WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 666: A Tower Without a Ceiling and Intermingling Humans - 2

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That's right. Humans demand order. I don't deny it.

A wall they can lean on. A roof that won't collapse. Strong pillars. They want unchanging common sense to protect them.

But here's the thing.

"Humans don't need order."

I muttered so only the Holy Maiden could hear, then loosened up. It was about time I stepped in.

"I'm stopping this fight. Lankart, keep the mercenaries under control. Shei, please break up the mages' fight. Avant-garde, you too."

"What about you?"

"I'll handle the Holy Paladins."

There was no time to talk. I immediately ran toward the Holy Paladins.

Holy Paladins possessed combat precognition. Put simply, it was brief, conditional foresight delivered through divine power.

In a perilous moment where every move threatened their lives, time seemed to slow as they exchanged blows under extreme tension. In that fleeting instant, the Celestial God connected with His followers and showed them a glimpse of the future. Foresight that came at the exact moment their intentions crossed was brief, but accurate.

That was why the Holy Paladins could boast ironclad defenses when gathered as a group, despite their relatively low qi cultivation. They had combat precognition.

I decided to use it against them.

I pulled out my skewer. I needed a small opening, a bold movement, and genuine killing intent. Staring at the Holy Paladin before me, I aimed the skewer behind their back and truly decided to kill them.

"Die."

Things were different from before. Having recovered some of my strength, I could kill one defenseless human. I drove the skewer toward the Holy Paladin's back with all my might!

'Combat precognition! Behind me? Celestial God...!'

Sensing death approaching from behind, the Holy Paladin who had foreseen it reflexively turned around. Since it was a vision of death, they had no choice but to react.

So you finally reacted? Okay, that's enough.

I immediately withdrew my killing intent and acted like nothing had happened. Like when I made eye contact with someone while trying to pick their pocket, I naturally looked away, hummed a tune, and passed the Holy Paladin by.

The instant the Holy Paladin foresaw their death, I canceled the future their precognition had shown them.

'The vision disappeared!'

Just as they were about to react to the vision, the sudden disappearance of my killing intent left the Holy Paladin floundering.

'T-the vision changed...?! What's going on?! Combat precognition can't be wrong!'

That was the problem with foresight. A vision warning of something that hadn't happened yet was bound to be uncertain. The moment it came, I withdrew my killing intent and tricked it.

The Celestial God's visions came quickly, but corrections came late. Probably because He couldn't admit He'd been wrong.

I continued bluffing with foresight. Whenever I so much as leaned toward them, the Holy Paladins recoiled in terror.

"Gasp!"

"Hhk!"

"An ambush...!"

Some Holy Paladins reflexively counterattacked, but they even relied on divine power for Water Qi Art. Honestly, they weren't difficult to dodge. A cross sword with a broad blade could be caught bare-handed if I used my hands well enough.

Just a few bluffs were enough to break their formation.

"Alright, that's enough fighting. Have you relieved your stress? Get some rest now."

"Ghk...! Why are you doing this to us?!"

"If I'm going to stop the fight, I have no choice. Don't feel wronged. I'll restrain the other side too. I'm a fair person, after all."

As I stood before the Holy Paladins and spoke, a butterfly fluttered toward my ear.

Huh? A butterfly? There weren't even any flowers in this meadow. Why was a butterfly suddenly here?

"A butterflyyyyy."

"Whoa!"

I realized it a little too late. Poison Centipede's blade split the air like a skewer. Even though I had dodged in advance after seeing the butterfly in Poison Centipede's hallucination, I felt the skin beside my ear split open.

Poison Centipede, drugged as she was, had no clear killing intent or purpose. She only swung her blade as her hallucinations led her. It was fortunate that I had noticed her hallucination through mind-reading. With a clumsy reaction, my neck would have been cut off like that dead Holy Paladin's.

The problem was that I couldn't persuade her while she was drugged. I needed to stop this fight right away. What should I do?

"Butterflyyyy."

Ah. Right.

Before the fluttering butterflies reached me, I hurriedly interlocked two cards and threw them. Amid the swarm, the butterfly made of cards flew swiftly through the air.

The butterfly flying around in circles alone caught Poison Centipede's eye. Swish. There were ten meters between her and the butterfly, but Poison Centipede's blade shot out like lightning and neatly cut the cards in half.

What an incomprehensible principle. Better not get involved with her. Fortunately, drawing her attention for a moment bought me some time.

"He dodged an attack that even combat precognition couldn't see...!"

"What the hell is he?"

Lankart had subdued Kuram and Cardinal Elton, while Shei held down the Lower Realm mages with Skywarbler. Avant-garde was trying to calm the floating castle mages. Things hadn't completely settled, but there was a brief lull.

Now was the time.

Time to establish my order.

"Oh, honestly. This is why barbarians are hopeless. I solve a problem for one moment, and you're already beating each other up? This is a tower, not a colosseum."

I imitated the most arrogant, self-important mage I could. It was easy when I could take Lankart as my inspiration.

Gripping the back of my neck, I looked over everyone with an expression of contempt and irritation.

"Did you enjoy killing each other? This is why barbarians are barbarians. I don't understand why you're so devoted to repeating acts that bring you no benefit."

Lankart and Shei were among the strongest in this group. Excluding the hidden Cyan Tower Master and Hilde, the two of them could face all seventy people alone.

Compared to them, I was as weak as an insect, but they didn't know that. They thought I was a companion of those two, a mage who had practically solved Babel's problems alone.

That was why I was still their leader.

"I've said this all along. In accordance with Saint Rene's will, I would share all the knowledge gained from this tower with everyone. I told you not to fight, but to cooperate and climb together. Yet you couldn't even endure that brief moment before showing your true natures. Ha. This won't do. Let me declare this clearly."

If this had happened because there was no order, I would establish one. An order everyone could acknowledge.

"I will only climb the tower with innocent people. Sinners cannot come with us. Either fight among yourselves and die lonely deaths in this tower, or stay buried in that Lower Realm and never come back."

It was a stern declaration, as though I were an apostle of God.

The innocent would be rewarded. It sounded like something from scripture. The Holy Paladin Order cheered at my words.

How could they bring along people who learned demonic arts, used poison, didn't believe in God, and killed others? Those people had to disappear from this world. They couldn't hand sacred relics to evil people like them.

As though my declaration was something that should have happened long ago and had only been delayed a little, they proudly hurled those words at Poison Centipede and Kuram's mercenary band, as though they had entrusted something to me.

But I coldly aimed my skewer at them. The Holy Paladins' faces fell as though a transparent lid had covered them when they felt my hostility.

"The same goes for you, Northern Church Holy Paladin Order."

Silence followed.

Was that answer unexpected? How funny. Why did they look betrayed? Had they placed strange expectations on me without permission, and now they were flustered?

Order wasn't going to favor only them.

"How can someone who used violence against others be innocent? From the moment we met, you slandered Kuram and Poison Centipede, urged us to kill them, and held killing intent toward them first."

"What nonsense is this?"

Cardinal Elton shouted furiously. He was especially enraged because he realized I was condemning the Holy Paladins in the name of faith.

"Those two learned demonic arts, use poison, and broke taboos! They have committed countless killings while climbing this tower!"

"I have never seen those sins."

"Even if one's eyes are covered, it is obvious that light is there! Don't pretend otherwise. You know it too! If they haven't committed murder, then what is that smell of blood, and where did the mages they encountered while climbing the tower go?"

"Should I put it another way? I don't particularly care. How many people in the Lower Realm have committed sins?"

I had no intention of saying something grand like all humans were sinners. I shrugged as I answered.

"How would I know? Whether they are petty thieves, idlers who gamble and cheat people, or murderers who have killed before. I am superior to all of you combined, but I don't know what backgrounds you have or what sins you committed. So I have no reason to change my judgment based on what you did before meeting me."

I had done all of that too. Why wouldn't other people have? I was an ordinary human, so others had probably committed at least as many wrongs as I had.

So let us fairly overlook what happened outside. Let us judge only the sins before us now.

"Though light and justice may be clear, the humans who accept them are imperfect. No matter how much you cry out for light and justice, what I see is a coward who led a large group while trying to ambush the other side."

"How dare you say such madness...!"

Still, you had nothing to say, did you? It was true. You might have upheld your beliefs, but you were the one who broke the order of our group.

Kuram seemed amused by Cardinal Elton's miserable state and spoke with a faint smile.

"Oh. I thought you only knew how to make boring speeches."

"The same goes for you, Kuram. Before they even acted, you fed Poison Centipede drugs right before their eyes and made her kill. Poison Centipede committed murder as well. Those are sins grave enough that even falling into hell right now would not be enough."

"I accept that. As someone who has been to hell once, falling there isn't especially frightening."

Kuram was an evil person by everyone's admission. Kuram and Poison Centipede used poison and drugs, altered their bodies through taboos, and had already killed three Holy Paladins. They would fall into hell even without plotting anything further. Neither of them even tried to persuade me.

Kuram and Poison Centipede, eliminated. Turning my head coldly away from them, I looked at the mages now divided into two groups and fighting each other.

"And the mages. You are worse than those two groups. You pride yourselves on being educated, yet you used the magic bestowed by Saint Rene to hurt others with the clear intent of killing them."

Now it was their turn. Did they think their turn would never come?

The mages flinched as though they had suffered an unexpected ambush, then objected.

"They attacked first! One of the floating castle's chosen was hurt!"

"You tried to cut ahead of us with gravity magic first!"

"It wasn't all of us, and they failed and lost their lives! You can't even mourn them!"

"Why should we mourn them? I'm happy! Those cowards died after falling for their own scheme!"

The mages began fighting with words instead of magic, as if I would take their side if they won the argument. Naturally, I had no intention of taking anyone's side.

"Huh? Hypocrites blinded by greed. You came from the floating castle, yet joined the Dragon Gate and think you are innocent? If you have a sin, it is greed."

"Saint Rene's relic holds secret knowledge coveted by all. It does not belong to the Lower Realm alone! We deserve a chance too!"

"This opportunity was created by the Celsius family of the Lower Realm. If you wanted it, you should have created that opportunity yourselves. You live in comfort on the floating castle, then hear that something happened in the Lower Realm and come down to gobble up the rewards? Aren't you ashamed?"

My biting criticism made the floating castle mages blush. The Lower Realm mages snickered with great satisfaction.

I didn't know why. They were the same.

"Still, you floating castle mages are better. Greed is one of a mage's virtues, after all. You are better than fools overflowing with greed who don't know their own place and only blame others."

The snickering laughter stopped as if something had caught in their throats. Lower Realm mages were still mages. They quickly realized whom I meant.

"What makes you so proud of being too stupid to reach the floating castle that you think you can judge who qualifies? Why do you speak so proudly about being unable to use gravity magic because you haven't learned enough? Yet you ambush people with magic, raise your voices to slander others, and wallow in inferiority complexes without knowing your place. You are trash."

I poured harsh abuse onto the Lower Realm mages.

Though they had yet to reach the floating castle, the Lower Realm mages had grown up being called geniuses in their own schools. Unused to such verbal abuse, they hesitated.

One mage came to their senses, pointed at me, and demanded an answer.

"You, are you saying that to us? To us, who were robbed of a fair chance to climb the Dragon Gate?"

"Yes. I'm saying it to you. Is it something to be proud of, remaining in the Lower Realm because you haven't learned enough? You should think about learning by any means possible and becoming mages qualified to ascend to the floating castle. Why are you so eager to compete?"

"The Dragon Gate is an opportunity for Lower Realm mages! We are victims!"

"You are beneficiaries too. The only reason you were able to keep your lives and climb this far is because of me. Without me, you wouldn't have solved a single problem. You would have fallen behind or died long ago."

Other than being spirited and able to walk on their own, the Lower Realm mages were just baggage. Babel's problems were related to spatial abnormalities. The Lower Realm mages, who had never learned spatial magic, couldn't understand my solutions and only followed along. They were no help at all. Honestly, until they ambushed someone with magic, I had barely noticed they were there. Maybe that was why they had wanted to make their presence known so badly.

This one was trash. That one was trash. There wasn't a single thing I liked about them. My order had no need for them.

Even so, my order was just. It simply had no need for humans. Before everyone, I declared.

"I say this with certainty. Every one of you is a sinner."

Footnotes:

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