WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 533: Just a Feeling

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The Mountain Lord made sure to fill her belly before leaving. That would not have been a problem if it had not been my food, but thanks to her, I ended up doing delivery work I had never expected to do. With food for the bedridden regressor and the gluttonous dog loaded onto a carrying frame on my back, I trudged back to the mansion.

As soon as I entered the yard, Azzy came running out barefoot.

"Woof! Food! Food!"

"You're only happy to see food, not me?"

"You brought food, so I'm happy to see you!"

"Thanks for saying you're happy to see me, even if you don't mean it."

Azzy circled me with her tongue hanging out as I entered the mansion. Normally, I would have tossed her a piece of meat and eaten at the table, but I also had to tend to a regressor who could not even get up on her own.

I gathered some dishes and headed to the inner room where the regressor lay.

"Do you want to eat or not? If you miss this meal, you'll have to wait until the next one. Azzy won't leave anything behind."

"...I'll eat."

The regressor was willingly eating commoner's food? Well, she did not insist on Manhan Quanxi because she was picky. It was simply convenient and safe. Still, this was the first time I had seen her so obedient.

While I tossed Azzy a chunk of meat and took out the food, the regressor stared at me and sank into thought.

'...Hughes likes me?'

Huh? What? What kind of absurd nonsense was that? I almost looked at the regressor with open contempt, but restrained myself. She had only thought it, and if I failed to control my expression and met her eyes now, she would discover my mind-reading.

'Not in that sense, obviously... I never got that impression. He did help me, but we were using each other, or I forced him into it.'

Ha. Whether it was that sense or any other, how about questioning the assumption that I liked her in the first place? And I was cooperative because she was a regressor. I could not afford to get on the bad side of a cheat character who could turn back time whenever things went wrong. If you cannot beat them, join them.

'...But Tyrkanzyaka, who was favorable toward me in the previous cycle, was hostile to me in this one. Had Tyrkanzyaka changed so much when the end was near? Or did she place her hopes in my regression?'

So she had revealed that she was a regressor to Tyr in the previous cycle. Well, even Tyrkanzyaka would want to gamble on regression if it offered hope with the end looming.

'Compared to that, Hughes has been cooperative without knowing I regress. Though he did seem to try to leave me behind sometimes.'

I know! I know, which is why I'm cooperative! And why I tried to leave you behind!

'Right. It makes no sense. Azzy must have seen it wrong. I'm not kind like Azzy said, either.'

At least her self-assessment was objective. If she had started believing she was kind, there really would have been no saving her.

No, wait. What had Azzy said while I was gone? What? That I liked her because she was kind?

This was why beasts would not do. They could only judge whether I was favorable toward them, never understand my true feelings. Give them plenty of food while fattening them up to make stew someday, and they would be happy about it.

The only reason I was taking care of the regressor's meals was because she was my sole connection to the Sanctum. I was helping her so I could use her.

I ladled a thick soup into a bowl, made with meat broth seasoned with salt and spices, onions, carrots, and cabbage. It was ordinary, but any dish that had survived thousands of years of culinary history had proven itself. I set the soup, which provided both nutrition and fullness in one bowl, before the regressor.

"Ugh. Than... urgh!"

The regressor tried to sit up, grimaced, and collapsed back down. She had drunk precious elixirs like water and received Azzy's treatment, but the internal injuries the Mountain Lord had inflicted still remained.

Azzy, who had been eating with her face buried in her plate, came over in concern.

"Woof? Does it hurt?"

"Ugh, I think I'll be better if I rest a little longer..."

"Eat! You have to eat to get better!"

"I want to, but..."

The Mountain Lord had certainly taught her some manners. This was the first time I had seen the regressor so weak. They said pain gave people too much to think about, and unlike usual, she had been full of pointless thoughts today.

No, wait. Let us look at it another way.

Whatever the reason, it was better for me to stay on the regressor's good side. Since I could not read memories from before her regression, I had no way to actively obtain information unless she revealed the truth herself.

The regressor had opened up to me considerably. Favor was like a product. You bought plenty when it was on sale. Especially with a difficult, suspicious regressor like her, I might never get another chance to properly connect with her.

I tore the meat apart with a spoon, piled vegetables over it, and scooped everything up at once. Supporting the spoon carefully with my hand, I held it out.

"Here, Mr. Shei."

"Huh?"

"Open wide."

"Ah...?"

I brought the spoon toward her open mouth. The regressor was about to accept the food without understanding what was happening, then abruptly shut her mouth in shock.

"W-what are you doing?"

"What do you think? I'm personally tending to Mr. Shei, who can't move either his hands or feet."

"Why are you suddenly tending to me? It doesn't suit you at all!"

