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Chapter 14: Don’t do Anything Bad
“A wolf descended on the dead world ruled by ice and snow. With his first roar, he melted the snow, and with his second, he called the sun.
As his voice echoed three or four times, the earth was filled with plants and flowers, and the animals that ate them flourished. Fish swam in the sea, and they learned how to carry seeds. The seventh roar gave birth to the King of Men, and with this as his last roar, he returned to his land in heaven.
But the King of Men, who had been entrusted with the country by the wolf, soon began to oppress people with his arrogance.
One night, a bad butterfly stopped at the tip of his nose and suggested that the King should take the wolf’s power as his own as well. So the King deceived the innocent and untrained citizens into making a huge ladder that could reach the sky.
When the ladder reached heaven, the wolf was very ashamed of the King’s stupidity, releasing a sorrowful howl. All of the holy wolves in the country responded, and their sad roars shook the earth and enraged the sea.
The devastated sea destroyed the ladder, and on a moonlit night when the moon was full, a creature that was neither man nor wolf was born from the dust. The werewolf attacked ships and villages at night and ate livestock and people alike.
The wolf commanded the King.
“That is an abominable beast, the product of your sins. Let your son slay the werewolf, or your son will become it. And then, he will have nothing but a wilderness overrun with demons, where no vegetation can grow.”
The prince was still young. The false king, who was a fool, became furious and ordered his battle-hardened soldiers to subdue the werewolf. However, the werewolf was in a labyrinthine cave, where no one could reach it, and none of the soldiers came back.
The prince, who had soon become a bright, young man, said to his father:
“Please prepare the sacred bow and arrow, a ball of thread and incense. Then I will return triumphantly with a thousand miles of fertile land in my hands.”
On the night of the new moon, when the werewolf’s strength had weakened, the prince entered the cave with his golden bow and arrows in hand. He burned the incense, and when the werewolf had lost all sense of smell, he loosed an arrow.1
1. It says that he “shot” the arrow, but since it’s like a fairytale, I figured the medieval terms for it would be better.
The werewolf collapsed, and the prince followed the ball of string he had laid out to the entrance and returned to the royal palace. The prince became the True King, and the human’s country flourished once more.“
The book ended with an illustration of a young man with intelligent eyes, who Shun assumed was the prince, kneeling before a noble wolf and crowned.
The back cover was also beautifully detailed. Decorations based on plants and trees were drawn, and in the middle, an emblem that looked like the wolf’s face was drawn in gold foil.
“Tempted by the bad butterfly… It’s certainly picking a fight with the Butterfly Country.”
This was probably the creation myth of the Wolf Country. If someone had been taught about the relationship of these two countries from these kinds of fairytales, it would be a bit worrying for the relationship between the two countries. Maybe it was like England and France2 from Shun’s original world?
2. Honestly any England-adjacent country could go here lmao though Ireland or Scotland might’ve been a better fit since you can see anti-England things from them even now… but I guess Shun’s referring to the long-standing history of wars between the two(?) instead of just the enmity.
However, it was beautifully illustrated. Shun didn’t know much about art, but he remembered being shown an art collection by a colleague, and these illustrations reminded him of Mucha3.
3. I believe it’s referring to Alphonse Mucha here, a Czech painter and illustrator. I’ll throw something of his down at the bottom. His art is very detailed and pretty, perfect for old, illustrated fairytales if you’re familiar with those.
The wolves were drawn with graceful curves and were noble enough to be Genesis gods. Even the ugly werewolf could be considered beautiful because of its awe-inspiring appearance.
Shun slowly turned the pages and stopped on the page where the prince went to subdue the werewolf. His eyes were particularly heroic.
Shun felt like he looked like Craig.
He stopped his hand from stroking the soft hair. What on Earth are you doing? Shun turned red at his own thoughts.
“No, nothing!”
It was true that Craig was by far the coolest guy he’d ever met and he was neat and as beautiful as the Fibonacci sequence.
However, he couldn’t accept this thought. Shun cried out in the living room, hurriedly standing up to put the book back onto the shelf.
The next moment, a page was turned by the wind blowing in from somewhere. The fire went out, and the warm room grew cold.
Shun was certain that all the windows were closed. His head turned toward the door as if possessed.
A dazzling magic circle appeared on the floor, and green streaks of light billowed up toward the ceiling.
“What?”
