WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
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◈ The Wandering Knight and the Moving Castle ◈
Chapter 79: Descent (3)
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Just as the tournament's excitement was reaching its peak, someone looked up at the sky.
"What's with the sky on such a nice day?"
The spring weather had been bright and clear when the matches began, but dark clouds had gathered before anyone noticed.
"Isn't it about to start pouring?"
"The weather mage said it wouldn't rain."
Some beastkin possessed especially sharp senses. After studying astronomy and weather-reading at the academy, they could qualify as weather mages.
Their main duty was serving high-ranking noble houses and choosing auspicious days before important events.
"That man's never been wrong in twenty years."
The honor was great, but demand was low, so competition was brutal. Naturally, only the capable survived in that field.
Even as the weather rapidly worsened, the tournament's excitement did not fade.
Neighhh!
A horse collapsed, sending its rider flying through the air.
Crack!
The knight landed headfirst and broke his neck. The horse that had lost its rider was dead as well.
"Ahhh!"
"Oh, no!"
The audience screamed at the first death. His neck had twisted completely around, making it obvious even from afar that he had died instantly.
Twitch! Twitch!
Even so, the compression on his nerves made his limbs twitch, creating a horrifying sight.
The problem was that the opposing knight, who lacked skill, had struck the horse in the forehead with a lance.
"You call yourself a knight?"
"Boo!"
"Quit already!"
Commoners never missed a chance to legally insult the high and mighty. Fierce jeers poured in from all sides.
"Damn it."
Having brought such terrible disgrace upon himself, the knight could not even raise his head. It would be hard for him to give his name anywhere from now on.
"I wondered why the Church of the Absolute hated tournaments so much. Now that I've seen one myself, I understand."
"So many people are injured or killed, yet it's all for entertainment. Of course they would hate it."
Varda watched the dead man being carried away with a sorrowful expression.
The world was filled with visible and invisible evils: disease, hunger, natural disasters, monsters, bandits, and more. To priests, humanity was in a precarious position, surrounded by countless enemies.
Yet they could not understand humans bleeding and dying at one another's hands for pleasure.
"Not entering the joust was an excellent choice."
Squeeze.
An elf's delicate hand clasped the back of Eugene's hand.
"Might's clever control of distance, your storm-like strange flail, the javelin throw that can shatter even a ship, your marvelous hand-to-hand combat. You don't need to fight somewhere that seals away every one of your strengths."
After kneading the back of Eugene's hand a few times, Varda adjusted her windblown hood. A scarf was wrapped around her lower face as well, revealing only the bridge of her nose and her eyes.
"You're fully covered today."
"I don't want to get dragged into anything troublesome."
Another match had already ended, leaving another winner and loser.
"Honorable knight, I'll cherish today's glory for the rest of my life."
A noblewoman rewarded the victorious knight with a smile full of delight.
The knight accepted the flower crown she had made herself, then raised his weapon. The audience went wild at the passionate scene.
"That must be a familiar experience for you, Varda."
"Our kind are overly romanticized by humans. Quite a few believe that dedicating a victory to me will earn them the blessings of the forest and fairies."
Noblewomen with flower crowns resting on their laps stared at the arena with burning eyes.
Just as knights wanted recognition as the strongest, noblewomen wanted to be praised as the most beautiful and beloved women.
Varda gave a bitter smile. She appeared to have had unpleasant experiences with such things.
"I don't want to earn their resentment for nothing."
"I don't think that's the only reason."
Eugene casually lifted her scarf. Beneath it was a face more beautiful than that of any noblewoman in the arena.
* * *
By the middle of the tournament, the weather had become far too bad. Pitch-black clouds slowly swirled in the sky.
"Weather mage, didn't you say it wouldn't rain?"
"I did! It won't rain!"
At Duke Ismar's words, the dog beastkin man repeatedly flared his nostrils.
Whoooosh!
Flap! Flap!
The flags hanging around the arena whipped violently in the strong wind.
"Ah! Nooo!"
A noblewoman reached out with a scream as the flower crown she had stayed up all night making was blown away.
"It seems we may have to stop the tournament."
At the duke's murmur, the weather mage threw himself flat on the ground.
"I stake this lowly life on it! It absolutely will not rain!"
"There's no need for that. Even to me, this weather is truly strange."
A great deal was riding on this tournament. It celebrated the North's victory, selected new talent, and was meant to calm the public unrest caused by the civil war and pirates.
The duke had pushed ahead despite the strain, so he wanted to see it through somehow.
Flash!
At that moment, a huge burst of light exploded in the sky. A massive white bolt struck a mountain some distance from the arena.
"G-good heavens!"
"I've never seen lightning that large."
Those attending the tournament turned in shock. Among them were terrorists sent by the Emperor.
"Sir Simon, it worked."
"To think such a clear day could change like this in an instant. Magic truly is incredible."
Simon was pleased to see the knights accompanying him looking at him with reverence, despite the dissatisfaction written across his face.
Controlling nature was one of the greatest powers in all magic. A force that even the king of a nation would fear had manifested from his own hands.
"Mm."
Still, it was disappointing that there was no sign of rain.
'Darkness and wind aren't enough. To ruin the tournament for certain, rain or hail needs to come pouring down.'
Even so, Simon trembled at the surging wave of mystery. Since becoming a mage, he had never encountered such overwhelming power.
Anyone who understood magic would be able to sense the astronomical power condensed within those swirling black clouds.
'Was that summoner a fraud?'
He began to distrust the summoner in the capital who had appraised and provided the magic artifact.
It had called forth power far too great to be dismissed as a magic artifact that merely ruined the weather. It was almost too wasteful to use just to ruin a tournament.
"Let's get moving. We're done here."
Simon led the knights away from the arena. As a servant of the Emperor, he felt uneasy every moment he remained unarmed in the Noble Faction's stronghold.
* * *
Eugene, Varda, and Marbas also realized that something unusual was happening in the sky.
Crackle!
Another violent bolt struck.
"Look at the mystery swirling in the heavens! It's as though an invisible hole has opened wide and a flood has burst through. A passage to the Otherworld must have opened."
Marbas looked up at the sky, his expression holding both curiosity and fear.
"The show is over."
Eugene knew that remaining still in a situation like this would be foolish.
Leaving aside the danger of lightning strikes, if this many people fell into panic, they could trample one another and cause a major disaster.
"Homi, give the signal."
Wheeeet!
Her pink lips puckered cutely before she let out a sharp whistle that carried far into the distance.
"Captain! You heard that, right?"
Everyone under Eugene's command knew Homi's whistle.
"That's the order to evacuate. I don't know what this is, but we're leaving now."
"It's a shame. We finally got to watch a tournament."
"Quit talking and move!"
The mercenaries watching from the general seating pushed through the audience and left. The most important part of mercenary life was sensing danger in advance and running at the right time.
"Is it all right if only we leave?"
"What can a mere knight lord without even a barony do? I need to look after my people first. There are plenty of nobles here higher-ranked than me, so won't they handle themselves?"
Haind nodded. If things went wrong, Eugene might be blamed for causing an unnecessary disturbance.
Crackle!
This time, lightning struck somewhere in Rostok.
"Those bolts are definitely caused by magic!"
"Of course they are. Lightning is striking like that, yet we haven't heard thunder even once."
"Now that you mention it..."
Marbas noticed something strange as a mage, while Eugene noticed it scientifically.
Lightning was a mass of energy reaching thirty thousand degrees Celsius. When it passed through the air, the heated air burst outward like an explosion and struck everything around it.
That should create a huge roar like "Rumble!" or "Crash!" Yet there was nothing like that. All they heard was the crackling release of energy.
When Eugene explained the principle as simply as possible, both Varda and Marbas stared at him in surprise.
"So that is why lightning and thunder always come together."
"Where in the world did you learn such things?"
Marbas already knew that this young knight had an unusual amount of knowledge about all sorts of things.
Still, what he had just heard was difficult to describe. It felt as though Eugene had glimpsed secrets of the world that no one in this age should know.
"Either way, it has the shape of lightning, but it isn't lightning. It's something made of magic. Let's go inside."
Eugene skipped an answer and led the group into a nearby building.
"Sir, all the mercenaries have escaped in the other direction."
"That's a relief."
Only Eugene, Varda, Marbas, Homi, and Haind entered the building.
Crackle!
Flash!
Crackle!
At first, the audience had watched in fascination, but as the lightning continued without end, they finally began to scream and shout.
Eugene was beginning to understand the nature of the continuing lightning. He could read the echoes of magic spreading in every direction after the bolts struck the ground.
They contained a simple message, one Eugene had never imagined he would encounter in this world.
Lightning struck the Inland Sea.
Crackkkle!
'False.'
Lightning struck a bell tower in Rostok.
Crack!
'False.'
Lightning struck level ground near the road.
Crackle!
'True.'
The lightning was a kind of observation. It was like a scout sent ahead before something from another world arrived in the present world.
From the scattered echoes of lightning, Eugene read messages made up of zeros and ones.
The lightning operated like a machine's language, sending observed information to the opening into the Otherworld in the sky.
'Is there enough room there?'
'Is anything sticking out?'
'Is there a river flowing?'
'Is it solid?'
'Are there living creatures?'
'Is there air?'
Every strike was a magical survey, a probing touch feeling out its destination.
As though ignoring the common belief that lightning struck high places, cities and mountains received only a few bolts. It was as though it had concluded, 'Not here.'
Crackkkkkle!
At last, a massive bolt that painted the world white struck the earth.
When the flash faded, a gigantic presence stood in the once-empty plain. Its form was difficult to make out clearly.
Whoooooosh.
Something like clouds or mist flowed endlessly from its surface.
White frost immediately settled over the nearby ground. It seemed to have been drawn from a terribly cold place.
Tap tap.
Homi tapped Eugene's arm, her eyes wide and round.
"Yes. It's definitely the one we saw in Bonyard City."
Eugene was certain.
The outline that had revealed itself, however faintly, looked exactly like what he remembered. It also radiated enormous mystery like the sun.
There could only be one being in the world that met both conditions.
The Wandering Castle of legend had ended its long drift and finally descended upon the present world.
* * *
Like Eugene's group, Simon had left the arena early and was hiding in a nearby building.
Witnessing an unprecedented barrage of lightning, he could not even think of going outside.
"Good heavens."
Then he was stunned by the sight before him. He no longer cared about the magic artifact's unexpectedly powerful effect.
"Isn't that the Wandering Castle His Majesty has searched for so desperately?"
"It really existed!"
The accompanying knights' eyes went wide. They had been thoroughly educated about the Wandering Castle in the capital, so they recognized it.
"This isn't the time to be impressed. Have you forgotten where we are?"
"Ah!"
"Of all places, in Duke Ismar's front yard..."
He did not know why, but it was certain that the magic artifact he had activated was responsible. He had done all the work only to hand the prize to someone else.
Considering the Emperor's temper, he might end up hanging from the gallows if he returned like this.
"Surely His Majesty won't hold us responsible?"
"That summoner who gave us this is certainly dead. If His Majesty's anger isn't satisfied with that, it'll spread to us too."
Simon's words left the knights unable to shake their anxiety.
More than anything, the Emperor acted especially irrationally whenever the Wandering Castle was involved.
"We'll leave the duke's territory first, then think. Which way is the place where we hid our equipment?"
"Ten minutes east."
Simon and his group had hidden their weapons and armor before entering disguised as travelers.
Countless knights and nobles had gathered at the stronghold of Duke Ismar, the vanguard of the Noble Faction. If they walked around looking like knights here, their identities could easily be exposed.
Click.
At that moment, the door opened.
A huge man and a tall beastkin woman looked at Simon's group inside the building.
"I told you I sensed something strange here. A faint trace of magic rising toward that hole in the sky..."
"You can stop now. Marbas was right."
The man and woman entered the building without the slightest concern, even after seeing the knights radiating a sharpened presence.
Simon felt something had gone wrong when the man stared directly at the magic artifact hidden in his clothes.
The knights exchanged glances. Simon considered them blockheads, but they made their living by the sword and were quick to read this kind of situation.
They instinctively knew that defeating the people before them and escaping was their only path.
'Go for the woman.'
Miles suddenly lunged forward. The huge man gave off no ordinary presence. He looked far too dangerous to attack while unarmed.
'If I can take a hostage somehow...'
Smack!
The thought was cut off as the beastkin woman's spinning kick struck his temple.
The last thing Miles remembered was the woman's back as she pivoted on her long leg.
Her thick white tail held her balance perfectly, making it a beautiful kick.
"..."
The beastkin woman stood on one leg with the other raised, staring coldly at the knights.
'Move, and you die.'
Simon could not move beneath the gaze of the man who had been watching him all along.
It seemed his identity as a mage had already been exposed. The man gave off a clear sense that if Simon tried anything, he would kill him immediately.
Footnotes:
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