WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 722: Because the World Belongs to the Victors

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I suppose this was what one should expect from the Empire.

The Arcane Federation had yet to get its chaos under control, but the Empire had already used diplomacy and politics to bring one of the Twelve Zodiac Seats right up to the Floating Castle. If the Empire had intended a show of force, the Arcane Federation would have suffered a crippling blow.

But there was no need for that.

The Empire ruled the continent, and its bankroll was nearly bottomless. With an infinite bankroll, you could win any game. Every time you lost, you simply doubled your bet.

Shei looked at the distant Antares and grimaced.

"The Empire is getting involved. Finally..."

"You don't seem happy to see him. Do you have bad blood with him?"

"They're on our side for now... Put kindly, they're confident. Put badly, they do whatever they want. Even when the world is facing an apocalyptic crisis, they handle things however they please, ruin things a few times, deliberately hide information, and try to keep the situation under their control..."

Shei trailed off, then flinched and her expression hardened.

"No. You could consider them enemies."

"Is this one of those cases where foolish allies are scarier than enemies?"

"It goes beyond incompetence. They're a group that mustn't be competent. Their power is the King of Sin's power."

Ah. That was what she meant.

The Empire stood at the pinnacle of civilization, and the power it wielded was the full strength of humanity as a species. In other words, my sister's power.

They seemed worth keeping an eye on. Or whittling them down in advance, if possible. Though I wasn't sure that was possible.

"Let's go."

In the middle of the Celsius Family's courtyard, Celsius mages stood gathered in a circle, but Antares was the one directing the situation.

The Twelve Zodiac Seats drew the attention of the entire world. They were the twelve strongest ki practitioners in the world, so any man interested in rankings had surely heard of them at least once.

Antares of Scorpio.

The wielder of the Crimson-Scale Spear.

I didn't know exactly what principle he wielded. Revealing one's inner image was itself a weakness. Still, the unquenchable flame burning at the tip of his spear was too famous to conceal.

What kind of principle made fire burn at the end of a spear? I'd been curious, and now I finally had a chance to find out. Shall I take a look...?

"Stop."

Someone blocked my way. No, not just one person.

Twenty people in identical uniforms glared at me. They looked as though they were standing around at random, but they planned to form up and surround us if necessary. Breaking through a weak point? That wouldn't be easy either. Every one of them was a powerhouse who had mastered the Water Qi Art. In the military state, they would have ranked as generals.

Behind them stood two mages. They hid sharp, jewel-studded rods in their robes, closer to throwing stars than staffs. Their knowledge and mystique might have fallen short of the Floating Castle's mages, but they were battle mages who had honed their magic solely for combat. Their raw fighting ability and instincts might even surpass those of the Floating Castle's mages.

And the one leading them was no ordinary figure either.

"Hughes. And Shei. Persons of interest. I hadn't heard that you had mastered ki arts... Lord Antares, what should we do?"

Master Shumahel.

In some countries, he would have possessed strength comparable to an entire army corps and been treated as a general or one of the Six Generals. In the Empire, though, he was merely one of the countless Masters, assigned to assist a deployed member of the Twelve Zodiac Seats.

Though Shumahel's voice wasn't loud, it resonated through the air. It was voice transmission, a technique that seized the air itself with ki arts to carry sound. Antares answered cheerfully.

"The star I've been waiting for has arrived! Send him over!"

Had my appearance already spread this far? Tch. At this rate, I wouldn't even be able to commit crimes.

* * *

If the Empire had intended to wage war, it would have done so already. With both sides' near-mystical forces having departed, the Arcane Federation alone would struggle to oppose the Empire.

Assassinations, terrorism, bombings, infiltration, and more. The Empire could use every means imaginable.

But the Empire was a country that followed the proper path. Winning over the Gauss Territory and splitting the Arcane Federation was no more than retaliation for Pride's attack.

"Let's call this a light greeting."

He'd carved off a strategic region from another country at will and called it a light greeting? What was more surprising was that it wasn't posturing. This... made me want to give him a little trouble.

"The Gauss Territory is the one I feel sorry for. They'll be happy without even realizing they've been used."

It was an idle mutter, but the head of the Gauss family flared up and shouted.

"The Arcane Federation is the one that used the Gauss Territory! We, too, are proud members of the Federation and chosen people, yet the Floating Castle treated us as nothing more than miners!"

"At least you're the Arcane Federation's only mage miners. Will things be any different in the Empire? Out of the Empire's dozens of mines, you're only one remote mine."

"Hmph. You can't imagine the benefits the Empire promised us..."

"So you did defect because they promised you benefits?"

Everyone knew it, but the moment he said it aloud, their justification disappeared. Now it was nothing more than a straightforward fight over benefits. I preferred this to justification. How honest and convenient was it?

"It's still better than the Celsius Family. The moment the Floating Castle was destroyed, you immediately took everything!"

"It was destroyed while catching a meteorite. What were we supposed to do? That was the only land we could land on right away."

"You could have prepared land. The Gauss Territory has plenty of empty space too."

"You're coveting what you can't even swallow. The Gauss Territory is mountainous, with little flat land and not enough food, isn't it? Both the Floating Castle and the Gauss Territory would have suffered. And if something as heavy as the Floating Castle pressed down on the ground, do you think the mines would stay intact?"

"Urgh...!"

It could have landed anywhere except the Gauss Territory. You people weren't even in the running.

After gently delivering that cold reality, I muttered as though disappointed.

"What a shame. We were already considering how to deal with this meteorite, so I was glad to see people from the Gauss Territory..."

"What? A meteorite?"

The head of the Gauss family's eyes gleamed with sudden greed.

In purely material terms, a meteorite wasn't all that valuable. It was only a large rock saturated with mana and containing rare metals.

But its academic and magical value was incalculable. This was a meteorite that had nearly wiped out the continent. A large, solid rock infused with extraterrestrial mana was both a mystery and a treasure to mages.

To a family that worked with iron, like the Gauss family, it was enough to drive them mad.

"Yes. You must have felt it too, but that meteorite contains a great deal of iron. It's already difficult to deal with. I was hoping the people of the Gauss Territory would help us..."

Yes. That was a lie.

I had actually intended to sell the meteorite, then work the Gauss Territory like dogs in exchange. I had only transmuted a little iron because I didn't want to provoke too much resentment.

It had all come to nothing, though.

"A, a meteorite..."

The head of the Gauss family subtly cast magnet needle magic. They didn't need to inspect it closely to sense the tremendous amount of meteoric iron within that enormous meteorite. For a moment, regret filled their eyes as they watched Antares's reaction.

But there was no taking back a card once it had been played. Having brought in foreign power, they could never betray the Empire. Neither side would accept them.

The instant I sensed that regret, Antares clapped loudly and cried out.

"Aha! So this is the King of Humanity! You're devilishly good at handling people!"

Clap, clap, clap. Each clap made the air around us shudder violently. While everyone else recoiled at the explosive sound, Antares continued.

"It's your first time in the Arcane Federation, and you don't even know who the head of the Gauss family is, yet you moved their heart with only a few words! Amazing!"

Right. It was finally coming out.

The Empire could attack the Arcane Federation with every means at its disposal. But the reason it had used these "normal" diplomatic methods was because attacking wasn't its goal.

"Shall we get to the point? The reason one of the Twelve Zodiac Seats came here personally was solely to meet you. King of Humanity."

"Lord Antares! W-what do you mean? I didn't say anything!"

The head of the Gauss family shouted desperately, suddenly afraid that Antares would discard them.

If the Empire had been poor, petty, or cruel, it might have discarded the head of the Gauss family. Because it begrudged the expense of supporting the Gauss Territory, disliked the attitude they had shown, or wanted to punish them for daring to look elsewhere. The Empire could have abandoned them here.

But the Empire wouldn't.

It had no need to.

"Head of the Gauss family, don't worry. The Empire keeps its promises. A meteorite? A few meteorites have fallen in imperial territory too. I'll give you one as a gift."

"F-from Lord Antares?"

"It'll probably end up at auction, and even at the high end, it would sell for around one hundred million Alke. That's all."

One hundred million Alke. A sum of money that couldn't possibly seem realistic.

Even a single 10,000-Alke gold coin was enormously valuable. It would take ten thousand such coins to barely reach that amount. One might say a nation could somehow gather ten thousand such coins in assets, but that was far too simplistic an interpretation.

Because of alchemy, transactions could only be conducted with currency that held physical value. Credit transactions were possible only for the Sanctum, which possessed consecrated gold, or a Patronage Merchant Guild blessed by a Holy Maiden. The value of alchemical coins never rose or fell. Their real value lay dormant within the gold coins.

Ten thousand alchemical coins in a world like this? It would mean transferring, wholesale, enough resources to equip ten thousand soldiers immediately. Even nations grew tense over expenses like that.

And yet.

"If necessary, I'll pay for it from my own pocket."

To a member of the Twelve Zodiac Seats, it was an amount that could readily be given away.

The vast system the Empire had established. The wealth created within it circulated and ultimately flowed into the Empire. The excess money went to the Empire's "victors."

The head of the Patronage Merchant Guild.

The Twelve Zodiac Seats.

The Moon Magic Tower.

And the imperial palace.

Even tangible resources like alchemical coins piled up and piled up, pulling numbers once used only in astronomy into the realm of economics.

An individual was paying an amount that the Gauss Territory could scarcely imagine.

His wealth was on another order of magnitude. He had no reason to be frugal.

Goodness was money. Both came from full purses. If they spent even a half of a half of a half of a half of the money they had won, then to someone else, it would be a fortune worth risking their life for.

Justice was consumption. If they freely paid that pocket change, that itself became justice.

"There. That settles things, more or less, doesn't it? Now step aside."

Antares made a casual gesture, and Master Shumahel stepped in front of him. The head of the Gauss family withdrew with a displeased expression. Having driven them away, Antares acted like the relaxed host and said,

"Gauss's business is finished, so mine remains. More precisely, I should say it is the Emperor's business."

Footnotes:

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