WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 189: You Brat, Take a Beating.

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"Good sword."

He picked up his weapon from the blacksmith.

"Take this too."

He was handed an iron plate cuirass as well. It was fixed with rivets only at the sides.

With nothing resting on his shoulders, it was comfortable enough, but he would probably need separate pauldrons.

Enkrid's eyes moved to the pile of scrap metal in one corner of the forge.

There were two more smithies in the Border Guard.

This one had the best craftsmanship.

The Border Guard had no private lord's blacksmith, so all three forges had to supply weapons to the barracks.

The war was over, and now came the season to stockpile supplies, so they would be making spears, swords, and blunt weapons out of scrap like that.

In short, the blacksmith standing in front of him had no time, yet still pushed himself to tune Enkrid's sword.

"Here."

Ting.

He flicked one gold coin, then stacked a few more on top.

"That's a lot."

"Use what's left to buy your wife some flowers."

The blacksmith stared at Enkrid with hollow eyes.

If someone gave it to him, he should just spend it. Why was he staring.

Lately, Enkrid had plenty of Krona. And he was never the type to save it.

Kraiss called that the captain's biggest flaw.

In truth, in the squad, no, in the whole company, the only one truly sensitive about Krona was Kraiss.

Even Finn was not especially strict about money.

Esther was a panther, so there was nothing to discuss there.

Though, did it even make sense to count Esther as part of the unit?

Well, she had done that much for them, so what could anyone say.

She could not be placed in the formal structure, but the panther was still a comrade.

Anyway, Rem, Ragna, Audin, Jaxon.

Did they not all spend Krona freely too?

That was how it seemed.

Of course, Enkrid was the worst of them.

Whether he got reward money or looted a treasure vault, once Krona filled his pocket, he spent it without hesitation.

He was the same after leaving the forge.

Ting.

"Take it."

A gold coin flew through the air, and a rough hand snatched it.

It was John the tanner.

John was highly skilled. Some of the traveling merchants who passed through this city came just to see him.

His leatherwork deserved the word master. It far exceeded the level of an ordinary craftsman.

This time, Enkrid had received leather forearm guards from him. Bracers, covering from wrist to elbow.

Even wrapped that way, they were both supple and firm.

Pitch black, tied down by pulling leather straps of the same material and winding them from below.

Care showed everywhere.

A master's work was visible in every detail. One gold coin was the least he deserved.

"Magic Beast hide, oiled three times."

One coin would not be enough, then.

Ting, one more coin.

"That will do."

Master John always charged fair prices. He was an honest leather craftsman.

That was why traveling merchants kept wearing down his doorstep.

Usually, once someone was called a master, prices shot up. Not with John.

In any case, Magic Beast hide was one of the hardest materials to handle. Tanning itself required special compounds, and even then it often failed.

Maybe it was easy to get in the capital, but on the frontier, doubtful.

Did anyone besides him even own something like this?

Probably not.

On top of that, he liked his sword. The Evil Spirit that had taught him swordsmanship was gone, and the blade that had housed it, a blade that could have been called a Demon Sword, was now just metal.

A soft blue sheen, a grip the blacksmith had polished with special care and wrapped in deer hide, and a round, solid pommel he liked very much.

"Take these, I had some time to spare."

Maybe because it had been a while since he came to the market.

The shoemaker he had met when opening the Gate of the Sixth Sense came over and handed him boots.

The soles were thicker than before, and the top of the foot was reinforced with a hard shell.

One look told him these were not casually made.

"I threw them together, but they didn't feel right to sell."

What kind of ridiculous thing was that.

"Father, just say you wanted to give them to him."

His daughter said from the side with a bright smile.

Enkrid flicked another coin.

Ting!

Gold.

The daughter caught it.

"This is a lot."

"If there's extra, spend it however you want."

Enkrid scattered coins, and on his way out he received a pile of seasoned jerky.

He got a couple of bottles of wine too. Not a bad taste.

Though why was someone giving him charcoal?

"It's good charcoal."

What was he supposed to do with that, grill meat?

Still, these people were interesting.

Was this the strength of Gielpin's guild? The dark, stained parts of the city seemed to have been scrubbed away in many places.

Of course, some stains did not disappear.

For example.

"Commoner, move aside."

A noble bastard like that.

A noble with an escort, met on the road.

