WeTried Translations
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 590: A Story from the Past. The Old Testament - 2
──────
The King’s nation rose and fell with the King of Humanity. After the previous King of Humanity was bitten and carried off by the Mountain Lord, the reign of the newly emerged girl king should have been as frail and chaotic as her age.
Yet Big Sis’s reign was more brilliant and splendid than any before it. Songs praising the King echoed throughout the land, and countless people traveled a thousand li merely to express their gratitude to her. Grain ripened richly in every field, while people gathered in small groups to show off their knowledge.
Everything was in full bloom. A brilliant civilization had finally borne fruit. The people stopped feuding simply because they served the same King. Instead, they shared their knowledge, took pride in it, and became one another’s teachers.
Songs praising Big Sis rang out everywhere, and portraits of her were sold in the streets. Those blessed by her grace wept tears of joy, while humans in distant lands could only suck their fingers and wait for their beloved King to come.
It was a season when both body and mind grew rich with abundance.
Humanity’s autumn.
“Your Majesty. How about leaving a tent here before we go?”
One day, El, the Keeper of Lore who had appeared out of nowhere, said something unexpected as usual. The Warriors of the King who served Big Sis naturally looked troubled by her words.
“What are you talking about? We have exactly as many tents as we need. Why leave behind something that is perfectly useful?”
“This is where one waterway and seven land routes meet. If we leave a tent here and put up a wooden sign, travelers will find their way more easily. People will gather, and it will become a village. It will be a signpost that shows people the right path.”
El was always like that. Though she was always here, her eyes looked farther ahead, and her mouth spoke of things yet to come. Her words often seemed to come from nowhere, but the voice of El, the Keeper of Lore, carried too much weight to simply ignore.
After all, El was the one who had led humanity into its autumn.
If the King of Humanity was a tree that bore fruit, then the Keeper of Lore was the wind that carried its pollen, the butterfly that pollinated it, and the bird that scattered its seeds far and wide.
Knowledge and wisdom spread from El’s fingertips. As head of the Keepers of Lore, El created type and printed scrolls. She spread writing, guiding knowledge to become something people took pride in rather than a secret. She brought ingenious new techniques that astonished the Warriors of the King and stirred Big Sis’s curiosity.
Thanks to her repeated achievements, the Keeper of Lore had eventually become second only to the King.
“The tent Your Majesty leaves behind will grow into a village, and the path Your Majesty walks will become humanity’s road. The marigold seeds planted here will one day become a proud nation. Your Majesty, please.”
On land that would one day become the capital of the Marigold vassal state, El pleaded with Big Sis. Before Big Sis could answer, the Warriors of the King flew into a rage.
“I have no idea what you are talking about! Do you know how much material and labor it takes to make a single tent? Are you planning to make the King sleep on bare ground?”
The Warriors of the King, who were absolutely loyal to Big Sis, glared fiercely at the Keeper of Lore. They were jealous of her and were determined to use this opportunity to teach her a lesson. Even the younger warriors, who were comparatively favorable toward the Keeper of Lore, rebuked El with troubled expressions. Though she had achieved great things, asking them to leave the King’s tent behind was far too presumptuous.
Only one person looked favorably on the proposal.
Big Sis spoke.
“Let’s do it!”
“Your Majesty!”
The startled warriors urgently tried to dissuade her, but Big Sis merely waved a hand.
“It’s fine. We’ll just make another one.”
Big Sis was still a beast. Some expected her to possess authority befitting a King, but the Beast King retained the simple nature of returning goodwill with goodwill and hostility with hostility.
The nation had already grown beyond a mere tribe into something far greater, but humans were still beasts. The King of Humanity had not escaped being a Beast King either.
“El has worked hard, so I’ll work hard too.”
The Warriors of the King were left hanging when Big Sis supported the Keeper of Lore. They felt resentful and ashamed at El’s arrogance and at the fact that their own loyalty had gone unrewarded.
Nevida felt something similar, but before she was a warrior, she was Big Sis’s friend. She understood her sovereign’s heart first.
“Your Majesty…”
“Nevida? What is it?”
“You should not do this. The warriors spoke for your sake. The Keeper of Lore’s request benefits no one, so it would be right for you to repay their feelings.”
“Huh? They care about me, so I have to repay them?”
“Feelings must be reciprocated as well.”
“Oh, like bartering?”
Big Sis nodded as though she understood, but that did not mean she would act as Nevida wished. She told Nevida,
“I don’t want to listen to requests telling me not to do something. If I listen to that request, I’ll have to stay right here without moving.”
“I’m worried it will trouble you.”
“It’s fine, Nevida. It doesn’t trouble me at all. It was the same when I wrote scrolls for you. I never thought it was troublesome!”
There was no emotion in Big Sis’s words. She merely whispered to Nevida in a calm voice, as though recalling an old memory.
Still, Nevida, who had become a proper druid through Big Sis’s whim and kindness, could not lift her head in shame.
The Keeper of Lore who had appeared out of nowhere possessed an unmatched presence. She knew everything, and every decision she made led to good results. Sound judgment inspired trust, and once that happened again and again, doubting her became a ridiculous joke.
There was no such word then, but if idle gossips had seen it, they would have said that the word was born there.
Faith.
“Keeper of Lore! Thank you! We survived because you foresaw the flood!”
“Keeper of Lore! You found our secret buried in the sand! How could we ever repay this kindness?”
“Thank you so much! The crops you gave us before are growing so well! No one in this region will go hungry now!”
As though she could foresee the future, El brought about only the best outcomes. It was not as if she did anything grand. She told passing people of the signs she had read in the heavens, lit smoke after finding ruins along the road, and planted small seeds she had picked up somewhere.
She received praise from countless people, but even that was only a fraction of the many things the Keeper of Lore accomplished.
One day, El had someone cut down a tree while traveling. When one of the warriors following her felled it in a single blow, she tucked embers into the split trunk and left. A great plume of smoke rose after she had passed.
One day, El caught a butterfly resting on a flower petal. She carried it in her hand for half a day, then released it into a field full of white flowers. Exhausted by its unwilling journey, the butterfly staggered onto a nearby flower.
One day, El had several people copy a scroll. After receiving the copies, she tore them apart without a word and tucked the pieces into her clothes. As she walked for several days, scraps of scroll trailed along the road like footprints.
The Keeper of Lore sometimes planted poles in the ground for no apparent reason or wrapped large trees again and again with sacred rope. Once, she even painted a picture on a large stone with a brush. People who admired El asked what any of it meant.
“A butterfly's small flutter of wings will return as a great storm.”
No one understood the Keeper of Lore’s answer. She did not seem interested in making them understand.
As such events repeated themselves, the Warriors of the King split into two groups: those who believed in and followed the Keeper of Lore, and those displeased by her.
Unlike the former, who had a focal point, the latter had nothing but resentment. So they raised the banner of loyalty to Big Sis. They argued that only Big Sis was the greatest being, and that the Keeper of Lore merely leaned on her grace.
It was a sound argument in principle, so no one could refute it. Those who followed the Keeper of Lore had no intention of abandoning the King of Humanity either. Even if they had, they could not have said so aloud.
The balance of power should naturally have tipped to one side. Yet because Big Sis, the King of Humanity herself, cherished the Keeper of Lore more than anyone, the balance remained precarious.
“Great Druid. There is something urgent we must discuss.”
Nevida had come to be called the Great Druid. She possessed exceptional talent, received instruction from the King of Humanity, and learned druidic arts from across the world through the Keeper of Lore’s knowledge. Even among the Warriors of the King, she was held in special esteem.
More importantly, she was a loyal retainer who cared only for Big Sis and never involved herself in politics or power struggles. The principlists tried to gather around Nevida.
“If it is that matter, I would have refused it long ago.”
Yet Nevida was on an entirely different level from those who dared call themselves principlists.
“What the King says is law, and the path the King walks is the path we must follow. Only the King may command us. If you truly care for the King, then honor her will.”
A biting dog did not bark. It needed its mouth to bite.
Likewise, Nevida did not shout that she was a principlist. She merely watched them, prepared to tear into them.
Those who dressed themselves up as principlists fell silent before the real thing.
“One day, the Keeper of Lore will challenge the King’s authority.”
“The Keeper of Lore is devoted to the King, and the King repays her devotion. We should watch for now. If the Keeper of Lore truly plots rebellion, it will not be too late to deal with her then.”
Nevida dismissed their concerns and continued.
“If the Keeper of Lore is truly wise, she will never dare rise against the King.”
The King of Humanity was strong, wise, capable, and benevolent. Even if the Keeper of Lore did things others could not understand, it would all surely be for Big Sis’s sake.
Nevida believed that Big Sis cherished the Keeper of Lore just as she had cared for Nevida.
“Your Majesty! Please ease my grievance!”
Before long, though, that faith was put to the test.
“Those wicked bastards who burned my village, kidnapped our maidens, and devoured newborn children! Please, kill them in the King’s name! I offer up my life!”
A subject who had walked until their feet blistered to find the King of Humanity poured out their blood-soaked resentment, then died.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
