WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 373: Dividing an Inheritance Is a Grave Affair

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How must the Thunder God feel, having its lightning stolen right before its eyes? I didn't know, but it had to be at least as upset as the Thunder Lord.

What the Thunder Lord felt upon witnessing the lightning robbery was neither anger nor betrayal. It was bewilderment. When a thief was that brazen, it left you speechless. I learned something new today, regressor.

The lightning flowing back up the Cloud Waterfall entered the Thunder God. Its form, slashed apart by branches of lightning, briefly faded, as if it might retreat. The Thunder Lord watched the Thunder God and spoke.

"Normally, the Thunder God receives the returned lightning and withdraws. But..."

The Thunder God only faded for a moment. It did not vanish. Its color noticeably paler, it looked our way for a moment before sinking beneath the Cloud Waterfall as if extinguished.

"Because you interfered, it will return before long. What exactly did you think you were doing? You must have an explanation."

"Not quite an explanation."

The regressor lightly jumped down from the Thunder Wheel.

"If I'm going to kill the Thunder God, I need to call it here first. If I sent it all back, it wouldn't return for a while. I wanted to avoid wasting time."

"You're very confident."

"Because I can do it."

'I did it in the previous loop, too.'

The regressor's social skills were remarkable enough that she could get herself into a life-or-death duel with someone she'd met that very day. After robbing them right in front of their eyes, becoming mortal enemies would not have been strange at all.

'He is certain. He, too, must be one of the chosen humans, like us.'

Yet, surprisingly, the Thunder Lord rather liked the bold regressor. Half the power gathered by the city had been taken, but she only smiled like a sucker.

There was someone compatible with the regressor? I still had things left to be surprised by.

The Thunder Lord spoke kindly to the children who had guarded the Lightning Rod Tower.

"Jeri. Tibi. Alka. You did well. The Lightning Rod Tower needs repairing, so contact the repair shop."

"Y-Yes!"

The children bowed deeply to the Thunder Lord, then hurried toward the elevator. The Thunder Lord watched silently until they had disappeared completely before speaking again.

"After expending it once, there isn't much lightning left in the Thunder Mill. If you don't kill the Thunder God, Claudia will suffer tremendous damage. From the moment you stole that lightning, whether we like it or not, we have no choice but to cooperate with you."

"But if I kill the Thunder God, Claudia will be peaceful forever. Isn't that a gamble worth taking?"

At the regressor's shameless reply, the Thunder Lord smiled faintly.

"Does killing a god mean even a human like me must gamble? Heh. My blood hasn't boiled like this in a long time."

Muttering to herself, the Thunder Lord stomped hard on the Lightning Rod Tower. The power of thunder stretching to the tips of her hair flowed through her feet and down into the tower. She shook out her long hair and returned to normal, then lowered her cold gaze and pointed at the regressor.

"If it's a gamble, I'll accept it. There's no way I'll lose. But you must bear an equal risk as well."

"What kind of risk?"

"Until the Thunder God is dead, let us halt every discussion. Including a truce and everything else."

Wait, hold on.

It was fortunate she hadn't immediately tried to kill the lightning robber, but even if the regressor had done it before, killing the Thunder God couldn't be that easy. If every discussion stopped until then, wouldn't that be a problem...?

My worries proved pointless. The regressor readily answered.

"Look forward to it."

"You shouldn't look forward to it!"

After hearing the entire story, Hilde stomped her feet and shouted.

"What is this supposed to be? Shei, do you have any intention of stopping the war?"

The regressor answered calmly.

"Of course. If I stop the Thunder God, the Thunder Lord will actively support us in anything. The negotiations will go better, too."

"How is that a negotiation? Hoping she'll help out of personal goodwill isn't negotiation. It's sucking up! Why are you loading her up with gifts she never asked for? Are you dating the Thunder Lord?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Of course not. You like men!"

The regressor looked puzzled by the sudden remark.

"That doesn't really matter. I just thought that if I fulfilled the Thunder Lord's long-held wish, it would be easier to get her help in the future."

"Shei, you know nothing about politics, do you? The Thunder Lord is responsible for an entire city. Why help her first when there's no guarantee she'll help you unconditionally just because she owes you a small debt?"

"Then what should I have done?"

"You should have set conditions beforehand, gotten her promise to give you more, and then killed the Thunder God as though you were doing her a favor! What if you rely on goodwill alone and don't get what you want?"

From the military state's perspective, Hilde was right. Only from the military state's perspective.

The regressor snorted.

"I'm the one killing the Thunder God, not the military state. You don't have the right to demand payment for it. I'll give what I want to give."

Until now, we had stayed together for the armistice agreement with the Lesser States. But the regressor was not fundamentally on any country's side, and that was especially true of the military state. If the military state fought another country, she would gladly take the other side.

...Hilde seemed to realize that, and her expression quietly hardened. She hid the small amount of sincerity she had shown behind her mask again, then played the role of Hilde as she spoke.

"Hmm. It seems the military state has made itself too unpleasant to become Shei's friend."

"Of course it has. We were enemies from the start. The military state even locked me in prison."

"I know. I thought perhaps there might be a chance because of the time we've spent together. It seems that was my misunderstanding."

Hilde shrugged as though she had lost interest and headed elsewhere.

"Hilde? Where are you going?"

"Shei doesn't seem like someone we can rely on, so I'm going to gather information in the military state's usual shady way."

She waved idly as she walked away. The regressor watched her go with a puzzled look, then pointed at Hilde.

"What's with her? Is she sulking?"

"Yes. Probably."

"Tch. So touchy."

"You're the one who doesn't think things through."

"What?"

"That isn't what's important right now. Mr. Shei, what was that just now? Was it really the Thunder God?"

The regressor, who had been looking at me suspiciously, shrugged.

"You figured it out, more or less? That's right. It isn't a Demon God, and it isn't the real Thunder God either. It looks terrifying and powerful, but it's only thunderclouds and lightning given form. It doesn't go beyond the lightning we know."

"Then it's a fraud."

"It's not a fraud. It's a false idol born from fear of lightning, or faith in it. Lightning is powerful, so that Thunder God has enough power to be feared."

...A false idol? Wait a moment.

I quietly pushed the Spade card deeper into my pocket and asked.

"A false idol?"

"You know them, too. Beings formed from human fear. Unlike Demon Gods, they draw power not from knowledge, but from ignorance and terror. Like the King of Wolves or vampires."

"Ah, that."

I nodded along. Ah, that was what she meant.

"Vampires originally only had bloodcraft, right? But after fighting the Sanctum and becoming symbols of fear, they gained power over darkness. Wolves were also just ordinary beasts, but their cruelty spread far and wide, making them humanity's natural enemy. In the same way, that Thunder God is a being born from Claudia's reverence."

'I heard it directly from the Sanctum, so I'm certain. They said as much when they gave me Skywarbler and Jizan.'

I had been half doubtful, but now I was sure.

Those Sanctum bastards had lied outright to the regressor, too.

That did not mean the regressor was wrong. After humanity became the ruler of the earth, strange things had truly begun happening in the world. A single species of beast gained enormous power and changed the world as it pleased, until the land itself became something like humanity's toy.

The Beast King was the most representative example. A Beast King, who should have been the representative of a single species, had taken on human form. Such things happened all over the world, so what the regressor said was true.

Still, the Sanctum shouldn't be saying that. You people are the main culprits!

Anyway, I sighed in relief.

"That's a relief. I thought we were going to have another conflict with a monster like the Lord of Gold."

"That won't happen. Lightning isn't a Demon God. It's just a phenomenon."

"Haha. You never know. A Demon God might pop out somewhere."

"You sure have strange worries. It's not like there are that many Demon Gods in the world."

...Right. There shouldn't be.

The regressor declared with a confident expression.

"Anyway. You don't need to worry about this. I can take care of it all. You can relax and sightsee."

"The least reassuring words in the world..."

I was uneasy, but there was nothing urgent for me to do right now. It wasn't as though I could wrestle with clouds.

Maybe I should take a look around the city in the clouds. With a much more relaxed attitude, I headed outside.

Claudia had a distinctive structure, with buildings clustered beneath its towering Lightning Rod Towers. Among them, the First Lightning Rod Tower where the Thunder Lord lived was the largest, and it monopolized all the thunder power produced by the Thunder Mill.

I had been considering taking a look inside the Lightning Rod Tower when I spotted Perru. She was surrounded by the jackals who had followed her here, looking troubled.

"When will you give us the Suppression Lord's money?"

"You're not going to drag this out and refuse to pay in the end, are you?"

"...The Thunder Lord is busy because of the Thunder God."

"Do you take us for fools? We grew up in Claudia, too! The Thunder God's arrival is an annual event!"

"You can't give us anything for the time being? How is that any different from saying you won't pay us?"

The jackals clamored for the Suppression Lord's inheritance. Perru had far too much to worry about right now to spare them any attention. With the survival of the Lesser States at stake, an inheritance like that had fallen far down the list of priorities.

That was why the jackals pressed her even harder, like starving beasts. They feared that if they didn't receive it now, their chances would only shrink.

Tch. As someone with a commoner's sensibilities, I understood how they felt. Still, I clicked my tongue and approached her. Perru, who had been flustered, seemed quietly relieved to see me. If she couldn't talk her way out of it, she should at least use force, but she didn't want to do that either. That was why she was in this state.

"You saw it, Perru. What did I tell you?"

"...Huh?"

The best partner for acting was someone who didn't talk. I could steer the story however I pleased. Scratching my head as if annoyed, I spoke.

"I told you those jackals would be nothing but trouble, so I would kill them all before we reached Claudia. You said that wouldn't be necessary and refused, but now they've become a nuisance after all."

"...?"

Perru tilted her head. It was the first she had heard of it. Naturally, that reaction made sense. It was also the first time I had said it.

"Y-You're going to kill us?"

Having heard something like a bolt from the blue, the jackals finally had some manners beaten into them and shrank back.

Footnotes:

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