WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Scum of the Brave

Chapter 4

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In the end, after that, I did not murder any of the Dark Lord's Followers, and Jogamine did not stop me from doing it.

Inside the building, the worst of the slaughter had already happened. The survivors were in no condition to attack intruders. They had taken physical damage from small blades, and some of them had knives growing straight out of their chests or stomachs.

With a scene like this inside, of course the person stationed outside the building had been that half-assed.

"I see."

I walked quickly down a blood-soaked corridor where groans echoed.

"That Indo girl seems more capable than you. Efficient, and she doesn't hesitate much."

"Yukine has..."

Jogamine tilted her head and, unusually, seemed to choose her words.

"Her circumstances."

"Doesn't matter. Her Ether Perception. Instantaneous movement, was it? That's pretty powerful. No matter how many street punks gang up on her, they shouldn't be a match."

Seeing gaps in space, Jogamine had called it. In older words, teleportation. Users were rare, and even if an amateur used it right away, it was strong.

In particular, the fact that it could almost nullify guns was huge. Indoors like this, nobody could fire properly if they were afraid of friendly fire or ricochets. If someone shot out of fear, the damage would only spread further. The result was this mountain of dead and wounded.

I had expected to be forced into two or three more serious sword exchanges, but things were going unexpectedly smoothly.

That said...

"As for whether Indo can beat Thorn..."

I climbed the stairs at a normal running pace. I was on guard, technically. Or rather, against me while I was on 《E3》, surprise attacks were almost meaningless. My Ether Perception showed its strengths more on the defensive side. But right then, there did not seem to be anyone left who could mount a counterattack against us.

Almost at the top floor.

"No. She'll lose for sure."

"Do you think so?"

While running up beside me, Jogamine gave me a skeptical look.

"May I ask why?"

"Lord Amber Thorn's Ether Perception has a good matchup against teleportation."

The 《E3》 was working well. Even climbing this much while talking, I felt no shortness of breath or fatigue. This drug, or rather Ether, strengthened the body by making the laws of physics meaningless.

"You know Lord Lord Amber Thorn's ability, Master?"

"Until you fix that way of addressing me, I don't want to tell you anything."

"However, in the decisive battle against Lord Thorn, I would like to help even a little..."

"Don't do anything."

I was a little stunned again. I repeated myself.

"Do nothing. I thought you understood that without me having to say it."

"That will not do. As your disciple, I must support your battle..."

I could see that tactic from a mile away.

"You're trying to shove your way in again."

"Yes!"

"That honest reply is starting to piss me off more and more."

I wanted to kill the Dark Lord and go home already. Things were going more smoothly than expected. At this rate, I should make it in time. I wanted to finish quickly and return to alcohol, games, and friends I could not stand.

In truth, simple wishes like that, wishes slightly removed from instinctive desires, were important for a Brave. They were a method for resisting the animalistic urges to attack and destroy that 《E3》 forced on you, a way to keep your head from going mad. A way of forcing your mind back into daily life.

With this method, I was somehow holding off the fall into something below a bastard.

"I don't understand why you keep insisting you're my disciple. Are you plotting something bad?"

"Yes!"

As expected, Jogamine's answer was refreshing.

"You mean the reason I volunteered to become your disciple. It involves complex, no, if I were to explain it, there are multiple issues included. No, excuse me. Strictly speaking, they are not issues, but common..."

"Got it. Shut up."

I made my tone a little sharper. I thought Jogamine's explanation would never end, and we had reached the top floor. The floor had a simple layout. A hallway ran straight ahead, and at the end was a door. A ridiculously grand wooden door in a medieval European style.

No doubt, it was the room of Dark Lord, Lord Amber Thorn.

There was a reason people like him used grand titles and lived in ridiculous places. Image strategy. Dark Lords used fear as a business tool. To make themselves seem even a little more unknowable, to give the people around them a properly Dark Lord-like impression, they erased their names from the family register, took care with their appearance, and staged their own power.

This room's door was like a symbol of that staged fear. I was probably grimacing. I drew my sword and regripped the handle in both hands.

"Jogamine, I'll ask first."

"Yes!"

"Your Ether Perception. What can it do?"

"Yes, I..."

"Well, whatever. The point is, no matter what it is, don't use it."

I had asked as a personal little harassment. Sure enough, after I cut her off before she could answer, Jogamine gave me a dissatisfied look.

"I really hate having my work interrupted, and if you screw up, I die."

"But Master, I..."

"Another important thing. I hate being called Master too."

"Even so, Master, please listen. With my Ether Perception..."

Jogamine was probably trying to say something important. Important to her, at least. Probably. Maybe. But the situation developed faster than that. There was no time to prepare our hearts, and no time to thoroughly warn Jogamine.

Specifically, the wooden door blew apart and shattered, and a small human figure came flying out. A familiar figure.

In other words, Indo Yukine's cheeky face.

She had several wounds of varying sizes across her body. None were fatal, but at the very least, she seemed badly worn down and exhausted.

"Ah."

Jogamine let out a carefree little sound. That was about all she could do.

In that instant, I considered whether I should catch the flying Indo Yukine or dodge her. For me, "just an instant" amounted to dozens of seconds, even minutes.

Indo Yukine did not seem capable of taking a defensive posture before hitting the floor. Had she been caught off guard, or was she hurt somewhere?

No choice, then. I was the type to pick up an empty can that rolled my way and put it properly in the trash. Even a bastard had that much morality.

So my conclusion was this.

I caught Indo Yukine in midair and grabbed her by the front of her clothes.

"You learned one important thing."

"You..."

Indo Yukine looked at me with hazy eyes. Whether she remembered my face or not, I had no idea. She just made a terribly displeased, or rather hateful, expression.

"You have low intelligence, not enough strength, and you're only good enough to kill a few dozen ordinary people. A murderer below the level of a Brave. Remember that. To avoid any misunderstanding, I'm almost the same."

Then I tossed Indo Yukine onto the floor.

"In my case, though, I can kill Dark Lords too, not just ordinary people."

I heard a groan and noticed Jogamine running over. I had no interest, so I observed the overly spacious room beyond the broken door instead. More accurately, the being standing in the center of that room.

As expected, it was a man wearing an outrageously theatrical black robe. From his sleeves protruded arms as thin as dead branches, and everything above his neck was even stranger. His complexion was blue, but his hair was even whiter, and long. His gaunt face was cracked like overly dried mud, and his eyes were red. Colored contacts, or maybe the result of some surgery.

I knew that face from wanted posters.

"A day full of visitors."

The man spoke in a hoarse voice. The kind of scratchy but carrying voice Dark Lords often had. He had probably practiced it.

"After the schoolgirl comes a stray dog from where, I wonder? For disturbing my night, you deserve ten thousand deaths."

"Who cares, idiot."

As a Brave, there was one trick to facing a Dark Lord. Do not get dragged into their pace. The 《E3》 was working well. From the Dark Lord's difficult-to-read expression, I could catch a faint disturbance. When he saw me, he definitely blinked twice.

I held my sword in my right hand and shoved my left into my coat pocket.

"Dark Lord, Lord Amber Thorn."

Slowly, I stepped into the room.

For the sake of tonight's beer, this man needed to die.

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