WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 113: Corporations Are Cold
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“Wow.”
Kyle was genuinely impressed. This was his first time seeing a weapon called a gun, but he understood exactly why such a weapon had been developed and distributed.
It was easier to handle and quicker to master than a sword. That was what Lentz had said. Just as he said, it was a weapon simple enough for even a child to use. All one had to do was aim at the target and twitch a finger. If swordsmanship in this age was magic performed with a sword, compared to five hundred years ago, then this was like magic one could use with nothing but a finger, even without mana.
“What is C-1?”
“It refers to mutants that have lost their reason and become hostile.”
Orban answered. Ratatatat!
Malcolm’s large head had already exploded, but the gunfire did not stop. The agents advanced while turning Malcolm’s torso into a sieve.
As the firing continued, an agent holding a wand approached. Blue flames rose from the wand and swallowed Malcolm’s tattered body.
Whoosh!
The torso, which already appeared dead, twisted inside the flames.
‘Just ordinary magical fire.’
Of course, it belonged to a mage who had stepped into the Boundary Realm, so its destructive power was considerable. Before long, the corpse had been reduced entirely to ash.
The agents formed a circle around the ashes. After watching them for a moment, one of the agents spoke.
“No regeneration. Disposal complete.”
The process was clean, but considering that all five agents had stepped into the Boundary Realm, they seemed excessively cautious. As if he had guessed Kyle’s thoughts, Orban spoke.
“When dealing with dark magic mutants, our company follows the manual. Unless it is an emergency.”
“Has an incident like this ever occurred at the Central Branch before?”
“No. That is why we are being more cautious. We do not know what might happen.”
Kyle nodded. The agents leading the way approached the guard station. Their faces stiffened as they checked inside.
“According to the manual... most mutants like that act according to their ‘memories.’ The same goes for B-class mutants that imitate remnants of personality.”
Orban spoke while fidgeting with his fingers. He seemed to want a cigarette.
“Three people are supposed to be stationed at the guard station at all times, but Malcolm was the only one who came out to greet us.”
The agents checking the guard station gestured to the others. Kyle had wondered why Malcolm alone remained, but inside, only old bloodstains torn to shreds clung to the walls.
“It looks like they all ended up in Malcolm’s stomach.”
Orban clicked his tongue. The agents inspected the guard station and manipulated the screens that should have displayed the research building’s interior. Yet nothing appeared on the screens, which had gone dark as pitch.
[Why are you not wielding this one!]
Baal shouted in a sulky voice. Baal popped out in the form of a little girl, pouted, and shot Kyle a glare.
[This one could split a half-baked monster like that in two at once!]
‘I'll wield you when I need to, so shut up.’
Judging by what they said about no regeneration, some mutants probably did not die easily even when killed. That was why Kyle had been called in for this request, to deal with monsters like those.
“Can you detect the life signal of Aia Vernes, the Armaments Bureau Director?”
“Yes.”
An agent answered while checking the device around their wrist.
“According to the signal, the Armaments Bureau Director is confirmed to be in the emergency bunker beneath the research building.”
“We secure her safety first. She may know something about this situation.”
Listening to the conversation, Kyle fiddled with the helmet over his head. It was terribly uncomfortable, and an agent who saw him widened their eyes.
“You must never remove your helmet. Mana strongly affects a being’s mind and soul. If you take off the helmet, Sir Kyle may mutate like that guard just now.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Kyle shrugged. He had only touched it because it was uncomfortable.
‘Mutation...’
Yet another thought crossed his mind. Kyle had changed his body by eating massive amounts of mudflat sludge and byproducts of the sea in the Cultivation Floors.
To Kyle, Malcolm had not felt all that different from the sludge he had seen.
‘Fragment called them contaminated sludge.’
Contaminated by what? The Cultivation Floors was a place connected to the outer sea. Outer gods and the outer sea. Their actual meanings might be entirely different, but they felt similar at the moment.
‘The sky of the Cultivation Floors, beyond the mudflat, the encroaching sea and the beings beneath it...’
If all of that was connected to the sky gods or outer gods, and if the sludge and byproducts were beings that had mutated under the influence of their power, would Kyle’s body, altered by consuming them, mutate under the mana here?
