WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 227

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A woman in a nun’s habit gave me a small wave. Like the other puppets lounging around near the Professor, she was one of the inner demons I had brought out of my dream. She was the Nun, the one I had personally made a promise with.

In the time since, I had done my best to keep my promises to them. After waking and facing the world, they remained in the tower or ventured into the city, freely enjoying their lives.

There were also some who coveted them. After all, they contained the power of treasures.

Still, no one had dared act on that desire.

Part of the Professor’s magical power had been engraved into them. It was a mark declaring that they belonged to her.

That was why no one could approach them carelessly. What idiot would touch something that belonged to a Professor?

Of course, there was one such idiot in our tower.

I shook my head as I thought of Hao. He had once tried to bring about the descent of an offshoot body of Blood Axe and ended up becoming a slave of the tower. It had been an unbelievably foolish thing to do.

Still, it had also been an act born of his strange mind. Just as inhuman beings were drawn to him, he too was drawn to treasures.

That was why I had repeatedly studied his tree and delved into his mind. I wanted to understand why Hao gave off a scent capable of tempting even treasures.

And during that process, I discovered something strange.

It happened when I explored his mental world using a treasure’s magical power. The magical power would proceed smoothly, then suddenly vanish without leaving a trace.

As though it had leaked away somewhere.

I could not properly understand why it happened. So I went to see the Professor. But when she handled Hao, the same phenomenon did not occur.

It only happened when the Professor’s attention drifted away from Hao. She seemed to notice it too and clicked her tongue, saying something troublesome had rolled into her tower.

Judging by her attitude, she had clearly noticed something about Hao’s peculiarity. But she did not explain it to me and simply handed him over, saying that since I had picked him up, I should deal with him myself.

Even afterward, I continued probing Hao’s mind out of curiosity, but my skills were insufficient to uncover the nature of his abnormality. I would probably need to reach a higher realm before I could understand it.

It was truly unfortunate.

Still, analyzing his mind had taught me a few things. Namely, how to stimulate the desires of treasures.

Treasures were bound to be drawn to Hao. Then the inner demons born from their desires would surely be drawn to him as well.

He could serve as a catalyst to wake them from their sleep more quickly.

Based on that idea, I borrowed part of his mind to awaken the inner demons that had fallen asleep. And so, three years ago, with the Nun as the last, every inner demon stepped into the world.

The promises I had made with them had been fulfilled perfectly.

It was something to be proud of.

Though it occasionally led to troublesome situations like this one.

I gave the Nun a bitter smile.

“Welcome. I prepared tea for you, Father.”

The Nun smiled brightly and beckoned me over. I sighed and approached her.

“Father? I’ve told you several times before, but that is far too grand a title for me.”

I often called my puppets my children. They were beings I had created from beginning to end. How could I regard such puppets as strangers?

From that perspective, the Nun was practically my child as well. Inner demons came from my soul fragments, and she inhabited a body I had made.

I truly did think of them as children.

But they were also separate beings from me.

I remembered our first meeting. I had first seen them in my dream.

Even then, they already possessed complete forms. They had devoured the desires of treasures and established wills of their own.

So for the Nun to call me Father was too much. How could I deserve that kind of respect? I had merely given them the chance to come outside.

I shook my head slightly to convey that thought.

The Nun made a somewhat sad face and pulled a handkerchief from her clothes. Then she began dabbing at the corners of her eyes.

“How sad. I cannot even call Father by that name. It must mean I have not been acknowledged enough.”

Tears gathered in the Nun’s eyes.

Mira gently patted her back.

“Don’t worry. One day, Mr. Evron will acknowledge you.”

“Thank you for comforting me, Mother.”

The Nun lightly nestled into Mira’s arms.

I stared blankly at the two of them. The tearful Nun looked terribly pitiful.

But I did not blink once.

It could not be helped. I had already fallen for this act several times.

“Both of you, please stop joking around.”

I let out a small sigh and sat beside them. The Nun glanced at me and tucked her handkerchief away. Not a trace of her earlier sadness remained on her face.

Instead, it was full of disappointment.

The Nun gave me a mischievous smile. Mira wore a similar expression.

As expected, they had been working together.

Mira lightly nodded.

“Mm, shall we? There will be plenty of other opportunities.”

Other opportunities? They were clearly planning to tease me again.

I clicked my tongue.

The Nun had grown by feeding on Mira’s desires. That was why she possessed desires similar to Mira’s, and her personality was similar as well. The other inner demons showed the same tendency.

Perhaps that was why the Nun and Mira often joined forces to play tricks on me. One Mira had already been difficult enough to handle, so I often fell victim to their partnership.

Still, perhaps I had built up enough experience by now. I could brush it off easily this time.

I glanced at Mira.

“More importantly, Mira, are you ready? The Professor has permitted us to leave, so I intend to depart today.”

Mira was going to accompany me on my journey to Icewall City. Naturally, she needed to prepare as well.