The man looked at Enkrid and deliberately raised the corner of his mouth. A sneer.

"A Company Commander, really? Absurd. I don't know what little trick you used on Marcus, but that was a mistake."

If it had been Rem, the moment those words came out, she would probably have split his skull in half with an axe.

No, she might have started swinging at "move aside."

For everyone's sake, he only hoped that man never said anything like that to Rem.

His face looked like it could be friends with a Ghoul. Narrowed eyes, thin lips. A face that had lived a life of petty malice.

Looks did not prove everything, but this bastard seemed exactly like the sort who lived the way he looked. The rumors about him were everywhere too.

Ruagarne would shriek at a face like that.

Frog cared about appearance. Human appearance, specifically.

What a strange race.

And that same Frog had said she had fallen for him.

"Hmph."

The noble passed by with one guard behind him. Maybe he had business in the market, because he headed toward the city gate.

He had always made his dislike obvious, so there was nothing new about it. Enkrid stayed calm.

The fruit seller beside him muttered instead.

"That unlucky bastard. Hope he dies from his own rotten filth."

Creative insult.

What was that bastard's name again?

He had heard it before, but there was no need to know it now.

He just needed to keep that man from crossing paths with Rem.

"Wonder what that superior-assault criminal is up to."

Enkrid hummed to himself as he headed back to the unit.

Then Rem blurted out something out of nowhere.

"You planning to find me another one like Andrew somewhere?"

"Hm?"

"My hands haven't had enough fun lately."

Dangerous. That was Rem's frustration signal.

"Spar?"

It was time to put out the fire fast. The spar turned rough, rough enough that he used Heart of Superhuman Strength recklessly.

"You're wearing a nice bracer."

Rem noticed the changed gear. Sharp eyes.

"That sword doesn't look ordinary either, does it?"

"Found it on the road."

With that kind of loose conversation, the spar ended, and by evening, his whole body ached.

Had he pushed this hard in sparring lately?

Either way, it eased Rem's frustration enough.

"I think I'll sleep well tonight."

She had been acting unlike herself, worrying about whether she would become a knight, and now she was back to normal.

"Good, sleep well."

That evening, as always, Audin finished his prayer and called Enkrid.

"Company Commander brother."

"What?"

"Would you like to go on night patrol tonight?"

The bear smiled as he spoke. Huge body, gentle smile. Looking at him like this, Audin probably could do very well if he decided to charm women.

Enkrid could see why Kraiss wanted him in his salon.

"How about becoming a priest who roams the night?"

Kraiss had even needled him with lines like that.

Audin only smiled anyway. He did not even answer, as if it was not worth responding to.

In any case, Audin looked like he had something to say. If not, then maybe he really did just mean a night walk.

"Sure."

Enkrid had been feeling self-conscious in the barracks anyway, since this whole independent company business had him exempted from every duty post.

So this patrol was both an excuse and something close to a walk.

Audin had something to say, the patrol was a good excuse, and Enkrid himself had been thinking he should do at least something duty-like once.

"There is scripture in the Holy Canon: a day built up steadily is more important than a day of overexertion. What this means is..."

A sermon. His usual sermon.

Sometimes Audin talked far too much. Especially about sermons and the Holy Canon.

Was Finn really fine with this?

"And Finn?"

He had said he was pursuing her.

"I am working to convert Sister Finn."

So he was trying to plant religion in someone he wanted to sleep with? It fit Audin, but from a woman's side that would hurt pride quite a bit.

Still, Finn had been bright-faced every day.

"The point is this. It is better to work your body at a proper level than to overdo it, Company Commander brother."

He really remembered the change in rank perfectly and kept using it.

Enkrid nodded at Audin's words. He understood. Lately he had been pushing like something was chasing him.

How to put it.

It felt like something was just within reach, but would not let itself be caught.

He swung his sword and used Heart of Superhuman Strength.

As he kept doing that, he started wanting to go one step further, and maybe a kind of impatience had grown.

Not knowing frustration and despair did not mean he could stop his heart from rushing. He had not truly set out to grind himself down, but mindset changed action, action changed attitude, and attitude changed the way one saw the world.

It was good guidance.

"Was that so."

"It was."

A few words, and if he thought they were right, he admitted it and accepted it at once. That was one of Enkrid's biggest strengths.

Still.

Looks like your conscience is dead, saying that yourself.

