WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 569: tag:selfcest

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An ordinary Beast King never gets the chance to meet the previous one. The previous Beast King dies, then the next simply pops into existence somewhere in the world.

But humans, those strange exceptions, seemed to have experimented with their king in every possible way and stumbled onto something significant.

I quietly watched the girl lying before me.

She looked like an ordinary Beast King. In other words, she had an innocent, carefree face. If she had been alive, she probably would have been just that lively. With her eyes closed, though, there was no way to know.

'She has no consciousness. Yet my mind reading is echoing off her. It isn't complete, but her power as the King of Humanity remains. What she lacks is consciousness. In other words, the power that represents humanity has vanished, leaving an empty shell behind. For a Beast King, the collective will of beasts is consciousness itself.'

Her grimy gray hair hung past her pelvis. Left uncared for over two thousand years, it had grown long and tangled. Small cuts and scars covered her naked body.

Five wounds stood out among them. One ran along her eye, one across her wrist, one across her ankle, one across her throat, and one down the center of her chest. They had nearly healed, yet they were so dreadful that I instinctively looked away.

'These are the marks left by the Five Lords devouring the King of Humanity. The meaning behind the ritual must have mattered more than the act of eating itself. Even so, they only took a portion of her power.'

So what was I supposed to do now? I lifted my head slightly and looked up at Nevida.

"Excuse me, Nevida. So what exactly am I supposed to do?"

Nevida stepped into the lotus after me. Looking down at the sleeping King of Humanity, Nevida made a request.

"The one before you is Your Majesty of the past. Your Majesty of the present, please open the eyes of Your Majesty of the past."

"Huh? You want me to wake an unconscious person's mind? Me? How?"

"As the other half of Your Majesty, do you feel nothing?"

"Of course I don't. I'm not a cure-all, and I'm not some prince who came to rescue a princess. How am I supposed to wake her up?"

'If I use mind reading to the point of achieving “assimilation,” like I did with Tyr, I could restore her consciousness. The previous King of Humanity would read the version of me assimilated with her and remember herself. This time, though, it would be dangerous. If our mind reading echoed back and forth several times, the one with the weaker vessel would break first.'

Wake her up, my ass. There was nothing I could do for someone whose mind had already gone. I was the King of Humanity, not a cure-all.

Wait. Could it be?

"It may be old-fashioned, but should I try kissing her? She might wake up like in a fairy tale."

"Your jest goes too far. I cannot make such an irreverent request."

"I'm not joking. It's fine. I don't particularly mind kissing, and I've wanted to be the prince who wakes a princess at least once."

'To grant Nevida's wish, I need to make my vessel a little stronger. That will take time. In that case, should I grant someone else's wish first?'

I naturally knelt and brought my face close to the girl. Hmm. Now that I thought about it, princes were more savage than I expected. The other person was unconscious, and they just planted a kiss on them? Was that romance or barbarism?

Just before my lips touched hers, ivy vines shot out from somewhere and grabbed my arm and body. They were only vines, yet they squeezed with enough force to burst my arm. I quickly gave up before my body really did burst.

"Come to think of it, the King of Humanity is another version of myself, right? Kissing myself does feel a little off. It seems narcissistic."

"Your Majesty knows better than anyone that it is not the proper method."

Right. A kiss wouldn't wake her up. I knew that. Reality wasn't a fairy tale.

But still.

"You can't tell me the proper method either! The only ways to combine two different powers into one are taboos!"

The Four Taboos: Gluttony, Grafting, Coupling, and Heresy. These immoral acts, called the origin and essence of black magic, referred to four ways of merging different powers into one.

"You aren't planning to grind me up and feed me to her under the excuse of Gluttony, are you?"

"No. In Gluttony, the one who eats must take the power. That, too, is not the proper method."

"You say that like you considered it!"

What a horrible thing to say in front of me! I almost became a special restorative meal for the King of Humanity!

"Huh? Wait. Does that mean I have to tear her apart and eat her? Is that what you wanted, for me to chew her up from head to toe while saying, 'So this is what the King of Humanity tastes like'...?"

"Could you bear it?"

"...No, probably not. How could I eat a person? It's not like I have some strange preference for wanting to eat cute girls. I mean in the culinary sense, not the sexual sense."

'Still, you need me, Nevida. That means you have to meet my demands too. Remember that speaking politely while ignoring me isn't acceptable.'

Then again, in the sexual sense, I could eat as much as I wanted.

I calmly knelt again and placed both hands on the girl's shoulders. I gently pushed her soft shoulders down, then took her curled arms and spread them apart. Between the vines covering her body, her constrained chest made its presence known.

Hmm. Was it because she was the King of Humanity? She certainly had a healthy body.

As I reached for the vines trapping her chest to free it...

I felt that force, ready to crush me again. Ivy and kudzu vines lifted me like a toy.

Nevida spoke with frightening intensity.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh? If it isn't Gluttony, then it's either Grafting or Coupling. You can't possibly want a two-headed King of Humanity. So isn't it Coupling? Is my process of elimination wrong?"

Coupling meant sowing seed and creating a “mixed” being. It was called a taboo, but in truth, it was something everyone did to preserve their species. Of course, Coupling as a taboo involved something more ritualistic than that... but its essence was no different.

Then what if the half-complete King of Humanity impregnated the empty-shell King of Humanity?

Wouldn't that Coupling produce a King of Humanity?

"Ah, I really, really don't want to become a breeding stallion, but I suppose I have no choice. I'm a male, after all, and I've built up a little too~."

"If you need women, I shall provide as many as you desire."

"No. Looking again, doing it with a female version of myself does have a certain appeal. Wouldn't this be a rather unusual kind of masturbation? Kissing felt a little disgusting, but Coupling might be fine."

