Anyway, this covers the first out of six parts of the new cakeverse story. If all goes according to plan, I intend to make two cakeverse releases per month. Next week we're planning a Lycoris release, if Celest manages to finish typesetting on time.
I hope you enjoy the release. If you have any suggestions/requests for what to work on, feel free to leave a comment or contact us through Twitter/Discord/Email.
Any feedback is appreciated.
-Gsimenas
Credits
Raws: CelestTranslation: Gsimenas
Editing: Gsimenas, emil
Proofreading: JengKay
Translation (choice/nuance) comments:
- Lipia uses a fancy/archaic way to introduce herself ([name]と申す者). To account for this, I used "one who is known as", where "one" is a gender-indetermined pronoun that basically means "person".
- Alice's and Lipia's dialogue lines with the phrase "the heavens" were paired in the original text. Alice's dialogue began with the phrase tenka (天下), while Lipia's began with tenjou (天上). The two phrases literally mean "below sky/heaven" and "above sky/heaven" respectively, but in a practical sense, tenka means "the (whole mortal) world", while tenjou means "the heavens" (i.e. realm of gods). To maintain this nuance, I translated the common denominator 天 as "the heavens" in the sense of being a boundary between the mortal and celestial realms.
- The Dark Territory in Underworld has two names. One is in katakana English (i.e. ダークテリトリー), the other is in actual Japanese (暗黒界, literally "darkness world/realm"). For better distinction between the two names, I translate 暗黒界 as "The Land of Darkness".
- Nearly all instances of the word "dragon" use the word 飛竜 (hiryuu, "flying dragon") in the original text. I omitted the "flying" part because a non-flying dragon would just be a lizard or something in the West. And the anime sure portrays the UW dragons as regular Westernish dragons, rather than a wyvern or something, so I'm not sure what the "flying" bit is supposed to achieve.
- In the instance where Kirito asks about dragon food, he uses polite speech, but broken grammar. Under standard grammar, the question would have been "kore wa nandesu ka" (this is what), but Kirito's sentence is "nandesu ka, kore" (what this?), which effectively splits the sentence into two incomplete ones to have the "what" at the beginning of the sentence like in Western languages, rather than at the end of the sentence as is standard in Japanese. To account for this, we made also made the sentence into two clauses, though separated with an elipses rather than a comma.
- "Biscuit" is used in the British sense of the word. Apparently, Japanese have their own distinction between what's referred to as a "biscuit" and what's a "cookie".
- In the "thankies" instance, Kirito was using "thank you" (sankyuu) in English, before correcting himself to Japanese, since Underworlders don't use Engrish slang.
- Miokake is written as 澪懸 (Waterway splasher?). It follows the Human Empire naming standard of noun + verb stem for dragons.
- There are two words for elements: エレメント (eremento) and 素 (so)/素因 (soin). The former is marked in itallics to distinguish it as an English word. Generally, the English word is only used in the commands themselves, while regular references to the elements use proper Japanese terms.
- Japanese uses different terms to describe gender/sex in animals. English doesn't have this nuance, using the same word for both male/female humans and animals. But to account for this difference, I chose to translate 雄 (male animal) as he-dragon and 雌 (female animal) as she-dragon.
- Itallics mark text that was written in katakana English (I only highlighted the cases where the author uses both English and actual Japanese equivalents for the same thing, or when I needed to emphasise that an English word is used there).
- Single quotation marks (') are quotes that weren't in the original text but were added for the convenience of English speakers to mark implied quotations. I used it mostly to separate Kirito's internal monologue from his narration, as well as mark sound effects and so on. Actual dialogue lines or quotations (with 「」 punctuation marks) within a narration line are indicated with the usual double (") quotation marks.
1
"I am the eleventh-ranked Dark Knight, one who is known as Lipia Zancale! I have come to this land bearing a decree from my lord! I would like to seek an audience with the Commander of the Integrity Knights!"The instant the female knight in jet black armour, who had flown in from the Dark Territory, named herself as such, the golden Integrity Knight facing her on the other side of the Great Eastern Gate, Alice Synthesis Thirty, slightly bent backwards. She was probably just shocked by the knight's words, rather than feeling pressured by her; just one look at her reaction was more than enough to figure out that the Dark Knight's words came as a total surprise to her.
Instantly taking up a stance with her long sword once more, the tip of which shook unsteadily, Alice slightly pulled up the reins of her dragon 《Amayori》, before interrogating the knight without any attempt to hide her hostility.
