WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 585: Night Parade of a Hundred Demons

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A stranger had sent us a note tied to an owl's leg, asking us to jump. I didn't exactly trust it, but there wasn't much reason not to try either. No matter how we were being treated, Shei and I were prisoners. Taking a leap was worth the risk if it meant breaking out of this situation.

"What do you think, Shei? This note came for us."

"Let's go."

Shei answered at once.

"Even if we escape, Nevida probably won't kill you. In that case, it's worth trying. It would also be good to find out who might be on my side and who might be against me."

"You could die, Shei."

"Hughes. It's fine if I die. I'm a regressor."

That's exactly why you can't die. The world would reset.

"That's hard to understand."

"It's fine. I'm just saying you don't need to worry too much about me dying. I'll try to survive, but if there's something to gain even from dying, that's enough."

With that, Shei headed straight for the owl. Then she realized her arms still wouldn't move and asked me for help.

"...Hold me."

"How would you like me to hold you?"

"Why are you asking?! Just hold me however you want!"

"No, I have to hold onto the owl too, so I don't have a hand free to hold you..."

When you didn't have a free hand, you used tools. I wove vines into a sling, secured Shei tightly against my body, and approached the owl. The owl must not have expected two people, because its eyes widened before it let out a hoot.

"Hold on tight so you don't fall."

The instant I grabbed the owl's leg while hanging from the window frame, it spread its wings and leaped into the air as if it had been waiting for us. My body was yanked taut in an instant. I wondered if it could really bear my weight, but the owl didn't resist. It accelerated instead, steadying itself in the air.

Whoooosh. The wind brushing past my face grew fiercer. It felt as though invisible feathers were tearing at my body.

We seemed to have fallen quite far, but our speed didn't slow. I looked at the owl, growing a little frightened, but it didn't seem to be making any effort to get us out of this situation.

"This isn't flying, it's falling. Was this an invitation to suicide?"

"...Hughes. See you next cycle."

"Have you given up on life already?!"

Should I seriously brace for impact? As I looked around nervously, something shot upward past the owl from outside my field of vision. It matched our speed from behind and began to approach us slowly.

"An owl."

Shei muttered.

The owl caught up and moved to one side of me, while another came up on the other. As though they had planned it, they grabbed my shoulders and arms in unison. One might not have been enough, but with three of them attached, it felt as though my body was beginning to rise.

The wind gradually died down, and the ground came close enough. The owls angled upward and lowered us gently to the ground.

"Fweet. Fweeeet."

A short whistle sounded. The owls spread their wings and flew toward its source.

A group of people with padded cloth wrapped around their arms welcomed the owls. The owls landed lightly on the cloth, rubbing their heads against the people as they were fed pieces of meat.

As I lowered Shei, a young woman with an owl perched on her shoulder approached us. Her long hair was twisted up and pinned with a hairpin, while dyed cloth was wrapped around her shoulders and arms. She was dressed for utility rather than beauty, yet she still possessed an elegance she could not hide.

Staring straight at my face, the young woman lifted an arm level with her face. She greeted me without bowing her head, speaking in an old-fashioned manner.

"It grieves me deeply to meet you, King of Humanity."

"Grieves you? That's not something you say to someone you've just met. I like the honesty, though."

Holding up the note I had taken from the owl's leg, I asked, "Did you write this?"

"I did. Time is of the essence, so let us depart at once."

"Hold on. I'd like to hear who you people are. I can't just trust you and follow without knowing anything."

"Then let us compromise. I shall explain as we travel. I will answer faithfully, so if you dislike what I say, you may jump down."

Straightforward. It had ended up going their way, but we did need to get away as quickly as possible.

"Fine, as long as you answer."

"Your companion should remain in your arms. It would be better for her to stay in familiar arms."

"They aren't that familiar..."

Shei grumbled, but settled into position again. Soon after, a man wearing antlerlike branches led over a huge deer. The gray-furred great-antlered deer had a saddle strapped to its back.

"Is it a familiar?"

"It is a tamed beast. It is gentle, so it will not throw you unless you start tearing out its fur."

When I climbed onto the deer, it began moving without any command. Its enormous antlers looked as though they would get in the way, but they instead broke branches and swept aside grass as it ran forward.

As we rode, the young woman with the owl on her shoulder came alongside me.

"If there is anything you wish to ask, please do so."

