WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 234: Pel Was a Genius

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'What did he just do?'

No one there was blind, so everyone saw what Enkrid had done and understood it.

'Dodge, slip inside, strike once.'

It was a sequence of moves anyone could perform.

But this was different. Anyone could do those motions in theory, but doing them that cleanly was a completely different matter.

If Enkrid had gotten that result with some unusual sword art or trickery, they would have admired his ingenuity, but they would not have been this shocked.

"Hm?"

The Half-Giant's eyebrow twitched. Swallow Blade beside her reacted the same way. He suddenly clenched his sword grip hard.

It was reflex.

'If he did that to me right now, could I block it?'

He could. He had seen it beforehand.

'Then what if we started without seeing it?'

It was not even cold season yet, but a chill seemed to run through him.

Swallow Blade let go of his sword and rubbed his arm for no reason.

Goosebumps rose with the chill.

'What is this bastard?'

Only a few days had passed.

Swallow Blade was not the only one surprised.

Even the people on Enkrid's side, including Rem, were stunned.

Still, none of his unit showed that surprise outwardly, and no one said anything.

To be honest, they were a little used to this by now.

They still did not understand it. This had happened a few times already, so they just stopped showing shock.

'What did he do?'

As Rem stroked his chin and thought that, Audin was thinking something similar.

'Even if the Isolation Technique changes a person's constitution.'

Could talent that had not existed really appear like that?

Audin trusted his own eye. Through the Isolation Technique, he could read the body.

He was different from Frog the Talent-Reader, but he could still see talent.

In Audin's eyes, Enkrid was not someone who had stepped into the realm of talent.

He was not a genius. Forget genius, he was not even what people usually called naturally gifted.

'Just with persistence.'

That stubbornness that never gave up.

He never retreated from any trial of hardship God placed before him.

That was why he stood there now.

Audin saw God's will.

God spoke. The Father delivered his will.

Will you give up? Why? Because your wish was not granted? So your faith ended there.

So the flower of your faith has fallen.

So your spring has passed.

So your season has ended.

"No, Father."

Audin muttered.

Ragna was right beside him, but she did not even turn when he said that.

No, she did not even hear him.

She was too busy watching Enkrid.

'Again?'

He had changed.

That was all. He had changed, she had been surprised, and now she recognized it.

Seeing Enkrid's skill rise had become familiar.

How had he improved? How could he change like that?

She had stopped searching for a reason. Nothing changed even if she knew, and she could not know anyway.

If she asked, the answer was obvious.

"I just kept at it."

If he felt like joking, he would probably add:

"Turns out I was a genius."

So there was no need to ask. She only had to accept reality.

Everyone was surprised, but the most surprised person was Edin Molsen, who had been hit.

The next most surprised was Enkrid himself.

"Again!"

Edin Molsen jumped to his feet and shouted.

He looked too fine for someone who had just been hit like that.

Enkrid had pulled his force at the last second without meaning to.

More exactly, when he reached out at the end, he felt like if he followed through, the Count's son might cough blood.

So he held back, and that let Edin Molsen spring up again and run his mouth.

Enkrid blinked three times.

He was processing what had just happened.

'Ah.'

A brief realization followed. Sparks like flint-fire flickered in his mind and vanished.

'Pel.'

Why had he struggled so hard to win the moment he first saw Pel of the Shepherds of the Wilderness?

'Because he's a genius.'

A genius younger than Enkrid. He gave off the same feeling as the brat who had beaten Enkrid down when he first came out onto the continent.

That meant Pel was a genius.

That genius had kept pulling up his own skill to match Enkrid's growth.

In the repeating today, Enkrid had stopped Pel from drawing, but Pel with sword in hand was no pushover.

His habits changed often, and he corrected weak points on the spot.

Enkrid was the one trapped in the repeating today, yet his opponent had changed too.

So he could not feel his own growth.

His opponent's talent had been too overwhelming.

'It's thanks to Pel.'

He had been too focused on that sword to see it properly.

No, he knew how outstanding his opponent was, but he had not recognized himself changing to match that excellence.

After understanding everything, Enkrid opened his mouth.

"Sure."

He nodded at Edin Molsen's proposal.

He wanted to move again and feel it again too. He also needed to recognize and properly grasp what had changed.

"...You."

