WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The World After the Fall ◈
Chapter 82: Episode 12. Path of the Abyss (3)
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Sirwen went blank at the unexpected answer.
He was starting a war to make Chaos safe?
What kind of nonsense was that?
“Are you seriously planning to take on the Lord of Ebony?”
The Cowardly Lord had crossed through the 「Narrow Door」, so Jaehwan’s provocation would reach Ebony before the day was over. The price of offending a Lord’s pride was steep. Even if the 「Narrow Door」 had closed, Ebony would never give up on revenge.
“...You’re insane. You mean to lure Ebony here!”
She paced anxiously around Jaehwan, gnawing at her nails as she muttered.
“No. No, Ebony won’t come...”
Jaehwan silently watched Sirwen ramble to herself like she had lost her mind.
“If the Great Lord of the twelve zones leaves their post, serious trouble will follow. The 《Great Lands》 aren’t an easy enough battlefield for a Great Lord to leave their position in person!”
As she fussed and flailed about, Jaehwan nodded with a blunt expression.
“I suppose so.”
“What is with that tone? You sound like you already knew.”
“At most, a few Field Commanders will come. I expected that much.”
Sirwen’s face turned cold.
“Have you lost your mind? Do you think only one Field Commander will come when the Dark Fragrance Lord is dead? At least two, maybe three, could show up. If experts from the Five Great Families come too, this will spiral completely out of control!”
“That would be ideal. Once I defeat them, the situation will change entirely.”
Sirwen’s mouth fell open at the unexpected answer.
In a way, Jaehwan’s reasoning made sense. If a large number of Field Commanders met their end in 《Chaos》, the balance of power in the 《Great Lands》 would have no choice but to change completely. Their absence would leave a devastating gap in military strength, and Ebony would be too occupied watching the neighboring zones to turn its attention to 《Chaos》 for decades.
The 《Great Lands》 would be swept up in such fierce conflict that they would not even have time to worry about 《Chaos》.
Of course, that was only possible if Jaehwan could defeat the Field Commanders.
“You seem far too full of yourself after beating the Dark Fragrance Lord, but high-ranking Field Commanders are incomparably stronger than that Lord.”
“I suppose so.”
“And in your current condition, you will not be able to properly fight even one of them.”
After training for two thousand years in 《Carpe Diem》 and fighting the Dark Fragrance Lord, Jaehwan’s soul was in terrible condition.
Even so, his gaze did not waver in the slightest. It meant that he had something he trusted in.
Yet no matter how much Sirwen thought about it, she could not imagine Jaehwan as he was now facing the other Field Commanders.
...Could it be?
A fragment of a terrifying possibility brushed through Sirwen’s mind. Still, she could not tell exactly what that fragment was.
“By the way, did you come here just to ask that?”
“H-huh?”
“You do not seem particularly interested in Chaos.”
At the sharp observation, Sirwen hesitated.
“I came to hear the price of our promise.”
“Promise?”
His tone made it impossible to tell whether he was playing dumb or had truly forgotten.
Sirwen slowly drew in a breath and finally asked the question she had been holding back.
“Tell me now. What exactly did you obtain from the 「Eight Gates of Hell」?”
* * *
『Record of the Abyss』
That was the name of the book Jaehwan had found at the final gate of Eight Gates of Hell. Strictly speaking, though, it was closer to the memory of a being disguised as a book.
The moment he opened it, Mulack’s story had seeped into Jaehwan’s mind as a collection of memories.
It was the story from immediately after the Dream Demon Mulack founded the expedition team until just before the expedition ended.
Sirwen, who had been listening beside him, widened her eyes and asked again.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
Sirwen’s body trembled as Jaehwan confirmed it once more.
The reason she had wandered through 《Chaos》 all this time was to find traces of her missing godfather.
Mulack, her godfather, was said to have reached the end of the 《Abyss》 and then vanished.
Yet she had found no trace of him. Most of the expedition members who had journeyed with Mulack to the 《Abyss》 had long since suffered soul extinction. Even those who survived knew almost nothing.
She could not simply head into the 《Abyss》 either. The being guarding its entrance would not let her through.
And so, hundreds of years had passed in vain.
“Finally...”
How could she explain the joy of finally finding traces of the godfather she had spent nine hundred years searching for?
To think his records had remained in Eight Gates of Hell.
The world was truly ironic. What she had searched for so desperately had been inside the skill she used so often, and the one who found it first was, of all people...
This human.
Sirwen bit her lips, then asked Jaehwan again, as though it still did not feel real.
“Are you sure? It really was left behind by Mulack Armelt?”
“It was the memory of Mulack Armelt, your godfather.”
“How can I trust you?”
Jaehwan slowly closed his eyes.
Sirwen tensed, wondering what this human was about to do now.
A moment later, Jaehwan began to speak.
“I found that 「Egg」 at the Winter Root of the 《Phantasmal Tree》 in the sixth zone. In the bitter cold, on that frozen land where sleet drifted down in scattered flakes, the 「Egg」 waited for me with a radiant glow.”
“...?”
“I was very nervous then. It was the first time in my life that I had picked up an 「Egg」. My Great Mother had often told me about her own experiences, but when the moment came, my mind went blank and none of it helped. Hearing about becoming a parent and becoming one yourself were as different as talking about a tower and building one yourself.”
Sirwen’s eyes began to shake. Her cheeks flushed red as she kept listening to Jaehwan’s story.
“How could I ever forget that moment? A tiny life peeking out through the faint shell of the Egg. A being born from eating dreams, then living on by dreaming anew.”
Sirwen forgot even to breathe as she focused on his story. Simply listening made the scene feel vividly real before her eyes.
In that moment, she stood amid the winter landscape of the sixth zone.
“Tiny fingers clutching fragments of pure white dreams. Hands that would shape the world as they wished, and eyes that would see the world as they dreamed it. Yes. The moment I saw the child’s face after it woke from its shell, I realized my Great Mother had been right. A newborn child truly was...”
Jaehwan slowly opened his eyes.
Sirwen’s trembling eyes were before him. As though conveying someone else’s feelings, he continued in a quiet voice.
“So utterly lovely.”
The emotional tremor that seeped deep into her heart made Sirwen’s face turn bright red before she realized it.
“...W-what?”
Completely flustered, she stumbled backward, tripped over her own leg, and fell on her butt. Her breath came out in ragged puffs.
Jaehwan spoke bluntly to Sirwen, who was still staring blankly into space.
“That should be proof enough.”
“D-don’t recite someone else’s memories as if they were your own!”
The memory Jaehwan had read was of her godfather Mulack finding Sirwen for the first time.
There was no doubt about it. It was the Winter Root of the sixth zone, a place Mulack often mentioned whenever he spoke of the distant past.
As though savoring the memory, Jaehwan looked into the air and spoke again.
“According to this memory, all dream demons are born from 「Eggs」. Where exactly is the Winter Root of the 《Phantasmal Tree》?”
“...The northern root of the 《Phantasmal Tree》 in the 《Great Lands》. All dream demons are born in the dreams of the 《Phantasmal Tree》 and found in the form of 「Eggs」. No, that is not what we should be discussing right now!”
Still unable to calm herself, she hurried over and clung to Jaehwan.
“Did he leave any other message?”
“A message?”
“Something he left specifically for me, surely there must be something like that!”
Jaehwan thought for a moment before speaking.
“I do not know. There may be, or there may not be.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“As I said, these memories are not in the form of a book. They are an extremely complicated collection of memories.”
When he first absorbed them, Jaehwan had been unconscious for a long time from the severe mental shock. An enormous volume of memories had rushed into him all at once.
After he regained consciousness, however, Jaehwan realized that the real problem was not the amount of memories, but their form.
“The form of the memories?”
“Yes.”
For some reason, the memories Mulack left behind were not a continuous sequence. Put simply, they did not flow like a panorama, as if one were watching a long film.
The memories were disconnected, with no careful consideration for the reader. They were fragments so broken that it was impossible to distinguish what came before and after. It was entirely Jaehwan’s responsibility to piece them together, establish an order, and make a story from them.
Perhaps Mulack had not wanted his memories to take the form of an exact story. The more precise a story was, the more it limited interpretation. As a dream demon who loved art, perhaps he had wanted someone to create something through his memories.
Memories left as fragments. In the end, it was up to each individual being to add substance to them and give them meaning.
“...So even if I wanted to tell you something, I cannot. The memory I told you just now was at least one of the parts with a clear sequence.”
“That sounds plausible. So plausible that it makes me even more suspicious.”
Sirwen looked dumbfounded. She had fulfilled every condition of the deal, but now that it was time to receive what she had paid for, the other side’s product was defective.
Jaehwan shamelessly shrugged.
“Why are you searching for Mulack? Just because he is your godfather?”
“What would you do with that information?”
“If you need Mulack’s memories, would it not help you to continue traveling with me?”
“...What?”
“After all, Mulack disappeared in the 《Abyss》. It would not be a bad thing for you either, would it?”
Sirwen’s expression changed once more at the unexpected offer.
In other words, he was telling her to join the Abyss Expedition that would soon depart.
Looking at it now, this human had intended this from the beginning.
As a dream demon, the 《Abyss》 was a place she would have to visit at least once someday, so it was not a bad offer for her either.
Even so, Sirwen felt strangely upset. From beginning to end, it seemed Jaehwan had maneuvered her exactly as he pleased.
Then a flash of light crossed Sirwen’s face.
She had just thought of a brilliant way to get back at Jaehwan.
“Wait. You said the records my godfather left behind took the form of ‘memories,’ right?”
“Yes.”
“Then I have a very good method.”
Sirwen’s eyes gleamed strangely as she finished speaking.
* * *
A little later, Jaehwan was inside a familiar pocket dimension. White linoleum covered the floor, while pale pink wallpaper covered the walls. It was Sirwen’s workshop, which he had visited before.
Jaehwan slowly looked around before speaking.
“Did you not say you would never let me in here again?”
“That was then.”
“You said something about an invasion of privacy...”
“I said that was then!”
Sirwen’s Personal Workshop had a Warp Drive installed within it. This time, though, Jaehwan and Sirwen had not come here because of the Warp Drive.
Sirwen manipulated something on the holographic control panel in the air, then smiled sinisterly.
“All right, preparations are complete. Come over here.”
Footnotes:
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