A man emerged from the circle. He wore a loose black robe like a priest, and his hood covered his eyes. A necklace with a red jewel glowed from where it laid against his chest.
A magician.
Shun turned to run away, pushed by the fright he felt in his spine. But it was too late.
The magician raised his thin, white arm.
Immediately it felt like Shun’s whole body had been electrocuted, and he lost all his strength, falling into a slump.
One by one, more men appeared from inside the magician’s circle in Shun’s shaky vision. The eight men grinned at each other once they were all inside.
Amongst the exuberant men, only one magician quietly erased the magic circle that they had used to invade.
Shun’s hands were tied behind his back and tied to his chair. When Shun tried to think of something that was out of place to relieve his fear like he often saw in foreign, detective dramas, he felt something slip out of his body, and his vision became clear.
The magician had raised his hand toward Shun, albeit from far away. He must have figured out something.
“Is this the right place, Zaz?”
The large man, who gave off the coldest impression, asked the man next to him.
“Yeah, definitely.”
After his thin, green eyes had surveyed the room from under his cropped, black hair, Zaz laughed spitefully. Shun recognized the name.
“You… You’re the one who embezzled the money, aren’t you?”
Shun didn’t know where he gotten his courage, but he couldn’t help but ask this. Craig and everyone else were probably still on their way to their hideout to thank him for this.
“You don’t look familiar. You must be new. Oh, you’re the new bookkeeper.”
Zaz showed his yellow teeth as he assessed Shun’s childish face and slim body, which were clearly unfit for fighting.
“You know what? That Craig guy has a lot of money. All while you’re hustling away for a shoe string salary that ends up in the gambling bin. He’ll make you start over just because you miscalculated a few things. And then, to top it all off, they fire me for causing a ruckus. Now they want their money back. You’re all so greedy.”
Pep4 and Zaz spat on the floor that had been recently cleaned by Carl and Dian.
4. He was suddenly named here, so I’m assuming it’s the huge, cold guy beside Zaz.
The other men were looking around for something, stamping about in dirty shoes, throwing books from their shelves and dishes from the cupboards, and placing anything expensive-looking in hemp bags.
“That’s why you’re here, to steal money for revenge? You’re the only one whose been cast out for being unable to do their job. You’re the one who’s being greedy.”
Shun didn’t think Craig was stingy. He was getting a decent salary, and the money he saved was for capital investment and preparation for a rainy day. Moreover, it was an iron rule of the guild that the accounting had to be accurate.
Shun closed his mouth quickly after saying everything. Zaz’s face turned red and trembled like a boiling octopus5.
5. Octopus sometimes moves (after it’s already long dead) when cooked and stuff. I put a gif at the bottom if you’re curious.
If the protective barrier surrounding the house was broken, the caster, Craig, would know about it. It was a good idea for him to try to buy time for them to return and also to irritate them, but his words, when Shun couldn’t even move at all, could also be considered stupid.
“A kid like you has got a lot of nerve…!”
“Stop. We don’t have time for that.”
The quiet voice of the man beside him was what stopped Zaz, who had drawn the sword from his waist and almost jumped at Shun.
“The caster of the protection spell will soon know that it was broken.”
The man continued, staring straight at Shun with cold, light blue eyes. His words made it clear that he had seen through Shun’s thoughts. The man, who seemed to be their leader, said nothing more and seemed to have lost interest in both Shun and Zaz, now simply observing the room.
“Looks like the information that they would be out was good. The magician Zaz brought is really good.”
The cold man6 disappeared into the back with the magician. They left two people to keep an eye on Shun, while Zaz and the others followed the other two further in.
6. I removed a bit here, since it was already said in the earlier paragraph.
From what Shun could see, it appeared that their leader was the only strong one while the rest were just a bunch of thugs gathered from around the area. The Dawn Fog, on the other hand, was so skilled that it was even talked about in the royal palace. Since Shun had seen these men’s appearance, physique and aura that had been acquired through training and discipline, he could tell that these men didn’t even compare.
However, even though Shun knew this, he was still no match for the thugs. The only thing he could do was escape.
When he looked over at the desk pitifully, he saw the pen he had been using. The nib was sharp and strong. He figured he might be able to use it for what he often saw in movies.
While the men were looking for something with gold on it, Shun struggled to grasp the pen on the desk with his hand and angled it to cut the rope binding his arms. There was an unreliable, crisp sound, but he didn’t know if it was working or not. After three or four minutes of this, Shun felt like his hands were about to cramp.
