WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 513: Hour of the Dog and the Wolf - 6

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A wind heavy with the scent of earth raced across the unobstructed grassland.

Long ago, every beast had been a wind wandering the fields. They trod upon the soil, followed water and grass, and raced through life and death across the wilderness. On those vast plains, birth was not radiant, nor was death cruel. No one judged life or death. They simply melted into the world.

Teia ran across the plain and felt free. Leaving behind the wolves targeting her and the cries of someone worried for her, she savored that sense of liberation. Even the wind could not overtake her.

As Teia walked, reveling in instinctive joy, she saw someone ahead.

A wolf girl. What other words could suit her better?

A girl stood alone among enormous wolves, like a shepherd tending a flock. Despite the scent of blood drifting from afar, they calmly looked after one another.

They said some humans had been raised by wolves. Maybe they looked like that. Had the wolf girl grown up drinking a mother wolf's milk? When had she realized she was different from the wolves? Teia let her imagination run wild...

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

Cold reason whispered to her. Regretfully, her pleasant fantasy ended there. Teia stopped before the wolf pack, forcing a smile as she waved.

"Hello. Are you the King of Wolves?"

The wolves growled, wary of the unfamiliar human. Just as several were about to leap at her, the wolf girl moved.

Sensing their king's will, the wolves naturally opened a path. The King of Wolves approached with steps as light and graceful as a wolf's, then stared directly at Teia.

Teia felt a strange sense of familiarity. She had clearly never seen the King of Wolves before, yet she somehow looked familiar. Cold gray fur. Deep blue eyes that held winter within them. A terrifying presence that seemed to make Teia's fur stand on end just by looking at her.

If she had met her once, she would never have forgotten. Why did she feel this way? As Teia pondered that inexplicable feeling, the King of Wolves opened her mouth.

"You. Savage."

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

The King of Dogs.

Their fur was different. Their eyes were different. The feeling they gave off was different. The King of Dogs was bright and kind, smiling warmly with round eyes as she treated everything with goodwill.

The King of Wolves, by contrast, looked sharp enough to tear apart whatever stood before her at once. If someone got bitten by those teeth, they should blame the person foolish enough to approach a wolf rather than the wolf.

That was why Teia had realized it so late.

Their features were not merely similar. They were exactly the same.

"Savage? I like to think I've lived a pretty decent life."

"Savage. Like a horse."

"Oh, a horse? Right. I'm a horse beastkin."

"Why don't you use your savagery for yourself?"

Teia flinched. Her opponent was the King of Wolves. She was no ordinary beast, but Teia had never expected her to recognize her and try to speak with her.

What was more, their conversation was more sophisticated than Teia had expected. The King of Wolves had seen straight through her nature.

"You have a horse's savagery inside you. Your legs are meant for fleeing. You should run to the ends of the earth from what you hate and fear. Why do you stand in my path?"

"Uh... to protect the city?"

"Tamed? Unable to show savagery toward humans? Even though you possess a horse's savagery, have you been tamed to use it for humans?"

If a horse's savagery was running, Teia had certainly used it for humans. She raced, came in first, and waved to the cheers of the crowd. The flowers, gifts, and praise were all for her.

That was how it had turned out, but she had never thought of herself as serving humans. She had only run. Teia objected.

"I wasn't serving them! I received fair compensation from humans!"

"'You' did, the most savage and therefore the most thoroughly tamed horse. You must have been the only one who survived."

"...!"

But what about the other racehorse beastkin? Had they truly received fair compensation?

As her ears trembled for a moment, the wolf's low voice reached her.

"Humans tame beasts. They kill every beast that has not been tamed. They try to monopolize savagery. They pull teeth, cut claws, place harnesses, pierce noses. They cut away cruelty and make it their own nourishment."

"Wolf..."

"I am the teeth you lost. I am the claws you tore away. I am the vast wilderness revealed after they break us."

Teia had thought the King of Wolves would charge with her tongue hanging out the moment she saw her. She had expected her to be cruel and savage, with no trace of reason.

"I am the King of Savagery. The king who reminds all of you of the savagery you have lost."

Yet the King of Wolves Teia saw, while cruel and savage... also carried sadness within her. She did not seem to be a being who was simply evil.

"Remember your savagery. You horses are beasts meant to run to the ends of the earth. You are not objects meant to wear harnesses and replace human feet."

"...I never thought I'd be recruited."

She could not easily accept it. Still, she clearly understood what the King of Wolves meant.

At the same time, Teia instinctively understood why the King of Wolves looked exactly like the King of Dogs.

They were opposite sides of a mirror. They looked alike, but represented things that were completely opposed. The dog who would never harm humans and the wolf who urged beasts to show humans their savagery were as alike as they were different.

Perhaps, if Teia had lived a slightly different life. Or if the timing had been different. If she had been at her weakest in the past, she might have been persuaded by the wolf.

But Ende and the King of Dogs had brought Teia this far. Ende was a free city, and Teia loved it.

Now, she chose to stand on the side of kindness.

"Maybe. But I run for myself now. My savagery belongs to me."

And more than anything.

Teia felt instinct stirring within her as she looked at the King of Wolves.

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

"...Woof."

The King of Wolves' mouth stretched wide in a savage grin. The wolves, sensing their king's emotions, began to howl. As though singing of their king setting out, hundreds of wolves spread across the plain and prepared to follow.

Then a shadow suddenly rose beside the King of Wolves. Wearing a pitch-black robe, it approached her and spoke.

"Fenrir. That's a lure..."

"Shut up, human. You have not tamed me."

Crunch.

The shadow that had appeared so suddenly shattered into a spray of blood. A human controlled by someone else lost their life in an instant. With blood around her mouth, the King of Wolves did not spare the corpse a glance and fixed her eyes on Teia.

"I welcome your savagery, Horse. Run."

Only then did Teia realize that the King of Wolves had been considerate of her. Now that she had bared her teeth and unleashed her savagery, the King of Wolves was frightening enough to make Teia's skin crawl. Every cell in her body screamed at her to run right away. Her pounding heart seemed ready to flee before the rest of her body.

'Dangerous. Dangerousdangerous. This isn't a joke. Unlike every race I've run before, if I get caught this time... I'll really die.'

At the same time, Teia felt an increasingly thrilling excitement fill her body. Heat welled up inside her, and Teia wore a dangerous smile.

There were no betting slips, records, or proof to be gained. A race for nothing but life itself was about to begin.

Teia let out a breath. Preparing for the race to come, she planted her feet firmly and channeled all the qi in her body into her legs.

The wind over the grassland brushed Teia's cheek. The King of Wolves' fur fluttered softly. The two beasts, each holding savagery within them, took one last breath before the hunt began.

Teia muttered.

"Let's settle this, Fenrir."

The ceaseless wind stopped dead.

That was the signal. The two beasts burst forward at full speed, each making the other their target.

She was damn fast. I had meant to escort her there, but she got lost in thought and ran off into the distance by herself. It felt like she lived in a world several times faster than everyone else.

I urged the Oberli guards and the beastkin detachment onward.

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

"We're already running as fast as we can! How are we supposed to catch a horse with rabbit steps?"

Kito, the rabbit mage, answered me while panting, then suddenly stopped. We had advanced away from the main force, and there were nothing but wolves around us. The Oberli guards were an armed group, but they were far inferior to the Obelisks and the Beast Faction warriors.

Kito finally grasped the situation and asked, trembling.

"M-more importantly, haven't we gone too deep into enemy territoryyyyy...?"

"That's right. And we need to go deeper."

"H-hieeeek? The wolves will bite us! There's no one around to help us!"

"We're here."

"We're weak!"

Kito shrieked and quickly looked around. A little over a hundred Oberli guards advanced in formation, so the wolves only circled them instead of attacking. Those wolves were probably scouts, but even wolves at that level were enemies the Oberli guards would have to fight for their lives.

If the main force led by the King of Wolves attacked, there would be nothing but death.

"If we lure them... won't we become wolf food?"

"I have no intention of becoming wolf food, but the wolves will certainly see us as food."

"...Goodbyyyyyye!"

"Where do you think you're going?"

I tightly grabbed Kito's ear as she tried to run. Rabbit ears were long, so they fit neatly in one hand. Kito flailed all four limbs and cried.

"Ah! It's coming out! It's going to pop right ouuuuut!"

"What's gotten into you? You're the city's trap designer. You should devote yourself to protecting it."

"I don't want to devote my life too! That damned city. I'm sick of both humans and beastkin!"

Maybe it was the fear of the wolves. Kito freely spilled the grievances she had been holding inside.

"Are they the only beastkin? I'm beastkin too! They ignore, ostracize, and exclude me because there aren't many rabbit beastkin! They don't mess with cats because they're prickly and fierce, but rabbits are weak and timid, so they only beat us up and make fun of us! Ende deserved to get taught a lesson!"

The Oberli guards were flustered by that sudden confession of her true feelings. Kito paid them no mind and continued hopping around as she vented.

"The pig beastkin are the same! They bullied me even more, and now what? Pigs have been discriminated against? So they'll enjoy the power they never had until now? If that's what they want, they should make me their king! I've suffered the most, and I've been hurt the most! Waaaaaah!"

"You've still been receiving a salary from the city since you awakened your innate arcane."

"Good point! Do you know how I awakened my innate arcane? Those damned fools kept setting rabbit traps everywhere! They put traps along the paths I used, then laughed and laughed when they saw me crying! I awakened while trying to find ways to avoid traps!"

The city's sins ran deep. No matter how cute Kito's reactions were, traps crossed a line. You could call it bothering a girl you liked if you just poked at her a little, but setting traps and snares was just hunting, wasn't it?

"I'm a coward... I'm weak and pitiful... Why, how, why should someone like me risk my life to protect a cityyyyy...?"

Kito burst into tears. Certainly, her wish was not to protect the city. She had taken the position of trap designer only for a little revenge. Her pleasure came from secretly looking down on the people who had once tormented her, all while standing above them in a high position.

Her heart was full of a sense of grievance far greater than the pig beastkin's. Unlike the pig beastkin, the fewer rabbit beastkin had simply had far fewer ways to express it.

But I was not someone who forced people to do things they did not want to do.

"Don't misunderstand. I'm trying to create an opportunity for you to achieve your wish."

"Hic. M-my wish...?"

Kito's wish grew out of that sense of grievance. She wanted revenge, but she also had ambition. She wanted to build an unshakable position so no one could ever look down on her again.

I, or rather, the regressor and I, planned to create that situation for her.

"I'll make you a hero."

"A-a hero...?"

"No, that won't do. You have no interest in saving the city, so calling you a hero won't motivate you."

Let's see. What would work? Ah, that would be good.

After drawing it out for a moment, I made Kito a promise.

"I'll make you a god."

Footnotes:

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