WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 715: Each Their Own Purpose

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"How much do you know about the King of Humanity, Cyan Tower Master?"

"That before Year One, when humans were still beasts, the King of Humanity ruled this continent. That the human who defeated the Four Sins shed their beastly form and vanished. And that there are still people searching for the king."

"You already know everything you need to!"

"The living Demon God, Nevida, was one of the Demon God Temple's objectives. The temple contacted her several times. She is the Demon God who traced the lineage of species. If someone like her is searching for the King of Humanity, then it's likely true."

"That's right. I knew a member of the Lords of All Creation who firmly believed the King of Humanity existed. I had my doubts too, but I never expected the king to really appear."

The King of Humanity had returned after a long silence. What would that mean?

For one thing, every king in the world would start feeling uneasy about their throne and crown.

The King of Humanity was, in every sense, a Beast King. As the representative of all beasts, the king had the qualifications to rule without needing a throne or crown.

"Now that the King of Humanity has appeared, all those kings who strutted around with their heads held high are useless! Get rid of those outdated, corrupt rulers and let the King of Humanity reign!"

"So you're trying to make Hughes king."

"Don't talk like this is someone else's problem. Aren't you the same, Cyan Tower Master? You were planning to tempt Father with your body."

When had Hilde been watching?

The Cyan Tower Master flinched, and Hilde smiled as though she knew everything. Having tried it herself once already, she knew it wouldn't work.

"You don't have the confidence, do you? Keeping obedient people around, punishing those who disrupt order. Deciding what's good and what's bad. Floundering without anyone to ask. Holding a position where you know nothing, yet have to act as though you know everything. I know it well too. I stood directly beneath someone who was floundering."

Shadow Casket Zikhrund. Hilde, once the military state's shadow and executioner, understood the Cyan Tower Master's anguish well.

A dictator had no choice but to be self-righteous. If their standards wavered, those beneath them would shake as though an earthquake had struck.

Hilde had been no more than Yuel's hands and feet, but even hands and feet could sense their master's heart. The slightest hesitation was enough for them to feel that tremor.

"But Father is different! Father isn't wrong. He doesn't flounder, either. He even understands the sinners you had no choice but to ruthlessly cast aside!"

"...!"

"If Father became king and governed a nation, that country would become something beyond anything we could imagine."

He had a perceptive eye for human psychology. He could freely cross between law and morality without crossing the line. He could untangle people's knots and earn their trust.

More astonishingly, his strength was not all that great compared to his ability. Of course, he was stronger than an ordinary person, but compared to a Master or mage, he fell short.

What would happen if he were just a little stronger, or had more power over others?

Having finished imagining it, the Cyan Tower Master looked at Hilde.

"Then we're rivals."

"No, we're partners! We have the same goal, don't we? Making Father king!"

"He only has one body. He can't be king of two countries."

"Father won't even want to be king of one country. It's troublesome, isn't it? Father doesn't need a country or power, so why would he?"

Hughes wasn't the sort to willingly shoulder the burden of responsibility. He was free-spirited and lazy. Intelligent and refined as he was, his actions were no different from a beast's.

He would never volunteer to become king.

"But Father will soon need a country. It's an unavoidable fate now that he was born the King of Humanity. Other people won't leave Father alone, and Father will have no choice but to be swept up in their influence. It's the fate of a sinful man!"

"The moment it's revealed that Hughes is the King of Humanity, he'll need protection in one form or another."

"Yes! When that happens, Father will have to choose a country. Countries he has personal ties with. The military state, the Lesser States, the duchy, the Arcane Federation... Now, a quiz. Which country should Father choose?"

"The Arcane Federation."

The Cyan Tower Master answered with confidence, but Hilde cried out with a mischievous smile.

"Wrong! The answer is all of them!"

"...All of them?"

"A coin, a silver coin, a gold coin, and an alchemical coin. What should you do when four coins are lying on the ground? Take them all! Why choose just one?"

That was because they were coins. Even the Cyan Tower Master could be that flexible with coins. Countries were not coins, though. The same logic did not apply.

Yet Hilde meant it.

"The military state has the communications officer. The Lesser States have the Verdigris Lord. The duchy has the Progenitor. The Arcane Federation has the Cyan Tower Master. Father will build a harem empire and achieve peace with that body of his!"