Then, from the back of the second floor, there was an explosion that shook the whole house. Perhaps the magic guarding the vault had been broken. If they had brought in enough people to nullify it, he was probably aiming for the vault from the beginning.
The men gathered in the living room with heavy, hemp bags. The magician was not with them. Shun turned his body as much as he could to keep his bound hands out of sight.
Even though it’s not a profession they can proudly say they have, it’s a fortune they had amassed with their lives. My legs trembled with anger and my own pettiness at the thought of it all disappearing into these guys’ drinking money.
“Hey, can’t we take this guy too?”
One of the men pointed insolently at Shun. One look at the man was all it took to make Shun’s blood run cold. He had serpentine eyes, a crushed nose, and jagged teeth. He looked plain and villainous.
Again, his heroine attributes had activated! Shun wished that it would give up its job every once in awhile.
“Hey, hey. Is that all you have in mind?”
The men, who weren’t satisfied with the amount of gold coins, were still looking around and were mocked. They weren’t interested in the books that would sell for a reasonable amount of money, so it was obvious they weren’t educated.
“I’m wasn’t aware of it, but it seems to be so. This one is quite intriguing.”
“Oh, that’s for sure.”
The other man, who was closest to him, looked over Shun’s face and body like he was licking it. Shun’s whole body shuddered. Someone spoke in a teasing voice, asking if Shun had fascinated them, and even though it wasn’t funny, the men all laughed aloud.
It was the curse of the acting heroine, and Shun felt dizzy. He was really sympathizing with the heroine, who would suffer this kind of damage with a woman’s thin arms.
Now, Shun was very distressed. What should he do? He felt like this was the sort of situation that couldn’t be recovered from even if he was rescued by a capture target later.
To make matters worse, they still didn’t fully trust Shun. If the safe was ransacked and Shun was missing, he might be suspected as an accomplice. Finally, after he had gotten along with everyone else enough to be left behind by himself…
“Well, it’s about time we left.”
The leader’s quiet voice signaled. The men headed for the exit, packing their pockets with the leftover gold coins that hadn’t been bagged. Just inside the door, a large, magic circle that had a different pattern shone with blue light, where the magician, who had already returned before Shun even realized, awaited them. At any rate, it looked like they were going to escape through there.
Craig and the rest of them weren’t going to be able to make it in time.
“Well, then you too…”
The man’s scarred hand stretched out towards Shun. It would be thousands of times better to fall as the foundation of love between the heroine and a prince than to be caught by them.
As Shun thought this, his body was already moving before he even realized. He stood up with the chair and grabbed what was beside him with his bound hands, and the rope broke. The friction made his arms hurt. He drew back and threw the thing he grabbed with all his might.
“Hah!”
Shun threw it at once, and the abacus hit the man in the face. There was a dull sound of bones crashing against each other, followed by a sharp, flash of light.
Huh, a flash?
The man fell slowly, and at the same time, the abacus also hit the floor. However, Shun had lost his balance and turned over the chair. The men, who were about to do nothing, stopped and turned towards me all at once.
The men standing in the magic circle seemed completely blown away, and the magician looked at him with wide eyes. However, the leader’s response was quick.
“He’s using suspicious tricks! Quick, get out of here!”
The magician, who heard the order, began to chant with his index finger and middle finger against his mouth, appearing to have recovered from his initial shock.
The light of the magic circle was getting brighter. Were they going to run away just like this? Tears of frustration welled up in Shun’s eyes.
But then the spell was broken. The magician jumped back. There was an arrow in the shoulder of the man beside him.
Craig, with his sword drawn, stood in front of the crumpling man. Next to him was Evan, who was also armed with a sword, and Carl, who was already nocking his next arrow.
Gin’s voice and busy footsteps were fast approaching.
“You did it in a flashy way.”
Craig laughed when he saw the scattered books, damaged furniture, and Shun lying on the floor while tied to a chair. He looked very amused while glaring at the men who were frozen in place.
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TL Note: Cliffhanger! I’m sorry guys. I’ll try to have the next chapter up by Friday (๑•́ㅿ•̀๑)
Only three more chapters until we’re finished with Part One!
Word Count: 2,732
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The Four Seasons by Alphonse Mucha
This octopus is definitely dead (its head is partly missing. it’s like bug legs moving after death).
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Also, just so ya’ll know, the smut’s not until the last chapter.
Toffee Dragon Translates 