WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 535: Surviving Means Being Strong

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"A dog chew for humans?"

"An elixir. I would have liked to give all of you elixirs, but I thought Your Majesty would prefer a dog chew."

Inner energy grew through diligent study and practice of energy arts, but that alone was not enough. No matter how blessed a body might be, it could not grow properly without nourishment. There was a vast difference between energy practitioners who trained while taking elixirs and those who did not.

That did not mean more elixirs were always better. The saying that having too much was worse than having too little was a deception only someone with too much could afford to tell. Any nation seeking to increase its military power needed elixirs, so they were scarce throughout the world.

To energy practitioners, elixirs were treasures far more valuable than alchemical coins. It was a gift Ende had prepared with all sincerity, but...

"I don't need it. I have plenty of elixirs already, and I've already passed the point where taking them would make me stronger."

Of course, the regressor, whose wealth was more than overflowing, was spouting the complaints of the well-fed again today.

"Take it and use it yoursel... Mm!"

I covered the regressor's mouth and quickly took the elixir.

"You shouldn't ignore someone's kindness. And is it enough for only you to be strong? I need to take some too. You're selfish."

"What? I gave you elixirs before! You barely even took them then!"

"They didn't work for me then, but things are different now. I have a feeling they'll work this time."

It seemed the Demon God had given me a vessel as well. I should be able to build up inner energy in my body now. Whenever I got the chance, it would be best to store some away.

"I'm relieved you will accept it."

When I put the elixir away, Mayor Triber smiled, visibly relieved. Gifts nurtured affection between those who gave and received them. Having taken a turn with the gifts, Mayor Triber moved on to the next subject.

"The duchy has not made any response yet. They must be bewildered that the Black Tiger Corps, which set out with such grand ambition, was swallowed up by the tiger calamity and wiped out. Ende has not settled down either. The shock of being ambushed while rescuing those buried under the rubble immediately after driving off the King of Wolves was simply too great. Still, if there is one fortunate thing, it is that their anger outweighs their despair."

A greater injustice obscured lesser ones. Amid the enormous injustice the duchy had inflicted on Ende, all the smaller grievances had been forgotten.

Pig beastkin and dog beastkin, or beastkin and humans. Such small differences faded before a greater anger.

That was all there was to it.

"I did not wish for things to turn out this way, but Ende has now become enemies with the duchy whether it likes it or not. Ende's citizens will not accept them, and the duchy will not look kindly on us either. To the duchy, Ende must look like a fox backed by the Mountain Lord. For now, they may fear the Mountain Lord too much to throw even a stone at the fox."

"Let me warn you, it would be best not to think of using the Mountain Lord."

Because I was scared. I gave that advice with rare sincerity, and Mayor Triber nodded.

"Of course. One cannot invite a tiger into the house simply because one fears a thief. I am only concerned about the thief who will come if we do not invite in the tiger."

"I wonder how worried you must be to share that with guests from out of town."

"There are things one can say precisely because the guests will only stay for a while before leaving."

Mayor Triber spoke gently as they took out a wooden box. It was the same kind of box as the gifts, but what it held was different. Following the flow of this conversation, that had to be the real point.

Inside lay a pitch-black seal.

"It is the Black Tiger Seal, a relic of the Black Tiger Corps."

Innate arcane was the manifestation of one's mindscape. Among the forms of innate arcane, those with especially closed-off mindscapes sometimes retained their form and power even after their mage died.

The Black Tiger Seal was that kind of relic. It was left behind by someone who had spent their whole life stamping seals and gained an innate arcane centered on stamping them. While they had been alive, it probably had nothing to do with large-scale attack magic. Yet after their death, the remaining Black Tiger Seal had become a strategic weapon that inflicted crushing pressure across a fifty-meter radius.

A seal became a weapon too if you stamped it on someone's head.

"Relics are rare, especially relics that can be used as weapons. The duchy will be desperate to reclaim it, and even the Empire will covet this relic."

"That's true. Whether it's the Empire or the duchy, this is a delicious dog chew that would make them rush in without looking where they're going. What should we do with it?"

