WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 173: The Eyes Do the Talking

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What had the original wall been?

'Overcoming the leader Gnoll while enduring injuries.'

The leader Gnoll had been terrifyingly fast, carrying poison-coated daggers.

'A fight where a single graze meant losing.'

One scratch and the outcome was decided. Almost like a wall designed specifically for him. Reflex speed, the kind that reads and reacts in the same instant. Coordination, where the body moves the moment the eyes register.

A fight that couldn't be won without mastering both.

Enkrid had treated the opponent as the wall, then found a slight pivot point in his approach. A shortcut, close enough.

'What if he faced it without being injured?'

Stamina would still drain, but there was a way. And as a bonus, most of the Pioneer Village's people wouldn't need to die.

So Enkrid did exactly that.

Now it was time to see whether the results would follow.

In short, he needed to find out whether he'd cleared the wall or wasted his effort entirely. The verification was simple enough. Just let time pass.

And so, the answer.

'Not looping back.'

Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink.

No matter how many times he blinked, nothing changed. Night had deepened, and the time for the loop had already passed.

The wall was cleared.

"What are you doing?"

Kraiss, from where he'd been watching. He was sprawled out beside Enkrid, the owner of the voice Enkrid had been half-hearing for a while now.

What a world, what a mess, man, is my luck just rotten this year or something?

Something like that had been spilling out of his mouth before he looked up at Enkrid and asked.

"I think my luck's been pretty good this year."

"Can't argue with that. Bad luck and you wouldn't have walked away from that alive. But why are you blinking like that? You look like someone possessed. It's creepy, quit it."

"Oh, was I?"

And then he blinked a few more times anyway.

That's what was going through his head as he did. Was it really possible to pass a day with a shortcut like that? Or was this the intended path all along? Or had he only ever needed to clear what was called the wall?

He didn't know. In truth, there was no way to know. Everything since the looping started had been one inexplicable thing after another, beginning with why today had been the one to repeat at all.

'Will he show up in tonight's dream?'

Maybe he could ask the Boatman. A pleasant answer wasn't likely, but asking was still better than not.

All pointless in the end. Better to swing the sword one more time than waste the headspace on it.

Thump.

Right in the middle of all that, Esther pressed a paw into his chest. Payback, maybe, for how eagerly he'd used her earlier. She hadn't left his side since he returned. Even while washing, she'd shared the wooden tub filled with hot water that a few of the laborers had prepared.

"Kyarha."

She must have found it pleasant. Instead of her usual sharp cry, she let out something long and deflating, like a sigh losing all its air, kneaded idly at his chest, then fell asleep purring. He'd carried her out of the tub worried she might drown in her sleep. Not that Esther seemed the type to drown.

All the same, Enkrid registered, at last, that a full day had passed. He'd cleared the wall and survived. Today, the day he'd learned something new built on the Sense of Evasion, was over.

Tomorrow.

"Tomorrow already."

He murmured it, drunk on the night and the moonlight and the wind.

"Still the middle of the night."

Crunch, crunch.

Covered head to toe in dirt, grass and leaf clinging to her, the moon at her back. Ruagarne had returned.

"You're back?"

He'd wondered when she'd return. A full day had passed, it turned out. Whatever she'd been doing all that time, Ruagarne hadn't known anything about the Demon Creature and Magic Beast attack.

"Ran a long way past the quarry. That one you mentioned, definitely a Cultist. They ran."

Enkrid and Ruagarne talked through what they'd been putting off. Ruagarne had lost the Cultist.

"You lost them?"

Frog? Lost a human? Just a human? Even if the human was a Cultist priest? Frog lost one person?

The words wrote themselves across Enkrid's eyes, one after another, and vanished.

Something unpleasant rose in Ruagarne. Her mouth opened before she could stop it.

"It was worth losing."

"Ah, is that so. Of course."

You let your guard down, or well, was it Half-wit Frog? Could be. So that's why you're still stuck out here, isn't it? Otherwise you'd have gone back to the capital long ago, wouldn't you?

"That's strange."

"What?"

"Your eyes keep saying something different."

"Mine?"

Enkrid remained his usual, unruffled self. His eyes were doing all the talking.

Half-wit Frog, maybe. Quick-eyed, certainly.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Never mind."

Losing the Cultist was the truth. She hadn't called him Half-wit Frog out loud. The eyes were insolent enough, but that wasn't the same thing. Because losing was the truth.