"It's not a big deal. If someone is sick, you can help them a little. Even dogs give up their food when a sick friend is whining beside them."

"W-woof?"

Startled, Azzy repeatedly looked between the meat and the regressor. She crept closer like a guilty puppy, squeezed her eyes shut as though it pained her, and pushed her plate of meat toward the regressor. She was trembling as if she were giving away one of her own arms.

"No, Azzy. It's alright."

"Woof? It's alright? Then I won't hold back!"

You should hold back a little. You started eating it right in front of her after she refused.

"Anyway, see? You have to eat if you want to regain your strength. That's basic common sense."

"That's true, but..."

'They say people die when they suddenly start doing things they never did before... What is this? Why is he suddenly being nice?'

"Ugh, stop chattering. When someone is kind to you, accept it gratefully. I won't do this for you once you're better anyway."

"Mm!"

I pushed the spoon into her mouth. The regressor seemed startled for a moment, but eventually gave up and ate. Chewing seemed painful too, and she frowned, but she was not injured badly enough to be unable to swallow. She just chewed with a sullen look on her face.

"Keep chewing. You're finishing this whole bowl."

"Chew, gulp... No, there's no need to go that far. Mmph."

"Since you can talk, your mouth must be empty."

Spoonful after spoonful, the bowl was nearly empty before I knew it.

"No, I'm really full now. Stop."

"That's a misconception. Your body is tricking you into feeling full. Here."

"Ahmph..."

'This is really strange. He isn't the kind of person to be this nice... Or is he? Have I been judging Hughes too harshly?'

You finally got there.

'Hughes is violent. More precisely, he is barbaric. Yet he has never committed any obvious evil. Not in the military state, the Lesser States, or Ende. Far from being tainted by sin, he helped people. He may be barbaric, but he isn't evil. As if barbarity isn't necessarily evil.'

The plan seemed successful. People were beasts in the end. If you helped them when they were hungry and hurt, they were bound to be grateful. This was rewarding enough to make caring for her worthwhile.

'...Could Hughes really like me?'

Damn it. What a way to ruin my mood. Should I pour the bowl over her?

'My goal is to defeat the King of Sin and stop the end. Since Hughes is also the King of Humanity, he might be helping me because I'm trying to save humanity.'

Then think that way from the beginning! Don't make even someone with mind-reading misunderstand you!

The regressor was not simply faster to act than to think. She had no stages to her thinking. A flash of inspiration in the middle would redefine both her thoughts and actions. It was practically a beast's way of thinking.

She really was my natural enemy. Right. Better to be on the same side as your natural enemy than fight them. Endure it. Just endure it.

"I'm done."

"How many days do you think it'll take for you to recover?"

"In about three days, I should be able to move. The rest can heal slowly."

"Three days after those injuries? Are you even human?"

"What are you talking about? I'm more human than you, who came back to life after being torn apart by the Mountain Lord."

That was true. Now that I understood the Demon God's true value, my life was more tenacious than the regressor's. Ah, I could not whine about being weak and protect myself anymore.

"By the way, can you become a vampire when you're the King of Humanity?"

"Why couldn't I? Vampires are human too."

"You've kept refusing the offer to become an Elder until now."

"If I become an Elder, my thoughts and will would all fall under Tyr's control. Neither Tyr nor I want that. What Tyr truly wanted was for me not to die or get hurt in vain. She didn't want to turn me into a puppet."

"You make it sound like you're different from vampires now."

"I am different. This isn't vampirism. It's the Demon God's power."

"A Demon God...?"

"Yes. Ah, didn't I tell you? Tyr finally became a Demon God. There's not much difference from before, though."

The regressor's eyes widened as she lay there.

"Why are you only telling me something that important now?!"

"Huh? I didn't tell you?"

"You didn't! This is the first I've heard of it!"

"Well, it's good that I told you now. Keep that in mind. Even if she became a Demon God, vampires already exist, right? There might not be any great change in the world."

"How could there not be?! Absolutely not!"

"Huh?"

'What happens if Tyrkanzyaka becomes a Demon God? At least she is still alive, like Nevida, so the Demon God's power won't be released without a will to direct it... But there is one problem. The two of them hate the Sanctum intensely.'

A living Demon God was less dangerous than a dead one. The reason was simple. It was not because a Demon God was weak, but because they were still bound to life.

A Demon God that had already died and remained only as a tool could wield all sorts of power according to its user's will. Even after death, a Demon God that had been reached once was engraved upon the world, so its power never diminished. By comparison, even a living Demon God hesitated to use that immense power. Their innate arcane could control the world itself and sweep them and everyone around them into it.

The Lord of Gold had been like that, and so had the Great Master. The only one more unrestrained than a person prepared to die was someone already dead.

