WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 083

──────

The Regressor is flustered (4)

"You people, who are you! Are you residents of this place?"

The snow was beginning to flurry.

The clothes of the self-proclaimed Baron George were by no means suitable for such a frigid winter. They were a little old, a little billowy, and a little flashy. In short, they were thin.

"We... It is difficult to explain the full details of our situation, but we only need to survive for five days. We will reward you in some way, so please..."

But Baron George was unfazed. To be precise, he was trying to be unfazed.

The tips of his fingers quickly flushed red. The tip of his nose turned crimson like a strawberry, and the wrinkled skin of his face twitched uncontrollably due to the sudden cold air.

However, there was no tremor in his voice, and his gaze was confident. It was an attitude unbelievable for someone who had just been summoned to this place.

"..."

"..."

But... even if he was asking for help, how were we supposed to help him? We had also just been summoned here and knew absolutely nothing. Help? If anything, we were the ones who needed help.

"Ugh, ughh..."

"It's cold, so cold..."

But leaving the several hundred people shivering behind him was also absurd. They were wearing clothes just as thin as Baron George's, but they lacked his mental fortitude to withstand the blizzard.

"For now... let's go inside."

"For now... let's go inside."

Our voices overlapped, and my eyes met those of the middle-aged Caucasian man. We had both made the same judgment. Since it was too cold outside and there were too many people, we should head inside the castle first.

"Thank you, I express my gratitude. I will surely repay this favor."

Although Baron George hadn't fully grasped the situation yet, it seemed he had noticed the one fact that we had shown him goodwill. He nodded to me and the middle-aged Caucasian man, then turned his body to shout at the hundreds of people.

"Follow me! We will absolutely survive! Do you understand!"

"Y-yes! My lord Baron!"

"We will follow you!"

Although it was a desperate situation, the people's eyes shone with vibrant colors. A heat could be felt from their gazes, piercing through the cold winter wind.

"..."

Trust. That was trust. The trust that if it was Baron George, he would somehow manage. The absolute trust that only a capable and renowned person could receive.

"Now, let us go."

The hundreds of people who followed without a word, and the ten players who led the way. They began to move their feet toward the castle.

To escape the biting wind.

-119 : 50 : 12

Step. Step. Step.

The sound of hundreds of footsteps echoed across the dry dirt floor.

"..."

The walk to the castle was short, but my mind was a tangled mess the entire time.

These people. Why did they suddenly appear? The message window that had popped up before my eyes earlier made no mention of people like these whatsoever.

A bleak winter. An old castle. Survival for five days. Just that was enough to make my head ache, but now hundreds of otherworlders suddenly appear? And without even a single decent set of winter clothes?

If we save them, would we get some kind of hidden reward based on the number of heads? Or are they actually monsters pretending to be human? Would killing them give a large amount of experience points?

...Or if not that... were they given to us as food? There was a serious possibility.

Of course, it was an incredibly disgusting thought, and one could think it went against the Tower's principles... but this was the domain of the archangel Raphael. Back on the 2nd floor, he had made remarks treating people other than climbers like insects. This might not be a simple delusion of mine, but reality.

"Let's go in."

As I mentioned earlier, the castle was not far away. My disgusting imagination naturally came to an end, and we arrived in front of the old castle.

"...The door is a bit small."

Usually, when you think of a 'castle', you would imagine the pointy, magnificent castles of a fantasy world. Taking it a step further, someone with an interest in history would think of the stone castles that remain in Europe.

But the castle before my eyes was even more disappointing than that.

Even though this door served as the castle's main gate, connected by the path extending from the large drawbridge on the castle wall...

It had a narrow width that would make it difficult for even three adult men to pass through at the same time. At this rate, how long would it take for hundreds of people to get inside?

"...Let's just go, for now."

But since it wasn't like we weren't going in, I quickened my pace. At some point, I had started leading from the front, which I think was probably due to the experiences I had on the 3rd Floor.

Step. Step. Step.

I walked down the straight passage. The floor was made of stone, so the sound of walking echoed all around. The only sources of light were the torches hanging here and there.

Whoosh.

The wind rushing in from the entrance brushed past my ears with a dreary sound.

I thought the atmosphere was remarkably similar to the cave on the 3rd floor. It was narrow, damp, and dark. To think I'd be in a place like this again after finally escaping that cave after a time of endurance.

"Is everyone following close behind?"