The Cyan Tower Master was speechless at Hilde's absurd plan.

* * *

"Hui. Are you interested in the Arcane Federation?"

Lankart suddenly came to find me and said something equally sudden. I had just finished my work, so I wiped the sweat from my forehead and answered.

"Interested? In what sense?"

"Power. Didn't you want to put the Cyan Tower Master in the acting Demon King's position, sleep with her, and take that position for yourself?"

I was starting to wonder whether I should stop waiting for this bastard to receive divine punishment for saying the wrong thing and just beat some sense into him myself.

"Not really. If I did, I would've done it long ago."

"Then why aren't you doing it?"

Doing what?

Lankart looked at me as though he genuinely didn't understand.

"The Arcane Federation is a country where knowledge becomes power. It's the country where you could shine the most. It values you the most highly. Still far too little compared to your true worth, but that doesn't matter as long as you use each other."

What Lankart meant was that it would be easier for me to get around if I seized power in the Arcane Federation.

There was no hope of that in the military state. Even if I rose to the rank of general, I'd have to work myself to the bone. Greater surveillance and tighter shackles would follow.

The Arcane Federation guaranteed greater freedom to those with greater talent. Here, I didn't need to live in hiding as I had in the military state. That was what Lankart was pointing out.

Still, I answered indifferently.

"You know that's not my goal."

"Then what are you doing now?"

"Waiting for Shei to finish preparing while doing some work on the side. Like you said, the Arcane Federation is a country I can use, so I'm broadening my influence too."

Lankart asked, half doubtful.

"You really believe she'll summon the Celestial God?"

"Yeah."

"How? That bitch is one of the dumbest people I've ever met. I can't believe a woman like her knows the truth."

That's because you don't know Shei is a regressor. You'd think differently if you did.

I answered him.

"Shei is the person I've seen come closest to the Celestial God's secret."

"Isn't the Celestial God merely a world law made from several Demon Gods? By my estimation, it includes light, atmosphere, clouds, and lightning. It's still only a Demon God, not overwhelmingly greater or more exceptional than other Demon Gods. How does that lead to truth?"

The truth Lankart spoke of was a little different from ordinary knowledge.

What Lankart sought. Truth. Knowledge beyond Demon Gods.

I didn't know whether such a thing really existed, but I had to play along if I wanted to keep Lankart moving as my ally.

"The Holy Maidens' power. Prophecy."

"Prophecy exists, but I believe it is a hypothesis predicted through multiple observations, a self-fulfilling foresight achieved by moving tens of millions of believers. As the White Tower Master demonstrated, light is the best means of observation as well as a means of communication. There are signs of that in the most famous Holy Maiden of Causality as well."

Prophecy was a real power, but not everyone interpreted it the same way. Many who did not believe in gods thought prophecy was nonsense or limited, and that it could not be trusted even then.

Well, no prophet in the world was perfect except the First Holy Maiden. I could understand that interpretation, but...

"No. The Holy Maidens' power is real. They can truly see the future."

I stated it firmly. Lankart's expression changed at once.

"The Holy Maidens' power isn't theater or deception, but genuine divine power?"

"Yeah."

"Then that means..."

It was neither trickery nor anything else. It was real power. Where did it come from? Most likely a Demon God. Just as people used the power of a Demon God in earth magic or alchemy, the Holy Maidens drew on some Demon God's power.

A spark flashed through Lankart's mind. Out of the tens of millions of pieces of knowledge spread throughout his head, the most closely related ones connected. A genius's thoughts were too fast and fleeting for even me to keep up with...

Ugh. I couldn't be bothered to keep making excuses.

"That means there's a Demon God of Knowledge."

"Yeah. That's right. Knowledge, information, observation, or measurement. Whatever its name is, there's a Demon God governing that area."

That was the conclusion I had reached.

It was a rather shocking fact. Knowledge, understanding, information. A Demon God governed those things themselves? What truth was hidden in knowledge and information that made such a thing possible? And if it was possible, where did that Demon God's limits lie?

Lankart, still confused, spoke.

"Is the Celestial God, who gave the Holy Maidens their power, the Demon God of Knowledge?"

