WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 201: Survivors (4)

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At the northern edge of the village, a side road across from the carpentry shop led to a ranch.

Gyeoul stopped there first before setting out to hunt because he had a faint hope.

Horses were herd animals, and they had a homing instinct. They did not leave their herd easily, and even after fleeing far from danger, they returned to the place they had been staying once they felt safe. That would be even more true of horses raised by human hands from birth. So if any horses had survived the mutant horde that had passed through the village, there was a chance they had come back to the ranch.

Only a chance, of course.

“We didn’t search all the way inside.”

That came from Ensign Escamilla, who had led a platoon to check the northern side of the village. She had accompanied the work detail as far as the fork near the carpentry shop, and when Gyeoul asked about the ranch, she shook her head.

“We had a clear view past the fence. We only confirmed there was no major threat, then withdrew.”

In other words, she had wanted to conserve their limited ammunition. Since the outside was clear, there probably would not be many mutants inside even if there were some, and now that they had chosen a base, she must have judged they would be fine as long as they kept their defenses up.

“So we still don’t know what’s inside.”

“That’s true, but... I doubt we’ll actually find any horses. The wooden fence facing the road had collapsed. Mutants must have broken in after spotting prey.”

“I’m not expecting much either. Still, it’s worth checking.”

The conversation ended there. Gyeoul slipped into the side road between the houses with three platoon members who had volunteered for the hunt.

The first thing he saw was a rusty tin roof. It was a shed for hay and feed. Beside it was a trailer used to transport horses. The long building beyond that was the riding hall.

One door of the riding hall stood open. The inside was dark and quiet. But Gyeoul could hear breathing from within. Mutant or horse? Either way, it breathed harder than a human.

Creeeeak-

He opened the other door all the way, both to give the people following him a clear line of sight and to make noise on purpose.

Prrrrr!

The soldiers’ faces brightened at the sound of a horse snorting. The most senior among them, Sergeant Felipe Morales, said,

“My God, they really are here. I didn’t expect this at all...”

He could see five. Dawn had only just broken. Since the riding hall was a place they had learned was safe all their lives, they must have spent the dark night here after returning to the ranch.

“Step back a little. They’re wary of us.”

All the horses had their ears pinned back. Four showed the whites of their eyes and backed away one step at a time, tossing their heads. It was a frightened reaction. The remaining one was especially large, and it had lowered its head while flicking its tail sharply. An aggressive signal.

Fortunately, Gyeoul had the 「Riding」 skill. He had acquired it to ride along the Salinas River on a stormy night. Since he had needed to carry one more person, he had raised it to a high level.

「Riding」 did not simply grant the ability to ride. It included breaking and handling horses too.

Even without that, experience had taught him what to do. He had learned it several times. In every past world, once the fuel supply had been cut off, few means of transportation were as useful as horses. Riding horses or packhorses, their value had probably risen quite a bit in this world too.

Under Gyeoul’s careful, slow approach, the lead horse’s temper softened.

Its coat was the color of darkness. It was a sleek-looking Friesian. Its height was around 17 hands. Just from the tack, it was clear the ranch owner had treasured this one. (1 hand = 4 inches, 10.12 centimeters)

“There, good boy. It’s okay. I won’t hurt you. You can stay still.”

Good boy, good boy. Even if it did not know the exact meaning, it must have heard the words often enough to know they were praise. When Gyeoul spoke in a calm voice, the Friesian bared its teeth like a camel and sniffed him. Horses were smart. If it had been chased by mutants before, it would have learned their distinctive stench.

Gyeoul scratched around the horse’s neck and shoulders. The horse closed its eyes and pushed out its lips.

“Yeah, that feels good, doesn’t it?”

When Gyeoul slowly moved behind it and scratched all the way to its rump, it liked that even more.

“Oh...” came an awed murmur from the rifleman watching from a distance.

Seeing that the leader did not reject a human touch, the rest of the herd, which had been keeping its distance, raised their pinned ears. Some bared their teeth or flared their nostrils. The affinity granted as a correction by Grade 10 「Riding」 helped a great deal in this situation.

“You can come closer now. Slowly, so the horses don’t get scared.”

The three, including Sergeant Morales, slowly closed the distance at Gyeoul’s gesture. In the meantime, Gyeoul secured the tack hanging on the wall. Some of it was quite old, but there was plenty. It seemed the ranch owner’s family had kept extras along with their own.

“The roomiest one must be yours. Your name is... Xcel? Is that your name?”

The lead horse reacted positively to the name engraved on the saddle. It did not resist even when Gyeoul lifted its leg. The horseshoes were a little worn, but still in good condition.

“Lieutenant, are we going to eat them now? We’d get a lot of meat from even one.”

The question came from the soldier who had been scratching a horse’s neck like Gyeoul. While the other two looked at the questioner as if he were hopeless, Gyeoul said no.

“If that was the plan, why would I have asked whether anyone knew how to ride?”

He had asked when recruiting volunteers before they left, even though he had not known whether they would be able to secure horses at all. In the end, checking had been the right call. Sergeant Morales was from Texas and said he had experience working on a ranch, so he knew how to handle horses. Though he added that he was not very skilled.

Unlike the leader, the other four were Quarter horses without any distinct traits, but that did not mean they were useless. Gyeoul said,

“We should use them as transportation. Even if we get lucky and secure vehicles, there’s no telling whether we’ll get fuel in time, or whether we’ll have enough fuel stabilizer to mix with it. The closer we get to densely populated areas, the worse the roads will be too.”

If the gas stations had stored their fuel properly, they could use it as-is. But since there was no way to confirm that, they would have to add stabilizer every time.

The roads were another problem. Even Highway 101 passing through Fort Roberts had been packed with abandoned cars. Add the Air Force bombing that had continued all year, and it would be no different from driving off-road.

“And unless we find enough vehicles to carry the entire company, we should assume we’ll be moving on foot. Vehicles will only be used to transport supplies and patients. So horses will be a huge help. We can load our gear on them, and they’d be useful for reconnaissance too, wouldn’t they?”

If Gyeoul, their strongest fighting force, gained mobility, the company would be much safer. He could scout the march route in advance, remove small threats ahead of time, lure enemies in another direction, or, if none of that was possible, avoid them altogether.

“I understand what you mean, but...”

The soldier who had suggested eating them, Private Ian Schultz, spoke.

“They need to be fed, don’t they? I don’t know much, but I heard they eat and drink a lot. Can we handle that? I think it might be better to just use them as food.”

After fitting tack onto all five horses, Gyeoul gave him a gentle smile.

“You don’t need to worry about that. For the next several hundred kilometers, there should be farms and ranches everywhere. Not to mention pastures, streams, and ponds.”

Gyeoul had passed through this area once before. Not in this world. It had been when civilization had finally collapsed completely and he had needed to flee to a remote region. He could not remember every detail of what had been where, but he was certain there had been no issue traveling on horseback.

In fact, it would be similar almost anywhere, unless they were in a desert, mountain range, or urban area. America was the world’s greatest agricultural and livestock country for a reason.

Schultz looked visibly disappointed. Because he was hungry? No. Food had been distributed to the work detail first. Gyeoul thought he knew what was going on inside him.

‘He wanted the work to end easily.’

Though he had volunteered, more than half of that had probably come from a sense of duty. Of course he would not want to wander through pathless mountains and forests with an exhausted body. Even after reading him with familiar ease, Gyeoul did not feel like blaming him.

“For now, they’ll make it easier to bring back game. It’ll save us trips back and forth.”

At the indirect comment, Sergeant Morales gave a bitter smile.

“I doubt we can catch that much.”

Unless someone knew Gyeoul well, that was the natural way to think.

There was no need to correct him.

He would see for himself soon.

“Mount up, Morales. Schultz and Harper, take one each by the reins and lead them. We’ll have to leave one horse at the base. I’ll circle the outside. There might be more.”

Gyeoul mounted Xcel and took the reins of another horse as well. It was the one that seemed to have the nastiest temper. Even under the influence of his affinity, there was a chance it might kick a soldier. One unlucky hit in the wrong place could leave them sick until they died. They had no medic.

After climbing a low hill at a light canter, Gyeoul found the gate in the ranch fence wide open. When he went closer, it did not look like the work of mutants. A lock hung neatly on one side of the gate. It seemed the ranch owner had opened it and left it that way while fleeing.

‘It can’t have been easy to think that far in such a rush.’

He passed through the gate and circled the remaining half, but all he found were bone fragments too broken for him to guess their original shape.

After reporting to Company Headquarters that they had secured horses, he tied one horse inside the barbed wire in front of the base. Only then did Gyeoul set out on the hunt in earnest.

“Everyone sprayed insect repellent, right?”

When Gyeoul asked for the final check, Morales exchanged glances with Private Schultz and Private Harper, then nodded.

“Of course.”

Since it was a mountain village in a remote area, insect repellent had been easy to find.

For the hunt, they needed to head toward the western foothills. The forest was thick there, and the wind was blowing from that direction. On top of that, they had sprayed themselves with medicine that had a distinct smell. If human scent rode the wind, animals within at least several hundred meters, and at most several kilometers, would grow alert.

They did not move quickly. Noise was one issue, and two of the riflemen did not know how to ride. No matter how much 「Instruction」 ability Gyeoul had, it would be hard to teach horseback riding in the middle of a hunt.

‘I need an impressive result here.’

Securing food was the goal, but that was not all.

「Tracking」 began. He searched for traces and smells. The correction from 「Tracking」 was a major reason Gyeoul was usually so sensitive to the stench of mutants. It worked the same way against wild animals.

Gyeoul raised 「Tracking」, which had originally been Grade 8, up to Grade 13. Compared to combat-type skills, it was less important and consumed less, so for now, it was not a burden.

「Tracking」, now entering the realm of genius, quickly picked up the first trace. Footprints.

‘A rabbit... maybe. I suppose I’ll follow it, for lack of anything better.’

Rabbits were not as much of a national headache here as they were in Australia, but with their powerful breeding rate, they were treated as potential pests. Unlike ordinary animals, which had hunting seasons, numbers, and daily bag limits set by regulation, rabbits could be caught all year with no restrictions.

That did not mean they were easy to catch.

Signs of nibbled grass, scattered or broken branches, tiny droppings, and hidden footprints came into Gyeoul’s eyes with perfect clarity. What drew his attention to them was the sixth sense granted as a correction.

He could even roughly tell when it had passed.

When that time converged toward the present, Gyeoul raised a hand and stopped the line. They had approached in an arc with the game upwind, so it should not have noticed them yet. Once he dismounted, the direction became even clearer.

I’ll move alone.

After confirming the hand signal, Morales and the other three nodded and lowered their bodies.

Gyeoul moved nimbly closer while the wind stirred the forest into a rustle. Hidden in the undergrowth, he spotted the target.

The distance was roughly thirty meters.

It had very large ears, with black coloring at the tips of its tail and ears. A jackrabbit. Because its forelegs were long, just seeing it stand still made it look very different from the rabbit people usually imagined.

Quietly tapping near the trigger with his fingertip, Gyeoul decided he should save even one round of ammunition. He let go of the rifle grip and drew his bayonet. The preparation was to grip it tightly like a fist. He pulled his arm back and waited for the right moment. Hitting it was not the problem. He only wanted to avoid striking the body.

‘If the intestines burst, I’ll have to throw away a good amount of what little meat there is...’

That said, chasing it down would be difficult. He was confident he would not lose in speed, but,

The animal shifted little by little in place. The moment it turned after showing him its back, Gyeoul hurled the bayonet with fierce force.

Crunch!

The sound of steel digging into an animal’s head. The force behind it was so tremendous that it flew in an invisible straight line, and even after the entire blade sank in, inertia remained. The small body slid a long way, then, once its momentum weakened, rolled over and over.

============================ Author’s Note ============================

#Q&A

Q. Erin’s Bard: @As expected, the childlike innocence of the great old one is... If you show it once in the next chapter, I think everyone will worship you!

A. My childlike innocence is already a depleted resource... Even if I wanted to show it, I have nothing to show.

Q. Reynesis: @Where is the ebook being serialized? When will it be released on Ridibooks?

A. What I mentioned was Ridibooks.

Q. JadeSeoran: @Honestly, seeing you still talking about old ones and all that, you still haven’t come to your senses... Life is a series of dark histories. Later, this will all be dark history too.

A. Haha. I suppose so. Still, I believe it will be less so than before.

Q. WolhauiImyeon: @Seeing Gyeoul’s combat power made me think... What field is he best at? Compared to the average person, I mean... Infiltration, long-range shooting and sniping, guerrilla warfare, close combat, urban warfare, things like that. Personally, I think guerrilla warfare might be his specialty...

A. Well... I’ve never thought about it that way... It’s hard to come to a conclusion.

Q. hia: @Can skills go up in grade just by being used?

A. In principle, it’s possible. In practice, it’s impossible.

Q. Bug: @Couldn’t they gather parts and fuel for at least one helicopter and use it for air support and reconnaissance?

A. They have no mechanic.

Footnotes:

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