WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 371: Whether God or Human

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A massive Thunder Mill spun with roughly a quarter of its side submerged in the Cloud Waterfall. At its far end, a lightning rod tower, larger than any other, lightly pressed its tip against it.

It looked as though it were forcing the Thunder Mill into the waterfall.

Below the Cloud Waterfall, a reservoir formed by pooled clouds faintly made its presence known. Its size was impossible to make out, since clouds that had not fully become water were flowing down across the ground.

Tyr had silently observed the scenery until now. Seeing the Thunder Mill, which looked over a hundred meters across, she muttered,

"...The world has changed a great deal. When I passed through the Cloud Waterfall long ago, there was nothing like this waterwheel."

The Thunder Lord answered even her quiet remark.

"The first Thunder Mill was no bigger than an ordinary waterwheel. As people fleeing the Lord of Gold began gathering in Claudia, the city grew, and the Thunder Mill grew with it. Metal is easy to obtain in the Lesser States, after all. But..."

The Thunder Lord pointed at Azzy and me, lingering far away.

"Are you two still afraid of lightning?"

Afraid of lightning? Hmph. What was that supposed to mean? I declared proudly,

"It's not only lightning. I'm always afraid of threats I can't control."

"Woof!"

The tingling sensation still crawled across my skin. Azzy's fur had even puffed up like a lion's mane. How could I not find this unpleasant? If you had any survival instinct left, of course you'd want to get away.

The Thunder Lord looked at our stubborn refusal and nodded.

"I understand. The power of thunder is too wild and powerful for ordinary humans to wield. Unless someone is as exceptional as me, trembling in fear is only natural."

"Wow. You really love yourself."

"For those who deserve it, it is simply stating fact."

There was not a trace of embarrassment in the Thunder Lord's voice. I had never encountered someone this certain of herself before. It was strangely refreshing.

"Below the Thunder Mill is where the power of thunder is strongest. It can't be helped. Rest wherever you feel most comfortable. As long as you don't leave the lightning rod tower, lightning won't hurt you."

"Sounds good. Azzy and I will stay here, so you all go ahead. We'll wait somewhere safe over there."

"Woof!"

"Come along. I would like to look around as well."

There was a square room built into the side of the lightning rod tower. Sealed in iron from ceiling to floor, it looked like a steel box. It seemed as though it would remain intact whether lightning struck outside or a carriage crashed into it.

Azzy and I walked in first, with Tyr following behind us. When Tyr, the last to enter, stepped inside, the Thunder Lord, who had been guiding the others, finally had time to look our way.

"Wait. That is..."

'An elevator leading to the top of the lightning rod tower.'

Huh? An elevator? What was that?

"Woof?"

There was a red button just inside the entrance. Azzy stared at it closely, then pressed it as if entranced.

At that moment, the steel door slammed shut. Azzy froze in surprise, and the steel box suddenly shook hard before beginning to rise.

"Woof woof woof!"

"Aah! We're being kidnapped!"

And so Azzy, Tyr, and I shot upward inside the elevator, leaving the ground far below us.

After rising for quite a while, the box bumped gently into something with a thud. Once the elevator had fully stopped, the door opened, and we ran out as though escaping.

Tyr looked at the elevator with curious eyes.

"It appears to be a device that moves without anyone exerting force. Does it use magic? Or do people operate it by hand?"

"No. It seems to use the power generated by the Thunder Mill."

As if responding to me, the edge of the Thunder Mill brushed against the highest floor of the lightning rod tower as it rotated.

Fine ridges had been carved into the enormous Thunder Mill turning against the Cloud Waterfall. Much smaller gears crowded together along those ridges. The gear turning the elevator's pulley was one of them.

"When the Cloud Waterfall turns the Thunder Mill, the connected parts rotate and provide power. It looks like they use it for more than just the elevator."

The elevator was not the only thing linked to the gears. Since the Thunder Mill passed through the lightning rod tower, there had to be more machinery inside. It seemed the lightning rod tower was not simply a structure for avoiding lightning, but a device that turned lightning into power.

"Hmm. It resembles the gear toys I saw in the military state."

"Maximilien, who designed the military state, came from the Lesser States. He probably found his inspiration here."

Claudia was a city powered by a Thunder Mill more than a hundred meters wide, one that never stopped turning. He must have lived in Claudia once, and it was obvious without looking where his vision had come from. He must have wanted to create a city made entirely of gears, going beyond simply providing power.

Humans included.

...Well, if he had managed that, there would have been no reason to come to the military state.

Azzy padded along, looking around the top floor of the lightning rod tower. She shook her head once, tapped her head with a front paw, then hopped in place.

"Woof? It's okay here."

"You're right. Higher places should be more vulnerable to lightning."

That was strange. Down at the bottom, my skin had tingled as though lightning might strike at any moment. Yet now that I had stepped onto the even higher lightning rod tower, that feeling was completely gone. Was this the tower's power?

As I looked around in curiosity, several children near where the Thunder Mill connected to the tower spotted us and widened their eyes.

"Huh? You can't come up here!"

They wore clothes similar to the Thunder Lord's. Wrapped head to toe in thick fabric like priestly robes, the children hurried toward me in alarm.

"Only thunder practitioners can come here!"

"Anyone without the Thunder Lord's permission is forbidden from approaching!"

They seemed desperate, but their chatter was only cute. Seeing the children rushing over, Azzy barked at them warmly.

"Woof woof! Let's play!"

The first two children to approach stared wide-eyed.

"Huh? A beastkin!"

"It's my first time seeing one! Want to play?"

"Is this really the time for that?!"

A girl scolded the other children with an angry face. The two children, and even Azzy, drooped their ears. The girl sighed and spoke firmly.

"I don't know who you are, but the Thunder Mill is Claudia's most important facility. It's the place the Thunder God attacks first! Ordinary people aren't allowed near it!"

"We aren't ordinary people. The Thunder Lord summoned us herself."

"Really...?"

"Yes. If we were intruders, would the Thunder Lord down there just watch? The great and powerful Thunder Lord, I mean."

We had not exactly received permission to come up, but the Thunder Lord had not treated it as a serious matter, so it should be fine. The girl shrugged at my words.

"That's right! The Thunder Lord is the greatest and strongest human!"

"I don't know if she's the greatest, but she did seem strong."

"Other than gods, no one can stand against the Thunder Lord!"

"Hey, be careful. You shouldn't talk about gods so casually."

The children were thinking of the Thunder God, but they should watch what they said. There was a vampire Progenitor burning with hatred for the Celestial God around here...

Ah. Was I already too late?

Tyr's expression slowly darkened. Iron rosaries gleamed around the wrists of the children wrapped in priestly robes.

Tch. This was dangerous. First things first.

"Does your great and powerful Thunder Lord fight the Thunder God?"

Nothing drew children's interest like a head-to-head fight. Once I got them started, they answered eagerly.

"Yes!"

"Who wins?"

"The Thunder Lord wins, but she says the Thunder God is only retreating and tells us not to let our guard down!"

"It comes back after disappearing beyond the Cloud Waterfall!"

"That's why we have to train harder, so we can fight the Thunder God in the Thunder Lord's place when she gets old!"

"But the Thunder Lord doesn't grow old!"

They were chattering because a familiar topic had come up, but they had no idea their lives were in danger right now.

Before the conversation could go any further, I quickly changed the subject.

"Still, it's strange. Why does the Thunder God attack this place? It can't be easy if there's a human as strong as the Thunder Lord here."

At my unexpected question, the girl asked in a slightly condescending tone.

"Mister, don't you even know the story of the Lightning Thief?"

"I know the basics. Long ago, the Lightning Thief climbed the Cloud Waterfall, stole lightning from the palace in the sky, and fled, right?"

It was a famous story, and I could have read it through mind-reading. That was not what I needed right now.

I had to make them condemn the god themselves so they could survive.

"But the Lightning Thief was the one at fault, wasn't it? You did nothing wrong, so why the hell is it taking it out on you?"

"Why? Because Claudia is where the Lightning Thief hid the lightning."

"The first Thunder Lord returned the lightning, but the power remained in land where lightning had once settled. The Celestial God took offense at that and sent the Thunder God to punish this land!"

This was bad. That god should not have come up. I had to press on.

"The Celestial God is pretty small-minded too. It punishes people even after they returned the lightning."

Tyr's mood improved a little. The children, on the other hand, startled and covered their mouths.

"Shh!"

"The Celestial God will hear you!"

"Divine punishment will fall!"

Quiet. The Progenitor could hear you. You might not know it, but the Progenitor who could kill me right now was more frightening than the Celestial God who might kill me whenever.

"What if it hears? It's true."

"B-but!"

"And it keeps coming after you over something that happened before you were even born, even though the lightning was returned? Even ruthless moneylenders have limits."

"N-no, that's not it. We..."

The children who had seen the Thunder God themselves could not easily answer and hesitated.

Still, faith here was not as blind as it was in the Sanctum. This was a land with a vampire nation next door and the Lord of Gold prowling around its front yard. In a land where temples could not exist and priests could not visit lightly, the profit-minded people of the Lesser States...

"To begin with, why do you think your great Thunder Lord fights the Thunder God? Isn't it because the Thunder God is a bad guy?"

When I made them weigh it against their faith in the Thunder Lord, the children agreed more easily than expected.

"...That's right. The Thunder God is bad. It harasses the Thunder Lord."

"But the Thunder Lord says gods are different from humans. She says the Lord of Gold and the Thunder God are beings we cannot defy, so we must always treat them with reverence."

"That can be true. Even bad people, if they're strong and reckless, are people you have to bow to and follow for now. Do we avoid filth because it's dirty? We avoid it because it's scary."

Like the Progenitor beside me. You children nearly got yourselves killed, you know? Her expression had eased up a lot now, though!

'Phew. You're worrying a great deal. I do not care as long as they do not show faith before me.'

So that meant she would kill anyone, man or woman, old or young, who openly showed faith!

Either way, after doing a good deed no one could understand, I felt much more at ease.

"But don't worry. The bad Thunder God will be dealt with by the great Thunder Lord and our secret weapon..."

I was in the middle of speaking when the Thunder Mill let out an ominous howl.

At the same time, electric currents flickered across the surface of the Cloud Waterfall. As though pulling at the Thunder Mill's surface, the point where the Cloud Waterfall met the Thunder Mill became connected by a shining bolt of lightning.

Then came that tingling sensation again. It felt like insects were crawling over my skin and pulling at every hair on my body.

Most of all, Azzy's fur, our lightning detector, bristled all at once. The direction it pointed was not upward...

It was toward the Cloud Waterfall.

Ha. Talk about bad timing. I'd been badmouthing it just moments ago, and it showed up without a hint of tact. I should have played along with the children for now, then convinced Tyr later.

The girl's face turned pale as she shouted.

"It's the Thunder God!"

Footnotes:

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