While he considered that, the agents moved. With their gun barrels raised and their guard up, they passed the guard station and entered the Third Research Building.
That was when it happened.
Waaaaaang!
With a deafening noise, red lights flashed throughout the research building. Thick shutters descended over every window and door.
[Intruders detected, intruders detected!]
“Huh.”
One of the agents let out a sigh.
“It seems having access privileges for every facility is useless here.”
Orban muttered. Thud, thud, thud!
Footsteps came running from afar. Guards who had diligently protected the research building despite their frozen salaries were now charging toward them as all kinds of mutants.
“I-intruders! Intruders!”
“Sp-special bonuses!”
The approaching mutants shrieked. Layla, holding a gun, stepped forward to protect Orban.
“There are twenty perimeter guards in total.”
“Only eight are coming this way.”
The other half had likely died in various ways before they could mutate. Looking at the guards crawling toward them on two legs, four legs, and even without legs as their bodies rolled along the floor, Kyle asked, “Are we not going to talk to them?”
“They have already designated us as ‘intruders.’ That means they are hostile.”
“Would they stop if we said we would raise their salaries?”
“...An interesting thought, but I do not believe there is any need to speak with them and calm them down.”
Orban gave a hollow laugh and ordered the agents.
“Shoot them all.”
“Yes.”
Ratatatatat!
The firing began. Despite their grotesque appearances, the mutants were not particularly threatening. Guards could not possibly be stronger than the Central Branch’s elite agents, and the difference in firepower was severe as well.
“Special, special bonuses!”
“Annual leave... couldn't use my annual leave...”
“I told you to raise our meal allowance!”
The mutants’ cries were buried beneath the gunfire. Their words differed, but they had one thing in common. Every last one was a complaint about the company.
“Are their personalities intact, or are they imitating them?”
“I do not know.”
Orban answered in a dry voice.
“To determine that, we would need to capture them, isolate them, and conduct various experiments.”
“You have no intention of capturing them.”
“Killing them like this is for their sake. Once they mutate into C-class, returning to human is impossible. This is not our company’s judgment alone. Clergy also regard mutants like them as targets for ‘purification.’ They call it purification, but they are simply killing them.”
“Homunculi, meaning magical creatures created through dark magic, such as vampires and lycanthropes, are now considered a race of their own. Why can these people not become one?”
“What was created and what has changed are different.”
Orban said it with certainty.
The gunfire stopped. As with Malcolm, magical flames burned all the mutants’ corpses.
“No regeneration. Disposal complete.”
The emotionless verdict was delivered. The buzzing stopped, but the barriers covering every window and door of the research building remained intact.
Keeping watch, the agents at the front stopped before the barrier over the main entrance. The thick shutter lowered before the original doors bore the image of a huge crow.
“I will open the door with the master key.”
The lead agent took out the key card hanging around their neck. Complex magic circles were engraved on the palm-sized metal card.
“Will that open it?” Kyle asked.
“Yes, it should. The guards we dealt with earlier may have mutated, but they faithfully performed their role as ‘guards.’ Based on that, this space still has the rule that it is the Central Branch Third Research Building.”
“A rule?”
“There are differences depending on scale, but... dark magic is not a power that creates something from nothing. It is closer to a power that changes what already exists into something else. Therefore, this master key should be able to open the door.”
The agent explained while approaching the side of the shutter. There was a device there that seemed capable of accepting a card. Just as the agent was about to insert the card into it.
‘Hm?’
Tingle.
Kyle’s senses caught something. He did not ignore the fleeting sensation and braced his legs. The instant the agent inserted the card, the crow engraved on the shutter slid rapidly toward the agent and tilted its head.
Fwoosh!
The crow’s beak burst from the shutter, trying to swallow the agent whole. Its maw was large enough to swallow an entire human torso, and saw-like teeth packed its interior.
Before that vicious beak could devour the agent, Kyle dashed forward and grabbed the agent by the shoulder.
Crack!
It was close. If Kyle had acted even a moment later, the agent’s body would have gone into that beak.
“Uh... uhh?”
The agent, dragged through the air by Kyle and dropped onto their backside, went pale. They could not continue speaking, only opening and closing their lips several times as they stared at the crow’s head. The head that had emerged from the shutter slowly withdrew.