Who was the one always saying breaking limits every day was just part of the Isolation Technique?

"What you do while I am watching is not overexertion. It is exactly the right level."

Enkrid had spoken with his eyes, and Audin answered with his mouth.

"Lately I keep thinking you read my eyes too well."

"You make them easy to read."

Enkrid smirked.

Audin smiled too.

They moved along the gallery on patrol, and a few soldiers they knew gave military salutes.

"It's just an irregular patrol. Don't worry about it."

The city was peaceful. It was safe. Whatever happened nearby, this wall would protect them.

Love the city, was that what someone had said?

Backlit by moonlight, Enkrid looked over the city sunk in darkness. From atop the gallery, the city spread beneath his feet.

Summer night insects scraped at his ears.

Love, maybe not.

At least he would not stand there and watch these people die.

Protect the weak.

The first line anyone quoted when talking about chivalry.

Some called it an excuse to swing a knight's power.

If someone had power and still failed to use it right, that was just a thug.

Enkrid's dream was not to become a thug. Moonlight warmed him. He did not believe he could become a knight overnight.

He still had a long road to walk.

He had resolve. He also thought there was still more to learn.

Before that, he needed time to digest what he already had.

Even after learning new swordsmanship, he did not neglect what came before.

There was still room to train.

Once Enkrid judged that for himself, that was that.

He was drunk on moonlight, deep in thought. Then his ears twitched.

"Something's there."

Audin reacted too.

Right after that, a rank smell hit them, and something scrambled up onto the wall.

"Krhhhhhng!"

A wild beast's roar, no, a Magic Beast's roar.

It carried force that shook a person's core.

"Uh, uh."

The soldier standing right in front of it froze at the cry.

Before Enkrid even moved, a bear cut across the moonlight. A capable bear, and very fast.

Audin.

"Krrng!"

The enemy was a manticore. A high-grade monster with a scorpion tail and the head and body of a lion, a creature called both a Demon Creature and a Magic Beast.

Its cry alone bound people in place.

A graze from its scorpion tail poisoned you at once and sent you to the next world.

It was the kind they said not to fight even with most of a company's strength.

Not all Magic Beasts were the same.

A manticore was a monster that could not be compared to hyena beasts.

A real monster, a terrifying monster, a nightmare to ordinary soldiers.

"Kitty, if you make that much noise at night, people wake up."

Watching Audin soothe that monster so gently made it feel like the manticore had dropped all the way down to a stray cat.

The manticore lowered its posture the moment it saw him.

Audin stood relaxed, raising only both hands forward. Half his palms showed, thumbs turned toward himself.

In that moment, Enkrid grabbed the frozen soldier by the back of the neck and yanked him away.

"Take a deep breath in, breathe out as you move. Start from your fingertips and tense up slowly."

"Y-yes!"

With a manticore, even the roar carried pressure that crushed the target. Enkrid recited the way to break it.

One soldier on watch atop the gallery gripped a whistle. He looked ready to blow it immediately.

"Wait."

Enkrid stopped him again with his eyes, because making pointless noise could turn him into the manticore's target.

Even with his body stiff as stone, the soldier obeyed Enkrid's command.

"Back."

As Enkrid pulled the gallery soldiers backward, the manticore moved.

It tore through moonlight, rushing in and swinging a forepaw. Fast. A true high-grade Magic Beast.

It pushed lightly off the ground and left a blurred afterimage. Enkrid's eyes tracked all of it.

Audin, now the target, barely dodged the forepaw and threw his left fist.

Ah.

Enkrid admired it inwardly. A perfect evade into a counter.

It followed the same line as part of the swordsmanship he had learned this time.

"Pull your foot back to draw the enemy into your space, twist your body to make room, then strike through. If you predicted the attack, it's possible."

Ruagarne's lesson rose in his mind, and Audin's punch and movement overlapped on top of it.

Audin twisted, and his fist buried itself in the manticore's snout.

Bang!

A clean sound like striking a leather drum rang out.

Flailing, the beast dropped to the ground and slid sideways.

Krrng!

The beast that got hit let out a cry full of pain.

"You brat, take your beating."

After that, Audin became a teacher scolding a child.

The only difference was that his student was a high-grade Magic Beast that could chew through a whole company.

Everything else looked like ordinary life, mixed with reprimands and sermons.

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