WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈
Chapter 253: Independence (2)
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“Shall I transfer you to the first floor of Babylon? Or…”
“No, I'd like to wait here.”
I set down my luxurious Lipton black tea and replied.
The Princess Who Strolls Through Mirages gave a slight smile.
“Alright, good. As a service, I'll add one camera for you.”
With a clap of her hands, a vast hologram unfolded in the air.
The screen showed the Earth Spirit Tribe and the Ghost Tribe. I could inspect any city I wanted, even quickly scroll to cities far away from the continent.
“This is… impressive.”
“Yes. You can even set the playback speed! X10, X100, X1000, X10000 speeds are all possible. Watch as you wish.”
“Thank you.”
Thus, we watched the flow of the [world].
On the screen, warriors of the Earth Spirit Tribe roared, waving their arms.
-Charge, everyone!
Amazingly, they were fighting Uburka.
-Ugor! Damn ancestor! We refused your help!
-Hahaha!
Uburka laughed heartily.
-Yes, that is what you said! But the Ghost Tribe tried to oppose you with the power of a god! You were so overwhelmed that you could not even fight back properly. Could you have overcome that yourselves!?
-That too was a trial we had to endure!
-You talk a good game! But sound arguments from those without the strength to back them up are nothing but armchair talk!
Wielding his axe, Uburka exclaimed.
-If you say you could overcome it by yourselves! If you say you don't need my help! Ugor, you damn guys!
Uburka laughed.
That laugh was the same as when he blocked the holy site of the Mountain Snail Tribe.
-Fight me, win, and prove your words are not just bravado!!
Flames sparked in the eyes of the Earth Spirit Tribe warriors.
-That's what we wanted!!
While the Earth Spirit Tribe took their 'final exam', the defeated Ghost Tribe also confronted their god.
-I'm sorry.
Viper bowed his head to his followers.
-The work of gods for gods. The work of humans for humans. If I, as a god, was to help, I should have at least revealed that I am a god.
-.......
-I failed as a god and a warrior, not adhering to this basic courtesy. Moreover, to fail after all that, I'm truly ashamed...
Viper scratched the back of his head, a forced smile on his lips fading like morning dew.
-I'm sorry. I just....
Tears flowed even from the eye his patch did not cover.
-I just... could have done a little better....
Only a handful of the Ghost Tribe had survived Yeomsangyutaek. Even those few were battered, each with something broken or severed. But they did not shift the blame onto their god.
-Please raise your head, O God!
-You did your best!
The Ghost Tribe shouted.
-We have not perished yet!
-Our horns have not yet broken!
Some even smiled.
-We have lost countless times!
-We are familiar with defeat!
-Hahaha! God, you should get more used to it too! With such a tofu-like mentality, you'll ascend from frustration!
It was neither self-mockery nor self-hatred.
It was simply their way of comforting their god, a strong testament that the first joke ever made was not to ridicule but to comfort.
-You guys…
Viper murmured, his face a mess of tears and snot.
The Ghost Tribe bowed to their god.
-We have much to improve.
-That means there's much room for growth!
-We can win!
-Please guide us toward that.
-Lead us, O God!
Viper was silent for a while.
Then, clenching his fist, he shouted.
-Damn it! Of course! Trust me and follow me, you brats!
The Ghost Tribe answered loudly.
-Yes!
And so, in one corner, while the Earth Spirit Tribe, having left the embrace of their god, fought the proudest hero in their history, the Ghost Tribe vowed to rise again before the god who had revealed himself to them.
It was a touching moment of contrast.
“This is epic!”
“Wow, what a surprise!?”
While engrossed in the screen, a familiar voice suddenly rang next to me.
Not the Princess's, but a voice I knew well. The woman with dark hair tinged with blue, wearing clothes as dark as her hair, watched the hologram excitedly.
My friend.
The Black Dragon Master.
I shouted in shock.
“B-Black Dragon Master? No, Anastasia. How did you suddenly...?”
“I called her!”
The Princess Who Strolls Through Mirages cleared her throat, beaming like a child who had done something praiseworthy.
“You called her?”
“Yes. She was eliminated from the mission.”
“How did that happen?”
I asked, and the Black Dragon Master shrugged.
“I went bankrupt, that's what.”
“Bankrupt as in…”
“Literally. My race points went into the negatives. Trying to merge the Vampire and Dream Demon tribes, I ended up in debt knowing I couldn't repay it.”
Dream Demon tribe.
Hearing this name after what felt like an eternity, I blinked in surprise.
“You met with the Dream Demon tribe again?”
“Yes. They've grown quite a bit.”
“What exactly happened...”
“You'll see it soon enough. But now, you guys! Hurry over here and sit down.”
You guys?
Looking around, not only the Black Dragon Master but also the Paladin, Countess, and Heretic Inquisitor were summoned. All of a sudden.
“Indeed, I called them. Everyone must be curious about how their nurtured tribes are doing, right?”
The Princess coughed again.
It seemed she had deliberately arranged this gathering.
“Thanks for calling. I was worried about how the Mermaid children were doing.”
The Paladin approached the sofa, sighing deeply.
As everyone settled, I contemplated the profound changes unfolding before us - the Earth Spirit Tribe challenging their greatest heroes and the Ghost Tribe recommitting to their god under new understanding.
Meanwhile, the Countess climbed onto the back of the sofa and curled up there.
“It’s fine. Haven’t they tightly grasped the logistics? With good relations with the Earth Spirit Tribe, as long as they don’t get greedy, they’ll firmly hold onto maritime logistics.”
Hmm.
It had been quite a while, but the Countess’s specialty is [Transformation Technique], cat transformation to be specific.
So, the one coiled on the sofa backrest wasn’t the Countess but a cat. Even if the Countess wasn’t a master of yoga, it was still a plausible sight.
“It’s great to see you after so long! Master!”
The Heretic Inquisitor hopped over and rested both arms on my sofa.
I carefully observed the scene that had turned into a social gathering or a picnic mat for top-tier hunters. The Princess served cup noodles and Lipton iced tea to the hunters, and they happily partook.
“What chaos…”
“How did you know?”
“Huh?”
“This time, upon returning to Babylon, I rooted out heretical forces lurking within the Pantheon. Ahaha, I thought I managed the personnel well, but they were still crawling around! Just now, I crushed a secret organization called [Chaos]!”
“Uh....”
No.
That's not what I meant….
I was just saying the situation itself is chaotic….
“Everyone! Look at this!”
The hero to quell this chaos was, as always, the Black Dragon Master, Anastasia. She pointed at the screen with sparkling eyes.
“The Earth Spirit Tribe’s Fire River Council has been challenged to a duel by the Ghost Tribe!”
We were all drawn into the Black Dragon Master’s enthusiasm and watched the screen together.
In the brief moment I looked away, significant time had passed in the world. It was hard to say how many years, but since the mountain peak Uburka flung away had turned into a fenced tourist site, at least half a century must have passed.
In that world, after so much time, the current Fire River Council President was brutally defeating seven Ghost Tribe members one after another.
“Getting thrashed, aren’t they, Anastasia?”
“That’s not the important part! King of Death… Gong-ja, you too! With that sharp mind, why only be dense at times like this!”
-No, it's the opposite. This guy is naturally dumb, he only becomes smart when scheming.
Though the Guardian Spirit added a remark, fortunately, his words were only audible to me, preventing his disgraceful distortion of facts from spreading to the members gathered here.
Meanwhile, Anastasia continued her explanation.
“What matters is that people who are not from the Earth Spirit Tribe entered the Fire River Council at all! Look, Kim Gong-ja! Those Ghost Tribe members are there as council members!”
“Delegates? But, the Fire River Council is an Earth Spirit Tribe assembly. How did the Ghost Tribe…”
While the two of us were discussing the scene on the screen, I suddenly felt something odd about the reactions around me.
“…Why are you all acting like that?”
As I expressed my confusion, the cat Countess, who had been staring blankly at me, panicked.
“Oh, no. If my ears aren’t deceiving me, just now, the Black Dragon Master... and the King of Death, referred to each other by their names…”
“It’s not a misunderstanding.”
I nodded.
“Anastasia and I are friends.”
"......."
Ever seen a cat with a look of astonishment? At least for me, it was a first. Mouth agape, eyes widened - not exactly a beautiful expression worth seeing twice.
“Yep, that’s right. Gong-ja and I are friends.”
The Black Dragon Master added fuel to the fire.
Or, to startle the cat further, perhaps throwing a cucumber would be more accurate.
“We decided to call each other by names. We even wrote a friendship contract about it.”
The cat Countess straightened up in a bizarre angle.
“A friendship contract...? Do you pay some kind of friendship fee or something...?”
“Countess… you can't buy friends with money.”
“You just destroyed most of my social relationships!”
“Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now.”
While the cat Countess wallowed in the sorrow of losing most of her friends and the other hunters were still in shock, Anastasia nonchalantly pointed at the screen again.
“As you said, Gong-ja, seven Ghost Tribe members have been granted seats on the Fire River Council, which was originally supposed to belong exclusively to the Earth Spirit Tribe. They challenged the council to duels with the pride of their people at stake.”
“Indeed.”
I folded my arms.
“So instead of launching a large-scale war, they decided to hold duels in the Fire River Council.”
“Right. But this is where it starts getting interesting, Kim Gong-ja.”
Anastasia chuckled and brought up another hologram.
There was no scheme or ulterior motive in the sound, only the laughter one shared with a close friend.
I had grown somewhat used to it, but the other hunters apparently had not. They remained several paces away, staring at us as though the sight were unfamiliar.
“Now, look.”
The hologram Anastasia raised displayed row after row of council seats. Green, representing the Earth Spirit Tribe, held an overwhelming majority, but spots of pink appeared here and there.
“Those are the Fairy Tribe.”
The cat Countess, who had been their god, opened wide eyes.
“Yes, exactly. King of Death, ages ago you opened the Bloodflower Play, which had belonged exclusively to the Earth Spirit Tribe, to the Fairy Tribe too, remember? You could call this the result.”
Ssonia.
The fairy child who had wanted to become a flame and dance in the dark cavern.
“My guess is that after that child sparked a renaissance in Bloodflower Play, the Fire River Council began to change as well. Even a member of the Fairy Tribe could be recognized as a full council member if they were skilled enough at Bloodflower Play or sufficiently strong.”
“I see. And that opened the way for the Ghost Tribe too.”
“Right. From then on, the Fire River Council was no longer the exclusive domain of the Earth Spirit Tribe!”
Anastasia's observation was correct.
As time passed, other colors began to appear among the overwhelmingly green seats, one, then two, then three. Some of the seats were blue.
“What are these...?”
“Probably the merfolk, the Gill-Fin Tribe.”
Boing.
The cat Countess squeezed between the two of us. Perched precariously across my right shoulder and Anastasia's left, the Countess looked down at the holographic seating chart.
“The Gill-Fin Tribe?”
“Hmm. Your country now, or rather, the country of the Earth Spirit Tribe, has completely separated its economy from its military. The Fairy Tribe monopolizes the economy, while the Earth Spirit Tribe monopolizes the military. The two cooperate appropriately in the cultural industries represented by Bloodflower Play.”
“But the Gill-Fin Tribe carries capital and goods along the rivers.”
The Paladin had come over and supplied the answer. The Countess nodded.
“Exactly! The Gill-Fin Tribe was born with a remarkable gift for transporting cargo. They mastered not only coastal navigation but long-distance ocean voyages after the discovery of the new continent. The larger the Earth Spirit Tribe's country grows, the more goods the Fairy Tribe handles, and the more goods there are, the more important the Gill-Fin Tribe becomes.”
“Meaning...?”
“Their voice can no longer be ignored. If they went on strike, the country's logistics would collapse. The Gill-Fin Tribe probably sent several warriors skilled in Aura, and those must be the Fire River Council members marked in blue.”
“The Fire River Council, which the Earth Spirit Tribe originally created....”
Anastasia picked up where I left off.
“Given the Earth Spirit Tribe’s nature of being utterly useless in anything but combat, it effectively became an assembly anyone could join, regardless of their tribe.”
Lastly, the Countess purred and licked the back of one paw.
“At first, the Fairy Tribe, being the closest economically and culturally, began to enter the council. Then, as the Mermaid Tribe grew in the logistics sector, they followed. Now, even the Ghost Tribe has started sending their representatives.”
We fell silent.
"......."
"......."
We looked at each other. Anastasia’s eyes were still ablaze with excitement. The cat Countess, seemingly acknowledging her fervor, nodded gently.
The Paladin folded her arms.
“A global council, huh.”
An assembly where all tribes participate.
That future was unfolding right before our eyes.
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