"If they were dogs, I would give it to them as a gift. But if they are jackals rather than dogs, we should throw it far away, so they cannot even turn their eyes in this direction."

Mayor Triber closed the wooden box again and held it out to us. Compared to this, even an elixir was something trivial, but it was too burdensome to accept so casually.

So that was why they gave us gifts first. They had created a natural flow for handing things over. Cunning.

"Ende needs time to heal its wounds and stand on its own. This Black Tiger Seal is both a precious object and the seed of conflict. I would like you to take care of it."

"Something this valuable? We could get a fine price for it even if we sold it carelessly."

"If there were somewhere that could afford to pay such a price. The Seven-Colored Merchant Guild is the only place that would purchase a strategic-grade relic with its history exposed. They do not deal in stolen goods, so there is practically nowhere to sell it. Yet as the mayor of Ende, I cannot hand it to a fence. So I will entrust that burden to you instead."

"I wouldn't refuse something you're giving me, but..."

We could sell it to another duchy. But the duchy closest to Ende was the Lilac Duchy, and selling it to one of the Lilac Duchy's rivals would be no different from declaring war outright. A black market? Were there any black markets that could buy strategic weapons besides cultists and rebels?

It really was difficult to handle. I understood why Mayor Triber wanted to pass it off.

"What do you think? Would you use it, Shei?"

"It's not bad, but it isn't especially good either. I have Skywarbler and Jizan. Wouldn't it be better for you to use it?"

"I like it, but it doesn't suit me either. Unlike the Demon God's power, this consumes a considerable amount of mana."

The Demon God was a law inscribed into the world. The power of the Demon God that I used allowed me to make contact with it and employ immense rules. Its target happened to be the laws of the world, but in essence, it was similar to stealing and using someone else's innate arcane.

A relic, on the other hand, was an honest transaction that produced a set effect in exchange for mana. It did not suit someone like me, who had so little inner energy and mana that I had no choice but to cheat.

A con man made less profit when he did not con people.

"Then I suppose we'll just sell it."

"You have somewhere to sell it?"

"Yes. I just thought of a faction that happens to need the Black Tiger Seal."

I naturally picked up the wooden box and held it out. Mayor Triber looked puzzled when they saw the box returned to them.

"I'm selling the Black Tiger Seal. I haven't used it even once since receiving it."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. It looks like you need it, so I'll sell it to you."

I was reselling the item I had just received. I shamelessly held out my hand to Mayor Triber. Looking at my empty palm, they pursed their lips uneasily.

"Ende needs time to recover. I already explained that."

"Yes. I heard you."

"Then are you saying we must fight the duchy to claim this relic?"

"I never said you had to fight. I'm simply telling you that you don't get to choose whether there will be a fight."

When I met Marquis Lapaeno, I had briefly read his thoughts. Why the Black Tiger Corps had come all the way to Ende, and what the duchy was preparing. I had not been able to read deeply, but I grasped the rough outline.

I told them what I had read, pretending I had deduced it myself.

"The Black Tiger Corps is the duchy's power. An army that carries out the duchy's will came to Ende because Ende has something they need."

"They came for a foothold to obtain the Kingdom of Ten Thousand's elixirs."

"More precisely, they suddenly needed a great many 'ownerless' elixirs."

Elixirs were precious. Therefore, the people given them were selected carefully too. You had to be the descendant of a prestigious family or a guild's disciple to receive even a little, and even then, if you did not produce results, you would only get a taste before it ended.

Talented people were as precious as elixirs, so supply and consumption were controlled to maintain a suitable balance. That was why the duchy had ignored the ruins beyond the Enger Plain. The returns were uncertain compared to the resources required, and even if they obtained something, they could not use it quickly enough.

"A duchy that had ruled peacefully hears that Ende is fighting the King of Wolves and hurriedly gathers an army to send there? If they were so desperate for elixirs, why didn't they do it from the start? Why all of a sudden?"

"Are you saying there is another reason?"

"It's simple. They're preparing for battle, or perhaps war. They could get some field training in at the same time."

But what if they needed power that could be used immediately? What if they needed to raise energy practitioners in a hurry and replenish their forces quickly? The ruins of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand, where every kind of resource and treasure slept, gave them a good excuse to mobilize troops.

"They could lure in beastkin with nowhere else to go and put them in the army, obtain elixirs and treasures from the Kingdom of Ten Thousand, find an excuse to move a legion, and recruit even a Beast Faction master. It must have seemed like a perfect opportunity. Though it ended in failure."

"War... With whom?"

"I don't know that much, but it definitely isn't Ende. The difference in scale is far too great to call it a war. If not for the tiger calamity, the Black Tiger Corps would have trampled Ende."

The duchy was a nation, while Ende was only a frontier city. In a direct fight, Ende would be swept away easily.

Mayor Triber's face darkened as they measured their chances. They knew the objective difference in strength between Ende and the duchy. There was no chance of victory, no matter what they did.

But.

"Will you leave this city just because the duchy tells you to? Will you step aside and abandon all your money and land?"

"We cannot do that. Ende is the land of beastkin. It is proof that beastkin, just like humans, can build civilization and develop."

"Well, I thought so."

Even if they were weak, they could not simply sit and die. Even a worm writhed when stepped on, not because it could bear a human's weight, but because that was all it could do.

"You can negotiate, or you can take it hostage and make threats. You are already seated at the table, and you need as many cards as you can get. How you use it is up to you."

"...Is there no way to avoid a fight?"

"Even the most formidable duchy cannot fight the dead."

Mayor Triber let out a deep sigh.

They were a distant branch of the imperial family. Their bloodline would earn them respect anywhere, yet for various reasons, they had been driven all the way to Ende. It was ironic that being driven out had made them the mayor of a city.

Familiar with the affairs of the Empire and the duchies, they realized this peace would not last long.

"There is no place for you in this order. If you want to make one, create chaos. Survive amid the collapsing order, and you become the new order. Fail, and you end as a brief flicker."

"You are repaying us in a way I never expected. I have learned a lesson."

"What lesson? I am the one who learned something."

The kind and good-natured mayor of Ende. Mayor Triber truly had that nature, but to avoid darkness, one first had to understand it well. To have survived meant they were strong. Mayor Triber possessed the cunning of an experienced politician.

"If we take the Black Tiger Seal, the duchy's attention will turn toward us. Then, when the duchy and Ende clash directly later, we will have no choice but to take Ende's side. Trying to create a powerful ally with an unwanted item. Not bad, is it?"

They were presenting the Mountain Lord as Ende's guardian deity and spreading rumors that the Black Tiger Corps had incurred the tiger's wrath. Ende was already using every possible means to survive. Trying to entrust the Black Tiger Seal to us must have been part of that.

Even after I exposed their intentions, Mayor Triber replied calmly.

"An ally? I only wished to entrust a precious object to the heroes who saved Ende."

"I understand the sentiment. But we're not as reasonable as you think. We won't go along with your plan. Even if the duchy invades Ende, we won't have time to care. And if the duchy tracks us down, it won't matter much to us."

"Then refusing the Black Tiger Seal was an act of pure goodwill for our sake. Thank you for your kindness."

I grabbed Mayor Triber's wrist as they tried to take the wooden box back.

It was kindness. But I never said I would give it back for free. I spoke firmly.

"It seems you misunderstood me. I said I was selling it. Bring one more elixir."

You used the Black Tiger Seal as bait to make a move, didn't you? If that failed, you had to pay its worth. Trying to get something for nothing.

Azzy nudged me with her front paw. When I turned, she dropped the nearly finished remains of her dog chew.

I added one more condition.

"And a dog chew."

Elixirs had to be precious even to Ende, but Mayor Triber readily gave me one. Mayor Triber had prepared it from the beginning.

That made three elixirs. Their effects differed greatly depending on the type, but I currently had not even a speck of inner energy. Even an unnamed elixir like this was valuable.

On the way back after the meeting, the regressor, who had kept quiet so as not to show weakness, softly asked me.

