WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 92

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Outcast

『...The military state is planning to dispatch an investigation unit.』

The golem finished speaking in a calm tone.

After hearing everything, I tilted my head again. A military state communications officer had reported this to me, a mere laborer, and no one else.

Maybe it realized that too, because the golem added an excuse-like clarification.

『Do not misunderstand. This does not mean we fully trust your opinion. The military authorities still view this situation as a simple mistake. This investigation team is being sent to identify the cause of that mistake. Also, this information was provided to you only as a brief status explanation for an information provider.』

"Of course."

『...Let me emphasize this as well: do not do anything rash. The military state is highly alert about this matter, and this investigation team includes a general-class officer. Lieutenant Colonel Callis is a soldier of the military state. The military state will evaluate her actions. Even if there are suspicious aspects to the lieutenant colonel's movements, that is not your concern, so I advise you to stay put.』

Even after I said I understood, the golem kept repeating that warning.

Did it think I couldn't understand? The military state hated pointless work, yet it said this twice.

『If you truly wish to leave the Abyss, the only path is to follow the military state's orders and serve your sentence diligently.』

I said I got it, so why was it so desperate to keep nagging me? Wait, no way.

"Are you worried about me, by any chance?"

『Negative! I am only speaking common sense! It is ten times more realistic and constructive than aiming for a prison break in a land where escape is impossible!』

The answer was so firm it almost hurt my feelings. It didn't have to put it like that. I gave a meek nod.

After that forceful outburst, the golem steadied itself and continued.

『...Lieutenant Colonel Callis has requested a supply of meat tins. Is there anything you wish to request?』

"No. I'm fine. Looks like the lieutenant colonel will handle distribution herself this time anyway."

『...Understood. Then I will withdraw now. Keep up the good work.』

"Yes. You too, Captain."

As soon as I finished speaking, the golem cut the connection. Thud. Its body went limp, and I sat it upright in one corner of the cafeteria.

I stood and muttered to the empty air.

"With this, Lieutenant Colonel Callis is completely isolated. She has nowhere left to rely on. How will she act now that she's cornered?"

No answer came.

What was this? She was obviously listening. If she stayed silent, I just looked like some person talking alone.

I shouted toward one wall of the cafeteria so she couldn't ignore me.

"See? Leaving one golem was useful. If we'd smashed all of them, we couldn't even request supplies, and we wouldn't know what was happening. Do you get it now? Smashing everything isn't always the answer."

The opposite wall rippled like a mirage. The stealth technique dropped, and the regressor appeared, leaning against the wall with folded arms.

Even after hearing my whole conversation with the golem, the regressor still replied with clear disapproval.

"...Break the golems too, kill that one too, and there's nothing to worry about."

"They said a general-class officer is coming. What if you snap and kill the lieutenant colonel, then a general comes down in person?"

"They're called generals, but not all of them are strong. If it's not one of the Six Generals, I can handle them alone. If Tyrkanzyaka helps, it gets even easier."

It wasn't arrogance. At the top of the military state's pyramid stood the generals, the strongest force leading the country.

And unless it was one of the Six Generals, the regressor declared she could beat any of them, like it was obvious.

Impressive, sure, but there was another problem. I pointed it out carefully.

"You know this, right? From general onward, they're key national figures. The moment you kill one, the military state marks you, and it becomes an irreconcilable hostile relationship."

"You and I are already marked. You think they'll leave us alone after we survived in the Abyss however we wanted? Even if we go back up like this, we won't get normal lives. What are you so worried about?"

Tsk. Fair enough.

I had nothing to say, so I grumbled anyway.

"I'm worried because you can casually murder a general."

"You're loud for someone who stayed calm even with a blade pointed their way."

"That's called a poker face. I was freaking out inside."

The regressor snorted at that. She didn't believe my excuse in the slightest.

"You're some petty criminal? If that were true, the military state would've collapsed last night."

"No, seriously. Even the captain and the lieutenant colonel both say it. They call me a petty criminal."

"You don't need to try to fool me too. We might become allies."

'Just Azzy and Tyrkanzyaka are enough reason to keep that laborer alive. In the next cycle too, unless something special happens, I'll probably keep that person alive again. If possible, I want to know that person's true intentions this cycle.'

No point explaining it if she wouldn't believe me anyway.

Then again, did I even need to correct her? I'd secured survival for this cycle and the next one too. Be grateful, me in the next cycle. I worked this hard for you.

Anyway, I survived, so let it slide. I shrugged.

"That's exactly why I don't get it."

But unlike broad-minded me, this picky regressor couldn't let the question in her head go.

She asked what she wanted to know.

"Do we really need to keep that lieutenant colonel alive?"

"Captain AB just explained it. A general is coming."

"No, I'm not talking about the situation. From the start, you never intended to kill the lieutenant colonel. You weren't trying to help her either, but separately from that, it felt like killing her was never even an option in your mind."

Sometimes the regressor's thoughts jumped in weird directions.

I didn't know whether that came from her externally mounted thirteenth-cycle thought circuit or just her nature. Most of the time she missed wildly, but once in a while she hit the core dead on. Like a cow backing up and catching a mouse by accident.

I gave an ambiguous smile, but she kept pressing sharply.

"Why? Don't tell me she's your type."

"Haha. No way."

"Then what?"

"Haah. Well."

You see, while reading the officer's mind here and there, I realized something.

Human hearts were pretty interesting.

"Aren't you curious, Mr. Shei?"

"About what."

The officer's goal was to become a Level 4 citizen. She became an officer for that, and secretly took the hand of the hidden society Lords of All Creation.

Her path had gone smoothly. With their support, she earned two medals and rose all the way to lieutenant colonel at high speed. She even gained enough fame to be recognized in the military state.

Then, at that moment, an order came down from Lords of All Creation.

Pretend it was a mistake, infiltrate Tantalus, and gather information.

The Abyss, Tantalus, was a demonic realm no one should dare approach, but after the prison break incident its danger had dropped sharply. More than anything, the fact that the laborer sent down first was surviving just fine was encouraging.

If even a petty criminal survived, why wouldn't an elite of the military state survive too?

So the officer entered this place under their orders.

But.

"A land with no allies. The Abyss, where she can't rely on anyone at all. She climbed to a fairly high rank as a lieutenant colonel, then got dropped here alone with no support. She's pressured from all sides, and has accomplished nothing. She's even being treated as an enemy by people she never expected."

The dangerous one, Shei, still kept her edge.

The King of Dogs had already built a deep bond with the laborer, so there was no opening to wedge into.

She needed to do something about that laborer, but the Progenitor, who should've been indifferent to humans, kept shielding that laborer instead.

The officer watched me all day trying to find an opening. Every time, I ignored that gaze and showed where I stood, and how tightly bound we were.

The more she watched, the deeper her despair got.

A hopeless mission. She bit her nails and tried to come up with a plan, but nothing came. In an isolated Abyss, no solution would just appear on its own.

By now, the officer must have realized it too. Here, as the latecomer, she could do nothing.

"No one to exchange even a word with, no sense of how much time has passed. Her objective keeps slipping farther away while the end gets closer. Her life is worth no more than a fly."

Even when the officer found a chance and approached Azzy, if I rang the bell, Azzy ran straight to me.

Even inside buildings, whenever she passed through shadows where light didn't reach, she felt eerie eyes on her. Tyr was watching her.

Even the regressor right in front of her gave off killing intent every time she looked at the lieutenant colonel. Someone at that rank could sense undisguised bloodlust, so thanks to that, she was experiencing death several times a day.

"Maybe she'll die here. Maybe she'll accomplish nothing, be remembered by no one, and fade like a dim candle. Maybe the people whose plan went wrong will abandon her. That's where she is now."

Her goal was Level 4 citizen.

She wanted Level 4 status so she could leave what she had to the next generation.

But she had no family and no spouse. If she died here, everything would come to nothing.

Isn't that contradictory? Risking her life for something that doesn't even exist yet.

"In a rock-bottom situation like that, what kind of face will she show?"

At the end of her life, at the end of that contradiction, what would she choose?

"Aren't you curious?"

I was so curious, I wanted to ask just once.

Naturally, or maybe obviously, the regressor didn't understand.

"You stirred up all this for that? Something this inefficient?"

"Not just because of that. Besides, we can't kill someone who's still alive, right? If we're keeping her alive anyway."

I knew this as a mind reader: a sincere answer only comes when someone is pushed into that exact situation. Even people who swear they'd give their lives for their country often run once a blade is right in front of them.

It happens even when, at the moment I read them, there isn't a speck of falsehood. They deceive even themselves.

So whatever line is written now means nothing. When that moment comes right in front of them, when words can't get them out of it, truly valuable sincerity finally comes out as truth.

I just want to see that.

"...Seriously."

The regressor mulled over my words calmly, then, unexpectedly liking them, added,

"My guess is, you really were a bad bastard."

"I told you, petty criminal."

"Hmph. Sure. Anyway, regardless of what you said, one thing's true... it's worth trying."

'The lieutenant colonel is a woman. So she isn't the instructor the immortal mentioned. She's probably just an underling. Instead of interrogating and disposing of her right now, leaving her like this could expose the truth more clearly... I still don't want to take even that small risk.'

Persuaded by what I said, the regressor withdrew her killing intent toward the lieutenant colonel.

She put Skywarbler, which she'd been gripping tightly, back by her pillow, then touched her chin and sank into deep thought.

'I was trying not to do this kind of relaxed buildup in a throwaway cycle... but now that things turned out like this, should I change the plan?'

Reading that thought, all I could do was freeze in shock.

I suspected it, but this was a throwaway cycle?

Please don't do this. You're making the mind reader who's reading you anxious.

Anyway. I turned my head again and tossed a question toward the officer over there.

What was the officer, now at checkmate, thinking?

Lieutenant Colonel Callis undid the belt she had brought with her.

In the past, shortly after clothing packets became commercialized, leather lost its main use. So instead of clothing, it was often used for accessories or consumables.

Wallets, pouches, belts, bags, accessories, and so on.

The military state loathed luxury, but it had no reason to block efforts to use up leather stockpiles spread across the country. Throwing it all away would've been an even bigger loss.

So a brief leather boom happened, and until a certain incident, it was fairly popular. As with all flash-in-the-pan luxury goods, many variations appeared.

Lieutenant Colonel Callis's belt was one of the products that survived, after dozens of variations rose and fell, thanks to a somewhat unique use.

A belt with a strangely bulging left side at the waist. When Callis hooked her finger into the gap, a cleverly hidden compartment appeared between the leather layers. She took out three bundles from it.

'The three bundles that person gave me.'

Even she didn't know what was inside. Lords of All Creation had emphasized that she must never open them before that situation came. So Callis had tried to conserve them as long as possible.

But now wasn't the time to choose means and methods.

'One is for contact. Another is for escape.'

It wasn't time for the contact one yet. Not yet.

The escape one was for when there was absolutely no hope, when she had to escape the Abyss. Not that one either...

'Do I really need to hold it?'

Without realizing it, Callis reached toward the escape bundle, then noticed what she was about to do and clenched her hand tightly. She drew ragged breaths and bit her lip.

'Not yet, not yet. I haven't accomplished anything. I can't lose heart already.'

Barely regaining control, Callis pushed the escape pouch deep back in with trembling fingers.

Now only one remained.

'And the last one... this is for when I need assistance.'

She didn't know what it contained.

Still, hope swells more when it cannot be seen.

With a sliver of hope, Callis took out the leather bundle.

Lords of All Creation, the secret society that had rooted itself deep inside the military state. Since this was their hidden trump card, she prayed it contained something that could flip the board.

'Please. Let there be something in this that can break through this deadlock...!'

With that desperate wish, Lieutenant Colonel Callis opened the bundle.

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