LE V1 (Main) C9-2
Chapter 9 - Backstory - Part 2
Translator: eveboy
Editor: oereo
TLN: See end translator's notes for important and not-so-important news.
"In the final moments of the great war, at the northern end of Seoul, the battle between angelkin, beastkin and demonkin was about to unfold. I was leading ten thousand of the elite forces of the tank brigade, and the other races were similar in terms of troop numbers and strength. Just as we were about to go to battle, Pyongang-nim intervened and aside from one member of each race, everyone else was annihilated by Pyongang-nim."
"And no one could inflict a scratch on Pyongang-nim."
If it comes to this then I really have nothing that I can say.
In other words, the only being that can go against or check Pyongang is the god called Sunang. Because it's unthinkable that Pyongang could ever be politically restrained. Of course they say that it all means nothing when you're getting ganged up on, but Pyongang is a princess. Of course she has the dragonkin at her back.
The more I think the less responses I have.
"What do you mean by 'intervened?'"
Even though I know that war was nothing but pain for Flute I continued to ask. At the present the only one I can ask is Flute and I need to get as much information I can as fast as possible.
"The dragonkin and holy nation Seoul did not participate in the Great War. Likewise, Pyongang-nim had no reason to participate."
"So why did she fight?"
"A little way away were some ruins from the prehistoric era. She intervened because she felt that they would be damaged by the fighting."
Uh…. … Okay, so Pyongang really likes the prehistoric era! Is that even a valid reason that I can accept?
I have absolutely nothing I can compare it to. Even if you said that America intervened between two warring countries and beat the crap out of them both to protect world heritage artefacts that doesn't even come anywhere near to this scale.
"So she really likes the prehistoric era."
In that case the reason Pyongang's following me like this is more than likely 99% related to that. A pity. That means that if I wasn't a person from my era I would have drawn absolutely no interest from her.
Is that the extent of my worth.
Bit disappointing.
"While Pyongang-nim's love for the prehistoric era is quite famous in her own right, the majority of the people of the continent likewise respect and revere the prehistoric era.
"Why?"
What do they know?
"The people take hope in the words 'even in times of famine there were none that went hungry and even the plebeians had enough food that they could throw it away.' That if the prehistoric era is revived then they too, will not have to starve."
Fair enough. Productivity will definitely rise. I don't know how farming works here but they'd earn agricultural technologies at least several generations above the present. And yields would skyrocket accordingly.
"The scholars revere the words 'made a star in the sky.' Because they believe that the level of knowledge reached the stars."
Sorry, but even if I tried to make one of those I can't.
"The merchants are interested in the words 'they moved in metal carriages that moved quickly even without horses or oxen.' Because they calculate that they can earn even more wealth then."
You can say that merchants earn money by moving products from left to right. If you could move further more quickly then the expectation that you could definitely earn more money is almost natural. Although you couldn't calculate exactly how much you'd earn.
"The rulers and the military are greedy for the words 'annihilate a faraway country from where you sit.' If they could monopolise that power then they could rule over the other races."
These crazy idiots are ignoring all the other good stuff and coveting nuclear bombs. Well, even though I can understand their thinking…..
"You're not wrong but people believed all that?"
"Not all of it, but some it was proven. The three-field rotation system(1) allowed crop yields to visibly increase, stirrups and horseshoes revolutionised war. And I've said this before. That this level is that of around a thousand years preceding the prehistoric era."
Wow, that really is an amazing person. If someone had told me to just go ahead and decipher everything on my own I would have just noped out right there, easy peasy.
"Because of this, the value of the holy nation Seoul skyrocketed and the great war began."
"How does that work out?"
"The holy nation Seoul is protected by Sunang-nim by a giant barrier. Because of the barrier, the writings and relics of the prehistoric era are not worn away by time and preserved. As such, the only intact writings and relics exist in Seoul, so in order to progress research, access to Seoul is vital."
The buildings and items of my time are still intact? It feels like the Big Bang just happened from a state of darkness. In that case, the books are safe, and machines can be reverse-engineered to be easily understood. I could even generate electricity with a small-scale generator. In that case, I could even operate my now-dead smartphone and laptop. Although I can't make calls and the internet is out.
But it feels good. Really good.
Research aside, I who have been living off the fruits of civilisation up till now will definitely find it harder to live out in a lower level of civilisation. And now I have the possibilities of recovering some of modern technology. Although it might just be a fleeting hope, my house might be fine as well.
"But due to the barrier, there are sixteen set doors that you can enter Seoul by. Also, due to Sunang-nim's decree there's only a set number of people that can enter through the doors at a time."
"So the reason the great war started…"
I understood.
To put it simply, to earn the scarce but almighty resource 'knowledge of the prehistoric civilisation.' To be accurate, the routes to earn that knowledge.
"It was in order to obtain even one more plot of land that had access to the doors. Shin Chaeho-him revealed his knowledge openly and fairly, and didn't like war and so forcibly suppressed conflict, but after his death there was no one that could stop it. All nations were livid at the probability that the number of doors a country possessed would have a massive impact on the country's future power."
Although it would be a bit of a stretch to call it an analogy, it is quite similar to the competition over the Han River in the Three Kingdoms era. At the time the Han River basin was not only fertile farming land but also one of the few places that could make direct contact and trade with China, the superpower of the time.
"Did this person called Shin Chaeho not have any disciples?"
"Thinking about the problems between countries he took a disciple from each of the races for four disciples in total. However, since three of them couldn't even match up to a fraction of Shin Chaeho-nim, they could do nothing but watch. Well, Shin Chaeho-nim did find personality an important factor so they are kind people……"
Wow, savage.
Although I couldn't pick up on any emotion in Flute's words, it's clear as day that she looks down on those disciples. Just a personal thought, but perhaps this line of thinking is normal?
I feel sorry for them. Those disciples. I'll probably meet them soon, and if I can help them I will. I feel like helping them because they're apparently nice people. For the record, I have a bad track record of mixing my work and personal relations. If I take to them I'll help then, if not then not.
"That other one person?"
He took four disciples in total, and three of them were pretty meh. So is the last one alright?
"That person is a great one. And so is his influence."
"Is that so?"
"But because he was dragonkin, he not only felt a lack of need to care about the great war, but he also announced 'the reason that I research is because I want to accumulate knowledge, not share it."
So that's someone with a clear set of values. They say that you don't study for the sake of others, after all.
So to sum it up, Shin Chaeho passed away, and since his disciples aren't exactly great it was touch and go for a while until I showed up in my car, and so my value is through the roof.
Right?
(1) May be familiar to readers of Maoyuu. The two field system, where half the land was planted and the other half lay fallow, was replaced by one where land was divided into three fields, one growing wheat or rye, one with legumes (to nix nitrogen and so fertilise the soil) and one left fallow, and rotated around accordingly. This allowed farmers to produce more crops and noticeably improved the crop yield. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_rotation
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Translator News:
Two things you don't need to care about:
1) You know what I realized? That slice of lifes only really get popular with frequent, near-daily updates. I'm not gonna lie, the pacing in this story is insanely slow, but the author made up for it in the raws with literally 1-2 updates DAILY. Maybe it's because the author's updates faster than the Chinese novel translators (literally), but on all the sites the author posts this on, it's like, top 3 material. Just wait till November guys, when my exams are all done and I'm warm and dry and most importantly FREE back up north, I'll do my damnest to do this justice.
2) So around a week or so ago, Naver released their list of September publications, and TLE was among them, to quite frankly, little surprise and many congratulations. The author hasn't gotten back in touch with me so far, but he has previously told me that unless he (or Naver) tells me otherwise, I'm good to go.
Two things that you probably SHOULD care about:
1) When a novel gets picked up by Naver officially, what generally happens is that the author will remove everything released so far and reupload according to his/her Naver schedule, usually a remade version, which the author said he was writing anyways. So since we're not too deep into the story yet, I'll ask if you want me to finish at least:
The end of (Main) Volume 1 (which is pretty meh) The FULL Volume 1 (Main and Answer) (which is like another 28 chapters (56 parts) extra, and the Answer volume in particular was the reason why I picked it up) Or just drop it until the author catches up til where we were at. (Which IMO isn't going to take all that long)Bear in mind, my default is option 3. If you have any opinions either comment here, message me on Novel Updates (username is Eeveelutionlvr) or PM/comment on Reddit. Also:
2) All novels that Naver takes on board get a full colour illustration every chapter. Yep. EVERY chapter.