WeTried Translations
Translator: ZEROSUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Regression is Too Much
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Chapter 228
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The regressor is mentally weak (7)
-You have entered Floor 23.
Once again, I was back in that same pitch-dark forest. I clutched my throbbing head and forced myself to sort through my memories.
“…Were those two monsters?”
Maybe because I was out of the fog’s influence, about half my memory came back. The finer details were still blurry and out of reach, but I remembered who the two people not at the campfire were. One man and one woman.
But there was one odd part. Those two had not done anything noticeable. They had not tried to stir conflict between us, and they had not done anything to fan suspicion. At least, not from what I remembered.
“…”
Anyway, setting that aside, the next thing I had to think about was the ‘Penalty.’
Even after regressing, I still could not remember what the ‘Penalty’ itself was, but its effects were still vivid. My head throbbed like it was being stabbed, dry heaves kept rising, and my brow kept tightening without me noticing. Proof that I was under extreme stress.
Can I endure it? I do not know. I really do not know. The discomfort is so intense that I can not promise I’ll hold up. I can’t say for sure that I’ll be able to shake it off later.
That was not all. If I felt intense emotions, I could regress simultaneously with someone else. But what if this Penalty destabilized me and I felt something toward someone by accident? That would create a new regressor, and a new variable.
If possible, I had to find a way to clear this without taking the ‘Penalty.’ The best move was to kill the two monsters as soon as I entered, then clear.
“Huu…”
Then the next thing to think about was how. I did not know how far the smoke erased memory, so I assumed the worst. What if it erased even memories from before regression?
[8/8]
“Damn.”
Right before I could make a plan, a message window popped up in front of me. I had not even reached the campfire yet. Had I delayed too long? A sinister fog slowly tightened around me. There seemed to be a time limit, and it looked pretty strict.
“…Wait.”
I needed more time. And time depended on how I used it.
[You have taken damage.]
[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 23.]
Back to the plan.
There was one very straightforward way to find those two monsters. Leave marks on the players before entry.
Think about it. You enter an unfamiliar place, and only exactly eight people have marks on them. Then you remember that eight people were together at the campfire right before this. Unless you were an idiot, you would catch on.
But me leaving marks was the problem. A method that injured the body? I could not injure my own body, so it left too much room for misunderstanding. A method that marked armor? Dwarven armor was tough. I would have to gather force for a long time just to scratch it, and they were not idiots who would let me do that.
Then the second-best option.
“This should work.”
A bundle of leaves torn from a nearby tree. This would do. Even if all memories vanished, this would still stand out. It was ordinary, but I could make it feel distinctly out of place.
“…”
Still... would leaving marks be enough? Really? Would there truly be no variables?
No. There was one variable.
As I walked toward the campfire, I prepared one final safety measure. Last time, time looked extremely tight, so I had to move my mouth as fast as possible.
“You’re here.”
“You made it.”
The players greeted me just like before. I poured mana into the leaves in my hand and asked a question.
“Excuse me, sorry to ask this right away, but...”
“…What?”
“Out of nowhere?”
“Hurry, we don’t have time.”
“Uh, so...”
[8/8]
The gloomy smoke closed in. The moment it touched me, I would forget everything. So right before it touched me, at the very last moment, I had to record...
record...
record...
...
...
...
“Is everyone okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine. Nothing wrong with my body either...”
The smoke scattered all at once, and my suffocating view brightened. The scene was the same. A small campfire. An eerily pristine village. Even the unsettling sky.
“I feel like... I was about to do something.”
Still, my mouth felt oddly unpleasant. Just now, I felt like I had been about to do something... but I could not remember.
<Floor 23>
-Find and kill two False Entities. They will target the climbers' lives.
-Each day, one Penalty is given to the climbers.
-Every day before sunset, there is a Daily Mission you must carry out. If there is any mission not completed, a major Penalty will be given.
The thoughts clouding my head scattered the instant the message window appeared. Wait, two False Entities?
