WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 258: On Dealing with Morons (3)

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"What, you think you're the only busy one?"

Enkrid stared blankly at the dwarf and blinked twice.

There was a clear gap between the situation he remembered and what was in front of him now.

He checked his body first.

He was as hungry as if he had starved for days, and his muscles trembled as though they had been pushed past their limit.

His vision was blurry too.

That was fatigue, and not ordinary fatigue. It felt like he had spent days climbing mountains without sleeping or eating.

That was how heavy his body felt.

The exhaustion had drained him so badly that he could barely put strength into his grip.

His body was trained enough to swing a sword for two days without sleep, so being in this state made no sense.

"How much time has passed?"

Enkrid clenched and unclenched his fist as he spoke.

He could feel the strain on his body all too clearly.

"...This guy's as shameless as an elf."

The dwarf girl raised one corner of her mouth, looking dumbfounded.

Enkrid did not need an answer from her.

Rem and Ragna were right behind her.

Rem, who had been picking his ear, spoke first.

"A little over three days. Happy now?"

"Did it go well?"

That was Ragna, watching with folded arms.

They fired those questions without pause, and Enkrid examined himself again.

So what exactly had happened?

That dreamlike stretch of time still lingered in his mind.

Every moment, every step had been an insight.

At the end of those steps, Enkrid had sunk in and immersed himself completely.

He had seized his target and reached it.

'Swordsmanship.'

He had created one.

He still could not properly name it or put it into words, but one thing was certain. He had created a form within the Flowing Sword Style.

Those called masters of the sword usually spent their final years refining what they had learned before passing it down.

Even true masters with deep attainments in swordsmanship mostly polished what already existed.

Enkrid had made one.

Thump.

His heart pounded on its own. Separate from the weakness in his body, he could already see the days ahead, practicing and awakening what he had made, and a smile of pure exhilaration rose to his face.

"You're smiling? Did you go a little crazy?"

"We were already planning to take him to the temple in the big territory for treatment. Hey, dwarf girl."

As the dwarf circled a finger by her ear, Rem said that.

Enkrid was too full of joy to answer him.

"Looks like he's dying of happiness."

Rem sneered, but Enkrid did not hear him either.

Ragna, who had watched him the whole time, nodded to himself.

"Good."

The dwarf girl was a wanderer who had roamed the continent. She had seen the world for over a decade.

Even for her, this was rare.

Setting talent and disposition aside, these people, Enkrid included, were simply mad in the purest sense.

* * *

The dwarf had arrived a day before he woke, and until then, they had not let anyone come near him.

After she saw him wake, she complained so much that they brought her in.

"So you want me to just leave the weapons and go?"

Even then, the dwarf shook her head.

"I need to see the faces of the people who'll use my weapons one more time before I leave. That's my rule."

Whenever she delivered what she made, the dwarf girl followed one iron rule: hand it over in person and speak directly.

Dwarves sometimes clung to personal rules with near-compulsive stubbornness, and this was one of those.

She had whined about wasted time, but that was still why she stayed.

In any case, her complaints faded quickly.

"I see."

Enkrid ignored his weakness and listened to her with full attention.

The rest of the company either fooled around, did not listen, started preaching about divine teachings, or did not even bother engaging.

Kraiss was at least somewhat conversational, but that big-eyed human was so busy it was hard to even catch a glimpse of him.

In the middle of all that, Enkrid's attentive manner was enough to melt the dwarf girl's mood.

To begin with, when it came to listening posture alone, Enkrid might have had the best attitude on the continent.

Her mood softened at once. It helped that she was not petty by nature.

"Right. Good thing you went crazy in a decent way."

That was her verdict on Enkrid as she handed over the weapons.

The request had been for two swords and two axes.

They were laid out neatly on a broad leather sheet. She picked one up and spoke.

"Honestly, forging isn't my strongest suit. My real talent is elsewhere. Even so, this will be better than what most amateurs make."

The unnamed dwarf said it, and Enkrid agreed.

She handed him a weapon still in its leather scabbard.

She offered it with the grip forward, and he took it.

It had a solid weight.

The blade was not long, but it was thick.

It was as thick as the Guard Sword he currently used, and a little longer than a Shortsword.

It was a modified Gladius.

When he drew it, the blade slipped smoothly into view.

Its silver body ran in clean, flowing lines.

"Nice shape."

Rem said as he watched.

He was right. If it were a woman, she would be beautiful. If it were a man, he would be handsome.

It resembled the Naidhl used by the Elf Company Commander, yet it was different.

It had heft, and at a glance it looked sturdy.

"You already have one proper blade, so I figured this was the right kind of side weapon."

The dwarf gestured with her eyes toward Enkrid's original sword at his waist.

She had made it without being asked, but she was right.

His original sword was worthy of being called a masterpiece too. It was surprising that she recognized that without even seeing it drawn.

Maybe that really was what dwarves were like. The thought crossed his mind, then disappeared.

Without resting, Enkrid stood in the training ground and swung the new sword several times.

What he liked most was its center of gravity.

It felt perfectly balanced around a point about two knuckles above the grip.

It seemed like it would be an excellent thrown weapon with the Sword Flicking Technique too.

"I made it tough so you can throw it, cut with it, block with it, smash with it, whatever."

The dwarf's explanation matched perfectly.

It felt great in hand for both cutting and throwing.

The tip was sharp, and the upper part of the blade was long, so it looked easy to thrust with as well.

Enkrid tossed it upward, let it spin several times, then caught it.

Again, the balance was excellent.

He snapped his hand onto the grip and gave the air a few light swings.

He moved the sword casually, and the motion was smoother than before.

A different kind of flexibility stood out.

He had broken out of his shell and changed.

Only a few people noticed.

With the sword in hand, Enkrid nodded.

It was a nod of satisfaction.

Watching him, the dwarf admired him inwardly.

'Well, look at that?'

Someone had heated and carved that stone again. Change. And this much change in so little time?

'That's no ordinary talent.'

The dwarf was mistaken, and it was understandable. The truth was that countless efforts had piled up and happened to erupt at the right moment.

From her point of view, he just looked like pure talent.

"Aren't you giving me mine?"

Rem urged her from behind, so the dwarf flicked two axes toward him. She threw both at once, and Rem caught both handles cleanly.

Needless to say, the axes were excellent too.

Even Rem, that bad-tempered Rem, said this:

"...Good thing I didn't turn that dwarf into a taxidermy display back then."

For him to say that, they had to be good.

For whatever reason, that line made the dwarf girl burst out laughing.

It was hard to tell what part of that was funny.

It was enough to make anyone question her mental state.

Rem examined both axes closely.

The fire axe had a pointed weight at the end, so it looked usable as a striking weapon with the butt of the handle.

The other had been made by melting down the Centaur leader's Glaive and using all that iron.

"It's heavy. That's why I like it."

That was Rem's honest review. Naturally, everyone was satisfied.

Ragna, who received his sword last, spoke to the dwarf.

"Not bad."

What he got was a Northern-style zweihander.

A two-hand sword meant to be gripped with both hands, with a blade twice as thick as the others, and a huge pommel and grip.

"I finished it in northern style."

The dwarf said that with a smile.

She had claimed she was no master and that forging was not her specialty, but maybe it was a racial trait.

Watching people receive her weapons with satisfaction, she smiled with deep contentment.

"Good, that's it. If we get the chance, we'll meet again."

The girl spoke briskly and turned away, then looked once more at Kraiss. No one knew when he had shown up. He had been watching those receiving weapons, then stood there blankly staring at the dwarf girl.

"Human runt."

Judging by appearance, she was the runt, but the tone and title fit her perfectly.

"Yes?"

"Later, if you turn into a gem too, I'll think about it."

Kraiss nodded without understanding. He had no idea what she meant, but it sounded like she wanted to meet again, so he took it as good news.

Then she left.

After the young dwarf left, everyone looked at Enkrid.

"Is your body okay? What kind of person skips meals and just swings a sword?"

Kraiss asked.

"As you can see."

His muscles were under strain, but not enough for him to collapse right away. He was hungry, but not to the point of dying if he did not eat immediately.

Everyone in the company knew Enkrid had seized an opportunity and grown.

Even so, no one brought it up and asked directly.

When he had first come to his senses, what Rem and Ragna said was all he got.

From what he heard, while he was so immersed that he could neither see nor hear anything around him, they had stood guard in shifts and driven away anyone who approached.

When Torres met him later, he said:

"You were harder to meet than a king."

Anyway, after the dwarf left, Enkrid slept for an entire day.

He woke, filled his stomach, then slept again.

What he thought was a short while had actually been three days, and throughout that immersion he had kept swinging his sword.

Sometimes fast and powerful.

Other times as slow as a sea turtle.

But he never rested.

Of course his muscles were strained, but his body had been trained through the Isolation Technique.

After one full day of deep sleep, he recovered.

After waking from immersion, as he rested, ate, and slept, Enkrid sorted through what he had realized.

Only in the late afternoon of the next day did he speak.

"Rem."

Rem had been sitting in one corner of the lodgings, stroking his axes. Teasing Dunbakel was only fun for a day or two.

He was just about to get bored.

"I've been waiting a long time."

At that welcome call, Rem sprang to his feet.

The two axes in his hands gleamed with fresh oil.

It was time to spar.

If you looked only at the result, Enkrid could not win.

No, he lost even more easily than before.

"Again."

He aimed his sword at the axe blade and repeated the same method over and over, but success did not come easily.

A few attempts were half-successful, but that naturally did not satisfy him.

So he kept getting pushed back. What did that matter? Winning or losing a spar was less important than engraving this newly created thing into his body.

"Good."

They started sparring before sunset and kept going until they were drenched in sweat, finally ending after midnight.

At one point, a maid heating bathwater late at night started to complain, then saw Enkrid's body and closed her mouth.

At another, Zimmer saw Ragna swinging his sword morning and night and asked for a spar.

Audin spent more time praying, and his expression seemed softer than before.

Dunbakel, without being told, started imitating things like the Isolation Technique while watching Enkrid.

"Everyone has methods that fit their own body. I'll teach you a few."

Audin helped after seeing that.

Of course Audin was helping, but Dunbakel sometimes looked like she was being tortured.

Teresa sweated in silence too.

She stayed busy refining her own style with shield and sword.

In truth, just seeing Enkrid in a state of deep immersion had become another strong stimulus for all of them.

The wild horse spent its time watching humans. Soldiers left a pile of hay to one side for its feed.

Normal horses relieved themselves anywhere, but this one was so clever that it dug up the ground itself at one side of the camp and did its business there.

Watching it dig with its hooves was a strange sight in itself.

The stablemaster marveled at its strength.

"Haah, if only we could put tack on it."

That came from the man in charge of Martai's military horses. Mounted warhorses were the core of cavalry, after all.

He was a man who had raised such horses all his life.

He truly regretted it, but he did nothing to the wild horse.

If someone approached carelessly, it gave off killing intent.

Enkrid watched the wild horse and thought:

'Should I at least give it a name?'

Strange behavior was nothing new. Plenty of strange humans were already around him. What would really change if one more horse was added?

At Border Guard, there had even been a sorcerer who turned from a panther into a human.

Enkrid put off naming it for later.

For now, the wild horse looked too busy wandering around and staring at everything.

Maybe everything around it was feeding its curiosity.

Still, it never approached people.

Soldiers who saw its distinct blue and red eyes sometimes said they got chills for no reason.

That was the killing intent unique to a Demon Creature.

Time passed in that mad cycle of training and sparring.

On the third day after the dwarf left, they moved too.

Kraiss, who had been tirelessly scouting the territory market and meeting the lord in private, said it was time to leave.

"Let's head back."

It was time to return to their own territory.

Enkrid stepped out first, and the lord saw them off.

"May fortune in battle be with you."

They departed before dawn, and by sunrise, the territory was no longer visible behind them.

Kraiss led the way.

They left the horses behind and traveled on foot.

Only the wild horse walked beside Enkrid.

"Ah, snow."

"Those demon bastards started sprinkling it again."

After they had walked for a while, white powder began to fall from above. It landed on the ground and on their armor, then melted.

Luckily, the wind was not strong, and it was not coming down heavily. The small white flakes only narrowed visibility a little.

The snow fell quietly and calmly, and in truth it was not that inconvenient.

As they entered a road with two mounds, one on each side, people blocked the way ahead.

One of them was a familiar face.

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