But at my question, she merely narrowed her eyes and stared at me.

She looked dissatisfied, as though something was bothering her.

Soon, she lightly shook her head.

“You need to keep your promise.”

The promise.

I scratched my head. I knew exactly what she wanted.

For the past five years, lectures had continued steadily at the tower. Mira had served as the instructor for those lectures in my place. She had also handled her work as a Treasure Keeper.

Many treasures had joined the treasure network under Blood Axe’s persuasion. Naturally, a few incidents had occurred as well.

Mira had handled them all perfectly.

While I focused on matters in the city, Mira had guarded the tower. Without her, I could never have dreamed of traveling outside as freely as I did.

That was why, when I asked Mira to take over the lectures, I made her a promise. After the lectures ended, I would grant her anything she wanted, so long as it was within my power.

In other words, I had left the problem for my future self.

And time had passed until now.

The lectures were over, and I had to grant her wish.

I had no idea what Mira might ask for. Still, a few possibilities came to mind.

For example, she might ask me to let her drag me around while I took the form of a young boy, like before.

If she told me to remain in that form for several years, I would have no choice but to listen. A promise was a promise.

But Mira’s wish was completely different from what I had expected.

As she stared at me, I slowly opened my mouth.

“...Mira, are you ready to leave?”

I gave a small cough at the form of address that still did not feel natural.

Mira smiled with her eyes, as though she found it amusing, and linked arms with me.

“Hmm. Since we have settled the way we address each other, I think it would be nice if you spoke more casually too. Unfortunately, shall we leave that for next time? If we become too close all at once, we might instead grow distant.”

Mira’s request had been very simple.

She did not like how I always tried to keep my distance from her, so she wanted to change the way I addressed her.

She claimed that relationships progressed by first speaking more casually.

Yet Mira herself was not speaking casually to me.

According to her, she needed to maintain proper manners at all times. It was supposedly the mindset required of a belonging.

I lightly shook my head as I looked at her satisfied smile.

Who would have thought she would make such a simple request? Treasures truly were impossible to understand.

Mira continued.

“I finished preparing long ago. Hehe, I’ll be traveling with Mr. Evron for the first time in a while. It should be quite enjoyable. I’m looking forward to it.”

Mira’s eyes sparkled slightly. I could sense deep interest in them.

A journey. I supposed it could be seen that way.

If handling my business did not take too long, I was planning to leisurely look around the city as well.

Of course, I had no idea what would happen if matters became complicated.

I nodded slightly and looked at the Nun. She was sipping tea when our eyes met. She gave me a light smile with her eyes.

“Would you like to come with us too, Nun?”

“I’m fine. How could I interfere with Mother’s and Father’s date? I’ll simply stay here and cheer for you two, so please enjoy yourselves.”

There she went calling me Father again.

I slightly furrowed my brow. Unlike me, Mira wore a pleased smile. She looked at me with the same smiling eyes as the Nun.

“She cares for us this much. Mr. Evron, what do you think about truly making this child ours? I don’t mind.”

Mira leaned lightly against me, her expression mischievous.

If this continued, I might accidentally end up accepting the Nun as my child for real.

Feeling that I was in danger, I hurriedly rose to my feet.

“Ahem. I’ll inspect the workshop for a moment. We need to make sure nothing is wrong before leaving.”

“Running away so boringly.”

I ignored Mira’s words as best I could and headed toward the huge magic circle set up in one corner of the workshop.

Inside the magic circle lay a giant egg as large as my torso.

It was a gift from the Professor.

I gave a small smile as I looked at it. I could sense magical power stirring inside the egg.

The magical power pressed against the tree branches and soul fragments within, creating a turbulent flow. Under that pressure, they slowly blended together into one.

A new soul Sapling was being completed.

This was also happening under the guidance of my unique magic. I felt the flow of magic engraved into my chest and slightly nodded.

Unique magic existed only within the small domain of my tree. That was why engraving it into the outside world was not easy. Interfering with a world that was already complete required a corresponding amount of power.

The magic Professor Irian had displayed during the entrance exam had been like that.

It was impossible for someone as lacking in power as me.

So I had thought of another way.

If engraving my unique magic into the egg was impossible, then I would simply make the egg itself into my body.

Moving between physical bodies was something I was very familiar with. If I modified this like a puppet, my unique magic would surely be able to flow within it too.

So I planted my tree branches in the egg and began engraving circuits.

And through those trials and errors, the egg seeped into me more easily than expected.

The reason I could handle the work so easily was also because the Professor had preprocessed the egg to suit my body before giving it to me.

As the Professor had intended, I successfully absorbed the egg.

Though it was in a slightly different direction from the one she had imagined.

Well, no matter which road one took, all that mattered was reaching the destination.

I rubbed my chin as I felt the connection between me and the egg. Whenever I looked at it, there was something I could not help wondering about.

Who had originally owned this egg?

At first, I thought it belonged to the Professor. She was a dragon, and dragons were said to brood eggs. So perhaps an unfertilized egg like this could exist as well.

Moreover, the magical power inside the egg was far too great for a vessel without life inside it. I had wondered what kind of creature could possess such power, but a dragon’s egg would explain it well enough.

All the evidence pointed to the Professor.

That was why I had thought of her.

But there was something I did not understand.

If the Professor were its owner, then this egg should contain her magical power, just like the scales I had received from her before.

Yet the magical power I felt from the egg had a flow similar to hers, but also different.

There was something strange about the idea that it had originated from her.

I smacked my lips lightly. Professor Irian did not seem inclined to explain, so I could not know the egg’s origin for certain.

Still, what did its origin matter?

All I had to do was gratefully use the gift she had given me.

I nodded as I watched the souls within the egg gradually gather together.

Soul Saplings would continue to be created through this egg. Then they would travel through the shadow domain and take root inside my foundation.

I would be able to expand steadily.

The process of turning souls into puppets had been tremendously successful.

That meant only one thing remained.

I glanced behind me. The Nun and Mira were laughing as they talked together.

My ears felt slightly itchy, so they were surely talking about me.

I gave a small sigh. Whenever I dealt with them, I felt as though my energy was being drained.

But the fact that they made things difficult for me also meant they were that free.

So I needed to expand that autonomy further. It was what the puppets I made lacked the most.

I placed a hand over my chest.

Then I could feel the many things that formed my domain. The stars decorating the inside of the shadow tree were connected to me, as were the soul Saplings growing from them.

I used three methods to create puppets.

The first was the shadow puppets, which formed the most important element and foundation of the shadow domain.

I engraved egos into puppet bodies by planting my tree branches within them. Those became stars that filled the shadow domain.

The more such stars accumulated, the more my domain expanded.

The second method was the soul Saplings being made inside the egg before me. I processed incomplete souls, giving them the form of life and eventually physical bodies.

They were slowly growing with me and the stars as their foundation. The more they increased, the deeper my domain would become, and my realm would surely advance further.

The final method was puppets like the Nun.

The Nun had once served as one of my inner demons. Her origin was a desire born from a treasure.

Such desire could also be called a direction born from concentrating the mind to its limit. A powerful will to pursue something was mixed within it.

That was also what distinguished treasures from one another.

Perhaps that was why it was so difficult to see them within my domain. They existed half-independently from me.

The only one I could somewhat perceive was this little fellow.

I gently stroked the back of the turtle hanging from my chest.

Meee.

It let out a quiet cry.

This little fellow had also been formed from a single desire: the love my puppets held for me. As the being that oversaw all my puppets, it could settle in my domain in the form of the Moon.

But the other puppets, including the Nun, could not form such a deep connection with me. That was why they were difficult to find within my domain.

Still, it was certain that they existed inside my domain.

They acted like filters, sifting the magical power and information flowing into me. They kept my domain purer.

The three kinds of puppets each grew my domain in their own way and supported me.

They also contained the three elements of life.

They began from the different starting points of body, soul, and mind, but ultimately converged upon the single point that was me.

And through the process of making puppets, I had come to understand life more deeply.

I gave a small smile as I felt the clear flow of unique magic running through my tree.

Life was an existence that sought perfection.

That was why puppets made through different methods gradually filled what they lacked through my unique magic, Fake Life.

The more deeply I understood life and puppets, the more the puppets themselves would come to resemble life.

If I continued onward like this, I would surely be able to handle even Professor On’s tree branches one day.

So it was time to fill in what I lacked.

Like the puppets containing those inner demons, I needed to make more puppets based on desire.

And I knew the easiest way to accomplish that.

There were treasures, were there not?

I only needed to tear out more of their power.

But I had already extracted most of the power from the treasures belonging to my treasure network. So I needed to recruit new treasures.

Treasures located beyond the sixth floor, on the 7th floor.

I lightly nodded.

After this trip to the city was over, I intended to go up to the 7th floor.

It was dangerous, but opportunities were often found amid such dangers.

Then, should I get moving?

There was nothing wrong with the egg. Even if I left, it would surely continue operating on its own.

Besides, No. 0 was here if anything went wrong, so there was no need to worry.

“I’ll leave the tower to you while I’m gone.”

I lightly waved at No. 0, who was sunk into the shadows near the egg.

It rose to its feet and thumped its chest.

It was telling me to leave everything to it.

It looked very dependable.

I gently patted No. 0 on the head. Now that I thought about it, I had come to create puppets in my current way entirely because of this little fellow.

So I needed to repay it too.

Hmm. I should probably bring it back a souvenir. Something that would satisfy it.

I sent a little of my will to the turtle.

It was time to go to the city.

Meee.

It cried out, apparently excited to travel a long distance for the first time in a while.

I was looking forward to it too.

This trip to Icewall City was meant to expand my domain even further.

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