WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 129: Episode 25 — Those Who Confront a God (2)

──────

"...Is there anyone stronger than him?"

"There is."

"Who?"

"A powerhouse from peace land."

Han Suyeong let out a hollow laugh at my words.

"From peace land? Are you kidding me right now?"

I could understand why she said that. This information doesn't come up before the 100th regression, after all.

"Do you even know how weak the people here are?"

Without giving me a chance to answer, Han Suyeong fired back. I didn't know what had made her so angry, but she was especially worked up.

"There isn't even a third-rate swordsman here, let alone a Sword Master! And the only magic these kids can use is enough to light a kitchen stove at best."

I knew that too.

"This isn't even some first-generation fantasy novel.... It feels like somebody deliberately gathered nothing but weaklings. No, I seriously don't get it. Why would those stimulation-crazed dokkaebis choose a world like this for a stage? Do they even want to make coins?"

Listening to her, I could see why Han Suyeong was this agitated. Plagiarist or not, she had still been a successful fantasy writer.

"Calm down. The dokkaebis didn't make this world."

"What?"

I turned to the side. A woman stood there with tears pooled in her eyes, head lowered. After hesitating for a long while, Asuka Ren bowed her head and said,

"I'm sorry."

Only then did Han Suyeong seem to realize something.

"Wait, don't tell me...?"

Asuka Ren slowly nodded.

"...'peace land' is a manga I drew."

Maybe Asuka Ren shouldn't have said that.

At first Han Suyeong couldn't stop exclaiming things like, "Is that for real?" Five minutes later, she was muttering, "Well, my novel became reality too, so I guess that could happen." Five minutes after that, she had started bombing Asuka Ren with questions.

"Wait a second, is that why you were against killing the little people? Because they're characters from a world you created?"

"..."

"Oh wow, a real artist over here. You killed them however you liked when you were drawing them, but now that the characters are alive and moving in front of your eyes, suddenly you can't kill them?"

Asuka Ren's face reddened, and she lowered her head without saying a word. While Han Suyeong kept berating her, I took a moment to think about what this world must mean to her.

"You should've made them stronger from the start, then. No, seriously, why is your setting like this?"

"Well, in Japan, it's all nothing but isekai reincarnation stories. So...."

"Ah, so you resisted the mainstream and tried to make a classic fantasy?"

"But once you're an author, you can't just churn out mass-produced stories."

"Mass-produced?"

It seemed she had said something she shouldn't have.

"Your work is worse than mass-produced, you loser."

"...What?"

Han Suyeong stared at Asuka Ren like she was pathetic, then turned to me.

"Hey, Kim Dokja. Did you know? I spent a few days in Veronica, and in this world, counts talk casually to dukes. And every single one of those so-called knights looks like some soft pretty boy who only knows how to sway around...."

"W-wait a second!"

"Shut up. We're suffering through all this because of you."

"...I did make it, but I wasn't the one who dragged you in here."

"Oh, really? You're the one who asked the dokkaebis to make your world real. Your manga tanked, so you must've been thinking, 'Let's throw every bastard who trashed my comic into my world and kill them all.' Then out of nowhere you got some message like, 'I shall grant your wish.' Wasn't that it?"

I was impressed. Not just anybody could be a writer.

"N-no! That couldn't happen in the first place!"

"Then what was it?"

Listening to them, I got curious too. TWSA never explained why Asuka Ren's 'peace land' had been adopted as a Scenario. If I learned the circumstances, maybe I could get a hint about the author of TWSA too.

"That would be...."

That was when Han Suyeong and I drew our swords at the same time. Startled, Asuka Ren took a step back.

"I really want to hear it, but now doesn't seem like the right time."

"What?"

"Run!"

Several giant shuriken slammed into the spot where we had been standing a split second earlier. Only then did Asuka Ren, face drained white, start chasing after us with all her might. Han Suyeong said,

"Damn it, when did they catch up to us?"

"They're good at stealth."

"How many?"

"Four."

They were strong enough already, yet they still hadn't underestimated us and had gone straight for assassination.

We had no chance in a head-on fight. Asuka Ren said through ragged breaths,

"I think they're the Wind Shadow Squadron. They're a nonhuman race that worships Izumi."

"Japanese people sure know how to come up with flashy names."

It still wasn't time for them to have caught up to us yet, but it seemed bringing up Orochi's true name earlier had been a mistake.

"This way!"

Once we entered the zone full of bizarre rock formations, we gradually had more room to move. Asuka Ren's guidance was proving invaluable. As expected, the author who made the world was different. Even so, the distance kept shrinking, and before long the Wind Shadow Squadron bastards were right on our heels. Han Suyeong said, as if she'd made up her mind,

"Ah, screw it. Hey, you go on ahead. I'll buy you some time."

"You'll be okay?"

"You know me. I'm a master at playing dead."

"Then I'm trusting you."

I grabbed Asuka Ren and ran.

"Ms. Ren, we really don't have time now. We have to find him quickly."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Kyrios the returnee."

"What?"

I dodged an incoming shuriken as I spoke. It seemed Han Suyeong had missed a few.

"Tell me where Kyrios is."

"I don't know who that is."

I had expected that answer.

Even in TWSA, it only mentioned that Kyrios was here around this time. There had never been a scene where anyone met him directly.

"I really don't know! I never drew a character like that!"

"No, you do know. The only powerhouse in this 'peace land.'"

"There's no one like that in my manga! Besides, everyone in my manga is weak!"

Swiiish! A shuriken shot past us and lodged itself ahead. I wrenched myself to a stop and changed direction sharply. I hadn't wanted to go this far, but in the end I'd have to touch the wound.

"Your 'peace land' was discontinued after Episode 11, and because of trouble with the publisher, it never even got a collected volume. Am I right?"

"How do you know that...?"

"I understand your desire to draw a classic fantasy. But the thing is, your manga wasn't really a 'classic fantasy,' was it?"

Two members of the Wind Shadow Squadron emerged from the smoke. Normally they would've been enemies I could handle easily enough, but right now even stopping one of them was overwhelming.

Crack!

I had only brushed a katana aside, but my wrist throbbed as if it might break. I calmly activated [White Pure Star Energy] and shouted,

"While it was being serialized, you peeked at the readers' reactions and, in a fit of anger, drew a certain character."

"..."

"That character was unnaturally strong for 'peace land.' He only appeared once before the series got axed, but that doesn't erase the fact that he existed."

Agitation was spreading deep in Asuka Ren's eyes. No, maybe it was fear.

"H-how do you know that..."

"Not many authors want to remember a failed work. But that was still a story that existed. Whether you liked it or not, it was a world born from your fingertips, and a character you created."

I knew Asuka Ren's contradiction. She didn't like the manga she had drawn. Because that manga had ruined her.

But once that manga became reality, she couldn't bring herself to destroy the world with her own hands either. Because once, she had been the god who created this world.

"Take responsibility to the very end. If even a single reader watched over this world."

Asuka Ren stared at me blankly. I thought she would get angry, or ask what I knew, or demand an explanation. But instead,

[The character Asuka Ren is moved by your sincerity toward the story.]

[Your understanding of the character Asuka Ren is very high!]

A shuriken flew at us with a sharp whine. Asuka Ren yanked my wrist hard toward her.

"You're right. I..."

Clutching my wrist tightly, she started running.

[The character Asuka Ren's attribute Creator of Peace Land has been activated!]

"...I have to ask forgiveness."

I didn't ask what she wanted forgiveness for. That belonged solely to Asuka Ren and this world. All I did was run as she ran.

As if drawing in the background she had never finished, roots writhed up from the tips of her feet as she ran through the forest. Wherever her gaze landed, a new path appeared like foreshadowing that had always been waiting there. Gritting my teeth, I chased the end of that path with my eyes and ran after her.

Even though we were running through the same space as before, everything felt different. For a moment, I even forgot I was fleeing and became absorbed in the sensation.

The fresh scent of grass and the sound of insects. A cool breeze lightly brushing my forearm. A magical forest full of mystery and wonder. Running across soil as soft as a freshly minted sentence, I was seized by a strange nostalgia.

This was how it had felt, long ago, when I first read TWSA as a child.

"Over there!"

The feeling didn't last long. No matter how fast we fled, we were little people and they were catastrophes. From their stride length to their skills, the gap between us couldn't be bridged.

Blood was running down Asuka Ren's leg where a shuriken had grazed her. It was getting harder and harder to avoid the attacks.

"This way..."

They caught up to us the moment we rounded a massive tree trunk. Asuka Ren's face had gone pale, as if she had reached her limit. I drew Unbreakable Faith and stepped in front of her.

...Damn it, was I wrong?

Two katanas were flying at me to finish me off.

That was when it happened. In an instant, a chill ran down my spine, and it felt as if all four limbs had gone rigid. The air around us was changing.

What was this? What just happened?

Goosebumps rose all over my body until it almost hurt. This wasn't the effect of a skill or a Stigma. It was something closer to instinct.

The fear you feel when even your soul is overwhelmed by a being utterly beyond comparison.

A voice rang out.

[Who are you?]

Though it wasn't a mantra, it sounded like one, a lofty voice like thunder itself.

I couldn't bring myself to look back, but I knew with certainty that a being comparable to a Constellation was there. Otherwise [The Fourth Wall] wouldn't be roiling like this.

Even the Wind Shadow Squadron members who had been driving their blades toward me had frozen like statues. Toward those figures, who couldn't even speak, blue-white lightning crashed down from the sky.

Swaaaaaa.

Those powerful catastrophes turned to dust and disappeared under just two bolts of lightning. When I lifted my head and looked into the air, dark clouds full of lightning covered the sky. Guarding their center was a tiny doll.

It was unbelievable.

Because that lofty being was unmistakably one of the little people. The moment I saw Asuka Ren's eyes roll back as she fainted, I realized who I was facing. The forest was weeping.

[I ask again. Who are you?]

She had found the right path.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kyrios."

Kyrios Lordgrime, from peace land.

He was the strongest returnee in TWSA.

________________

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried