my bio terminal. A snug instructor's uniform covered me without restricting my movements. After changing in an instant, I stuffed a few things into my pockets and headed out. Azzy pressed close to my side.

"Let's have breakfast, then go for a walk."

"Woof!"

"This morning, we have something fresh and clean, newly distributed yesterday..."

"Woof woof!"

"...canned bean stew. Sounds good, right?"

"Woof, woof!"

Thank goodness. Maybe because dogs had terrible memories, she didn't mind eating the same thing as yesterday. From now on, I should feed Azzy nothing but beans.

Now that we'd had a hearty breakfast, it was time for the next task.

I stepped into the courtyard. Azzy followed behind me with sparkling eyes, probably wondering if we were going to play ball.

Not today, you little mutt. You should know how to be satisfied after playing that much yesterday. Are you incapable of satisfaction, or have you already forgotten? Can't your memory improve only at times like this?

I pushed Azzy aside as she kept darting ahead of me and giving me expectant looks.

"Don't get in the way. An incredibly difficult task is waiting for me today."

"Woof?"

"I have to wake an elder who sleeps late and has awful sleeping habits."

With a solemn expression, I headed for the underground armory where the vampire was staying. Even in the darkness, sinister energy seemed to ripple visibly through the air. After swallowing nervously, I approached the armory's iron door, pounded on it, and shouted.

"Tyrkanzyaka-trainee! Wake up! The sun is already high in the sky!"

"Woof?"

Azzy looked up at the sky in confusion. There wasn't even a speck of sunlight inside the Abyss. She tilted her head.

So what? It was definitely high in the sky outside. If you want to argue, go bring the sun here.

I kept pounding on the armory door with my hands and feet.

"Wake up! How long are you planning to sleep? Even if the Resistance attacks from above, snore. Even if this land is on the verge of collapse, snore. Does dying once make you exempt? Does death end your labor? End your taxes? If you can move your body, you should at least think about contributing to society..."

"What's all this racket so early in the morning?"

As I hammered away, the underground armory door slowly opened.

"What an ill-mannered fellow. If you have come as a guest, should you not wait while the host prepares herself?"

"What preparation could you possibly need while sitting in a coff..."

I was about to say more, but I shut my mouth at the sight of the vampire through the opening. I had expected her voice to echo from inside the coffin, yet she looked different from usual.

"Oh, you're already awake."

The floating incense-cedar coffin was unchanged, as tiresomely familiar as ever. Yet the vampire sat atop it. With her legs gathered demurely together, her hair pinned up with an antique hairpin, and a parasol resting lightly against her shoulder, she had the elegant air of a princess from an ancient dynasty.

The pitch-black parasol, made from gathered darkness, must have weighed nothing. It swayed like a willow leaf from her slender fingers.

She wore flowing old-fashioned clothes. Her sleeves were so broad that glimpses of pale skin showed through them. It was the sort of outfit that conveyed affluence through its extravagant use of fabric. The military state would have a fit if it saw it, but people really had dressed that way in the past.

When the vampire took one step forward, the massive steel doors swung wide as if welcoming her. Bright-red seals engraved upon them glowed. With unbearable slowness, or perhaps with the grace of someone willing to spend all the time in the world, the vampire stepped out of the underground armory.

The iron doors slammed shut behind her. Riding atop the coffin, the vampire muttered.

"It has been unbearably noisy lately. I could not sleep at all. There are only three of you, yet somehow you make more noise than when there were over a hundred. You squeal louder than pigs being slaughtered. How is one meant to live like this?"

"Wow. You would've slept longer if I hadn't woken you? Even after sleeping that much, it wasn't enough? After sleeping for several hundred years, I'd think even sleep itself would've grown sick of you and run away by now."

"...Enough. It was my mistake to argue with you."

The vampire shot me a glare, then guided her coffin onward.

"Why did you come out of the coffin?"

"If I have decided to wake up, I should dress myself properly. Is that not basic?"

The vampire answered in a strangely sharp tone, then suddenly turned and glared at me.

"Or is there something you dislike about how I am dressed?"

'Go on. Call me ridiculous again, like yesterday.'

What was this sudden hostility?

Ah. Surely not.

Was she upset because I had called her ridiculous yesterday?

Hmm. Should I read her mind? It was morning, so I didn't feel like using mind-reading, but I had no choice. After clenching and unclenching my fists a few times, I focused on reading the vampire's thoughts.

'Anyone with manners should take care of their appearance before showing themselves. He wets his hair every day and puts on a uniform, yet he singles me out for criticism...! Last time, I was drawn into that brat's unfair nonsense and could not refute him, but today will be different. I shall teach this insolent brat a lesson!'

Wow. She had held onto every word I said yesterday for an entire day. She was old, so why was she so petty inside? With that kind of memory, dementia would never come for her.

I didn't know why she had grown so resentful, but the feelings she had packed away for a day had fermented into something entirely different. Clashing with her now would be a real disaster. I needed to ease her temper a little.

I answered as mildly and sincerely as I could.

"No? Why would I dislike how you're dressed? My eyes are the only ones benefiting."

"You. Dressing neatly has been basic etiquette in every age and every land... What?"

"I'm human too. Seeing a beautiful person dressed up is much nicer than seeing a wooden coffin float around. The colorful hairpin and clothes go well with your pale complexion. It's like painting white paper with color and adding embellishments. Perhaps the stories that vampires possess the power to captivate people did not come from nowhere."

"What?"

"People will be jealous. You're an immortal vampire, living forever, so even time cannot fade your beauty. Maybe staying inside your coffin is something you do for the world. That way, women won't be consumed by envy, and men won't grow arrogant."

"Uh, um..."

She was a vampire who had fumed all day yesterday while preparing herself. Coming out of the coffin meant she intended to begin acting in earnest from now on. Dressing up and pinning up her hair was a declaration of that resolve.

Anything prepared over a long time and filled with so much emotion needed an appropriate reward. Otherwise, all of that would turn into resentment and come crashing down on me.

At my praise, honed through scamming people in back alleys, the vampire tilted her parasol slightly.

"Hmph. You certainly know how to flatter someone."

"I'm flattering you, yes, but I'm not lying. As you can tell from my usual words and actions, I'm someone who puts sincerity into every word. I can't say things I don't mean."

"Yesterday, you called me ridiculous..."

"I called you ridiculous because it was an urgent situation. I never said you weren't beautiful. You may not know this, but false reports are considered the greatest crime in the military state. Saying Tyrkanzyaka-trainee isn't beautiful would clearly be a false report."

Good. The vampire finally fell silent. Without even turning her head, she covered her face with the parasol and moved far ahead, but when I read her thoughts, she was quite happy. Her impression of me had improved a little too.

Phew. I had made it through that crisis.

Now then. Time to fetch the regressor.

The regressor lived on the first floor of the prison.

If you asked why the great regressor was still living in that narrow, stifling prison when there were no instructors or other prisoners left, I'd tell you to lower your gaze and take a look.

The regressor had cut through every wall of her own cell, including the walls of ten neighboring rooms. The thick concrete walls, reinforced with steel plates to prevent prisoner escapes, had been sliced into neat rectangular blocks like modular furniture and piled carefully to one side of the prison. The regressor used the expanded cell as both a training ground and a residence.

You could practically call the entire first floor the regressor's home, and she seemed to think so too. The instant we stepped onto the first floor, sharp wariness turned toward us.

"Oh? Tyrkanzyaka? Azzy? And..."

After checking who had come, the regressor relaxed. It was unfair that she still frowned slightly when she saw me. What had I done?

"Why are you here?"

"I have something important to say today. Come with me."

"I'm busy. I have things to do."

"Ah, hell. You really can't play along. You must've been a loner outside."

"...What did you just say?"

The regressor, who had been about to go back into her room, stuck her head out again, hostility practically pouring from her. Having recalled the regressor with one sentence, I innocently said,

"I said there's an important announcement, so attend my seminar and listen, Shei-trainee."

"This is important, so listen carefully. I don't. Have. Time for that."

'I finally got a feel for bloodcraft yesterday, so I spent all night swinging my sword. What a nuisance.'

Your efforts were admirable, but that was none of my concern. I raised my chin and casually dropped something the regressor would want to hear.

"I was going to tell you about Tantalus's structure. Don't you need that either?"

"Tantalus's... structure?"

Just as expected, the regressor was intrigued by new knowledge she did not have. She rested her chin on her hand and considered it.

'I know what happens in Tantalus, but I still don't know much about its structure or secrets. If I learn Tantalus's structure, could I learn why she comes here too?'

The regressor had repeated thirteen regressions, uncovering countless pieces of knowledge and secrets. What would happen in the future, what lurked in this world. At this very moment, few people knew more than the regressor.

Even I, who could read minds, didn't know everything because of the nature of regression.

Still, this was the first cycle in which the regressor had come to Tantalus before it collapsed. So I expected she wouldn't know Tantalus's structure, which I had learned through the Resistance's attack. That expectation proved correct.

The regressor looked hesitant, but I could tell her heart had already tipped toward accepting. I turned around and said,

"Well, if even the Margrave doesn't interest you, then never mind. I'll be going."

"Wait."

She took the bait.

Gamma, no, Wicrol, thank you. You might be dead, but I'll put your knowledge to good use. Even after people die, they leave their knowledge behind.

"Wait while I get ready."

As the regressor entered the inner area separated by cloth, Azzy, who had been sniffing around out of curiosity, suddenly trotted over to me and dropped what she had been carrying in her mouth.

It was a round, transparent bead made from a magic-infused crystal, strange light swirling within it.

"Woof! Woof!"

"What is this? You want to play fetch? Even so, what are you thinking, bringing someone else's belongings without permission?"

It looked expensive at a glance. I carefully picked up the bead and examined it from every angle. What kind of bead was this? It seemed to hold quite a bit of magical power inside. Was it valuable? Or dangerous?