But what if those two Demon Gods were willing to risk death to destroy the Sanctum? The Sanctum would not emerge unharmed from Demon Gods with clear wills and fierce rage.

'Even if they get a chance to destroy the Sanctum, those two will refuse at first. They'll want to thoroughly desecrate and humiliate the Holy Maiden and the Celestial God before that. And if they've become Demon Gods... they have the power to do it. Of all things, the Tree of Origin and bloodcraft.'

Now that I heard it, their Demon Gods were rather connected. Were they going to form an alliance at this rate? Well, even if they did, nothing bad would happen to me.

'Ugh. Then what happens later... What should I do? If the Great Descent happens, the Empire and the Sanctum will form a complete front line... War will break out immediately.'

The Great Descent? A front line? Sigh. She was having thoughts only she understood again.

I decided to stop analyzing the regressor's thoughts as I read them. No matter how much effort I put into piecing them together, it would all become useless when she came up with another idea a few days later. I would just feed her, apply medicine, and build up some favor. That was the quickest path.

As I read the regressor's anxious thoughts, I took out my own food. I had fed her, so it was time to fill my own stomach.

I kept scooping up spoonfuls to satisfy my hunger. The warm broth seeped into my body, leaving me utterly fulfilled. I had become immortal, but I still seemed capable of feeling hunger.

A Demon God was one who engraved their innate arcane upon the world. Through Tyr's will, I was now engraved upon the world as Hughes. It did not feel as though I would die from starvation, but... hm. There was no need to test it. It would be painful, and I would be hungry.

They say even a ghost who dies after eating has a fine complexion. I should eat while I could. Just as I was scraping the bowl clean with my spoon...

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

The regressor suddenly shouted. I nearly dropped my spoon, then wiped my mouth and replied.

"You startled me. What is it all of a sudden? You don't even bother a dog while it's eating!"

"Woof? I'm a dog, but you bothered me."

"Really? So humans made that idiom and didn't even follow it? It clearly shows how little business integrity humans have. I apologize on behalf of all humanity."

"Woof! It's fine! You can bother me as much as you want, just give me food!"

While I was reaching a dramatic compromise with the dog, the neglected regressor shrieked.

"Not that...! That's the spoon I was using!"

"Why? It's natural to use a spoon when eating food."

"Use another one! There are plenty of spoons! Why are you putting the one I used straight into your mouth?!"

"Ah, that was the problem? Really. Making such a fuss over using a spoon."

She had seen plenty of filthy things, yet she was talking about hygiene over a spoon? I could never figure her out. She seemed to have gone through all kinds of hardship, but her resistance was strangely weak in certain areas.

"If you're going to complain about a little saliva, then Azzy, who drools everywhere, must be a walking plague. You're awfully picky over nothing."

"It feels bad when you use something I was using!"

"There's no reason for Mr. Shei to feel bad. The spoon was clean when it went into Mr. Shei's mouth. I should be the one feeling uncomfortable, so why are you making a fuss? And it's strange to make such a big deal over swallowing a little saliva. What's going to happen to your body? Ahh! Someone else's bodily fluid got inside me! I might get pregnant!"

The regressor's face turned red as she shouted.

"P-pregnant...? Are you insane?!"

"I was being sarcastic, so why are you reacting like that? It was a joke, and I'm a man. I can't get pregnant in the first place."

"There's a limit to jokes!"

"That's how excessive your reaction is. An ordinary beast wouldn't care at all. Look. Here, Azzy."

To show her an example, I scooped up some meat and held it out to Azzy. She had already emptied her bowl and was licking her lips, so she immediately bit onto the spoon. She did not care who had used it.

Slurp slurp slurp slurp slurp.

Her long tongue covered the spoon again and again. Azzy chewed, sucked, tasted, and savored the spoon with great care, as though she would not leave behind a single drop of broth.

...At least care who was going to use the spoon afterward. This was too much. The spoon was soaking wet. I silently stared at the spoon covered in Azzy's saliva.

Noticing my agony, the regressor sneered.

"Hmph. You said you don't care about saliva. Why don't you try eating with it?"

"...I think Mr. Shei was right. It's disgusting enough to make me worry about getting pregnant."

"Why do you keep using that comparison?! There are other things you could say!"

"I'll get another spoon."

Tsk. To think the day would come when I acknowledged the regressor's words. Do not think this was over, though.

I would keep this spoon as it was and use it to feed her tomorrow. Let us see whether she could tell which spoon had saliva on it.

Then, the next day, I fed the regressor and finished my own meal before remembering that I had saved the saliva-covered spoon from yesterday. I had even brought it with me.

I never did find out which spoon had saliva on it, but that only made one thing clearer.

It really was just a matter of feeling. With a fifty percent chance of feeling dirty, I shared this precious emotion with the regressor.

Footnotes:

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