Novel Bin Chapter 31
Translator: twomorefreethoughts / TpstT (29-11-2018)
Editor: Hands of Vecna / Vecna (10-12-2018)
Translation link:
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Update 1: Hi everyone, I’m back! For anyone who hasn’t seen the please have a look if you have a minute or two of free time, it contains the details of how this series’ translation will go and all the changes to terms I previously used. I will be serving as the main translator for Chapter 31-40, please let me know if there are any inconsistencies.
Update 2: Release schedule, for now, is set to 1 chapter every 3 days, I’ll post the schedule on the side of the page as a note. Currently, I’m translating chapter 35 and Vecna is translating chapter 41.
TL Disclaimer: I have no experience in translating anything, nor am I great at either English or Japanese. This is not machine translated but Japanese to English dictionary is occasionally used for words I am not sure about. I will not be able to fully translate the author’s jokes, puns or slangs if there are any. I will try to stick with literal translation where possible in the context. If there is anything I don’t understand I will leave it in a bracket (x).
If there is an error in the translation, website, sentence structure or format please let me know in the comments below or DM me on the discord and I will try my best to fix them. Any constructive feedback is appreciated.
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(Author Note)
I also wrote it in the Activity Report but, the publication has been determined.
(Author Note End)
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Well, this is getting pretty complicated.
I sighed out loud as I was making weapons and bullets for Libra using alchemy.
If I was to put it in words all that I wanted to do whilst I was in this country, that would be to meet with one of the 7 heroes Merak and to determine if the inside was a player just like me or not.
It was my intention, that if I could make that determination, I would quickly leave this place, yet things just didn’t work the way I wanted them to.
For some reasons, things progressed to such a degree that we were just one step away from having a civil war, and if I left things alone, this place looked like it would self-destruct.
Self-destruction is no good. And if you ask me why self-destruction is no good, it’s because if the country gets destroyed and Merak gets taken down, humanoids would have lost a guardian pillar and get further pushed into the corner.
And... half of the reason for that civil war is me. So I can’t just ignore it.
Putting things simply, because I - or rather Ruphas - was defeated 200 years ago, the relationship between the White Wings Supremacists and the Mixed Wings Advocates who already had tension to begin with, reached the point of no return where it wouldn’t be weird for them to start fighting anytime.
... so yeahhhh nahh, this is no good at all.
In any case, something had to be done about this situation first.
I requested Libra to capture someone called Jupiter or whatever, but it’s probably better to take steps to do what we could in the meantime.
That being the case, the first thing that came to mind was that Merak properly keeping both camps under control.
Honestly speaking, this was the best case scenario with the least amount of effort required.
Personally, I thought all of this was happening partly because he was indecisively sitting on the fence.
So, if I could somehow manage to motivate him to act, then it shouldn’t be impossible to stop the civil war before it happened.
However, I just happened to be a nation-wide "bad guy". Furthermore, the people in this country had a long life-span so they totally remembered my face. (TLN: shouldn’t it be international)
Or more like there’s even a bronze statue of me!
In other words, for me to act in the open brazenly was totally out.
Having said that, full-body robe was also a bad idea. I just looked like a suspicious person, no matter how, I’m looked at.
So in the end, I should try cross-dressing in the way that I thought of the other day.
The problem regarding clothing could be solved with alchemy.
Firstly I tied my hair behind my neck, then I put on fake glasses.
On the head, I wore a black hat, and overall, the impression of me changed a bit.
I bandaged my chests tightly and wore a white t-shirt on the top.
The pants are... black should be fine.
Finally, I wore a red mantle as an overcoat and hid my wings with the stealth bandage.
"Hmm..... after this is... the way I speak huh....."
(TLN: Remember that Ruphas as a character speaks down on others. I don’t know about UK or US but, here in Australia, whether you are speaking to a boss, friend, elder, family or younger generation, there’s not much difference in the way we speak - yes there’s little difference but not much compared to Japan. However, in Japan there’s "tier" -if you will - of speech. You speak differently to elders, senior, junior, boss, friend, family, younger sibling, older sibling, etc. English just doesn’t have that many tones or way of speech to convey the way Ruphas speaks accurately.)
