Chapter 430
Chapter 430
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Offroad (4)
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****
Splash.
Splash.
‘Ah. This again?’
Please, just let me sleep peacefully for one damn day.
Sometimes I wonder if my subconscious is this damp place. Do I sweat in my sleep or something?
The dream I have every night. It’s become such a routine that now, just hearing the splash of shallow water tells me, “This is a dream—”
Now the owner of those footsteps approaches, whispers “Find it~ Whatever it is, find it~” in my ear, and I jolt—
[World Tree. May I ask you something?]
Jolt.... awake.
‘....Different?’
The dream that never changed once in his life had shifted to something entirely new.
Same space, same voice.
[Anything I can answer, I will.]
And a voice he’d never heard before.
Hyde realized that the voice which always commanded him on inscrutable searches was now conversing with someone else.
A silver-haired someone—girl, adult, or middle-aged, he couldn’t tell.
[Are you afraid?]
[Yes. Without you, I might be bawling my eyes out.]
[A child emerging from its mother’s womb not crying would be the strange thing.]
[Uh, um.... You know that metaphor’s kinda hard to swallow, right? My.... producer was, uh.... virgin birth? Bachelor birth? Something awkward like that anyway.]
[He’d throw a fit if he heard that.]
[He’d probably choose to erase you to destroy the evidence.]
Amid the light banter and laughter, a tremor lingered.
The same whisper from his usual dreams, yet laced with a resolute fear utterly unlike it.
[World Tree.]
[I’m listening.]
[I’ll forget everything, won’t I?]
[Yes. Like all other data souls. This is unchangeable, no matter the means. It’s the rule of this world.]
[Here I thought someone of your stature might scheme to defy it.]
[I’m sorry. I would’ve loved for you to face him with your memories intact. It would’ve been a sight.]
[What can you do? It is what it is.]
A brilliant path opened before the two walking side by side, and the familiar voice turned to the silver-haired woman.
[Then, I’ll leave the other side to you.]
[The other side?]
[Yes. Something worth this much.]
The man flashed a mischievous grin at her puzzled expression.
And then—
Rumble—!
‘Ugh, what the—?!’
The shallow water on the floor surged in an instant, drowning their conversation.
Even in the dream’s perspective, sensations hit hard. The roar shaking his eardrums, the faint “Gack gack!” cries.
‘Of all times, now!’
He was waking up. He focused desperately to stay in the dream’s dialogue, but the clearer his mind grew, the more it dragged him to reality.
[....right?]
[....me. .... ....but, ....... .....enough.]
Hyde’s eyes flew wide. The voices faded, but the pair’s final moments lingered in view.
The man parting from the woman, hurling himself into a massive flow of light.
The words she left gazing at the empty space.
Her lips, desperately read.
May your will reach the end.
Hyde.
.
.
.
.
-Whoosh!
****
-Gasp!
“Gahhh!”
“Keeaaak!”
The dream yanked him awake.
He’d been reaching for the silver-haired woman, but what he grabbed was a goblin’s scrawny arm.
“Keeaak! Let go! Let go, human! Bad sleep habits!”
“Ugh.... Sorry, bad dream.”
“Bullshit! Next time, dream nicely! Weird human!”
A different dream.
Yeah, a different dream. The voice tormenting him his whole life appeared in a new form.
Something that never happened before.
“....Morning?”
“Lunch! Late lunch! You groaned all day, so I woke you!”
“Lunch?”
He’d even overslept. He who rose like clockwork at six a.m., sleeping till late lunch.
Me, Pathfinder Hyde, oversleeping!
“Grrrrr—ah!”
“W-What’re you doing?”
“Just something. People stretch like this when they oversleep.”
Before this rare chance vanished, he flopped back onto the bed.
Limbs stretched till they might pop off, groaning like he’d been stabbed in the gut.
The thing he always wanted to try after oversleeping: a full-body stretch.
“....Nothing special?”
Unlike others’ tales of ultimate refreshment, his head throbbed, throat scratchy. The rested feeling was nice, but wasting half the day? Meh.
“Hey, quit fooling around and come eat!”
“Oh, you cooked?”
“Deal! Lodging and food provided! Kaibuen values deals! Work for the coin!”
“Goblin cooking, huh....”
Far from his dreamed “oversleep stretch, fresh brunch,” but who knew when he’d oversleep again? Better experience it all.
Trailing Kaibuen—apron and all—Hyde pondered the dream’s end.
Hyde. The name the voice in his lifelong dreams called him.
The name now his own.
The dream woman’s call to that guy.
Just who the hell was Hyde?
A guy who could read anyone with a glance after a lifetime observing people, clueless about his own identity.
“....Kaibuen.”
“Bullshit?”
“Breakfast menu?”
“Stir-fried crap till unrecognizable! Tasty!”
“....Sounds helpful for waking up, at least.”
Hyde chuckled wryly at his contradictory state, hurrying his steps.
Must be the sleep fog.
Eat something, and thoughts’ll come.
****
Clink clink.
“Cheep cheep! So, you dream every night! Some man whispers?”
“Mm, yeah. Hey, another bowl.”
Clatter, chomp chomp!
“Dream man calls you ‘Hyde’!”
“Yeah. Since around five years old, 23 years running.”
“Today’s dream had man and woman!”
“Mm-hm.”
“Woman calls dream-voice man ‘Hyde’! Right?”
“Mm. You got it. Goblins really are smart.”
Gulp—!
“Then dream human is Hyde! You, real self!”
“That’s the ambiguous part!”
“Dreams are lost memories, no?”“No gaps since temple orphanage to now, where’s lost memories?”
“Really none?”
“None!”
“Silver-haired woman?”
“Never met a silver-haired woman, let alone one like that.”
“Coughhack.... Eeeeng, grrr....”
At the table.
Kaibuen’s proud “stir-fried unrecognizable crap” was surprisingly tasty. He polished off the palm-sized bowl, bought the whole small pot when the goblin demanded extra, and shoveled it in.
Eating late lunch, clearing his head, he shared the dream: the usual search commands, today’s new form same voice, the guy’s name, the name it called him.
Smack!
“Kaibuen knows!”
“Oh? What?”
“Bullshit dream! You spun gold to crazy!”
“Pfft. See any connections? Dream ‘World Tree’ and voice mentioned waiting for ‘him.’ Isn’t that suspicious Warlord guy? Voice waits for Warlord. Brainwashes me to find him. Ring any bells?”
“Bullshit dream! Ruining my meal, double bullshit! I haven’t finished half!”
“Yeah yeah, sorry, buddy. Finish eating.”
He’d hoped for an engineer’s flash of insight, but nope.
Kaibuen groaned long, eyed his cold meal, declared bullshit dream.
‘Well, gaps can fill later.’
Recent anomalies piling up. Too linked for coincidence.
‘Dream Hyde waits for [him].’
‘He called me Hyde, made me hunt Warlord.’
‘I share Warlord’s memories, emotions sometimes. Impossible, but experienced, so fact.’
So am I.
Dream [Hyde]? The [Warlord] he waits for?
Or Pathfinder Hyde.
Links glaring, tangled tails biting—unravel later.
Anyway, I’ll keep chasing Warlord.
His memories, emotions will keep coming.
Like before, more revelations ahead.
Big picture after pieces gather.
So dream pondering ends here~
Focus on reality now. Like—
Click!
“This?”
“2.3 million riel! Deep sea breathing nozzle! For high-mana spots, frame and shell all magistone!”
Gear for diving the shattered continent’s notorious sea, ‘Deep Blue Line.’ Odd magitech bought touring the workshop yesterday.
“And this! Bankrupt Blade! Honored to touch such!”
“Oh, nice.”
His sword, Anti-Aura Sword, reborn pristine.
Shing—
One draw, and the magistone blade hummed alive. Sparks from sheath friction sharper.
“Not bad?”
“Kek! Kaibuen worked hard! Magistone sword, can’t melt! Stuffed in underground magistone vault, shave clinging bits, repeat! Magistone processing not like that!”
“No wonder. Other smiths, engineers waved me off.”
“Very unique! Sheath grips blade, draw force activates other cores! Draw power tunes output—rare in modern magitech! Ancient empire rich noble toy, just mana cannon barrel output! Unfair rep from that! Brilliant device! Superb! Overwhelming!”
“Yeah. So, improvements? You found durability flaw.”
“Fixed! Kaibuen, once-in-history genius!”
“Oho! So ten swings a day now?”
“No! Fixed durability flaw, widened output range! Still two per day! Stronger now!”
“Should’ve made it three!”
Smack!
“Geeeak! Craftsman respect! Ungrateful!”
“Craftsman my ass! Still two-shot premature weapon!”
“Premature needing no two! Ultimate power! Pride to self-destruct if miss one-shot!”
Kaibuen’s eyes sparkled, rhapsodizing Anti-Aura Sword’s magitech wonders, then showed oval groove inside sheath.
“Deep Blue Line, mountains in sea like name. Endless ocean cliffs from explosion surge.”
“Heard the name, know it.”
“Descriptions lie! Mana meant to flow world exploded there! Sea thick with mana! Mana waterfalls crossing voids—mad sea!”
Tap tap.
“Spawned weird cores! Explosion pressure melted everything! Mountain of mana, weird powers, concepts condensed into freaky cores! Famous shard knights’ living shard gear needs ’em! ‘Vein Shards’ from deep sea! Slot in sheath groove, Bankrupt Blade revives! Ancient magitech legend of kill or suicide—only that core handles it!”
“Sounds dangerous?”
“Sea drowned knights! Waves skip ships! Berserk mana spawned monsters! Exploding fish, iron-eating crabs, super-acidic seaweed clinging from waves! Underestimate, die!”
“Yeah. Rumors match.”
Sigh.
Hate going.
If not only path to old Lordric, if not chasing continent-devouring psycho, zero interest diving that hell.
“With Aura, no such worries.”
Crunch!
Gripped hilt hard in frustration—only trembling blade, hand marks left.
“What can ya do? Weakling tries harder.”
Click!
Sigh, sheathed sword.
Rustle.
Packed rations, consumables in cloak pockets, sorted.
....Clink!
Finally, opened glass case on Kaibuen’s table, pulled Lordric-bound ship ticket.
Kaibuen prepped port route (intro + fare, 3 mil riel, cash/items)—just sneak magitrain outside, hop on.
“Kek. Leaving?”
“Yeah. Rested well, ate well, spent well. Catch ya later, Kaibuen.”
“....Cheep cheep! Before, one! Question!”
Heading out on time, goblin grabbed him.
“You, Hyde! Bankrupt Blade aside, ancient relics galore! Thirty-nine pockets, thirteen subspatial—magic mod cloak! Items inside, all rare! How? Too pricey all bought! Impossible!”
“What, that bugged you?”
“Curious! Abnormal!”
Too serious—brushing off wouldn’t work, so truth.
“Trinkets from folks like you, Keruzaru on road. Priceless imperial stuff? Mostly found myself.”
“You found? Relics?”
“Yeah. Cities send trains, earth mages dig soft soil ruins sometimes. I join, find, snag.”
“Geeee.... Crazier than bought!”
“Hm? Why?”
“Viable relic sites rarer than roach tears! You’re twenty-eight! That many relic items? Your name on every recent ruin finder!”
“....That much? They’re just there when I want ’em.”
“That much! Abnormal! Total nonsense!”
Kaibuen rampaged, groaned, then:
“See? You got erased memories!”
“Told ya no. Want diary from five? Daily, no skips.”
“Anyway, yes! Your tales, flow, leading to old Lordric! One flow! Prepared!”
Coughhack.... grr, cheep, kek....
“Kaibuen clueless more. But someone prepped for you! Like dream ‘Hyde’ muttered endlessly, shaped you now! Your skills! Tools! Someone in head told you! Prepped spots for items!”
Kaibuen seized his hand.
“You, very important human! Hidden value you don’t know!”
“Uh.... Kaibuen, you’re hyped....”
“Value changes! Kaibuen invested in your value! Greater you become, greater Kaibuen! Epic deal! Perfect, no cost!”
HypED, but goblin cheer, whatever.
“Uh, yeah. Th-Thanks.”
“Go, go! Late, value gone! You, overlooked greatness! Wanna see change! Hurry!”
Pushed by goblin hand to tracks, slowed magitrain loomed. Cargo door half-open—drops goods nearby, no entering.
Speeding soon, hard hang—ran alongside. Engineer, prepped, grabbed extended hand.
『Tootwoooo—!』
Mighty whistle, accelerating train—trackside goblin shrieking visible.
Noise-piercing, shrill yowl.
“-Evidence! You! Proof!”
“Not pissed now! You fine! Proof no control!”
“Prepared! You! For now prepared!”
Little sprint alongside train faded fast.
Prepared. My skills, situations, every weirdness—for some moment....
“Interesting theory.”
Kinda makes sense.
....Clunk!
“Hello!”
“Hey, Pathfinder! This the infamous wanted guy?”
“Hear you dodge warrants like a pro—spot on! Goblin pals too!”
“Heh heh heh. Pathfinder can’t find own escape quits biz! So, where hitch?”
If prepared, for what.
Hyde figured one more question for Warlord, slipped between engineers.
Port far. Time to think.
****