Moreover, the passageway was so narrow that my field of view was limited. The ceiling was low too, so I couldn't see anything even if I looked back. It was as if we had entered a narrow tomb.

"..."

Usually, a castle served as a strategic point and also as the lord's living space, so it was equipped with various features.

Normally, there would be windows that served as both lighting and interior decoration, a reception room to greet others, a large hall for banquets, and a dining hall to eat together, among other amenities.

But here, there was nothing. There were no windows, so torches were the only light source. And contradictory to a dining hall, there was only a long, open passageway.

After walking like that for about three minutes.

The way forward was blocked by a wall, and passages leading to the left and right appeared. A fork in the road.

"...Tsk."

No, this isn't some kind of maze... Is something actually going to pop out from the castle basement? Was the outside just a fake?

Ominous imaginations popped into my head one after another, but the decision to be made was already set.

"...We're going right."

Splitting up here would be a suicidal act. I led the group to the right, and once again, a long passageway stretched out.

"Oh?"

This time, as we walked, there was a wooden door on the right.

Clunk.

"..."

I gently grabbed the doorknob and tried to push the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"...Open up."

The feeling was different. It wasn't simply locked, it was barricaded from the inside.

"W-we got here first."

A trembling voice came from inside the door.

"Since you're superhumans too, breaking the door won't be hard... but if we fight, we'll resist until we die. Just go away."

"..."

A cute threat. I peeked back and saw the man with narrow eyes shrug his shoulders and raise both his palms upwards.

It was a gesture that said, 'Are they idiots?'. If we tried to break through with force, those inside would clearly have no chance.

"...You don't have to open it, just tell me what's inside."

"..."

"If you don't talk, I'll break the door..."

"F-food... and winter clothes... and torches... there's nothing else. Really."

"...Alright."

Having heard the answer, I turned and walked away without any lingering attachment.

Judging by how the voice echoed, the room didn't seem very large. It was far too small to accommodate the hundreds of people following behind, so I decided to just let it go.

We passed the locked door and walked a little further.

"Oh..."

The path was blocked again, with only a path leading to the left. This time, however, there were stairs on the right leading to the upper and lower floors, and in front of us was a wooden door of the same design as before.

The peculiar thing was that the wooden door was wide open.

"..."

I peeked my head in to check inside, and just as the man had said, various food supplies and winter clothes were scattered on the floor. The room was also windowless, so torches were the only source of light.

More importantly, why were the provisions in this room still here? There were no people, only food remained. As I was feeling that something was strange and scanning the room.

Thump. Thump.

"Wow, fuck, it's so humid."

"Idiot, it's better than the 3rd floor, isn't it? But man, this place is so damn big... whoa!"

Two men who were coming down the stairs, cursing, ran into us.

First, they looked at me peering into the room, and then they looked at the hundreds of people following behind us.

"...What is all this?"

One man said, hesitantly.

"That's what I'd like to ask."

I pointed to the room and asked the two of them.

"Did you know... that there was food and winter clothes in here?"

"Yeah, well..."

The man answered, scratching the back of his head. His reaction was quite casual. It seemed he really did know there was food.

"...Then why did you just leave it?"

"Leave what?"

"The food."

What was the reason we ran into the castle in the first place? It was to monopolize the food. But now that we were inside the castle, they just leave a room full of food unattended like this? I couldn't easily understand it.

"Ah, ahh... you must have just arrived."

"That makes sense."

But the two men reacted as if they understood something after hearing my words.

"Well, it was crazy at first. There were a lot of people who used skills to run inside, and it almost turned into a knife fight, but..."

"...But what?"

"Turns out, there are a shitload of rooms like that here."

The man clicked his tongue, tsking.

"The passageways are ridiculously narrow, and the rooms are tiny as hell so not many people can fit inside, but... there are lots of rooms like this. They're scattered all over the place."

"..."

"There aren't many on the 1st floor, but... there are a ton of rooms on the 2nd Floor and in the basement. So right now, other people are running around all over the place, thinking there must be a hidden piece among them."

The man continued to explain something after that, but his words didn't register in my ears.

There are many rooms. And inside those rooms, they are packed with winter clothes and food.

When a situation becomes extreme, people turn selfish and violent, but when the situation is peaceful, people become generous.

The reason the others weren't fighting was simple. It was because the food was plentiful enough to last for five days and then some.

And the fact that resources were plentiful meant...

"...This is serious."

It seemed the situation was more serious than I thought.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried