Genjitsushugi Yuusha no Oukokusaikenki. Arc 4 Chapter 3B

Translator Corner

Minasan oideyasu. This is Yukkuri demasu!

Sorry for not posting anything for so long.

If you follow NovelUpdatesForum or the discord, you may know that I am really busy for this and the next month from work, so I don’t really have much free time anymore.

But the good news are that I had finished translating some chapters between them (not much, sorry for that).

I don’t know when I will have my free time back, but I hope I could take a long year end break… (hopefully).

DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that my translation is 100% correct. Please correct me if I was wrong.

Author:

Dozeumaru(どぜう丸)

Translator:

Yukkuri Oniisan

Editor:

So-Chintzy

Enlightenment Arc

Chapter 3: The Core of CoReform B

Between the Capital City, Parnam, and the new coastal city, which was still under construction, lay the Arcs’ territory. This was the land that was governed by the Arcs’ House, where Ludwin Arcs served as its House’s Head (even so, Ludwin practically resided in the Royal Castle, so he was represented by a magistrate). If compared to the territories of this country’s nobles and knights, it was just an average territory.

Since Ludwin had performed meritorious achievements in the previous war, he would have been transferred to a bigger territory, but for some reason, Ludwin firmly objected to it. It seems that he had a reason for his desire to not be separated from his territory. Well, since there was no need to transfer him against his will, I decided to grant him the lands surrounding his territory. Then right now, Liscia and I, together with Ludwin, were travelling to that territory with the Royal Family’s Flying Dragon’s Gondola. It was to ascertain the truth of what we had heard from Ludwin several days ago.

By the way, since Ludwin was with us, we didn’t bring any guards. Aisha was quite worried and complained, but since the Royal Guards’ Commander was with us, there shouldn’t be any problems. Furthermore…… we also intended to deal with this matter with just this group, so it was good if the number of our escorts was small.

I watched the Arcs’ territory from the sky and it looked deserted. Since it was the time that Autumn changed into Winter, the trees had shed their leaves, the fully harvested fields were soil-colored, and the pasture lands looked a bit discolored. What a bad season to visit. Since there were many fields and pastures, from Spring until the start of Autumn, there would have been a tranquil scene unfolding before me, and if I waited a bit until the snow had fallen, then it would be dyed with pure white. ……Well, I didn’t come for sightseeing, though.

「This place, Your Majesty, please land here.」(Ludwin)

Like what Ludwin had said, we landed the gondola at the edge of a small forest. Even as we landed, the surroundings looked like just any other ordinary forest with common trees growing side by side. I ordered the gondola pilot to wait for us in this place and then I asked Ludwin.

「Is that person really inside this forest?」(Souma)

「Yes. Though to be more precise, not “inside” but “under”.」(Ludwin)

「Under?」(Souma)

「It might be quicker to see it personally.」(Ludwin)

After Ludwin said so, we began to walk into the forest.

「Then, Your Majesty, Princess, please follow me.」(Ludwin)

Following Ludwin’s guidance, Liscia and I walked side-by-side inside the forest. Just in case, as a precaution for wild animals, I scattered out my small mouse dolls, that I used in the disaster relief at the Dark Elf Village, to search the surroundings. However, there seemed to be no creatures that could be a threat to us. This small forest was often entered by people and the leafless trees granted an unobstructed view, so there shouldn’t be any problems. Well, even if there was one, Ludwin and Liscia would deal with it somehow.

But if I had to name a problem, then it would be this frigid temperature. I felt that today was even colder than usual. Perhaps I should have worn thicker clothes. But, Liscia, who walked beside me, seems fine.

「Liscia, you don’t feel cold?」(Souma)

「When I was still in the Army, I also participated in marching during the snow. So this much is nothing to me.」(Liscia)

Marching during the snow…… You are, more or less, a Princess, right? As expected, aren’t you too aggressive? Wasn’t Georg even more considerably at a loss with your actions? While I was thinking about this, I was semi-desperately singing 『Snow March』[1] (although, there was snow falling right now).

*Poka*[2]

「Ouch.」(Souma)

Liscia lightly hit me with her still sheathed sword.

「Don’t sing some ominous song like that beside me.」(Liscia)

「Ominous…… Well, ominous is it?」(Souma)

The tune was lively, but the lyrics were only about the hardships of a battle in the cold. Furthermore, the final lyric was, 「In any case, we won’t return alive.」

「Either way, it really cold……」(Souma)

「……si~gh.」(Liscia)

Suddenly, Liscia slid both of her arms around my arm. Then, she tightly held it closely, like she was supporting me from the side and smiled teasingly.

「You feel warmer this way, right?」(Liscia)

「…… I was strangely sweating」(Souma)

「Why!?」(Liscia)

「Liscia is so cute that it makes my heart pound thumpingly.」(Souma)

「I-I see…… My heart too is thumping fast.」(Liscia)

While we were flirting like this, Ludwin suddenly stopped.

「This place, Your Majesty, Princess.」(Ludwin)

We quickly separated when Ludwin turned around. We hadn’t realized until now, but there was some kind of really big conspicuous thing. Which is……

「A garage?」(Souma)

It was something that I couldn’t describe with any other word. It was covered in moss, but it was a small rectangular building that was made from something similar to concrete. The entrance was closed with something similar to a shutter. From its size, it was hard to judge whether or not a common car could enter it, but its outward appearance was totally like a garage. Although this world had outstanding technologies, overall, this world’s cultural level was preindustrial, so its design was unusual. In the first place, wasn’t the concrete itself something that I had introduced for the first time not that long ago? Seeing that I was puzzled, Ludwin shook his head.

「It’s not a garage. A carriage can’t enter if the place was only this tall.」(Ludwin)

It seemed that in this world, ‘Garage = For Horse Carriage’. A station wagon might not fit, but perhaps there was enough space for a common sedan car, but even if I said this, they wouldn’t understand…… Or rather, if what he said was true, then I don’t understand the reason for this building design in the first place.

「Then, what is this building?」(Souma)

When I inquired him, Ludwin answered with a serious expression.

「It’s the entrance to a dungeon, Your Majesty.」(Ludwin)

◇　◇　◇

Dungeon.

A maze-like place where a mysterious, peculiar, and unique ecosystem had taken root. For this world, this was a place where monsters existed before the appearance of the Demon Lord’s Realm. When I was playing adventurer with Musashi Boy-kun and was invited into a party with Diss, Yuno and the others, we entered a dungeon and it was similar to the usual image of dungeons as caves. So I never imagined that the entrance of a dungeon could be similar to such a clearly man-made structure like this……

When I asked about this, it seems that there were all sorts of dungeons that exist in this world

「There are many kinds of dungeons. The locations range from grasslands to forests or mountains, on top of that, there even dungeons under the sea. The interior shape, too, could be a cave system or an underground castle covered with stones, or a mysterious room coated in metal.」(Liscia)

Liscia taught me about the dungeons. That reminds me, I heard that even the Royal Voice Broadcast Orb was discovered inside a dungeon. Since an overtechnology futuristic items like that could be discovered inside the dungeon, it wouldn’t be strange for the dungeon itself to be made from an overtechnology futuristic materials…… something like this?

「Or rather, how do you discover a dungeon under the sea?」(Souma)

「There are races that could breath underwater and if there was air inside the underwater dungeon, it will be similar to diving inside a large bell.」(Liscia)

Ah, a diving bell. A bell-like vehicle that could be submerged underwater while maintaining an air supply. I only ever know this from manga…… so I sort of want to ride inside of one.

「Then, are there are any monsters inside this dungeon?」(Souma)

When I asked about this, Ludwin immediately shook his head.

「Not at all! This place could be called as a “defunct dungeon”. The monsters and the creatures inside had been exterminated a long time ago.」(Ludwin)

「So you mean, this dungeon had been cleared?」(Souma)

「Yes. Currently, the ownership of this defunct dungeon had been transferred to an eccentric branch of a noble house that has turned it into a research facility…… the Maxwell House. And right now, someone from that House is living in this place.」(Ludwin)

Then Ludwin went to the side of the dungeon’s entrance and called out in front of a metal tube.

「Ginya![3] It’s me! Ludwin Arcs! Since you rarely go outside, I think you’re there. Answer me if you are indeed inside!」(Ludwin)

The metal pipe that he yelled into was perhaps a speaking tube. It didn’t get used, but I believed that it was also installed in the Battleship Albert. Or rather, the seldom outdoors person that Ludwin was calling, seemed to be named Ginya (from their name, perhaps they are a woman?), perhaps she was a hikikomori(shut-in)? Then, from the speaking tube, there was a sound of something falling and then, there was a voice of a young woman.

『Owi-wi-wie…… Hi, Lu-nii. Wazzup?』[4](Ginya)

「Wazzup back to you…… There are rather loud sounds back there. Are you alright?」(Ludwin)

『Ahaha…… Since Lu-nii suddenly called me, I was surprised and dropped something. Good thing that it’s not a dangerous chemical, yup yup~.』(Ginya)

「That is not a good thing at all……」(Ludwin)

Ludwin dropped his shoulders despondently. It think I understand their relationship. A girl who was wrapped around the man's finger and the man who had his fingers wrapped around by the girl. Ludwin calmed himself and shook his head.

「At any rate, right now I have brought important people. Let me in.」(Ludwin)

「Hm~mm…….Understood. I’m opening it now.」(Ginya)

Then the closed shutter automatically opened. Perhaps it was controlled by a switch. In the first place, this was something that was out of place for this world after all. What appeared when the shutter was opened was a flight of stairs that continued underground. So this garage was really only an entrance. Without knowing my astonishment, the girl called Ginya welcomed us with a cheery tone.

