WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 57: Deep Black Magic
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“Good grief, that startled me.”
Rimon unconsciously frowned.
It was not only because the baby bird’s cry was far too loud for such a tiny body.
Until moments ago, it had been lying there as if dead. He had not expected it to suddenly make such a racket.
But that was only the beginning.
Cheep! Cheep! Cheep! Cheep, cheep!
As if one cry were not enough, the baby bird let out another series of cries as it sprang up in its nest.
Then it began making all sorts of bizarre movements. It raised its wings high like it was cheering, vigorously waved one wing, and more.
“...
What the hell is with that bird?”
Was it causing a scene?
Or having some kind of fit?
Rimon stared in disbelief at the baby bird flailing desperately like a castaway who had spotted a passing ship after ten years on a deserted island.
Li Qing-yu, who had been reading the information board beside him, answered his question.
“It says it’s a rare species called the Bluebird of the Florine.”
“Florine... I feel like there was once a witch by that name.”
“Yes. It seems to be a species of bird that witch created as familiars. They are supposedly smarter and longer-lived than ordinary birds.”
“And they suddenly go berserk?”
“It doesn’t say anything about that.”
“Hmm. Then perhaps this one is just particularly strange.”
Cheep! Cheep!
As if telling them to quit chatting and look at it, the baby bird began hopping up and down.
Comparing it with the witch familiars he had seen in the past, Rimon nodded.
A black mage might have created such a bird, but a proper witch would not make an entire species with a screw loose.
“Do you know why it’s acting like that?”
“I’m sorry. An heir of the Hundred Beasts Intent-Form School might know, but I never learned that ultimate art.”
“You should still have a rough idea.”
“Hmm, I’m not sure...”
After tilting her head once, Li Qing-yu held the baby bird’s image in her beautiful obsidian eyes.
Then, looking somewhat surprised, she spoke.
“I can tell that it is very glad to see us, but... it is difficult to read anything beyond that.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. As you know, Sword Duke, Psionics may be versatile, but it is not omnipotent.”
The Black Dragon Clan’s Psionics could read minds, but only in extremely limited cases.
Rimon knew that it worked poorly on beings whose thought processes differed from humans, such as animals, or people with powerful minds, such as high-level Players.
Without even those limitations, he would never have been able to roam around crushing the Seven Dragons Society as he pleased.
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
Rimon readily accepted that and turned around.
“Kids, let’s get going.”
Cheeeep?!
The baby bird’s eyes went wide, as if it had heard something it never should have.
Sia, who had been staring blankly at the baby bird with lifeless eyes, also turned to Rimon with a surprised expression.
“Already?”
“We can’t stay here forever.”
Rimon answered indifferently.
The baby bird was certainly unusual, but that was all.
Rimon had lived a long life and seen every kind of beast, from chimeras made of humans and animals to the spirit beasts that had led the Spirit Cataclysm, and devouring beasts capable of swallowing whole islands.
This was not something worth his concern.
Cheep, cheep!
“I think it really doesn’t want us to leave.”
Perhaps they had never seen a genuinely rare animal before.
Or perhaps, being children, they still had some sensitivity left.
Sia spoke flatly on behalf of the children, who could not bring themselves to ignore the baby bird crying so pitifully.
Rimon shrugged at her words.
“I don’t particularly care, but... then you won’t get to ride the rest of the attractions.”
“Uh...?”
“I can’t ride the bumper cars?”
Only then did they seem to realize it.
Every child looked shocked.
After looking back and forth between their faces and the baby bird gazing at her with mournful eyes, Sia came to a clean conclusion.
“Let’s go quickly.”
Cheep?!
The baby bird opened its beak wide like Caesar after Brutus stabbed him in the back.
But Sia did not reverse her decision.
There would be plenty of chances to show compassion, but who knew when they would be able to come to an amusement park again?
Having somehow become the closest thing to an eldest sister among the orphanage children, Sia wanted them to enjoy as many rides as possible while they could.
“Sorry, Bluebird.”
“We’re leaving...”
Cheep! Cheep-cheep! Cheeeep!
Like a castaway clinging to a lifeline, the baby bird cried even more desperately and flapped its wings.
But although the children looked back regretfully, they eventually hurried after Rimon.
Cheeeep...
After hesitating for only a moment, the baby bird pressed its beak shut as if making up its mind.
It took several steps back, squeezed its eyes closed, then ran forward with a rapid patter of feet. Spreading its wings wide, it leaped from the nest.
It was a leap toward freedom.
A challenge permitted only to creatures with wings.
Splat!
Naturally, the result was miserable.
No matter how hard it flapped wings that had not even lost their down, it could not possibly generate lift.
The baby bird dropped straight down from the nest, sprawled flat on the ground, and groaned.
Cheep.
Fortunately, its body was so light that it seemed unhurt. The baby bird quickly stood again and began to run.
But its dash soon had to stop.
The final boss of this zoo, an enclosure shaped like a birdcage, blocked its path.
Cheep, cheep, cheep.
For a while, it tried to force its little body between the bars.
But after failing to escape the enclosure, the baby bird lowered its eyes to its plump belly with a resentful look.
Then, after seeming to ponder something, it gripped the bars with its wings and began straining.
It was utterly hopeless.
Even thin bars made for a birdcage could not possibly be bent by the wings of a baby bird, unless it was a rhinoceros or a bear.
But what happened next was astonishing.
Pop!
The instant the baby bird, still straining against the bars, seemed to vanish, it appeared outside the enclosure.
It was a sight that made one doubt their eyes.
There was no way that the small but chubby baby bird could pass through those narrow bars unless it had somehow crossed space itself.
Cheeeep...
Fortunately, or unfortunately, the zoo had so few visitors that nobody saw it.
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
Having successfully escaped, the baby bird began running as hard as it could, looking strangely exhausted.
In the direction Rimon and the children had left...
* * *
Meanwhile, Rimon was feeling rather awkward.
He had left the zoo with the ambitious goal of visiting as many attractions as possible.
Yet an unexpected obstacle had made that simple goal far harder to accomplish than expected.
“...
This one is under repair too?”
“That is what it says.”
“Just how many facilities at this amusement park are under repair?”
“It is a very old place. That probably means there are many broken facilities as well.”
“There should still be a limit.”
Rimon clicked his tongue.
If there had only been one or two attractions under repair, he would have let it go.
But they had already seen four signs reading “Under Repair” since leaving the zoo. Including the ones they had seen while wandering around before, there had been more than seven in total.
At this point, it was hard to tell whether this was an operating amusement park or a construction site.
The attractions they had visited so far had not been much better.
A unicorn carousel with broken horns.
A Ferris wheel that kept stopping as it turned.
A Viking ship that moved at a crawl.
Most of the children had enjoyed them without realizing anything was wrong, simply because it was their first time at an amusement park.
But the children who had visited other amusement parks before tilted their heads and asked, “Huh? Were these rides always like this?”
“I chose it as an inspection site because I heard it used to be famous around the world, but it seems we came to the wrong place.”
“So you really did intend to inspect it.”
“They say that if you have to choose, a red skirt is better.”
“...
Do you even know what that saying means?”
“Doesn’t it mean that if the skirts are the same, a red skirt is better because bloodstains do not show?”
“What kind of viciously warped interpretation is that, just because it reaches roughly the same conclusion?!”
Rimon stared in disbelief at Li Qing-yu’s smiling answer.
But he could not press her further. The situation had made further questions impossible.
Whoooosh!
“Waaah!”
“Grandpa! R-rain!”
“...
What the hell?”
It was one disaster on top of another.
A downpour fell as if a hole had opened in the sky.
Rimon hurried the children into a nearby building to escape the fierce rain, then turned an exasperated look on Li Qing-yu.
“Princess, didn’t today’s forecast say it would be clear?”
“That was the forecast I checked too.”
“Then why is it raining?”
“I have no idea...?”
The rain was so intense that even after only a brief exposure, Li Qing-yu tilted her head, her hat and clothes soaked through.
The answer to her question came from an unexpected place.
“Oh, this? It happens sometimes. Don’t worry about it.”
They had rushed into a building filled with so much miscellaneous junk that it was hard to tell whether it was an attraction or a storage room. It was called the [Magic Hall].
At the counter, an elderly employee dressed like a magician, with snowy white hair tucked beneath a silk top hat, spoke.
Rimon gave them a doubtful look.
“It happens sometimes? It rains even on clear days?”
“The old fountain system broke down, you see. It’s been doing this a few times a month for about ten years.”
“This is fountain water?”
“Yep.”
“...
What kind of fountain water pours down from the sky?”
“It was a fountain system made through a contract with a spirit. People used to come here just to see that fountain, but... those days are long gone.”
The elderly employee stared wistfully into the empty air for a moment.
Then, shaking away their memories, the employee rummaged through something as they continued.
“Anyway, guests who come on days like this get an umbrella and one free ticket each, so don’t get too upset.”
The elderly employee handed them plastic umbrellas and a stack of tickets.
Rimon stared blankly at their almost enlightened demeanor, then inevitably turned back to Li Qing-yu.
“Princess, is this really an amusement park?”
“Um... probably?”
Li Qing-yu looked slightly troubled and gave an awkward smile. Even this situation had apparently caught her off guard.
But someone else was the truly difficult party.
“Does that mean we cannot use the attractions now?”
“Well, the outdoor attractions will not be running now. You can still use places like our Magic Hall, though.”
“What does ‘not running’ mean?”
“Does that mean we cannot ride anything...?”
Already exhausted from going around only to find dead ends, the children had been soaked by the rain and now told that they could not use the rides. Their faces fell.
‘Fuck, we’re screwed.’
Tears welled in their eyes.
Looking at the children, who seemed ready to cry at any moment, Rimon groaned.
Like water overflowing from a full glass, he knew that the moment one child began crying, the others would burst into tears in a chain reaction.
That was why Rimon turned to the elderly employee.
“Hey, you said this Magic Hall is still open, right?”
“It is.”
“Then do something the kids might like. It is an amusement park attraction, so there must be something.”
“Heh heh, leave it to me. I happen to have just the thing.”
After letting out a breathy chuckle, the elderly employee rose from his seat. He rummaged through the clutter behind him, took out a long box, and lightly placed it on the table.
Clunk.
“...?”
The instant Rimon saw the box, his expression grew strange.
It was as if mocking his expectation that the employee would produce nothing more than magical firecrackers or shadow puppets. A thick, stale stench of magical mold wafted through the gaps in the box.
‘This is no toy.’
“What are you doing? Go on and open it.”
Rimon regarded the elderly employee urging him to open the box with suspicious eyes.
But with Sia soothing the children while expressionlessly pressuring him to try something, and Li Qing-yu watching curiously, he eventually opened it.
Creeeak.
The box opened wide.
Inside it, something slept.
Its exterior was old and worn, like an antique.
Yet it was a mysterious relic, more beautiful than any jewel and radiating refined functional beauty. Its black sheen seemed to tempt him.
The Pitch-Black Violin (深黑).
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