WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 559: Is Tradition a Good Civilization?

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The Offering God had ambitions, and they had the power to fulfill them. They had not challenged the King of Humanity merely to defeat her and protect themself.

'If I can obtain the King of Humanity's body! If I can succeed this time!'

They had challenged the King of Humanity because they wanted to grow stronger, to become more complete.

The problem was that they lacked the power. They had fled to survive, felt fear, and hidden away. That was the Offering God's true nature. Their ambition had simply been shattered against the wall of reality.

But what would happen if they realized that the King of Humanity had grown far weaker? Would they hold themself back to preserve their own life, or use this chance to repeat what they had attempted in ancient times?

Well, I had my answer.

[My thralls! Kill that one and offer him upon my altar. To whoever does so, I shall grant my heart!]

Twitch.

Changes came over those who had only just received their transplanted divine body parts. They should have spent nearly a year eating the offered food and gently acclimating their immortal bodies, yet the Offering God's transplanted flesh twitched and gradually burrowed deeper into them.

"Urk, argh!"

"Aah! What's happening?!"

"Offering God! What is... Aaaah!"

The Offering God's power burrowing through their bodies before they had fully adapted was destruction and invasion. Immortals accepted it gradually over a long time, but those who had only just received their transplants suffered as the immortal power seized control of their bodies.

Well, take it over time and it's medicine. Take it all at once and it's a stimulant. There was no good or bad. It was all the Offering God's power anyway. Both groups were immortals.

[Serve me with your blood and flesh!]

"Uuuurgh...!"

The Offering God's will was firm.

They wanted to kill me.

The barbarians who had only just become immortal and the Offering God's priestesses did not know why this was happening, but they moved according to the Offering God's will. To escape their pain, they approached me.

...I had pushed them, but I hadn't expected them to go this far.

"Oh dear. What are you doing, Ankra?"

[I shall make you my body and break free of this wretched cycle! I shall become a complete god!]

"Are you challenging me right now?"

I had stirred up the trauma in their memories to frighten them, but a verbal threat could only stop the Offering God for so long.

[Yes! I shall challenge you! To escape these long years of humiliation and stand in the world once more!!]

Well, if they were willing to risk their life for their ambition one more time, I could cheer them on.

That did not mean I could let them kill me.

I kicked off the ground and ran. At the same time, the newly made immortals began chasing after me. Their power had not fully settled into place yet, but they were still barbarians who had survived in this jungle. Feeling them rapidly close in behind me, I ran toward the massive stone door.

The "mouth" cried out for the Offering God.

"The door will not open. Pursue him, immortals!"

The tightly shut stone door could only be opened through a priestess's power. Instead of making some pointless attempt to open it, I drew a card, slipped it into the gap, and scraped it along the door.

In an instant, the door turned into a card. I squeezed through the opening and threw myself out.

The priestesses stared at the scattering cards in confusion.

"What kind of power is that? A druid's power?"

"No. I've never seen anything like it. If I had to compare it to something, it's closer to a witch's curse!"

"If it's transmutation, it won't work on us, who possess such strong life force. Don't be afraid!"

Barbarian warriors under the priestesses' command followed me as I scrambled through the darkness. If I lingered in this cavern, I would become the Offering God's food.

"Set, Li! Lux!"

I activated standardized magic and created light. Illuminating the dark cave, I quickly climbed upward.

I was not particularly fast, but I was not slow enough to be caught by barbarians who had only just become immortal. Collapsing parts of the cave ceiling as I went, I easily shook them off. The aspiring immortals were sent flying in the darkness without even knowing what had hit them.

Easy. Once I got out, I should collapse the entire cave with earth magic. Just as I stepped toward the nearly reached exit, a powerful impact struck my side.

Bones broke, and the shock tore through my body. My twisted body bounced off the ground several times as I flew away. When I staggered back to my feet, an immortal I had seen somewhere before stood before me.

"Left Leg?"

"Well now. I only raised a hand in greeting, and it was a Piu? You should have been more careful. You weren't wearing your Piu armband, so I didn't recognize you."

Left Leg casually patted their shoulder as they approached.

"Of course, you had no intention of being careful either! The Offering God was so enraged that they issued a revelation naming you specifically! They said anything was permitted so long as we don't destroy your body!"

"...So you're attacking me out of nowhere? You're really going all out, huh?"

"That's what I should be saying. The Offering God is a benevolent god who promised us immortality. What sin did you commit for them to order the death of a mere Piu?"

So they were not restricted to issuing orders through priestesses. The priestesses were only intermediaries. They could convey their will to their thralls as well.