「Then, Lu-nii, and the guests too, come in~ ♪」(Ginya)

◇　◇　◇

As we walked down the stairs, we could see a large and wide underground space. From Ludwin’s explanation, this dungeon wasn’t that wide, at the most, it would only be the size of a five-story school building buried undergrounds. However, the dungeon’s owners, the people from the Maxwell House, had demolished the floors and the walls to obtain a large and wide space, so currently the whole dungeon was a single humongous room.

The stairs that crawled at one side of the huge room’s walls were like a sheer cliff, so it was quite scary, to the point that I wished it to have a handrail. In addition, the walls were made from some kind of metal. Liscia had mentioned a dungeon like this as 「a mysterious room coated with metal」, but if I had to describe it myself, then it would be that it was similar to the interior of a futuristic spaceship. The metal walls were strangely shining, so even though this place was underground, it was rather bright. These walls, too, seemed to be something of the future.

This display of an futuristic overtechnology like this sent my mind into a great confusion, but Liscia and Ludwin didn’t seem that interested in it. I heard from them later that they thought that it was some kind of magic. In other words, Liscia and Ludwin didn’t think of this as a product of scientific technology. Well, there was a possibility that this was indeed magic, but no matter how I thought about it, I believe that these walls were made from scientific technology. Since they thoughtlessly thought that magic could do anything, the people of this world might have a thin sense of curiosity.

While descending the stairs, we heard about the matters of the Maxwell House from Ludwin.

「Perhaps this is hereditary, but there were many outstanding researchers that appeared from the Maxwell House and it could be said that they had greatly raised this country’s level of civilization. They were particularly acknowledged in the studies of the technologies discovered inside the dungeon. The usage method of the quasi-receiver of the Royal Voice Broadcast Orb was also discovered by the Maxwell House.」(Ludwin)

I see, so the one who discovered how to use that quasi-receiver was the Maxwell House.

「Wait a minute. Doesn’t the Empire also normally use this receiver?」(Souma)

「This is a story from a very long time ago. One of the kings in the past had sold this knowledge to the other countries.」(Ludwin)

「Hmm…… Well, it’s hard to say if his action was a mistake.」(Souma)

To spread such an advanced technology was a scary idea, but if its dissemination won’t have many effects, and if it was a knowledge that could be discovered by someone else, then it would be better to have sold it when it could still be sold. It could also be exchanged for another technology. Ludwin continued his story.

「Because of that great achievement, they received this defunct dungeon and the territory around it. However, the Maxwell House that was focused on their research, didn’t have any interest in managing the territory. For this reason, the Royal Family gave an order to my House, the Arcs House, to govern the territory as the Maxwell House’s proxy and to receive half of the territory’s profits. The other half would be given to the Maxwell House as their livelihood and research fund. And thus, this system took shape.」(Ludwin)

「That’s admirable. It should be a loss for the Arcs House, right?」(Souma)

「Since it was a meritorious deed, they tolerated it. Furthermore, if the Maxwell House obtained a new knowledge from that research fund, then it will be a boon to the country…… Well, as time passed, the Maxwell House’s territory was incorporated into the Arcs’ territory and the Arcs House took up a position as the patron for the Maxwell House.」(Ludwin)

In other words, the Maxwell House had lasted until now, but what could be called as their territory, had been reduced to only this dungeon, and the Arcs House provided research funds for them.

「……Huh? But the current Head of the Arcs House is Ludwin, right?」(Souma)

「Yes, that’s true.」(Ludwin)

「Guessing from the previous conversation, it doesn’t seem that there were other people living in this place besides Ginya ……」(Souma)

「Yes. Ginya Maxwell. The current sole member of the Maxwell House.」(Ludwin)

「So that means, Ludwin is currently supporting Ginya?」(Souma)

「……」(Ludwin)

When I asked him about this, Ludwin made a very sullen face. I remembered the rumor about Ludwin that his actual family’s finances were not in a good state.

 

Ludwin eating cheap bread

「Perhaps the reason why Ludwin only ate the cheapest bread in the dining hall was……」(Souma)

「…… Ginya is five years younger than me and we had been raised together like siblings.」(Ludwin)

Ludwin began to narrate with a faraway look on his face.

「The amount of the support money for the Maxwell House had been decided, but……. About this…… Since Ginya’s parents and my parents had passed away…… We only have each other. Someone who is similar to a blood-related family…… That…… I am weak against that imouto-like person when she says ‘please’. So my stipends were……」(Ludwin)

「……」(Souma)

I placed my hand gently on Ludwin’s shoulder.

☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽

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I feel you Ludwin, together with millions of onii-chan that weak against their imoutos.

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[1] A Japanese WW2-era Army March Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqjX1bQgKa8 Recently (relative) famous from being sung by Yukari and Erwin in Episode 9 of Girl und Panzer.

[2] Poka is the sound effect for a light hit/pound. Here a pokapoka for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXsflCRdfqo

[3] ジーニャ　Jiinya. Just several letter away from ジーニアス (Genius). It’s like saying “Ginha” in Portuguese or Spanish

[4] In Japanese, Ginya’s way of speaking is rather childishly-familiar, and so was Ludwin’s. This represents that both of them are really close.