But still. Why did it feel like..."So they're connected to the Magic Beast and Demon Creature horde."

Enkrid said it. Ruagarne nodded.

"The ones that pulled back today might not have scattered either."

Another nod.

A Cultist priest could easily step into the colony leader's place. The Demon Creatures and Magic Beasts that had attacked were nothing legendary, and Gnolls were low-grade all the same.

Low-grade Demon Creatures were stupid by nature. The ghoul was in the same tier. The saying was that ghouls had no brains, and by that measure, Gnolls weren't exactly sharp either. They just packed together to fight and hit from behind. One on one, a Gnoll was actually easier to deal with than a ghoul.

Armed and organized like an army, though, that was a different story.

"I was wondering why the Gnolls were so well-armed. The Cultists outfitted them. Which means they might come again tomorrow."

Enkrid drew the conclusion.

Ruagarne noticed Enkrid's eyes were saying something else again.

'Because you let them get away, this happened.'

"Your eyes..."

Deutsch Fullman chose that moment to walk over.

"You're saying they didn't just pull back?"

He'd been lingering close enough to hear, and too much was being said to ignore.

"Seems like it."

"Why?"

At the question, Enkrid's gaze brushed over Ruagarne for just a moment.

Then.

"Whoever was moving the horde is still out there."

"Someone pulling the strings? Yeah, something was off about all of it."

Deutsch nodded. It made sense.

An armed Demon Creature horde. An unnaturally large gathering of Demon Creatures and Magic Beasts. And on top of that, a spy lurking among their own, specifically among his own men.

"Oh, and that lieutenant who went missing, he was a Cultist."

The addition landed like a blow.

'Him?'

Deutsch shook his head. First things first, clear the noise.

"I sent a pigeon, but reinforcements are at minimum a week out. There's nothing nearby."

This wasn't work for a rough-and-ready mercenary company. Even if one could be summoned, a battle this size would eat an enormous amount of Krona. Gathering that many mercenaries in the first place was hard enough.

Deutsch had only one option. Request support from the noble backing the village. He'd already sent the pigeon, but even at top speed, it'd be a week.

"A whole week."

Enkrid murmured it, barely loud enough to hear. Not meant for anyone's ears. The look in his eyes said he was thinking out loud.

Deutsch didn't bother unpacking it. Too many other things demanded his attention. The palisade defenses needed rethinking immediately. If the retreating horde was tied to the Cultists, then a sorcery assault had to be factored in. Cultists might use curses that ground a person's mind down to nothing. With Cultists, you never knew. Some of them walked into a remote valley and ruled the place like a god. Most importantly, if the Cultist was still out there, they'd need to prepare for whatever orders got passed to the Gnolls.

"I'll handle the Cultist."

Ruagarne said it to Deutsch. For him, at least, those words were a relief.

"Thank you."

Genuine, no pretense. She looked over at Enkrid. Between the dark hair, those sharp blue eyes cast that strange light again.

'Clean up your own mess?'

The thought came unbidden.

Gurgle.

Her cheek twitched, but there was nothing to say. She had lost the Cultist, after all. Still, taking down someone who used summoning sorcery alone was no easy thing. Summoning sorcery, the kind you'd only truly understand after facing it, was something fighters who relied purely on steel couldn't counter. Hard to block, hard to break through, without sorcery of your own.

"What is it?"

Enkrid's eyes stayed bright and blue.

Better not to waste words on those eyes. If the Cultist came back tomorrow, still set on the village and leading Demon Creatures and Magic Beasts, that's when she'd prove herself.

"No sparring today?"

She asked as she moved off.

"I put Esther to work earlier. Now she's like this, so today's out."

He said it while stroking the panther's head where she'd settled on his chest. Nothing more to say.

"I see."

Ruagarne excused herself and went to wash up. She'd spotted a stream on the way. That would do. Frogs were a species that knew their way around water. She felt like plunging into cool water.

"Can we hold out?"

Kraiss asked, watching Frog leave. Enkrid, standing there blankly, tilted his head.

"Hold out?"

"The Gnoll horde's coming back tomorrow, isn't it."

"Oh, they'll come."

Blank expression, flat tone. Something was clearly turning over in his head.

What is this bastard squad leader on about now?

