WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 230: Episode 43: Sky-Splitting Sword Saint (2)
──────
[Who... is the new ruler... of this industrial complex?]
At the tremendous voice, Junghyeok and I looked out the window at the same time. The declaration was full of crackling static, so it seemed difficult for its owner to use a constellation's declaration. Junghyeok muttered quietly.
“It's a Constellation from Papyrus.”
“If it's the Last Pharaoh, then it's probably the woman I'm thinking of?”
A gigantic mummy wearing an old golden crown. Its entire body was wrapped in bandages except for its high, prominent nose. It was exactly as I'd read in TWSA. That Incarnation body undoubtedly belonged to Cleopatra, Egypt's Last Pharaoh.
[Yu Junghyeok... who... is that...?]
The industrial complex rang with the declaration once more.
It was certainly an impressive display of force, but neither of us was intimidated. Cleopatra was only a Historical-grade Constellation. Neither Junghyeok nor I would flinch at the pressure of a Historical-grade Constellation anymore.
“Junghyeok. Can you beat her?”
In my current state, with Fable Packs hanging all over my body, she was an opponent I couldn't handle. Junghyeok shook his head.
“Not now. That time is coming soon.”
“You mean that penalty from earlier? The one where you disappear for ten minutes every day?”
Junghyeok didn't answer. Taking that as confirmation, I turned back to Cleopatra.
“Then what do we do about her...?”
“She won't be able to do anything.”
“Why?”
“The Demon King Selection hasn't started yet.”
It was obvious, but the Incarnation bodies of Constellations not affiliated with this Scenario were under severe Plausibility restrictions. Until the Great Fable opened, they couldn't run wild as they pleased either.
Even so...
“Hey, have you already forgotten what Asmodeus did to us?”
“Not everyone can act like Asmodeus.”
I knew that much.
Demon Kings faced fewer Plausibility restrictions than Constellations in the Demon Realm. The problem was that those Constellations had enough excess Plausibility to overcome the restrictions.
“Cleopatra belongs to Papyrus, doesn't she? If she borrows Plausibility from her nebula and starts causing trouble...”
“Kim Dokja. It seems you've already forgotten what you did.”
“What?”
Before Junghyeok could answer, Cleopatra's voice rang through the air.
[Tell the new ruler... of the industrial complex. If he enters the Demon King Selection... he will certainly die.]
With those words, Cleopatra's Incarnation body began to fade away. Like a fallen giant, it broke into grains of sand and returned to dust.
[Remember this... Papyrus... never gives a warning twice.]
Why was she leaving so obediently?
It was strange. Normally, after materializing like that, beings like her considered slaughtering a few hundred Incarnations light exercise after a meal.
Junghyeok spoke as though I were pathetic.
“Did you forget? They forced Fate upon you.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, that was right. Not just Papyrus, but Veda and Olympus as well had burned enormous amounts of Plausibility on declarations of Fate to draw me to their side. Only then did I understand why Cleopatra had disappeared so readily.
They were short on excess Plausibility right now.
“So we've bought time until the Demon King Selection.”
I nodded at Junghyeok's calm voice.
At least for now, the Constellations wouldn't attack us.
I checked the message log.
[The Demon King Selection is currently being prepared.]
[Remaining preparation time: 28 days, 17 hours, 12 minutes.]
If my prediction was right, the Demon King Selection would consume everything from the twenty-first Scenario to the twenty-fourth Scenario. It was a Great Fable, so of course it would devour that many Scenarios. Estimating the time we had left, I said, “The two of us aren't enough.”
“I know.”
Once the Demon King Selection began, Constellations would start appearing on their side.
Even Historical-grade Constellations were far stronger than ordinary Incarnations once they reached the level of a Constellation. If famous ones began to show up, Junghyeok and I alone would have trouble dealing with them.
“Have you thought of anything?”
Junghyeok shook his head.
We could bring over the Companions on Earth, but neither Hyeongseong nor Huiwon was ready to fight Transcendents or Constellations yet. They needed time to grow stronger by alternating between personal Scenarios and Main Scenarios. Only then could they be properly deployed in the later Scenarios.
Right now, we needed Companions we could use immediately.
“Didn't you gather any Companions here?”
“Ah, I did, but...”
Come to think of it, where had Jang Hayoung gone? I looked around, staggering through the pain in my body.
“I told them to look for people who could be on our side. It should be about time they had some results...”
“Get things ready. I'll be back shortly.”
Before I could ask where he was going, Junghyeok disappeared from sight.
* * *
To loosen up and plan our strategy, I roughly adjusted my bandages and left the treatment room. Aileen had said I needed at least two more weeks of rest, but perhaps because the tension had lifted, I didn't feel too bad.
[Your recovery ability has risen sharply due to the effect of the Attribute Lamarck's Giraffe.]
...Ah, that was why.
When I stretched and stepped outside, a startled Aileen ran over. Before she could speak, I beat her to it.
“I'm fine, so don't worry. More importantly, Aileen, can you fix this for me?”
Aileen accepted Uriel's doll from me and tilted her head.
“What is this?”
“A Constellation's symbolic form.”
Sacrilegiously, Aileen made the mistake of dropping the doll as soon as she heard that. She hurriedly picked it back up and looked at me.
“...I won't receive divine punishment for dropping it, right?”
“She's a nice Constellation, so don't worry. Repair it well.”
Saying a Constellation was nice sounded a little strange, but since it was Uriel, it didn't feel wrong. After telling Aileen I was going for a short walk, I headed out to the streets of the industrial complex.
The streets beneath the faint sunlight had a distinctly different atmosphere from before. A few people who recognized me passed by with slight bows. There was a liveliness in their expressions that I hadn't seen before.
They were probably the faces of people who had decided to live.
“Hey, Yu Junghyeok! You're awake?”
I turned to see the person I'd been looking for running toward me. Jang Hayoung took a running jump, wrapped their arms around my neck, and put me in an awkward headlock.
“My name isn't Yu Junghyeok.”
“Oh, are you finally revealing your real name?”
“...You knew?”
“Well, I can't be the only one using an alias.”
I looked at Hayoung for a moment, then said meaningfully, “My name is Kim Dokja.”
It was supposed to sound cool, but Hayoung looked thoroughly unimpressed.
“That's a strange name. Though I feel like I've heard it somewhere before...”
“Forget it. What were you doing?”
“Ah, I was chatting, then a tip came in nearby, so I came out.”
“A tip?”
“You wouldn't know since you've been lying in bed. There have been some interesting incidents in the industrial complex.”
I listened as Hayoung told me what had happened over the last week. The most interesting story, of course, was about Junghyeok.
“He refused to rule?”
“That's right. He said he'd inherit the dukedom, but he wouldn't govern this place. Everyone's in an uproar now.”
I could guess what was happening. Junghyeok was probably practicing his creed of reigning without ruling. That was why he'd said something like that. It was a fine idea, but the timing was bad.
“It must be chaos. If he makes a declaration like that before things are even settled, there'll be security problems.”
“The industrial citizens are extremely worked up over it.”
A powerful dictator could control people's desires through their existence alone. But the Dictator had given up actual authority, so the desires the industrial citizens had suppressed until now were probably bursting out all at once.
「“Do you think the darkness of the industrial complex will disappear just because I die?”」
It was something the Duke of Seisvitz had said in TWSA.
I suddenly felt that his words had been right. Changing the Dictator wouldn't suddenly transform the entire industrial complex. If anything, with a brutal Dictator gone, the ambitions people had kept hidden would reveal themselves more openly.
“Hey, hand over that Fragment!”
“N-no. I found it.”
At the voices that sounded as though they'd been waiting for us, Hayoung and I turned our heads at the same time. Several Incarnations were beating someone in an alleyway. The situation was obvious. They must have been fighting over a Fable Fragment that had come out of the Factory. Just as I moved to intervene, Hayoung unexpectedly stopped me.
“Wait. Hold on.”
“Why?”
“I told you, didn't I? There was a tip.”
“What tip?”
“The Punisher will appear here.”
“Punisher?”
I'd never heard of such a being. There had been no such position in TWSA or the Revolutionary Scenario. Noticing my confusion, Hayoung added, “It's a nickname the industrial citizens came up with. She's been appearing out of nowhere for the past few days to straighten out public order, and she's unbelievably beautiful...”
A shout came from deeper in the alley.
“Kill them and take it!”
The Incarnations drew their weapons, apparently about to begin the beating in earnest. Rather than wait for some Punisher or whatever, it would be faster for me to act first.
The moment I reached for the sword at my waist, a slender shadow appeared in the alley.
“Stop.”
A woman wrapped in a black cape stood atop the wall.
Her weapons were impossible to make out clearly beneath the cape, but I could see her face perfectly. It was as if only her face had a different resolution. Watching her waist-length hair ripple in the wind, I slowly tried to think through my overwhelming shock.
...Had there been someone like that in TWSA?
All the praise I knew suddenly felt meaningless. Beneath her neatly shaped ink-black eyebrows were deep, vivid eyes. Every standard by which the world's beauty was judged seemed to collapse at once.
It was a face that even a Constellation's modifier couldn't describe.
And so, frustratingly, there was only one way to express it.
「She was undoubtedly beautiful enough to slap Yu Junghyeok across the face three times.」
There had never been a description like that in TWSA, either. Even Hayoung, one of the most beautiful people around, had only rated two slaps. Hayoung, the person responsible for two slaps to Yu Junghyeok's face, whispered softly.
“There. That's the Punisher.”
The Incarnations, overwhelmed by the woman's beauty, slowly came to their senses. Judging by their leering lips, it was obvious what they were about to say. Yet before their mouths could open, something moved.
Thud.
Then something fell.
The Incarnations screamed a moment later.
“A-aaaagh!”
The Incarnation whose arm had been severed let out a terrible scream. The others, realizing what had happened, hurriedly put away their weapons and fled. They had recognized an enemy they couldn't face.
Even the man she'd saved ran out of the alley in fear. In an instant, only the severed arms and the woman remained.
As the woman calmly sheathed her sword, Hayoung exclaimed, “See? Isn't she amazing? You told me to look for people you could use. I tried talking to her yesterday too, but she disappeared right away, so...”
It had been a cruel movement, yet her swordsmanship followed the proper path.
What was astonishing was the speed of her draw.
I muttered without realizing it, “That isn't swordsmanship at an Incarnation's level.”
“What?”
Hayoung hadn't noticed, but I had seen it clearly. At this point, only Transcendents could draw their swords at that speed.
My heart pounded.
I didn't know who she was, but if I could make her a Companion now, she would undoubtedly be a great asset in the Demon King Selection. The moment the woman in the black cape turned to leave, I ran into the alley without hesitation.
“Hey!”
I planned to buy time by talking to her while using [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] to examine her information. Whoever she was, if I could see her Attributes Window, persuading her would be easier.
And if I was lucky...
“Ghk...”
Before I could even use the skill as I approached her, I had to stop in place. The woman's blazing eyes were glaring at me. The sheer volume of terrible emotion that struck me in that instant made my body tremble.
An enormous amount of resentment and fury directed at me.
It had been so long since I'd experienced a waterfall of emotion like that that I was momentarily dumbfounded.
...What was with this woman?
Did she know me? No, more importantly, why did she hate me this much?
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried