WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 45: As Long As It Tastes Good

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Previous Cycle.

The Abyss had collapsed.

The Tantalus jailbreak was said to be the worst incident in the military state's history. Yet this was far deadlier and more terrible. The criminals who had escaped Tantalus were vicious enough, but what crawled out from beneath the collapsed Abyss were horrors capable of ending the world.

For all their immense danger, they were even more disastrous because they did not draw immediate attention.

Even the regressor had only barely uncovered the truth that fragments of the end lay within the Abyss after several regressions. Gathering the clues she had found in the previous cycle, she arrived at the collapsed Abyss.

There, she encountered a horrific monster fashioned from tens of thousands of bodies.

"Hey, I'm a victim too, so don't look at me like that. How was I supposed to know?"

The lingering sunset shone over the wet ground. The red, sticky hue beneath it was indescribably beautiful, sickening, and terrible.

Because the liquid soaking the earth was all blood that had flowed from human bodies.

The immortal corpse golem that had once marched toward the Empire had also originated in the Abyss. After fighting it for a full day, the regressor had barely managed to defeat the golem and pull out the immortal who had served as its core.

The immortal himself muttered calmly, as though that desperate battle had been nothing at all.

"Tch. I had my eyes closed for too long. We immortals are deathless, but not eternal. When our lives run out, we return to the world for a while, then Mother Earth gives us life again and we move once more. But some damned thing desecrated me. It cursed my flesh and scattered it everywhere. It happened to be land cursed by Mother Earth, so I couldn't protect myself..."

The flesh monster regenerated even when struck by bullets, remained unharmed when scorched by fire, and immediately wielded the corpses it swallowed as weapons. Spiked vertebrae flew everywhere, while pustules burst and sprayed the ground with pus. Sizzle. Whenever yellow pus fell to the ground, the earth began to melt as though it had been struck by venom. The tautly swollen intestines resembled bombs more than balloons, and shinbones sharp as blades poured down like torrential rain.

The regressor swung her sword amid the stench and filth.

Its body devoured old corpses and their lingering grudges, regenerating indiscriminately. It craved the flesh of other humans. It was a crawling plague, a horrific desecration of humanity itself. The regressor stopped it with all her strength as it wandered the earth in search of its next meal.

As a result...

"Well! I do feel a little sorry for the dead! But what could I do? It wasn't something I did of my own will!"

The immortal shouted cheerfully, laughing as though this were nothing serious.

That could not be true. The regressor wiped sweat from her brow with the cloth wrapped around her face to block the smell. An exhausted sigh slipped through the gap.

"You destroyed three villages. One hundred and ninety people died."

"If you hadn't stopped me, young lady, ten times that number would have died! You did well! You're the real hero here!"

"...I didn't say that because I wanted praise. You need to be put down. This time, it can't be helped."

Even at her cold words, the immortal remained calm.

"I wasn't saying it because I expected to live either! We're immortals, not ageless beings. As we grow old, our strength slowly fades until we eventually return to the earth. Of course, I'm still rather young to be dying."

The immortal raised his left shoulder stump. Blood dripped in long strands from his melting body. No matter how she looked at him, he was hundreds of years removed from anything resembling a human shape. Was this what someone would look like after tens of thousands of maggots had gnawed on them and spat them out for years? The outline of his body was as blurred as a painting with its edges smudged away, making it impossible to tell where his body began.

Even as his body melted away in real time, the immortal laughed heartily.

"Haha! I was too rough on my body! My lifespan wore down too quickly, so I'll die soon! Still, isn't it fortunate that I didn't die inside the Abyss? At least I can be buried in Mother Earth's embrace!"

The Abyss again. What in the world had happened there?

This was a dead end. The regressor had been too late this cycle. The incident had occurred early in the regression, leaving her with too little time.

But if the Abyss held an enormous answer, she might find hope in the next cycle. Amid her crushing fatigue, a faint spark of expectation glimmered.

"What happened inside? Who did what to create a monster like you?"

"It's a little hurtful to call a person a monster. Still, I can't deny it! I certainly look like one now!"

"We don't have time to chat. Hurry."

"Ah, right. I've been too selfish! You must be busy!"

Death approached as slowly and surely as the setting sun. His manner of speaking had not changed, yet the pallor of death settled over his face. Words he had barely formed slipped from his shadowed expression.

"Do you know that someone escaped from the Abyss?"

"I do."

"Then this will be easy! I fought one of the men trying to escape. If that had been on the surface, I would've regenerated immediately and torn his head off. Sadly, regeneration didn't work in the Abyss, where the earth's veins were severed! Some incomprehensible magic tore off my limbs, and once my life force ran out, I fell asleep. But then..."

He frowned as if trying to force out a hazy memory.

"When I first opened my eyes, there were a few people there. A person called the instructor came to me first and said he had awakened me. He asked me a few questions, then told me to go back to sleep because it was troublesome to 'manage' me. I hadn't recovered much life force then, so I went back to sleep."

The regressor frowned deeply as she listened.

"...That's all? Nothing else?"

"I think he said something else. I don't remember."

"Try harder to remember!"

"I'm sorry, but I have no hobby of remembering every word a man mutters. Especially when it's nothing but a sorcerer's vain rambling."

"There has to be something that could be a clue! How many people there were, or who was there!"

"A clue... Hmm. From what I saw, there were two women. Both were attractive."

"...Is that it?"

"Do you have any idea how important that is? Isn't it ten times more important than the number of men?"

Was he accustomed to death? Or had death become so unfamiliar to him that it had driven him mad? The regressor steadied her throbbing head and asked again.

"What else?"

"When I woke up the next time, I didn't know why, but everything was in chaos. The building was shaking ominously, and I could hear beasts howling in the distance. The people who woke me said the instructor was trying to kill them and asked me to fight him."

"Who were those people? What did they say?"

"Who knows? I don't know either. One thing is certain. They weren't women."

"..."

There was far too little information. Still, she could not expect much more from an immortal who had only woken and slept at intervals.

Even so, the regressor was not disappointed. She would definitely enter the Abyss in the next cycle. This was only a thread to follow in order to gather information.

"I fought and lost. If that place hadn't been the surface... No, if my limbs had been intact, I wouldn't have gone down so helplessly. Still, even if I had beaten him, it probably wouldn't have changed much. He was with the Beast King."

"The Beast King?"

"That's right. What was it again... He said something about humanity's great, long-cherished wish, and that finding that person would take a desperate struggle... It was such ridiculous nonsense that I ended up remembering even that man's rambling. Heh heh..."

His dry laughter fell and flowed across the ground. Life leaked from him as though his vessel had broken. Even the endless lives of those called immortals were ultimately only candles that had to go out someday.

"The last time I opened my eyes, I was no longer myself. Only pain and resentment remained, and I was running wild to settle old grudges. I was hungry as if my body had been pierced with holes, and it hurt as though someone were pricking me with needles. In my hunger, I think I ate all sorts of things... Things I shouldn't have eaten."

"Yeah. It was pretty disgusting."

"Well. If not for that last part, it might have been... a decent life. Heh. If I could, I'd like to cut the ending out of my life..."

With a brief, hollow laugh that seemed to represent his entire life, he died. Once she confirmed it, the regressor slowly rose.

"I don't know whether this will comfort you, but rest easy. You'll come back to life in the next cycle anyway."

Unfortunately, his end had not come yet. He would likely live again. When the world turned back upon the regressor's death, the outcome would be different from this one.

The regressor got to her feet calmly.

"...The great wish of humanity, that person, the Beast King... Was that where their plan began? No matter how much I dig up the roots, it never ends."

At any rate, it was certain that an important clue slept within the Abyss. This cycle was already too late. Should she regress at once while the memory was still fresh, or investigate a little more?

After considering it, the regressor drew Skywarbler.

"If I'm going to regress anyway, it'd be better to raise the hell I haven't raised yet before I die than just kill myself. Fine. I'll throw this cycle away."

At that moment, the fate of that cycle was decided.

The recollection ended.

The regressor recalled the previous cycle and stared intently at the immortal.

'When he first woke up, he said the instructor awakened him and asked him several things. To make sure this was that exact point in time... He said there were two women. He even said they were attractive.'

As the regressor's thoughts dragged on, the immortal urged her.

"What is it you want to say that has you racking your brain so much, boy? If you've got something to say, say it quickly. I don't like waiting long for a man's words."

"Ah, okay. I'll ask."

Having finished thinking, the regressor asked the immortal with an utterly serious expression.

"How many women do you think are here?"

It was a perfectly natural line of thought. To confirm that this was the moment when he had first awakened, the regressor intended to compare his past testimony with his current one. If he once again said there were two women, then the time the immortal had described in the past was right now...

'Shei? What kind of question is that? What could possibly be the intention behind it?'

No. Wait. The vampire's thoughts brought me back to my senses.

Wasn't this conversation strange without mind reading?

Having received such a peculiar question, the immortal counted the women as instructed. One vampire sitting in front of him, and Azzy lying on her stomach in the back. Two.

Why was he not counting the regressor? Ah, she was dressed as a man. Once he had finished counting, the immortal held up two fingers and answered.

"One, two. Two, isn't it? Unless you're an idiot, you can tell how many women there are at a glance."

"Are both women attractive? Not anyone else?"

"Of course. There are no unattractive women in the world to begin with. Each one possesses her own charm. Men aren't my concern... But why do you ask?"

Even the immortal suspected the intent behind the question.

Naturally. The flow of conversation had gone subtly, or rather blatantly, off course. The regressor had information that carried over from the previous cycle, but the people watching could not immediately follow the gap in the conversation and filled it in with their own imaginations.

The vampire especially did. She brought both hands to her mouth, looked between the regressor and the immortal, and sighed.

'Why? Why is he asking that man about the number of women and their attractiveness? What could he possibly want to know? Don't tell me he wants to know that earthfolk man's tastes?'

Remarkably, the immortal caught onto something in this strange atmosphere. He turned to me with a cautious look and asked,

"Wait. Teacher. Does that boy have an interest in me... That kind of interest?"

"Wow. You remember that? What is this selective memory?"

Whatever. I gave a broad nod and confirmed what he said.

"That's right. Trainee Shei once shouted loudly, 'I like men.'"

"What? Why is that coming up here? It has absolutely nothing to do with this!"

The regressor reflexively tried to argue against me, then finally noticed the looks surrounding her. The vampire had momentarily forgotten all about her heart and was covering her mouth with one hand. I nodded as well because I agreed with the vampire's thoughts.

More importantly, the immortal was stroking his chin and seriously evaluating the regressor's appearance.

Huh? Why were you evaluating her so seriously?

"Hmm! I normally don't even give men a second glance, but..."

'But'? That's an odd way to end that clause. It implies that whatever comes next will contradict his first claim.

Surely it wasn't going where I had read it going?

"But with such a pretty face, it might somehow be possible!"

Was he insane?

"You crazy bastard!"

The regressor shouted at once.

Ah. We were on the same wavelength. Having finally realized what she herself had said, the regressor shouted angrily.

"No! Not at all! I have absolutely no interest in someone like you!"

"You're more temperamental than most young girls. I think you were born the wrong sex."

"I... said... no...!"

Oh, this was bad. At this rate, the regressor was going to explode. If she lost her reason and swung her sword, the immortal might survive, but I would definitely die.

I couldn't understand the immortal's way of thinking either, so I shouted at him too.

"What are you saying, Trainee Rashy? Trainee Shei may be irritable, difficult to please, violent, and fond of men, but you shouldn't be like this either! Didn't you say you weren't interested in men?"

"Ha ha. Teacher, does it matter whether they're male or female as long as the taste is good?"

"Huh? What is he talking about?"

"If anything, this is fortunate. I'm an immortal. I can't have children without permission from the tribal council. Creating a mixed-blood child is even more forbidden. Because of that, I regretfully turned down the advances of countless women and lived alone. Perhaps a man would be better... Oh, this is a new perspective! I must have made a discovery of the century!"

This would not do. The regressor had already placed her hand on Skywarbler's hilt. I had to do something about this immortal first.

I suddenly looked down at the skewer in my hand again. Then I looked at the immortal.

His chest was still open.

Hmm.

"Trainee Rashy. Hold on."

"Hmm? What is it, teacher?"

I hid the skewer in my hand and approached him. He scratched his head as if troubled.

"Huh. It is troublesome to be so popular with men."

What?

I suddenly felt offended. I did not care what misunderstanding he had about the regressor, but I could not forgive that kind of nonsense directed at me too. That was far enough. I drove the skewer deep into his chest.

The immortal looked curiously at the skewer that had sunk into his body.

"Huh? Teacher? What is this?"

"Bolt."

"Kuheoooooock!"

Then came the electric shock. The current I sent directly into his heart spread through his entire body. The immortal trembled all over.

"To think... I would be... on the receiving end..."

His huge body convulsed and collapsed. The immortal shuddered, then gave a wide grin and left behind his final words.

"This is... a unique taste... in its own way."

Crazy bastard.

He closed his eyes after barking nonsense until the very end. Soon, his consciousness cut off completely, and his right arm fell with a thud.

Whew. I had barely cleaned that up.

"Now then. There was a brief disturbance."

The regressor put Skywarbler, which she had half drawn, back into its sheath. Staring at the unconscious immortal, she muttered,

"Don't ever wake him up again. He keeps getting bizarre misunderstandings. Ugh. What's the point of wearing the Mask of Agartha if this is going to happen..."

No, wasn't she placing too much blame on the immortal? As if she had no part in this at all.

"But honestly, you realize this is mostly karma from your own actions, right, Trainee Shei?"

"What is?"

"What do you mean, what? You went around saying and doing things that could easily be misunderstood. If you don't get it, look at Trainee Tyrkanzyaka."

The moment the regressor looked at the vampire, the vampire quickly turned her head and avoided her gaze. A vampire who could not even sweat was fanning herself with her hand.

The regressor instinctively realized what misunderstanding she was having. She held both hands out with an awkward smile.

"No, you've got it wrong, Tyrkanzyaka."

"It's fine. I understand everything..."

"That doesn't look like the face of someone who understands anything!"

"I-I do think it's a little early for me, though. Is the world really advancing so quickly that even I can't keep up...? If possible, do it somewhere I can't see."

"I said it's a misunderstanding!"

Watching their exchange, I added a word of my own.

"If you only needed Trainee Rashy's body, just say so. I'll lend you whichever part you want. He probably won't dislike it that much either..."

Just before the enraged regressor grabbed Skywarbler again, I clapped my hands in a hurry and wrapped up the lesson.

"Everyone, now you know how the military state discovered that electricity could revive a stopped heart, right? It was because suspects shocked during electric torture, no, friendly interrogations involving electricity, first went into cardiac arrest. When they applied another shock, their hearts stopped! So today's lesson is this. Don't carelessly show your heart to other people. That's all!"

With those words, I quickly opened the door and ran away.

Footnotes:

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