"That's the question. There are definitely other Demon Gods within the Celestial God, but I don't know if the Demon God of Knowledge is among them."

"Perhaps the Demon God of Knowledge is outside the Celestial God. To find out..."

"Shei has to summon the Celestial God."

The first step was confirming the Demon Gods within the Celestial God. Until then, whether I liked it or not, I had to move at Shei's pace. I didn't know what she was hiding, but the knowledge she possessed was genuine.

Lankart held his head and thought for a long time before speaking.

"Hui. You told me that we have a grader."

Ah, I did.

When was that? When Lankart planned to kill me over grades? To calm this lunatic who couldn't tolerate a human being superior to himself, I dangled tempting prey before him.

"You said there was a supervisor of this world who graded the principles we discovered, the truths we uncovered, and my mental image, then gave us power based on the score."

What mattered wasn't the military state's grades, but the supervisor watching this world. There was an existence on an entirely different level from the military state's petty graders.

Lankart became completely absorbed in that conspiracy theory and even forgot his plan to kill me.

"You said the reason my Right-Handed World is so powerful is because it touches truth. You told me that when I nearly killed you."

That's right. I almost died by your hand then. Thinking about it makes me angry. How does this bastard have the nerve to call himself my friend? Isn't he my enemy?

"I thought you had grasped the truth beyond unique magic and Demon Gods because you were so intelligent, but... considering that you are the King of Humanity, it looks different."

Yeah. He was my enemy. This uselessly intelligent bastard was difficult to fool. No, it wasn't so much that he was difficult to fool as that he didn't particularly care.

"The King of Humanity. A Beast King representing all humans. Was the Demon God of Knowledge involved in that too?"

"Probably."

I answered briefly.

"The Beast King probably existed independently of that. But... the Demon God of Knowledge was likely involved in changing its form."

Otherwise, why would the Beast King on earth have taken human form?

The world was full of unknowns. Solve one question, and two or three more came knocking right after it. Knowledge was as narrow as a small boat sailing through a vast sea.

Lankart felt a thrill at this relentless string of questions.

'I'm glad I'm Hui's friend. Otherwise, I'd have only my unique magic and would be stuck like a frog in a well!'

I'm unfortunate because I'm Lankart's friend. Thanks to that, I still can't shake off this useless, selfish acquaintance who isn't even much help.

Still. It was probably better for at least one person to know me this well.

...Though I wasn't sure there was really only one.

* * *

The time was drawing near.

Shei could only pretend not to know anything and speak playfully for so long. This happy moment would soon end. Shei could no longer remain a fool.

Then he would no longer treat Shei like one either.

Shei remembered the moment she first fell into Tantalus. The turning point of regression. The starting point of everything. From the time she knew nothing, she had used him as a save point to share information, and at some point, they had come to know everything about each other.

Knowledge was irreversible. Once realized, it could not be taken back.

Shei erased her memories with the Heaven-Reversing Boundary and repeated these cycles, but even that would end someday. Even her soul could not endure a cycle repeating forever.

What had changed in this run? There had been many small changes, but the greatest was that Shei had kept a slight distance from him. Her desire to keep her male disguise from being exposed until the end had maintained that subtle distance between them.

Perhaps that was why she recognized her feelings later than in any previous run. But she had been able to stay with him longer.

Shei smiled. She had disguised herself as a man. She had acted as though she were a man. She had built walls and guarded herself. She had constantly worried that he might find out.

Was that why he had formed relationships with so many women in this run? Perhaps that was also why Shei had grown further from him.

Even so, she had been drawn to him. Was it because of the memories engraved in her body by the Heaven-Reversing Boundary? Or because he was simply too lovable to resist?

Shei didn't know. She was a fool.

But there was one thing she knew for certain.

Shei reached toward the sky. Her Seven-Colored Eyes, sparkling in seven hues, illuminated the entire sky. The Celestial God, Demon Gods, knowledge, truth. Her eyes, which saw light, held the infinite knowledge inscribed in the distant universe.

Shei could not understand it, but knowledge existed even without being understood. As she called forth the knowledge written in the sky with the Heavenly Eye of the Turning Wheel, Shei smiled happily.

"This run was happy too."

Footnotes:

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