WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 350: Mid-Point Check

──────

We fled with our tails between our legs and hid in a corner of the cornfield. The field was vast, and the Lord of Gold was not good at searching. Thanks to that, we had time to catch our breath.

That did not mean we could relax. The atmosphere around the cornfield had clearly changed.

Heavy footsteps passed overhead. The search party had come this far. I held my breath until the footsteps faded, then spoke.

"Ugh. There seem to be a lot of people wandering around outside."

"They won't be homunculi. They can't roam beyond the Golden Palace. They're probably the Suppression Lord's soldiers."

"If we attack them, the homunculi will come looking for us anyway. Same difference."

Fortunately, they did not find so much as our shadows. We were hiding underground.

Once we had put enough distance between ourselves and our pursuers, the regressor used Jizan to dig underground as though she were used to it. Normally, the excavated soil would have been a problem, but her Jizan had the remarkable power to compact it deeper beneath the ground. It left us with a comfortable hiding place that hardly felt like a hole in the ground.

Animals harassed by threats in the wild instinctively preferred dark, narrow spaces. Darkness hid them from predators' eyes, while narrow spaces protected them from outside attacks.

Humans, the lords of all creation, were no different. I lay in a corner and enjoyed the comfort.

"Ah. This is nice."

"You think so too? I do as well. To be honest, I've been a little dissatisfied lately because you all keep trying to go outside during the day."

"No, if we're going out, it has to be during the day. We can't live here for a thousand years."

...Though I still could not match a vampire in that regard.

"Besides, look at Perru. She's coughing. Maybe the air in here is bad."

"...Cough. It's because of you..."

Perru spoke in a dying voice, her face twisted in pain.

What an exaggeration. I keep saying this, but I was ordinary. No matter how hard I hit, a punch without qi was still within ordinary limits. Perru could take that much.

If we got technical, it was the price of saving her life. I would take a hundred punches for the price of a life.

"Well, let me ask again. Are you willing to cooperate with us?"

"...Cough, cough. If you mean cooperation, I've already done enough."

"Hmm. You're too stubborn for words. Shei, a knife."

I naturally held out my hand toward the regressor.

"Did you leave something with me? Why are you acting so entitled?"

Grumbling, the regressor took a smooth dagger from subspace and handed it to me. It was not some priceless treasure, but it had been made from the fang of a rare beast. It was difficult to buy even with money, so if I bargained well, I could probably buy a house in a large city with it.

...She handed something like this over without hesitation. How rich was she? I should hide it instead of giving it back.

Ahem. Anyway. I crouched like a thug and aimed the dagger at Perru. I had no intention of stabbing her, but a sharp blade was threatening enough on its own. She could not keep resisting forever.

"Looks like your life means nothing to you. Even when I'm threatening you with a knife, you won't cooperate..."

The moment I pretended to stab her, the tip turned black and crumbled like dust. In an instant, the dagger made from a beast's fang vanished, leaving only its leather handle.

"Huh?"

My money had turned into a pile of dust? Verdigris's power could crumble even a beast's teeth? What kind of... How had someone with an ability like this been born in the Lesser States?

Worried something else might crumble, I tossed away the leather handle and hurried back. Then the regressor, who had been watching us, issued a sharp warning.

"Verdigris Lord. Don't use your power carelessly. You could die."

She meant it. Her killing intent was aimed at Perru's throat. Skywarbler and Jizan would not rust thanks to their authority, so even Perru could not stop the regressor's attack.

Yet Perru remained calm in the face of that killing intent.

"...Kill me. Either way, I... Cough. I'm worse than useless."

'...If I use my power, the materials the Lord of Gold could use disappear. Even if war breaks out, I can't take part. A power that only destroys has no value...'

Perru was stubborn even in the middle of enemy territory. It felt less like loyalty than despair, which made her even harder to change.

The regressor clicked her tongue.

"Tch. Hughes. Even threatening her with a knife won't work."

"Then would threatening her with money work? Perru, if you cooperate with us, we'll give you half the Lesser States. You'll be rich."

"...Cough! Don't need it."

Come to think of it, even if Perru had money, it would crumble, so she could not use it well. Hmm. This was difficult. They said people with nothing to lose were the most frightening. Knives and money did not work on Perru, who had adopted a life without possessions.

No matter how much I read her mind, there was no answer. A normal human should be swayed by either a knife or money. I complained at length.

"Knives don't work. Money doesn't work. What did the Lord of Gold even do for you that you're this loyal? It doesn't look like he even pays you."

"...It's not about good or bad. This land, the food grown here, the truth called alchemy. Everything in the Lesser States came from the Lord of Gold. That person is everything to the Lesser States... You wouldn't understand."

The Lord of Gold personally seemed to live in the Golden Kingdom, but I supposed that was included in the Lesser States too. Facing a dead end, I scratched my head.

Perru had no greed. The problem was that this was not faith or conviction. It was a rational conclusion.

For Perru, who crumbled everything, the concept of ownership was faint. It was always more beneficial to give to others and earn goodwill than to possess things. If she accidentally used her innate arcane, everything she owned would become scraps.

It was a valid, rational survival method rooted in human sociality. I could not deny or correct that way of life. In other words, I had no way to persuade Perru in the current situation.

"What was so great about the Lord of Gold?"

As I grumbled, I sensed someone suspicious above us. We all fell silent as though on cue, but the presence wandered around for no reason before heading toward the entrance.

The regressor gripped Skywarbler and stood.

"Tch! Did we get caught because you were talking?"

"This is all because Perru was coughing! Ah, don't tell me! Did she cough on purpose to leave a clue that we were here?"

"...Cough. The coughing is because of you..."

"Didn't all three of you make noise?"

Everyone chattered at once as we stared at the hole leading to the surface. We had covered the entrance with dirt and grass, but anyone looking closely could find it. As we exchanged opinions with grim expressions, a familiar voice drifted through the gap.

"Knock, knock~. Is anyone home~? Peace envoys from the military state~?"

It was Hilde.

Well, I already knew from reading her mind.

Hilde naturally slipped through the gap at the entrance. Seeing her carefree expression, the regressor asked with displeasure.

"How did you know where to find us?"

"The corn you pushed through was pointing here like a compass, you know? It was so obvious that even with 'my' basic tracking skills, I could see it clearly! It was so blatant that I worried it might actually be a fake trail!"

"You're really good at useless little tricks."

"You could just say I'm amazing. Shei, you're not very honest!"

"I never thought that!"

Hilde snickered, spun around, and spoke theatrically.

"More importantly, everyone, we're in trouble~. The Lord of Gold is making weapons! It looks like he is seriously preparing for war!"

"Weapons?"

"Yes! Like this!"

Hilde smiled softly and reached toward the entrance. She grabbed something she had left outside and pulled hard. A mound of dirt collapsed, revealing armor with a rough metallic texture.

Greaves, a helmet, a breastplate, even gauntlets. The separately made pieces of armor rolled across the ground. They clattered loudly.

"Plate armor."

"Yes! Full-body armor! It was so sturdy that even 'my' strength could only dent it! Could there possibly be armor more incredible than this?"

Armor naturally won in a fight against bare hands, but things were different when the opponent was a master of qi. Coating the body in qi made it as hard as steel, and there were techniques that could send qi into iron and destroy it from within.

If this armor could only be dented even after being struck by one of the Six Generals, the military state's strongest fighters and accomplished masters, it would fully deserve to be called a treasure of the century.

Still, armor like that could not possibly be common. Considering the quality of the alchemical steel and the forging techniques involved, one suit should cost as much as an entire castle...

"These armors are lined up like corn in this cornfield!"

To the Lord of Gold, the Demon God of alchemy, they were only worth as much as corn. No, perhaps they were even easier to make than corn.

"That's not all. Weapons, mounts. All sorts of vicious things are lying around everywhere. It looks like the Lord of Gold plans to build a huge armory beyond this cornfield. I suppose... he found a reason to use those weapons, right?"

There was no need to say it. Elik had declared that war would begin.

Hilde picked up a gauntlet, then dropped it as she pressed the regressor.

"Um, weren't 'we' going to negotiate for peace? What happened here? Could you give me a simple explanation as peace envoys from the military state?"

"I'll explain."

The regressor had not been there from the start, so she would not know the whole story. Instead, I briefly explained what had happened in the Golden Palace. Elik's intent to continue the war. The Lord of Gold agreeing with Elik. The homunculi that had emerged one after another. Then our dramatic escape at the end.

After hearing it all, Hilde scratched her head and smiled awkwardly.

"Ahaha~. I suppose a ceasefire really was impossible~. This is bad. If the Lord of Gold starts preparing for war now, the plan we had prepared will fall apart."

"A plan?"

"Yes~. Mobile warfare using the military state's communications officers. We would break through the lords' shallow alliance and sever their connections to create confusion, occupy various regions, and eventually advance as far as Claudia~."

Hilde let out a soft sigh, twisted her hair around her fingers, and lamented.

"This is bad~. If the Lord of Gold gathers the lords, the Lesser States' preparations won't be easy to deal with. If war starts like this, it will become a complete all-out war. Both the military state and the Lesser States will suffer enormous losses. Sigh. What should we do?"

Hilde spoke for the military state. They had sent us as peace envoys, only to miss their golden opportunity and make the other side wary. Hilde made it sound cute, but if we put those losses into numbers, they would be immense.

The regressor, suddenly finding herself under criticism, trailed off.

"Ugh... Well."

"It's okay. Don't blame yourselves too much, everyone! You have a way to make up for this huge failure!"

As though she had expected this from the beginning, Hilde answered with a smile.

"If war breaks out, it has to end someday, right? Naturally, it would be better to end it quickly with overwhelming force. That way, fewer people die and fewer resources are spent. But the military state's strength has been steadily worn down by all of you, including Shei. You also took away one of its few advantages, mobility, when you held a sword to the headquarters' throat and threatened them."

The regressor had attacked the military state only to prevent the war that would become the beginning of chaos. Still, if she failed to persuade the Lesser States, then regardless of her intentions, she had effectively taken their side.

This was clearly the regressor's fault for using the ceasefire as leverage to threaten the military state.

Hilde emphasized that point as she continued.

"But if all of you join the war, the balance will work out!"

If they had caused this mess, they needed to take responsibility. Hilde smiled as she pressured the regressor.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried