WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 198: The Offense of Insolence
──────
Kyle had vaguely sensed that more time might have passed outside than he had felt within the rift. Everything in there had been chaotic. Even the sound of his own heartbeat had seemed distant one moment, then close the next, along with space and distance themselves.
But ten years had passed.
Kyle stared with his mouth hanging open, thinking about just how absurdly long that was.
He was sixteen years old. Ten years was more than half the time he had lived since being reincarnated.
'I’m screwed.'
As he thought about that long stretch of time, his neck stung. It felt as though a sharp blade were pressed against his skin. Kyle could not help thinking of Helenas.
She had not been like this in the past, but after Kyle died in his previous life, Helenas's obsession had become incredibly strong. She had come to find him the moment she heard he had been hospitalized at the Central Branch. If he had failed to persuade her, he might never have left Sword Grove and would have been stuffed and mounted at Helenas's side.
That obsession had eased somewhat after the changes Helenas had gone through, but ten years was still far too long. She had always told him not to overdo things as if it were a habit. If she heard that Kyle had crossed into the dangerous East and gone missing for ten years...
He was afraid even to imagine what Helenas might have done.
'No...'
Calm down. Helenas had changed in many ways, had she not? Kyle thought carefully. Besides, he had not vanished without leaving any word at all. Before leaving the rift, he had seen Helenas and Julius.
'That wasn't an illusion or a dream.'
The path carved by Ruin's sword had brushed past Helenas and Julius. It had also brushed past a member of the Demon Tribe, likely Varka Aspel, Erebos's First Sword. Unlike that demon bastard, Helenas and Julius had turned to look at Kyle.
Kyle had managed to tell only Julius that he was alive and that they should not worry too much. Still, Helenas had most likely come to the Sword Tower, so she must have heard those words from Julius.
'Though I don't know if she waited quietly for ten years after hearing only that...'
All he could do was hope for the time perception of an elf who lived a thousand years. Helenas had already lived for five hundred years, so perhaps ten years did not feel so long to her. It was an incredibly optimistic hope, but it was all Kyle could do right now.
The problem was this.
Even if ten years was not so long for an elf, it was plenty long for a human. Kyle thought of his family at the Sword Tower.
Julius was already elderly. He had been healthy before departing for the East, and his realm had been high as well... but after ten years, Julius, his grandfather, might have developed a bent back.
'Mother.'
More than anything else, the person troubling Kyle's heart was his mother, Arian Alastor. Her husband Aslan had spent eleven years in Closed-Door Training, while her son had spent four years in Closed-Door Training on the Cultivation Floors... then gone missing for ten more years. Even one year was long enough that nobody would find it strange to consider someone dead.
Kyle remembered everything from the time he had first been born. He remembered exactly how much love and affection his mother Arian had poured into her firstborn son. More than anyone else, Kyle did not want Arian to grieve and shed tears.
'I didn't mean to, but I've done something even shittier than Father.'
Aslan had been away from Arian for ten years, but Kyle had now been away for fourteen. He had set a new record that nobody would celebrate.
'Kaya.'
His thoughts of family turned to his only younger sister.
His head throbbed, and his heart ached. He had not even been able to make many memories with Kaya. Altogether, Kyle had spent less than a year at her side.
If ten years had passed, Kaya was now fourteen years old. Kyle let out a deep sigh without realizing it. His Out-of-Place Artifact was filled with souvenirs for Kaya that he had found in the Eastern Underground City. Toys a four-year-old girl would be happy to receive and play with.
But Kaya was already fourteen...
"This feels like shit."
The words slipped out before Kyle realized it. The more he thought about it, the more the weight of those ten years crushed down on his shoulders. His body was still sixteen years old, while Kaya had already become fourteen.
'It's not just Kaya. Everyone is ten years older.'
He also thought of the Sword Wolf Knights. Bruno was now thirty-one, Jade was thirty-four, and Narua was thirty. Thinking about the ages of the members he habitually treated as juniors or subordinates, despite being close to them, made him feel more than miserable. It was absurd.
'Still... if they trained hard for ten years, they must have grown stronger.'
That was about the only positive thing he could find in that ten-year leap. What had already passed could not be helped. He regretted not being there to watch Kaya grow up, but at fourteen, Kaya would have awakened her Spirit Root and begun wielding a sword.
What kind of Spirit Root had she awakened? How talented was she with a sword? Had she even picked one up? Perhaps she had become a Spirit Artist like Arian, or perhaps a mage. What did she look like now? Her hair would be red and her eyes gold. She had been cute from a young age, so she must have become a wonderful young lady.
'Will she resent me?'
His thoughts eventually reached that point.
Resentment.
It was not a thought that applied only to Kaya. Would the knights, Arian, Julius, and Helenas resent him? The concern rose in his chest, making it feel tight.
In the end, Kyle let out another long sigh. Duke Oun, who had been watching him quietly, smirked and crossed his legs.
"You seem troubled in many ways. It cannot be helped. Your memories appear to have stopped ten years ago."
"I'd like to understand the situation."
"The situation, is it? Where should I begin? First, let me tell you where this is. This is an outpost at the very front line of the western dark frontier, belonging to Crow Company's headquarters. Seventy members of the Black Wing Guard are stationed here under my command, along with various other personnel. Two hundred people in total."
Duke Oun spoke leisurely as he stroked the beak of his mask.
"I promise you will lack for nothing while staying here. Supplies arrive regularly, and the researchers stationed here are the finest scholars in the company. The equipment treating you right now is also the Crows' cutting-edge products, used only here."
"Why am I here?"
"Why? Are your memories confused? Lady Lucia told me that you remained conscious until just before you emerged from the rift and descended into the canyon. Ah, I see. Why are you here? It is simple. My subordinates found you after you fell from the sky and lost consciousness."
"..."
"There was not a single violent confrontation. You were critically injured, and Sir Lucia accepted the situation. If my subordinates had not given you emergency treatment, you would have died. Even if you had barely survived, your body would have been badly damaged."
Kyle had no choice but to acknowledge that. His battle with Velatus had been that bloody.
"To be honest, it was fortunate for you that the first people you encountered in this goddamn vast dark frontier were members of the Black Wing Guard. Ah, I should have mentioned this sooner. Lady Lucia and your... Spirit? They are recovering in another room."
"Are they safe?"
"My, my. You seem to be under a very serious misunderstanding."
Duke Oun shook his head and gave an incredulous laugh.
"Did you think I would hold your companions hostage and threaten you? Listen, I am Garcia Rubalt. The head of the continent's largest private military company, Crow Company. Duke Oun, Garcia Rubalt. Of course, my family is inferior to Alastor in many ways, but it has existed for five hundred years, just like Alastor."
That was true. The founding chairman of Crow Company and the founding ancestor of the Rubalt family was Cyrus Rubalt, the Sword Demon's companion five hundred years ago. Cyrus had originally been a mercenary with no lineage worth boasting about. But after succeeding the Sword Demon as commander of the Crow Mercenary Band and turning the band into a company, Cyrus made their surname, Rubalt, into a distinguished family.
"In other words, I understand honor as well. Moreover, I desperately need your help and wish to form a friendly relationship with Alastor. Why would I do anything that would offend you?"
Duke Oun raised a finger as he spoke leisurely. Fenris lay quietly where he pointed.
"Take that sword, for instance. You know well how desperately my company, family, and I have desired Fenris. Yet while you were unconscious, I did not lay a single hand on it."
"..."
"I mean it. If I had wanted to, I could have done all sorts of things. You were unconscious for a full three days. Three days is plenty of time to try various tricks."
"May I be honest?"
"By all means."
"I find you suspicious."
"Oh... that is a painful thing to say. Why?"
"You lied to me."
Kyle asked with a sullen expression. Duke Oun blinked several times behind his mask, then laughed again.
"The word 'lie' sounds far too heavy and harsh. Wouldn't it be better to call it a light joke, or perhaps a way of conducting oneself?"
"Is saying you would attend your son's funeral and shed tears a light joke?"
"My body may be bound to the dark frontier, but my heart can still go there. Just as I appeared before you previously."
"What about overlooking the Southern Branch and Northern Branch's subversive activities?"
"Raising children never goes the way one wishes."
"You also said that if things went wrong while digging into the Imperial Palace, you would share the charge of treason with Alastor."
"You should consider the order of events first. I never intended to uncover the Imperial Palace's secrets. I only meant to help because you were interested in them. If things went wrong, would it not be natural to share the blame?"
Duke Oun continued speaking without giving an inch.
"I understand that you may find me suspicious in many ways. But I am also in a pitiful and unfair situation."
"How can I trust someone who will not even show me his face?"
"Oh dear... that is a difficult question. Do you think I wear this mask indoors because I find it comfortable? I cannot take it off even if I want to. Especially not before you."
"What does that mean?"
"You are favored by the outer gods, and a demon that crawled out of an outer god's belly called you a Turning Point."
Duke Oun turned the finger that had pointed at Fenris toward himself.
"And I am hated by the outer gods. That is why I have been trapped in this damned land for twenty-five years. If you were to perceive my face, my circumstances might become even worse, so I cannot remove this mask."
"What on earth did you do to become hated by the outer gods?"
"Hated may be an arrogant word. Let me correct that."
Duke Oun cleared his throat and crossed his legs the other way.
"More precisely, it is the offense of insolence."
"The offense of insolence?"
"If you found a jewel lying on the ground, what would you do?"
"Uh... I would look for its owner."
"A truly moral answer. But what if it had no owner?"
"I would consider myself lucky and put it in my pocket."
"That is what I did."
Duke Oun snapped his fingers.
"Crow headquarters began developing the dark frontier twenty-five years ago. Until then, this land was unknown territory that nobody had dared to develop. Headquarters poured in tremendous effort and gradually pushed forward. No matter how much we developed, the land beyond kept receding, but in any case, our company pioneered the dark frontier, which even the Demihuman Allied Nations had failed to touch."
"..."
"Naturally, it was not easy. This was unknown land, filled with all manner of suspicious beings. As you know, five hundred years ago, half the dark mages went west and the other half went south. Over those five hundred years, the dark mages of the west built their own civilization in this undeveloped land... Do you have a religion?"
"No."
"Neither do I. In other words, what I did had nothing to do with religious faith. They got in the way of construction, and they would not move even when asked to relocate. So I simply cleared them away."
Cleanly.
Duke Oun spoke as though he felt no guilt whatsoever.
"Villages, temples, ruins, all of it. I was not so extreme from the beginning. I had no religion, so I had no anger toward unbelievers. Nor did I wish to reject heresy. I merely handled things as a matter of business and took anything useful along the way. Various items related to dark magic."
Duke Oun smacked his lips.
"That was all, yet at some point, I found myself unable to leave the dark frontier. Put yourself in my position. How pitiful and unfair is that? I did not undertake this development because it was the company's lifelong wish. The Demihuman Allied Nations formally commissioned our company to do it. Yet I alone became unable to leave the dark frontier."
"So you suffered for putting too much in your pockets."
"Well, when carrying out a major project, one naturally puts this and that in one's pockets. It is customary in every construction project. It seems the beings beyond do not understand the customs of human construction."
"So because I am favored by the outer gods, you want me to appeal to them on your behalf?"
"Precisely."
Duke Oun snapped his fingers again.
"You can converse with the outer gods, and you returned alive from an outer god's rift. I believe it is clear that those beings favor you especially. If you defend my unfair situation, the curse placed upon me may be lifted."
"Isn't that too vague?"
"Vague or not, I have to grasp at straws. I have already been trapped in this damned land for twenty-five years."
Duke Oun suddenly rose from his chair. Without a moment's hesitation, he knelt before Kyle.
"So please help me."
"No... what can I possibly do? I don't even know why the outer gods favor me. I don't want to speak to them, and we can barely communicate anyway."
"First, let us go beyond the front lines together. Something may change then. After all, are you not a Turning Point?"
"I don't even know what that Turning Point business means."
"How many things have changed since you were born and began making your mark?"
Still on his knees, Duke Oun stared directly at Kyle.
"The Sword Church Master, who spent five hundred years doing nothing but wielding a sword, changed in a way unlike an elf. A dragon that had never once been killed was killed for the first time. The East, severed for three hundred years, was liberated. Those are only the major changes you have caused. If you focus on change itself, even you will likely think of many others."
"..."
"I believe you have the power to change fate. I believe even my fate, which has left me buried in this land until death, can change because of you. So..."
With both hands pressed to the floor, Duke Oun slowly lowered his head.
"Please help me."
His voice sounded far more desperate than when Kyle had heard it through the illusion in the Third Research Building. To be honest, Kyle found it surprising that Duke Oun would kneel and beg like this.
This was the dark frontier. Alastor's power did not reach this place, and Kyle was currently in the middle of the Crows' nest, ruled by Duke Oun. Duke Oun had no need to ask Kyle for anything. The Crows who followed him were all loyal, so even if a red-haired corpse were found in the dark frontier, the news would never reach the continent.
'It's not like I have the power to resist Duke Oun's oppression right now.'
Though he had improved greatly, Kyle's injuries were still severe. Duke Oun knew that better than anyone, yet he was kneeling with his head bowed, asking Kyle for a favor.
"All right."
Kyle finally spoke after letting out a short sigh.
"I'll cooperate."
Even if he refused, Duke Oun would not accept it.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
