WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 123: The Sea of Return (1)

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Cesar Skaldir, ruler of the Corsa Archipelago and head of the Skaldir Family, had remained by the rift ever since Kyle and Elysia vanished.

Disappearance and death were clearly different things. The two had vanished in the blink of an eye, as if their very existence had evaporated, but the rift still remained. It was ancient Dragon magic that distorted even time and space. No matter what happened, it would not have been strange. The recent abnormality had been the most serious in the Skaldir Family's history.

If things went wrong, the island itself might vanish. That was why Cesar had chosen to remain near the rift with a small number of knights and mages. At the very least, they needed to respond quickly if another anomaly occurred. That was the duty of a lord.

Even if it was nothing more than a meaningless struggle.

How many days had passed like that?

Tap. Tap. Taptaptap.

The sky was especially gloomy that day. At some point, a thin rain began falling beneath the dark clouds. It was the sort of autumn drizzle that came only now and then.

Has it been a week already?

Cesar stepped outside the barracks again that day and stared blankly at the rift. Just as when Kyle and Elysia had vanished, it had become a tiny point, repeatedly drawing in and releasing mana as though it were alive and breathing.

"You should return now. You will ruin your health."

A familiar voice came from behind him. It belonged to Malik, Cesar's right-hand man and the dual-sworded knight who had nearly clashed with Kyle in the strait.

"Just a little longer."

"It is already late afternoon. The sun will set soon."

"Is it that late already?"

Cesar turned around. Malik wore a wool cloak lined with fur to keep off the rain. Cesar was dressed much the same. It did not completely protect them from the cold brought on by the sudden drop in temperature, though.

"How are things at the castle?"

Cesar turned his eyes back to the rift as he asked.

"Much the same as yesterday."

"People will start growing suspicious soon."

"Yes. That is why I believe you should return now."

"Return..."

"This matter has already gone beyond our control. That is Dragon magic which has remained unsolved for thousands of years. The two who were caught in the rift are probably..."

Malik trailed off, but Cesar understood what he meant. The implication was obvious.

"Do you think they are dead?"

"Yes."

"You are certain."

"Even if they survived by luck, if they cannot cross back to this side, it is no different from being dead."

"Come to think of it, Kyle said he could see countless stretches of time through the rift. He said they were scenes from the past..."

Cesar recalled what had happened a week earlier. Just before the rift resonated with the mysterious pendant that had flown out from Kyle's clothes and went berserk, Kyle had clearly said he could see countless scenes of time beyond it.

Scenes from the past, no less.

What if it had not been a lie?

Normally, he would have dismissed it as absurd nonsense without a second thought. Things were different now. As head of the Skaldir Family, he had seen countless skilled knights and mages, but there was something different about Kyle.

A mercenary who had suddenly demanded passage to the Federation and proposed a deal.

An exceptionally skilled mage personally vouched for by Enrico, Merchant Head of the Black Crow Merchant Company.

That man, who was neither clearly a swordsman nor a mage, had stood before the rift without fear. He had vanished in the end, but compared to how no one had been able to do anything before, there had been progress.

He just did not know whether it would lead to something good or something bad.

What is this feeling?

He had no basis for it, yet he somehow felt that something would happen. That was why he had set up camp by the rift and kept watch over the area every day.

If the rift was truly resolved, Cesar was willing to give Kyle anything.

Perhaps...

"Please go inside. If you remain here like this, you may collapse."

Unable to watch any longer, Malik whispered into Cesar's ear. Cesar gave no clear response despite the concern in Malik's eyes.

"We will guard this place. You should return to the castle tomorrow at least..."

"One day. I will watch for one more day."

"...Understood."

"Let us go. It is cold."

Cesar stared at the rift for a while longer before slowly turning away. Malik, standing directly behind him, signaled to a nearby knight and mage as if he had been waiting for it.

Keep guarding this place until the end of your shift.

Yes. Understood.

After finishing their silent exchange with only their lips, Malik turned as if to shield Cesar. They had just begun walking toward the large barracks standing not far away.

"Uh?"

"Wait..."

Voices full of confusion suddenly came from behind them. Cesar and Malik, who sensed the anomaly a moment later, turned toward the rift.

"What is it?"

"The rift..."

One of the mages standing guard could not finish speaking, staring with their mouth hanging open. The tiny point-shaped rift, unchanged for a week since Kyle and Elysia had disappeared, was twisting for the first time.

The dense mana around it was sucked into the point as it churned. The point swelled in an instant.

Just like when it had gone berserk before.

Like before?

"Everyone, get back!"

The moment Cesar reached that thought, Malik reflexively threw himself in front of him and shouted. The knight and mage quickly retreated.

The rift, which had been a tiny point moments ago, had already expanded right before them. Fierce light filled every direction.

Then every color disappeared at once.

* * *

Immediately after Alfred had half-pushed him into the rift, Kyle saw countless scenes from different times.

Pasts that had already passed and could not be changed.

The strange, alien sights he had seen once before flashed rapidly past his eyes. Still, it was different from the first time he had fallen into the rift. Back then, he had fallen endlessly downward as time rewound toward the past.

Now, he was rising.

Are we going back?

From the present to the past. From the past back to the present.

It was difficult to describe the experience in a single phrase. If not for Prisia's Dragon Heart, if she had not entered her long slumber and arranged all of this, he would never have experienced anything like it.

Wrapped in that indescribable sensation, Kyle slowly closed his eyes. The feeling of constantly rising was the complete opposite of falling. When even his sense of time began to blur, he felt solid ground beneath his feet.

Something impossible within the rift, where there was no ground.

Have we arrived?

Kyle slowly opened his eyes. When he looked to the side, Elysia was there, looking back at him.

"Kyle."

"Are you all right?"

"Yes. Thankfully, I do not think anything is wrong with me. More importantly..."

Elysia looked ahead. Kyle, who had been touching the Dragon Heart inside his clothes, followed her gaze.

The first thing he saw was the bizarre yet mysterious forest of countless colors where they had first encountered the rift.

Rain?

A drop of water lightly struck the top of his head. Kyle looked upward. Through the densely grown trees and branches, he saw a gloomy sky.

Autumn drizzle.

It was rare, but not unheard of. After letting the raindrops fall on him for a moment, Kyle lowered his head.

Four people stood there, staring at them with wide eyes.

Cesar Skaldir, ruler of the Corsa Archipelago and master of this island. Malik, the dual-sworded knight who was practically his right hand. And with them were one elite knight and one mage under the Skaldir Family's command.

"That cannot be..."

Someone muttered under their breath. It was one of the Skaldir Family's vassals.

"They really came back...?"

Cesar spoke as though he could not believe it. The young lord of the island looked thoroughly shocked by Kyle and Elysia's sudden appearance from the berserk rift. The dual-sworded knight Malik, crouched as if shielding him, and the other two vassals looked no different.

"Yes."

"I thought it might happen, but I never expected you to return alive and unharmed."

Cesar rose awkwardly to his feet. Malik rose with him and continued looking between Kyle and Elysia with suspicion.

"It seems quite a bit of time has passed. How long have we been gone?"

Ignoring Malik, Kyle asked Cesar.

"A week as of today."

Cesar gave a brief reply. Instead of responding, Kyle looked around once. The forest that had been eroded by the rift seemed to contain an even denser concentration of mana than before.

A week. The same amount of time we spent in the past.

It was not strange. The past and present were entirely different time periods, but the rift connecting them had remained open the whole time. At least no disaster had occurred where more than a year had passed while they returned to the present.

A week was a manageable amount of time.

"Has the rift... truly been resolved?"

Malik asked from beside Cesar.

"It appears so."

Kyle gave a slight nod and glanced behind him. Everyone followed his gaze. Nothing remained where the point-shaped rift had stood moments earlier.

"Ha..."

Cesar let out a hollow laugh.

"The problem that plagued our family for thousands of years was resolved just like this."

"It may take time, but the forest will return to normal too. The root cause is gone, so it will gradually recover. The mana released by the rift itself contained the power of time and space."

"The power of time and space... What happened inside the rift all this time?"

"There is too much to explain."

"You do not want to answer?"

"Think whatever you want."

They had gone back to the past. He had met Alfred Lucent, one of the worst traitors in the Empire's history, a man falsely accused because he knew the imperial family's secrets. Then they had killed a Dragon and opened a passage between dimensions.

They were all secrets he could not tell anyone.

"More importantly, I believe it is time for you to fulfill the contract."

The moment he finished speaking, Kyle drew mana from his ring. The work was over, but it was still too soon to relax.

He had yet to receive payment for the contract.

Cesar's condition had been to close the rift by any means necessary. The payment consisted of three things: passage to the Federation, putting the matter with the Black Crow Merchant Company behind them, and one unrestricted favor within Cesar's power to grant.

The rift was closed. Now it was time to receive his payment.

Even so, Kyle did not lower his guard. He had seen too many cases where a contract on paper differed from the actual fulfillment of it. If necessary, he would have no choice but to fight.

"Fine. What happened inside is none of my business. The original goal has been achieved."

Fortunately, Cesar accepted Kyle's words without resistance. The others, tense in case a battle broke out, unconsciously sighed in relief.

"As I said before, I will provide all three payments. But..."

Cesar narrowed his eyes. Everyone looked upward.

Whoooosh!

The drizzle that had fallen only moments earlier was growing stronger. It seemed as though it might soon become a downpour. Damp, cold air filled the area.

Cesar let out a short sigh, glanced once at the spot where the rift had disappeared, then turned south toward the city.

"Let us talk as we go. The rain looks like it will worsen."

* * *

Jorde, captain of the Black Crow Merchant Company's trade ship, lay blankly on his bed and stared out the window. Heavy rain streamed down outside beneath a sky filled with gloomy dark clouds.

"The sky was cloudy from the morning..."

He barely swallowed the sigh that kept trying to escape. Jorde was currently staying in a private room, completely separated from the other crew members of the Black Crow Merchant Company. The room was luxurious, and meals arrived on time, but he could not bring himself to relax.

Worry and anxiety filled his mind.

I am a mouse trapped in a prison with no way out.

Jorde roughly scratched his head. Otherwise, he could not bear it.

Am I going to die like this?

His injuries had already healed. Under normal circumstances, Cesar, lord of this island, should have summoned him long ago. Yet it had been over a week, nearly ten days, and there had been no news.

Every crew member, including Jorde himself, had been isolated in separate rooms, so they could not even speak with one another.

"If we had been one day later. No, if we had demanded one thousand Gold as the toll from the beginning..."

Reflecting on the past could not bring back lost time. Still, Jorde could not help blaming himself over and over.

What should I do?

The Black Crow Merchant Company was one of the three largest merchant companies in Cadis. That did not mean it could disregard the Skaldir Family, which ruled the Corsa Archipelago.

This was especially true because the Black Crow Merchant Company traded more with the Federation than with Azaril, another continent. To travel from Cadis to the Federation, one had to cross the Pargon Strait, which the Skaldir Family had ruled for centuries.

Making an enemy of the Skaldir Family was no different from giving up trade with the Federation.

And they had been caught secretly transporting star iron swords.

Damn it.

Jorde anxiously bit at his nails. He could vividly picture the future ahead of him.

First, they will not kill us themselves. Instead, they will hold us hostage along with the star iron swords and extort a huge sum of money and trade rights from the Black Crow Merchant Company.

What happened to those two mages in the first place? Did they really fall into the Pargon Strait and die? But mages of that level might have survived, right?

Do not tell me they really died...

As Jorde agonized over it, the firmly shut door suddenly flew open. He flinched in surprise.

Familiar faces appeared beyond the doorway.

Cesar Skaldir, lord of this island. Malik, his right-hand man and dual-sworded knight. And Kyle and Elysia, whom he had believed were dead.

"How...?"

Jorde looked between Kyle and Elysia and muttered in a dazed voice. Cesar ignored him, gave the stunned captain a sidelong glance, and spoke to Kyle.

"Is that the man you were looking for?"

"Yes."

"As you can see, I did not kill him. I treated him very well instead. I did not know what might happen later."

"It seems so."

At Kyle's signal, Cesar exchanged a glance with Malik, his guard knight, then stepped back.

"If you need anything, call someone. They will accommodate most requests."

The two soon left Kyle and Elysia behind. Once their footsteps faded down the corridor, silence settled over the room.

Jorde still stared at Kyle and Elysia with blinking eyes. He seemed to recognize them with his eyes, but his mind could not accept it.

How are they alive?

Only one fast ship survived. Did they cross the strait with nothing but their bodies?

More importantly, they were speaking casually to Cesar Skaldir? Here, in the Skaldir Family's stronghold? And he was even offering them favors?

What sort of relationship do they have? What happened outside during that time?

Jorde's eyes shook wildly. Kyle walked over to the bed and pulled two chairs from the nearby table. He and Elysia each took one.

"Captain Jorde."

Kyle spoke. Jorde's shoulders jerked.

"Is your body all right?"

"Uh, uh?"

"Are you unable to speak because of your injuries?"

"Ah, no. I can speak. My body is... fine, as you can see."

"That is good. It means there will be no problem leaving the very next day."

"The very next day...?"

Jorde looked confused.

"We will set sail for the Federation tomorrow."

Kyle said it firmly. Jorde opened his mouth like a fool.

"So I would like your help."

Kyle paid no attention. This was already a settled fact. He was only calmly informing him of the result.

Their lives were all in Kyle's hands.

"That includes every crew member of the Black Crow Merchant Company, including you. Our destination remains the same, Belmar, the port city of the Kingdom of Rustin. You will not refuse, will you?"

Footnotes:

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