WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 202: What Are You Relying On (2)

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"Let's kill them all!"

The one roaring like a tiger was the 1st Company Commander.

Enkrid had heard that a comrade who had been with him since his days campaigning with the army had died in the Martai uprising.

"We will."

After giving that reply, the Battalion Commander ordered an extremely defensive formation.

Their side had six infantry companies.

It had originally been a single battalion, but the battalion stationed on the Green Pearl Plain had sent two companies as reinforcements.

That side had taken a serious risk too.

If they pulled all their forces out of Green Pearl, no one knew what Azpen might do.

"If they come to the south gate, we can hold the fortress, but we won't be able to avoid a decisive battle on the plain."

The 2nd Company Commander said it.

"How many cavalry?"

"Fifty riders."

Fifty cavalry did not sound like a small number to Enkrid.

Warhorses devoured gold not just while being raised, but while being maintained.

You had to outfit them with heavy metal barding, and the cavalrymen riding them needed separate training.

After pouring in that much Krona, cavalry on open plains became a terrifying force.

A full lance charge from fifty riders could tear through hundreds of infantry.

The total strength of six companies was roughly twelve hundred men.

Fifty cavalry is a huge variable.

That was Enkrid's judgment.

Even so, Marcus stayed calm.

"They've grown a force that size through the back door. Impressive."

He sounded not just calm, but almost admiring.

"They also have a substantial number of archers."

That was unsettling news too.

To Enkrid, it meant the enemy had prepared thoroughly.

"Urgent report!"

The final blow came from a scout who rushed in.

The scout burst into the meeting room with blood dripping from his left arm.

He was a soldier who had barely survived after scouting deep into enemy lines.

He endured the pain and spoke.

"Troops with hidden heraldry have joined the enemy."

Martai's original forces were not small either.

One infantry battalion and part of a cavalry unit.

They also had archers at company strength.

Their quality was somewhat lower than the Border Guard's, but the gap in numbers was clear.

Even so, the Border Guard had beaten Martai again and again until now. They had kept taking victory.

"This is bad."

It was worse because of who said it.

The speaker was the Frontier Guard, a special unit made entirely of elite soldiers.

Their combat power was unquestionably exceptional.

Still, with one report after another that could make people hesitate before the battle even began, everyone naturally wondered whether this time would be different.

"Independent Company Commander."

Marcus, having sorted through the whole situation, spoke.

Enkrid realized a beat late that Marcus was addressing him.

"...Yes?"

"Do you know the authority of an Independent Company?"

There was such a thing?

Marcus continued.

"If a company commander wants, he can requisition troops from other companies. Squad-sized or platoon-sized, either one."

Is this sane?

On the outside, Enkrid stayed calm. Inside, he questioned Marcus's state of mind.

Those words meant the Independent Company could act like a superior unit over other companies.

Literally.

Hey, hand over your platoon. I'll use them. Ah, half of them died while I was using them.

Then what?

Who would accept an order like that?

Enkrid's eyes moved over the other company commanders.

None of them had gentle personalities. They were men who lived with battle at their doorstep and wore command insignia on their shoulders.

That was not a seat anyone could keep by being soft or easygoing.

So even if it was the Battalion Commander, an idea like that...

"If it's you, I'd give you even more than that."

The first to speak was the Elf Company Commander. Well, that elf might do that.

"If you need the Frontier Guard."

Then even the Frontier Defense Captain stepped forward.

He might have felt he owed a debt over what had happened this time.

"The 1st Company is one body, but even split apart, it will do its share."

Why was the 1st Company Commander saying it too? Wasn't he considered a candidate for the next Battalion Commander?

The Frontier Defense Captain might be the power broker, but this man's influence was no joke either.

"What, you're heading over to the Madmen Company? I can send my whole company."

Had the 2nd Company Commander always been this spineless? Enkrid thought it over and decided no.

Every time someone tried to pull men from his unit, he used to foam at the mouth and raise hell. That was why people called him Foaming Paltor.

After Rayon, the original 3rd Company Commander, died, the new 3rd Company Commander was not much different. Neither was the reinforcement company commander.

"Hm, if it's the Independent Company, I can trust it."

Even the Green Pearl reinforcement commander, someone Enkrid had never met before, nodded at him, and in that gaze Enkrid saw faith, hope, trust.

"Since when did that authority exist?"

Enkrid spoke in his usual flat tone. He was not one to show emotion. The company commander nodded boldly and answered with a grin in his voice.

"Obviously from now on!"

What kind of curse did this bastard get hit with?

Or maybe he ate something bad. Maybe the heat got to him. It had been getting hotter.

Enkrid masked his expression again. He might not be an actor, but he was a master at hiding his face.

"I'm not a man with great imagination."

Marcus continued.

Enkrid stared at him, wondering what he was talking about. Marcus met his eyes and spoke again.

"If we let you run wild as you please beyond strategy and tactics, how far can you go? Can you crush the enemy cavalry? Or cut down every enemy that comes in?"

Heat began to creep into Marcus's voice.

Maybe it was because Enkrid had seen that performance earlier, but he could tell there was not a trace of acting in what Marcus was saying now.

That was how it felt.

Sincerity in an earnest voice.

Crang's speech from the past came to mind. His speeches had the power to seize an audience.

In his gestures, his voice, his bearing, there had been an authority that made people see visions.

Marcus had heat instead of grandeur.

Blazing passion, something one person carried regardless of age.

The voice of a man wrapped in that heat reached Enkrid.

"At a small scale, you've done reconnaissance. Going further, you've struck enemy cities. At the largest scale, you've brought victory to allies through your battlefield exploits. And is that all?"

Bang!

Marcus slammed his palm on the table, and the pins toppled over again.

But no one looked away from Marcus.

Everyone watched his mouth. They listened to what he said and were swept up by the atmosphere around him.

"You survived alone among a thousand gnolls and proved yourself. As commander of an uncontrollable force, you've cemented your place. Above all, I admire your outstanding skill and ability, Company Commander. So I ask. If I give you unlimited authority on this battlefield, what can you do?"

What did Marcus believe in?

Why did the Battalion Commander feel no threat?

Why did no one object to accepting a beastkin who had once been a Black Blade?

Why were these company commanders calm even when told he could take their men as he pleased?

Why did their eyes hold faith, hope, trust?

What I have accomplished.

A knight is made of skill and merit.

Enkrid felt as if everything he had done was finally being recognized as not wrong.

Pride? That word was too small.

A dream he had forgotten for so long touched reality and became part of it.

At the same time, Enkrid found what he had to do.

He had been asked a question, so he had to answer.

Crang's speeches ended after displaying his own authority and pulling everyone in, but Marcus had asked him for an answer.

A small elite force.

On the present continent, the shape of a battlefield was decided by whether a knight or knight-class force was present.

If a knight entered the field and no opposing knight appeared, it became a massacre.

A direct clash was far more common than a massacre, but at times people used their heads to force a knight-versus-unit battle.

On the other hand, they could turn that into a trap, wearing down a unit's strength to kill the knight.

The enemy doesn't know me.

They did not know the Madmen Company either. Marcus had set it up that way.

A small elite unit with strength the enemy could not predict.

Five people with at least quasi-knight-level power.

Facing himself as he was now, no longer as before, Enkrid spoke.

"I don't know. I'll do everything I can."

Truthfully, this was Enkrid's first time holding authority like this, and likely Marcus's first time attempting a strategy this absurd.

Instead of a knight order, he had formed an Independent Company of fewer than ten men and given it concentrated authority on the battlefield.

It sounded as if he were betting the fate of the battlefield on Enkrid alone.

Enkrid thought his answer had been inadequate, but Marcus smiled as if satisfied.

"Then."

If he had been given authority, he would use it. His pounding heart moved him. Just as he stepped out-

Bwooooooo!

As if on cue, a distant trumpet and the dull thud of drums from outside the walls brushed past his ears.

The enemy had to be approaching.

"All forces, assemble!"

Marcus shouted as he came out of the meeting room, and Enkrid moved at almost a run.

There was a battlefield waiting where he would fight with the core members of his company. But as always, gathering them was work in itself.

It had been like that ever since they were the Troublemaker Squad.

As he headed toward the quarters, Enkrid saw company members already coming out fully armed.

"We're deploying, right? Marcus must've decided to back the captain hard and told you to wipe out even the cavalry?"

Kraiss said, his leather helmet tilted crookedly.

He predicted it.

Enkrid had expected as much.

"No."

"Then what? Did he ask for the enemy commander's head? That's a bit much."

"No."

"Hm? He didn't ask anything?"

"He asked."

Enkrid naturally joined them and took the lead.

As he talked with Kraiss, Rem cut in.

"That big-eyes bastard said we'd be fighting now. So it was true?"

It was true. But had Rem always stepped up this quietly?

The usual nonsense about smashing allied commanders' skulls before anything else was missing.

Then again, the allied commander whose skull would be smashed was now Enkrid himself.

In truth, there was nothing surprising about Rem. On the battlefield, he was always quick to step forward.

The real surprise started here.

"I heard Martai and unmarked forces have arrived."

Ragna.

The guy who never cared about what was going on around him had assessed enemy troop composition.

For a moment, Enkrid tilted his head up, wondering whether the sky had split in two.

It was perfectly clear.

Almost no clouds.

"That's right."

As he lowered his head and answered, Audin smiled from behind him and said,

"Brother, let us go. Those we must send to the Lord are waiting for us outside."

It did not sound like something a priest should say, but followers of the War God were always like that.

Jaxon only gave a silent nod.

These were not men who moved just because Kraiss called.

So why had they moved?

Enkrid realized again that his relationship with them had changed in a strange way.

Just a squad leader who took abuse.

A squad leader interesting to watch.

A squad leader who did not create troublesome messes.

Then beyond that, a platoon leader who knew a thing or two.

A platoon leader who got better when taught.

And now beyond that again.

If I lead them.

A man acknowledged by others, and a commander.

His heart pounded, as hard as when he chased his dream.

"So what did he ask, exactly?"

Kraiss asked again.

"He asked what I could do."

"...Wow, what a shameless man."

From that one sentence, Kraiss inferred the tangled story behind it.

Show everything you're capable of.

"So I said I'd do everything I could."

"Did you make up your mind, then?"

At Kraiss's words, Enkrid showed a faint smile.

He did not know. Was this the time for confidence, or not?

Was this arrogance, or something else?

Was what boiled in his chest merely the urge to fight?

Or was it the emotion of realizing he stood in a different place than before, on this battlefield with them?

He did not know.

Enkrid did not bother trying to know.

For now, he simply wanted to swing his sword. By doing what he could, he wanted to show the enemy.

Urge and desire mixed inside him.

A fierce need surged in him to make the enemy feel his presence and leave the proper impression.

It was an active, aggressive momentum he had never shown before.

As Enkrid kept walking briskly, he glanced at Dunbakel, who had slipped a little behind, and asked,

"What's with your eyes?"

"I'm fine. I can do my part too."

The skin around her eyes was blue. The golden irises and blue lids still looked bright.

No need to ask whose handiwork that was.

Someone who could produce blue paint with a person's body without any paint.

Wasn't that Rem bastard's specialty?

"Stop hitting the kids."

"It was just a simple sparring demonstration. They said they wanted to try fighting me."

Well, kids grow by getting hit too.

Enkrid let it pass without much concern. If they'd run or plotted behind his back over a beating like that, they would never have said they wanted to stay under him in the first place.

Deng!

A bell rang from the bell tower.

It likely meant the enemy was beginning to come into view.

Through the open gate, people who had been making their living outside the walls were coming back in.

Residents who worked in agriculture.

No matter how many troops the enemy had, they would attack the walls first.

That meant siege engines were a given.

"They'll have mangonels, right?"

Kraiss answered Enkrid's question.

"Of course."

"Bring a few sets of clothes from the people coming in. Ones that fit our builds. Right now."

"...That is one absurd plan."

Kraiss replied immediately, even without an explanation.

Enkrid liked that he did not need to explain at length. Kraiss answered and moved at once, and Enkrid headed for the gate instead of the command point atop the walls.

Soon, Kraiss returned with clothes.

"Audin's size is impossible."

Right, fair enough.

"Brother, this body needs only a rag."

Audin waved it off, tore down a nearby market stall canopy, and draped it over himself like a cloak.

It suited him surprisingly well.

"So what are you planning?"

Rem asked.

Enkrid considered whether he needed to explain in detail. Then he decided he did not.

"Follow me and watch."

And so Enkrid and the Madmen Company stepped out through the gate.

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