WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 538: The Sheep and the Dog

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The environment shapes people. And people are beasts. In other words, the environment can be said to shape beasts.

In that sense, calling wild animals violent is not a hasty generalization but a logical conclusion. Raw, untamed wilderness is filled with every kind of pain and illness, insects and predators, competition and starvation. In such a harsh wilderness, kindness is a weakness, a shortcut to death. At best, a sense of kinship toward one's own kind is what preserves a species.

By that logic, it was astonishing that grazing buffalo carried us on their backs. Animals that ate grass were inevitably prey to animals that ate meat. Strong bodies and sharp horns did not change that. They were more inclined toward caution than curiosity...

Yet for some reason, the buffalo Azzy had brought calmly ran with their herd even with people on their backs. The other buffalo passed close by us without showing much wariness either.

They were not fast enough to satisfy the regressor, but they were still much faster than I could walk.

The regressor was traveling comfortably without lifting a finger, yet she seemed unhappy about something.

"Why do I have to ride with you?!"

"I'm low on qi! If I run out midway, I'll fall to the ground and become a piece of meat!"

"You're a vampire now. You won't die anyway!"

"Then will you pick up my meat after I've been trampled thousands of times and put me back together, Shei?"

I could read people's thoughts and match their pace, but I could not read a beast's movements. That went double for buffalo, not horses or donkeys. The regressor, who possessed some absurd qigong called Heaven-Reversing Boundary, could maintain perfect balance atop a running buffalo. The moment I ran out of strength, though, I would be swept away in the buffalo's rush and disappear. I needed some kind of safety measure.

"...Hold on tight. No, don't hold on tight!"

"You mean I should figure it out myself? Got it."

That was not for me to decide. The buffalo decided that.

Right then, the buffalo leaped over a rock and jolted hard. The regressor was firmly anchored by qigong, but my body rose into the air as though I were about to be thrown off at any moment.

"Where are you grabbing?!"

"Your stomach! I'm holding your stomach normally, so stop making me out to be a pervert!"

The ride was rough, fitting for the harsh wilderness. Whenever a rock appeared, the buffalo jumped, and whenever it suddenly turned its head, its huge horns swayed threateningly. At first, I had held on partly to tease her, but eventually I had to grip her tightly for my own life.

'Grr! Even Master never touched my body so carelessly!'

In any case, thanks to the regressor, I survived dozens of near falls. She did not seem pleased by that fact.

"S-stop grabbing me and use some qi art!"

"Ah. Okay."

"Aah! Are you insane? Where are you using qigong?!"

"I thought I was going to fall, so I used it to hold on tighter."

"Are you an idiot?! You're trying to use qigong on another qigong master's body? Qigong is a form of control. You must never use qigong on someone else's body carelessly, even if they're your master or family! It's far ruder than breaking into someone's house! It's only because I deliberately didn't use Heaven-Reversing Boundary. Otherwise, you would have been counterattacked immediately!"

"It was unavoidable. Just put up with it for a moment. Can't you endure it, Shei?"

"Why should I have to endure it?!"

'Should I just grab him by the collar and carry him? He won't die just because I choke him a little, right? Or should I tie him to Jizan and carry him around? That would be easier.'

Why was she serious? This would not do. At this rate, the regressor might actually carry me around like a skewer.

Still, I could not let go of her either. Instead, I tossed her a mental chew toy so she would not dwell on that thought any longer.

"About Azzy. Doesn't something come to mind?"

"What comes to mind?"

"Talking to other beasts is one thing. But she can convey her intentions, and the buffalo aren't even frightened while running beside her."

Azzy was running alongside the buffalo herd, enjoying her freedom. She overtook buffalo in the distance, then ran back, covering several times as much ground. It seemed all our walks so far had not even amounted to a taste.

Even so, the buffalo merely glanced at Azzy and picked up their pace.

"You're right. The buffalo don't seem especially wary of Azzy. But dogs tend to get along well with other animals, don't they? Could that be why?"

"Azzy might be friendly, but it would be difficult for the buffalo to be friendly toward her as well. Especially with this many buffalo, at least one should have been frightened by Azzy and run off. Yet none of them have tried to ram her or flee from her."

"Now that I think about it, that's true. Azzy is a strange beast with nothing to do with the buffalo."

"Yes. Then there is only one possibility. Azzy has gained the ability to avoid hostility, even from other beasts."

The regressor could not think about two things at once. Unaware that I was still holding her stomach, she sank into her own thoughts.

"The Grandiomor royal family?"

"That's right. It resembles the Grandiomor royal family's ability to avoid hostility, one of the powers the Five Lords gained after driving out the King of Humanity. Azzy is a Beast King altered for some reason. It would not be strange for her to have such an ability."

"But why would they need that ability? Now that we've come this far, the beasts' will does not seem very important."

"We won't know what they think until we hear it. Not that they'll tell us."

"If we ask properly, the Sanctum will tell us. They must want to stop the King of Sin too."

'The Sanctum could not have created the King of Sin. But they clearly tried to do something. The reason for that... It might be a clue.'

Good. I had successfully distracted her.

The regressor's worries and thoughts gave me something to ponder during the boring journey. That continued until she suddenly realized she had missed her chance to get off, threw me away, and leaped down in a panic.

"Woof! See you later!"

The buffalo herd receded into the distance, leaving Azzy behind as she waved.

Traveling was easy even in this harsh wilderness. We asked a passing zebra for directions and sent away a leopard that approached with its body low. Even enemies that threatened our lives acted like gentle lambs when Azzy was with us.

Azzy used force when necessary as well. Once, when a hungry pride of lions kept following us, Azzy sprinted over like an arrow, bit the male lion by the scruff, and dragged him away. Even the king of beasts, who strode through the wasteland, could only retreat with soulful eyes before the Beast King.

Without baring fangs or spilling blood, we peacefully crossed a savage land devoid of people.

"Beasts aren't exactly scary, but it's nice not having to kill them. Even I find a pride of lions annoying."

"It feels like you've become a druid."

"Much better than a druid. Druids can communicate with them, but they still get attacked."

We flew on cloud steps, and when we rested, we asked beasts for directions. Following the regressor's lead, we advanced across the Enger Plain.

There was no sense of distance. No matter how quickly we flew, I could not even tell how far we had come. They said the land had a face, but to an outsider like me, it was all the same rolling terrain and identical hills. If life was a journey where the same things repeated endlessly, then the Enger Plain was life itself. You saw the same faces and walked endlessly across plains without knowing where they ended.

And I had always been full of complaints about life.

Stepping on clouds with qigong was difficult enough, and keeping my balance so I would not fall was work too. My waist and legs were aching to death. I had been excited at first when she said we would ride clouds, but walking would be more comfortable.

"Ah, this is tiring. Ugh, I'm dying."

"Woof! Woof woof! This is fun!"

That dog was running around on all fours with her tongue hanging out, yet she was having the time of her life.

"Whew. I think I've done a year's worth of walks already. No more walks from now on."

"Woof? This isn't a walk! This is work. Walks are a right!"

"Since when did walks become a right...? Haa. I want to rest already. Shei, how much longer?"

The regressor roughly surveyed the mountains and replied.

"We're almost there, I think."

"Almost there? You said that yesterday too. Were you guiding us without even knowing the way?"

"I know the way! I just can't judge the distance!"

"That's the same thing. How can you know the way but not the distance?"

"It's taking so long because I'm carrying you on cloud steps! If we hadn't stopped every so often to restore your qi, we would have arrived already!"

"Ah, you don't need to restore my qi, so please carry me on your back. The world is on the verge of destruction. Where do we have the leisure to go this slowly?"

"No."

'If I carry him, he'll touch me again. It makes me nervous and uncomfortable. He might realize I'm a woman.'

I did not think I would notice even if I touched you. Your stomach was pretty firm when I grabbed it before. I thought it was a stone pillar.

"Take this chance to train your qigong! This is the perfect opportunity for training, so why are you only being lazy? If you rely only on tricks, you'll hit your limit soon enough!"

"Do you know why I hit my limits so quickly? Because I've mastered everything except what lies beyond them. If qi weren't my limit, I'd be acting superior and sticking my nose into your business just like you."

"When did I ever act superior?!"

"Like right now. You have plenty of elixirs and relics, yet you act like you're the best. If I had been given the same opportunities, I would have become far stronger than you."

"You don't know anything!"

'Do you think I became strong for free, without any effort? My power grew as I went through regressions!'

That regression ability was given to you for free. That is why I am saying it.

"By that logic, you were born different! You're the King of Humanity!"

"A king who was driven out. Chased by the Sanctum and rejected by the Holy Maiden. I can't even reveal my identity freely and have to live in hiding. Ah, what a tragic fate. What sin did I commit to deserve this?"

"Woof! Do better in your daily life!"

"I always did well. I sincerely treated every human being with care. They just built up expectations on their own and became disappointed on their own."

I was in the middle of complaining endlessly when the regressor's eyes briefly turned indigo. The sixth color of the Seven-Colored Eyes, Indigo Eyes that saw into the distance. Looking toward a hill too far away for me to see, she muttered,

"It's the Blood Monastery. We're here."

"Wow, really? You're not lying this time, right?"

"Yeah. I guarantee it. We're really here this time. I can see it right in front of us."

"Good. Then let's go quickly without resting!"

Of course, this was a lie too.

The Blood Monastery she saw through the Seven-Colored Eyes was still nearly a day's journey away.

"Baa. Baaaa."

There was a girl grazing among a flock of sheep.

Compared to other beasts, humans had very little hair. Yet this girl looked as though she had more hair than most animals. Her cloudlike, fluffy white hair looked thick enough to make an entire padded garment with one stroke of a comb. It was so abundant and dense that the tangled mass hung down to her waist. If she rolled down a mountainside, she looked as though she would tumble along because of her own hair.

She was among the sheep, but neither the sheep nor the girl herself seemed to care. It was a rare sight among fearful sheep.

Still, seeing the round, curled horns on the girl's head made the reason easy enough to guess.

"Huh?"

"It's the Lamb's Envoy! Sister! The Lamb's Envoy has come again!"

Children who had come out to milk the sheep ran over and clustered around the girl with sheep's horns. Just as the curious stares began to make her uncomfortable, a nun with her face covered by black cloth approached and whispered gently.

"Lemme. You've come again. Do you need brushing?"

Lemme, the Sheep King. The king of fearful, lost lambs.

Sheep that lived in fields of low grass instinctively followed a herd. It did not even have to be a herd of the same animal. If a human holding a stick led them to a grassy field a few times, the flock would follow that hairless, wise leader.

"Baa. Hurry and brush me, baa."

"Just a moment."

That was why sheep carried religious symbolism, and the appearance of the Sheep King at a monastery that raised sheep was a great source of pride. It meant the monastery was peaceful and happy enough for even the fearful Sheep King to visit.

Yet over the past few decades, no other monastery had even seen the Sheep King. Only the Blood Monastery had continued to send reports of sightings.

Some said the reason was the sharp decline in beast populations in the civilized north, but considering the millions of shepherds who still raised sheep, that was not a very convincing explanation. Civilization was where the most sheep were raised as livestock.

Then why did the Sheep King not appear?

For the sake of rationality, some people willing to risk conflict with religion proposed a plausible hypothesis.

The Sheep King did not appear at other monasteries because the Blood Monastery was far more peaceful and happy.

It was a fairly rational explanation, aside from the fact that the Blood Monastery was heretical and anyone who defended it had their faith questioned.

Someone might pay for truth with blood, but the Blood Monastery itself was too peaceful to live up to its name. The nun looked around at the children and said,

"Now then. Who would like to brush the Lamb's Envoy?"

"Me! Me!"

"I want to do it!"

"You sheared the wool last time too!"

The lively children shouted noisily. Watching them raise their hands and step forward, the nun smiled kindly.

"Do not fight, little lambs. Hurried, clumsy brushing unsettles the sheep. Empathize with the sheep, be mindful of its soft hair, remember your experience brushing it, and calm your hearts."

The children stopped chattering at words like a lullaby.

"If you approach with a heart made impatient by conflict, the other person will naturally keep their distance too. Approach with gratitude for what has been given to you."

The nun stepped forward first and stroked Lemme's hair.

"If you share and share again, it becomes countless. If you give and give again, everyone becomes happy. All things in this world originally belong to the Celestial God. We must live each life with joy and gratitude. Now, let us express our thanks to the beautiful, soft Lamb's Envoy."

"Thank you, Lamb's Envoy!"

"Thank you, fluffy one!"

Lemme, who lay comfortably while being brushed, was not grateful in the slightest.

"Baa...? Hurry up and brush me, baa. I'll sleep, so finish it, baa."

There was no chance the Sheep King would be hurt by children brushing her. With a gentle smile, Lemme accepted the children's service.

Peaceful, pastoral days. A succession of moments that seemed as though they would last forever if nothing changed.

"Woof!"

Lemme's ears perked up, and she sprang to her feet. With combs stuck throughout her hair, Lemme trembled in fear and cried out.

"Baaaa...! That sound!"

"Woof! Woof woof!"

"A wolf, baa! A wolf has appeared, baa!"

Footnotes:

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