WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 513

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Hour of the Dog and the Wolf - 6

Wind carrying the scent of earth raced across the open plains, unhindered. Long ago, all creatures were that wind drifting over the fields. They flowed across the soil, chasing water and grass, running the race of life and death out on the wild steppe. On those vast plains, birth held no particular glory and death held no particular cruelty. No one judged life or death. Everything simply dissolved back into the world.

Teia ran across the plains and felt free. She let the wolves' watching eyes fall behind her, let someone's worried cries fade into the distance, and drank in the feeling of pure release. Even the wind couldn't keep up. She was savoring that joy welling up from deep instinct when she spotted someone ahead.

A wolf girl. What other words could fit?

A girl stood alone in the middle of a pack of enormous wolves, looking for all the world like a shepherd tending a flock. Even catching the smell of blood drifting from afar, the wolves calmly tended to one another around her.

They say some humans are raised by wolves. This must be what that looks like. Did the King of Wolves drink wolf milk as a pup? When did she first realize she was different from them? Teia let her imagination wander freely...

'That's the King of Wolves. The target I need to draw out.'

Cold reason whispered to her. A shame, but the pleasant daydream ended there. Teia stopped in front of the wolf pack and forced a smile, raising her hand in a wave.

"Hello. Are you the King of Wolves?"

The wolves growled, wary of the unfamiliar human. A few were about to lunge when the wolf girl moved.

Sensing the king's will, the wolves parted on their own. The King of Wolves approached with light, easy, wolf-like steps and stared hard at Teia.

Teia felt a strange sense of familiarity. The King of Wolves was surely someone she had never seen before, yet somehow recognizable. Cold gray fur, deep blue eyes carrying a chill. A frightening presence that made the hair rise on her skin just from looking.

If she had encountered this being before, she would never have forgotten it. So why did it feel familiar? Teia was puzzling over the inexplicable feeling when the King of Wolves opened her mouth.

"You. You are wild."

The moment she heard that voice, Teia understood where the familiarity came from.

The King of Dogs.

The fur color was different. The eyes were different. The whole air about her was different. The King of Dogs was bright, open, and kind to everyone, with soft round eyes and a warm smile.

The King of Wolves, by contrast, was sharp, like she might bite whatever stood in front of her at any moment. If someone got bitten by those teeth, you'd sooner blame the person for daring to approach than blame the wolf.

That was why it had taken so long to notice.

The face wasn't merely similar to the King of Dogs. It was identical.

"Wild? I'd say I've lived a pretty decent life, actually."

"Wild. Like a horse."

"Oh, a horse? Right. I'm horse-kin."

"Why don't you use that wildness for yourself?"

Teia flinched. This was the King of Wolves, no ordinary creature by any measure, but she hadn't expected her to recognize her on sight and try to hold a conversation.

And the conversation was far more sophisticated than she had anticipated. The King of Wolves had seen straight through to Teia's core.

"There is wildness inside you. The wildness of a horse. Your legs were made for running away. You should be fleeing to the ends of the earth, away from everything hateful and frightening. So why are you blocking my path?"

"Well... to protect the city?"

"Have you been tamed? Trained not to show that wildness to humans? Even with a horse's wildness, you've been broken to use it for their sake?"

If a horse's wildness was in running, Teia had certainly run for humans. She had raced, placed first, waved to cheering crowds. The flowers and gifts and praise had all been for her.

It had worked out that way, but she had never really thought of it as serving anyone. She had simply run. Teia pushed back.

"I wasn't serving anyone! I received fair payment from the humans!"

"'You' did, perhaps. The most wild, and so the most thoroughly broken. You were the only one who survived."

"...!"

But what about the other racehorse-kin? Had they received fair payment?

Even as she wavered for just a moment, the wolf's low voice reached her ears.

"Humans tame beasts. They kill every beast that won't be tamed. They try to monopolize wildness. They pull out teeth, clip claws, fit shackles, pierce noses. They carve away the savagery and claim it as their own."

"Wolves..."

"I am the fangs you lost. I am the claws they cut away. I am the wide steppe that appeared once they had broken you."

She had expected the wolf to come at her tongue-lolling and all instinct, nothing but violence. She had thought the King of Wolves would be pure cruelty and savagery, without a trace of reason.

"I am the king of wildness. The king who keeps alive the wildness that all of you lost."

But the King of Wolves Teia saw before her, cruel and savage as she was, also carried something like grief. She was not simply an evil creature.

"Remember your wildness. Your horses are beasts that run to the ends of the earth, not things that wear shackles and serve as human feet."

"...I didn't expect to be on the receiving end of a recruitment pitch."

It wasn't something she could simply accept. But she understood clearly what was being said.

And at the same time, she understood on some instinctive level why the King of Wolves looked exactly like the King of Dogs.

The two were opposite sides of the same mirror. Identical, yet representing something entirely contrary. The dog who would never harm a human and the wolf who urged beasts to bare their wildness against humans were as different as they were alike.

Maybe, if Teia had lived a slightly different life. Or if the timing had been different. If she had been her most vulnerable self at some earlier point in her past, she might have been won over.

But what had led Teia here, to this moment, was Ende and the King of Dogs. Ende was a free city, and Teia loved it.

Right now, she had chosen to stand on the side of kindness.

"Maybe so. But the me right now runs for myself. My wildness belongs to me alone."

And more than anything.

Teia felt instinct stir inside her and looked at the King of Wolves.

"More than anything, I want to race you, wolf."

"...Grr."

The King of Wolves' mouth split wide in a savage grin. Feeling their king's mood, the wolves began to howl. As if singing the king's charge, hundreds of wolves spread out wide and readied themselves to follow.

At that moment, a shadow shot up beside the King of Wolves. Draped in a pitch-black robe, it moved toward the King of Wolves and spoke.

"Fenrir. That's a decoy..."

"Shut your mouth, human. You never tamed me."

Crack. The shadow was shattered into blood spray between one heartbeat and the next. The human being controlled by someone died on the spot. The King of Wolves, blood on her lips, didn't even glance at what she had done and fixed her gaze on Teia.

"I welcome your wildness, horse. Run."

Only now did Teia realize the King of Wolves had been holding back for her. With teeth bared and wildness unleashed, the King of Wolves was terrifying enough to raise goosebumps. Every cell in her body was screaming to run right now. Her hammering heart felt like it wanted to bolt before the rest of her could follow.

'Dangerous. Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. This is no joke. Unlike any race I've run before, if she catches me this time... I will actually die.'

And at the same time, Teia felt a rising thrill begin to fill her body. Heat surged through her, and she smiled, teetering on an edge.

No betting slips, no rankings, no proving anything. No ulterior motive. A race purely for her life was about to begin.

Teia exhaled. She planted her feet hard, ready to launch herself forward, and drew all the energy in her body down into her legs.

The plains wind brushed Teia's cheek. The fur of the King of Wolves rippled gently. Two wild creatures, each carrying their own savagery, drew one last breath before the hunt began.

Teia murmured.

"Let's race, Fenrir."

The wind that had been blowing without end stopped dead. That was the signal, and the two creatures launched themselves at full speed, each aimed straight for the other.

Blazing fast, the both of them. I had meant to keep pace with her, but she'd drifted off into her own head and sprinted way out ahead. She lives in a world that moves several times faster than everyone else.

I pushed the Oberli guard dogs and the beastkin special unit harder.

"Run faster. We can't let the wolves cut off Teia's path."

"We're already running as fast as we can! How are rabbit legs supposed to keep up with a horse!"

Kito, the rabbit mage who had been panting her reply at me, suddenly pulled up short. Separated from the main force and pressing ahead, we had nothing around us but wolves. The Oberli guard dogs were a fighting force, to be sure, but they fell well short of Obelisks or Beast Faction warriors.

Realizing the situation a beat late, Kito asked, trembling.

"W-wait. Aren't we in too deep?"

"We are. And we need to go deeper."

"Hiiieee? We're going to get eaten by wolves! There's no one out here to help us!"

"We're here."

"You're all weak!"

Shrieking, Kito looked around frantically. About a hundred Oberli guard dogs had formed up and were pushing forward, which kept the wolves from charging in, they only circled around the edges. Those were probably scouts, but even a handful of wolves was an opponent the Oberli guard dogs would have to fight for their lives against.

If the main force led by the King of Wolves came crashing down on them, that was simply death.

"If we're the decoy... we're just wolf food, aren't we?"

"I don't intend to become wolf food, but the wolves will certainly see us that way."

"...Goodbye forever!"

"Where do you think you're going."

I grabbed Kito by the ear as she tried to bolt. Rabbit ears are long, I suppose, they fit right in one hand. Kito flailed her arms and legs and wailed.

"Ow! Let go! It'll come right off!"

"What's wrong with you. You're the city's trap designer. You ought to be giving everything to protect the city."

"I never said I wanted to give my life! Damn that city. I'm sick of humans and beastkin both!"

Maybe it was the terror of the wolves. Whatever the reason, Kito let everything bottled up inside her pour right out.

"Do they think they're the only beastkin? I'm beastkin too! Just because rabbit beastkin are few, they ignore us, shun us, push us out! The cats are prickly and vicious so nobody messes with them. But rabbits are weak and timid, so they hit us and mock us! Ende deserved a good lesson a long time ago!"

The sudden outburst left the Oberli guard dogs wrong-footed. Not that Kito cared. She kept venting, jumping up and down.

"The pig-kin are just as bad! They bullied me worse than anyone, and now what? They're claiming they were discriminated against? And they're going to wield all the power they never got to enjoy? Then put me on the throne! I suffered the most and hurt the most! Waaahh!"

"At least after you awakened your innate arcane, you were drawing a salary from the city."

"You said it! Do you know how I awakened my innate arcane? Because those filthy pig-kin kept setting traps for rabbits! They'd lay traps along the paths I used every day and laugh watching me cry! I awakened it trying to figure out how to avoid traps!"

The city's sins run deep. No matter how much Kito might enjoy a reaction, setting actual traps crossed a line. Pestering someone could be dressed up as teasing a girl you like, but setting traps and snares, that was just hunting.

"I'm a coward... I'm weak and pathetic... Why should someone like me risk her life to protect this city..."

Kito sobbed. Honestly, protecting the city was never what she wanted. Taking the position of trap designer had been petty revenge, nothing more. Looking down on the people who had lorded it over her from her new position of authority, that was her little pleasure in life.

A resentment far deeper than anything the pig-kin could match filled her heart. Unlike the pig-kin, rabbit beastkin were too few to have many outlets for it.

But I'm not someone who forces people into things they don't want.

"Don't misunderstand. I'm trying to give you a chance to get what you actually want."

"Hic. What I... want?"

Kito's desires came from that resentment. She wanted revenge, but she also wanted to rise. She had a hunger to build a position solid enough that no one would ever look down on her again.

I, or more precisely, the regressor and I, had a plan to create exactly that situation for her.

"Let's make you a hero."

"A, a hero...?"

"Well, maybe not a hero. Putting it that way won't fire up someone who doesn't care about saving the city."

Let me think. What would work. Ah, that one.

I let the words hang for a moment, then made Kito a promise.

"I'll make you a god."

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