All right. What should I ask first? I should use mind reading to assess her, then figure out what questions could justify my mind reading.

"You're Nenyaph the Watcher, Nevida's disciple. A druid from the fallen Kingdom of Ten Thousand and the keeper of the Forest of Knowledge. Right?"

Shei suddenly spoke up. It seemed she had known Nenyaph unilaterally through her regressions. I had a rough idea of how that felt, but I lowered my voice and whispered for the sake of my reaction.

"What? Did you learn that through regression too?"

"Yeah. Nenyaph appeared briefly whenever I fought Nevida."

Nenyaph must not have expected us to identify her so quickly, because a flicker of surprise stirred in her mind.

"...There is no reason for you to know us. Even the gods of heaven and earth would be astonished. I had intended to answer your questions, yet now I find myself in the position of asking them."

"It's good for both sides to have questions. More importantly, Shei already introduced you. What's your purpose in taking us away?"

"To protect you from Nevida's hands."

"No, not the process. I'm not asking what you'll do with us. I'm asking what you intend to accomplish by helping us escape."

Like any secret organization, Nenyaph was concealing part of her plan. Still, because Shei had seen through her identity, she revealed some of her intentions.

"A druid has but one purpose. To tend the World Tree and ensure that all things move according to nature's order. To prevent the sins of the past from repeating, we watched over the Tree of Corruption and prepared for this day."

"Sins? Ah, is that what I heard from the great witch?"

Nenyaph reacted. Thinking of the great witch with a little longing, some guilt, and a great deal of resentment, she asked, "Did the Princess speak of us? What did she say?"

"She said the druids burned the World Tree, and that she could never forgive you."

"...Is that what she said?"

Nenyaph muttered bitterly, still carrying those emotions. Then she sensed something and raised her head to look around.

Kyaaaaaaa--.

Wind rarely reached deep into a jungle packed with trees. Even a fierce typhoon struck ancient trees that had endured for centuries and countless leaves, splitting apart until it scattered as a faint breeze.

Yet an unknown wind was now blowing from the Tree of Origin.

It was as if the World Tree's breath was spreading throughout the jungle. Damp, ominous air rolled in from behind us.

The strange energy reached us, and the deer panicked, kicking up its hind legs. As the procession fell into disorder, Nenyaph swung her arm and sent the owl flying.

"...It is the Princess."

"You mean the great witch?"

"Yes. A child wiser and more intelligent than anyone, now surrendering herself to rage and singing only of revenge."

Dozens, hundreds of beasts came rushing between the trees. The sight of enraged animals racing through the night was like a parade of a hundred demons. Dozens of pairs of eyes flashed as they turned toward us.

Then an unfamiliar parrot's voice rang out.

[You bastards...! You dared to kill Polly?! I'll tear your flesh apart!]

"I think she's angry because your owl killed a parrot."

"If she truly cherished beasts, she should not have shared cursed blood and made them into familiars. That parrot was a creature that should have died decades ago. The owl merely followed nature's order."

"No, your owl killed it."

Of course she'd be angry if someone killed her familiar, natural order or not. What nerve.

Though we were surrounded by beasts, Nenyaph calmly took out a bow. It looked improvised, as if she had snapped a nearby branch and made it on the spot. Even atop the deer, Nenyaph pulled the string with the stillness of an ancient tree.

"Lower your heads."

Holding Shei, I ducked quickly.

Twang. Nenyaph released an arrow. It flew almost straight and buried itself in the neck of a beast running in the distance. The shadow running on four legs lost its balance, fell to the ground, and rolled several times.

It had enough force to pierce tough hide. Druid archery, firing arrows by controlling the elasticity of wood.

Nenyaph's attack became the signal, and the other druids fired in unison.

"Fire!"

Arrows poured down like heavy rain. Even while riding deer, the druids showed astonishing focus as they struck the beasts' vital points precisely. The fallen beasts rolled across the ground, blocking the path of those behind them. They truly had the skill of forest keepers.

Yet most beasts struck by arrows rose right back up and charged again. The druids were greatly shaken by their unstoppable momentum.

"Keeper, they won't go down!"

"They possess strange power! That must be..."

As she selected another arrow, Nenyaph muttered, "The Princess's children..."

[Nenyaphhh!]

A huge bird appeared before me as I rode through the darkness, flapping its wings. It was a golden eagle, with wings vast enough to cover the world and a hooked beak. The bird of prey that should have looked down on the earth with the pride of the sky's ruler was staring with wide eyes at me... and Nenyaph.

