The Bugle Call: Song of War - Vol. 9 Ch. 27 - Modern Times

[MangaDex]

 

[mrboxeater]

Proxy time travel war is such a crazy knot, im really curious how da fuck is the author going to untangle it but i have faith. If this was anime, would this be season 2 finale?

Anyway, Lucas being such a non-dense protagonist and the Pope being an antagonistic mentor trope but always revealing info and trusting the MC just feels amazing from a storytelling perspective.

thanks for the quick release!

 

[Kendama]

Yeah, I'm convinced now. Everyone's gonna survive this, even Coura. That's my bet. This is a story about defying the odds.

In fact, what I want the most is to see the creative ways in which each of Lucas' crew will blossom. I think even Udo will give up on retiring now he's seen the danger Erin represents to the Papal States. And with all his fingers back thanks to Coura.

My other guess is that the Pope doesn't mind in the least if Lucas is slowly shifting the crew's foremost allegiances to himself. In fact, I think this is what he personally wants, or at least he considers his own position unassailable from the simple fact that as long as he controls the Tower, he can control events and Lucas can be at most his top lieutenant.

 

[gonn92]

pfffff calls herself a deviant and doesnt even ask for handholding, amateur.

 

[gamria]

Attention, due to a miscommunication an important TN that should've been included in the chapter was left out. Any updates on this issue, including any rectifications will be notified on this space.

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@Giguv @the_Bear_from_Bearcave @Quality_Reads @mrboxeater @Woif @LordTrollbias @Jachinz

January 3rd 2025 EDIT: Due to some schedule complications, I've decided it'd expedite matters if I post the TN here in the meantime. Not as flashy, but should still be fascinating for the intellectuals out there

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

Personal Development-Type Time-Crossing Weapons (自己開発型 時間遡行武器)​

So, our name for the Towers’ true nature sounds unusual yes, but there is a reason for it. We’ll begin by explaining the “Time-Crossing Weapon” part:

• 時間 – time
• 遡行 – going upstream (ie like with a river)
• 武器 – weapon

The most vital part here is the 遡行; that is, only upstream, not downstream. Indeed, 時間遡行 is an infrequent term in Japanese for the concept of “time travel, but only backwards to the past”. It is its own thing apart from the typical two-way Time Travel (時間旅行/タイムトラベル) and Time Leap (時間跳躍/タイムリープ). For instance, Enrique Gaspar’s 1887 novel El Anacronópete (featuring a backwards-only time machine) is also known in Japan as [時間遡行者]

In choosing 時間遡行, our authors wish to display upfront the limits of the Towers’ capabilities. Thus our translator and proofreader decided to follow up with something distinct from “time travel” and lessen the misconception, hence “Time-Crossing”.

Now for the “Personal Development-Type” part:

• 自己 – self, oneself
• 開発 – development, exploitation
• 型 – type, model, make

The collective term 自己開発 in Japanese usage refers to “Personal Development”; yes, the ‘life coach/therapy for people on how to make the most of their life’ kind. It’s not a term for expressing whether a hardware is developed independently, natively, etc. (that’d be more 個人 or 独立), nor whether a system can think and/or govern itself automatically, autonomously, etc. (that’d be more 自動 or 自立)

In any case, 自己開発型 is used to describe the nature of the Weapon, and so we arrived at “Personal Development-Type”. No explicit answer yet as to what said nature entails, a mystery still for us audience to decipher. But should we ever learn more, this Weapon’s name may be subject to change into something more streamlined in English, and we’ll let you know should that happen.

 

[R4ampage]

Excited to find out how Lucas will react to this and develope from it!
Hearing that all this War, these Powers and their Existince is some fucked up Proxy War Bet by the people in the Future just so they can change history to their liking is a crazy reveal to drop on a Guy.
Also not to mention a very creative Time Travel Plot! I don't think I have seen anything like it yet!

 

[LordTrollbias]

Coura's a real cutie when she's not being a lil psychopath. Still don't know if Lucas can fix her but at the very least he's got another very loyal ally now. She really did come in clutch against Akira.

Speaking of Akira it seems he and the Pope are the similar. Explains why he has powers despite not being a Ramus himself.

Really looking forward to seeing you guys TL about the proxy wars from the future. Excited to see the full explanation.

 

[Lehw]

I think there is a saying that goes "old men send young men to die in battle",
Interesting how its reverse

 

[Quality_Reads]

Coura's a real cutie when she's not being a lil psychopath. Still don't know if Lucas can fix her but at the very least he's got another very loyal ally now. She really did come in clutch against Akira.

Speaking of Akira it seems he and the Pope are the similar. Explains why he has powers despite not being a Ramus himself.

Really looking forward to seeing you guys TL about the proxy wars from the future. Excited to see the full explanation.

I still doubt her allegiance. She may be loyal to Lucas but she may do things Lucas doesn't approve of. After all her primary goal is to see all the suffering and death that Lucas brings.

 

[Quality_Reads]

I think there is a saying that goes "old men send young men to die in battle",
Interesting how its reverse

I mean it's the same concept. The people in power send other people to die for them. Interestingly I am reading Nausica and it is the opposite there as being a post apocalyptic manga where the birth rate is decreasing, the old people send themselves to die in battle to protect the young.

 

[ErikTheRed]

Once you start to involve time travel shenanigans, whats there to stop someone from the future to send/change more to meddle in the worldline we have been shown so far.
I doubt this was a good idea on the author.

 

[ThreeWolfMoon]

Wow, this was not the twist I was expecting (I thought it was just a post-apocalypse), but looking back at the hints, it does make sense, AND it's genuinely an idea I've never seen before. It's rare that a big twist in a story actually gets me excited.

I guess the Pope was actually being literal when he said "the future is watching you" to Lucas before the battle. I thought he was being metaphorical.

 

[Giguv]

Ohoho, I wonder what is being set up with the Pope retrieving the meteorite. I doubt it's just a chunk of iron. Back when most of us thought that the twist would be that this story is post-apocalyptic, I kinda assumed that the Garland was nudging abandoned satellites off-orbit for her attacks. Now I'm wondering where does she actually get the "ammunition" for them. Is there actually a bunch of huge rocks orbiting around Earth and I just had no idea? A cursory search tells me that there are tens of thousands of Near Earth Asteroids, so maybe Garland is using those, but the fact that the Pope retrieved one of them for some reason makes me thinks there's more to it than simple space rocks. Although the Pope did describe them as rocks in chapter 7...

With the part leafless trees play in this story I can't help but be suspicious of the twisted-looking naked tree in the Sequoia Mansion courtyard (the one Lucas and Coura are talking under). The fact that the mansion is named after a tree seems to center it as well. Maybe it's the Pope's true body or something? We now actually have the confirmation his body is made of branches like Akira's, although it being tied to some larger organism is a sheer guess on my part.

After all her primary goal is to see all the suffering and death that Lucas brings.

Well, I don't know about that. When she asked him about his time in a mercenary band, it seemed like it wasn't just to hear the stories of gruesome battles, but to get to know Lucas better. My feeling is that while her admiration for Lucas might have started purely as a fascination with his capability to enable violence, it has since grown into something more. After all, she says that she does not want to be hated, so I get the feeling that she now values Lucas's opinion of her higher than getting off to cruelty.

 

[ThreeWolfMoon]

The people in power send other people to die for them.

Really puts Akira's villain speech in a new light. Remember how he went on about this crazy era, full of "barbarians unable to respect the lives of others, nor their own"?
What does that say about the people of the future, causing all this bloodshed in the past? The gall to suggest the future is any different.

 

[mrboxeater]

Once you start to involve time travel shenanigans, whats there to stop someone from the future to send/change more to meddle in the worldline we have been shown so far.
I doubt this was a good idea on the author.

I see a lot of people apprehensive about such an ambitious idea especially for a first time serialization but some classic scifi novels in the past always had crazy ideas.

Closest award winning scifi novel i can think of is The Forever War (1974). Maybe The Bugle Call will work out in the end!

 

[ThreeWolfMoon]

With the part leafless trees play in this story I can't help but be suspicious of the twisted-looking naked tree in the Sequoia Mansion courtyard (the one Lucas and Coura are talking under).

Now that you mention it, since it's called the Sequoia Mansion, it'd be natural to assume it's named after that huge tree, right? Except, to my knowledge, there are no sequoias in Europe, and more importantly, that's not what a sequoia looks like.
I can't believe I never thought about it before, but yeah, there's probably something special about that tree.

 

[leo12345]

Wow, this was not the twist I was expecting (I thought it was just a post-apocalypse), but looking back at the hints, it does make sense, AND it's genuinely an idea I've never seen before. It's rare that a big twist in a story actually gets me excited.

I guess the Pope was actually being literal when he said "the future is watching you" to Lucas before the battle. I thought he was being metaphorical.

Yeah, i was thinking post apocalyptic as well, but this is way more interesting. I see some people are apprehensive, but it definitely feels like the author has the story all planned out, so i have faith it will be great.

 

[Jachinz]

I trust the time travel has rules and limitations. As it seems that they may not be able to continue to meddle with the past anytime as that kinda renders any forward progress pointless if it can just be up ended by someone or something being sent back before all current events.

I look forward to explanations for this interesting but weary twist.

 

[RanmaChaos]

Wow, this is wild! Thanks for the chapter.

 

[Kushikime]

Thanks for the chapter. What a crazy chapter