WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 478

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Spill as Much as You Ate

Trust, too, is a resource that can run dry. The regressor had watched me and Azzy with patience, calm and unhurried. From morning to night, what we were doing, how we were spending our days. Patient as a mother keeping an eye on her children.

"How do you manage to not do a single thing right?!"

The result: my credit of trust went bankrupt. Unable to hold back her anger any longer, the regressor grabbed me by the collar and shouted.

"You blow through the money! The yard is littered with empty food bowls! The only people setting foot in this manor are delivery workers!"

"The housekeeper will be here soon. She agreed to clean the whole place top to bottom."

"Brag about it, why don't you!"

The regressor shoved me away and grabbed her own head. She heaved a few breaths, then muttered with a grave look on her face.

"Phew. It's fine. I haven't wasted any time. Getting the trading company business wrapped up in a month is actually fast. I just have to do things properly from here."

"That's right. Mr. Shei can do it."

"I'm telling you to do it! You call yourself the King of Humanity! You said you had to defeat the King of Wolves! Nothing about you suggests any intention of actually doing that!"

"But the situation here is too complicated."

I had wanted to work hard. But what could an ordinary person, dropped into an unfamiliar city, actually do? No matter how much money you had, a drifter with no connections and no information could only go so far. It was beyond my control that I had nothing to show for myself.

...Let's go with that framing. Admitting I'd been lazy wouldn't do much for my dignity. I grumbled and made my excuses.

"The races are so different that there are constant disturbances and all kinds of friction. You hear that beastkin face discrimination, but the moment you try to join any clan, they're whispering 'he's human, he's human.' They put their guard up over the unfamiliar smell. There's nothing I can do."

Since Ende's situation really was chaotic, the regressor didn't think to question it.

"I know. But the easiest way to resolve the conflict between beastkin and humans is to use the Beast King's authority. I thought you could handle that."

"I told you, I've lost my power."

"You have Azzy. The King of Dogs."

The regressor pointed at Azzy, who was contentedly gnawing on a bone. Ah, right. Pudgy as she'd gotten lately, she was still a king in her own way.

"A lot of the influential figures in this city are dog-kin, and Triber in particular, Ende's market administrator, is dog-kin with imperial bloodline. He knows the wolf threat better than anyone. He would have cooperated with you."

"If you knew all that, why did you leave it to me?"

"I'm regretting it now. I should have walked you through every bit of it, down to things you could ask any stranger on the street!"

'Ugh. Did I take this too lightly because I'm a regressor? No. If he can't handle even this much, there's no point giving him responsibilities. I'd rather just do it myself.'

Oh? If she handled it herself, that would suit me fine.

Well, I'd been reading the minds of passersby when I got bored, so I had a general picture of Ende's bigger affairs. I just hadn't thought to pull strings by using Azzy the way the regressor was suggesting.

"Phew. I need to get moving."

"Eat something while you're at it. Here, have some meat to chew on."

"I'm fine. I'll sort out meals on my own, just have some kind of plan ready by the time I get back. Anything at all!"

Hmph. I'd meant it as a gesture of goodwill. The regressor left as though something were chasing her, heading off to meet the market administrator through the trading company connection she'd built.

"Off she goes."

"Woof."

Azzy and I watched the regressor's retreating figure and slowly worked on our meat.

A strategy was a strategy, but there wasn't much to it. Dig pits, set traps, whittle down the opposition, then fight the King of Wolves. Leave that part to the regressor.

What I had to do was find people willing to help and bond with Azzy. There was still meat on the ribs I'd been gnawing at, but a well-fed beast grows generous. I tossed the bone with meat still on it. Azzy had been waiting with eyes full of expectation and leapt to snatch it before it even hit the ground.

"Woof woof woof."

"Living the good life."

A big house with a yard and one dog to keep. Pastoral and pleasant. With a woman at my side it would be the ordinary life I couldn't ask more of.

...Well, the regressor was there, technically. But she still believed she was pulling off her male disguise, so there wasn't much feeling to it. She wasn't even in the house to begin with.

Tyr really had been lovely, though. Now that I was away, I missed her. Maybe there'd be someone new to meet here.

"Is anyone home?"

Oh. The housekeeper I called for? I told her to pick up some snacks on the way, and she got here fast. I ambled out to the front gate.

You have to walk all the way out just to get something handed to you. That's the inconvenience of a house with a yard. Not like I could leave the gate open, either.

Muttering contentedly to myself, I opened the gate, and found a hooded pig-kin waiting on the other side. Hiding something under their arm.

They sent a pig-kin as a housekeeper? Pig-kin are decent workers who handle tough jobs well enough, but I'd requested sheep-kin. Strange.

"What brings you here?"

The pig-kin ignored me entirely and peered into the yard.

Azzy, trotting about and gnawing on a bone. The considerable stack of delivery containers. And the heap of bones Azzy had chewed through and collected like treasure.

Had I been living too extravagantly? It was a bit embarrassing to have an outsider see the state of the place.

...No, wait.

The one being strange here was the outsider, poking around someone's yard when they had no business being here.

"...Did it taste good?"

"Hm? What did? Kitchen Gluta's beef soup? It was good, yes."

"That wasn't beef. It was pork, slaughtered on the outskirts and brought in. Gluta deceived you."

What? They lied about the ingredients? And then squeezed forty alke out of me for it?

I'd enjoyed that meal, and now suddenly I felt sick. Nothing short of ten free meal vouchers was going to settle this.

"Thank you for the tip, whistleblower. I'll go demand my money back right now."

"Is that all?"

"Is there something more?"

The moment I asked, something flashed cold from inside the pig-kin's cloak. Before I could register it, a sharp hostility drove into my side.

"Ugh!"

I cried out and crumpled as if stabbed. A stain spread slowly across my clothing. The pig-kin stared down at me with a vicious glee.

"Using a dog as a guard dog, filling your belly with pork. Oink. You liked taking, didn't you? How does it feel to be on the receiving end?"

"Ugh... what are you? Why are you doing this to me?"

"If you don't know, you'll figure it out. You got off easy for having eaten it unknowingly. Oink!"

The pig-kin yanked their hood down lower and bolted. Even pig-kin were quick on their feet. Stifling a groan, I pushed myself to the gate and shut it. Only once the latch clicked did I let myself breathe, slumping against the door and gulping air.

"Woof?"

When I looked up, Azzy had crept close and was watching me with worried eyes. This mutt, a guard dog? A dog that can't even bite a person, and she's supposed to be a guard dog. More like a stomach on legs.

Suddenly resentful of Azzy, I bit my lip and groaned.

"Someone's been stabbed and you're just staring? Go call the police, quick!"

"Woof? You weren't stabbed?"

"...Surprise!"

Good grief, why is a dog so perceptive? She must have caught that there was no smell of blood.

I pulled out the piece of meat I'd hidden under my clothes. The bone-in cut had a deep slash through it.

I'd pressed it against my side the moment the blade came in and squeezed it as I fell, letting the juices run. The pig-kin had mistaken the spreading meat juices for blood, decided the job was done, and took off running.

Good thing I ordered an extra serving. I tossed the slashed piece to Azzy and muttered to myself.

"Who sends an idiot like that as a killer? Well, maybe not a killer."

This was just terrorism. Someone who had trailed delivery workers to find homes eating pork, memorized the addresses, then went around stabbing people at random. The attack wasn't because I was the King of Humanity, or because I was Hughes. It was purely because I had eaten pork.

"This city is rough. I thought spending a month throwing money around would be comfortable enough, but... getting attacked like this was the last thing I expected."

Ende, the frontier city. I'd assumed having money made it paradise, but life wasn't that simple.

I sat there thinking it over, and Azzy tilted her head at me.

"Why did you let yourself get stabbed?"

"What was I supposed to do, dodge it? You take the hit."

"Woof? Just get out of the way!"

"If I dodge, next time they come back harder. Better to take one hit. Light stabs don't hurt that much."

Even if I dealt with this one, what if another showed up? Better to play the victim convincingly.

It did hurt, though, for what it's worth. I rubbed at the sore spot on my side and spoke up.

"Still, Azzy. Isn't it a little interesting?"

"Woof."

Azzy shook her head. She didn't seem to care much for fights between humans. But that was the dog's perspective.

"A pig-kin stabs someone just for eating pork? Do they think pigs are their ancestors? Not humans?"

Fascinating. I wanted to read more of that mind.

"Baa. Baa. Team Wool housekeeper service. Are you Hughes-nim, who placed the reservation?"

While I was turning it over in my head, I felt a group shuffling around outside the front gate. The real housekeepers, dispatched by a clan made up mainly of sheep-kin.

I rose lightly and opened the gate. This being their fourth time cleaning the manor, the sheep-kin bowed politely and got straight to work. Watching them bustle about seemed to make Azzy's paws itch, her whole body started bobbing, but I couldn't let her bother the staff, so I pulled her along.

"Azzy. Let's go for a walk."

"Woof!"

Regressor. Just as you wanted. I'm about to head out and take on the world.

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