WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 046

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The Regressor takes action (3)

“…Don’t come near me. You’ll catch the smell.”

Even the beggar who was mired in self-loathing—who would step back for every step I took forward.

“…Why. Did you. Call me…”

Even the beggar who staggered out like a 1/3 taunt minion from a card game.

“…What are you looking at? If you’re not gonna give me food, then get lost.”

Even the beggar who reacted aggressively and spat on the ground the moment I spoke to him.

After a rough cleaning, a haircut, and a change of clothes, they just looked like ordinary residents.

Was anyone ever born looking like a beggar? Everyone is born the same. It’s the environment that makes people seem different.

I went around the streets, scraping up every last bronze grade sigil box.

I actively helped people regain their normal appearances.

I saved people who were in pain from their suffering, and as a natural result of my Awe trait activating, a large group of people were now lined up in an orderly fashion before me.

“What have we done wrong? What is the root cause that prevents us from even eating and sleeping well?”

“It’s the damn boxes!”

“What is the root cause that created the deformed structure of this city?”

“It’s the damn boxes!”

“Don’t you feel that we must rescue the residents from the clutches of these booooxes!”

“WE DOOOO!!!”

“Let’s go! Let’s rescue the people!”

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

As long as the ‘Awe’ trait was active, making these people do my bidding was a piece of cake.

Following my command, the people swarmed out towards the silver grade residents.

As instructed beforehand, they each approached a resident and carried out their given mission.

Phase 1 is persuasion.

“You there, Miller-ssi.”

“Who… huh? Aren’t you that beggar? Your name was…”

“That’s not important anymore. More importantly, don’t you want to be free from the oppression of ‘grade’?”

“…The oppression of grade?”

“Have you ever thought of throwing away that damn sigil-making box and living a free life?”

“…Actually, I have. To be honest, I never wanted to run a vegetable store. I… I… I wanted to be a singer…”

“Then come with us. You are already our comrade.”

The plan was to guide them to where I was, led by another resident, with the understanding that a player would collect their box.

“Please take me with you.”

“Let’s… let’s go together! Where do we need to go?”

There were more residents who held resentment towards the life forced upon them by the system than I thought.

They willingly walked over to me, bared their chests, and volunteered for me to take their boxes.

But not everyone was so cooperative.

“Get lost.”

“Pardon?”

“I said, get lost. I like this life. I just have to live as I’m told, without thinking about anything, you know? I like this sigil box too. It’s a box that symbolizes the relationship between God and us, isn’t it?”

“…”

There were quite a few residents who, despite only being silver grade, refused to turn in their boxes, saying they were satisfied with their current lives.

In that case, the operation had to move to Phase 2.

“Wait… who are you people?”

“Stay still. He will be here soon.”

“No, who is coming? Get out of my way!”

“We cannot move. Please wait here quietly.”

It was a simple matter of having about five people swarm and surround the resident who refused to hand over their box.

In essence, it was the same thing the thugs who blocked the alleyway did.

It was using the rule that violence cannot be used to restrict their actions.

Just as violence between players is impossible, violence between residents is also impossible.

The man, surrounded by a human wall, had no choice but to have his cherished box taken by me when I arrived shortly after.

By the time I had steadily collected the boxes and completely taken over one street.

“Let’s go. To the mansion.”

I led the people and headed for the mansion where the gold grade noble lived.

“…Climber. What in the world is all this? What are you plotting?”

Baron Licht glared at me, grinding his teeth.

Let me say it again, nobles are strong.

If we were to fight without any restrictions, I would probably have the upper hand with a 7 to 3 advantage, but as long as I have the disadvantage of regression, I would lose nine times out of ten.

But no fool fights a battle on the opponent's terms. This time, too, I pushed my way into the mansion using the residents as a meat shield.

They may be nobles, but they are also residents bound by the rules. A resident cannot harm another resident. Baron Licht's magic was sealed.

Of course, a few butlers tried to block the hallway with their bodies using the rules, but as soon as I took away their sigil generators, the loyal butlers immediately bared their teeth at their master.

When the mansion's hallways were so filled with residents that they were bursting, Baron Licht, who had locked the door and was holding out, also had no choice but to be surrounded by the residents.

“Why! Why are you doing this! There must be a reason for this!”

“Isn't it your role to mediate violence between players and residents?”

“…”

“You didn’t do the duty you were supposed to. You were only interested in the perks, weren’t you?”

Perhaps he still had a sense of shame, as Baron Licht’s face turned red.

I suppose I have to give him some credit, since that bastard is only acting that way because of the sigil's influence.

Using the residents' bodies as a shield, I approached the guy and struck his vital point with my scabbard to knock him out, and then I took everything I needed to take.

I calmed the people, who were about to let out cries of joy at the thought of finally getting rid of one noble they couldn't stand, with a gesture.

“Don’t celebrate. We have only just cleared one street. We have a long way to go.”

That was just one. There were still countless sigil generators left.

“Let's go. To tear down this unreasonable system.”

The flames of revolution had not yet been extinguished.

“Are there any more?”

“No. From the gold sigils to the bronze sigils. I double-checked the list of people, and there is no one missing.”

“Hoo… good.”

How much time had passed?

Thanks to investing quite a lot of time, I had completed the collection of all ‘sigil generators’.

Except for nearly missing one noble who could fly, everything went smoothly according to my plan.

Now, there were no such things as classes given to people. There was no interference from a system that compelled their actions, they just had to live as they wanted.

I had, at last, brought true equality to this city.

But that was the situation from the residents' point of view.

Since I am a player, I suppose I must play my part. With the help of some residents, I dragged a heavy sack and walked to the plaza.

The players, overwhelmed by the enormous crowd of people, backed away. I could feel the emotion of ‘Awe’ flowing in from some of them.

“…”

By the time I finally arrived at the center of the plaza, I came face to face with the angel, who was looking at me with a hardened face.

The angel's eyes darted around, as if it couldn't understand the situation.

“Hello?”

I paid it no mind and grinned at the angel.

“…What are you thinking? Climber-nim. What you are doing now seems to have nothing to do with self-development.”

“Now, you don’t need to know about that…”

I confidently thrust the platinum sigil at the angel.

“I brought the sigil. Please let me clear.”

“…”

“Ah, this sack? This is just… spoils of war? It’s okay to take it, right? There was no rule saying I couldn’t take this outside. Right?”

“…It is possible, but I recommend that you don't.”

“…Pardon? Why?”

I contorted my face into the most annoying expression possible and leaned in towards the angel.

“Is there such a rule in the stage rules? There isn't, right? Why do you recommend against it?”

“…If you take all of that, no one will be able to clear Floor 2 in the future. Humanity will take a step closer to ruin, and this city will become a giant prison.”

The angel raised one eyebrow, as if to ask if I was okay with that.

It seemed it wasn't a lie that the archangel, Raphael, loved humanity. At least on the surface as it, an angel, was worrying about the future of humanity.

“That’s none of my business. Well, if there’s an appropriate reward, I might consider leaving it behind…”

But I just shrugged, as if the future of humanity had nothing to do with me.

The angel was right.

If I take all the ‘sigil generators’ and move on to the next floor, no one will ever be able to clear the 2nd floor again.

All the people who come up to the 2nd floor will be trapped here forever, endlessly praying for someone to clear the 66th floor of the Tower.

Wasn't I pushing humanity towards ruin myself?

That's right. If the angel just let me clear here, humanity would get closer to ruin. All the latecomers would be eliminated.

But I had a conviction.

That there would be one person who would not want this current system to be broken.

That there would be one person who personally offered the city to the god, who brought about this whole situation.

That there would be one rule-phile who had not intervened until now because everything I had done had not violated the rules.

“You’re listening, right?”

They were probably listening. They were holed up somewhere out of sight, monitoring this entire city.

I tensed my stomach and shouted towards the sky with all my might.

“Boss, come out!!!”

It was time to face the master of the city.

Footnotes:

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