WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 480

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How Do You Even Supply This, the Country Will Collapse!

Piggy, and Orcma. A secret organization of pig-kin dedicated to stopping people from eating pork. Beastkin and meat. The many conflicts surrounding Ende.

Fascinating information, all of it. But there was something more important than any of that. My diet.

Knowing I could get stabbed even through a food delivery, I couldn't bring myself to order anything anymore. But the thought of going without meat was depressing enough on its own. And above all, with the regressor keeping an eagle eye on every coin right now, I couldn't exactly wander around buying beef whenever I felt like it.

Wasn't there somewhere out there, a restaurant just for me, one that served something delicious and reliable and different every single time?

I caught myself mid-thought and shook my head.

That's just hiring a personal chef. Something only possible if you're royalty, or loaded to the regressor's level. Out of the question for someone living off an allowance from said regressor.

Wait. Hold on. Come to think of it, wasn't that exactly how the regressor ate? With that Manhan Quanxi thing?

She was keeping something that good all to herself? I couldn't let that stand. We were companions now, we should share. I sidled over toward her.

"Shei-ssi."

"What? If you're asking for money again, tell me what it's for first and bring me the receipt later."

The regressor looked up from the desk where she had been writing something, her answer dripping with irritation. Heartless.

"Do I look like the kind of creature who opens his mouth only to beg for pocket money? This is about something else."

"Something else? Do you have a plan for dealing with the King of Wolves?"

"No. Not that."

"Then it's not worth my time. I'm busy right now."

She tapped her pen against the writing paper.

"Do you know what the King of Wolves is searching for?"

"Obviously. Azzy, right?"

"Right. The King of Wolves is hunting for the King of Dogs. So the King of Dogs wanders the world, looking for someone to stand with her against the wolves. This time around, Azzy went to the military state, and the military state tricked her into the Abyss. Do you know why?"

Who exactly are you asking? I'm the King of Humanity. Even if you remember the future through regression, does that really put you ahead of someone who was personally there for it?

"Because they were afraid the King of Wolves would come looking."

"...You do know your stuff. The Abyss is a complete pocket dimension under the Earth Mother's curse. The moment Azzy vanished, the King of Wolves lost her trail and started circling. That's why the King of Wolves ended up roaming the southern Enger Plain for so long."

"And?"

"You still don't see it? It's only a matter of time before the King of Wolves comes storming all the way here!"

The King of Wolves hunts the King of Dogs by instinct. And the King of Dogs is only looking for humans to help her, not actively running from the King of Wolves. Even without meaning to, the two kings naturally find each other, fight, and kill. From the moment Azzy entered Ende, this was always going to happen. But that much, everyone already knew, didn't they?

"So? You planned for this, Shei-ssi. You wanted to use Ende's strength as a resource."

Ende was the city with the longest history of conflict against the King of Wolves. It had fences built to hold wolves back, powerful traps, and no shortage of tough beastkin. Living closest to the threat meant they were always ready to fight.

Honestly, that was part of why I hadn't bothered doing much work. Ende had developed precisely to fight wolves when the time came. There was nothing for me to add.

'Ugh. This is hard to explain without regression or foresight. Should I say it was to sharpen Hughes's sense of danger...?'

Still hiding things, are you? Well, judging by your face, it looks less like you were hiding it on purpose and more like you just forgot.

The regressor chose her words carefully.

"This is classified. The truth is, Ende has a hidden problem."

"Wow. Shei-ssi, you never fail to impress. Locked up in the Abyss for more than half a year, and before that you were out collecting treasures and mastering energy arts. And you still know classified secrets about a backwater city on the edge of the Enger Plain?"

With nothing she could say to that, the regressor snapped for no real reason.

"...Fine! I heard it from the Sanctum. Happy now?"

"So it comes out of your own mouth after all. Decided to just be honest, have you?"

"You're the one who was suspicious first! Now will you listen?!"