"Why, the lord of a Dark Knight can be none other than the Dark General! In which case, how do you plan to prove that this decree or what-not that you speak of is not about assassinating His Excellency Bercouli Synthesis One, the great Integrity Knight Commander that heads us Integrity Knights!"
That instant, the Dark Knight named Lipia took her right hand off the helmet she had been carrying in her hands, and swung it to her side in an exaggerated gesture.
"Preposterous! As if our unparalleled Dark General, His Excellency Vixur Ul Shasta, would ever even entertain the thought of engaging in such underhanded schemes!"
"If it means laying claim to the head of His Excellency Bercouli, the man who knows no match under the eyes of the heavens, resorting to whatever foul means in your disposal to achieve your goal fits you denizens of the Land of Darkness like a glove!"
"You dare slight His Excellency Shasta, the master swordsman whose name is lauded even by the Celestial Realm beyond the heavens! We would never stain our hands with an act from the Assassin Guild's playbook, retract your words!"
As the duo's exchange… or more like verbal bout, continued to escalate, Eugeo on the seat behind Alice, on the other hand, wound up becoming petrified in a state where his hands were raised up in a half-assed manner after failing to intervene in time. Gazing at this sorry state, I muttered out the following.
"This kinda just……turned into a competition of singing praises for their respective superiors, huh……"
Just then, the Supreme Priest of the Axiom Church Administrator, holding the reins of her dragon 《Yukiori》 right before me, spoke out in a somewhat pouty tone.
"I never once received such glorification from Alice-chan."
"W……Wait, wait, we don't have the time for such grievances right now; we've gotta do something about this."
"Well see, Bercouli is under my command, you know? So, isn't it weird that he's getting more admiration than me despite this fact?"
"In that case, Eugeo and I will provide you with all the glorification you might ever need later on; now, about these two, if you would not mind……"
"No taking that back now, I'll hold you to your words. ——Now then, I'll try doing something about this."
Upon languidly responding as such, Administrator had the hovering Yukiori slowly move up to be in line with Amayori from the left.
"Alice-chan, that's enough now."
That instant, Alice suddenly put their verbal bout to a halt, even lowering the sword she had been pointing at the Dark Knight. Behind her, Eugeo sent a gaze my way, a relieved expression finding its way on his face.
Twisting her upper body to the left atop her saddle, Alice dexterously gave a low bow as she said the following.
"Yes, ma'am……though if I may, Your Holiness, while that woman may be a knight, she is still part of the forces of darkness; we cannot be sure what sort of wickedness she is hiding up her……"
"It'll be fine. Even if she does have some scheme cooked up in her mind, you and those two apprentices will just protect me, won't you, Alice-chan?"
"Well, of course, that is a given, but……"
Having responded as such, Alice turned her blue eyes towards me, sitting behind Administrator. After showering me with a chilly gaze, she suddenly turned away.
"……Your Holiness, I cannot speak for the apprentice knights, but I for one shall ensure your protection, even if it costs me my life."
"Then, would you mind escorting this Dark Knight to the meadow at the entrance to the ravine?"
"……Yes, ma'am."
The moment she heard the knight's reply, Administrator had Yukiori turn a hundred and eighty degrees. The rivery valley was a barren land with barely any vegetation growing on it, despite the fact that it was spring right now, though I could see a plateau covered in greenery beyond.
With just a slight wave of the reins in the Administrator's hands, the pure white dragon began its smooth flight to the plateau beyond.
Having descended to the meadow following Yukiori and Amayori's lead, the black dragon decelerated with a very unsteady gait, before plopping onto the ground right afterwards.
Jumping out of the saddle, the Dark Knight stroked its head with a worried look, to which the dragon cried out "Kurururu……" in response, though even its voice was terribly feeble.
"Huh……you know, it sure doesn't seem all that full of energy, even though the Esteemed Supreme Priest should have restored its Life……"
When I muttered this, Administrator said the following with a sigh from the saddle she was still sitting in.
"A simple healing art can only restore Life lost as a result of external wounds. In the event that other causes for Life decline exist, the target of the art will just begin losing its Life again moments later."
"What would these other causes be……?"
"It's hungry. Thirty-three, there's some packed dragon food inside the bag on my right; let that dragon eat it all."
"Y-yes, ma'am. Though…… if I give all of it away, wouldn't Yukiori be left without its share?"
"We can just hunt some beasts in the forest over there later on. When I say we, I specifically mean that you're the one who's going to do it, of course; including cutting it all up to bite size."
"……Affirmative."
I turned around in my seat and opened one of the two large bags behind the saddle. Inside, I found that it was stuffed full with paper packages about the size of two bricks placed in a row, leaving no space unused. When I pulled one of them out and gently took off the paper, I found a dried, yellowish-brown object inside. Although it looked like a biscuit in both colour and texture, a closer look revealed that there were black, red, and brown lumps on its surface.
"What is it… this food, I mean……?"
"Packed dragon food, as I've already said before. These are made by adding a variety of things like dried meat, fruit, herbs, and other energising stuff into western empire-produced Dolua wheat flour, before baking it."
"Uh-huh……"
'So basically, energy bars for dragons, I guess', with that thought in mind, I took a whiff of its smell and did indeed feel an aroma similar to roasted nuts. In that case, it should taste——
"Hey, stop right there, dummy!"
As Administrator suddenly turned around to admonish me, I hurriedly pulled my face away from the packed lunch that I had brought closer to myself to gnaw on.
"Uh……so, I am not allowed to do any taste-testing?"
"The tonic effect it has is overly strong; a human would get a stomachache from eating it. I won't stop you if you don't mind dealing with one, but know that I won't be healing you, got it."
"O-oh, no, I think I shall pass on that."
Returning the wrapping paper to its original place in a hurry, I was about to pull out the remaining packed lunches from the bag. But since each of them was big, I had my hands already full by the time I reached the halfway point by picking up the fifth one.
"I'll help out, Kirito."
Upon turning my gaze to the ground where that voice had come from, I found that Eugeo had alighted from Amayori and was now holding his hands out towards me.
"Thankies……I mean, thanks."
Once I passed on the first five paper packages to my partner and took out the rest of them, I jumped down onto the ground as well.
As we trotted over to the black dragon that was squatting down a short distance away, the Dark Knight that had been stroking its head suddenly spun around with great force. She had long, mildly wavy, black hair tinged with purple, a dark complexion, and amethyst-coloured eyes. Seeing her up close, she looked like quite a beauty, though I felt nothing but hostility radiating from her piercing gaze.
Before Alice nearby had the chance to say anything, I hurriedly opened my own mouth.
"Umm, this is dragon grub. That guy over there looks pretty peckish, doncha think?"
When I chatted her up in a casual tone, partially because of my nature and partially on purpose, for a moment the knight took on an expression that made it seem I had caught her off guard, before responding in a stinging tone.
"My 《Miokake》 isn't some weakling dragon to cause a fuss just because of an empty stomach!"
——'Oh, so both the Human Empire and the Land of Darkness share the same naming rules when it comes to dragons. Wonder why.'
Or so my mind was about to get side-tracked, but since I sensed Alice drawing in a breath behind me, I once again obstructed her with my own reply.
"If your dragon is that important to you, that's all the more reason not to leave the poor guy starving."
Just then, the Dark Knight named Lipia spent about two seconds with her mouth zipped shut, before nodding surprisingly meekly.
"You…… have a point. I did force my dragon to exert itself a great deal up to this point, after all…… Excuse me for the trouble, but I shall take up that kind offer after all."
"There we go."
After giving Eugeo a wink, I walked over to the black dragon named Miokake. Although the shape of its horns and jaw were a little different from their Human Empire counterparts, the two breeds looked entirely identical in all other aspects. In which case, it probably won't get sick from eating these huge, Administrator-brand energy bars.
Once we were only forty metres apart, Miokake slightly raised its head, growling out a "Kururu……" as it glared at us with its yellow eyes. Placing her hand on the dragon's head, Lipia said the following.
"You'll put yourself in danger if you get any closer. I'll handle the feed my……"
"Relax, relax."
Although I don't mean to imply that I actually have a way with animals, both Eugeo and I have several months of experience tending to horses and cattle at the Walde Farm in Zakkaria on record. Besides, seeing as we'd also be granted dragons of our own when we eventually become high-ranking knights, I'd like to prepare for the occasion by getting some experience on how to handle them beforehand.
"Hey, Kirito, wouldn't it be best to leave it to her……"
Replying to the worrywart Eugeo with a "Relax, relax" as well, I took one of the packed lunches I had been holding with my left arm, pulled half of it out of the wrapping paper, and took it into my right hand. Holding it out towards the dragon, I slowly moved forward. The moment the distance between me and the deep-growling dragon crossed the two meter line, it happened.
"Guou!"
Letting out a ferocious roar, Miokake moved its head at a speed so great you wouldn't even expect it to be capable of such a feat with that huge frame of its, in an attempt to bite me. Sharp white fangs closed in on me right before my eyes.
"Nowaa!!"
Letting out a scream, I threw away the four packed lunches I had been holding in my left arm and managed to catch the large upper fangs, which might be as big as thirty centimetres in size measuring to their tips. Although I managed to avoid having my head bitten off, I was unable to absorb the impact in full and found myself at risk of being blown away in an over-the-top manner. However, several steps backward later I somehow managed to hold my ground, perhaps due to Administrator supporting me from the rear with her Incarnation.
"I told you so!"
Shouted Eugeo from behind,
"Enough, Miokake!"
While Lipia Zancale attempted to rein in the dragon's head. Yet perhaps due to having been pursued by winged monster Minions all the way to the Human Empire, Miokake's agitation could not be curbed. Still frantically clutching the fangs, I hurled the packed lunch in my right hand straight into the dragon's mouth.
That instant, Miokake shut its jaws with great force, prompting me to get my left hand out of the way in a haste. 'Zaku (crunch)', came a sound of the biscuit-shaped lunch being ground to bits.
"…………Grr……"
As Miokake's growls got slightly toned down, it began chewing with astounding force.
"E-Eugeo, give me another one!"
As I held out my right hand behind me, Eugeo placed another packed lunch that he had removed from its paper on top of it. Right afterwards, having finished eating the first one in no time at all, Miokake opened its mouth once more, thus I threw in a second one. This one, too, was wiped out in an instant, then a third, and even a fourth wasn't enough to sate the dragon's appetite. When Eugeo used up all five of the ones he had, I gathered up the four I had tossed away myself as well, continuing to feed it until its mastication speed finally settled down on the ninth meal.
Taking the tenth packed lunch out of its paper,
"This is the last one."
Warning it in advance, I put the food in its mouth. As if understanding my words, Miokake thoroughly chewed it over numerous times, before gulping it down. That's when Alice approached us, undoing the clasp on a thick hide, which had been folded numerous times, that she had probably taken off from Amayori's saddle.
Upon being unfolded onto the meadow, the object turned out to be the equivalent of a portable bucket, nearly one metre long and wide. Although made out of leather, its inner side was coated in some kind of oil; while this measure would prevent leaking any water poured into it indeed, there were no rivers or ponds in our surroundings in the first place.
"Alice……dono, where do you plan to get any wa-……"
Utterly ignoring the question I had begun asking, the Integrity Knight aimed her right hand towards the bucket.
"System call. Generate aqueous element."
Five aqua light dots were formed at her fingertips. It was one of the elements, the water element.
"Form element, liquid shape."
With that additional incantation, the five elements transformed into transparent spheres, from which water gushed out as if someone had just turned on the tap. The Sacred Power accumulated in the meadow was being directly turned into water using this rite.
"You guys help out too."
At Alice's orders, Eugeo and I both stuck out our hands in a hurry. I wasn't all that skilled with water element rites, but not as bad as I was with ice element rites. Managing to somehow create four elements on one hand, I then spawned a current of water.
Having watched us working on the water close-by, even Lipia wedged herself into our group beside Alice, and stuck out her right hand, before repeating the exact same incantation. I'd heard from Cardinal the Sage that Sacred Arts in the Dark Territory are called the Dark Arts, though that's apparently the only difference between them.
As the four of us continued single-mindedly producing water, it didn't take even three minutes for the huge bucket to be filled to the brim.
The bucket was one metre in both length and width and about fifteen centimetres deep, thus the water we produced amounted to an entire hundred and fifty litres. I had figured that this would surely be overkill, but when the four of us stepped away from the bucket, Miokake plunged its pointed snout into the water and began chugging down the water vehemently.
Now that I think about it, the dragons in Underworld are bigger than the African elephants in the real world. The elephant apparently drinks up as much as a hundred to two hundred litres of water per day, thus it wouldn't come as a surprise by any means if a dragon would drink up even more than that.
Just as I had imagined, Miokake needed no more than a measly minute to basically empty out the bucket. Perhaps having finally composed itself after getting its fill of food and water, the dragon nuzzled Lipia's shoulder with its huge head, "Kururu……", letting out a fawning purr.
Just then, Alice's dragon Amayori slowly walked up to it from its rear, reaching out with its long neck. After letting out some "Furururu" purrs in front of Miokake, the dragon nodded its head several times, as if saying hi. The black dragon repeated the same gesture, before the two dragons eventually began nuzzling each other's hard noses. I had begun panicking that this was a sign of an upcoming scuffle for a moment there, but the two owners were unfazed by what was going on, so I guess this was also just a natural extension of their greeting.
"……Zancale-dono, is Miokake a he-dragon or she-dragon?"
At Alice's question, Lipia answered in a calm voice, as if having entirely forgotten about their hostility for a moment.
"A he-dragon. What about your dragon?"
"A she-dragon. Her name is Amayori."
At that point, seemingly having just remembered that she had yet to offer her own name thus far, Alice suddenly straightened up.
"……While I am known as Alice Synthesis Thirty, the third-ranked Integrity Knight."
Although I had figured Lipia would go "Third-ranked!?" in shock at that, the Dark Knight instead nodded with barely any change in her expression.
"I had figured that this was the case based on your outfit. So you are Alice-dono, the 《Knight of the Fragrant Olive》, huh."
"……How do you know my name?"
In response to Alice's surprised question, a faint wry smile found its way on Lipia's face.
"To us, the Order of Dark Knights, the Order of Integrity Knights in the Human Empire has been an archenemy for centuries. Isn't it a matter of course that we'd strive to have a grasp of your lineup?"
Hearing this, Alice took on an expression of bewildered caution, as well as a slight bit of shame. The Order of Integrity Knights most likely never put that much effort into investigating the Order of Dark Knights, I assume. With her expression now returned to normal, she let out a slight cough, before saying the following.
"So, what exactly do you seek from this archenemy of yours that you would traverse such a long distance to reach the Human Empire?
"Well, that's……"
As Lipia hesitated to finish her sentence for a moment, that's when it happened.
"Are you done with things by now?"
Light footsteps rang out along with these words. Turning around, we found that Administrator, having descended from Yukiori, was approaching us, her pure-white sandals treading on the green grass.
"Yes, ma'am, we have fed all of the packed lunches to it, and even gave it some water to drink."
The Supreme Priest only gave a short "That so" reply to Eugeo's response, before giving Lipia a condemning look.
"Dark Knight over yonder, regardless of the circumstances, flying out with a dragon without bringing sufficient feed for it is not a commendable action. These little ones have a fervent sense of loyalty by nature and won't think anything of pushing themselves to the brink of death if need be, you know?"
"……I won't make any excuses. You do have my gratitude for both restoring Miokake's Life with the arts, as well as sparing some packed lunches for it, though……"
Pausing her words at that point, Lipia gave Alice a puzzled look.
"Alice-dono, why are your attendants all acting more haughty than their master, be it the black-haired youngster over there, or this caster lass over here?"
At that point, Alice's jaw dropped, her cheeks turning pale the moment after. Even I was unable to parse Lipia's words in my mind straight away, but the moment I discerned that she just spoke of Her Holiness Administrator, the Supreme Priest of the Axiom Church, of all people, as a mere attendant,
"You dol-……"
I blurted this out as I rushed to her at full speed. Placing my right hand on the back of Lipia's head, I shoved her head down into a low bow.
"W-what are you doing!"
As the Dark Knight struggled, I whispered into her left ear.
"Hurry up and apologise! You'll be turned into a plate at this rate!"
"Preposterous, what are you talking about! Why would a simple Sacred Arts caster lass require such……"
"Like I'm saying, that's no mere caster! That person is the Axiom Church's……"
Suddenly feeling the temperature of my surroundings drop by a mere two degrees, I glanced up without moving my head away from its bowed position.
Although Administrator was gazing at me and Lipia with the same blank look, I could feel as if someone just drew a "Go (menacing) go go go go go" SFX right behind her. The pressure radiating from her was approximately twice as imposing as the time Eugeo and I first had an audience with her at the fiftieth floor of the Central Cathedral.
My right hand felt Lipia's body flinching.
"…………It can't be."
Heaving out such a whisper, she instantly froze up entirely. Having no other choice, I heaved in as much air into my lungs as I could and, after exhaling half of it, sprung my head up and shouted out the following.
"U-umm, Esteemed Supreme Priest! Once we return to the Cathedral, I promise to bake a shortcake with twice the strawberries; I humbly beg for your mercy!"
'Go go go go go go'……I felt her aura of anger receding just the slightest bit. Eventually, a voice as cold as ice rang out.
"Cheesecake too."
"…………Excuse me?"
"I want a cheesecake with twice the cream too."
"…………Y-yes ma'am, with pleasure!!!"
When I replied to her and once again bowed my head low, the aura finally settled down, prompting both me and the Dark Knight Lipia to heave out a long sigh at the same time.
Thanks for translate!💙✨
ReplyDeleteThe story is very funny and it distracts me a bit.
And the cakeverse continue...
ReplyDeleteLooks good :D
ReplyDeleteWhen kirito become Souma 🤣
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDelete