WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 226: Swallow Blade

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The fight with Swallow Blade was a blood-soaked duel.

To land one cut, Enkrid had to take two.

Even so, Enkrid did not change. He was the same as always. Even with his life hanging by a thread, he stayed the same.

That was how he had made it this far. His momentum and temperament did not bend easily.

"Man, your eyes really get on my nerves."

The smile on Swallow Blade's face deepened.

Watching that, Rem flinched several times as the two fought, but kept his lips pressed shut.

No one could hold back forever at a moment like this.

His mouth opened on its own.

"Right, annoying, I get it."

Why was he understanding Swallow Blade at a time like this?

He had gone through it himself.

Sure enough, Ragna, Jaxon, and Audin were all busy nodding.

No matter what happened, that guy never changed.

He quietly did what he had to do. He was the kind of man who walked first before arguing right and wrong.

Because of that, Audin had slammed the Isolation Technique into someone else's body for the first time, Jaxon had passed down what he called sensory craft, and Rem had given him Heart of the Beast.

Ragna had handed Enkrid her own craft for a similar reason.

Those eyes, that stubbornness, a man who did not even think about giving up. Just watching him drove people crazy.

"Aren't you scared?"

Swallow Blade asked, sounding fed up. As he spoke, he subtly twisted his blade. His posture shifted irregularly, and his foot placement changed too.

Enkrid watched him, adjusted his sword position, then shifted his own body angle by pushing off with the soles of his feet while keeping them planted.

He did not use his knees at all, so it looked like his body slid while he remained standing.

"Scared of what?"

"You almost died just now."

"Looks like the same was true for you."

In the previous exchange, Swallow Blade had feinted by extending his left foot forward, then pulling it back.

Enkrid fell for it and swung forward, and at that exact moment a counterthrust came in.

The instant he saw the sword tip split into four and curve in, anyone would have felt a chill.

Enkrid was no different.

Still, that blade did not pierce his throat and kill him.

How had he dodged?

'Sense of Evasion.'

Jaxon's technique saved his life. In return, the back of his neck was cut. It felt like a red-hot lump had wrapped around his neck. The burning pain kept coming.

And that was not his only wound.

Enkrid had a hole in his abdomen, and his forearm tendon had nearly been severed.

A little earlier, his neck had nearly been cut off too.

"That is it for today. Come on, today is not the only day."

Kraiss shouted after getting the signal from Rem.

Swallow Blade had no intention of stopping, of course. He meant to cut straight through.

Naturally, he could not do as he pleased.

"Be careful. You are annoying."

Rem said it out of nowhere. He was suddenly behind Enkrid's left side. What would happen if Swallow Blade cut Enkrid right here?

He had not yet pulled out his trump card, but even if he did.

'I would die too.'

Swallow Blade, naturally, valued his own neck more than another person's.

"Fine."

He withdrew his sword and showed both palms. It was a signal to stop. Even then, faint killing intent remained.

Rem snorted and looked away from him.

He could afford to take his eyes off him. At this distance, no matter what happened, his axe would land first. He was that confident.

And Rem had not moved alone.

That sly alley cat was already on the opposite side.

How many people noticed that?

At least Swallow Blade did not.

"Alright, alright, today really is not the only day. Get some rest, yeah? Build some camaraderie. If you get bored, go to the alley behind the inn. Plenty of places there will please your palate. Do not know which place is good? Ah, tragic. Which is why I prepared for exactly that!"

Kraiss used the break to line his own pockets, but somehow he was hard to hate.

He had a strange charm that softened sharp tension.

"Now then, this is the Border Guard The Good Map."

It was a one-page map that needed no long explanation. It clearly marked shops selling seasoned jerky, marmalade, well-baked bread, and more.

"Ten copper coins per copy."

The price was oddly pitched. Ten copper coins was neither much nor little, but for big spenders it was definitely cheap.

"Give me one. I bled today, so I should eat well."

Swallow Blade grinned and took one, and the merchants who had been watching bought a few too.

The rapier swordsman and the count's group each ended up holding one as well. Last, the Half-Giant asked carefully:

"Doesn't the gentleman who bled today pay for this?"

Kraiss had been handing her the map, then pulled his hand right back.

"That was until yesterday. Starting today, everyone pays full price, Lady."

The Half-Giant, hearing the word Lady for the first time in her life, nodded.

Then she handed over exactly ten copper coins and took the map.

Kraiss clapped once and addressed everyone.

"It will not be a bad purchase. Rest well, take a look around the city, and if you get bored, spar among yourselves if you like, but no incidents. Please pay special attention to the safety of the townspeople."

Like an actor on stage, Kraiss lowered his arm and bowed.

Then he raised his head and said:

"Welcome to Border Guard."

Enkrid was bleeding heavily, but not enough to die, and he watched all of this while thinking:

Does that bastard think Border Guard is some tourist city?

The city wore the face of a trade hub, but at its core, it was a military city.

There was nothing much for them to sightsee or enjoy.

Not that they looked likely to leave.

Of course not.

"I will go next time."

What did the rapier swordsman's eyes look like when he said that?

They were shining. You could see his competitive spirit. You could also see curiosity.

Whatever he was really thinking, that man was not leaving either.

Same for the Half-Giant.

She clearly looked willing to stay.

And Edin Molsen's group went without saying.

"Fight me again!"

He had shouted that as soon as he recovered, then shut his mouth after seeing the duel with Swallow Blade.

Even so, his twitching eyebrows showed he really did not like this situation.

In any case, if he stayed, the people who came as his escorts would stay too.

'Ah, what abundance.'

Was this what it felt like when your soul had been fed?

He felt full without eating.

"You were dead set on cashing in. And what was that line about civilian safety at the end?"

Was that not something they should protect on their own anyway?

Satisfaction was satisfaction, but when he voiced the question after Kraiss came back, this big-eyed squadman leaned in and whispered, clearly not speaking thoughtlessly:

"That Swallow Blade guy gives me a bad feeling. If we leave him alone, he looks like trouble, so I should tell the higher-ups to tighten security. If he dies fighting soldiers, that is one thing, but if an outsider comes into the city and causes something like killing commoners, it will become a mess."

Enkrid recalled Swallow Blade, who had fought him today.

That sword, those cuts, he would remember him. He had been too busy surviving those attacks to read the man's personality. Still, Kraiss had sharp eyes for people, so he was worth trusting.

"Jaxon, report it upstairs."

"Sure."

After sending off the sly alley cat, Enkrid limped toward his lodging again.

"Will your body even survive this?"

Rem came up beside him and said it.

It was nagging, but Enkrid could not really answer back. Rem was right.

His body was in tatters. He had a hole in his abdomen, and his arm tendon had nearly been cut.

When he died, everything got better. He healed, and only what he had trained remained. In one way, it was a convenient and advantageous ability.

But Enkrid endured.

If someone asked why, he had no answer.

He just wanted to. Struggle, thrash, keep moving forward.

He had simply erased the words give up from that struggle.

Enkrid did not know it, but that was exactly what the Boatman's curse was.

Its core was making a person settle for the day.

If the Boatman had known Enkrid's mindset, he might have gotten so furious that he threw the lamp in his hand into the Black River.

Of course, Enkrid was not doing any of this with that knowledge.

He was only doing what he had always done, quietly.

"Well, you did not die."

"You make that sound easy. Let me ask, did you really see that guy's swordwork properly back there?"

"I saw it."

For a short moment, he replayed that fight.

Swallow Blade had mixed Correct Sword and Illusion Sword forms. On this continent, that was called technical swordsmanship. More precisely, eastern-style technical swordsmanship.

The sword paths were strange, and his strike points were uncanny.

He looked like he was aiming at the arm, then suddenly cut at the shoulder. He dropped as if aiming at the shoulder, then suddenly struck around the thigh.

The path was hard to read.

So how had Enkrid reacted?

At first, he answered head-on. If he took one cut, he would return one cut.

Fast and hard, he swung that way.

How had the opponent responded?

He blocked Enkrid's blade and countered for the wrist.

From a technical standpoint, his nickname had not been given for nothing.

And the sword style that had earned him that nickname had not even appeared yet.

So Enkrid got pushed back. He lost. A defeat.

Was that regrettable? Not at all.

'I can catch him.'

If one day of training was not enough, then two days. If two were not enough, then seven. If seven were not enough, then a month.

If he had time, he believed he could reach him.

He had not lost in the battle of wits. He had not lost in strength or speed. It was purely a gap in technical mastery.

That was what technical swordsmanship was to begin with.

Was it not a sword art that fit the word strange perfectly?

"If you saw it, then it is easy. Watch all of it, and cut it all away."

Rem's teaching hit him anew.

'Do I really need to beat it with technique alone?'

Even with one destination, there was never only one road.

"Need to think more."

Instead of running down that one road alone, he decided to look wider now.

Even if his body kept up, he would not settle there.

"That is nice. I like that."

Rem smiled. That bastard's smile looked good.

Thinking about it, he had really hated seeing Swallow Blade smile.

Maybe Kraiss had judged him right.

When Enkrid came back dripping blood, Esther saw him and let out a short choked sound, almost like a dry cough.

She looked baffled.

He had left in perfect shape this morning, and came back like this?

He wondered how her scolding sounded even harsher than Rem's.

Rem watched and cackled.

"Hey, panther mage, this guy is going to keep doing this from now on too, right?"

The Black Panther did not answer Rem. Ragna quietly asked him if it was fun again today.

Enkrid nodded.

These injuries were impossible to shake off in a single day.

But for Dunbakel, who watched from the side, even this was shocking.

"In three days?"

"I am fine now."

Was this beastkin going to be surprised every time he stood back up?

Thinking that, Enkrid moved on.

He had heard they were still staying at the market inn.

Who should he fight this time?

His pounding heart pushed his feet forward.

His arm still was not fully healed, but he had the other hand, and the ointment Jaxon gave him worked well.

Audin had also sprinkled divine power on him in secret.

It was not a force strong enough to show visible holy light, but it breathed in energy that boosted healing, so he was already up again.

Without that, Renewed Body or not, even Enkrid should have been in bed for over a week.

* * *

Swallow Blade felt a murderous urge rise.

Should he leave the inn in the middle of the night and slit a few throats?

After two days, the wounds from fighting Enkrid had scabbed over.

Seeing his own injuries made that craving surge.

He could not hold it back and was about to head out.

"Stop. Small human."

The Half-Giant blocked his way.

"Hm?"

"I said stop."

"Stop what?"

He put on a smiling face and acted clueless.

Then a man at a table in the first-floor tavern area, drinking from his cup, also turned his gaze over.

It was the rapier swordsman.

"Swallow Blade, you are with the Black Blades, right? Always clashing and bunching up with your own kind. Knock it off. You will just cause trouble for everyone staying in this city."

"What are you even talking about."

Swallow Blade smiled brightly and denied it. The two said nothing more. Still, he could not just ignore them and walk out.

"I was only going for a night walk."

Muttering, he stepped onto the creaking wooden stairs and went back up.

After Swallow Blade went upstairs.

The rapier swordsman tilted his cup, and the Half-Giant stood still, lost in thought.

No one could know what passed through each of their heads.

"Why did you not fight that big one?"

The rapier swordsman asked suddenly.

"He was not my target or my purpose."

She had been curious about that man named Audin too.

The rapier swordsman nodded.

Soon, one of Edin Molsen's guards came down between them.

At the creak of the second-floor stairs, both their eyes naturally lifted.

Without a word, he walked out of the inn.

Swallow Blade had apparently stayed to watch and had not gone back all the way, because he came down right after and asked:

"Why let that friend go out?"

"He does not have the eyes of someone who will cause trouble."

"And me?"

"You cause trouble."

At that instant answer from the rapier swordsman, Swallow Blade thought it over.

Should he give him one slash?

Then he backed off.

Calling it injury felt exaggerated, but he was still wounded.

And those two had already seen his swordsmanship, had they not?

Fair was fair, he should see theirs too.

So next time, he would match Enkrid against one of those two.

Soon, exactly what he wanted happened.

When Enkrid came again, the rapier swordsman stepped forward.

"Looks like this round is mine."

"Let us do it."

Enkrid stayed calm because he truly did not care who stepped out.

Watching that twisted Swallow Blade's insides again.

'Those eyes on that bastard.'

Why were they so straight?

In any case, Enkrid crossed blades with the rapier swordsman.

Unlike before, there were no major injuries.

A clean spar followed, balanced enough on both sides.

No, to be blunt.

'What did that bastard come here for anyway?'

Swallow Blade could roughly see the purpose of the others who came together. He even knew who that big female warrior was.

He just pretended not to know.

But the rapier swordsman was different.

Through that spar, he was teaching Enkrid.

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