"...Was Mayor Triber the one controlling Orcma?"

"Well, it's only a guess. It's a small matter now."

"No, it makes sense. They were pushed out of power for no reason other than being beastkin."

'If the Rider of Plague spread, and fleeing beastkin were massacred at the border, Ende would become disillusioned and side with the King of Wolves. Mayor Triber was not a servant of the Empire or the duchies. They were someone concerned only with the safety and rights of beastkin.'

You took a while to think of that. Then again, the regressor probably considered it trivial too.

"Why would they do that? It was obvious there would be trouble."

"Mayor Triber must have thought a clan for pig beastkin was needed too. So they turned a blind eye and supported Orcma even if its methods were somewhat illegal. They probably did not know the trouble would grow this large."

"The trouble got bigger because you stirred it up."

"A new order is born from chaos. Thanks to that, we learned what the pig beastkin truly felt."

"A greater chaos is coming anyway. Couldn't we have put it off for a while...?"

That certainty only came because she knew the future. How could ordinary people know whether they should wait because greater chaos was coming, or seize the once-in-a-lifetime chance before them?

Unlike you, ordinary people gambled with a past they could not change. What was at stake was different.

Someone appeared as we headed out of Oberli. The huge pig beastkin spotted me and the regressor, then deliberately made his presence known as he trudged over.

Gruel, the pride of the pig beastkin and the foremost contributor to Ende's defense, spoke to us.

"I heard you were injured. Are you feeling better?"

"This is nothing. I can leave right now."

The regressor answered with a bluff. A master could determine someone's condition from their energy alone, but the regressor's Heaven-Reversing Boundary always made her appear to be in perfect condition. Gruel nodded.

"You may be the only human to survive being attacked by the Mountain Lord. So where will you go now?"

"We're going to a nearby monastery. There's something we need to find out."

"A nearby monastery?"

The Enger Plain was a land of wilderness. An ordinary monastery could not exist there. The nearest was the monastery in the northern Enger Plain, far to the north at the Great Farm.

There was, however, an extraordinary monastery in the southern Enger Plain. The Blood Monastery, guarded by the most famous nun.

Gruel asked again with an unbelieving expression.

"You do not mean the monastery with that witch, do you?"

"Probably."

"Bold... No, perhaps it makes sense. You two are not ordinary either."

You two? The regressor was the only extraordinary one. I was still within the bounds of ordinary, wasn't I?

...Honestly, maybe not anymore.

"If you are going south, be careful. Strange things are happening in the lands of the old Kingdom of Ten Thousand. Contact has been lost with tribe after tribe that fled southeast to escape the King of Wolves."

That was also why the Beast Faction had come north. Gruel added that briefly before continuing.

"And the priests of the old Kingdom of Ten Thousand have been moving suspiciously. Be careful."

"Did you come to warn us?"

"I came to thank you. You did well. If not for you, all of us would have been trampled by the Mountain Lord. It is not much, but I pray for your safety in return."

Having delivered the brief purpose of the visit, Gruel waved freely and walked away, as though there was nothing more to say. It was the greeting of a nomad accustomed to meetings and farewells.

Our work in Ende was certainly finished, but I pressed the regressor about something I had just learned.

"Wait. The monastery you said we were going to, surely it wasn't the Blood Monastery? Not the Monastery of Golden Carpet or the Monastery of Running Wind?"

"Yes. Isn't that better for you too? Monasteries are Sanctum territory, and you have an uncomfortable relationship with the Sanctum."

"Still, the Blood Monastery is uncomfortable for every human. Especially for me!"

"It's fine. She won't dislike you when Tyrkanzyaka favors you. She might even like you more."

"That's uncomfortable too..."

Even earning someone's affection was frightening. It depended on who that someone was.

Despite its name, the Blood Monastery was known as a deeply devout monastery. That made it all the more puzzling, because the person who ruled it was far from devout.

A blasphemer who became an Elder to test her faith. A fanatic who had retained that faith even after becoming a vampire.

The Blood Monastery was led by its abbess, the Fallen Nun, Sister Yegcheriya.

Footnotes:

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