WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 547: The Village Close to Death

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After we pushed through a primeval forest where even the weeds grew taller than a person, an enormous rock hidden among the trees came into view. On a plain, such a magnificent rock would have been given a monumental name. Amid waves of trees, though, it was merely another outcrop for vines and moss to grow over. Beneath the rock, where grass and moss grew thick as walls, stood Mortal Village.

"This is Mortal Village, the village of those who die easily. Beasts, disease, and pests take them easily, so we built them a village deep inside for their protection."

Mortal Village was quite different from the immortals' village. It had proper fences, watchtowers, and guards. At a glance, it was several times better equipped.

Yet the gravestones beyond the fence and the clothes left behind by the dead showed just how accustomed this village was to the pain of loss.

"She's a mortal, so she lives in Mortal Village. Still, she's a strong person."

Rashy pounded his fist against the gate. Recognizing him, the guard hurried down from the watchtower and opened it.

"Mr. Rashy! You're here!"

"I'm here. Nothing unusual, I hope?"

"There's always something happening in this village. How could things stay quiet with Miss Callis here?"

"Is she well?"

"If you mean she's the same as always, then yes. Otherwise... I suppose I'd say she's still the same. Come in for now."

The gatekeeper led us inside, into a village full of mortals who lived in a corner the deathless had given them, people accustomed to loss and grief...

"Move it! You're putting us behind schedule!"

"It's almost lunchtime! Shouldn't we finish before then?!"

Steel creaked. Smoke rose from large chimneys. Square houses made of relatively modern alchemical cement stood there. When a huge wall clock sounded its alarm, people stopped working and headed toward the dining hall, where steam rose from the food.

The barbarian tribe I encountered in this distant wilderness looked strangely familiar.

"...What is this place?"

The regressor looked around, clearly displeased.

Before us was the image of the military state we had left long ago, transplanted into an unfamiliar place. A village of iron and stone, utterly unsuited to the lush greenery and thick brush, rattled along with grinding noises. Barbarians who looked as though they belonged in a primeval forest wore crude imitations of military-state uniforms and copied its drills.

It looked as though artificial civilization had been planted in the heart of peaceful nature. At its center, a relatively slender red-haired woman was ordering everyone about.

"You there. Stop where you are."

Lieutenant Colonel Callis, a military-state mage officer who had left with Rashy when the Abyss collapsed after one thing led to another. Once an officer in uniform, she was now dressed in practical, lived-in clothes as she pointed at someone.

At Callis's gesture, a woman dressed in leaves startled and hunched over. Callis spoke in an overbearing tone.

"If you want to eat, stand in line. There is no point in making rules if you break the order."

"I'm hungry!"

"Wait a little. Stand in line, and rations will be handed out in order. It's the most rational way to distribute food to everyone."

The woman was a handspan taller than Callis, with a thick neck and arms. She glared as though ready to settle the matter by force.

But when Callis drew up her mana and made flames flicker at her fingertips, the frightened woman screamed and ran away.

"A demon!"

"It's magic."

"Demon magic!"

"I've told you over and over that magic is a technology."

Even out in the wilderness, she couldn't shake the air of an officer.

With her cold, rigid manner, Callis drove people along, scattering flames to light the stove. The workers went back to preparing food as though nothing had happened.

The military-state mage officer was still playing officer in this barbarian village. The regressor clicked her tongue in displeasure.

"She's the same here too. Changing the environment doesn't change a person."

"That isn't so, young man. You'd be shocked if you knew how much she's changed."

Rashy strode toward Callis. His large build made him easy to spot. She noticed him at once, and the sharpness left her eyes.

"Rashy!"

The mage officer from moments ago was nowhere to be seen. Callis ran over with a bright smile. As Rashy caught her, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him at once.

The regressor staggered, caught off guard by the sudden sight.

"W-What is this?"

They tangled together and kissed without caring who watched. It was intense enough to make me uncomfortable. Intense enough that I wondered whether this was how barbarians made love.

The regressor stepped back with a disgusted expression.

"What are they doing all of a sudden?"

"What do you mean, what are they doing? They're getting married. This is nothing."

"Nothing, my ass! They're doing something so embarrassing in front of everyone!"

"Calling a kiss embarrassing is a little much. It's not as though they're letting everyone watch them sleep together."

"Hey! Why are you bringing up sleeping together now?!"

"Why are you getting angry all of a sudden? I'm just saying!"

By the time we finished bickering, Callis and Rashy had reunited long enough and reluctantly separated. Callis looked over his body and asked worriedly.

"Were you all right? Blood Monastery is where a strategic-class vampire lives. Wasn't that too reckless?"

"No. Just as the rumors said, that nun welcomes those who come empty-handed. I received word that she would permit the wedding ceremony, and she gave me this as proof."

"What's this?"

"Wool from the Sheep King. It's precious. If you make clothes from it, no tooth or claw can pierce them. We have the nun's assurance and the Sheep King's wool as proof, so even the elders won't be able to refuse lightly."

"Rashy. But to be accepted as one of them, I have to pass the ritual."

"You don't need to pass it, dear. As you said, it's our tribe's custom. Why should an outsider like you follow it? It's difficult and grueling if you're not an immortal. You could die."

"But..."

"Dear. I can't bear to see so much as a small wound on you. Humans who aren't of the immortal race can die easily from even the smallest injury. When I think I might lose you..."

"Rashy..."

"Dear...!"

They embraced again and continued kissing. The regressor and I had suddenly become folding screens, left standing awkwardly beside them. Uncomfortable with simply watching, the regressor grumbled.

"What happened for them to become a couple that can't live without each other?"

"You complained that she hadn't changed earlier, and now you're asking why she changed. Quite a bit of time has passed. That can happen. Mr. Shei and I have changed a lot since the Abyss too."

"What are you talking about?! I can live perfectly well without you!"

"Who said anything about that kind of relationship?! There isn't just one kind of relationship! You're not some adolescent girl, so why does your mind keep going there?!"

"I'm already past adolescence!"

That's not the point! Object to being called a girl! You're pretending to be a man! Please consider your disguise at least as much as I do!

While kissing continued on one side and arguing continued on the other, Callis and Rashy's seemingly endless kiss finally ended. Only then did they have time to look our way and notice us.

"...You two. From the Abyss."

"Hello. This is our first time meeting since the Abyss, right?"

Back in the Abyss, Callis had been a member of a secret organization who infiltrated it to acquire Azzy, the King of Dogs. She ultimately failed, survived in the Abyss with only her life, and headed south with Rashy when the Abyss collapsed. I hadn't particularly wondered how she was doing, but seeing her face, she seemed to be alive and well.

Callis finished her brief recollection and spoke.

"I didn't expect to meet you like this."

"It wasn't exactly a pleasant meeting, but we're both alive and well, so isn't that enough?"

"Perhaps it was, before you arrived here. What brings the heroes destined to save the world to this place?"

Callis spoke warily. She seemed less afraid of us than of the aftermath we would bring.

"I heard you were traveling to overcome the coming destruction. Coming here... Does that mean something is about to happen, or that you intend to cause something?"

"Don't worry. We came to take care of something. If anything, we'll be helping you."

"What is it?"

"Apparently, we're here to purify some ancient evil somewhere around here. I don't know what it is, though."

"Ancient evil...?"

Callis's expression darkened, as if something had come to mind. She looked around anxiously for a moment before speaking.

"Are you truly here to purify an ancient evil?"

Seeing Callis's reaction, the regressor crossed her arms and pressed her.

"Something comes to mind?"

"...Something does, yes."

Callis looked over the people with a dark expression. Like anyone who had wandered until they found shelter in another village, most of Mortal Village's residents carried deep wounds and sorrow.

Their numbers were far too great for them to be called mere refugees. Even at a rough count, there seemed to be more refugees in Mortal Village than immortals.

"Recently, more people have been coming to Mortal Village. Some of them have been telling strange stories."

"What kind of stories?"

As Right-Arm's lover and a mage, Callis had unintentionally become little different from Mortal Village's village chief. She relayed what she had heard from the mortals.

"They said an evil god crawled out from beneath the ground."

Footnotes:

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