WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Scum of the Brave

Chapter 29

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The inside of the castle we stepped into was strangely cold.

Maybe the stone walls trapped the chill more than the outside air did, cooling the air even further. No. That could not be it. There had to be a reason. A reason someone would go out of their way to chill the inside of such a large castle.

Still, the castle's interior was astonishingly classic, a disgustingly typical "Dark Lord castle." It looked like someone had brought a medieval castle here as-is. The usual sort of thing. So usual that it felt wrong instead. A mediocre Dark Lord you could find anywhere. It even felt as if they wanted me to think that.

The stone corridor echoed our footsteps with no way to hide them, but with the sounds of combat, destruction, and screaming inside and outside, they probably did not stand out much. The gallery we walked through was long and completely undecorated, with antique-looking doors lined up on both sides in a strangely regular pattern.

"Hey, Teacher."

Sara's voice echoed well too. When she spoke, white breath spilled out along with it. From her restless gaze, I could see her tension. She had already used E3. Her nerves were probably oversensitive.

"Is that old guy Maruta gonna be okay? Letting him go alone, I mean. He looked like he was about to puke because of the helicopter."

"It's fine. If anything, he's safer than I am while I'm dragging you lot around."

Maruta had his own role.

His Ether Perception, Memory Diving, was powerful, but it had drawbacks to match. Saying "the opponent's memory" was easy, but that was far too vast. Memories from birth to the present. Pulling out the information he wanted from all of that took an overwhelming amount of time. Apparently, while fighting, even picking up what someone had eaten for dinner the night before was difficult. Ideally, the target had to be rendered unable to act.

That meant the information he investigated had to be narrowed down.

There was a more efficient method than diving into the memories of Lord Morning Star Veil himself. If he was going to target someone, it should be a low-level staff member here, someone he could easily incapacitate. In other words, what I had to do was act as a decoy. Maruta would carry out his work in secret. Since he was about as strong as I was, that much was obvious.

"Worry about yourself before you worry about someone else. We don't know what kind of Ether Perception Lord Morning Star Veil has. In the worst case, I won't be able to look after you."

"Yes! Leave it to me."

Jogamine declared this with refreshing confidence. Her voice echoed far too loudly through the gallery. It was late to think this now, but she clearly had no intention of hiding. I had already given up. This was probably how Jogamine did things. She could learn the hard way eventually.

"As your disciple, Master, I will show you a brave fight!"

Then she thumped her own chest and tilted her head.

"However, this equipment is somewhat tight."

"Put up with it."

Including me, the three students were wearing bulletproof body armor for Braves that we had borrowed from the mercenaries. It combined Kevlar fiber vests, so it could be expected to have some anti-blade effect too. It was hard to use in urban assassinations because it stood out, but in an assault like this, it was reasonably useful equipment.

Of course, sizes for women and children were rare among mercenaries active in these Black Territories, so we could hardly hope for gear that fit them perfectly. I had at least tried to assign pieces to people close to their heights, but when someone small like Indo wore it, for example, it looked like low-quality cosplay.

"If we're ambushed and by some mistake your heart gets destroyed, E3 enhancement won't mean a thing. You'll die. So shut up and wear it."

"Yes! My chest in particular feels tight, but I will endure it!"

"What the hell is wrong with her?"

The moment Sara Pendragon heard Jogamine's crisp answer, she showed open disgust.

"She suddenly started showing off her huge boobs."

"Aki doesn't understand how annoying she is."

I heard Indo speak in an unusually low voice from a little distance away.

"Unpleasant."

"Hey... Aki made Yukine's eyes scary. Do something about it."

"Yukine, there is demand for you in your own way, so do not let it bother you too much. You are fully beautiful enough."

"Extremely unpleasant."

Indo Yukine was following about three steps behind us at the very rear. Watching for an ambush from behind was her role.

And my role was to step into danger before anyone else.

That moment arrived abruptly.

The gallery we had been following ended in front of a small door. It was different from the antique-looking doors so far, something like an emergency exit, a door that looked blatantly unimportant. This was a dead end. There were no branching paths. We had ignored the doors lined up on both sides until now, but at this point we had no choice but to take the risk of opening one.

"Be quiet for a bit."

I took just one step toward the door. There were things to do before opening it. Do not carelessly touch the doorknob. Search for presences. Sounds, discomfort, anything was fine. Listen carefully for information that snagged on the nerves.

"I'm opening it."

It was not locked.

The door opened with a faint rusty sound. I could tell that even stronger cold air than the gallery's was pressing toward us. There was a coldness there that seemed to seep through the skin and sting the flesh.

"What the hell is this?"

Sara grimaced and peered beyond the door.

It was a wide space. It made me think of a capsule hotel, or maybe a library. Honeycomb-like horizontal holes were arranged neatly in the walls on the left and right, continuing into the depths. What stood lined up like bookshelves were server racks. Because of them, even the wide space felt as cramped as a library.

Judging from the fact that the servers were still powered, Emergency Power must have been secured to keep them running. Otherwise, Lord Cracking Sacred Map's lightning should have stopped them. In other words, this was an extremely important section.

"This."

At some point, Indo had moved closer to the wall.

She was peering into the back of one of the honeycomb-like holes. It was just large enough to contain one large person.

"Is this... human? A corpse, or..."

A small crack ran through Indo's expressionless face. That was what the distortion forming between her brows looked like.

"Nephilim?"

Indo murmured. Sara peered over her shoulder, exhaled white breath, and went silent. For an instant, maybe she did not know what to say, or even what she ought to feel.

I looked too.

There was no doubt it had once been a human corpse. I could tell from the damage to the body. The one I saw had a terribly damaged skull, and its right thigh was nearly torn off. But that was the strange part. From the destroyed portions grew clumps of murky, blackish flesh. Misshapen tumors of flesh growing from the missing parts. They looked exactly like the bodies of those giant monsters, the Nephilim.

And the tumors of flesh twitched, or contracted as if breathing. It even looked like they were alive.

Was this why the entire castle was being chilled? To "preserve" these things?

Did this mean this was some kind of material for the Nephilim?

"Master."

Jogamine was pressing a hand over her own face. The color visible through the gaps between her fingers was pale blue.

"Voices."

Her white breath came out shallow and strained. What was happening? As a rule, people with Ether Perception could not empathize with or share another person's mental state. Ether Perception was a world that belonged only to that person. Each had their own world. We were divided from one another by Ether Perception. If there was an exception, it would have to be someone with the ability to read minds.

At that moment, I had no idea what was happening to Jogamine. I could only guess that she was not in any ordinary state.

"I can hear them. So many voices. My head..."

"Jogamine, you too, Indo and Sara. Get out of the room. Slowly."

"My head hurts."

"Just get out. Jogamine, listen!"

"My head hurts. They're calling me. No. I..."

"Damn it."

Jogamine shouted at the top of her lungs. She no longer seemed to be in any state to listen to orders. Not even her usual irritatingly refreshing reply came. Having no choice, I took one step toward the depths of that vast space.

I had to stay alert for the people coming from that direction.

There were many of them.

Four in total. One at the front. Three more following slightly behind. A Dark Lord and his guards, I thought, but something about them was a little different.

Because the first one in front had an appearance that was far too "easy to understand." A man wrapped in a long black robe. The upper half of his face was covered by a mask with an awful skull-like design, but what caught my eye was his forehead. Two horns grew from it. The lower half of his face, which was not covered by the mask, was simply pale.

That meant, almost beyond doubt, that he was someone whose body had transformed after permanent Ether amplification surgery. He had probably chosen that appearance as part of his intimidation act, since he was going that far anyway.

So the first one in front was the Dark Lord. Lord Morning Star Veil.

"So this route was sealed off as well?"

The horned man, Lord Morning Star Veil, let out a low, growling voice. It was a distorted voice burned by Ether. Judging by that threatening growl, he did not seem to have much composure left.

As proof, he ignored us standing in front of him and turned his gaze behind him.

"Why? Did you people sell me out?"

"Of course not."

Behind Lord Morning Star Veil, a woman shrugged.

That was the second one.

"We came here because Teacher told us to. We haven't even received the goods yet, and why would we sell you out in this situation?"

Her way of speaking sounded somehow provocative. In appearance, she looked almost like a child, a small woman. Maybe not that different from Jogamine and the others. What stood out were her eyes, which looked incredibly strong-willed. Her hair, probably dyed red. And more than anything, the spear resting on her shoulder. It was a weapon longer than she was.

Braves and Dark Lords who used spears were not that rare. They were just hard to use in town because they stood out too much. Some people used them simply because of the reach.

"I cannot trust your 'Teacher.' When you return, tell him this must never happen again."

Lord Morning Star Veil spoke in a strong tone, but the spear woman did not care.

"Really? Either way..."

Instead, she insolently looked straight at me and smiled.

"We have to get through this first. Seki, we're doing it. You okay?"

"Uh."

From beside her came a half-hearted groan. The spear woman looked back.

"Seki? Why are you making such a stupid face?"

"It's them."

The third one.

The man pointing at us and speaking in a frightened voice was familiar. A man who looked as if he had squeezed a huge frame into a cramped suit. Right now, he wore a thick coat over it, but he was definitely the one from back then.

"The four we ran into at the Academy! It's them! And Levi said she also came into contact with them at Lord Storm Coffin's party."

"Hey."

I raised a hand and greeted them as amicably as I could. With my other hand, I had already quietly drawn my bastard sword and prepared for combat.

"Funny place to meet again. Did you get transferred to Hokkaido? Poor thing. If you just lend me that Dark Lord's head over there, I don't mind letting you go."

"Be careful."

The suited man called Seki did not react to my words and instead urged caution. One hand reached toward the sword belt at his waist and settled on the grip of his weapon. His weapon was a one-handed sword. A straight blade, too.

"That man is Yashiro the Reaper. Levi said he was strong."

"Oh. Teacher said that? Then isn't this perfect? For practical study."

The spear woman pointed her spearhead toward the floor. Her expression said everything. She was combative. Confident too.

Idiot.

I did not know what these people were or what they were here for, but one thing was certain. They were the same kind as the Half Dragon people. At the very least, they were connected. I would wring them out thoroughly.

"I thought I said I'd let you go. Guess negotiations broke down."

I said something I did not mean at all, but the spear woman only smiled back. It was an irritating smile.

"That would be easy, but we have to protect our business partner. Teacher said so too, technically. Seki, take care of Dritt."

"Huh?"

Seki looked behind him.

That was the fourth one.

Not only had they not said a word since earlier, they had not moved a twitch. Like an ornament. This one was the strangest. Their head was covered by a full-face helmet, and they wore black coveralls. They were taller than Seki, by a full head. The frame of their body itself was huge. Both hands hung loosely at their sides, and I could see no weapon-like weapon.

So this was Dritt.

"Me? Dritt? That's..."

Even when the name was called, Dritt did not answer. Only white breath leaked from the gaps in the helmet. The spear woman ignored that and stepped out in front of Lord Morning Star Veil.

"Well then, Your Majesty Lord Morning Star Veil, you heard us, right? We're doing this."

"There is no other path. You walking disasters."

"Say that to Teacher, okay? We're only here running an errand. We've already finished marking, so Your Majesty can go whenever you want."

"Do not order me around. I will reconsider all future dealings with you dragons."

Lord Morning Star Veil clicked his tongue in annoyance. His hands moved. His right hand went to the sword belt at his waist. His left hand searched the empty air where nothing existed. No. To someone with Ether Perception, empty air was different. This Dark Lord must have been seeing something.

"Jogamine!"

I shouted without turning around. I did not have much room to spare either. There were four opponents total. Three unknown Half Dragon people, and one Dark Lord. That was far more than expected.

"Read his head."

There was no answer. I shouted again. What happened to showing me a brave fight?

"Jogamine! Get a grip. Don't you dare fall asleep!"

"Yes."

Jogamine still seemed to be in pain, but she barely reacted to my voice.

"I can see it. That man has, um, a switch. Or to be precise, what should I call it? This is light, no, illumination. It..."

Jogamine's poor explanatory ability came out. Too late. While Jogamine hesitated, Lord Morning Star Veil completed "it." The pale blue fingertips extended into the air and made a gesture as if touching something.

In that instant, total darkness covered the surroundings.

In the depths of the darkness, I heard several footsteps begin moving, and the sound of a sword cutting through the wind.

I see. This was extremely unfavorable.

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