Tch. This never would have happened with Tyr around. With no immediate means of retaliation, I sat down across from the regressor and listened.

"Right. This city is on the frontier, so beastkin were always numerous here to begin with, but after the wolf threat appeared, humans started quietly leaving. There are still plenty of humans left, but at this point it's essentially a beastkin autonomous zone."

It looked that way. The most common sight since we arrived had been beastkin, going about their economic lives with remarkable energy. Other countries didn't let beastkin operate this freely.

The military state exploited beastkin just as hard as everyone else. The Lesser States had a broken economy. And the Duchy treated beastkin and humans alike as livestock, without discrimination.

...Come to think of it, the countries I had been through so far hadn't really seen much in the way of racial tension. Then again, what was the point of discriminating against each other when everyone was equally stuck in the gutter.

"But beastkin aren't fools, either. It's an open secret that the humans here are using beastkin as a shield. Plenty of beastkin feel that after all the blood they've spilled, they deserve better treatment. So they push for more rights and act on it."

More rights. Ah, was that why Piggy had founded Orcma?

I figured I would show off what I had dug up.

"Like Orcma?"

"Orc? The pig-kin? They do make up a fair number, but they're not exactly the main force."

The regressor clearly had no idea Orcma existed. I lowered a shoulder that had risen in anticipation.

Great. Not even in the regressor's memory. So Orcma really is just a band of petty criminals terrorizing people for eating pork.

"Anyway. Some of them... would rather side with the King of Wolves and drive the humans out."

"Is that even possible? The King of Wolves would tear any human apart on sight."

"Any ordinary human, yes. But beastkin are different. The wolf-kin called Werewolves, in particular, lead a powerful pack under the King of Wolves."

No matter how strong the King of Wolves was, even a beast had limits when it came to forming and sustaining a group. Having the Beast King kept the bonds from fraying, but it didn't fill hungry bellies. The more powerful an army, the more terrifying an enemy logistics becomes.

But with Werewolves in that army, the picture changed entirely. With human intelligence and knowledge in the mix, even a beast horde could grow its numbers.

"That's why I said things were urgent. Now that the King of Wolves is moving, there's no telling what interference those Werewolves might stir up."

...Orcma really did look like small-time crime by comparison. Ah, what an interesting issue it had seemed, though. A shame.

"Do you get it now? The reason I told you to build a power base was to be ready when that interference came. Having forces that can move freely in a crisis makes things a lot easier."

"So there was that much thought behind it. Understood. I'll get on it."

"Hmph. Now you say so."

"Give me a few days, it'll be fine. More than that, Shei-ssi. I have a question."

"Now what?"

All the talk about Ende had made me miss my opening. I finally got to the real point.

"How do you eat?"

"Eat? Nothing special, I use the Manhan Quanxi."

"Exactly. What is that, anyway?"

'Ah, come to think of it, have I ever actually shown Hughes the Manhan Quanxi? I didn't in the Abyss, and after that we were always on the move, just eating whatever was convenient.'

"Right. I'll show you."

Without much thought, the regressor opened the pocket. The air split with a crack, and the space beyond, a place permitted to her alone, shimmered into view. She rummaged around inside for a moment, then pulled out a covered plate.

"I have the Manhan Quanxi. A treasure that cooks automatically, as long as you supply the ingredients."

She lifted the lid. The plate was empty. She replaced the lid, pressed down lightly on the handle, and there was a faint ding. The lid began to tremble and emit a thin curl of steam.

After a short while the trembling stopped. She lifted the lid again. On the plate sat a piece of meat, glazed and grilled with layer after layer of soy sauce marinade.

"Wait, what?! Is this some kind of magic?"

"Manhan Quanxi. It's just a plate, but it's a treasure that produces ten thousand different dishes from whatever ingredients you put in. It was made by an imperial court chef from long ago, someone who had mastered innate arcane arts, as a posthumous offering to the emperor, so they could keep serving even after death."

What an absurd thing to leave behind. Wait. That would mean, all that time in the Abyss when I never once saw her eat...

"You've been holing up in your room this whole time, secretly eating delicious food all by yourself?!"

"Secretly? The Manhan Quanxi can only make one bowl at a time, for what it's worth. It doesn't cook well when you're moving around, and once it's done you have to wait for the lid to cool before using it again."

"You wait a little while, that's all! Some of us were scraping by on a single tin of tinned food to fill a starving stomach! You were eating well the whole time, and you had the nerve to complain about us ordering delivery?!"

"W-why are you like this? It's not like I didn't give you money for food. I didn't say don't eat, I said do some work first."

I nearly got killed buying that food! The nerve of this selfish person. Having a supply source that stable and not sharing a bite. She never even thought to offer.

Azzy had wandered over at some point and was blinking at the plate with wide eyes.

"I'm starting to genuinely wonder whether Shei-ssi actually considers us companions."

"Woof! Monopoly! Bad! Sharing! Good!"

"Food is such a critical issue. Keeping it to yourself because you didn't want to share."

"Woof woof woof! Smells good! Awoo! Hungry!"

"Ugh, fine! I'll give you one bowl, all right?!"

'The ingredients are piled up in the pocket anyway, so it's no trouble sharing a little. I just didn't mention it because I figured they'd pester me to cook for them constantly.'

If it was no trouble, just say so from the beginning! It's people like you that make the world run so needlessly inefficiently!

The regressor took some ingredients out of the pocket, placed them on the plate, and used the Manhan Quanxi again. She hadn't seemed to add anything special, but what came out the other end was a delicate court dish, the meat lightly blanched, thinly sliced, and rolled together with vegetables.

"Here."

"Woof!"

"Azzy. Not at the same table. Can't you see this is for the human?"

She pushed Azzy back from the plate, but two pieces of the meat rolls had already disappeared into Azzy's mouth. I clamped Azzy's mouth shut before she could take any more and ate one of the remaining rolls.

Delicious.

Plain-looking at first glance, but a light scattering of spice and crisp vegetables drew out the full flavor of every ingredient. The texture and the aroma were both purely, genuinely excellent. A different class entirely from some restaurant that just throws meat and bones into a pot and calls it done. Was this the power of a treasure?

My hand reached for the next piece almost on its own, and found only empty plate. Had Azzy already gotten to it? No, there hadn't been much to begin with. The court chef's food was stingy to the point of feeling expensive, barely enough for a taste.

This just left me hungrier. I fidgeted with the empty plate, vaguely dissatisfied, and the regressor said, as if she had been expecting exactly this:

"See? Not enough."

...So what am I supposed to do about that? I stared at her, incredulous.

"Why are you smug about it? Is this where you say it's too little to bother sharing, so you'll just keep it all to yourself from now on? Honestly. Not even the bare minimum of social grace. You could stand to loosen up a little, you know?"

"Woof woof! Barely a taste! More!"

"Azzy. Not you. There were vegetables mixed in and it was seasoned, so it'll upset a dog's stomach."

"Woof! I, omnivore!"

"You never so much as glance at vegetables normally, and now you're making the omnivore case?"

It really was too little to share properly. Next time I would have to lose Azzy somewhere and eat alone. While I was locked in a staring contest with Azzy waiting for the next bowl, the regressor set down her work and watched the two of us with weary eyes.

"You two make a scene over everything."

'Food is just something you eat to get nutrients, in the end. I'm not sure why they have to carry on like this.'

Then give me the Manhan Quanxi and go buy yourself something outside! Sitting there full to bursting and still looking smug about it!

Whatever I was thinking inside, the regressor's mind was perfectly serene. Watching me and Azzy bicker, she let slip the faintest smile, so small it was barely even there.

'...Eating together like this. It's not so bad.'

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