Kraiss said it with his eyes. Enkrid didn't let it pass. He never let that kind of look slide.

Thwack.

Kraiss was half-propped up on one elbow. The kick caught him square in the chest.

"Ugh!"

He rolled sideways.

"Why, why?"

"Your eyes were a little out of line, weren't they."

Kraiss knew his squad leader all too well: once a decision was made, the man saw it through. On top of that, his perceptiveness matched Kraiss's own. He'd caught every word said with the eyes. Usually the jokes landed fine, but when something crossed the line, the foot came out. Like now.

"Eyes."

"Yes, I'll keep them straight."

Satisfied, at last.

Time to sleep. Rest well, wake sharp for tomorrow. He'd put ointment on the few scratches he'd taken. The muscles had some Load on them, but a night's sleep would fix that.

'How well does Frog fight when she's provoked?'

Quite the thing to wonder about, heading into that night.

While Enkrid slept soundly, Deutsch Fullman and his men, and the village at large, swung between heaven and hell.

"Didn't they say they'd all pulled back?"

"They're coming again?"

"Connected to the Cultists? Oh, Lord of the Sun, my Lord."

"Look down upon us, Lord."

"Urgh, the demons are coming. Demons!"

Those who had lost their nerve wept and rambled. Those with faith prayed. Those with a level head weighed the danger. Those in command focused on what needed doing right now. Each person carrying their own worry and their own duty through the night.

Most had no choice but to stay awake. Sentries stood watch through the dark hours and into the grey of early morning.

It was Enkrid who had carried them through the day. Without him, in Deutsch's eyes, the fight would have ended. He'd watched how the man fought. He couldn't do that again. It had been the result of chance, born from a tangle of circumstance. What kind of person would otherwise hurl themselves alone into a horde of Magic Beasts?

The day turned. Dawn broke.

The Self-Defense Force member standing guard outside Enkrid's door watched the dark-haired hero step out. A later start than usual. He came out, loosened up, and trained until he was soaked through.

Was that not too much? Was it alright to burn that kind of energy today?

He couldn't help himself.

"Excuse me, you're not resting even today?"

Yesterday had been brutal, and today might bring another crisis.

Enkrid nodded.

"I had a good dream."

Huh? He'd asked whether he was resting.

Enkrid said only what he wanted to say. He focused and trained.

After that, Frog came out.

"A good dream? You were thrashing around. A lot."

"Must have been talking in my sleep."

That exchange, just the two of them. The guard had nothing to add and fell back.

Shortly after, the panther and the big-eyed soldier came out. Kraiss yawned, caught the guard's eye, and gave a slight nod. The guard returned it.

Last came the woman Ranger.

"Hoo."

A long exhale as she stepped out. The way she moved made it plain she wasn't at full strength.

"Why are you out here."

Enkrid, watching her.

"I can still shoot a bow."

"Alright."

"You said they'd come today?"

"Probably."

"All the better."

Enkrid, then Finn, then Enkrid, then Frog.

The guard couldn't follow their exchange.

"When they come, it'll be welcome."

Frog said it a second time.

Weight behind the words. Force. Killing intent. Fighting spirit. All of it.

Just looking at Frog made the guard's knees go weak.

Clang, clang, clang!

Right then, the alarm bell cut through the village and found every set of ears.

They say the worst outcome you can imagine always arrives. Or was it that the thing you least want to face always walks straight up to you? Sounded like the same thing either way.

"Gnolls!"

A messenger came sprinting from the front.

The time had come for Deutsch's defensive plans, worked out through a sleepless night.

Enkrid moved. Fully warmed up. Just needed his gear.

Both swords Kraiss had cleaned before bed, blood wiped off, mutton-fat oil rubbed in until they gleamed. The armor had taken a dent to part of the chainmail lining, but that was fine. Throwing daggers might run short, but today he might just swing the sword. Preparation done.

"So, Ruagarne?"

Enkrid called to Frog while strapping on his armor. Frog nodded. Time to make up for the mistake, and at the same time, show those arrogant blue eyes just what she was worth.

"Let's go."

Ruagarne answered, and the group moved. Finn came along too. If she couldn't be of use, watching was reason enough.

Kraiss exhaled and muttered something about his rotten luck, but nothing was going to change, so his feet moved fast enough. Whatever was about to happen, staying together was the one thing clear.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

The alarm bell rang on and on above them.

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