WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 101: Cat in a Dream

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When Sonia tried to take the cat out of the box, the Black Cat's eyes flashed.

Then it unleashed a flurry of attacks with its white front paws. Tap-tap-tap.

"Ow!"

It wasn't a powerful attack. Only a few drops of blood welled up on the back of Sonia's hand.

But while Sonia recoiled, the cat sprang from the box and vanished down the alley.

Yet the very next moment, the Black Cat that had escaped was trapped inside the box again.

One of the defining traits of dreams: vague causality and muddled sequences of events.

The cat, trapped in the box once more, spoke to Sonia.

- You're better than I expected.

"I almost lost you that time. I barely caught you."

Watching them, Rombel said to Elbridge, "You traded a few blows with a cat's front paws, and now you're both praising each other. It's embarrassing just listening to it. Don't you think so?"

Sonia bristled.

"This wasn't a simple exchange. I cleanly blocked the image of a cat escaping naturally through plausible circumstances, then overlaid the image of a cat remaining in the box and bound it within the dream. Do you know how close that was?"

"Ah, sure it was..."

Rombel's indifferent response made Sonia look toward the cat, silently asking it to explain.

The cat swayed its tail and answered playfully.

- I only hit you with my paws, though?

"..."

Sonia gave up on explaining.

It wasn't easy to explain such complicated concepts to Rombel, who knew nothing about magic, and anything Sonia said would clearly sound like self-praise.

The Black Cat spoke from inside the box.

- I met people for the first time in a while, so I wanted to tease you and play for a few more days... but you caught me earlier than I expected. There are countless ways for me to escape this box, but changing the rules of the game halfway through would ruin the fun.

A game.

Still, it wasn't a strange thing to say. The Black Cat had put everyone in Solenion to sleep, made them share connected dreams, and even controlled people as it pleased.

Elbridge couldn't accurately judge a mage's skill, but it would be foolish to think Sonia was more skilled than the Black Cat simply because Sonia had caught it.

Elbridge asked, "Are you really a demon?"

Some demons retained a little reason, but he had never seen one rational enough to hold such a calm conversation.

- Demon... that depends on how demons are defined. But I don't think of myself as a demon. Not yet.

"If you're not a demon, are you a deity?"

Clear interest flashed in the cat's eyes.

- You're no ordinary person. You know things ordinary humans couldn't possibly know.

The cat leaped out of the box, rubbed itself against Elbridge's leg, and circled him once. It even sniffed him lightly.

- Your station is too high for an ordinary human. It's strange that you're still on the ground. In the old days, you would have ascended to heaven several times over. The standards are different now, so I can't say for sure... That dwarf beside you isn't ordinary either.

Unable to contain their curiosity, Sonia interrupted.

"Elbridge, why does it being something other than a demon lead you to suspect it's a deity?"

Sonia had not seen the God of Flowing Water turn into a demon.

Like most people, Sonia thought gods and demons were entirely separate beings.

"You know that the total amount of divine power a god can grant changes according to the number of seats they have in the Heavenly Council, right?"

"Of course."

"A god's actual power doesn't change when their seats increase or decrease. Only the maximum amount of divine power permitted by the Chief God changes with the number of seats. And when they wield power beyond the limit allowed by the Chief God, they become demons."

Sonia's eyes widened.

Sonia was clever. Rather than merely understanding Elbridge's words, Sonia was likely inferring the assumptions and possibilities behind them: that gods and demons were fundamentally the same, that demons, like other gods, were under the Chief God's control, and countless other possibilities...

Sonia pressed their temples.

"I'm learning a lot of new things. At this rate, my consciousness might awaken and I could become a second-class mage."

The Black Cat spoke.

- Since you won the game, I should give you a reward. What do you want?

After a brief moment of thought, Elbridge and Sonia answered at the same time.

"Information."

- Information... I can give you some. But the information I have is quite old.

"That's fine. Tell us who was behind the person who broke your seal."

Sonia received a deflating answer.

- I don't know that either. Do you have another question?

Elbridge asked with a hint of respect, "First, I would like to ask who you are."

The Black Cat purred softly. It seemed to like being asked about itself.

- I am an old god.

"How old are you?"

- I was already a god before the Heavenly Council existed.

The Black Cat seemed to want Elbridge's group to admire it. Sonia did look impressed.

Elbridge and Rombel were different.

Those connected to heaven had all told them the same thing.

'The thrones of heaven are limited, and the gate to heaven is growing narrower.'

Put another way, ascending to heaven had not been difficult in the past.

The Black Cat being an old god meant... the achievements it had accomplished on the ground long ago might not have been all that impressive.

Still, knowing what the world had been like before the Heavenly Council was interesting.

"What was the world like back then?"

- It was a good time for gods, and hell for those on the ground.

Sonia raised a hand and asked, "You said gods become demons if they wield power beyond their seats, right? Then weren't there no demons before the Heavenly Council existed?"

Elbridge was impressed inwardly.

Sonia had reached that conclusion from only a few things just heard. Sonia's mind worked quickly.

- That's right. There were no demons back then.

"If there were no demons, why was the world hell? Until just a few years ago, the world was peaceful."

- Well, you don't know what the Heavenly Council means to gods.

The Black Cat climbed onto the same old temple and neatly tucked its four legs beneath itself.

- The fact that gods are ranked by popularity means the gods of heaven have to pay attention to humans. But before the Heavenly Council existed, there was no such thing. Once they ascended to heaven, countless gods looked upon humans as insects.

"As insects..."

- That's right. Just as children step on ants for fun, countless gods descended to the ground simply for amusement, tormenting and killing humans. The efforts humans had built over their entire lives could be reduced to nothing by the whim of a single god.

"..."

- It would be more fitting to say it wasn't an age without demons, but an age when every god was a demon. You'd be surprised to know how many people ascended to heaven and became gods after being recognized for resisting gods, or for leading a community without being swept away by them.

Sonia believed the Black Cat's story.

Elbridge, though, had a small doubt.

"Is what you're saying true?"

- If you don't want to believe it, don't.

The Black Cat stood as if offended. Elbridge hurriedly added, "It's not that I don't want to believe you. From what I've experienced, I heard that beings connected to heaven cannot convey stories of heaven to the ground. You alone seem to be an exception."

The Black Cat slowly sat down again.

- That is a rule of heaven, and a rule of the world, set directly by the Chief God. But dreams aren't reality, nor are they the world you see with your eyes, so the gaze of the gods cannot reach into dreams. The same goes for the Chief God. If there's no danger of being discovered no matter what I say in a dream, why would I be afraid?

Elbridge had thought there were no exceptions to the rules set by the Chief God.

But this cat might be the only one in the world who existed outside those rules.

The Black Cat introduced itself again.

- I am one who stands between god and demon. I wielded divine power beyond the limit set by the Chief God, then sealed myself and hid within that seal before I could become a demon. Just as with dreams, the Chief God's power cannot reach inside a seal.

Sealing a god. It was unfamiliar, but it didn't seem impossible.

If demons and gods shared the same origin, wasn't it natural that gods, like demons, could be sealed?

"Then why did you, who had been sealed, appear here?"

- I was living quietly inside my seal when someone broke it. It happened so suddenly that I had no time to make another seal. If I delayed, I would truly become a demon... so I hurriedly hid in a dream. To be honest, I only confirmed recently that the Chief God's gaze couldn't reach into dreams.

The Black Cat rubbed its face against its front paw a few times, then continued.

- The reason I came to this city... is because I am from this region. I didn't make everyone dream out of any special malice. I was bored, and it was nice to be back, so I played a little prank. Even if you had done nothing, it would have ended without any trouble, so don't be upset.

Sonia frowned slightly.

The enormous confusion that had gripped Solenion recently had been nothing more than a prank.

Impulsive, childish, eccentric...

But Elbridge could understand, at least somewhat, why the Black Cat had acted that way.

He had lived inside a seal too, even if the length of time had been different.

"You must have been very lonely."

The Black Cat didn't answer, only looking at Elbridge. Yet that lack of an answer told him his guess was right.

"The people in the dream longed for one another. You were tired of loneliness, so perhaps you wanted others not to be lonely."

- People have a habit of attaching meaning where there is none.

Elbridge continued without concern.

"Wasn't it for a similar reason that you wanted someone to recognize your existence? You had to hide inside a dream after playing a pointless prank. And wasn't it for a similar reason that you played the prank because you wanted us to follow you?"

He knew because he had lived inside a seal.

At first, Elbridge had thought the years inside the seal were nothing but boredom. But something even greater than boredom was loneliness. People could not live alone.

Elbridge had not been a warm person in the past. He had been somewhat cold and did not readily accept strangers.

But after waking from the seal, he could no longer be that way. Rick, the first merchant he had met, Mercenary Marcus, and Walter, the old knight... In the past, he would have passed by such people without even exchanging a word.

The need for companions?

No. That was closer to something he had forced himself to create.

The Elbridge of long ago would have found a way to move alone somehow. Even after being freed from the seal, he had been capable enough to do that.

Yet Elbridge had endured all manner of inconvenience to travel with them and form bonds. Inside the seal, he had learned painfully how precious relationships were.

The Black Cat spoke.

- A god of heaven suffering because of loneliness? What nonsense.

"No. I know someone similar to you."

- Someone similar to me?

Elbridge thought of the Master of the Central Magic Tower.

"They grew tired of a life in heaven without close gods or believers and came down to the ground. They're waiting for the day they gather believers again and return to heaven."

The Black Cat looked at Elbridge. There was faint displeasure in its gaze.

- To pry into such things. You're ruder than I thought.

Elbridge shook his head.

"I didn't pry. They told me first."

The Black Cat stated firmly.

- No. That can't be true. Either you're lying, or you led them into giving that answer.

"Why do you think so?"

- They might tell you that they have no believers. There are many gods like that, so it isn't particularly shameful. But not having close friends in heaven is different.

"..."

- Those without friends don't say they have no friends. They make it sound like they have at least a few. There are occasional people who say they have no friends... but they would never bring it up first. If they told you they had no friends without you even pressing them, it was a lie. I'm certain of it.

It was a statement filled with certainty.

Elbridge asked the Black Cat, "Did you have many friends in heaven?"

The Black Cat smiled.

- I had a few.

Footnotes:

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