WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 356: The King Who Kills Others, the God Who Kills Himself - 14

──────

The Lord of Gold was not stupid. Clever people could sometimes be easier to deceive, but this was different. Every memory and emotion I had read had been read within this mental space.

Why Elik had abandoned him, how the Golden Kingdom had fallen. The Lord of Gold already knew it all.

He knew it painfully well.

As the Lord of Gold hung his head, I spoke to him gently. I spoke the words that had already existed within him, the words he had tried so hard to ignore.

"The Golden Kingdom was never beautiful. No, it was uglier than most places. A nation of craftsmen and technology. A nation that made money through trade. It was full of people more concerned with profit than anyone else, selfish people who sold their pride for money. When everyone pursued only their own gain and the country faced ruin, they branded you a demon and hunted you down. Did you really want to create that kind of country again?"

He gave no answer. That was fine. My words alone were enough to destroy his paradise.

"No, you didn't. I can tell just by looking at the paradise you made. The Golden Palace, where homunculi work without a word of complaint and only alchemists who can communicate with you remain at your side. The King of Steel praises you in a loving voice, and everything in the world takes on the ideal form you desire."

He had wanted to create the Golden Kingdom. That was why he had gone around transmuting everything around him through alchemy. Villages, tools, even rice paddies and fields. Idyllic rural landscapes, thriving cities, majestic walls. The ideal scenes he desired became reality before his eyes.

But ideals were unreal. The scene he had believed ideal did not truly exist. I pointed out the Lord of Gold's contradiction.

"The Golden Kingdom you miss doesn't exist. This Golden Palace was made by turning away from the outside world and piecing together only the parts you liked. It doesn't even resemble the Golden Kingdom by one-tenth."

What I said was his inner voice. No human could resist themselves. I forcibly awakened and provoked the Lord of Gold, who remained as nothing but thought without a body.

"Stop forcing it. Your wish can't come true. Not because you lack the ability, but because you don't know what you truly want. That's why the Lord of Gold, your final creation, has wandered the land in vain for hundreds of years with nothing but a meaningless desire, foolishly transmuting the jackals' next meal even as they feed."

The Lord of Gold. A relic of the Demon God that would rebuild the Golden Kingdom, and the final work of the first alchemist who remembered it.

Yet the Lord of Gold could not rebuild the Golden Kingdom. It wandered about transmuting everything nearby for an impossible wish, but every trace of the Golden Kingdom it created only became food for jackals.

The Lord of Gold spoke through gritted teeth.

"What... do you want?"

I was going to destroy the Lord of Gold.

Not because it had interfered with me, nor because it would start a war with the military state. The Lord of Gold was a lingering delusion. As long as it existed, Demo's wish could never come true.

I would sweep aside all his preparations, destroy the Lord of Gold, and take him into myself.

"I want your wish. If your wish is to repeat this illusion forever, then perhaps this is an answer of sorts. But that isn't your wish, is it? Why does the Lord of Gold exist? Why has the final period you placed failed to end the story, stretching it out forever instead?"

It was not only the Lord of Gold.

Everyone who had died. The lingering attachments of those who left the world dreaming of heaven and hell in their hearts. All those obsessions had begun with her.

In place of a heaven that did not exist, I had become a columbarium. Now it was the Lord of Gold's turn to enter.

"What binds the Lord of Gold to this cycle? What is your true wish?"

A living person could choose not to answer. Wishes could change at any time, and people could fulfill them through their own strength without ever speaking them aloud.

But those facing death did not have that luxury. To leave behind a wish that would soon vanish from the world, they let their regrets spill out.

So what of those who had already died?

"...I will create a beautiful Golden Kingdom."

He could not help but say it.

I asked again, slowly.

"Even though the Golden Kingdom was a filthy country that placed its sins on you and killed you?"

"It was that kind of country, but I loved it."

"Elik, whom you loved, betrayed you in your darkest hour."

"She was that kind of person, but I adored her."

The more he spoke, the clearer his heart became.

He loved the country, not out of patriotism, but out of nostalgia for the place that had been his home.

He loved Elik, not out of loyalty, but because he admired her beauty and ability.

Sin, responsibility. He had attached all kinds of reasons to justify his death, but in truth, he had died as an example for others to vent their anger on. If they truly wanted to hold someone accountable for malice, they should have killed the thousands who had pursued their own interests even amid the chaos. Unlike the Lord of Gold, who could not bear to leave the country, they had abandoned it without hesitation.

They could not do that, so they killed the Lord of Gold.

Even then, the Lord of Gold loved the country and its king.

No matter how many reasons people attached or how much they dressed them up, it all came down to the human heart. There was no need for a lengthy explanation.

"Is there any reason to create that country again? Judging by the state of it, if someone other than you had discovered alchemy, it would've collapsed on its own anyway."

He presumably felt no obligation to do so, yet the Lord of Gold found his reason with ease.

The country had been ugly, and its king irresponsible, but the Lord of Gold loved all of it. He wanted to return to the days when he had been happy there.

That was why.

"Because I want to."

He made up his mind.

Click.

The shackles binding his feet came loose. The guilt that had bound the Lord of Gold had disappeared. He slowly rose on trembling legs.

I asked as though to confirm it.

"Even though it will be different from the Golden Kingdom you lived in?"

"When one repairs something, it naturally becomes different from what it was at first. I will fill in what was lacking, restore what was broken, and fix what was wrong. That is what alchemy is for, and that is what the Lord of Gold is for."

Clank.

The chains binding his arms snapped apart one by one. The Lord of Gold reached out with his freed hand and grasped the golden bell. Its clear chime filled the room.

I asked once more.

"But is it possible? The Golden Kingdom the Lord of Gold creates has no permanence. No matter how well you make it, it will disappear before long if there are no humans to maintain it. Even if there are caretakers, the jackals will tear it all apart. You don't want a country that will vanish so quickly, do you?"

This time, it took him a little while to answer. Still, it was not long. Nothing could stop him once he had steeled his heart.

"...If it lacks permanence, then I will create that too."

Create it?

Thud.

The blade constricting his throat split apart and fell to the floor. Nothing bound him now. Having found complete freedom, the Lord of Gold held his head high and declared,

"If homunculi are not perfect, I can improve them until they are more perfect. If jackals destroy the Golden Kingdom, I can remove them so they cannot destroy it. Fortunately, both goals can be achieved through a single method. It will kill two birds with one stone."

Wait a second.

That conclusion sounded strangely wrong.

"So that they cannot harm anything in the Golden Kingdom I created, I will gather them... and use them as materials for homunculi. Homunculi that will last longer and lead this country."

Maybe I had unleashed a monster.

Everything the Lord of Gold had made until now had been frighteningly intricate and practical, but humans had always lacked something. As the Lord of Gold said, perhaps it was because he did not understand humans well. He might also have felt a slight resistance to creating humans.

But now that he had cast aside every shackle and restraint, nothing could stop the Lord of Gold.

Ugh. What was I supposed to do about this?

"The dead cannot affect the world in any way. Naturally, they cannot fulfill their wishes either. I don't particularly like people who die so easily while holding something so precious in their hearts."

The Lord of Gold was a little different, though. He had not thrust his wish upon me before dying. Instead, he had made something that could fulfill that wish even after his death.

The thoughts remaining here were his true wish. His pure desire, bound to no one and commanded by no one. Then I should affirm it too.

"You left behind something that can fulfill your wish even after you die. I'll support you, at least."

Not that there was anything else I could do.

I was a magician. I could draw out his hidden wish, but I could not turn it back on him and extinguish it. Stage magic looked remarkable at first glance, but in truth, it only made possible things seem extraordinary through deception.

If he thought I would interfere, he would kill me at once. The Lord of Gold had cast aside every restraint. Powerless as I was, I could not change his mind.

"...I have only one master, yet you have given me a great lesson as well."

Fortunately, I was not among those he considered enemies. Showing respect rather than hostility, the Lord of Gold carried the bell, passed by me, and headed out of the room.

"I will achieve what I have failed to achieve until now."

The world rippled. As the story ended, I felt my very existence being rejected. As my body was pulled somewhere, I left him with one final remark.

"Give it a try. You won't know until you do."

After that, the world darkened, and I was expelled from his mental image.

Footnotes:

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