Chapter 430 – An Unyielding Heart Changes the World, Apparently
Before running away from home, I would occasionally play Go with Sadiz.
I’m not particularly skilled at it, but I understood the rules.
But, I couldn’t keep up with games played at too high a level.
It was the same before, when Tre’ainar played against Shinobu. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it this time either.
「How is it? Tre’ainar, is this guy strong?」
In front of me, Makushita was sweating buckets and looking pale as a ghost.
Even if you didn’t fully understand the situation, it was clear that Tre’ainar was winning.
But it wasn’t that obvious, and I had no idea how strong Makushita really was.
Was he all talk? Or……
『Yes, he certainly is talented. Not quite Shinobu’s caliber, yet his skills do justify the size of his bravado.』
「Heh……」
Surprisingly, it wasn’t just talk.
Tre’ainar never flatters anyone, so it’s probably true.
And that’s not all.
Somehow, Tre’ainar seemed to be enjoying himself.
『Precisely because his level is high, he plays exactly as I envision. It makes for quite the enjoyable play with casual moves. When I occasionally played with the child during our travels, you were much too weak—the flow of stones lacked beauty, and I could not even test out new moves……』
「Hmm… s, sorry about that… Ugh……」
『Do not sulk. I shall continue to train you rigorously! So, moving forward, we shall also play Go as part of your training ♪.』
「…… You’re not just doing this just because you want to have fun, are you?」
『N, no, tis not so. Go is a game of thought! In other words, tis training in concentration, diving deep into the ocean of focus, um, indeed! Tis to deepen the child’s zone even further!』
It feels like there’s a lot of excuses going around… but that aside, it seems true that the guy in front of me is strong enough that even Tre’ainar praises him.
So he was confident.
That’s why I can only feel sorry for him.
“Higu!……? Wh, wh, what… wh, what just… happened…?”
The words spilled from Makushita’s mouth.
He seemed so terrified by Tre’ainar’s move that he couldn’t help but mutter this.
But to be this shaken just by being overwhelmed in a mere board game—
“Guwaaaah, I, I got cut down!?”
“Guha!? Gahah!?”
“Hiiiii, s, such, a move!?”
“Hic, I’m scared, Okaa-san…….”
“Shh, don’t look! Wh, what… what a terrible move!?”
…… huh!?
“Wait, hah? …… Huh?”
No, seriously, “Huh?”
「T, Tre’ainar, what’s going on with these guys?」
For a moment, I thought that a suspicious person had appeared and was attacking the people, but that wasn’t the case.
Every single one of these people—from kids to adults—suddenly reacted with these over-the-top, exaggerated reactions just from seeing the stone I placed.
Suddenly, chaos erupted around me—screams, crying, vomiting, people collapsing. An utterly bizarre scene unfolded. Wait, why “Don’t look”?
『A master player projects their own spirit onto the stones on the board…… players and spectators alike…… As a result, these people must have been struck by the image of the horrific suffering endured in actual warfare, as I crafted the battle situation……』
「Huh?! Wait, there are children crying, right?!」
『Even the young can grasp the situation in Go…… in a game of Go, what matters is not age or physique, but rather individual sensitivity and flashes of insight…… tis not surprising for gifted children. Rather, tis precisely what defines Japone.』
「…… eh…… Huh~?」
Beyond overreacting, the Japoneses’ bizarre behavior seemed like they were under some strange curse. Yet Tre’ainar seemed impressed?
Weird. Is it my reaction that’s strange?
Oh, but Espie and Slayer are also taken aback.
『However, with reactions this extreme, only terror and despair will remain… Even if we manage to sweep the matter of Shinobu’s brother under the rug here and now, in the future, the child will only be remembered as an object of pure fear……』
Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on, but I get it— Tre’ainar’s hitting with overwhelming force that makes kids cry, and adults soil themselves.
But, this seemed to be turning into a major incident, even Tre’ainar seemed to be thinking a little about it, showing signs of hesitation.
But seriously, after pulling off something this big, what can he possibly do now?
There’s no turning back……
『Hmm…… I suppose I have no choice… Child… From this moment on―――― 』
「…… Huh?」
At this point, I was wondering if I had no choice but to leave the people of Makushita and Japone in a state of despair and terror, when Tre’ainar made an unexpected proposal.
「Hey, Tre’ainar! Won’t that backfire? Also, can you even do something like that?」
The idea was just too…… so, even I thought it was seriously bad.
Could he really do that? And even if he could, wouldn’t it backfire?
But Tre’ainar, as always, was brimming with confidence……
『Hmm, I believe I can. Do not fret. Who do you think I am?』
He declared with a laugh.
In that case, there’s no way I could have doubted him.
So, I ……
“Uh, kuh…… This is as far as I go… Guh, I, I yie―――― “
“Ah, wait a second!”
“Eh, ah, huh? Wh, why?”
Just as Makushita was about to surrender, I cut him off and proposed what Tre’ainar had suggested……
“Hey, how about we swap your White stone for my Black one… and continue the game from here?”
“…… h, huh?”
Makushita didn’t seem to understand what I said. No wonder.
The surrounding spectators were equally dumbfounded.
So, I repeated myself clearly.
“From now on, we swap stones. I’ll play White and make a comeback from here.”
“…… Wh …… what?”
“Umm… let’s say… ‘I’ll show you. This situation is indeed a desperate, hopeless predicament. It seems like there’s no light in this dark battle. However… the world hasn’t ended yet. There is one… infinitely difficult, narrow path… yet it is still a path of hope and a future. I will now let you witness it. See it clearly with your own eyes… It’s still too early to despair’…… Something like that.”
“…… Huh!?”
Just when it seems like he’d utterly crushed his opponent, Tre’ainar seems to be trying to convey something to Makushita and the people of Japone by turning the tables on the very situation he created.
“Wh, what is he talking about, this kid!”
But honestly, expecting no one to react to that is impossible. One Japonese person spoke up, and everyone reacted in unison.
“From a losing position… no, this isn’t just a losing position.”
“In a post-apocalyptic world where White is all but extinct, now he’s playing White to turn things around? Is it too early to despair?
“How can that even be possible!”
“That’s right…… Uh, uh… In this world stained with darkness… there is no hope left!”
Certainly, that would normally be the case.
“Is that okay…… Big brother……”
“Well…… he’ll be fine, Brother…… No, Mr. Tre’ainar is making him say that, right?”
Espie and Slayer were also half-exasperated.
But, as Slayer said, Tre’ainar was the one who proposed it. That meant there was a way.
And……
“Hm, hmph…… you dare… you dare mock us, I say?! To think you would say such a thing? To mock me… to mock Japone… to mock Go… no, to mock humanity itself is going too far, I say!”
Finally understanding the meaning of my words, Makushita raised his voice.
Yes, he was being told that I could stage a comeback from a seemingly hopeless, losing position where surrender was the only option.
Feeling mocked is only natural.
Moreover, he is an opponent who is quite confident in his Go skills.
His pride must have been deeply wounded.
“In this situation… there is no more hope, I say… for humanity…….”
“…… Ah~, just do it already, hurry up and switch with me… Here we go.”
“Uh, I say…… Huh?”
It was getting too dramatic and annoying, so I quickly swapped my stones with Makushita’s using a left jab.
“Wh, what? I, I couldn’t see…!?”
Makushita couldn’t react to my left either, and he blinked in confusion again.
I didn’t pay any attention to that, though. I just did what Tre’ainar told me to do……
“Here, your turn.”
“Huh!?”
This time, I took a white stone and placed it on the board.
“Th, then try it!”
After being stunned for a moment, Makushita became angry again when he saw the stone that I had placed on the board. This time, he grabbed a black stone and slammed it onto the board in a rage.
“Geez…… Here goes.”
“Hmph!”
“Hmm.”
“Hmph!”
“…… Here you go.”
“Ugh!”
And every time I made a move, Makushita slammed his stone down without pause.
It was as if he were trying to destroy the board itself.
But……
“…… ah!?”
Huh? What? That gasp of surprise wasn’t from Makushita.
It came from someone in the gallery.
He stared intently at the board……
“Th, the White stone…… that was the stone that Makushita-kun courageously played earlier, only to be cut down…… But…… Wait…… White has no way to survive now… none… but… that cut territory has come here….”
He was muttering something to himself.
『Hoh~…… I did not expect someone to notice…… That one must be quite the player.』
“S, sensei! When did you get here… and wh, what is this……
Tre’ainar was impressed by the reaction, and Makushita muttered, “Sensei.”
Makushita’s master?
『Fufufu, so this one’s master…… If so, I would like to play against him later…… But in any case, surely with the next move, this one and those around him will realize…… now then, child!』
“Here you go.”
“……… ah !??”
No, seriously, I have no idea what’s going on. But the moment I placed the stone where Tre’ainar had instructed, Makushita suddenly stood up.
And it wasn’t just Makushita.
“Ah! White…”
“Huh? …… Ah, I, I see!”
“Impossible! T, this… this line of play!?”
“B, but, but, with that last move… you’re kidding, right?”
“White survived! No, more than just survived.”
“Rebirth! Revived! Ridiculous! White, who should be dead, came back to life!”
Suddenly, everyone around me started making a huge fuss. Just moments ago, it was as quiet as a funeral, but now everyone was leaning forward, eyes burning with intensity, glued to the board.
“I, I can’t believe it…… The world of despair, plunged into darkness after the End…… I thought not even a ray of light would shine through… y, yet… light has broken through. Humanity, the world has taken a breath once more! What is this… everyone gave up, stopped, and looked down… humanity despaired and perished…… However, a newly born, tiny life brought a faint light into this world stained by darkness, and that light grew to illuminate the world, becoming a beacon that lifted humanity up once more! That unyielding heart changed the world, brought it back to life once again!”
“””””HUMANITY…… THE WORLD IS NOT OVER YET!!!”””””
“Moreover, the catalyst for this was that one move—the one step that Makushita-kun took with courage, even after being cut down once. The stone that died then, the formation created by that move was reborn anew…… that’s right, the courage was passed on! That courage was not in vain! What seemed like a futile sacrifice then, over time, was inherited, entrusted to one with new life and will, and revived the world once more!”
“””””UOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!”””””
Somehow… Makushita’s master behaved like a stage actor, making all sorts of noise, and the other spectators echoed him……
“I see…… We must not give up…… That was the only way to break through a world that was filled with nothing but despair… This is… Hope! And the future!”
Well, anyway, that seems to be the gist of it.
I don’t know anymore.
Sads Translates 