"Ah, that. It's a bomb."

Both, apparently. I hurriedly threw the bead far away.

"Aaaaaah!"

The bead flew down the prison corridor. In that brief moment, I ran to a nearby corner and hid behind the wall. Damn it, how could she leave a bomb where a dog could grab it? Explosives needed to be properly managed...

Wait. A dog?

With a dreadful thought, I cautiously peeked around the wall. Just then, Azzy ran over and caught the falling bead in her mouth with perfect form.

Ah, if she bites that...

Before I could close my mouth, Azzy and I made eye contact.

"Woof! Woof!"

"N-no! Don't go! Don't bite it! Don't come here!"

Terrified, I kicked off the ground to run away. Yet by the time I awkwardly tried to rise, Azzy had already reached me.

With bright eyes, Azzy placed the bead at my feet. Before I could react, the bomb she had dropped hit the floor. I collapsed and threw both hands out wildly, as if I believed I could stop an explosion with my hands and feet.

The bomb fell onto the corridor with a soft thump...

Then I heard the regressor laughing.

"Pfft, hehehe. Idiot!"

'Was he really scared just now? That is Lava Tear. It is a bomb that will never explode unless high-purity magical power is infused into it in a specific pattern!'

The bead rolled to my feet without changing at all and lightly bumped against me. I blankly picked it up, then looked back and forth between the regressor and the bead. Seeing my stunned expression, the regressor couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.

"Puhahaha! No matter what, why would I leave something dangerous lying around anywhere?"

"...You said it was a bomb."

"It is a bomb. But it'll never explode unless I intend to make it explode."

"If it's a bomb, it's dangerous! What are you talking about? Has living in the Abyss made your common sense fall into the Abyss too? Put it away right now!"

"Pfft. All right, all right."

The regressor giggled as she picked up the bead. Azzy looked at her expectantly, but the regressor only tucked it into her subspace pocket. Azzy glared at the regressor with the expression of someone whose toy had been taken away.

"Tch."

I clicked my tongue and got up. It left me feeling unsettled, as though I had just experienced the limits of mind-reading.

I couldn't read knowledge from the regressor's previous cycles until she recalled it herself. That meant when something involving the regressor happened, I'd react late and struggle to predict what was coming. It was the first trial to come to someone like me, who had taken immense pride in mind-reading alone.

No, it wasn't even a trial. Honestly, regression was outside the rules. Mind-reading was doing a fine job against an opponent like that. The world was unfair, not mind-reading inadequate.

Anyway, everyone was gathered now. Should we go? At this point, adding anything after damaging my image would be foolish. I silently headed for the fourth-floor management office, using only mind-reading to keep track of what was happening behind me.

On the way, the vampire curled her hand near her mouth and smiled faintly.

"That was not bad entertainment. I got to see that fellow making such a fuss. Still, even if he is frivolous, seeing him run away so disgracefully was a little disappointing. What is so frightening about a mere bomb?"

"Really? I think he roughly noticed how powerful it was. When that bomb explodes, it devastates everything within a three-kilometer radius."

"Th-that much? Was it not merely used for fireworks?"

"It would be useless without that kind of destructive power. Pfft. Anyway, thanks to it, I saw something entertaining. I want to save it in my heart."

The vampire quietly watched the regressor, who had become strangely cheerful, then said,

"This is the first time I have seen you smile."

"Huh? People smile sometimes."

"That was nice to see. Why not smile once in a while?"

"Once in a while? I..."

The regressor suddenly fell silent and touched the corner of her mouth. Her face showed the shock of someone who had just remembered something forgotten long ago.

'...I smiled?'

She had always tried to grow stronger. She had struggled to gain even one more piece of knowledge. This world still held countless sleeping powers and secrets, and every minute and second of the regressor's life was a struggle to seize them.

Even after entering the Abyss, where she could not go anywhere, she had not neglected swinging her sword and gaining power.

To her, laughter was such an unfamiliar emotional luxury.

'How long has it been, no, how many cycles since I last smiled?'

Feeling the unfamiliarity of something like an ill-fitting breeze passing by, and longing for emotions she had felt in the distant past, the regressor repeatedly brushed the corner of her mouth.

As we walked in silence for a while, the vampire, who had been sitting comfortably atop her self-moving coffin, shifted around as if something bothered her. Each time she did, silver hair fluttering beneath her hairpin glittered in the light, and her loose clothes swayed.

The regressor, deeply lost in thought, gave no response at all. Finally becoming impatient, the vampire decided to show off. Playing with her hair, she spoke.

"Ahem. Shei. Do you not notice anything different?"

"Ah, right. Tyrkanzyaka, I realized something about bloodcraft while fighting yesterday, and I need your advice. Once that guy finishes talking, take a look at it for me."

"...Very well. I shall. It is good news that you have made progress."

Feeling disappointed, the vampire let her shoulders slump and looked back and forth between the regressor and me as if comparing us.

Seriously. She was being so ridiculous that I was embarrassed for her. Next time, maybe I should just not compliment her.

Footnotes:

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