WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 712: Tales from Afar. The Lilacs Have Fallen

──────

Everyone present doubted their ears.

The chancellor was the oldest among them, but they had always observed proper decorum. They might have been stubborn and strict, but they had never been rude. They had lived by one principle, that proper order must be upheld, and that principle had kept them in high office into old age.

And now, what was this?

"You stupid bitch. I've told you over a hundred times to cultivate virtue. I said it until you were sick of hearing it. Did you think it was just nagging?"

They spewed curses as though today were their last day. As though there were no tomorrow.

At none other than their own liege.

"You said you wanted to overcome the limits of a duchy, didn't you? You said that even if you couldn't stand alongside the Empire, you wanted to become a proud power in your own right. And now you're going to imitate the Empire's tyranny exactly?"

"Chancellor...?"

"Who uses a whip to tame a beast? It will run away or fight. You must first tame it with food. Ende's beastkin are wild folk. Show them virtue and kindness, and they will naturally come into the pen themselves. Even if they don't, they cannot survive alone. They will inevitably have no choice but to cooperate with us."

This was suicide. Not political suicide, but plain suicide. Who would rebuke a feudal lord to her face?

Just because a duchy stood beneath the Empire did not mean it carried little weight. Compared with quasi-nations such as the Military State, the Lesser States, and the Duchy, Lilac could be called a superpower. The Violet Duchess was young and full of vigor. To insult and condemn her like this?

They would be fortunate if they were simply executed on the spot. Even exterminating three generations of their family and burning down their household would not be enough.

"Chancellor. Have you gone senile?!"

The Military Affairs Minister leaped to their feet and pointed at the chancellor. They seemed unable to decide whether to rejoice or fear the suicide of their political rival. The chancellor looked down on them contemptuously.

"The Black Tiger Corps should not have been sent to conquer Ende. They should have driven out the King of Wolves alongside them, protected that land, and made them depend on us. If they had defended Ende with their own hands, we should have praised their efforts and bestowed gifts upon them. Ende's ruling class is human anyway. We could have done it all without spilling a single drop of blood..."

"Don't talk nonsense. We've done that for the last hundred years. What did it get us?"

"This incident has erased the efforts of the last hundred years!"

The chancellor shouted in fury.

"It may take a hundred years to build something, but only a moment to destroy it. Ende had already treated the duchy as its superior and shown us respect! They had formed their own system and were just about to enter the embrace of civilization! But now they recognize the duchy as their enemy and are uniting against us. We have created our greatest enemy with our own hands! This is all because of you! You short-sighted beasts who know only how to live for today. How are you any different from beastkin?!"

"That old bastard!"

Shhk.

The Military Affairs Minister drew the ceremonial sword hanging beside them and severed the chancellor's neck. It was a clean cut, without a single drop of blood. Swordsmanship befitting the person who commanded the military.

"Even if you are the chancellor, such reckless words cannot be tolerated before Her Highness!"

A strange feeling came over the Military Affairs Minister as they sheathed their sword. Even as their head fell, the chancellor showed not the slightest regret.

What had driven the old chancellor mad? Had they drawn their sword too hastily? The Military Affairs Minister was overcome with conflicting feelings. They collected themself and prostrated themself before the Violet Duchess.

"Forgive me, Your Highness. Please pardon me for daring to draw my sword before you."

"No. It's fine. You did well. To dare say such things before me..."

Could the Violet Duchess understand it?

She knew the chancellor did not approve of her, but they had still supported her. That was why she had left them in their place.

But what was that attitude? If they had been delivering loyal counsel as they died, she could have understood. But why had they babbled as though they wanted to be killed...?

One thing was certain. The Violet Duchess muttered,

"No one may be disrespectful to a feudal lord."

Yes. That was the rule, the proper order, and the reason it was acceptable to kill a chancellor who had served feudal lords across three generations. There was no need to consider the chancellor's circumstances. The only fact that mattered was that they had been disrespectful.

They had to be killed. That was the truth. She wanted to ask why the chancellor had done it, but there was no need to ask a traitor what they thought...

"Should I put it back?"

A voice suddenly drifted through the air like a fragrance.

Just hearing it made her heart race. Though it was only speech, it sounded like someone playing an instrument. The Violet Duchess flinched and raised her head.

Someone stood before the old chancellor. A woman beautiful enough to be carved into one's mind. The moment the Violet Duchess saw her, she felt inferiority, then defeat, and finally reverence.

They were of different ranks as beings.

All things seemed contained within her quietly settled eyes. The wisdom sparkling within them was beyond measure. From the crown of her head to the tips of her toes, she possessed a free and violent beauty that contrasted with her lofty intelligence.

The bare skin revealed here and there was smooth and flawless. Her perfectly balanced figure had nothing to add and nothing to take away.

The Violet Duchess had been defeated as a woman, as a female, as a human, and as a beast. It was not even humiliating. This was a fight she could never have won.