"I found out about your god's past. When I mentioned it, they suddenly decided to kill me. Trying to kill someone for bringing up a little embarrassing history. Very benevolent, aren't they?"

"You insulted the Offering God. One who came from beyond the steppe. Tsk. Your kind never changes."

"My kind? We haven't known each other long enough for you to know my habits."

"I have met others who came from beyond the steppe. Every one of them was arrogant and rude. They pointed fingers at the Offering God and spoke disrespectfully. Yet they flew into a rage whenever anyone insulted their own gods."

Left Leg recalled unpleasant memories. In the jungle that changed violently every day after the fall of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand, the immortals' village was one of the few places that retained its history and traditions. Adventurers from beyond the steppe often stayed in the generous and kind village of immortals.

But kindness was not always repaid with kindness.

Most adventurers came to uncover something. They sought to study the immortals' mysterious power and the Offering God himself, including the nature, source, and limits of the alluring power of immortality.

To the immortals who worshipped the Offering God as a god, that was deeply offensive. Left Leg frowned and asked.

"Fine. What did your side say about our god?"

"Ah. I said the Offering God was a remnant formed from the power of Ankra, who died long ago."

"Did that amuse you?"

"Pardon?"

"I asked if it amused you to dismiss our god as an evil ruler from the past."

Immortals were gentle and kind. Nothing could harm them, after all. Since they could not die, they welcomed guests without fearing blades or strangers.

But when their honor and faith were attacked, immortals became more violent than anything else. With deep disappointment and contempt, Left Leg condemned me.

"This is why I worried about Right-Arm's marriage. The partner Right-Arm brought home. That woman who led Mortal Village with demonic arts was quiet, but she could never become one of us. She was an arrogant human from beyond the steppe who did not respect the Offering God."

"The Offering God permitted her, though."

"Yes. They are that benevolent. I believed that too was the Offering God's grace, so I followed without complaint. Yet that woman eventually brought in other Piu as she pleased, recruited and trained soldiers, and burned the forest imbued with the Offering God's essence. I endured it because she had the Offering God's permission... But in the end, she brought even you here and incurred their wrath."

Immortals began appearing beyond the muttering Left Leg. Led by priestesses from the Offering God's hidden refuge, immortals who had received different body parts surrounded me, all gentleness gone from their faces.

Speaking for them all, Left Leg voiced the resentment they held toward me.

"To think you entered the Offering God's hidden refuge without permission.... Arrogant bastard. By the Offering God's will, I shall offer your body upon their altar."

Well, I had nothing to say to that. I had invaded a secret place belonging to the being they considered their god. It was only natural that they would be angry.

But still.

"Arrogant? Seriously? You call other barbarians Piu, and you're calling me arrogant?"

There was one thing I wanted to ask. I straightened my waist, where a dizzying pain still lingered, and stood up.

"You immortals are kind to other barbarian tribes, right? Because you know they can't harm you. You don't hesitate to care for them like you'd care for small dogs or cats."

"Perhaps. But we treated your kind with kindness."

"That's right. But that kindness came from arrogance. If you truly thought of them as equals, there wouldn't be red armbands marking them as Piu."

"That is consideration for the Piu as well. We immortals have a tradition of greeting each other with our fists. We mark them so frail Piu do not get caught up in that tradition and die. Or are you saying we should be allowed to kill Piu as we please?"

Left Leg asked as though I were an idiot.

Right. Considering their traditions, the treatment of Mortal Village and the Piu was perfectly reasonable.

But.

"It's strange that such a tradition exists in the first place."

I could not know everything. Still, I knew when something was strange. A tradition of beating one another senseless could be dismissed as just that, a tradition, but there were too many strange things to let it pass with such a simple explanation.

"Your tribe couldn't have been immortal from the beginning. Naturally, such a tradition would not have existed at first. It must have been artificially created as well. Now then, why do you think such a tradition came to exist?"

Left Leg frowned as if they had never considered that question. They had followed the custom without feeling the need to ask why. So I explained why the Offering God had created such a practice.

"To weed out those who aren't immortal, right? Only immortals are fine with being suddenly attacked. To kill or drive away those who aren't. Tribesmen who refused the immortals' power because they didn't want to injure their own bodies, outsiders who slipped in seeking that power, or immortals grown too old to withstand their divine body parts anymore. It's a way to naturally drive them out."

Now, most immortals had accepted their fate, offered their bodies, and gained the power of immortality. That exclusionary practice had transformed into some primitive tribal tradition.

Its essence had not changed.

It was still being used to drive Piu into Mortal Village.

"Your marriage custom is the same. You expect them to spend nearly a month buried beneath the ground? For anyone who isn't immortal, that's the same as telling them to die. It's the same as saying immortals should only marry immortals, and that custom was made to enforce it. Is that some holy, pure tradition?"

The number of immortals was equal to the number of pieces into which the Offering God had divided their body. Until they increased the amount of their flesh, it was difficult to increase the number of immortals. So the Offering God had to control the tribe's population, and the marriage custom was one of their methods.

I snickered as I mocked them.

"That's how it all is. Traditions, faith, whatever. They arise for a reason and get passed down. They're all just tools. Things people believe are special, when in truth they're simple, insignificant, even childish. Nothing remarkable at all."

The Offering God's true identity was Ankra. An ancient evil ruler who had become a god by dividing and spreading their power so they could survive.

The immortals' unique customs and culture were methods to preserve the tribe's immortality and keep the Offering God's power from being diluted.

"People are all the same. There are only differences of degree. Strip away one layer, and it's all simple and childish. No matter how grandly you dress it up, it's only an extension of instinct. That's just how it is. Every desire begins with instinct."

Even this attack against me needed no elaborate reason. It was simply happening because of the Offering God's primal desire.

Tradition, custom, faith, they were all tools. Excuses people picked up and swallowed to survive.

Isn't it ridiculous to be controlled by things you made yourself?

"...I wondered what you were talking about. You're the same as the other people from beyond the steppe. You're treating our traditions and faith like a joke."

"What? I'm not treating tradition and faith like a joke. I'm saying they're only tools. The way you keep outsiders at a distance is an utterly natural act for every beast. You don't need to be ashamed of it."

No matter how many times I said it, humans were nothing more than animals. Wrap them up in layer after layer, and their nature did not change. Traditions and customs were only things that had been repeated until now. They had no meaning beyond that.

"Punching passersby in the name of tradition and gaining a sense of superiority by looking down on Piu who can't withstand it. Preventing blood from mixing through the bizarre custom of burying the bride and groom together. None of it is anything grand."

"Don't act superior just because you came from beyond the steppe!"

"What? I haven't acted superior even once. How is crying out that we're all the same animals acting superior? I'm saying we should all fall down to the level of beasts together."

"We are a tribe chosen directly by the Offering God!"

"The Offering God? Ah, you mean that flesh puppet underground? The pitiful beast who hid deep in a cave out of fear, then tried to devour my body the instant an opportunity came?"

The furious immortals shouted something. I let their emotions pass over me and said,

"I don't know if they're a god or not, but I prefer someone simple like them. They eat to survive, to grow stronger. Isn't that beastlike?"

What a simple, easy-to-understand desire. It was only a shame I couldn't grant it.

Left Leg shook their head and glared at me.

"...You're insane. I've never seen anyone from beyond the steppe as insane as you. At least the others feared us. Don't you fear death? Or are you certain you won't die?"

"Haha. Well, I'm much like you."

I moved my fully healed body around. My regeneration was faster than expected. By the time we had talked this much, I had returned to perfect condition.

Seeing me lightly hop in place, Left Leg was perplexed.

'What? I definitely felt bones breaking. Was he not a druid?'

"An immortal body isn't all that special, is it? Well, I do think it's rare."

It was weaker than a vampire's, anyway. Vampires were ageless and immortal. Here, if you died, you returned to the Offering God's embrace.

"Now then, everyone. I'm actually an immortal just like you. What do you think? Can you still kill me?"

"One from beyond the steppe! Were you hiding something!"

Left Leg, who had let their guard down after believing they had incapacitated me, rushed in to finish me off.

"But immortality without strength is only pain! Don't think it will save you!"

If I couldn't die, there was no need to defend myself, right? Instead of taking a defensive stance, I raised my skewer and charged at their log-like left leg.

A charging log was fatal even if it only grazed you. Throwing yourself at it was no different from choosing death. Left Leg was startled by my momentum as I charged in to die, but they soon put more strength into their body and kicked me.

Among the immortals, the warrior who had inherited the Offering God's left leg was powerful. My body could not endure even that brief collision and shattered. Broken bones pierced my organs, and blood sprayed both inside and out. In terrible pain, I flew far away.

'If he possesses immortality, all we need to do is keep pressing him so he can't regenerate! We've had more experience fighting immortals!'

Left Leg tried to pursue me without slowing from their attack. As they kicked off the ground with their sturdy left leg to run, they suddenly felt something wrong.

Only then did Left Leg look down at their left leg. There was a small hole I had made with my skewer, and red blood was seeping from it.

Turning their flesh black.

"This is... a vampire's...?"

A vampire's control was close to a curse for immortals. Vampire blood could not control an immortal's blood, but it could corrupt it.

I asked Left Leg once more.

"Can you still kill me?"

Footnotes:

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