Even the Rapier Swordsman looked shocked and could not finish speaking. His mouth hung open, and the corners of his eyes trembled. Instead of answering him, Enkrid faced Edin Molsen.

"Do not count on the goddess of fortune!"

Edin said harshly. He meant the last match had been luck.

Edin brought his sword down again.

Whoosh.

Enkrid dodged before it landed.

When he fought Pel, he had to read footwork, shoulders, hands, arms, waist, everything, and predict movement.

If he failed, he got cut at once, and the spar ended there.

That was what he had gained.

He opened the Gate of the Sixth Sense and used it properly. His senses ran free and read the incoming sword strikes.

It was the price of countless sparring matches and crossing a river of death.

After dodging, Enkrid pressed down Edin's wrist, hooked his left foot behind Edin's heel, and shoved his chest with his palm.

Edin tried to twist and resist, but even though he attacked first, he lost position, balance, and timing all at once.

Edin lifted into the air.

A moment later he hit the ground with a thud and opened and closed his mouth.

He looked like a carp.

Come to think of it, when they first met, Enkrid had mistaken him for a coachman or escort and toppled him with this same move.

It was Valaf-style Grappling, a center-break.

"Are you alright?"

Enkrid asked. Edin's face turned red. Two spars. Similar results both times.

And the second one had used the same method Edin had already suffered once.

He could not claim the goddess of fortune had interfered.

Edin was not that shameless.

He stood up.

"I lost."

He turned after saying it, then looked back and asked:

"Did you really forget my name?"

Enkrid looked at his face for a moment.

He felt like he should remember, and his memory was usually good.

Still, the name would not come.

What would happen if he just said he truly did not know?

That thought ended right before Edin Molsen's face twisted.

"Hyung-nim, it was a provocation. Why even ask that?"

A clear voice called out.

At a glance, it was a younger sibling with mixed blood.

At those words, Edin clicked his tongue, turned away, and walked off.

He looked frustrated, but also oddly relieved.

His sibling only stared at Enkrid with a blank face. It was hard to read any emotion in those eyes.

Enkrid turned his head.

There were still people left.

Swallow Blade, the Half-Giant, Count Molsen's guard, and the Rapier Swordsman.

"Who is first?"

At that question:

"Me first."

The answer came right away. The Half-Giant stepped forward. She thumped her shield with her hand.

"Let's fight."

Until more than four hundred days ago, Enkrid had thrown himself into sparring with these people like a madman.

He fought. He never stepped back. And during that, some things had changed.

Not things Enkrid had intended, but things that had changed naturally.

The Half-Giant's fighting spirit burned.

She knew clearly that her mood and state were different from usual.

'I do not know what you did.'

The man in front of her had a talent for making people want to fight him. He also had a talent for making her think about sword and shield from morning to night.

Most of all:

"I'll break you."

He was excellent at stirring competitiveness and the hunger to win.

Had she ever had an opponent she absolutely wanted to beat?

No. This was the first time.

That was why the corner of the Half-Giant's mouth twisted up. It was a smile. A grin.

Seeing that, Enkrid felt baffled inside.

'I thought this one almost never showed expression.'

That much he remembered clearly. He had forgotten Edin Molsen's name, yet the Half-Giant's face, specialties, and skill were still vivid in his memory.

When Enkrid held his sword out, the Half-Giant flicked it with her own.

Ting.

A greeting.

Then her shield blocked his view.

The gray wall, the Half-Giant's specialty, and a move he had suffered many times.

Back then, he had needed quick footwork to break it and counterattack. Now he did not.

As the shield blocked his front, Enkrid charged straight in.

He did not circle to the side, and he did not dance his feet.

It was a blunt rush.

He shifted his sword to his left hand right against the shield, laid the blade sideways, pressed the flat of the blade to the top edge of the shield, twisted his stance, and set the outer side of his right foot against the lower part of the shield.

Naturally, his side pressed against the shield. Then he placed his right hand around the lower middle.

The incoming force was tremendous, but because of that, the Half-Giant gripping the shield could not see all of Enkrid's close movements.

No matter how skilled someone was, they could still get hit by what they could not see.

Against the charging shield, Enkrid used a modified Valaf-style Grappling lift-and-flip.

"Excellent, brother!"

Audin shouted before he realized it.

Enkrid ignored the shout and did exactly what he intended.

Whoom.

He used the incoming force against itself and lifted from below.

