WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 81: An Unobserved Story. A Room Without Windows

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Releasing synchronization magic brought with it the sensation of drifting impossibly far away. It felt like backing out through a long, narrow tunnel. As her lone body pulled her consciousness back, the connection between the golem and AB stretched taut like a spider's thread at its limit.

Snap.

It broke.

Captain AB returned to reality.

AB opened her eyes on the mat. She had laid it out in her room in case she fell and hurt herself during synchronization.

It was also there for stretching.

"Phew."

After letting out a deep breath, AB wrapped her arms around herself for a moment. Soft flesh pressed beneath her uniform.

Her senses were normal. This was definitely her real body, not the golem. Using synchronization magic too often sometimes left her confused about whether she was a golem or herself, so she had to check in simple ways like this.

Once she had confirmed it, she crawled off the soft mat on her knees.

Outside her room was a cramped, dark, cluttered office. A bland space filled only with what she needed for her duties, with everything else excluded almost pathologically.

Palm-sized 'windows' were packed together like honeycombs along one wall. Most of them were dark, as though they showed the night. Only two 'windows' retained even a trace of light.

One showed a blue sky and a vast wilderness. The other was dark and hazy, like storm clouds.

AB removed a key from her bio-terminal and inserted it into the slot beside the hazy 'window.' Gray storm clouds swirled, gradually forming a scene...

Soon, the 'window' showed Tantalus's dining hall. Darkness had not yet lifted, leaving the view beyond the window murky.

"The Progenitor... What on earth is she thinking?"

AB could not guess her intentions. One thing was certain, though. The Progenitor was still in the Abyss and wanted to learn how to cook.

The very fact that she wanted to learn cooking suggested she would remain in the Abyss for a while. There should be no problem for the time being.

More importantly, the golem inside Tantalus had been restrained, so AB needed to respond. She moved on to her next task.

Sitting before the 'window,' AB closed her eyes and focused. The air trembled, and another set of laws began to overlay the world around her.

She was a soldier of the military state, but the magic she used differed from standardized military magic. It was the manifestation of her own world, requiring neither spells nor incantations to alter reality.

Innate magic. Morning Glory.

An annual flower that bloomed only in the morning and faded during the day.

Morning glory vines made of mana wrapped around AB's body and slowly grew upward. They looked either like beautiful vines warmly embracing her or a hungry snake coiling around her to swallow her whole.

It did not matter which. As long as she could fulfill her duty.

AB drew up her mana. Nourished by it, the morning glory grew and formed a bud beside her cheek. It soon bloomed beautifully in a fresh shade of violet.

Preparation was complete. Opening her eyes, AB spoke into the morning glory's pistil.

"This is Captain AB, military state communications officer. Yuel, calling from AB."

Words no one could hear.

Words that would never reach anyone in this remote, isolated place.

Yet the morning glory, which possessed the power of synchronization, passed the message to another flower blooming somewhere in the world.

As though she had been waiting, a voice carried over from someone far away.

『AB! I've been waiting!』

The unusually lively voice was unchanged from a few days ago. AB answered the voice from the other side.

"Yuel. Connection confirmed."

『It's been a while! More precisely, six days, twenty-one hours, and thirty-four minutes! You almost made me wait a full week! Don't make me worry, AB!』

"Thank you for your concern, but there was no reason to contact you. My only 'window' inside Tantalus was restrained, so no new information came in."

A clap sounded from the other side.

『Ah, right! You said almost all your 'windows' were broken, didn't you? Did the remaining two break too?』

"Negative. However, the last unit monitoring the inside of Tantalus has been restrained. Would it be possible to supply additional 'windows'?"

『Hmm. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait. As you know, our 'windows' are very difficult to make. They don't make them easily... And if they were broken so easily, even less so.』

AB had originally possessed forty-nine 'windows' in total. That was the maximum she could manage, and the military state had supplied that many generously because of the unusual nature of Tantalus in the Abyss. It was meant as a reserve, since Tantalus's lawless residents, who could easily tear apart a human, would not leave golems alone.

Perhaps the prediction had been too accurate. Forty-seven of those many 'windows' had been easily destroyed, leaving only two.

Still, AB had something to say.

"That falls within my responsibility, but it is not entirely my fault. It was not unusual for trainees in Tantalus to break 'windows,' but no one had ever destroyed them as obsessively and painstakingly as he did. In the first place, General Partlaxion was responsible for failing to disarm a criminal while apprehending him..."

『Ahaha. That's a dangerous thing to say. Even if we don't belong to that side, you shouldn't speak about a general like that~.』

Yuel cut her off at just the right moment. AB had nearly vented her feelings at the innocent Yuel, so she took a deep breath and calmed herself.

"...I stand corrected."

『No, no~. It happens! We're communications officers, not emotionless vampires! Although there isn't much difference, considering we can't get sunlight either!』

It was a self-deprecating joke. Yuel was trying to soften the tense atmosphere.

Feeling uncomfortable for troubling her again, AB changed the subject.

"What happened with the mana herb supply I requested last time?"

『Yes! It should be sent out soon! But you know, right? Communications officers must never use mana herbs! An inspector will be dispatched to make sure of it!』

Yuel, who was gentle in all things, never used a harsh tone with AB. If even Yuel emphasized "never," it meant this was something AB truly needed to avoid.

Yet AB knew that Yuel herself had gone to every effort to arrange a mana herb supply for her.

That was why AB could not bring herself to say that the laborer had betrayed them and they should cancel the supply. She could clearly imagine how pleased Yuel must have been by AB's request.

As AB considered her words, a notification sounded from Yuel's side. An order had arrived. A flustered voice came through the morning glory.

『Ah. Wait a moment. An emergency order.』

It was too long to call a report and too short to call idle chatter. It was time for their private conversation to end.

AB straightened her clothes and spoke.

"I apologize for troubling you while you were busy, Captain Yuel."

『No, it was nice hearing from you after so long. Later, let's... talk again.』

Yuel's wistful voice faded away, and the morning glory's petals began to wither. Her voice echoed in the lingering aftersound.

『This is Captain Yuel, military state communications officer... Your request form...』

The voice grew faint. With that, the morning glory blooming on AB's shoulder withered. Its vines snapped apart strand by strand as though they had dried out.

As they fell to the floor, they melted into the air like mist.

Innate magic was unique. Each person's inner image differed from every other person's.

That had been an unshakable principle ever since the mystery called magic had taken root in human bodies.

But what if people with similar aptitudes were gathered and their inner images honed through strict, standardized training?

Could they learn the same magic?

The military state had achieved exactly that. It selected talented individuals from secondary military schools and specially trained them as communications officers.

Their magic naturally differed in form, but all of it shared one trait.

Synchronization.

With this magic, communications officers could communicate with one another without mechanical devices or magic circles, and they could connect to specially made golems using bio-terminals and keys.

Even the worst communication equipment was as large as a building and absurdly expensive. Communications officers were one of the military state's successes, greatly easing that burden while also providing mobility.

Such talent was rare, however, so communications officers became captains immediately upon receiving their commissions, regardless of age or experience.

Though the only thing they could control as captains was a golem, making them closer to rank-and-file soldiers than officers.

"Take care, Yuel."

Wishing happiness for her closest friend, AB turned away.

A single small lamp lit the stifling room. Papers and coded messages lay scattered across the narrow desk.

With clothing packets, she did not even need a wardrobe, and canned beans meant there was no other food. Everything necessary for survival fit inside a single cupboard.

There was nothing else to decorate her life.

No comfortable sofa to rest on for a while.

No magazine full of trivial nonsense that prompted something closer to a scoff than a laugh.

Not even a window to look out of for a moment.

Nothing.

This was a room without windows. There was no opening leading outside, not even a window.

Opening curtains to greet the pouring sunlight or opening a window to let in the wind, such things had been impossible from the start.

For Captain AB, communications officer, her only permitted 'window,' her only opening to view the outside world, was a golem.

A communications officer's room had to be plain. If there was anything to distract them, they would surely neglect their communications.

To receive supplies, process duties, or simply observe the world for a change of pace, they had to use the golems that served as their windows.

That was their only way to interact with the world.

The one rest they were allowed was speaking with other communications officers, but even that was difficult.

AB went to the sink and washed her face. After drying it with a towel packet, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her neatly cut short bob swayed, matching her neat uniform and cap. Perhaps because she never saw sunlight, her skin looked pale even under the dim light.

It had once looked somewhat sallow, but that had disappeared recently after she had been forced into stretching.

That did not mean she wanted to be grateful for it.

Her thoughts returned to the 'windows.' AB sat down again and looked through them.

A golem on the surface, looking at drifting clouds and the distant wilderness.

And a golem in Tantalus, sitting in one corner of the dining hall and quietly looking at the dark room.

AB stared blankly at them like a golem herself, then suddenly muttered,

"...Should I go back?"

As if possessed, AB reached out. Of the two remaining windows, she hesitated briefly before taking the key for the golem in Tantalus.

Then, without realizing it, she began stretching. Her body remembered the stretches she had repeated constantly over the last three days to synchronize.

As Captain AB loosened her legs, she suddenly recalled something.

"Ah. It had been released."

AB ground her teeth as she remembered that past humiliation.

The more similar the person synchronizing was to the target, the higher the synchronization rate. That was why sync-type golems had human forms and senses similar to a human's.

Naturally, to synchronize, she had to move as similarly to the target as possible.

Even if that meant doing the splits.

When she inserted the key into her bio-terminal, the synchronization magic resonating with her informed her that she had to do the splits. Captain AB would clench her fists tightly, tremble, and force her legs apart.

There was a saying that if you stare into the Abyss, the Abyss stares back at you. Captain AB's body, having controlled rigid golems every day, had gradually become as stiff as a golem itself. It was only natural that she had lost flexibility after staying cooped up in her room and controlling golems.

The new trial given to someone so inflexible was unbearably harsh. Yet AB, trapped in a room without windows, had no choice but to overcome it.

On the first day.

She planted her feet against the wall and pushed her body back. When she held her breath and pulled herself toward the wall, AB's legs formed an ambiguous obtuse angle.

For a golem, doing the splits was nothing more than arranging parts. Only AB's body felt pain. Experiencing the unfamiliar sensation of her real body hurting more than the golem, AB screamed.

On the second day.

Perhaps thanks to spending the entire day doing something that could hardly be called stretching, her range of motion had increased compared to the day before. As a side effect, she could not bring her legs together from the morning onward, but that was a truly minor issue. At any rate, her synchronization rate was high enough for her to maintain the connection.

After all that hardship, the first thing Captain AB saw upon connecting to the golem was...

A speaker positioned just beyond the reach of her fingertips.

Crack. Something inside Captain AB snapped.

On the third day.

Some things could not be achieved through effort alone. Repeated stretching made the body more flexible, but lying face down with her legs spread was not a level one could reach in a day or two. The body was honest and did not permit cramming.

Still, she could not give up. If she remained trapped like this, she would fail her mission, and the complete closing of one 'window' would be terrifying.

So AB continued her revenge-fueled splits, remembering the man who had bound her.

"You common criminal... I won't forget this humiliation."

Though it had been the Progenitor who restrained the golem now, that was not even a speck compared to what she had built up against him. No, if it had not been for him in the first place, she would not have been restrained like this.

Vowing revenge, AB connected to the golem in Tantalus.

Footnotes:

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