Nevida had been about to bristle at my claim that I would violate Nevida's king right before Nevida's eyes, but paused to think it over. For something I had said as a joke, it was an unexpectedly realistic proposal.

"That could be one method."

"This might even be the correct answer! We're both Kings of Humanity, so why was I born male while she was born female? This is the harmony of yin and yang! It means we should join our bodies and become complete! Heh heh heh!"

'No. More accurately, I was born male because the female remained in the world. To represent what was left behind. Dogs and wolves are fundamentally different aspects of the same being, but I am the manifestation of what the previous King of Humanity lost. Coupling could be one method, but it would be far more difficult.'

Having coldly judged its chances, Nevida decided to save that method for later.

"That method, too, may be one path. I shall remember it."

"Huh? Remember it? Can't we try it once as a test?"

"Please restrain yourself, as Your Majesty's sacred body must not be handled carelessly. If you need a woman, I shall bring someone else."

"Huh? Does that mean you, Nevida?"

At my joke to break the ice, Nevida spread both arms with a terrifyingly blank expression.

"Do you require me?"

"I'm joking. A joke. That's too scary, so no."

Cold sweat poured down my back. I waved my hands and turned away as if nothing had happened. Tch. What a shame. I had the chance to find out what it felt like to do it with myself.

'This gives me a reason to meet another human, the Great Witch, or Shei. Nevida, I understand what you're wary of... Don't worry. Your wish will be granted somehow.'

Smacking my lips, I looked away from the girl.

"If it isn't Gluttony, Grafting, or Coupling, then the remaining method is Heresy among the Four Taboos. But that's far too difficult. Manifesting a miracle through a shared mental image held by many people? We can't even attempt that."

Heresy was on a different level from the other taboos. It unified power through a far more advanced, spiritual method. It was the act of many people sharing one mental image and accessing the power held by that image. The union of minds rather than bodies was Heresy, one of the Four Taboos.

Education bordering on brainwashing. Unwavering faith among the members. And a power with substance to gather that consciousness together. Only when all three came together could Heresy be achieved.

Honestly, the effort was almost admirable. Yet when things went badly, it often killed more people than the other three taboos. You only had to look at how cultists committed mass suicide or slaughter whenever they had nothing better to do.

The earth arts of the Church of the Earth Mother and druidism. Heresy was why ordinary humans could use the Demon God's power, and why druidism and sorcery had existed even before humans understood the Demon God.

Ah. The faith of the Offering God and the military state's communications personnel could also be considered forms of Heresy.

"She doesn't have any consciousness to begin with. What shared mental image could an unconscious person have?"

"Do Your Majesties not originally possess one mental image? The collective will of humanity, the most certain shared mental image of all."

"Oh?"

Oh, right. That was true. If she and I were both Kings of Humanity, then we shared the same mental image, didn't we? Wow, Nevida. You're pretty impressive. I never would have thought of that.

'She pinpointed it exactly. Nevida doesn't know what method I use, but at this point, it wouldn't be wrong to say Nevida has revealed the answer.'

"To this humble one's knowledge, Your Majesties are two sides that were once divided. I surmised that if both were gathered in the same space, something would react on each side."

The reasoning itself was fine, but there was something a little lacking. I pressed a hand to my temple and frowned deeply.

"Hmm. To create resonance, she and I are a little different."

"What is different?"

"It's hard to explain. Hmm, my body is weak, but my mind is sound. She has no mind, but her body is strong. That's one difference, at least."

Nevida fell into thought after hearing my explanation.

'Is Your Majesty asking me to strengthen your vessel? This is the land of the World Tree. It would not be difficult to strengthen a vessel with its overflowing vitality, but... Your Majesty likely intends to use the strength gained to do something. It is an obvious scheme, but...'

No, I wasn't leading you into anything! And I was weak as a worm anyway, so couldn't you strengthen my vessel a little? Why were you so suspicious?

'It isn't a lie, Nevida. My vessel is much weaker, so it is more likely to break first. If I break, it will be difficult for your king to return as well. For your wish, you must strengthen my vessel. What, are you uneasy? Still, if you want to gain something, you have to put something on the table too.'

"And whether it's consciousness or something else, I feel that she and I are slightly disconnected. It's hard to explain, but even setting aside the difference in gender, we don't fit together. Maybe it feels like a generational gap..."

At my muttering, Nevida spoke as if something had just clicked.

"...A gap of two thousand years. Humanity has changed during that time as well. We must expand the Domain of the Lords and fill that gap. Your Majesty's grace is boundless. Thanks to the teaching you bestowed upon me, I have found the answer."

"Huh? Did I teach you anything?"

Nevida figured it out alone, so what was Nevida talking about? This was why I disliked geniuses. Mind reading couldn't keep up with their ideas.

'I gave you a hint. You moved one step closer to your wish, and I gained free time. It was a satisfactory transaction. Don't you think?'

Nevida wrapped the girl in vines again and opened the lotus petals. As the lotus bloomed once more, Nevida bowed to me with genuine sincerity this time.

"Then shall we descend now?"

Right. I should go. I had to go, but...

I looked at the girl with lingering regret. It felt like something had been taken from right in front of me, which was a little disappointing.

"Well, even if we're leaving, just once..."

"Let us go."

Vines caught hold of me and dragged me away. Unable to resist, I watched the lotus petals close in the distance. Tch. What a waste. I could have done something no one else had ever done...

'Next... Shei is urgent. If she loses her arms forever, her wish in this life will be broken. I can't leave her like that.'

For a while, I probably wouldn't need to use mind reading here. That would be better.

'Having my thoughts echo back and be read again isn't very good for deceiving myself, either.'

Footnotes:

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