WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 586: I'll Get Off Here

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There was once a girl.

Even at her young age, she was extraordinarily beautiful. She was a noble child, too precious for anyone to bear seeing hurt, and too precious for anyone to dare hurt.

Her name was Hexia Agartha, born of noble blood.

She was the princess of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand, destined to inherit the mask and one day give rise to a new Kingdom of Ten Thousand.

A cute and noble child raised on both calculating and pure love from countless people usually grew in one of two ways. Either they took that kindness for granted, or they earnestly tried to repay it.

Hexia Agartha growing into a kind child was a great blessing for the Kingdom of Ten Thousand.

"I want meat to grow on trees! Then my nursemaid, the manservant, and the pages can all eat their fill of meat!"

Yet for kind Hexia Agartha to possess such immense talent was a blessing too great for even the Kingdom of Ten Thousand to bear.

"So I made the blessed ginkgo tree bear ginkgo nuts that taste like meat!"

The World Tree, the blessed ginkgo tree, was male.

Meat growing from a tree. It was a shocking development even for druids, who were respected by everyone, and witches, who received only slightly less respect.

Some claimed that the very existence of flesh fruit defied the natural order. Others defended it, saying it was merely fruit that tasted like meat. The chancellor rejoiced at having solved the food shortage, while the strategists frowned, saying it was harder to cultivate than livestock.

Only the witches offered unwavering support. No one else thought that support held any value.

Arguments erupted. They grew fiercer because everyone knew they would never end. The topic returned again and again, like the setting sun, the waxing moon, and the turning seasons. The debate was so loud that chirping birds covered their ears and hid in their nests, and so sharp that even predators stalking prey feared to approach.

"Proceed."

In the end, worldly power prevailed. Queen Agartha personally made the decision, and that ended the matter.

"If anyone has complaints, I'll hear them in my bed. Come bear fruit with me instead."

Yes. That ended it.

Flesh fruit was a remarkably delicate, sensitive crop. Even when they shared the same roots, they grew in wildly different ways depending on how they were cultivated. Even skilled druids couldn't figure out how to improve them and only wasted time.

It was around then that Queen Agartha invited Nevida, the ancient druid.

"The Queen used the Princess's pure goodwill to violate a taboo."

[Shut up... Shut uuuup!]

The ancient druid lived up to the name. Nevida possessed deep knowledge of both animals and plants, and used that knowledge and experience to improve the fruit directly. Dogs, cats, goats, sheep, cows, chickens, pigs, monkeys. Flesh fruits of every kind began to grow. Both witches and druids were left speechless by that extraordinary ability.

Because they couldn't understand it, they couldn't approach it. Because they couldn't approach it, the gap only widened. Druids once respected by all became fools by comparison, and Queen Agartha spoke only with the Great Druid and Princess Hexia. The fools didn't dare interrupt. Having realized the difference in their abilities, they chose to look away instead.

One day, as the gap between knowledge and ignorance widened further, druids from the Great Forest arrived. They claimed to have secretly followed the Great Druid and brought news that astonished everyone.

Great Druid Nevida, the legendary ancient being every druid had heard tales of at least once...

Had laid hands on the taboo of mating.

"What? All those beastkin were born from trees? But Root Beasts have limited lifespans..."

"That is correct. Beasts born from flesh fruit did not live long. It was like fruit rotting after falling from a tree. An unavoidable weakness born of using a plant's method."

"But if what you're saying is true, you succeeded in mass-producing beastkin. How?"

"...Beasts had to be made in a beast's way."

Beasts born from fruit quickly spoiled after birth. It couldn't be helped. Animals were different from plants.

So the Queen summoned Agartha's children. Beastkin with animal ears and tails, creations made by generations of Agarthas who had indulged in boredom and stimulation.

"I'm going to become the king of beastkin, Hexia."

Hexia's siblings, with their ears and tails, obeyed their mother's words. Raised on affection directed toward beasts, Agartha's orders were absolute to them. Agartha was their commander, their mother, and their master.

"The power stolen from the King of Humanity. The days of living on only its fragments will end someday. No one can become a true king without being the King of Humanity. But beastkin are superior to humans. If such beasts were born anew..."

And... countless females, no, pistils, still hanging from fruit, not yet ripe. Curled up with umbilical cords wrapped around them...

Those beastkin took drugs to drive themselves into heat, clung naked to the fruits, and indulged themselves by raping the females inside one by one.

As the World Tree's vital energy was drained, they impregnated the flesh submerged in the pulp, like insects laying eggs inside fruit.

"We'll become living Demon Gods, and Beast Kings in our own right."

Yet it was a blessing and curse too great for the Kingdom of Ten Thousand.

Hexia was clever and kind. She couldn't turn away from the flesh fruits she had created, which bore lives conceived without love or freedom, lives that could never be blessed.

Nenyaph calmly revealed the truth. To someone, it was pain sharper than a dagger. Perhaps Nenyaph had avoided meeting the Great Witch all this time out of consideration for her.

Or perhaps Nenyaph had been saving the knife so it would cut deeper.

"It was the Princess who asked us to stop the previous Queen."

The parrot let out a loud series of shrieks, as though trying to drown out Nenyaph's words. Yet no matter how loudly it cried, it couldn't cover them.

"The Queen intended to drive out the humans who originally lived there and fill the land with beastkin made from trees. By the time we realized what was happening, countless beastkin had already been born and scattered throughout the jungle... The humans who had lost Agartha's favor and been cast aside rose up with weapons, consumed by jealousy and envy."

Enough beastkin to constitute an entire race had been released. Naturally, chaos followed. If this hadn't been the Kingdom of Ten Thousand, their population would have been counted immediately. But they had spread throughout a largely untamed kingdom, so word of Agartha's atrocities barely spread.

By the time they realized there was a problem, it had already begun. That was likely why the rebellion came so late.

"The World Tree's vital energy was abused, the value of birth was defiled, and human dignity was trampled. The World Tree had fallen into ruin, covered in countless flesh fruits like tumors. What we truly intended was to scrape away those tumors from the World Tree... Though it all ended up burning in rage like wildfire."

After calmly stating the facts, Nenyaph drove in the final nail.

"Thanks to the Princess, we were able to prevent the World Tree from bearing fruits of sin."

[No one told you to burn the World Tree! No one told you to kill my mother, steal the mask, and destroy the kingdom!]

"Regrettably, our strength was insufficient. Just as yours was, Princess."

Nenyaph hadn't intended for it to happen either. There had simply been no other choice. They were a ragtag rebel force, while Agartha's power was overwhelming. If they had hesitated even a little, Agartha would have charmed and persuaded most of the rebels into becoming henchmen.

To achieve their goal, they had no choice. If they had not killed Agartha and torn apart the mask, the rebellion would have failed.

And the one who had intended that was the Great Witch. The Great Witch's fury included herself.

"Princess. Please let us pass. Otherwise, the transgression of that day will be repeated."

[Don't be ridiculous!]

"At this very moment, humans are being made atop the Tree of Corruption. The King of Humanity is the seed of great sin needed for that. It is the only way to end this without repeating the tragedy."

They had brought me here to prevent that tragedy from repeating. Because if I helped, Nevida could create even humans.

[Get out of my sight!]

The parrot cried out fiercely, but the procession of a hundred demons had lost its earlier force. No rage or wildness remained that could cover the jungle. The Great Witch's pet familiars stood blankly, their fur standing on end.

Despite the Great Witch's impassioned words, her emotions had become confused. The familiars, who felt their master's feelings as their own, sensed her hesitation.

Reading the situation, Nenyaph pressed the argument further and spoke again.

"Let us hurry. Now that the Princess knows this, the Great Druid will soon find us as well."

"Ah, all right. Thank you. I understand everything now."

"Did I not say I would explain as we traveled?"

"You knew the Great Witch would come."

"I had no choice but to kill the Princess's parrot. It was necessary if we wished to find where you were staying."

"Of course. I understand too. That there was no other choice."

The Great Witch's thoughts were fragmented and emotional. The memories I had read centered on the period after the World Tree burned and fell. Before it burned, the Great Witch had been young and immature, deliberately refusing to acknowledge the flesh fruit.

But after reading Nenyaph's thoughts as well, everything became clearer. What Agartha had planned, and why beastkin had been created.

"You didn't want to destroy the kingdom either. You didn't want to burn the World Tree. But the existence of the flesh fruit bothered you more, didn't it? It must have been difficult for you too. How did you endure all those years without a kingdom or a World Tree?"

Nenyaph climbed back onto the deer.

"Arborification. Thanks to the secret art that turns the body into a tree. We took turns waking, a year at a time, and caring for one another, allowing us to continue our sinful lives."

"So that's how you endured. I heard you well."

"Then spur the deer onward."

"No, I said I heard you well. Which means I'm getting off here. Thank you for everything. The deer's back is more comfortable than I expected."

You said I could jump off if I didn't like it, right? I did like the story itself, but that made it easier to reach a conclusion.

I seated Shei on the saddle and jumped down without hesitation.

Footnotes:

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