If Enkrid's raw strength had been poor, he would have been like a mantis crushed under a wagon the instant he tried it, but he had the Heart of Superhuman Strength.

That heart, hardened and reinforced during the repeating today, made his blood surge wildly.

His right foot and right hand pushed, while his left hand and torso received and lifted.

Enkrid drew a silent breath, braced his core tight, then lifted and threw.

The one being thrown and everyone watching widened their eyes in shock.

It was the first time the Half-Giant had ever felt her body fly through the air like this by someone else's power.

She flew, stunned.

It looked like a scene that ignored common sense.

While flying, she reflexively angled her shield downward and landed.

Boom!

She used the shield like a rough breakfall, so she was not badly hurt.

Still, her guard after landing was delayed.

As Enkrid intended, his sword was already at her neck. The blade stopped right before her skin.

The Half-Giant realized she had lost.

"...You threw me?"

She said in shock.

"Why? First time? Everyone has a first time."

Enkrid answered casually.

Sometimes his reckless tongue moved ahead of what he actually felt.

"I see."

The Half-Giant admitted defeat. Of course, Enkrid did not think losing meant she had to leave.

More than anything, luck had helped a little this time too.

She had not been able to gauge his level.

He had changed suddenly, and she had no chance to prepare for that. She was not someone who normally lost this easily. Enkrid knew that better than anyone.

So there was something he could say.

"Let's do it again tomorrow."

At his words, the Half-Giant stared at him.

Big brown eyes. Those eyes had never held visible emotion before, yet now they seemed to hold something.

"You're really a strange guy."

The Half-Giant said that, then added, "Yeah, let's do it again," and got up.

She looked open and bold.

"Man, you sure can throw."

Behind them, Rem voiced his admiration in his own way.

"Can I spar with you too?"

Was the Half-Giant the only one Enkrid had affected?

There was also a guard quietly burning with his own fire.

Enkrid rolled his arms in circles.

'Just now.'

Hadn't the Heart of Superhuman Strength burst a little stronger than before?

Rem had not said "you sure can throw" for no reason. He must have seen it.

That the heart had pumped out power more dynamically.

That too was a result gained through repeating today.

"Good."

Enkrid nodded. He was starting to enjoy this.

The process of recognizing his changes through sparring and learning to use them.

How could that not be fun?

The spar with the guard was different from the Half-Giant.

The guard was careful from the start, and his sword focused entirely on defense.

Enkrid swung slowly at first, then sped up.

Watching that, the Rapier Swordsman realized Enkrid was measuring what he could do right now.

So one question naturally rose.

'What the hell is this bastard doing?'

How could someone change that much in just a few days?

He had not suddenly learned some grand new technique.

It was just that every technique he already had...

'...had become refined.'

It looked as if he had tested his techniques over and over with his life on the line. That was why he trusted his own skills. There was stubbornness too, the kind that had swung a sword countless times to find the right path.

Not in a bad sense. Someone who has wandered the wrong path again and again does not hesitate once they find the right one.

Those traces showed in his sword swings and his steps.

'How?'

In Enkrid's body, the Rapier Swordsman could see years piled up. He just could not understand the method. That much was certain.

The Rapier Swordsman's eyes caught it.

Really, it was impossible to understand.

Their spar went on for quite a while, but the guard lost in the end.

He had been at a disadvantage from the start and focused on defense, so that outcome was natural.

No, he was not someone you could beat while hiding your level. Count Molsen's guard had hidden his true skill.

Of course, that was not Enkrid's concern.

Only then did the Rapier Swordsman step forward.

He took the place facing Enkrid. Opposite side of the sparring ground, it was time to crush and suppress with Oppression.

"Even if your skill has improved, nothing will change."

You trained what you had?

So what changed?

"Will is the domain of those born with it."

If desire, effort, and enough time were enough to gain it,

"Then anyone could do it."

If that were true, there would not be so few knights in this world.

If effort alone were enough, knight orders would be at least twice their current size.

So he was certain.

His opponent could not overcome his Oppression.

"Stand down."

As he spoke, the Rapier Swordsman raised his Will.

Soon, invisible blades rose.

Enkrid responded by knocking down every invisible blade he could see. That was what he used to do. That was what he had done.

But now it was different.

Chring.

Enkrid slid his sword back into its scabbard.

There was no need to swing it. The moment he faced Oppression, he realized that.

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