WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 178: You Ask a Lot of Questions

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Forced labor was not a problem in itself. Humans exploiting other humans, or whipping those who failed to work, was probably something that happened everywhere.

Eating humans? That too... was not something Kyle could say was absolutely beyond understanding. Those Treefolk might have once been human, but now they did not look human in the slightest. Even they themselves did not seem to consider themselves the same kind of human as "those people."

In that sense, Kyle could not quite call it an absolutely unforgivable evil that the Treefolk boiled humans alive to make cultivation pills.

In the end, Treefolk were different from humans. As long as they took such pride in that difference, this was neither cannibalism nor the slaughter of their own kind. Humans used other animals, ate them, and boiled them. That was simply how things could be.

That was how the Treefolk saw it. The common sense of this place belonged to the beings born here, and the Treefolk's common sense belonged to the Treefolk. A two-eyed person born in a land of one-eyed people might believe themself abnormal and live with their head bowed, but Kyle had not been born here.

He had no reason to bow his head, nor did he want to.

[H-Honored guest?]

They could not distinguish colors, but they were not blind. When the Treefolk saw Kyle and his companions draw their swords, they recoiled in horror and spoke through intent.

[Why are you suddenly doing this?]

[Wouldn't a pig get angry if it saw another pig about to be eaten?]

[What does that... mean?]

[I wouldn't know, since I'm not a pig. And those being eaten over there aren't pigs either.]

Kyle spoke in a cold voice as he circulated the Primordial Chaos Sword Canon. Purple mana blazed like flames, covering his body.

"Are we saving anyone again?"

Lucia asked. She was not as angry as Kyle, but she did feel disgusted. It was a contradiction, but Lucia did not dislike that feeling.

The very fact that the sight disgusted her felt like proof that she was not merely a monster, a chimera, but a being with human blood mixed within her.

"Do we need to save anyone?"

Kyle spoke indifferently as he looked at the Treefolk before him. There were ten Treefolk who had guided them here. Below them stood dozens more.

"If we keep killing them, someone will eventually start talking because they don't want to die. If nobody does, someone will come from elsewhere."

This was supposedly the outermost farm, which meant there were probably many more farms like it. The rag-clothed Treefolk here called themselves collateral members and servants of the Mok Family.

"Wouldn't Treefolk who come from elsewhere have more to tell us than the ones here?"

So there was no reason to spare them. Kyle shaped the Aura produced by his cultivation technique into Sword Force and strode toward the Treefolk.

[H-Honored guest! Please calm yourself! Why are you angry?]

[Because I'm human.]

[What...? What does that mean...?]

[What's the point of explaining? You wouldn't understand anyway.]

From the Treefolk's perspective, this must have been a bolt from the blue. What they had shown them was likely an ordinary part of their lives. That was why they had displayed it without hesitation.

Kyle did not bother trying to persuade them. Convincing someone with entirely different common sense was difficult enough, and in this situation, anything he said would only amount to forcing his own beliefs upon them.

[I can't stand the look of your faces. So I'm going to cut you down.]

Wasn't that easier for them to understand than talking about common sense, justice, or morality?

[If you don't want to be cut down, fight. If you're weaker than me, you die. If you're stronger than me, I die.]

The laws of the battlefield worked everywhere, and they were simple enough to understand. For the first time in a long while, Kyle decided to return to the way he had thought five hundred years ago.

Even explaining that much and waiting for them was exceedingly kind of him, yet the Treefolk only stood there helplessly instead of taking up fighting stances.

"I'm not normally this kind."

Kyle muttered under his breath and swung his sword.

Slash!

The blade barely swept past their feet. The Treefolk stumbled back in alarm, and Kyle spoke through intent.

[That was your final warning. Next time, I'll really cut...]

"Kyle."

Katarina interrupted his projected words.

"You're softer than I expected."

Thud!

Katarina kicked off the ground, and her sword pierced the chest of the nearest Treefolk. Air escaped from the holes in its body as its limbs of branches and roots flailed.

Fwoosh!

Flames burst from the wound where Katarina had driven in her sword. They were not ordinary flames, but mana flames formed from Katarina's Sword Force. The raging blaze did not go out despite the Treefolk's struggles. In an instant, it reduced the rags and wooden body to black ash.

"When you are disgusted and angry enough to kill something, why search for a reason to explain it? They would not understand even if you explained."

Kyle could not help laughing at Katarina's cold words. Indeed, she was not wrong. Perhaps he had been born into too fine a family, and his head had gotten too full of flowers.

"If it disgusts you to dirty your hands for a reason you cannot accept, step back. As your family and your elder, this aunt will dirty her hands instead..."

"Come on."

Kyle snorted and cut Katarina off.

Slice!

Fenris cut down another Treefolk.

"It's not enough to call it dirtying my hands. And even if it is, we should do it together."

[O-Oh! Honored guest! Why are you doing this?!]

He had already told them why. Why did they keep asking? Kyle said nothing more, stepping forward as he glanced at Soha.

"You don't need to get involved, Sister."

"No, I will."

Soha, who had still been covering her mouth, composed her expression before speaking.

"I found it disgusting too."

For now, she put aside the fate of her family. As far as Soha knew, Izelion's fate was tied to the roots of the Spirit Tree, not the fate of the Mok Family. If words could not reach them from the start, she had intended to settle matters by force.

"I don't know what was said, but you've decided to draw your swords, right?"

Kyle held the authority to make decisions on this journey, and Soha intended to respect him. What she drew was not a sword, but arrows.

Soha spun around, raised her greatbow, and nocked three arrows from her quiver.

Boom!

The three arrows shot forth with an explosive crack. Soha aimed at the Treefolk who had sucked one human dry and were laying down another to drain.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Three arrows as large as spears fell from the sky and precisely pierced three Treefolk.

"Ah."

Soha gave Kyle an awkward smile.

"Should I not have shot those ones yet? They'll notice."

"What does it matter?"

Kyle calmly began walking.

"I was going to kill them all anyway."

At that point, the Treefolk had no choice but to respond. They still cried out through intent as though they could not understand, and the air escaping their wooden holes sounded like screams. But they no longer stood there blankly.

[O-Oh, honored guest, how can this be?!]

[Please forgive us for struggling!]

As they cried out, the surviving Treefolk raised both arms. Kyle could not help growing somewhat tense. For a human, communicating through intent was only possible after opening the Upper Dantian. If they used it as casually as ordinary speech, they were worth being wary of.

'Their defenses are weak for that.'

Kyle and Katarina's attacks were one thing, but three of them had fallen at once to Soha's arrows, and she had not even reached the Boundary Realm.

'Maybe they specialize in offense rather than defense.'

Those kinds of people shared something in common.

They had never truly been hit.

Those who had been hit learned to fear the experience and paid attention to defense. Yet someone so unbalanced either possessed overwhelming offensive power, enough that they had no need to defend themselves.

Or they were surrounded by nothing but weak people incapable of fighting back.

'This is...'

Kyle narrowed his eyes at the Treefolk. They waved their raised arms from side to side as air escaped their holes. They were utterly full of openings.

'The latter. And the worst kind, at that.'

They had only ever flaunted their strength before the weak. They did not seem to have experienced a fierce battle against an equal.

Perhaps they had never even considered fighting someone strong.

[Ooooooh!]

The tips of the Treefolk's raised branches trembled. The sound of escaping air rose higher and higher, until at last the atmosphere began to stir.

Woooooo!

Something formless began gathering around the Treefolk.

Intent.

Kyle could only let out another hollow laugh. Five hundred years ago and now, intent was a power that could only be wielded after opening the Upper Dantian. It was a power at the peak of martial arts, one that could only be used upon reaching the Boundary Realm. Among those who had come with him, only Kyle and Katarina could wield intent.

Yet rag-clothed Treefolk were trying to wield that immensely elevated power. The gathered intent converged at the tips of their branches and warped the air. Space twisted as an "attack" took shape. If that was completed and fired, it looked as though it could be quite dangerous.

If it was completed, that was.

The Treefolk's attack was far too slow. Raising their arms, shaking their whole bodies like aspens, crying out, gathering power. Every step was an obvious preparatory motion.

'It's surprising that they can use intent... but they're so slow that anyone hit by it would have to be an idiot.'

Kyle stopped laughing.

"They're using intent. Kill them before they attack."

The moment the order fell, the members moved. They charged without hesitation, even against intent.

Thud!

Lucia arrived first, her sword cutting through a Treefolk's head. Jade followed, his swordbreaker shattering another Treefolk's body. Bruno's descending greatsword split one in two, while Narua's twin swords cut through a Treefolk's head and waist at the same time.

[Ooooooh!]

[C-Cowards!]

The few remaining Treefolk let out grief-stricken cries. At the same time, the intent they had failed to form into a proper attack began to scatter.

Katarina muttered at the absurd sight.

"What kind of fools are these?"

Kyle could only agree. They could use intent, but activated it as slowly as snails. Their bodies were far too fragile for beings of that realm, and they were not fast either.

Whoosh!

A Treefolk swung its arm, sending a vine lashing out. It was just as slow. Kyle merely tilted his head to avoid the whip before swinging Fenris.

All ten Treefolk who had guided them here died. A sticky grayish-white fluid, whether blood or sap, flowed from their severed bodies.

'The grace of Dragon Nether...'

That was what the Treefolk had said. They had descended from humans, from lowborn, but had been reborn as Treefolk through the grace of Dragon Nether. Did that mean their Upper Dantians had not been opened through their own cultivation, but by someone else?

'They opened their heads but did not teach them how to use it... No, it's more than that.'

Once it was opened, one would normally learn how to use the power naturally. But the way all ten Treefolk had handled intent was identical. There had not been even the slightest individual difference, as though they were only capable of using it that way.

"What the hell are these things?"

Bruno pulled his greatsword from the ground, wearing an uncomfortable expression. He had secretly tensed up when he saw their grotesque appearances and heard that they could use intent, but the sensation when he brought down his greatsword had not been very different from splitting firewood.

"Who knows."

Kyle answered and turned his head.

Boom, boom, boom!

The explosive sounds did not stop.

Soha was firing arrows. Standing firm on the hill, she picked off the Treefolk below one by one. Every time an arrow the size of a spear left her bowstring, a Treefolk's body burst apart. The distance had to be at least several hundred meters, yet none of Soha's arrows missed. They targeted only the Treefolk with perfect accuracy.

The fired arrows returned to her quiver on their own, so Soha's attack never stopped. Kyle glanced at her cold eyes.

"How many are left, Sister?"

"I've gotten nearly all the ones I can see. A few are still by the kiln."

Sure enough, when Kyle turned his head, he saw intent rising behind the furnace. The Treefolk hiding back there had finally completed their attack after a long warm-up.

Fwoosh!

The intent rising into the sky transformed into lightning and shot toward the hill with a thunderous roar.

"I'll take care of that side."

Kyle leaped from the hill.

Rumble!

As the thick bolt of lightning bore down on him, Kyle immediately swung Fenris.

Boom!

Sword Force covering Fenris split the lightning in two. Feeling a tingling sensation in his grip, Kyle narrowed his eyes.

'Its power is at the Boundary Realm level, at least.'

He had wondered why this clumsiness felt familiar. They resembled the artificial Boundary Realm agents he had seen at the Crows' Central Branch. Kyle kicked off the air and dropped behind the furnace.

[Y-You! Who are you people?!]

[How can lowborn like you dare harm us?! How can such a thing be possible?!]

Behind the furnace, Treefolk with their arms raised cried out. As he fell, Kyle swiftly examined them. Three wore rags, while one wore actual clothing.

There was no need to think about it. The one in fine clothes would be the highest-ranking one. It even wore an official's cap rather than bare, withered branches.

Fenris severed the three Treefolk in an instant. The one wearing the cap staggered back in shock, but Fenris cut off its legs and sent it tumbling to the ground.

[Guaaah!]

A scream of intent came with the mournful sound of air escaping from its holes. Kyle strode forward, cut off both its arms, and aimed Fenris at its head.

[Try anything unnecessary, and you die.]

After warning the Treefolk, Kyle shouted toward the hill.

"Gather the people in one place!"

Kyle grabbed the Treefolk by the head and dragged it toward the furnace. A huge cauldron sat over a roaring brazier. Kyle stared at the cauldron for a moment, then extended a hand.

It was large enough to hold ten people with ease. Yet more than ten former humans filled it, melting into mush alongside unknown herbs. As Kyle stared into the cauldron, the Treefolk whose head he held began sobbing through intent.

[Y-Young master, who are you? Why are you punishing us while imitating the form of lowborn?]

"..."

[Did you commit this act because you desire the cultivation pills? This is a Mok Family farm. Are you truly confident that you can bear the consequences? Please, please spare me! A direct descendant of the Mok Family will arrive soon. I will explain everything to them...]

"Then I'll ask that bastard."

Fenris cut through the Treefolk's head. Kyle did not spare the collapsing corpse a glance as he turned around. His sharply honed senses felt the air and mana stirring.

Something was approaching. It seemed to be the Mok Family direct descendant they had just mentioned.

"I'll be back shortly, so Lady Katarina, please stay here and keep watch over the area."

After saying that to Katarina as she approached, Kyle kicked off the ground.

Not long after leaving the farm grounds, he saw someone flying through the sky. When Kyle blocked their path, they stopped abruptly in midair.

"At least this bastard has the shape of a person."

Kyle muttered toward the figure hovering some distance away. The figure in silk robes looked more human than any Treefolk he had seen so far.

They merely looked more human than the others; they did not look completely human. Bark covered their skin like scales, vines were woven into a tail behind them, and their back bore wings made of branches and leaves. Their head looked human, but their eyes were sharp like a snake's.

[You are no ordinary lowborn.]

The figure spoke through intent.

[I am Mok Jin-un, a direct descendant of the Mok Family. Who are you? What family do you belong to? Why are you imitating such a lowly form?]

"You ask a lot of questions. I have plenty I want to ask too."

Kyle scratched his chin and rested Fenris on his shoulder.

"Let's have the loser answer."

Footnotes:

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