WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 224: It Was a Bountiful Harvest.

= = =

As soon as they returned to the lodging, Jaxon brought out ointment.

Finn spread the ointment from a small wooden jar all over his body, and Kraiss wrapped him in bandages.

"I thought you were a dead man."

Kraiss said it while bandaging him with practiced hands.

"I held back while we fought."

At Enkrid's reply, Kraiss let out a disbelieving laugh.

"Did you see that woman's forearm? It was thicker than our brother's."

He said it with a glance at Audin.

In other words, you saw that and still called that holding back?

"Forearm size doesn't prove skill."

Enkrid said it without changing expression. He did not even seem to feel pain from his wounds.

Forget it. No point talking.

Kraiss said as much with his eyes and pulled his hands away. He had treated most of the dangerous injuries.

"Uh, well... even if the result isn't good, don't be too discouraged."

Finn chimed in from the side. She still did not know Enkrid well.

People with a drive to improve usually had a fierce will to win. That was normal.

It wasn't that Enkrid lacked that will. The Company Commander Finn had seen was not someone who enjoyed losing. That much was true.

But this time was a little different.

Losing was not the issue.

Enkrid had learned a great deal while fighting the half-Giant woman warrior.

Something more important than winning or losing.

Something more important than life or death.

The fulfillment of feeding that burning hunger inside him.

The satisfaction of knowing he was still walking toward tomorrow.

'Tomorrow again.'

And it was not over. He was not dead.

They had only parted with a promise for tomorrow. Right now, more than the fact that he had lost, Enkrid felt elation at having looked back on the road he had walked and seen the road ahead.

In short, he was truly happy he could fight her again tomorrow. It showed on his face.

A smile slipped out, and when Finn saw it, she carefully rose from her crouch, turned away, and mouthed a question.

Did he hit his head too?

There was no answer.

Audin, who had been watching quietly, stepped forward.

He approached Enkrid. The bear-like monster knelt on one knee and met his eyes.

Was he about to invoke divine power or something? Enkrid looked at him through one unbandaged eye.

"Do you have a hobby of getting hit, brother?"

Audin asked.

Of course he didn't. The answer was obvious.

So this was what Audin really meant. It sounded like scolding in Audin's own way, and it felt like it too.

"No one can dodge every attack. So what should you do?"

Without waiting for an answer, Audin continued.

"If your body starts moving as you wish and you get drunk on that feeling and stop here, it becomes hard to move on, brother."

As he spoke, he tapped near his temple with his index finger.

Even after hearing that, Enkrid did not understand it at once.

Still, he sensed there was something to gain from those words. So he kept silent and turned them over.

Then the religious monster stepped back, and the axe monster stepped up and said,

"You don't have to get pushed back in strength either. Don't just endure it. Make it burst."

That did not click all at once either. Enkrid just kept mulling it over.

Then,

"If you know a hit is coming, it hurts less."

Jaxon said.

"Was it fun?"

Ragna asked.

At least that last question, he could answer.

"Very."

Enkrid spoke from the heart, and Ragna gave a faint grin.

Enkrid grinned too, one eye and one cheek still wrapped in bandages.

Ragna felt that smile alone could set people's hearts boiling.

Of course it could.

Watching Enkrid fight like that had lit fresh fire in him too.

That was why this feeling was something he had not felt in a very long time.

He wanted to swing his sword.

Whether he had an opponent or not, he wanted to enjoy it. The sword, this moment, any moment.

So he wanted to tell his captain the same thing.

Enjoy it.

Enkrid replied that he was already doing that.

Ragna walked out of the lodging and stood in the private training yard.

As he swung his sword, a few nearby soldiers started doing the same.

Some even looked at Ragna and abruptly asked for a spar.

"I want to cross blades with you once. Is that okay?"

Some people got beaten hard in training and still would not break.

Ragna had not noticed them before, but now he did.

People like this grew. They moved forward. They learned more.

"Sure."

He did not refuse. He beat them properly, with full sincerity.

Ragna enjoyed today. That alone made him deeply happy. Moments like this were rare. It had been a rewarding, satisfying day, and he was content.

* * *

Enkrid lay down and simply breathed.

Renewed Body was a structure that made most wounds heal quickly as long as he kept tempering his body anew.

What did he need to draw out the body's regenerative power?

First, a trained body.

Even at rest, an activated body circulated blood quickly through the whole system. Blood circulation helped heal wounds.

That was why stronger muscles and greater strength improved recovery.

As physical power developed, the heart also grew stronger.

He had learned that through training with the Isolation Technique.

Next was proper nutrition.

The energy the body needed came from food.

Hadn't Audin said it over and over?

You had to eat well for muscles to grow.

You had to eat well for rest to mean anything.

Enkrid had done exactly that. Since returning to the lodging, he had eaten well.

The meal was finely ground meat formed into patties and stir-fried with vegetables.

A meat dish mixed with potatoes and firm root vegetables.

Hearty and abundant, and now he could handle that amount without strain.

"Order and eat whatever you want. If you need anything, get it and use it."

That was what Marcus had said after the battlefield quieted down. He had put it more stylishly than that, but the meaning was the same.

So he ate well and rested well. There was no pressure either.

And Esther was there too.

You stupid human, said the Lake Panther with her eyes as she slipped into Enkrid's arms.

"Long time no see."

Enkrid scratched Esther's head with his fingers.

Esther did not resist.

It felt less like a man and woman and more like friends or comrades. Enkrid treated her that way, and Esther, without saying anything, released her magic.

It was not a healing spell, but mana stimulation naturally affected the body.

She did what she could.

For all those reasons, it was only natural his body healed quickly.

Dunbakel, who knew none of that, widened her eyes at his recovery speed.

"You're up already?"

He was moving that body again after just one day?

Anyone would be shocked.

She knew because Rem had beaten her up too. It had felt like she'd be permanently wrecked.

That did not mean she planned to run, but pain and suffering were still pain and suffering.

Being Beastkin did not mean they were used to pain, and it did not mean they endured it easily.

Their kind fought on innate athletic ability and reflexes.

They could not afford to be dull like Giants.

Dunbakel had said that over and over, but Rem just snorted every time.

"Fine. Then get hit twice as much today."

That was all he said.

"I thought this was training, not violence?"

Didn't Rem always say it himself? That he did not hit people because he wanted to, that this was only what training required.

But sometimes, it felt like he forgot and let his real thoughts show.

"Ah, right. Training. Let's train. Double."

Then he shamelessly papered it over. Of course, Dunbakel was in no position to argue with him.

Enkrid twisted his torso left and right at the waist and answered.

"My ribs still feel a little off. Improve at all in the meantime, former thief?"

The phrase former thief rubbed Dunbakel the wrong way, but she was in no position to object.

"A little."

"Must be exciting."

What was he even saying? What was exciting about fighting desperately just to survive?

She could not understand him.

Enkrid got up and shook himself off after only one day.

'My ribs are mostly set.'

Not perfect, but lying in bed made him restless.

That woman warrior might leave at any moment.

He no longer cared where she had come from.

His head was filled with only one thing: his opponent existed, and while she was still here, he wanted to fight her again as soon as possible.

No wonder people called him crazy, but Enkrid did not care.

No, more accurately, he had no room to care.

There were people called geniuses.

There were the gifted and the talented.

There were people born with talent.

Among them all, if you wanted to reach a place even geniuses struggled to touch, if you wanted to climb there, ordinary desperation would not be enough.

You had to go mad.

Thankfully, Enkrid achieved all this without consciously realizing it.

Anyone who knew his inner state and circumstances would have found it shocking.

But no one could read what was inside Enkrid right now.

They could guess, but they could not know everything.

After sleeping deeply, he woke clear-headed and set his mind turning. More precisely, he thought while walking.

When his thoughts got stuck, he worked them loose through a walk. It was a habit from childhood.

As he trudged toward the market, scratching one side of his head, an answer to his remaining question came into view.

It was not a lightning-flash revelation.

If he had to put it into words, it was like a soft incoming tide.

Like water rolling in until, before he knew it, it wet his ankles.

'Was I arrogant?'

What he had learned from his company members had awakened his body. It gave him talent he had not had before. That was how it felt.

Had that become poison too?

Had he started to think he no longer needed to think as deeply as before?

What Audin had spoken of was beginner's mind. Think, then think again.

So Enkrid kept thinking as he walked.

The woman warrior's attacks were fast, fierce, and precise. Hard to dodge.

"If you know a hit is coming, it hurts less."

Jaxon had said it. Know it and take it.

'Read it through my senses.'

If he tried to track everything with his eyes alone, he would be late. Had he grown overconfident in his Dynamic Visual Acuity? Because his body had changed? Even though he was still lacking? Even though if he stopped here, his dream of becoming a knight would scatter like a mirage?

No storm raged inside him. No tidal wave crashed through.

He simply did not stop thinking.

'Open all five senses, and fling open even the Gate of the Sixth Sense.'

If he had done that, he would have caught the first shield bash before it landed.

He had charged at too many trash opponents lately, and he had trapped himself in the well of experience.

He broke it. For most people, that would be extremely hard, but Enkrid was used to breaking and shattering his own limits.

Who in this world was more used to breaking his own limits than he was?

'Make it burst.'

Heart of the Beast for boldness.

Heart of Superhuman Strength for greater physical power.

Was it right to use that heart only to maintain boldness?

No.

Hadn't he already half-realized that?

'In each instant.'

Break it into beats. Burst that superhuman strength like that.

Right now, he could not keep that heart active for an entire fight, so this was the right approach.

Split it finer than before, then finer still.

He did not think it was impossible. Whether it worked or not, he would try. All of it flowed naturally as part of his thought process.

'Capture it with the sixth sense.'

Burst the heart in the instant.

By the time replay and analysis had led him to a path for how to fight, he had reached the market.

"The atmosphere feels strangely vicious."

"They all look tough."

"I heard Bell almost got his leg broken."

As he separated out the murmurs, it sounded like something had happened.

Only then did Enkrid realize he had not seen Rem or anyone else today. They were all here, gathered in this place.

"So this is where everyone went."

As he walked on, muttering to himself, people around him recognized Enkrid and made way.

"You're here?"

Starting with the soldiers.

"Uh, already? Is your body okay?"

Then a shoemaker.

"At least have some jerky."

Even a woman who ran a small shop.

He pushed through them. This was the central crossroads among the four inns that symbolized the Border Guard.

The road was blocked. Several wagons had come to a stop too.

This was a route used by trading caravans. It was not something that should be blocked like this.

He looked ahead to see why.

He saw that woman from yesterday. Maybe because of Giant toughness, her minor wounds were already gone.

She stood silently with her sword planted vertically in the ground and her shield propped beside it, like a statue.

He saw several other faces beside her.

"Hm, I'm someone called Swallow Blade. Anybody here know my nickname? I came because I wanted to cross blades with that War-Ending Soldier guy or whatever."

Thin eyebrows, and a grinning mouth with upturned corners.

It was a face that felt oddly unpleasant.

Because the smile did not look real.

He wore a single sword at his waist, a medium-length Arming Sword.

A thick belt caught the eye, and one look at his stance told Enkrid he was no amateur.

His forearms alone showed a well-trained body.

And Swallow Blade was not alone.

"What a pile of nobodies. I am Edin Molsen, son of Count Molsen! I came to test my skill against Enkrid, Independent Company Commander!"

A blond man stepped forward boldly. Enkrid recognized him. The coachman from then. More precisely, Count Molsen's son.

Beside him stood a younger one with a similar look.

Behind the two was a long-faced man.

'Not bad.'

The man who looked like an escort seemed quite skilled.

By Enkrid's judgment, Edin Molsen also looked better now than when he had stood beside the count.

And finally.

"So, is that guy too hurt to come out?"

With the mustache gone, Enkrid did not recognize him for a moment, but the face quickly turned familiar.

At the same time, one name rose naturally to mind: Leona Rockfreed.

'That swordsman from then?'

The one who had looked like a master of swift swordsmanship. The man who had told him to quit using a sword.

Was he one of the Rockfreed Trading Company's escorts who had stood on the opposite side of Leona?

"Just wait, all of you. If you hate waiting, play with my axe. We already had one round yesterday, but he'll probably come out again today. Our captain's got something loose up here."

From the center of the group, Rem said that while pointing at his own head. He even spun a finger by his ear.

'That bastard.'

Enkrid had no reason to hide. People around him recognized him and cleared a path.

"You all came to see me?"

Hm. How to put this.

The moment he saw every eye pinned on him, Enkrid understood a farmer's heart.

It was a bountiful harvest.

Every single one of them looked on par with the half-Giant.

And every single one of them had come to see him.

= = =

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried