WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 89: Officers of the Military State

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The officer frowned so deeply it bordered on rudeness. Without returning the salute, she glared at the golem.

Having missed its chance to lower its hand, the golem continued speaking while holding its salute.

『This unit has heard much about you, Lieutenant Colonel. Until you leave this place, this unit will assist you...』

"Yes, Captain. You took your time coming to see me. Even longer than the workers."

Her mocking tone was sharp. The golem hesitated at her cutting attitude before hurriedly adding,

『This unit will correct that. However, there were circumstances...』

"Are you making excuses now?"

『...This unit will correct that.』

When the golem fell silent, the officer clicked her tongue and turned away. She spoke without even showing it her face.

"I have no interest in how many of your golems were destroyed, communications officer."

That was a lie. She was very interested, not out of concern but blame. What she really meant was, What did you do with all those golems?

"Likewise, I will not make an issue of this golem looking worse than an empty can of beans."

Let's not misunderstand. She was making a very big issue of it. She had almost told the golem to check its appearance before saluting.

The officer turned around and clasped her hands behind her back with a solemn air. Two silver medals gleamed and swayed along with her breasts beneath her uniform.

Proudly drawing attention to them, the officer lifted her chin high.

"Still, if your duty is to surveil and manage Tantalus, you should at least carry it out faithfully. Yet since arriving at Tantalus yesterday, I have not received a single report from you. Not until this moment, when a worker brought you to me."

『...This unit will correct that.』

"It has been a full day since your superior arrived in the area under your responsibility, and this is our first meeting. Is it a lack of ability, or a lack of will? Saying discipline has grown lax would not begin to cover it."

As the accusations came pouring down without pause, I started itching all over.

Should I endure it? Could I?

No, I couldn't. How could I leave an atmosphere like this alone?

『...This unit will corre...』

Before the golem could finish, I bent down, wrapped it in a fierce hug, and shouted.

"Don't be so hard on our Captain AB! What did our little one do wrong?!"

It was obvious what officers did. They chewed out innocent subordinates to save face.

At least, that was about ten percent of it.

Of course, I wasn't going to let it stay that way.

It wouldn't be any fun if I just accepted it as it was.

"That's right, it's all my fault! If I hadn't ripped Captain AB's legs apart out of spite! If I hadn't torn the speaker out of her mouth! Waaah, I'm sorry, Captain AB!"

『Let, let go.』

"There, there. It's okay. Don't cry. They say Santa won't give presents to children who cry."

『...』

After thoroughly muddying the waters, I swiftly scooped the golem back up. It struggled in a panic, but I patted its back like I was soothing a child as I turned around.

"Lieutenant Colonel Callis! I'm sorry for making you pick on a golem just to puff yourself up when you're so busy! Please get back to work!"

"...Tch."

Now that the mood no longer allowed for further reproach, all the officer could do was click her tongue. Before she could say anything else, I quickly waved.

"Goodbye!"

Leaving the officer behind, I walked out of the instructor's office. The golem in my arms had gone still by then.

Just as I wondered whether Captain AB had disconnected,

『...It is not your responsibility. As the Lieutenant Colonel said, only one body remains because this unit failed to manage them properly.』

The golem's voice came out weakly. I answered casually.

"Even so, that was too much. She fell into the Abyss by mistake, then asks why you didn't come find her? That's just unfair."

『Please do not concern yourself with it. This is familiar. If one became a communications officer without taking any examinations, as this unit did... If one became a level-three citizen just like a cadet at the Higher Officer Academy, without effort or competition... then the officer cadets would naturally see it as an insult.』

A person who graduated from an Elementary Citizen School became a level-one citizen.

Those who graduated from a Secondary Military School became level-two citizens.

They made up the majority of the military state, the citizens who formed its foundation.

Yet a foundation was, by nature, something trampled beneath one's feet. Oppressed, crushed, and ground down, they packed the soil beneath the military state. Fed by their blood and sweat, the military state grew thick and lush.

Everything changed completely from level three onward.

Officers, technicians, scholars, factory managers, and more.

Once someone distinguished themselves in a field and became talent that was extremely difficult to replace, the situation changed. Their access to facilities expanded, their income increased, and they gained certain privileges unavailable to lower-level citizens.

The moment officers graduated from the Higher Officer Academy, they became level-three citizens, and they took immense pride in that fact.

Enough to despise communications officers who had become level-three citizens through nothing but luck, without putting in any effort...

To think Lieutenant Colonel Callis could put on such an act.

I read other people's thoughts. If I quietly listened to them, I could hear the wishes they held inside.

Desires they had decided were absolutely impossible, or shallow beliefs they had built with overflowing confidence.

Those things came to me, carrying a strange resignation or brimming with excitement.

The approach I usually took from there was this.

"Is Lieutenant Colonel Callis normally like that?"

『Today was this unit's first time meeting her in person as well. She is famous for being promoted to lieutenant colonel at a young age. In particular, news of how she hunted the Beast of Aok Valley after a three-day operation, and how she discovered a Resistance base and subdued it alone, spread among communications officers as breaking news.』

"Someone like that talks down to a communications officer? Doesn't that seem suspicious?"

Moving things in the direction no one expected.

『If someone like the Lieutenant Colonel earned merit through her own strength, it is only natural that she would dislike communications officers who work comfortably without any accomplishments.』

"No, Captain AB. I'm talking about competence. Why would someone that capable do something that harms her own interests?"

Lieutenant Colonel Callis had reprimanded Captain AB. Well, calling it a reprimand was generous. Acting like that on her first day was no different from picking a fight.

Whether Captain AB was obedient or defiant, she would avoid Lieutenant Colonel Callis from then on.

"She entered the Abyss itself because of a mix-up, then rudely insults a communications officer. It's a mess. Is that really the true nature of the famous Lieutenant Colonel Callis?"

That was exactly what Lieutenant Colonel Callis wanted.

"Captain AB, as you saw, I recruited the Progenitor. Shei is an antisocial person who slices up every golem he sees. Among the people in Tantalus, the only one on Callis's side is Azzy, who is on every human's side. In other words, nobody."

Begin.

Persuasion began from the same place.

You put an arm around someone's shoulders, speak of facts you both know, and walk side by side with your feet pointed in the same direction.

"Then why, on her first day after arriving, did she treat Captain AB, the only person in Tantalus friendly to her, so coldly?"

Slowly, slowly.

Persuasion was about turning the direction of someone's thoughts somewhere entirely different, so naturally they never noticed the bend.

"Because Lieutenant Colonel Callis does not see you as an ally, Captain AB!"

What I had felt when I read her thoughts earlier was discomfort.

The officer truly did dislike communications officers.

Yet in this isolated Abyss, a communications officer was the only means of contacting the outside and therefore invaluable. Did Callis lack even the patience to put her feelings aside for a while and not show her dislike?

If she were that foolish, she would never have become a lieutenant colonel.

『What do you mean?』

"Put simply, Lieutenant Colonel Callis has a reason to avoid Captain AB's eyes! She wants to isolate herself again, even in this isolated Abyss! Could she possibly be as much of a loner as I am?"

『What are you...』

"Come on, what bad taste. You already understand. Do I really have to spell it out?"

She probably already understood. Communications officers dealt with information, so she must have noticed the oddities.

I couldn't read a golem's thoughts, but I was sure my words had gotten through.

The reason truth was valuable was simple. It was economic logic.

Because it was unique.

There were countless lies in the world, but only one truth.

That was why real truth always worked. I told her what I had learned from Lieutenant Colonel Callis's thoughts.

"She's plotting something shady while hiding it from the military state!"

『Do not sow discord!』

The golem objected out of duty.

『This unit will not fall for your attempt to sow discord. You are a petty criminal, while the Lieutenant Colonel is an officer of the military state! It is obvious whose words carry more weight! Soldiers of the military state are bound by blood and iron! Such baseless slander... Baseless...』

Each thing alone was possible. Each was something one could dismiss and move past.

But looking back on all of them, they were so suspicious it was hard to believe nobody had noticed.

Normally, people didn't notice. Someone's intentions couldn't be seen, and there were too many things in the world to connect them all.

But once you knew the answer, everything that existed became evidence.

『But if what you say is true, this goes beyond disobeying orders...』

Good. She had crossed over.

A communications officer's duty was to report. Even if Captain AB didn't believe me, she would at least report something that had made her suspicious.

That would be enough. All I had to do was wait until the military state responded.

And while I was at it, I could look after my own interests.

『...Then Lieutenant Colonel Callis's reprimand of this unit was just an act...』

"No, I think there was some sincerity mixed into that."

The golem gave me a sidelong glare. Then it composed itself, faced me directly, and spoke.

『...This unit will withdraw now. Please place this body somewhere safe.』

"Leave it to me."

Plop. The golem's body went limp. Captain AB had disconnected from it.

I carefully placed the golem in a corner of the cafeteria, then sat in a chair for a while, lost in thought.

I didn't know what she was plotting, but I should let that elite officer experience society's bitterness. A life where everything went your way was far too boring, wasn't it?

And it would be good for me, too.

If the startled military state took the officer away to determine the truth, then I would surely see it clearly.

A way to escape this Abyss.

Hmm. I had planted the suspicion for now. Maybe I should spend my spare time reading the officer's memories. At least if I knew what she was plotting, it would be easier to respond.

I left the cafeteria again, rounded the corner, and headed toward the instructor's office.

Then I came face to face with the regressor, who had raised Skywarbler over her head and was just about to smash down the instructor's office door.

Footnotes:

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