WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 487: Dog Training

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The regressor was ruled by her moods. I had known that for a long time, but I had never felt it as keenly as I did these days.

"Hi. Where are you going today?"

"Do you need anything? Something you want to eat, maybe?"

"Is there a weapon you usually use? I can get you something suitable!"

Unlike the past, when she was always prickly, things had been going well lately. She was in a good mood, so she kept trying to give me things. You appreciated warmth more after feeling the cold. The regressor's kindness felt strangely unfamiliar.

But who was I? A mind reader. I gladly accepted kindness without a reason. If I didn't take something now, when would I?

When the regressor asked what I wanted her to buy, I answered boldly.

"Please buy me some toys."

"What?"

Why? She had asked whether I needed anything. Why was she frowning so fiercely?

While tracking Orcma, I had openly shown my face and made my movements known. It was a decision I could make because it would quickly spread fear, and because I would not be staying in this city for long.

Still, it meant I could no longer show my face. If pig-kin laid eyes on me, the mansion would become a target.

So I explained that since I had to stay in the mansion alone, I needed toys to pass the time. The regressor answered reluctantly.

"You're not making excuses not to go outside, are you?"

"What are you talking about? If I wasn't going to go out, I wouldn't have gone out at all. I've been going out every night to beat up petty criminals, and you still doubt me? I'd be hurt if you questioned my sincerity after all that."

"Ah, no. I was just asking."

Excuses? I only went out to work because I didn't want to hear nagging! The best way to avoid nagging was to do what people wanted!

"So what do you need?"

"Long strips of cloth, rope, discs, and a scratcher."

"A scratcher?"

"The cork-like thing beastkin use to sharpen their fingernails and claws."

"I know what it is. But why?"

I had casually mentioned fighting the King of Wolves, and my presence in that battle really would be insignificant.

That did not mean I could prepare carelessly. My mind reading only worked on humans. I could not read how the King of Wolves would move or where its fangs would strike. Even the King of Humanity could not escape the fear of wolves.

There was only one reason I could step forward so confidently despite that. I raised my hand toward Azzy.

"I think it's about time Azzy and I learned to work together."

"Woof!"

Azzy jumped up and slapped my hand. She did not put any strength behind it or extend her claws, so I would not get hurt. It was the result of her instinct not to harm humans.

There would be no room for that kind of restraint when fighting wolves.

"Oh. Are you finally coming up with a strategy to fight the King of Wolves?"

"It isn't even a strategy. Ende and the wolves are the ones fighting. Could I make a plan and expect them to follow it? Even if they did, the other side is a mixed group of wolves and humans. There's no way things would go according to plan. I don't concern myself with things that won't work. I focus on more important things."

"Like what?"

"My survival."

I held out my hand to Azzy again. She instinctively reached out and placed her paw on it. This was how much force Azzy usually used on me. She was rougher in an emergency, but she still did not use enough strength to hurt me.

When we fought the King of Wolves, though, she would have to learn how to hurt me too. That was how I would survive.

"Hand."

"Woof!"

"Foot."

"Woof!"

When I raised my hand, she jumped and struck it. When I raised my foot, she raised hers and pressed it against mine. She treated me like a fragile tool now, but Azzy needed to learn my body's limits through tests of strength if I was going to survive the coming fight.

"Ah, I see. Can I watch too?"

"Aren't you busy today?"

"No. The supplies are ready, and there isn't much to do until Gruel enters Ende. Everything's going smoothly!"

"Tsk. Why does it make me so uneasy when Shei says things are going smoothly?"

"Why? Isn't it normal for things to go according to plan?"

"That depends on the person."

'What does that mean? Every time I regress, things normally go according to plan... Is he saying I'm someone whose plans never work out? That's only because I'm doing things I never did in previous loops. That's a little irritating.'

She was trying to understand the indirect insult. Before the regressor could give in to vague irritation, I cut in.

"Yes, go ahead and watch. Actually, while we're at it, why don't you train to handle Azzy too?"

"Train to handle Azzy?"

'Come to think of it, this is the first time I've seen Azzy fight after coming out of the Abyss unharmed. Until now, she either disappeared without a trace in the Abyss or was used by the Lords of All Creation. It might be good to measure Azzy's strength here.'

"Okay."

"Then go out and buy the toys I mentioned."

"Okay."

The regressor readily stepped outside the mansion to run my errand. After cheerfully walking through the door, she suddenly looked back at the tightly closed mansion gate and tilted her head.

'Wait. Why am I running errands? I feel like I got talked into this.'

People could talk you into things sometimes. Just do it for me.

'Well. Hughes has worked hard too. I'll think of it as a walk. Where was I supposed to buy them? Gold coins should be enough, right?'

A mood-driven person was still a mood-driven person. The regressor, now feeling generous, set off gladly.

If the merchants of Ende made the most of this chance to overcharge her, they could probably live off it for a year. As I read the regressor's fading thoughts, I offered them my congratulations.

Now then, what should I do? As I thought for a moment about what came next, Azzy came over and barked at me.

"Woof woof. Woof woof woof."

"If you have something to say, say it in human language. I can't understand you otherwise."

She had even learned to speak human language for my sake, since I could not read a dog's mind. With a hint of worry on her innocent face, Azzy spoke.

"Where are you going without sleeping?"

"When? At night?"

"Woof."

"To work."

Usually, that meant beating up violent pig-kin. Rumors that the King of Dogs had appeared were already spreading through Ende. Azzy could not attack people anyway, so bringing her along would not have helped much.

It was annoying and pointless to explain all that, so I gave her a vague answer. Azzy seemed to guess anyway and asked,

"Fighting? Humans?"

People called stupid people beast-like. It was not entirely wrong. Beasts generally had lower intelligence than humans.

But intelligence itself was a standard made by humans. What if beasts were given human language? What would humans think as they talked with beasts?

For the record, I did not think anything. I was a beast too.

Even after Azzy saw through what I meant, I answered without much feeling.

"Usually. If it isn't humans, there aren't really any suitable opponents to fight."

"Woof woof. Wolves!"

"The King of Wolves won't be here for a while. And I hear humans are helping the King of Wolves too. People call it a fight between dogs and wolves, but it's really a proxy war between two factions."

"Woof..."

Azzy suddenly drooped, lowering her ears and tail as she asked,

"Why do humans fight?"

"What kind of philosophical question is that all of a sudden? What's wrong? Beasts fighting each other isn't exactly unusual."

"Woof! I don't fight humans!"

"You should fight a little. How long are you planning not to fight?"

Some dogs attacked humans, and some wolves accepted humans into their packs and befriended them. That was probably because dogs and wolves shared the same roots.

But Azzy did not attack humans, while the King of Wolves charged at the sight of a human like it had gone mad. Thinking about it, the gap between ordinary beasts and Beast Kings felt strange. Well, Beast Kings represented the collective will of their species, so it was not entirely incomprehensible.

"I won't fight! If I don't fight, there won't be any fighting!"

"Will that really happen? Beasts forget even the dinner they ate yesterday. They might forget everything and fight again."

"Still won't fight! Woof! Forget fighting!"

Sure. If she said so, then so be it. Humans would keep fighting each other, but if Azzy did not fight even then, there would be no fighting as far as she was concerned.

"You'll fight the King of Wolves, though, right?"

"Woof! Promise!"

"That's a promise for you, not for me."

"Woof?"

"Why is your own fight a question? Well, we have the same enemy now. Protect me a little."

"Woof!"

She did not seem scared. Then again, I did not feel particularly afraid either. It was unavoidable. I had lost all my strength and become ordinary, but the 'promise' I made as a Beast King still remained and moved me.

Maybe I really was a Beast King. Not that it did me any good.

"Still, it's better to prepare in advance and raise our odds of winning, even a little."

"Woof woof! Great!"

"But I still don't know, Azzy. What can we do to raise those odds a little more?"

"Woof woof. Woof?"

"Right. I don't know either. We're not prophets."

A prophet would know, of course. But prophets could not choose the future for someone else. They only took what benefited them from the futures they read.

I was not asking anyone to choose for me either. If they came close enough to let me read their mind, I would make use of them too. Otherwise, there was no need.

"Then I think the best thing we can do is our best in each moment, Azzy. You understand, right?"

"...Woof woof. Bad face."

"Me? Who else has a face as kind as mine?"

Azzy slowly backed away and lay down a short distance from me. Honestly, she read people's emotions better than most humans. She was too stupid to be fooled by words or circumstances. She simply sensed things through animal instinct.

That did not last long, though.

"I bought them!"

The regressor returned from her errand and held out the toys. Azzy immediately started wagging her tail and showing interest. Looking at her like this, she did seem pretty stupid.

Footnotes:

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