It clutched a dead owl beneath its talons.

Nenyaph gave her owl a brief moment of mourning, then said, "Princess, have you been well?"

A parrot landed on the golden eagle's back. The parrot, whose feathers differed from Pero's, shouted in fury.

[How dare you show your face here!]

"I have come to escort the King of Humanity. Please allow us to depart."

[Ha! Did you think you could show yourself before me and still leave unharmed?!]

The deer, which had already been slowing, soon came to a stop. It wasn't simply terrified. We had nowhere left to go.

The great witch's familiars slowly appeared before us. A pack of ferocious beasts with sharp teeth and claws had overtaken us and blocked our way.

We had little chance even against ordinary predators, but those were the great witch's familiars and servants. The limbs she had created in place of blood relatives after gaining the Progenitor's blood. Even druids could not be certain of victory against them.

Still, Nenyaph calmly dismounted and greeted the parrot.

"Princess, do you intend to repeat what happened that day?"

[What? You dare speak of that day? You betrayed me and abandoned the kingdom!]

"I may have betrayed the kingdom, but I did not betray heaven's order. And did you not also fail to betray that order in the end, Princess? Did you not help us?"

'Helped them? The great witch helped the druids?'

Nenyaph remained at ease even in the middle of this parade of a hundred demons. Druids who lived with nature tended to drift along like water following its course, but Nenyaph had a different kind of certainty.

As though she held someone's weakness in her hand.

Glancing at me, Nenyaph began, "It seems the Princess told the King of Humanity only one thing and concealed the rest."

[What more is there to know? You burned the World Tree, ruined my kingdom, and killed my mother!]

"...Did she tell you why we burned the World Tree, why so many tribes of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand rose in rebellion, and what sin the previous Queen committed? Did she tell you none of it?"

[That wasn't a sin! No such sin exists anywhere in this world! And you, who lived off the kingdom's favor, have no right to judge the Queen!]

"It has nothing to do with my position as Grand Preceptor. It has nothing to do with my being a druid. As a human being, I had no choice but to oppose the previous Queen so that my dignity would not be violated."

Leopards, hyenas, jaguars, parrots, hawks, owls, cats, squirrels. Dozens of kinds of animals looked at us as if entranced. Even with their natural predators nearby, the animals showed no fear or caution as Nenyaph continued.

"You know, do you not? You saw it yourself. That is why you could no longer face humanity directly, is it not?"

[Y-you...!]

As the parrot opened and closed its beak, unable to continue, Nenyaph turned to me.

"King of Humanity. Do you know how beastkin came to be?"

Suddenly being drawn into the conversation, I answered, "Yes. I heard Agartha bore them after sleeping with the Beast King."

"The Queens inherited the ruler's authority through the generations. It was the power to form bonds with humans... The Queen, who could charm all people, could also communicate deeply with a Beast King in human form. Using that power, the previous Queen conceived children not of humans, but of other beasts."

I had heard that in Ende, and learned more here. I had also understood some of it while reading the great witch's mind. Honestly, it was shocking and bewildering, but I thought it was only a strange preference. It was common for powerful people who had everything to seek out increasingly bizarre stimulation.

"If that had been all, it would not have been contrary to nature's order."

But Nenyaph wasn't speaking to me. She was only using me as a way to dig into the great witch's painful memories.

"There can only be one who gives birth. The Queens bore several beastkin over the generations, but such numbers are like mutations that suddenly appear and vanish. They fail to survive, or disappear as they intermingle with other humans. At most, they might form a small tribe."

There were beastkin like the centaurs, who barely managed to preserve their species by clinging to the Progenitor. No one could even know whether kinds of beastkin that had died out completely had ever existed.

Yet unlike them, certain beastkin prospered.

Far too much.

"That was not what the Queen intended. The Queen wished for beastkin to become... a people. To become the king of beastkin."

There were many beastkin. They had gone beyond a tribe or race and were becoming a humanity of their own. Their numbers defied common sense. They had not multiplied over several thousand years, nor did they give birth to many young at once like true beasts. There were simply too many for them to have originated from one human.

"The flesh fruit the Princess created out of kindness was a discovery meant to feed all people. The Queen stole the World Tree's vital energy and made those fruits of corruption... bear people."

Footnotes:

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