After disguising, I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself.
Un, how do I put it? Although it is a bit weird to say it myself, because the original is a super beauty, even after cross-dressing, I still look like a maiden somewhat.
For a man, the face just looks too beautiful.
Maybe, something like a facial hair would.... Nope, I suppose with this facial feature it will only look unnatural.
If I knew something like this was going to happen, I should have taken Strider’s Disguise skill.... It was an interesting skill that allowed the user to change the outer appearance for a set amount of time.
Damn it, on top of being a p2w skill, it was merely an appearance changer so I thought "don’t need it" and ignored it, but if I knew this was going to happen, I should have taken it.
(TLN: p2w (aka pay2win) is a term often used in gaming to mean paying with real life money to win (either by obtaining p2w exclusive items or gaining an unfair advantage with consumers, equipment, stats, etc), nowadays the term has gotten a little loose and also includes anything you obtain by paying real life money in the game from "cash shop" EVEN IF it’s available to other players by playing the game, if you play mobile games, think of it as micro-transaction)
And there’s still my manner of speech. Even if I put the effort in, it didn’t change at all.
It’s as if something was working against it, the way I spoke was stubbornly fixed in the way it was.
Unfortunately, maybe I had no other choice but to be a mute character.
"Ruphas-sama, is it fine now?"
"Un, I don’t mind"
While I was taking various poses in front of the mirror, Libra opened the door and came in.
My current location, not that it mattered but, was a small room inside the room of an inn.
Surprisingly, in this inn, each room came with another small room within it.
No, please don’t say it’s normal. In this world, this setup is actually fairly rare.
Anyways, that was where I was changing into my disguise... was what I was trying to say.
Initially, Libra wanted to help me get changed but I rejected that proposal.
If I left it up to her, I was scared that she was going to make me wear something weird.
"What do you think, Libra? Does it suit me?"
"Ruphas-sama looks good in whatever you decide to wear.
However, if I may be permitted to be rude, it is my opinion that your current appearance might make you the target of this and that from the gentleman who may be interested in others of the same gender."
"........so what you are trying to say is, I don’t look like a man at all?"
"You at least look more like a man than Aries."
For real though, she really had that personality where she would just say whatever the hell she wanted.
Well, it’s still better than being overly reserved though.
Or rather, Aries also would just say whatever he wanted and Dina also did the same, so perhaps none of my subordinates even knew the word "restraint".
"If I had to point anything out, I recommend sunglasses over normal glasses."
"I see, there was that too."
Indeed, my face was well-known and there’s still a worry that normal glasses alone might be insufficient.
I agreed and nodded to Libra’s suggestion, and pointed my finger towards the room’s corner.
I’d make the sunglasses later.
"By the way, transmutation of bullets is done. It’s over there, so take the ones you like."
"Thank you very much."
Libra thanked me and walked towards the place with the ammunition.
Libra then made some ’gacha-gacha’ sound and EVERYTHING was stored in her body.
....wait, hang on, how did she just do that?
There’s clearly far more ammunition than the size of her body would allow.
"With this, the probability to successfully capture Jupiter has increased. The next time he encounters me will be his last."
Libra said a very promising thing indeed.
It’s not that it didn’t somewhat sound like a flag but, I really could not foresee losing at all.
(TLN: "flag" is a Japanese slang often used by the younger generations to mean something that might happen in the future. There can be multiple meaning to flags by putting a word before the word "flag" itself but, by default, it means something negative, i.e. death flag)
Basing on the strength of the 7 Luminaries that we had previously fought (laugh) Jupiter’s level should at most be around level 300. Furthermore, Libra had the attribute advantage over him.
However I think about it, it should be an overwhelming victory for Libra.
Anyways, I should leave this Jupiter-san to Libra and think about a method to make Merak move.
As for Aries and Dina, I should send them around to check up on the extremists.
I was also interested in the plans of the White Wings Supremacists’ [Volunteer Army].
"By the way, Ruphas-sama, since a while ago I haven’t seen Dina around. Do you have any idea where she might be?"
"? Are you not able to detect her using your sensor?"
