WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 248: Episode 46: A Fresh Story (3)
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[Coins Owned: 5,490,875C]
The coins kept rising endlessly, only stopping once they finally reached their peak. I had to look several times before I could believe my eyes.
[...Young man, how much did you make?]
I looked beside me and saw the Mass Production Maker staring blankly.
This old man had also bet 150,000 coins earlier, so he must have made a considerable profit. Even I had received at least five times my wager...
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband envies you!]
[The Constellation Heart-Targeting Loan Shark covets your coins!]
Even Persephone, who always wore such a lofty expression, had the corner of her mouth twitching. The Queen of the underworld had bet 300,000 coins, after all. The underworld must have made quite a profit too.
[This is impossible! It makes no sense!]
Most of the Constellations, except for the three of us, looked utterly devastated. I could tell how much they had bet just from their expressions. The Constellations who had wagered a small sum for fun only looked disappointed, but the ones who had thrown down more than 100,000 coins...
[Aaaaaaah!]
They were losing their minds in rage. Some had apparently bet enough to go bankrupt.
For example, that bastard.
[The Constellation Predator of the Hasty Swamp displays immense hostility toward you.]
Rumble!
[Catch that bastard!]
The Constellations who had lost coins, including the Predator of the Hasty Swamp, approached me. Maybe they had lost their sanity alongside their coins, because they looked ready to throw me into the River Styx at any moment.
The Constellations watching the situation backed away from my side.
One Constellation didn't.
It was Persephone, the Queen of the underworld.
[Everyone, step back. How disgraceful do you intend to be?]
A Status like the cold night air rang out, making the approaching Constellations hesitate. Yet a few were too worked up to be cooled by a night breeze.
[Queen of the underworld! You think you can act like this just because you won some coins?]
[We have no business with you, so move aside!]
As the atmosphere grew heated, the high-ranking Constellations who had been watching stepped in.
[Everyone, mind your manners.]
It was the Goddess of the Morning Star, who was acquainted with Persephone. The Predator of the Hasty Swamp, whose eyes had already gone wild, didn't hesitate.
[Manners? Manners, my ass...!]
The Predator of the Hasty Swamp, now right in front of me, released their Status. The other Constellations released theirs as well. Powerful sparks burst through the air, and just as the clash of Statuses was about to begin...
[The Wish Ticket used by the Constellation Demon King of Salvation has taken effect.]
Dazzling sparks covered the entire hall, and the movements of the enraged Constellations stopped at once. As everyone hesitated, a portal opened in the ceiling.
An ominous aura surged beyond it.
It wasn't an Outer God.
Still, something just as tremendous was clearly there.
Who was it? At this level, it had to be a top-ranking Constellation or...
With a deafening boom that seemed to tear apart the air, an unfamiliar being emerged from the portal. An existence wrapped head to toe in an incomprehensibly profound aura.
Yet it was neither a divine being nor a Constellation.
A man dressed in black like a magician, carrying an antique staff.
[...A Great Dokkaebi?]
He was a Great Dokkaebi.
[It's been a long time, Constellations.]
At those few words, the hall went quiet as if cold water had been poured over it. It was an oppressive silence. The Constellations releasing their Statuses and the ones shouting all held their breath.
[The rules of the Star Stream bind all Constellations of the Gourmet Association.]
The Plausibility required to bind every Constellation here. Even with control of a channel's administration, an ordinary dokkaebi could never accomplish such a thing.
[U-urgh...]
Even the Predator of the Hasty Swamp, who hadn't flinched before high-ranking Constellations, backed away with a bloodless face. I had seen a description of that dokkaebi in the original novel.
「The dokkaebis of the Star Stream are broadly divided into four grades: low-grade, mid-grade, upper-mid-grade, and high-grade. Yet there are dokkaebis above even them.」
「The twelve leaders who command the dokkaebis of the Star Stream.」
Seven red horns sprouted from the dokkaebi's head.
The Star Stream called them Great Dokkaebis.
[I'm sorry, but the party ends here.]
* * *
When I was deeply absorbed in reading TWSA, I had once wondered about the relationship between Constellations and dokkaebis.
No matter how special the dokkaebis' powers were, a high-ranking Constellation could kill one or two of them without much trouble. Yet even Constellations with that kind of strength never touched dokkaebis carelessly. No matter how irritating a Scenario they opened, they never killed a dokkaebi.
...Why?
The reason was unfolding right before my eyes.
Tzzzzzz!
With a single gesture, a net of Plausibility spread out, binding the entire Gourmet Association. Sparks denser than any I had ever seen.
This, too, was the power of a fable.
Probably a fable borrowed from the most powerful being in this world.
Whether they were fabled-grade or Historical-grade, anyone who tried to leave would surely be caught in that storm of sparks and vanish. Even high-ranking Constellations such as Thunder of Thursday and the Goddess of the Morning Star only showed their displeasure. None of them complained.
Persephone was the first to speak.
[Great Dokkaebi Harong. It's been a long time.]
The Great Dokkaebi slowly turned toward us.
[It has been a while, Queen of the underworld.]
[Is the King of Stories well?]
[The King is unharmed.]
Perhaps because of who she was facing, a tension I had never seen before lingered on Persephone's face.
[What brings you here? And why have you brought dokkaebis from the Enforcement Bureau with you...?]
The dokkaebis from the Enforcement Bureau I had seen once before stood in formation behind the Great Dokkaebi. The terrifying force they gave off rivaled that of the Gourmet Association's Constellations.
Naturally.
The dokkaebis of the Enforcement Bureau had once been Constellations.
Instead of answering Persephone immediately, the Great Dokkaebi swept his calm gaze across the Constellations.
[We must take away the Constellations who borrowed coins.]
[...Coins?]
At that moment, several groaning Constellations began to run away. The Mass Production Maker muttered as if he understood.
[What foolish creatures...]
Apparently, some Constellations had borrowed coins from the dokkaebis to join this round of gambling. Ridiculously enough, the Predator of the Hasty Swamp was among them.
[Uuugh... Move, get out of my way!]
They charged at the spark-covered wall, trying to tear through the Great Dokkaebi's net of Plausibility.
[Kyaaaaaah!]
The Great Dokkaebi's net was powerful. The instant the Predator of the Hasty Swamp touched it, they let out an exaggerated scream and collapsed. The dokkaebis from the Enforcement Bureau rushed in and easily restrained their Incarnation body.
[Let go! Let me go!]
As I watched the Constellations being tied up and taken away one after another, I wondered why the dokkaebis had appeared here now. I didn't know the exact reason, but perhaps the Plausibility of my Wish Ticket had affected it.
Dokkaebis were the race most sensitive to Plausibility in this world.
Having restrained all the indebted Constellations in an instant, the Great Dokkaebi began transporting them through the portal. His movements were swift, as though he had no further business here. Without even leaving a farewell, the Great Dokkaebi merely glared at several Constellations as if warning them before departing.
Just as the portal was about to close, the Great Dokkaebi looked at me.
Through those cold eyes, someone spoke to me.
「Don't make too much noise, child. The 'King' is watching you.」
* * *
After the Great Dokkaebi's visit, the Gourmet Association closed. It was only natural after the party had ended that way. It was time for everyone to return to their respective constellations.
I quietly slipped out of the castle while the banquet hall was in disarray.
A considerable number of Constellations had been taken to the Administration Bureau, but some still held hostility toward me. I needed to leave before they started looking into where I was headed.
Then I ran into an unexpected problem at the entrance to Oro Castle.
...How was I supposed to get back?
There was no guide or carriage in sight. If I lingered here, I might get caught by other Constellations...
Then something came racing around the corner of the castle with the sound of an engine.
A high-end sports car with a sleek, streamlined body.
It looked like the SSS-grade Ferrari.
Wait, come to think of it, the person who made that car was...
With a screech, the sports car stopped in front of me. The window rolled down, revealing an old man with sparse white hair and sunglasses.
[Get in, young man.]
It was the Mass Production Maker.
* * *
The moment I opened the rear door, the wheelbase lengthened and the car body transformed into a limousine. I got into the back seat, genuinely impressed by the strange sight.
This could fit any number of people. Was this car for sale too?
The car was made from sturdy demon-resistant material, and its interior was decent too. I sipped iced tea from the limousine's refrigerator while looking around the vehicle.
The Mass Production Maker sat in the driver's seat, while Persephone sat in the passenger seat. Persephone had been communicating with someone for a while now.
Maybe it had something to do with the Great Dokkaebi who had appeared earlier.
"Mass Production Maker, thank you for the ride. But I have a question."
[Hmm, what is it?]
"...Why is this woman here?"
I asked while glaring at Anna Croft, who sat beside me. The Mass Production Maker grinned.
[Hehe, I promised her a ride when we leave. Try not to fight too much.]
It was an unpleasant situation, but I couldn't complain when I was getting a ride. I sighed and looked over the Asgard trio. Anna sat beside me in the back seat, while Iris had collapsed from exhaustion and Selena Kim remained unconscious.
Anna, who had been checking on them, spoke as if in passing.
"Even if you hadn't helped, Iris would have survived."
"I know. Thunder of Thursday probably would've saved her. Isn't that right?"
Anna bit her lip at my words.
Anna was a colder and more ruthless Incarnation than anyone, but she never lost the people who became hers. Even in a similar event she carried out in the original novel, Anna's companions didn't die.
Instead, they only found an opportunity for awakening through that Scenario.
The ones who died were other people.
"Iris had a chance to obtain a good Patron, but you ruined everything. The future I saw was never like this..."
"She wouldn't have wanted to obtain a Patron that way either."
"A Constellation like you wouldn't understand."
[Tsk, tsk. I told you to get along, but I see that won't happen.]
The limousine shifted in shape, and my seat moved in a bizarre way. My view spun around once, and before I knew it, I was in the passenger seat where Persephone had been. The Mass Production Maker had switched my seat with Persephone's.
Apparently, he didn't want to hear us bickering, because he even raised a soundproof barrier between the front and back seats.
The Mass Production Maker spoke.
[You don't get along with Incarnations either, not just Constellations. Don't make too many enemies.]
"I don't want to make enemies either."
In fact, I had come here to find companions, not enemies.
Yet this was how it had turned out.
The Mass Production Maker took an electronic cigarette from his pocket and continued.
[I can feel anger in the fables you're creating. A powerful anger toward this world and the Constellations.]
I was about to say something, then closed my mouth again.
[I know you've seen a lot of ugly things today.]
"That's not really true."
The Mass Production Maker chuckled. The atmosphere had somehow grown awkward, so I took out my smartphone and fiddled with it. Darkness like its turned-off screen covered the view beyond the front of the car. As the Mass Production Maker quietly stared into that darkness, something like a faint sadness passed through his eyes.
[Still, don't hate them too much.]
He spoke after a brief pause, so it took me a moment to understand what he meant.
[None of them could endure their loneliness. Whether they're trashy Constellations or noble ones... they're all just like that because they love stories.]
I had never expected the Mass Production Maker to say something like that, and I was flustered. Something like a strange sense of betrayal warmed my chest.
"That doesn't mean they can trample on the lives of Incarnations."
If they loved stories that much, they should play out their own Scenarios. They should move on to the next Scenario instead of ruining someone else's. Turning their eyes to other Scenarios and throwing themselves into them was nothing but running away from reality...
That was what I wanted to say.
Then my smartphone turned on, and the screen caught my eye. The sentences from TWSA I had been reading were displayed there. As I stared blankly at them, the Mass Production Maker asked,
[You're always looking at that. Are you planning to write something in an empty notepad?]
I couldn't find an answer to his question. Then I smiled weakly and replied.
"...I just feel calmer when I look at it."
In the distance, the long darkness of the Dark Dimension was receding. Light was entering through the window that had been empty.
At last, it was time to return.
Footnotes:
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