WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 703: Sword and Magic - 1

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The world had already ended.

At those words, Shei shot to her feet.

"Demon King...! You knew about the destruction too!"

"You are all deeply mistaken. Destruction does not happen because of one person's deviation. Pride? The floating castle? Those are no more than triggers."

The Demon King knew about the Holy Maiden's prophecy as well. He had not ignored Shei when she said Pride would fall and destroy the world because he did not believe her.

"The fundamental cause is power."

He had simply known already and chosen not to respond.

"When humans acquire power beyond their means, fail to control it, and wield it until their entire species perishes, that is destruction. Magic, alchemy, bloodcraft, divine power. If any one of those powers goes even slightly astray, the world will be destroyed. Any Demon God can destroy the world with laughable ease."

I recalled the thoughts I had read from Ruel. The crises that had come time and again as Demon Gods awakened. The unrealized destructions recorded in the book of prophecy. Some had been prevented beforehand, while others had barely been cleaned up afterward, but all of them had left deep scars upon this world.

If destruction came, whose fault would it be? The Demon God who dared uncover forbidden knowledge? The ruler who tried to use that Demon God? The ordinary people swept up in it? The Holy Maiden who saw it through prophecy yet failed to stop it?

Would it be everyone's fault? Or no one's at all?

"Cyan Tower Master. You said that even if you fairly gave everyone a sharp knife, those foolish humans would swing it to kill one another."

"Yes. Though I was speaking about black magic."

"It is not only black magic. Knowledge is sharper than any blade, and the nations of the lower world will hone that knowledge and wield it to kill one another. They will handle power beyond what they can control and cause disasters."

The Demon King was plainly more exceptional than anyone else. The conclusion the Cyan Tower Master had reached was ground he had covered long ago.

"To overcome that, intelligence is needed. There must be people like the elect of this floating castle, people who clearly understand the power and limits of their own strength, can calculate its consequences, and possess the judgment and restraint to endure. If the world contained only the elect, destruction would never come. Even if it did, it would only be the destruction of fools."

He was a survivalist. Preparing for the destruction that would someday come, he had reached his conclusion alone and found his answer. As the owner of the floating castle, the Demon King would not be destroyed. He could survive in the sky, preserving the seeds of civilization.

"It may even be better for the lower world to disappear. Erasing those variables steeped in madness and foolishness rather than intellectual progress would be safer."

At the far end of the path the Cyan Tower Master wished to take stood the Demon King. A cold god of reason held out his hand, sharing power and knowledge with the elect while placing no faith at all in fools.

Their intentions were the same, yet she could not readily take that hand. She knew how miserable those cast aside by that cold reason would become.

Yet on the opposite side stood me, the one who said everyone should be given a knife. The Cyan Tower Master knew others' inferiority as well as she knew her own excellence. She knew they would not wield power beyond their means wisely.

'It feels as if my body is being torn in two.'

Morality and knowledge, emotion and reason, collided. The Cyan Tower Master had both, so she must have wanted to walk the middle path. Yet that was the hardest path in the world.

Then.

"No."

Shei interrupted again, completely oblivious.

"We can do it."

It was the Shei I knew. Yet something felt different. While my instincts sensed a faint dissonance, Shei looked directly at the Cyan Tower Master and spoke.

"One thing at a time. Fix it. Prevent it. Stop it. If we keep trying. If we find every cause of destruction, persuade people, and keep warning them that it's dangerous. The world won't be destroyed. Effort will be rewarded."

"You think that will work?"

"Yeah. It will. We've survived until now."

Shei tightly gripped Skywarbler, embedded beside the apple tree. Skywarbler had reached her limit while devouring Pride and trembled strangely as she resonated.

"No one wants to die. No one wants destruction. The Demon God and Saint Rene both wanted to prevent destruction. Demon King, you want to avoid destruction too. If everyone feels the same way, we can do it."

It was irresponsible. She offered nothing but vague optimism, without a shred of evidence. It was exactly the sort of thing the Demon King would hate.

"Words can say anything."

"It's not just words. There's evidence too. Right here."

Shei looked around, meeting the eyes of every person still present. The Cyan Tower Master, me, Skywarbler and Jizan, even the Demon King. After taking each of us in, Shei spoke with conviction.

"You said it wouldn't be strange if the world ended at any moment, right? But it hasn't ended yet. We stopped Pride in the end. We're still alive. We, who survived like a miracle, are the proof."

Shei said it without the slightest doubt. It was strange. Having gone through thirteen regressions and witnessed the end of the world several times, she should have been the one least able to believe it.

Yet Shei still had faith. Absurdly and foolishly.

The Demon King asked, "So what do you want me to do?"

"Believe in Elisha. She isn't trying to abandon anything. Justice, morality, reason, knowledge. She wants to keep it all without losing any of it."

"You mean she is indecisive."

"Maybe. But that isn't important. What matters is that feeling. We need humanity."

Humanity.

What an empty word.

As long as humans existed, humanity existed. Just as an object had physical properties, humans naturally had human qualities.

Yet no one could explain what humanity was. If it did not simply describe the traits of a species called human, people's personalities varied too greatly to define it as one thing. The word humanity might hold meaning precisely because it could not be replaced.

...In that sense.

The Cyan Tower Master was the most human of all.

"Hughes chose you. He believed that if the Demon God was in your hands, it would be used only for humanity. Hughes believes in you. And so do I."

Shei looked directly at the Cyan Tower Master, remembering Elisha Celsius, her friend and companion from the distant past.

That faith had nothing to do with this regression, yet it remained in Shei's heart even now.

"It's okay to make mistakes. None of us are perfect anyway. If your heart stays true, someday we'll definitely overcome destruction."

The Cyan Tower Master did not know where Shei's groundless faith came from. They were words she could never say, words she could never believe.

Yet they rang true. Was it because they came from someone who had died more than a dozen times and still never abandoned that faith?

"Master. As you said, the fools of the lower world are too foolish. They will abuse the knowledge mages have discovered as much as they please and recklessly get themselves killed without even knowing how dangerous that power is."

The Demon King was certainly more exceptional than the Cyan Tower Master. That did not mean she had to follow his will.

"But I wasn't exceptional from the beginning either. I was young, arrogant, and narrow-minded. Only after learning did I understand power and responsibility, and I still have much to learn. No matter how capable I may be, there are surely people in the world more capable than I am."

She had filled in her shortcomings to become who she was now. Others were no different. No one was born perfect.

"So I will teach them too. Those stupid, pitiful humans, so they don't die on their own where we cannot see them."

The Cyan Tower Master faced her own shortcomings. Once she realized that no one, including herself, was perfect, her heart grew lighter. There was something comforting about seeing one another's flaws. It reminded her that she was not the only one lacking.

"If dangerous power is left unchecked, it will lead to bigger problems. One by one, I will tell everyone and explain it to them properly. I will make sure they understand what they can do."

The Cyan Tower Master spoke with renewed resolve. Seeing his disciple's sudden change in attitude, the Demon King seemed worried instead.

"Stupidity is an illness. Worse, it is an incurable hereditary disease. Even if you believe that, not everyone will possess normal intelligence."

"That's fine. I can't abandon them anyway. If that's the case, then I'll teach them somehow."

"It won't be accomplished through resolve alone..."

The Demon King scratched his head.

He was a survivalist. A mage so exceptional he could foresee destruction without prophecy. From his perspective, the Cyan Tower Master's actions must have seemed useless, offering no help at all.

Still, he was a rationalist.

"Well, do as you please."

He did not feel the need to interfere merely because someone else was wasting their strength. He stopped explaining too, knowing that this kind of resolve could not be changed through explanation.

"From the perspective of diversity, having two floating castles would not be a bad thing. If you wish to build a nest on the ground, you may do so. I believe black magic, like qi arts, is a power with limited potential for expansion, but..."

"If more people survive, more mages will be born."

"I will look forward to it. But remember this. Knowledge that cannot be passed on to others has no value at all."

The Demon King would rebuild the floating castle. He possessed power close to omnipotence. No one could stop what he intended to do.

But the floating castle had fallen once. I had shattered that myth myself. I had shown everyone that the floating castle could come down to the ground at any time, that it was no more than a tool, not an idol.

So that was enough. My original purpose had been achieved. The humans of the lower world, who had gazed upon the floating castle with blind admiration, would welcome a visit from that marvel. They might be a little disappointed that the myth had been broken. People become adults when their fantasies shatter.

And the Celsius family. I kept my promise. I gave you the floating castle. It had suffered some damage when I dropped it, but surely you could overlook that much.

Was the matter of the floating castle finally settled? Pride had been stopped, and I had found the Demon God. I glanced at the spade card.

Spade 5. Apple of Universal Gravitation.

It was probably related to gravity, but there was something more to it. I would need to properly confirm the scale and effects of its power...

That was when I felt a subtle vibration. At the same time, the Green Tower Master's sharp cry rode the violent wind to us.

"Master!"

It was sound magic adapted from wind magic. The vibration shook the entire meteor and carried her voice. It was a rather large-scale spell, but was there news urgent enough to deliver now that everything was over? Just how urgent could it be...

"Get away! A monster...!"

"Log Splitting."

That voice was cut off by something.

Crack.

It was the sound an axe might make when it cleanly split firewood. The sound alone was refreshing. At the same time, a cool wind blew through Pride.

"Hughes! Watch out!"

Enveloped by that strange sense of refreshment, I came to my senses at Shei's urgent cry. I quickly grabbed whatever I could reach.

Craaaack.

Pride split vertically in two and collapsed to either side.

It was enormous, hard, heavy, and filled with magical energy. This was Pride, which even Shei and the Cyan Tower Master had needed to burrow through like moles. I had felt relieved that such a grotesque thing had not fallen to the ground.

Yet the meteor that had become a disaster for the entire world was cleaved in half at once, like firewood set upon a stump.

"Crystal Theory!"

Fearing that the split meteor might crush nearby homes, the Cyan Tower Master created supports of ice. The falling meteor barely stopped.

The cut surfaces of the divided meteor were smooth. It had been cut in a single stroke. They were unnaturally clean. I might have been cut along with it, but as I basked in that inexplicable refreshing feeling, I suddenly sensed something wrong.

This wasn't my emotion.

Someone else's mental image filled the space. The mental image of someone who felt pure exhilaration at splitting the meteor in half.

"It's not over yet. Like it or not, Pride truly threatened the Empire! The timing differs from before, but he will come!"

I remembered the slash that had passed before my eyes when we were stopping the falling meteor. I could neither read nor sense it, but a slash that had emerged from somewhere had cut through both the floating castle and Pride.

Shei had said it was the Sword Saint's slash, but that was information, not something I had read. I had only vaguely guessed that it was a slash capable of crossing space.

But now that he had come here in person, now that I could read his thoughts, I understood.

That was...

A monster.

"The Sword Saint!"

"Ringleader of the Arcane Federation. Demon King."

The Sword Saint.

He carried nothing that proved who he was. His appearance was ordinary, like any passerby on the street. His posture was straight, his jaw narrow. His hair was swept back, exposing his forehead. His build was large, but nothing about him stood out at a glance.

Only one thing caught the eye: a sword. I could not look away from it.

"The meteor's fall, caused by you, was an act of rebellion aimed at the Empire. It caused property damage and casualties across several vassal states, and threatened the Empire's order and safety."

It was a straight sword. It barely had a guard. A blade that extended straight without ornamentation. It was neither bad nor especially good. You could say it was a sword faithful to its purpose.

Yet the world was inside it.

"That is reason enough to cut you down."

Then the Sword Saint gently swung his sword downward.

The distance was far beyond the blade's reach.

Yet.

"One-Layer Cut."

Blood sprayed with a soft hiss.

The blood did not flow. The space around the Demon King was divided by an invisible boundary. He wore a vast space, one that even my mind-reading could not reach, like armor.

"Far away. But I've already done it once."

Reason crossed space and precisely cut through one layer of the Demon King's body. The meteor broke apart along the tip of the sword. A single crack was drawn across the world.

Li.

If innate magic was the world's mental image, then Li was the mental image of a single human. A human who saw, experienced, and defined the world, then twisted it in return, making the unreal real.

What it cut was not an object. It was reason itself. It cut through common sense, turning the impossible into possible. It shattered rules and rebelled against the world.

"Master!!"

Along with that piercing scream, the Demon King's upper body, eyes wide open, slid from his waist.

Footnotes:

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