"Negative, there is no response from her within a 100km radius of me. There is no other conclusion but to say that I believe she is out of the country."
Whilst Libra questioned the strangeness, I thought "Ahh", and put my hands together.
She had probably returned to the tower using the teleportation magic.
Which reminded me, Libra was not aware that Dina knew teleportation magic.
"There is no need to worry about that. She is a user of teleportation magic.
I suspect that, currently, she returned back to the tower to manage the finance."
"Teleportation magic.... Are you perhaps talking about... X-Gate?"
"Nn? No, I haven’t heard about it in detail yet."
"I am surprised. Could there really be a teleportation magic aside from X-Gate in this day and age?"
To Libra’s remark, I felt a slight headache.
What is it..... something is, there is some sense of discomfort.....
.....but, whatever it is, it doesn’t really matter right now. Though, it’s true that I can understand Libra’s surprise.
After all, no such thing as "teleportation magic" had existed 200 years ago.
Yes exactly, there was no such convenient magic inside [X-Gate Online].
There were many modes of travel, and of course, there was also a command which allowed instantaneous movement from one map to another. However, that was a command to move across the map instantaneously and as such, it was treated as if the character had "travelled" normally and not "teleported".
The only exception in the game was the existence of [X-Gate]. However, that was merely treated as a vocabulary or setting, never appearing in the actual game. And of course, it was unobtainable.
Therefore, Dina’s "Teleportation Magic" is either an X-Gate or some new magic which was newly created and introduced in the past 200 years.
But why.... Why is it that, after all this time, I’m only recalling about this now?
Why did I accept it as a matter of course until now?
"Ruphas-sama?"
"! A, Ahh, that’s right. Now that you mention it, I have not heard about those explanations from Dina. When she returns, let’s try asking her."
If I thought about it, there was a lot about Dina that we didn’t know about.
It was a known fact that she was originally a "mob", a background NPC, but other than that particular information, I really didn’t know anything more about her.
She was not a golem created by me like Libra, nor was she a captured monster like Aries.
Not that it mat.... No, I didn’t feel too good about it, but there was a need for us to sit down and talk things through once.
*
"Shit... that golem, she just went full-on...."
Inside a forest that was some distance away from the city, Jupiter was screaming insults whilst treating his own injuries.
Everything was going according to plan until today.
Naming himself as ’Jupitar’, he successfully infiltrated into the white side of the city and he even successfully set up the civil war.
All that it remained for him to do was to wait for the white and the black camps to destroy each other, then take out Merak after the country had perished.
Of course, when it came to one of the 7 Heroes, it would not be an easy win even if there was the [Loser’s Stigma].
However, he had the confidence to win if Merak became separated from his guards amidst the chaos caused by the civil war.
Especially because Merak excelled in the power of the [Earth]. Therefore as someone with an affinity to the element [Wood], he stood in an advantageous position.
The current location was approximately 500km from the city.
I don’t know about that maid golem’s detection range but I’ve heard from the legend that even if you were 100km away from her, she can still pursue you. There are even stories of her sniping enemies from 200km away, so I’m going to put caution on top of caution and stay a few times the distance away, and hold my breath on top of that whilst hiding in the forest.
Travelling is a bit of a bother but I can easily cover that distance with my ability.
But anyway, it’s become bit troublesome.
As long that golem’s in the city, I’m going to get detected as soon as I get close to it and get chased.
And if I decide to fight her, I stand absolutely no chance of winning.
Truly, why did it become like this..... No, I know the reason already.
That golem is there because Ruphas Mafahl brought her along into the city.
But why "now"? Why did this happen at this worst possible timing?
Seriously, what is [that person] doing?
I thought you were supposed to be monitoring Ruphas to prevent something like this from happening.
"Why there, you look like you’re not doing too well."
There was a cute chuckle as if there was something funny.
When Jupiter turned his murderous stare towards the direction of the noise, what he saw was exactly ’that person’ whom that he was thinking about, laughing at him with pleasure whilst putting her hands on her lips.
A moonlight shone onto her long golden hair which reached her knees. An overly maintained beauty.
Wearing a pure white robe, a completely enigmatic colleague walked towards Jupiter.
—one of the 7 Luminaries, Venus.
With the appearance of a beautiful young girl, she was the devilish witch who possessed the element of Metal.
That skin, as if it there was some camouflage, was a shade of white that almost seemed transparent - something you really couldn’t think of as belonging to a demon race.
She was an existence and someone that was brought in by the leader; one who possessed the title of the [Sun]. According to him, she was a real demon, but she was an entity that was shrouded in mystery.
It seemed that the leader fully trusted her, but Jupiter had persistently felt some reservation about her.
"You bastard.... You still have the guts to show up like nothing’s wrong!?"
"Oh, you’re so scary. Don’t get angry, I don’t like it."
"Shut up! Why didn’t you come help me out!?
And on top of that, why didn’t you stop Ruphas Mafahl from coming to this city or make a report about it!
Thanks to you, I’m in this condition!"
"Oh, are you able to say that? I was waiting at the meeting place for you the whole time. Not only did you make a lady wait for you, you even stood me up, you’re a failure as a man, you know."
Whilst staring daggers at the girl who was purposefully making it obvious that she was faking tears, Jupiter’s expression was so full of hatred that he felt his teeth were going to shatter from grinding too much.
However, she was completely unconcerned with this and even topped it up with more words.
"I planned to make a report, you know. I seem to recall the person who didn’t come to the important meeting place was you, wasn’t it?"
"Guu.... Then, then why, then why did you just let them come to the city!? If it’s you, shouldn’t you have been able to stop them!?"
"Please don’t say such unreasonable things.
There’s no way someone like me would be able to stop that Supreme Ruler.
All that someone like me can do, is to just keep a lookout for where they’re going, that’s it."
In response to what Venus just said, Jupiter clicked his tongue in a way that would be heard by her.
This bitch is always like this. Always so slippery and gets away from the pursuit. So truly, so detestable.
"But I also feel bad about it, you know. So tonight, I thought I should help you hence I have come before you."
"Help me, you say?"
"Yeah. It’s in the way, right? That golem.
If it’s for just a small amount of time, I can handle that thing."
Jupiter was suspicious towards this suggestion.
He was thankful for the suggestion itself. *A saving grace.
No, if anything, he really had no other option but to cling onto that suggestion.
(TLN: for * raw used渡りに舟, which is a Japanese proverb, literally meaning something like ’Ship to cross’. I had to research the proverb a bit but from what I’ve read it signifies something like a ’saving grace’. If anyone has a better alternative please let me know below.)
".....is it even possible?"
"If it’s about 20 minutes, it’s absolutely possible."
".....20 minutes huh."
20 minutes.... is a short amount of time.
But if there’s that much time, as long as I get fairly close to the city from the start I can make the round trip.
With it, I can go to the country, randomly attack the White Town and then simply tell those idiots: "It’s an attack from the Black City" and it would be fine.
After I do that, those guys will simply crush each other for me.
Merak.... As for Merak, I’ll let it slide.
Once the country gets destroyed, I’ll first wait for Ruphas’ group to leave.
Even if it’s that person, as long as the country is gone, she should lose interest and leave.
Ruphas is the demon’s enemy but she should also be the 7 heroes’ enemy..... so she should leave.
After that happens, I can just assassinate Merak somehow.
"Ok fine.... make things happen properly. As for the signal, send it using this magic stone!"
"This is magic stone of the wind."
"That’s right, if you use this I’ll know. Understand? Do things properly!"
After saying that, Jupiter pushed the stone onto Venus, then sat back down on that spot.
Venus also did not say anything else and left that place silently.
On that face was a smile filled with contempt even though he was supposed to be her ally–.
(TLN: I wrote a note about this back in Chapter 20 but this series’ author like to break the sentences up into small parts and separate them using a comma. I try to stick to literal translation where possible and if the sentences are split into parts in the raw I also try to separate them into parts. So when you are reading my translation and see unnecessary splits in the sentence, please keep in mind that most of those were split by the author to make some kind of emphasis on some word. One example is in the last sentence after the word face.)
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(Author Note) - skit - (TLN: refer to the end of my chapter 17)