“How many of us are there right now?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Weren’t there definitely eight of us?”
“There were definitely eight. I even saw the number [8/8].”
Eight people entered, but ten came out. Two had been added.
“So this is what that status window meant by two False Entities...”
“Then two people here are not real humans, they’re monsters?”
“Must be.”
Among the other players muttering with serious faces, no one looked especially awkward or suspicious. Every one of them was someone I had seen at that campfire, at that campfire, at that campfire...
My memory was fading. There was no way I should forget faces I had seen only ten minutes ago. This was definitely one of the Tower’s tricks.
“I can’t remember.”
“They were definitely right next to me, but...”
This confusion was not just happening to me. The other players also clutched their heads, shaken and confused. Everyone looked around like children who had lost their parents, and they could not calm down, blurting meaningless sentences.
The confusion dragged on for quite a while, then.
“Wait. What’s this?”
A man who found something drew everyone’s attention.
“What is it?”
“Look at this. I don’t think it’s just me.”
He pulled a leaf from his shoulder and held it up for everyone to see.
“What about the leaf?”
“This... if you touch it, it’s really crisp. So... it’s slightly frozen. And above all, I can feel mana in it.”
“Frozen? A leaf? With mana?”
“Huh, there’s a leaf on my shoulder too...”
A leaf frozen by mana, stuck right on someone’s shoulder. No matter how you looked at it, it was strange.
“…Uh, everyone.”
“Yes?”
And from what I could tell.
“I think... I might have done this.”
Those... had to be leaves I froze. I did not remember doing it, but the mana left on the leaves was definitely mine.
“You did this? What do you mean?”
“So... the mana left on those leaves is definitely mine. I have an unusual constitution, so my mana is cold.”
I released white vapor from my hand. The players looked back and forth between the leaves and the vapor, then slowly nodded. To them, the two looked similar too.
“So these leaves were given by you, is that what you’re saying? Before the fog hit and our memories blurred?”
“Yes...”
“Why did you do that?”
“That is... please wait a moment. I can’t remember.”
Was this cycle... my first one? It did not feel like the first, because it was strangely familiar, but I could not tell which cycle this was. My memory was hazy.
Still, I did not seem like the kind of person who would do something like that without preparation. It seemed like I had enough time before coming to the campfire, so it was safe to assume time was effectively unlimited.
So if I had left those leaves behind... it had to be intentional.
“Those are... marks I left.”
“Marks?”
“Yes. I have a trait that is close to intuition. I think that trait told me what to do, and I probably gave those leaves to all of you.”
“…You predicted we would lose our memories? So you marked us with those leaves?”
“That’s right.”
“…Hard to believe.”
“But if they’re marks, what for?”
“Probably... to distinguish the people who were at the campfire first. It looks like not everyone has those leaves. I think I even knew that two monsters would appear.”
“…”
“…”
People tightened their grip on the frozen leaves. As if presenting an important ticket, they placed them where others could see them clearly.
Two people reacted.
“…I’m not a monster. Fuck, stop joking around. Huh?”
“Hey, what are you staring at? Quit your bullshit.”
The two without leaves. One man, one woman.
They could not endure the cold, expressionless stares and burst into anger. But once they quickly grasped the situation and saw those stares did not change.
“…I’m really not. I swear.”
“Do I look like a monster? No, right? I’m human. A monster could have taken my leaf while the fog rolled in.”
Now they tried to persuade everyone logically... but their pale faces and trembling voices had no effect on anyone’s gaze. Once someone was branded, every explanation would only be interpreted negatively.
“…”
“…”
No words were exchanged, but thick killing intent filled the air. No one moved immediately... but if this situation continued, those two would die first.
“Wait a second.”
Still, there was one thing that bothered me about killing those two outright.
“The leaf I was holding... was cut diagonally.”
“So what?”
“Isn’t it true that no other leaf is cut diagonally? This is probably... a trace that I was trying to convey something.”
“…Who, to whom?”
That was obvious.
“Me, to myself.”
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