WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 599: A Wildfire Also Starts from a Small Spark - 2

──────

The people beneath the World Tree lived in its shade. The Tree of Origin towered above their heads, blocking out the sun in every season. They spent their entire lives receiving only fragments of sunlight that filtered through the leaves.

Some said the Tree of Origin was not a World Tree. No tree could bear different fruits on every branch, much less fruits that grew into beasts. That was far beyond common sense.

But none of that mattered to those living beneath the World Tree. Rice and wheat grew in place of leaves. What tree could be more blessed than that? It even bore meat.

Anything good for them was a miracle and a blessing. Common sense was not a subject that interested the people beneath the World Tree.

Yet blessings vanished as suddenly as they appeared.

"The leaves are falling!"

"The crops haven't been growing well these past few days either...!"

It had never happened before, which only made the confusion worse. The World Tree had grown again where the old World Tree had burned and fallen. The land blessed by it should have remained fertile forever.

Yet the leaves suddenly began to fall, and crops started dropping from the branches.

The people living on it sensed the change before anyone else. Anxiety fed their confusion, and they gathered to find out what was happening.

"Our guardian, Anubis! There's a serious problem with the World Tree! It's withering!"

The visiting Anub tribe members were the perfect people to appeal to. Made entirely of dog beastkin, the Anub tribe had been the guardians of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand and the Queen's loyal hounds. After losing the World Tree, they had chosen to guard its surroundings themselves.

The Anub tribe members pricked up their ears and listened.

"Woof? The World Tree is withering?"

"Yes! Its canopy is drying up, and the leaves are falling! Look!"

"It really is...! It isn't time for that yet, but the leaves are falling! What an ominous sign!"

The Anub tribe immediately sensed that something was wrong. The King of Humanity had appeared as well. There was no way this strange phenomenon had nothing to do with him.

"The Great Witch should be tending the new World Tree. Has she said nothing?"

"We haven't heard anything from above yet!"

"Grrr. I need to go up there."

The chieftain of the Anub tribe, Jackal Anub, growled as they looked up at the World Tree's trunk, which rose like a mountain. It was still majestic and full of life, but the countless falling leaves lent even that grandeur a sorrowful air.

Jackal Anub steeled themself.

"We cannot repeat the sin our ancestors committed long ago!"

The Anub tribe had failed to protect the World Tree and the Queen. It was not because they had been lazy or insufficiently loyal. If anything, it was because they had been too diligent and loyal.

Queen Agartha had intended to create hundreds of thousands of "cloned" beastkin. That could have raised moral and fundamental questions among the beastkin tribes loyal to Agartha.

That was why Queen Agartha had deliberately kept the beastkin tribes far from the World Tree. As a result, they had been unable to stop the rebellion.

But that taboo had burned with the World Tree and been buried in the ashes. All that remained was the memory of searching the blackened cinders for people.

Carrying hearts scorched black, the Anub tribe became the Great Witch's hunting hounds. Once the hunt ended, they held their ground and waited for the day the Queen would return.

"And if the King of Humanity has truly returned, then we finally have a new master too!"

The Great Witch had not taken on the Queen's duty. Instead, she had inherited the Progenitor's blood. That was why the Anub tribe treated her as a witch they respected, not a master they served.

But the King of Humanity might rule this land in the Queen's place. If there was a World Tree and a king, the Kingdom of Ten Thousand would return.

The Anub tribe was about to climb toward the upper reaches.

Then something fell from overhead.

It had dropped from so high that the black shadow landed before anyone could react. The brief impact shook the World Tree's roots. But only for a moment. The black shadow rose as though nothing had happened.

It had survived a fall from that height without a scratch. Startled, an Anub tribe member shouted.

"A leopard!"

"Woof. A dog."

Blanca Baskerville gave that short reply and stood before the Anub tribe members without a single hair out of place. Once they recognized her, they relaxed their raised ears and tails slightly.

"A black dog. One of our kind."

"That's right. Woof. We're kin, both searching for masters who'll put collars around our necks. Nice to meet you. But..."

Blanca looked over the Anub tribe members with a hint of pity in her eyes.

"Don't come up. Things are quite complicated above. We don't have room to take you in too."

Pity was the feeling of finding another's circumstances sad and pitiful. It was not something shared between equals.

Blanca found the Anub tribe members sad and pitiful.

Noticing that, they bristled.

"What did you say?!"

"Awooo! Who do you think you are?!"

Jackal Anub raised a hand to silence the group. Then they calmly asked again.

"What's happening? Why is the World Tree shedding leaves?"

"These leaves? Awooo, if we get down to it, the World Tree is under attack right now."

"Attacked? By whom?"

"Hard to say exactly. The whole world, maybe?"

"Grrr. What does that mean?"

"It'll be hard to understand. Woof. But there's a feeling like that. The feeling that the world is rejecting you. The certainty that things will never go the way you want them to."

That was what it meant to be abandoned by the Celestial God's order.

A watchdog family was a family of loyal dog beastkin who had served a single noble house for generations. The Baskervilles were a renowned watchdog family that had once served even an emperor. From childhood, every Baskerville had their ears and tails cut, then endured strict training with whips and collars to become perfect butlers or maids.

Then people began saying watchdog families were barbaric, no different from slaves, and should be liberated. A few nobles joined in, putting on shows about granting them freedom. When the watchdog families, effectively cast out, caused trouble, public opinion turned further against them.

With less and less room to stand, the watchdog families searched for other houses to rely on. Naturally, villains who did not care about public opinion took them in.

They did dirty work, were eventually burdened with the blame, and fell into ruin.

That was how it ended.

Blanca felt stifled and hoped they would understand that feeling.

"Like right now, woof."

"I don't know what you mean, but you're trying to drive us away again."

The Anub tribe was not so easily pushed aside. The Baskervilles themselves had originated from the Anub tribe. They might lack the Baskervilles' knowledge and technique, but their physical strength was second to none.

"Awooo! We can't lose the World Tree again. Leaves are falling and branches are withering, yet you're telling us to wait quietly? Is that what you say to those who have protected this land?!"

Ignoring Blanca, Jackal Anub shouted to the tribe members.

"Out of respect for you and the Great Druid, I won't bring everyone with me. But the warriors, myself included, will go up!"

"Awoo. We can't accept variables like that."

She could not even begin to guess how the Celestial God's attack worked. She could not allow a dozen or so powerful beastkin to reach the Domain of the Lords.

More importantly, no one knew what would happen with the King of Humanity. Bringing in outsiders was too much of a burden, even if the Anub tribe was practically an ally.

Blanca made her decision.

"No."

Muttering that, Blanca walked up to an Anub tribe member, grabbed the hem of their clothes, and flung them down toward the roots. The tribe member flew away without understanding what had happened, let out a yelp, and rolled across the ground.

It was fast and powerful. More striking than that was how naturally Blanca moved, as if she were flowing water. Having mastered unarmed combat as a member of a watchdog family, Blanca's throwing and kicking techniques had reached a high level.

Jackal Anub glared at Blanca and growled.

"Grrr. You're going to stop us by force?"

"Just as you have a duty, I have work to do too, woof. I can't let you go."

Jackal Anub's fur stood on end. At the same time, the other tribe members twisted their faces, bared their teeth, and slowly surrounded Blanca. More than a hundred black dog beastkin encircled her alone, radiating fierce hostility.

"We won't be stopped by one dog like you! We'll break through! We'll go up and handle it ourselves!"

"Awoo. It always comes to this. I'm used to it, though."

Grumbling, Blanca took a pair of gloves from her pocket. They were elegant black gloves that suited her black fur and suit. Once she put them on, Blanca Baskerville became a beast black from head to toe.

Her opponents were more than a hundred black dogs. She could kill them if she wished, but the Great Witch would hate that. She needed to leave them alive if possible.

Having finished preparing to fight, Blanca lowered her stance and made one final complaint.

"Awoo. The Great Witch ought to handle this. Where on earth did she go?"

"Nenyaph! Stop right there!!"

At that very moment, the Great Witch was giving chase after spotting Nenyaph among the crowd. Nenyaph had recognized her and fled, always seeming within reach but never caught, even though the Great Witch rode a black panther renowned as the fastest creature in the jungle.

After chasing for quite some time, the Great Witch realized Nenyaph was luring her away.

"You want to lure me...? You've lured me far enough...! Show your face!"

The Great Witch bit her finger. The Elder's blood stretched out like a long thread. Using her own blood as a medium, she activated black magic.

"Ground Spur. Stirring Hooves. By my blessing, let a storm dwell within this body."

The flowing blood seeped into the black panther, her familiar. From its eyes to its heart, the scattered blood energy spread through every part of the black panther in time with its heartbeat.

The black panther's eyes turned red with blood energy. At the same time, its strides grew faster and longer. Racing without hesitation through the dense jungle, the black panther surged behind Nenyaph in an instant.

"I told you to stop."

With that cold voice, the black panther pounced on Nenyaph's back. Its huge claws were about to press down on Nenyaph's shoulders.

"Holy Sword, equip."

Branches of light rose behind Nenyaph as she invoked a small miracle. Pure force shot out like lightning and tore through the black panther's entire body.

The black panther twisted in pain. It let out a harsh cry and rolled across the ground, throwing the Great Witch from its back after she lost control.

Just before she struck the ground, two parrots flew in from somewhere and grabbed her shoulders. Supported by their desperate flapping, the Great Witch descended slowly and looked at the black panther, which was still writhing in pain.

"My blood energy...?"

It had not truly been stabbed. The light had only stripped away the blood energy and black magic. The link had been severed in an instant, scattering the Great Witch's control and leaving the black panther in agony.

Feeling her control scatter from the black panther's body, the Great Witch muttered.

"You learned such a strange trick too...!"

"It is the form my faith has taken."

Nenyaph put away the Holy Sword, which resembled a tree branch, and approached slowly. The Great Witch gathered her strength and prepared for battle, but Nenyaph had no intention of fighting her.

"And that faith is not mine alone. The light I wield is the power of faith felt by all humanity."

"Faith...?"

"Birth must be blessed, growth must be encouraged, and death must be dignified. It rejects birth formed so insignificantly within fruit, denies power gained by sacrificing life, and refuses deaths expended like worn-out shoes. That faith itself has become my sword."

A Holy Sword manifested when one's personal faith reached universal awareness. It was the power of faith, as well as proof that one was truly a servant of the Celestial God.

And faith was something shared with others. Nenyaph did not use the new weapon merely to strike.

"Even the Princess, who was pure, innocent, and brimming with talent... could not accept seeing humans inside fruit being raped. There are lines that must never be crossed and values that must be protected. Like the Princess, I chose to follow them."

Nenyaph's Holy Sword pierced precisely into the Great Witch's still-confused heart and took root there.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried