WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 737: Episode 29: Recorders of Fear (4)

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「[Way of the Wind] is already recorded within me.」

I wondered what that meant.

Did it mean Kim Dokja's fables lay dormant inside me too, since I was also part of him?

Dokja had no talent for anything else, but he had a talent for fables. I had used that talent to fight even when the Demon King of Salvation descended upon me.

Then why couldn't I use [Way of the Wind]?

Several hypotheses came to mind, but the surest way to verify them was to ask the person who had said it directly.

"What does that mean?"

Lycaon, who had been growling to himself, slowly opened his mouth.

【■■■ ■······.】

Tstststst!

Violent sparks flew, and Lycaon frowned.

As expected, it was being filtered. I'd been wondering when information I wasn't allowed to hear would appear.

Maybe it was related to the end of this worldline. I didn't know how Lycaon knew that information, but...

After pondering for a moment, Lycaon spoke.

【Protector. It means reading records that have not yet been written. I could tell you, but now isn't the time.】

In short, it went against Plausibility.

【As you know, my presence here itself violates Plausibility.】

The Constellations of the Twelve Zodiacs were already gathering in the sky, holding a protest rally.

[Some Constellations belonging to the nebula Twelve Zodiacs ask why that wolf hasn't returned to the other world.]

[Some Constellations from the nebula Twelve Zodiacs demand a Plausibility Compatibility Assessment.]

[Some Constellations of the nebula Twelve Zodiacs question whether it makes any sense for an Outer God to intervene in the Scenario.]

[The Administration Bureau is currently reviewing the matter.]

System messages appeared in real time.

Still, I wasn't particularly shaken or flustered.

[The dokkaebi Bihyeong acknowledges that the existence of this Outer God is plausible.]

[Some Constellations of the nebula Twelve Zodiacs question whether that makes any sense.]

[The Administration Bureau confirms that there is no problem with the matter.]

That was because Lycaon's existence didn't violate the Star Stream's Plausibility.

[Some Constellations of the nebula Twelve Zodiacs are puzzled by the Administration Bureau's decision.]

The Constellations had every reason to be confused.

[The Constellation Reclining Dragon observes you with interested eyes.]

By common sense, their judgment was correct. Regardless of an Outer God's Status, it wasn't plausible for an Outer God to be present in a mere eighth Scenario.

But they wouldn't know what kind of covenant Lycaon and I had made.

[You are currently bound by an Otherworld Covenant with the Lost Guide.]

Lost Guide.

That was the alias of Lycaon Isparang, who had become an Outer God.

[The Otherworld Covenant you have formed with the Lost Guide is as follows.]

+

The Outer God Lost Guide* will remain in Area 13 of the Recycling Center for a total of 30 days, as measured by the Recycling Center's lower floors.

During this stay, the Lost Guide* will not directly interfere with the Scenario.

During this stay, the Lost Guide* will not protect you.

While the Lost Guide resides in that Area, you must provide the fable The Three Little Pigs* as payment.

During the stay, the Lost Guide* may teach you and your companions [Way of the Wind].

Even if you fail to acquire [Way of the Wind], the Lost Guide* bears no responsibility for it.

+

That was the entirety of the Otherworld Covenant I had made with Lycaon.

To summarize the contract:

「For the next 30 days, Lycaon will exist beside me as a wind doll.」

Other than teaching [Way of the Wind], he couldn't help me at all. He wouldn't protect me even if Constellations attacked.

When we made the contract, Lycaon had even asked me this.

"Protector... are you really an idiot?"

I grinned.

"It probably wouldn't have been possible to establish a covenant under any other terms."

By the eighth Scenario, even I had started to see certain things.

There were limits to the Otherworld Covenants that could be made in a Scenario of this scale.

"If this covenant proceeds, the Protector will gain nothing. Considering the Protector's talent, even learning [Way of the Wind] cannot be guaranteed..."

"I deliberately set those conditions. The more unfavorable the covenant is for me, the more likely it is not to defy Plausibility."

Reading only the terms, I might truly gain nothing from this covenant and suffer a loss in fable shares.

Still, that wasn't really a loss.

"This condition must never become known to the Constellations."

That was the core of this Otherworld Covenant.

[The Constellation Reclining Dragon realizes your scheme and admires it.]

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon asks what on earth is going on.]

[The Constellation Reclining Dragon says it wouldn't be fun if he explained.]

It seemed Crouching Dragon had caught on, but that didn't matter.

Their modifiers contained the word "Dragon," so they could watch the Recycling Center, but they wouldn't interfere in the affairs of the Twelve Zodiacs.

[Some Constellations from the nebula Twelve Zodiacs glare at the Lost Guide.]

Lycaon silently endured the Constellations' gazes before opening his mouth, as though he had realized something belatedly.

【You remain the same even after reincarnating, Protector. You are truly outstandingly cowardly.】

"I get that compliment often."

My strategy was simple.

「Keep a wind doll by my side, but make sure no one realizes it is a wind doll.」

【The covenant could have failed. Weren't you afraid?】

Even with an unfavorable Otherworld Covenant, my plan could have gone wrong if the overseeing dokkaebi had been someone like Paul.

"I didn't think it would fail."

I'd already looked into the overseeing dokkaebi. More than anything, this Scenario Area was the Recycling Center.

[The Recycling Center Director takes an interest in your scheme.]

Since it was called the Recycling Center, I believed the Center Director wouldn't drive out an Outer God. Outer Gods, more than any other material in this universe, were the ones most in need of recycling.

[Some Constellations belonging to the nebula Twelve Zodiacs refuse to accept the Administration Bureau's decision...]

They would make a fuss on the surface, but the cowardly Constellations of the Twelve Zodiacs wouldn't be able to interfere with Area 13 for 30 days because of this.

The Allies practicing [Way of the Wind] returned to their lodgings one by one, and before long, the sun over Area 13 began to set.

After confirming that the stars from the Twelve Zodiacs, still fuming in the darkening sky, were disappearing one by one, I spoke.

"Lycaon. Shall we talk about old stories for a while?"

It was time to bring it up.

There were other things I was curious about, but I wanted to know what had happened to Lycaon in the meantime.

As far as I knew, Lycaon had disappeared around the time the Catastrophe of Floods descended. How had Lycaon become an Outer God and descended upon this worldline?

【That is...】

If I learned how he had done it, I might find clues about the other enemies in this worldline.

"Is that also a record that hasn't been written yet?"

Lycaon seemed to think for a moment before speaking.

【It isn't a particularly interesting record, but if you're all right with that.】

* * *

The story went back to the Disaster Scenario, the fifth Scenario of the 1,864th round.

At the time, Lycaon had been fighting Antinus, the Parasite Queen and another guide, when he was swept up in the explosion of the Calamity of Questions.

「"Grrr... Protector, I'm sorr..."」

Lycaon lost consciousness, fell under Antinus's mental control, and was freed after meeting Lee Gilyeong.

「"I've never seen a bug like this before!"」

After Lee Gilyeong eliminated Antinus, Lycaon's body began to die.

「A Guide cannot withstand the power of a Calamity.」

It was an aftereffect of the Calamity meteorite's explosion. The durability of his body had reached its limit, but Lycaon struggled desperately to survive.

「Your fable responds to your will.」

As a result, Lycaon began a new evolution. He successfully leaped beyond the rank of a Grade 5 nonhuman species.

「You have acquired the new skill Recovery Predation.」

With [Recovery Predation], he could consume the bodies of other beast species to restore his Incarnation body.

The Monster Gate opened just as the Catastrophe of Floods began, and he was able to barely sustain himself by devouring the corpses of dead beast species.

But the wounds inflicted by the Calamity didn't heal easily.

【By the time I fully recovered, the Protector had already entered the area of the 9th Main Scenario.】

The 9th Main Scenario, Dark Castle.

【I entered Dark Castle to follow the Protector as well.】

"You were in Dark Castle?"

【Yes.】

Yet nowhere in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint was there any mention of Lycaon being there.

Had Han Suyeong omitted that part?

【I did have one chance to encounter the Protector...】

"When?"

【When the Protector confronted the One Who Devours Dreams. The Protector did not see me, but I saw the Protector.】

Memories came flooding back.

The second floor of the Dark Castle. To save his mother, Lee Sukyeong, Kim Dokja fought the One Who Devours Dreams alongside Yu Junghyeok.

【Even now, I can clearly see the Protector from those days.】

Lycaon's eyes flickered faintly.

【Some fables can enthrall a being merely by being witnessed, regardless of their grade. Beings without their own ■■, such as myself, are especially vulnerable to them.】

Beneath the dazzling light of a mortal star, Lycaon made his decision.

【The Protector gave me enlightenment, so I thought I should repay that debt as well.】

"Wait, don't tell me."

【Yes. When the Protector was swallowed by the One Who Devours Dreams, I entered it with the Protector.】

"Did you meet Dokja in there?"

【No. Unfortunately, I could not meet the Protector. The stomach of the One Who Devours Dreams was too vast.】

The One Who Devours Dreams was a powerful Outer God.

Its stomach was so vast that it lay beyond the outer universe itself.

So it wasn't strange that Lycaon and Dokja hadn't encountered each other.

"But the One Who Devours Dreams died in the end. No, more precisely..."

As I remembered it, the One Who Devours Dreams was eventually absorbed by [The Fourth Wall] and became a librarian in the Library.

Yet Lycaon had been inside the stomach of that One Who Devours Dreams.

【Yes. That was the problem. Things became somewhat complicated there. I became trapped inside the stomach of the One Who Devours Dreams after it was consumed by [The Fourth Wall].】

"What the..."

It was cruel. He had tried to save Dokja, only to be trapped inside an Outer God's stomach.

【I was trapped inside for an extremely long time.】

"...I'm sorry."

【I do not know why you are apologizing, but it was not an entirely bad time. Through the fables read by the One Who Devours Dreams, I could watch your story.】

Only then did I understand.

That was why he knew Dokja's story, which he should never have known.

"How long were you there?"

【Until the Protector saw the ■■ of all things.】

"Then after that..."

【The One Who Devours Dreams belatedly noticed my existence and did release me, though.】

By the time he was freed, the Scenarios of the worldline had ended.

The Administration Bureau had collapsed, and the fables binding him had disappeared.

As a Guide of the Scenario, he no longer had a role to fulfill. The fate awaiting a being whose role had vanished from this world was already decided.

【It was an empty, yet common ending.】

Most beings in this world died without even discovering what their own ■■ was, let alone reaching it.

Lycaon had faced the same fate.

【If I had not met that being.】

Someone had taken in the dying Lycaon.

He was a being who existed outside this Scenario.

「You know the Oldest Dream.」

There, Lycaon met one of the Great Old Ones.

Footnotes:

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