WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 197: He Had Thought So. That Was What He Had Believed.

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Bansento had made the best plan he could for the situation he was in. Or rather, he had thought he had.

Kill the men sent as escorts, kill that bastard Enkrid and his whole group, then use this chance to join hands with Martai and overthrow the city.

He had even said this should have been done long ago.

Now Bansento was no longer in any state to speak.

A man with his skull split and buried in the ground had nothing left to say.

"Let's go."

Enkrid searched the two corpses and the wagon, took everything worth taking, dug a hole, and buried the bodies.

Not bad.

A full pouch of gold coins, plus a few jewels.

There were also several black stones he could not identify.

They did not look like jewels, but the moment he saw them, he felt something strange from them.

Could they be sold? Maybe they could still be exchanged for coin, so he took those too.

He dumped the gold and the rest into his pack, then even took the black dagger the escort had used. At that point, he had taken everything there was to take.

So thoroughly it felt like he had stripped them bare.

"I look like a bandit."

Enkrid said it himself.

"The Enkrid Bandit Crew. Why not start one after you leave the army?"

Rem tossed out a pointless joke. He talked like that, but he was not the type to rob commoners.

Without resting, Enkrid and his group moved at once. Once they moved, Dunbakel had no choice but to follow, still tied with rope.

She had no chance to run.

She had told them where the ambush point was.

She had even told them part of the Black Blades' core force would be there.

And even after hearing all that, they were still completely at ease.

"Rough wasteland, black sun, shattering earth, breaking sky."

That guy Rem stopped in the middle of walking and started singing something that sounded like a song from some western frontier.

It was not a particularly good song, but Rem's voice was better than expected.

"Break the sky and race forward to bring it down."

As she listened with one ear and let it pass out the other, she could also hear the other two talking up ahead.

"How did you make those sword movements settle into your body?"

"I memorized all of it."

The question sounded complicated, but the answer was clear.

The blond man who had asked hesitated for a while, as if choosing his words. Then he blurted it out.

"Extending your left hand is meant to send the opponent to your right. You cannot ignore the meaning of the movement."

"Yeah. Got it."

Their leader, Enkrid, nodded.

Got it?

Dunbakel was baffled. What were they even talking about?

Enkrid spoke again.

"You mean each step has meaning, and even the hand holding the sword has meaning, right?"

The blond man nodded, light and quick.

"Yes. Every movement has meaning."

She did not understand all of it, but she understood one thing.

They were talking about swordsmanship.

Dunbakel was still baffled. Why were they so relaxed?

Something prickling stirred inside her chest. She could not clearly name it, but one thing was certain.

Curiosity surged up.

What exactly were these people?

* * *

As Enkrid listened to Ragna, he reached a small realization.

It was exactly what he needed to hear right now.

Ragna had seen it in a single battle and said it.

His way of speaking was terrible, so it came out a mess.

Still, as long as Enkrid understood it properly.

No problem.

Enkrid repeated it back in his own words, organizing it as he spoke, and reviewed the lesson again.

Every movement in swordsmanship had meaning.

He needed to grasp all of that meaning.

He had felt something similar before while fighting that beastkin from behind.

The harmony between Vallen-style mercenary swordplay and formal swordsmanship.

In the end, the one swinging the sword was the one holding it.

Understand it, then make it your own.

If he understood all of it, he could break it apart and use it. In the moment he needed it, he could pull out the exact movement he needed.

Ragna's point had started with the meaning of movements, but for Enkrid, it came back to the attitude needed to learn swordsmanship.

"Heavy Sword Style comes later, after you fully understand what you just learned."

Ragna spoke beside him.

"After I understand this and make it settle into my body."

Enkrid added.

The two of them looked ahead and nodded.

"There is an ambush ahead, you know?"

Rem had finished singing, and their talk with Ragna had ended too. The beastkin behind them spoke up. No, she asked.

There was force in her voice. She did not hide her bewilderment at all.

"What did you say your name was?"

Enkrid asked, turning his head slightly.

He wondered how many times he had asked by now, but the beastkin answered with eyes that said what did her name matter.

"Dunbakel."

"Right, Dunbakel."

Enkrid tried to explain.

Why they were heading straight to the ambush point. Why they were willing to take the risk.

Enkrid did not see the ambush ahead as a crisis.

Why?

Who had passed their strength to the other side?

Probably the dead noble and escort.

All the Black Blades attackers were dead, and the only survivor was this beastkin.

If she had secretly sent word, that would be a different story.

But there was not the slightest sign of that.

He had not given her the chance anyway, but some things were clear at a glance.

Her golden eyes held doubt, curiosity, and something close to longing, all mixed together.

This beastkin called Dunbakel kept asking only one thing.

Why were they going to the ambush point?

The answer was simple.

If a small elite force was waiting there without understanding their true strength,

then the ambush would not be an ambush at all.

Of course, every calculation could fail and still put them in danger. That chance always existed.

What if the Black Blades had gone half-mad and committed over half their forces here?

No chance.

The odds of that were far too low.

As Kraiss had admitted, Enkrid did not use his head often, but when he did, it worked fairly well.

The way he put it was irritating, but it was not an insult. Enkrid knew that himself.

If it were me.

If he were the leader of the Black Blades, he would send exactly twice the force he had sent before.

That alone would be enough.

If he was still worried, he would add someone better at killing than at fighting.

So.

Their force composition would already be off. It was not just him here. Rem and Ragna were with him too.

Ragna was yawning wide and muttering that he was sleepy.

Rem was kicking stones along the ground as he walked.

Neither showed even a trace of tension.

For now, both of them were still overwhelmingly stronger than Enkrid.

That was why the enemy's force estimate would be wrong.

That was what Enkrid believed.

When Dunbakel repeated that there was an ambush ahead, what she really meant was why keep going straight in?

He did have an answer, but explaining all of it would take too long, and there was no reason to persuade the golden-eyed beastkin in front of him.

"If you are asking why we are going where the ambush is, no special reason."

He paused, looked at her longing eyes, and added one more line.

"Because I want to swing my sword more."

It was not a lie. He had done the calculations, yes, but it was also his real desire.

At those words, Dunbakel's golden pupils shook violently.

"...Why."

Why for a reason like that?

Yet that was exactly why it made sense.

Krimhalt's teaching surged from deep in her chest like a fountain and struck her head.

It felt as if someone had rung a bell right beside her ear.

Bloom and wither on the battlefield in the end.

Krimhalt, the god she believed in, had told her to bloom and wither on the battlefield.

The man before her was trying to do exactly that.

At the same time, she remembered the fortune-teller old woman who had spoken when she was driven out of her village.

"When the day comes that you seek death, a guide will stand by your side."

At the time, she had thought it was just pity, a sympathetic line tossed her way.

Now it felt different.

Dunbakel had prepared herself to die, but she had lived.

Whose whim had done that?

The man in front of her.

Between the envy, jealousy, and admiration in Dunbakel's heart, a soft wind began to grow.

I want to have that man's child.

In reality, that would probably be impossible.

Mixed children between beastkin and humans were rarely born.

And that was not her only wish.

I want to stay within that.

She wanted to stay by his side. She wanted to learn how he lived. She wanted to die beside him.

Those complex, subtle desires burned through her chest.

Enkrid glanced at her eyes.

What is with this one now?

He had seen so many people with crazed eyes lately that he thought he was used to it, but eyes like these were new.

Something strange and intense. Almost sensual.

"By the way, why didn't Esther come?"

As Enkrid looked at Dunbakel's eyes, Rem suddenly asked.

Enkrid looked away from them and answered Rem.

"How would I know? Our Esther is moody."

Enkrid said it jokingly, and Rem snickered.

"If Esther heard that, she'd draw staff lines across your face, Captain. Still, you are not wrong."

Sometimes she acted like she would never leave his side. Other times she would walk out of the inn on her own and not come back for days.

Looking at the way Esther acted, moody fit her well enough.

Still relaxed, they climbed a small rise.

They first saw a few small trees, then soon enough there were enough trees to block the view on both sides.

The path was rough too. Jagged stones jutted up from the dirt.

Ants moved in lines through the gaps, carrying things like dead insect bodies. Relentless workers.

It was not an easy path to walk.

As they kept going, it felt less like a hill and more like a small knoll.

Originally, once they crossed this place, it was a two-day walk to the agreed meeting point.

The place where the envoy and the Black Blades were supposed to meet.

Of course, that agreement meant nothing now.

Rustle.

Leaves shook in the wind, and sunlight filtered through.

The weather was nice. The wind was not stifling, and the sun through the leaves was not too hot.

A little farther ahead, they saw an open clearing, and behind it thick leaves mixed with thorn bushes.

There was no road past that. It was a dead end.

"This is as far as you go."

About ten people stood inside the clearing. One of them spoke.

Three women, seven men.

One used an axe. One stood with both arms hanging at his sides. One sat neatly on a medium-sized boulder and watched. Another sat on a tree branch above him.

A mixed bunch.

Cold air passed between the two sides. The one who had spoken glared, and Enkrid's group stopped walking.

So, what now.

Tension spread. In the middle of it, Enkrid opened his mouth.

"Wow, an ambush."

He said it in a theatrical tone. And his acting was terrible.

"Wow, we got caught."

Rem joined in.

"Oh no, what a surprise."

Ragna said something similar. He said it while wiping sleep from his eyes, so maybe he did look surprised.

Dunbakel watched, still baffled.

They were doing theater now?

"So you waited for us here. Thorough bunch."

Enkrid continued. It was memorable how he said that while picking his ear.

"Completely unexpected. My knees are shaking."

Rem said that while picking his nose.

Even digging in his nose, Rem somehow still looked handsome.

"I was so surprised I almost bit my tongue."

As he said it, Enkrid crunched down on a candy.

Crunch.

Must be sweet. But where did that candy even come from?

Watching them, Dunbakel found herself thinking exactly that.

"Ugh, I want to run away."

At Enkrid's line, Rem, who always took mocking others seriously, played along.

What were those two doing?

Provoking them.

Just hearing those words scrape at the other side's nerves made even Dunbakel feel irritated.

If she felt that way, how would they feel?

"Are you lunatics?"

One looked dumbfounded.

"You bastards are that desperate to die?"

One woman put on a calm front.

"They are dead anyway."

One had no interest in them to begin with.

"You fucking bastards?"

And one was openly furious.

Enkrid saw those reactions, nodded, and looked at Rem. Rem looked back, snorted, and nodded too.

Both seemed very pleased with the response.

"Do not run. Stay here."

After saying that, Ragna, blond with red eyes, moved her behind him.

If there were a moment to run, this was the only one.

But instead of running, Dunbakel chose to watch.

She wanted to know. She wanted to see.

What were those three relying on to come this far?

Their opponents were recognized strength even within the Black Blades.

Dunbakel still did not truly know how strong Enkrid, Rem, and Ragna were.

"In all my life, I have never seen bastards like you. Bansento is nowhere in sight, so I guess you already took care of him. And you still came even knowing we were waiting for you?"

The one speaking stood at the front, a heavily bearded man. His weapon was a halberd.

Its tip was sharp, and the axe blade fixed beside the spearhead was about the size of a palm.

Just from the way he held it at an angle, he looked far from easy.

If that axe blade caught someone, a skull would burst like ripe fruit.

"How did you know?"

Enkrid asked.

"...You really do have a natural talent for pissing people off."

The halberd man said, eyes wide.

Rem snickered.

"Correct. In all my life, this is the first person I have seen with a tongue this vicious."

Enkrid felt wronged.

"I was only being sincere."

Sure, he had intended to provoke them a little, but this was exactly the kind of line you said in a situation like this.

How did you know? That line. Perfectly appropriate.

"So do not try to win with your mouth. Come at us with blades."

Rem said it like he was wrapping up the situation.

The halberd man frowned.

For a brief moment, a truly brief one, he considered it.

They came even knowing about the ambush?

He had no time to think long.

"What is there to think about!"

The brawler moved first. He wore knuckles fitted with flat iron plates over both fists.

This whole performance and provocation had been Enkrid's trick, in case the enemy got suspicious and hesitated.

So this response from them was exactly what he wanted.

Once the halberd man saw the brawler step in, he had no room to hold back.

Kill them first.

He and the Black Blades forces gathered here were known as top strength in this branch.

Aside from the branch leader, they were sometimes called the Black Blades Ten.

In this area, when all ten gathered, they felt they would lose to no one.

As long as it was not a knight order.

The Red Cloak Knights could not show up in this situation, so the halberd man had taken this job believing victory was certain.

That was what he thought. That was what he had believed.

Right up until the instant before the brawler and the man with the axe exchanged the first strike.

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