That was the King of Humanity.

She had never seen or recognized the King of Humanity in her life, yet the Violet Duchess instinctively understood the truth.

'The King of Humanity? Didn't they say humans were the lords of all creation, beyond beasts, and therefore had no king? Why...?'

As everyone fell into confusion, the King of Humanity picked up the chancellor's head and placed it against their fallen body.

Something astonishing happened.

The severed head rejoined their body. The blood that had flowed out soaked back in. Vitality returned to the old chancellor's body as though time itself had been reversed.

"Resurrection?"

They did not know how it had been done, but they knew who had done it. As everyone trembled at the miracle the King of Humanity had performed, she gently said to the chancellor,

"You still have words you have not delivered, don't you? Say them."

The chancellor, returned to life, looked down at their body in surprise. Then they knelt before the King of Humanity, their eyes filled with reverence.

"Ah, my liege. Why have you come so late? Why have you come so late to this world full of false kings...?"

"Do you want to live longer?"

"How could this old person wish for more life? It only saddens me that I have so little time left to see more of you."

The King of Humanity tilted her head in confusion.

"You are genuinely happy to see me, even though you've never seen me before?"

"How could I not be? A rightful king has appeared in the world."

Tears of joy streamed down the old chancellor's face.

"There are laws in this world, there is decorum, there is virtue, and there is justice. All people need only uphold them. I supported the feudal lord to follow those very things. Yet the feudal lord herself does not follow law or decorum, and seeks to resolve every matter through strength and authority. Dark clouds are gathering over this world. I claimed to follow proper order and decorum, yet I was abandoning them by serving the feudal lord."

"You could have done it yourself from the start."

"I have no justification. And it is not only me. There are those in this world who are set apart as having the right to become king."

"What does it mean to have the right to be king?"

The Violet Duchess had possessed that right. But it was gone now, because an unmistakable King of Humanity had appeared.

The old chancellor's face filled with immense joy.

"It means being someone the majority recognizes as king."

"Who?"

"The feudal lords. They are descendants of those who sided with the Victorious King in the ancient battle between the Victorious King and the Conquering King, and unified the continent. Those who inherit that bloodline gain the right to ascend above all others."

"Why?"

The King of Humanity asked with the innocence of a child. The old chancellor considered how they should explain it.

A fish that lived in water would not know what swimming was, because it had lived in water from birth. In the same way, the King of Humanity would not understand why royal qualification came from bloodline.

"You, the rightful King of Humanity, would not understand. That is justification, legitimacy, and bloodline. People believe glory is inherited when a bloodline continues from the past."

"If she is chosen as king, then those who inherit that bloodline and might object on grounds of bloodline will at least have no aversion to it. Is that it?"

"That is correct."

"You welcomed me because I do not need to prove that qualification."

"As expected, you are wise."

The King of Humanity quietly watched the chancellor. Their eyes shone with hope and joy. Within them was a single standard, hardened over as many years as they had lived. The King of Humanity looked into that upright, unwavering core.

"I need a standard."

"A standard...?"

"Yes. It seems humans made something very important while I was gone. But I fell asleep a long time ago, so I don't know what it is. My younger sibling would know, but they refused to become my standard. So I have no standard."

It was impossible to know who the King of Humanity meant by younger sibling. But they were surely the greatest fool in the world. How could anyone refuse a request from such a beautiful and powerful King of Humanity? They should have devoted their life to serving her instead.

"Will you be my standard?"

To the old chancellor, it sounded like a confession. The King of Humanity needed them. They had to serve her with all their soul, even after death. There had been meaning in preserving their aged body until now.

The old chancellor drew an answer from the depths of their heart, from their very soul.

"This honor is more than I deserve!"

"Then I'll keep you."

The King of Humanity held their head in both hands. With barely any force, she popped it free.

Not a single drop of blood spilled. The old chancellor's head, with all its functions intact, hung from the King of Humanity's waist.

"Ah, the waist of a king. What a glorious place...!"

The old chancellor was still alive despite being nothing but a head.

They had once joked that their head alone was enough. But the King of Humanity seemed to have heard only the reasonable side of that joke. A woman with an old person's head tied to her waist was a cruel sight, yet both of them were satisfied. It was like a bizarre fairy tale.

The Military Affairs Minister, who had been unable to process the events unfolding before them, finally came to their senses and shouted.

"Guards! Royal Guard!"

"Y-yes..."

The captain of the Royal Guard, who had been waiting outside, appeared with a troubled expression. The enraged Military Affairs Minister fiercely berated them.

"What are you doing while an intruder has entered the palace?!"

"Well, she is the King of Humanity..."

"King? Your only king is the Violet Duchess standing here! Calling another person king is treason! Do you dare plot treason? Do you want all three branches of your family exterminated?"

She was the King of Humanity. Anyone who saw her knew. Even if they did not want to believe it, their instincts told them.

The captain of the Royal Guard looked reluctant. But they were the captain of the Lilac Duchy's Royal Guard. If they refused that order here, their entire family might die.

Still, they could not bear hostility toward the King of Humanity. The captain handed their spear to a soldier beside them and approached with binding rope.

"Y-Your Highness... No, King of Humanity. This is a place only those with the proper qualifications may enter. Please submit to being bound peacefully."

The King of Humanity asked the chancellor's head tied to her waist,

"Should I allow myself to be bound?"

"Never! No one beneath heaven can restrain you!"

The old chancellor's severed head opened their eyes wide as they declared it. The King of Humanity agreed.

"I think so too."

She waved off the captain of the Royal Guard's demand.

That was all.

The captain's huge body was embedded in the wall. Vast destruction erupted and continued without pause. Each time the King of Humanity took a step, the captain was driven deeper into the wall.

"What makes you bind me?"

"Khk... Kgh...!"

"It is not your heart. Then is it your position as captain of the Royal Guard? Your monthly pay? Your family?"

As the King of Humanity finished her question, the Military Affairs Minister fell to their knees under the enormous pressure bearing down on them. Though they had mastered energy arts to their peak, all they could do beneath the pressure crushing the floor and collapsing the ceiling was draw breath.

Bloodshot eyes wide, the Military Affairs Minister was aghast.

'There was no incantation! Gravity-type unique magic...? Does the King of Humanity use unique magic too?!'

But their guess was wrong. The Lilac Duchy's sole Court Mage trembled as she realized what miraculous phenomenon had just occurred.

"It isn't unique magic...! This is magic!"

"Counter it!"

"Th-that is easier said than done..."

"Now!"

"All right... Khk!"

As she tried to interfere with the mana, her body flew into the air and crashed back down. Blood streamed from her eyes and nose. The gravity magic had backlashed, tearing her body apart.

"Or is it the words of the person called the Military Affairs Minister?"

"...!"

Sound vanished from the Military Affairs Minister's mouth. The wind still existed, but the vibrations it created had completely stopped. While a soundless scream poured from their lips, only the King of Humanity's voice rang out clearly.

"If it is not that, is it the Lilac Duchy that commands you?"

"That is exactly right!"

As the pressure of her presence bore down on the royal palace, the Violet Duchess took out an heirloom.

The heirloom was the Plantain Fan. It had been passed down through the duchy for generations, said to have once blown away clouds and floods. But its leaf ribs were now completely tattered, and it was passed down to the feudal lords only for its symbolic value.

"King of Humanity...! Show respect! Even if you are the King of Humanity, I too am the ruler of a nation!"

Yet she had to use it at such a dangerous moment.

An uncontrollable wind enveloped the King of Humanity. Facing the typhoon raging indoors, the King of Humanity fluttered her sleeve.

Flutter.

A torn leaf rib fell at the Violet Duchess's feet. A moment later, a massive beast's claw mark appeared in the wall behind her. Wind exploded like a water bomb, shaking the royal palace and sweeping away every person and object.

Even the fierce wind created by the heirloom of an ancient ascetic with wind-controlling unique magic was torn apart, overwhelmed by the breeze raised by the King of Humanity's hand.

The King of Humanity had created a storm with one gesture. Without the slightest change in expression, she looked down at the Violet Duchess and muttered,

"Or is it the Lilac Duchy that moves you all?"

"Kgh...! Of course it is...! Lilac was the last nation to submit to the Empire...! Even if everyone dies, we will never kneel to foreign powers...!"

The Lilac Duchy was the farthest from the Empire, both geographically and emotionally. Even now, common people revered the Conquering King as a war god and constantly sought to shake off the Empire's influence. That fervent resistance was the defining feature of Lilac.

Even the King of Humanity would not be able to subdue the Lilac Duchy.

...The King of Humanity read the Violet Duchess's belief and thought carefully before saying,

"Even if everyone dies, you say. Will that really happen?"

The chancellor's head tied to her waist answered her question, which sounded like she was speaking to herself.

"My liege. Please show restraint."

"Should I?"

"The dead do not speak, but the living carry words far and wide. It would be better to leave them alive if you wish to convey your intentions. Show your mercy and make all others follow. That is the proper order."

"All right."

The King of Humanity granted the chancellor's request.

"Then I'll erase only the Lilac Duchy."

And the Lilac Duchy was destroyed.

The royal palace, which had boasted a thousand years of history, collapsed like a sandcastle. Its entire system evaporated. The Military Affairs Minister vanished, the army lost its function, and the royal family scattered without leaving a trace. The Violet Duchess entered a convent in a state of shock, and the ducal ruler's bloodline could no longer continue.

The Lilac Duchy, which had occupied a page in history, perished in an instant.

But even though a duchy had been destroyed, the lives of the people living within it did not change at all.

Footnotes:

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