‘What the hell is with this guy?’
Kyle had stepped in because it was an emergency, but he was dumbfounded. Someone who had supposedly stepped into the Boundary Realm had been unable to respond to that situation. When Kyle grabbed the agent’s shoulder, he had felt no resistance at all. He simply grabbed them, and they went flying as easily as he threw them.
‘Are they really in the Boundary Realm?’
Every Boundary Realm practitioner Kyle had seen so far possessed skill worthy of that realm. Not to mention Lizet, even Aslan could contend with Kyle without martial arts of that realm.
Yet the agent Kyle had just saved gave him none of that feeling. Even now, the agent had not recovered from the shock and was trembling at the shoulders.
“Th-thank you, Sir Kyle.”
The agent stammered. Kyle offered a hand and pulled them to their feet.
[You said all the agents had stepped into the Boundary Realm, did you not?]
Asking openly would probably crush their pride, so Kyle sent Orban a telepathic message. Orban, whose brow was furrowed, replied the same way.
[That is true. Still, they will fall short of the standard Sir Kyle, who grew up in Alastor, has for the Boundary Realm.]
[No, the Boundary Realm is the Boundary Realm. Do standards differ from place to place?]
[The Boundary Realm is the realm attained by opening the Upper Dantian. Our company has succeeded in artificially opening the Upper Dantian to a degree.]
[What?]
It was absurd. Did it even make sense to artificially open the Upper Dantian?
[They did not open the Upper Dantian through pure cultivation and enlightenment. They used technology, surgery, drugs, and other means. That is why they will seem lacking to Sir Kyle.]
[What kind of...]
[They may have responded poorly to an unexpected situation like that, but their firepower worthy of the Boundary Realm is guaranteed.]
There were still things left in this world, five hundred years later, that could surprise him. Blinking, Kyle looked back at the agent. Apparently ashamed of their mistake, the agent he had saved was biting their lip hard.
“Um... well... what do we do now?”
It was absurd, but getting through that door took priority right now.
“It seems... the entire research building has mutated due to mana.”
Another agent said, composing themself.
“It appears to retain the rule of being the Central Branch Third Research Building, but the master key does not work... The master key itself is linked to the research building’s security system, so if the research building itself has mutated...”
“Should I just cut it?”
Kyle slightly raised Baal as he asked. Baal, who had been standing with arms folded and a sulky expression, cheered.
[Cut it! Cut it!]
“It is already a mutated building. Cutting the door is possible, but if we enter that way... the entire building will regard us as intruders and try to kill us with all its strength.”
“The guards have already declared us intruders.”
“That is true, but if we break through the shutter by force, the entire mutated building may run wild. For everyone’s safety, it would be better to obtain permission to enter...”
“Permission, huh.”
Kyle scratched his chin and stared at the shutter. The crow at its center stood still without moving. After thinking for a moment, Kyle strode toward it.
“Sir Kyle?”
“It is dangerous!”
The agents cried out in alarm and tried to stop him, but Kyle raised a hand as if to say it was fine.
“I have already seen it, so it is fine.”
Even if the crow’s beak shot out again, he was confident he could handle it. Stopping before the shutter, Kyle stared hard at the crow. Merely standing in front of it did not make it move.
‘A rule...’
He did not overthink it. What stood before him was a shutter meant to keep intruders out. Beyond it was a door. A guest from outside needed permission to enter, and that permission needed a reason to be granted.
Thud, thud, thud.
Kyle raised his fist and knocked on the shutter. The crow’s eyes rolled as it looked at him.
[Wh-who is it?]
The crow’s beak opened, and a voice flowed out. It was an unpleasant voice that made one feel sick just hearing it.
“An attendant of Orban Rubalt, the Central Branch Head of Crow Company.”
Kyle answered without hesitation. Confidence was important when telling a lie.
“We have come to inspect the Third Research Building.”
The crow’s eyes left Kyle and turned toward Orban, who stood some distance away. Under that gaze, Orban stepped forward with a stiff expression. Layla gasped and tried to stop him, but Orban forced his way past her and stopped beside Kyle.
“I am Orban Rubalt, the Central Branch Head.”
Orban pushed up the goggles of his helmet and showed his face. He then took out his employee identification card and held it before the crow’s eyes.
The crow’s eyes swept over Orban from head to toe. His face beneath the goggles, his identification card. As it examined each one, the entire shutter trembled faintly.
[Wh-what is the reason for the inspection?]
The crow asked. Orban’s brow twitched. His title as branch head and the reason of inspection alone were not enough to open the door.
Kyle recalled the mutants’ cries from earlier. Salary raises. Salary freezes. Special bonuses. Annual leave. Meal allowances.
They had all been complaints about the company. If the building itself was a mutant influenced by dark magic, it would probably hold the same complaints as its employees.
The person who could resolve those complaints immediately was the branch head. What would it most want to hear from such a branch head?
“Our Central Branch’s performance has grown noticeably of late. The employees working in the field have contributed greatly to that growth.”
Before Kyle could say anything, Orban opened his mouth. He was not someone who never listened to employees’ complaints. He simply ignored them when he did.
“Today, I will inspect the Third Research Building and personally assess the efforts of its employees. Based on the results, I will consider future performance bonuses for every employee of the Third Research Building.”
Orban continued smoothly. At those words, the crow’s eyes rounded and the shutter’s trembling quickened.
[Per-for-mance bonus.]
“The performance bonus I am currently considering is twenty percent of the Central Branch’s operating profit. I am considering granting it not only to the researchers, but to every employee of the Third Research Building.”
The crow’s eyes grew even larger. The entire shutter began shaking. From somewhere inside the building came a sound like many people inhaling at once.
[Twenty percent.]
[Twenty percent.]
[Twenty percent.]
Several voices muttered the number at once from beyond the wall. It was not the sound of joy or satisfaction, but a chilling echo, like starving people repeating the name of food.
[Pl-please come in.]
The crow’s eyes curved into a smile.
Rumble...!
The shutter rose, and the door beyond it opened wide.
[How much do you normally give as performance bonuses?]
Kyle asked out of curiosity. Orban, wiping cold sweat running down his face, answered.
[They are paid according to the performance of each research building. To researchers only.]
[You do not give them a share of the branch’s total operating profits?]
[No, we do not.]
Corporations Are Cold.
The shutter had risen and the research building’s main entrance was open, but its interior was swallowed by darkness. Kyle was about to enter first, but the agents stopped him.
“From here, we will lead the way again.”
Kyle’s trust in the agents had dropped sharply after the crow attacked one of them earlier. Still, they had their own role to fulfill, so Kyle shrugged and stepped back.
Crackle, crackle.
The moment the lead agent stepped over the threshold, the pitch-black darkness receded and revealed the scene inside. A stark white corridor. A short distance from the entrance stood someone in a white protective suit that covered them from head to toe.
“W-wow! Central Branch Head! Thank you for coming to inspect the Third Research Building!”
Two figures stood there, but only one looked normal. Beside the researcher in the protective suit stood a mutant wearing a white lab coat over a tattered protective suit, with a large Venus flytrap where its head should have been.
“Is th-the performance bonus real?”
The trap’s leaves opened and closed, and a voice leaked from within. The researcher beside it quickly replied.
“L-Luke! The Branch Head came here himself, did he not? Depending on the results of the inspection, he will, of course, give it to us!”
“W-we have not been able to leave work for forty-three days.”
The mutant called Luke stammered. When the agents subtly began raising their gun barrels, the researcher let out something close to a scream and stepped forward.
“Special! He will give us special bonuses too! We have worked for forty-three days! I-is that not right?”
The researcher’s face, visible through the protective suit, was utterly gaunt, and their eyes were desperate.
“Special bonuses will... be paid as well.”
Orban answered in a trembling voice. The flytrap swayed up and down at those words.
“L-Luke... I will guide the Branch Head, so you... um... go to the break room and rest.”
“C-can I rest? There is an inspection...”
“It is shift change... shift change, is it not? Ha ha! This fellow did not check the schedule properly. Even during an inspection, we must follow the work schedule!”
“R-right.”
The flytrap’s swaying quickened. Before long, the mutant turned around and staggered down the corridor.
“Uaaaah...”
Only after seeing it leave did the researcher collapse to the floor.
Footnotes:
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