WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES
Chapter 280: The Black Blade Excels at Intrigue (2)
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Why did Marcus have to obey the summons from the center?
"Those family bastards should have covered for me and acted as my shield at a time like this, but they threw me out as the punching bag instead. Political schemers are all the same."
Those were Marcus's words.
For a moment, Enkrid wondered if Marcus was cursing himself, but this was not the time to say it.
"From the center's point of view, raising warhorses and training archers out here with part of the Border Guard can look like signs of rebellion. Why are you gathering power in the north, and why is a prominent noble family from the center doing it?"
"A prominent family?"
"My family."
Enkrid did not ask which family.
The point was this.
Marcus had planned to reorganize the north around the Border Guard.
But from the center, the question was, "What exactly are you trying to do by gathering strength up there?"
"We are trying to manage the north properly."
That was his answer.
"Doesn't look that way. Come up first and talk to us. And weren't you originally from a family that protects the capital? Come up. We'll make you a central official."
"What if I refuse?"
"Huh? Then it really sounds like you're plotting rebellion. You'd refuse this?"
"I'm telling you, it's not rebellion."
"Then come to the capital. Come and talk. Stop harassing neighboring territory. You said you're only defending anyway, right? Then they won't touch you either."
"If I trust that and leave, they'll strike. So let me finish this first, then I'll go."
"Yeah, that's rebellion. You traitorous bastard."
"No, it isn't."
"Then come."
Strip away the flourishes, titles, and other noise, and this was basically the conversation.
Marcus resisted, but it was useless.
He was forced back to the capital.
"This won't be the end. There are bandit bastards behind this."
That was Marcus speaking, a born politician.
Still, why had he come all the way here just to say this?
Before Enkrid could voice that question, Marcus spoke first.
He pushed off the pillar he had been leaning on and stood straight.
He stood like he was taking military posture, back rigid and upright.
For a moment, it looked like Marcus was pulling in the air around him.
That was how he settled his breathing.
"Help Graham and protect the territory."
It was not an order. To Enkrid, it sounded like a request.
"Yes."
Enkrid answered, and Marcus opened his mouth with a tired expression.
"...That makes all my worrying pointless."
"Sir?"
"Nothing."
Marcus turned away. Battalion Commander Marcus had carried several worries all the way here.
Would this man named Enkrid stay in the territory to the end? Should he give this place up and call him to the capital instead? Or would Enkrid simply walk his own path?
"Ah, those rotten capital bureaucrats."
Marcus felt like cursing rotten nobles and officials all over again.
He cursed them every day already, but right now he wanted to drill a hole in each of their foreheads.
He wanted to hire an assassin famous enough to be named in history books.
That one called Red Dot, for killing people with a red mark left on the forehead, or Redot for short.
Or was it Red Spot?
Whatever. He wanted to cut out the rot and throw it away.
"Fine. I'm going."
He had no intention of running to the capital just because they called and then sitting quietly.
He would track down each bastard who got played by the Black Blade and crush them.
But to wield that kind of force, this place had to remain intact. The enemy was fully committed to targeting the Border Guard.
Then what could Marcus do?
What else.
The same as always.
Leave fighting to those who were good at fighting.
And go do what he was good at.
Before leaving, Marcus decided he needed to write several more letters.
He had to make every possible preparation before he went.
In the middle of that, his thoughts reached Enkrid, the biggest variable.
Will he stay?
Like the politician he was, he had come half to doubt and half to persuade, but the answer came too easily.
Enkrid answered without resistance. There was no lie in it, and no rigid sense of duty either, yet Enkrid would protect this place.
That was simply the kind of man he was.
Marcus did not know what fire Enkrid carried in his chest, but it was burning, and it did not show itself easily.
If he truly wanted to become a knight, he should have gone to the center or the royal palace long ago and fought to enter a knightly order.
So why was he still here even after gaining Will?
The question rose again.
"What kind of knight do you want?"
Next time, when they met again, Marcus wanted to ask him that.
His heart felt steadier now. The suffocating frustration eased. It felt like a tangled thread had been loosened.
He still did not know why, and he still could not know everything that would happen next, but still.
"He won't go down easily."
It was strange. No matter how much blood Graham, the 1st Company Commander, sweated and how hard he worked, it did not feel as reassuring as a single line from Enkrid.
"Because of the gap in skill?"
He knew now. Enkrid had become a terrifying swordsman. He was on the road to becoming a knight. He had even awakened Will.
Was that why?
No, that was not it. Marcus knew by instinct.
When he returned to his office, he found Graham, the 1st Company Commander, waiting for him.
"Sorry. There won't even be a proper appointment ceremony, and more than that, we still don't know what the Green Pearl garrison battalion commander is thinking. If that bastard has crossed over too, things will get difficult."
"Please don't worry. We won't lose to the Black Blade."
Graham was also an outstanding soldier and a solid man.
Yet Marcus still thought, why did this not feel as trustworthy as that simple "Yes"?
Marcus shook his head inwardly and patted Graham's shoulder.
Everything was turning to hell, and he had to leave. It was a bitter feeling.
His resolve hardened again on its own.
He would absolutely cut down the one behind this.
* * *
"Cultists are rising in southern Martai!"
That was what people said anywhere peddlers and travelers gathered.
They said a man called a cult bishop had appeared in the south and brought a pack of magic beasts.
Rumors spread everywhere that the Wolf Bishop, a well-known figure among the cultists, had come out leading troops.
Of course, it was not just rumor.
[With winter now upon us, I hereby declare this place a holy land for those who shiver and starve in the cold.]
The bishop's words were written on paper and spread everywhere.
That reached the Border Guard too.
"Oh, come on. What kind of bullshit is this?"
Some soldiers clicked their tongues when they read it.
It openly declared the Martai and Border Guard region holy ground for the cult.
It meant, challenge us and die, so clear out on your own and get lost.
This was a serious problem.
After Marcus left, the 1st Company Commander, now both lord and battalion commander, broke into a cold sweat as this wave of trouble approached.
Why had cultists suddenly popped up now? The problem was severe. Their troop limits were obvious, while the Black Blade and the cultists were pressing from different directions.
"Did that bastard Marcus run away scared?"
Baronet Tarnin raised his taunts another level. At the same time, he quietly advanced his forces.
A faint smell of battle was spreading.
"I should send someone to Count Molsen and request support."
Graham moved at once.
The sons of the high noble with the greatest influence in this area happened to be in the territory.
Wouldn't that make him help?
He even let slip that both of your sons are here.
A reply came.
"Cultists are rising in the county too, and with winter here there are too many monsters. Handle it yourselves."
Bang!
The 1st Company Commander slammed his fist into the wall.
The wall was built of solid brick, so it did not break.
Heavy pain spread from his fingertips through his nerves, but did that matter right now?
"Damn it! Your territory is next after us!"
Count Molsen's territory could not stay indifferent in a situation like this either.
Behind that pig bastard Tarnin, the ones hiding were the Black Blade bandits.
No, at this point they were not even hiding.
Several swordsmen clearly known to be members of the bandit group had shown their faces.
That meant they were fully committed.
The ones pressing up from below while checking Martai were cultists, but the two sides did not cross into each other's territory, almost as if they had a non-aggression pact.
It looked coordinated.
If it looked that way, then that was what it was.
Then would both groups occupy the Border Guard and stop there?
Would they pat their bellies and disperse, saying, "Well, that's enough"?
Not a chance. If that happened, they would only run even wilder.
Graham also sent crows and pigeons to the capital.
No answer came.
Other news arrived instead.
"Battalion Commander."
Had he said he was sorry for handing over the post at a time like this?
There had been no formal appointment ceremony, but Graham had planned to use this crisis to solidify his status as battalion commander.
That had been the plan.
Then he remembered what Marcus said before leaving.
"If things look too wrong, do what you can and run."
He began to wonder if now was that time.
The report that arrived pushed the new battalion commander into despair. It was enough to turn Graham's eyes bleak.
"Azpen has moved."
There was a man who had originally been a reserve battalion commander.
He had stationed troops in the Green Pearl Plains, trained warhorses, opened new farmland, and built villages.
Fortification came first, so he started by building barracks and wooden palisades. He was turning it from a village into a territory, beyond a simple garrison, into full Naurillia land.
A courier came from Green Pearl.
Azpen had gathered troops, broken the agreement, and crossed the border.
It was an invasion.
Azpen was never the type to lose once and stay silent forever, sucking its fingers and watching.
But why now, of all times?
This was a problem that needed central support. The Border Guard alone could never handle it.
Support would come eventually. Azpen had made a move.
But.
Of course, that only mattered if they stayed alive until then.
The moment he was newly appointed battalion commander, the battalion commander wanted to run.
The Black Blade's intrigue became a ruthless blade that started tearing the Border Guard apart.
They drove Marcus out, called in cultists, and even moved Azpen.
The sky was dark. Heavy storm clouds blocked the sun even in daytime.
Dark clouds hung over the territory too.
* * *
"So what are they going to do now?"
A Black Blade executive chuckled to himself. He poured hard liquor into his mouth and felt delighted.
How dare they touch us?
They used every connection they had and poured out gold coins.
This was the result.
Baronet Tarnin and Black Blade troops.
Cultist troops to the south of Martai.
And to the east, beyond the Green Pearl Plains occupied by the Border Guard, Azpen rising.
Now what were they going to do?
* * *
With news crashing in from all sides, peddlers gradually stopped heading toward the territory.
"They say war is coming."
"I heard cultists are invading too."
"No, no, that's not it. They say the unit in Green Pearl changed its mind. Saying why make someone else the Border Guard commander over him."
"I heard the center found this place troublesome and cast it aside..."
"You think that's all? I heard Count Molsen turned away too."
When would the Border Guard fall?
Enkrid let those rumors pass without much thought.
Of course, not everyone could do that.
Graham, commander and new battalion commander, felt his breathing catch.
It felt like someone was pressing a blade under his jaw.
If he called a war council to block Baronet Tarnin, the rear was too unstable.
He sent a messenger to the Green Pearl battalion, and the reply made the situation behind them even worse.
"The enemy force is large. Unless you intend to let the soldiers here be annihilated, you must send reinforcements."
Reinforcements, my ass.
They were already so short-handed here that he wanted to raise some kind of emergency army on the spot.
His jagged beard and bloodshot eyes looked like a portrait of his state of mind.
"Fuck, Marcus."
In the end, Graham cursed Marcus.
What was there to celebrate about becoming battalion commander and lord when everything looked like this?
Around the time the territory's leader had one foot in panic, someone in Enkrid's company entered a similar state.
"Captain, Captain, isn't it time to run now?"
What was this supposed to mean?
"You didn't swear loyalty to the Queen, right? We didn't either, so there is no way we can stop all of them, the cultists, the Black Blade, and Azpen."
This was not his usual self.
Enkrid watched Big Eyes for a moment.
His legs trembled nonstop. He tried to bite his nails, then spat and kept blinking.
Even now, as he stared at Enkrid, he blinked three or four times, and his pupils were visibly shaking.
He was not normal right now.
Enkrid did not think he knew all his members' pasts, or that he had perfectly grasped all their personalities.
Still, there were things he knew.
Rem hated the cold, and Ragna was a lazy man with no sense of direction. Things like that became obvious naturally.
Jaxon hid many things and sometimes showed flashes of something chilling, though where that feeling was aimed was unclear.
And he knew Kraiss's habits too.
This big-eyed friend had not lived an easy life in his past.
Then again, who here had lived peacefully?
People like that would never have drifted all the way here.
There was a reason this unit had been called a troublemaker squad from the start.
Kraiss was one of those troublemakers too.
"This is the worst."
Kraiss muttered and listed what would happen next.
"Even if we hold the Black Blade's main force by relying on the walls, what about the cultists pushing up from below? That guy called the Wolf Bishop is pretty famous. I gathered info myself."
His face was pale, and he spoke without even a bitter smile.
"He leads hundreds of wolf magic beasts. There's already a bounty on him, and that kind of guy personally stepped in. What does that tell us? Molsen or no Molsen, the kingdom has abandoned this place. I don't know what they got in return, but they must have gotten everything they wanted by throwing us away. This land was abandoned by the Queen. Look, Azpen openly lined up troops and still not a single support force arrives. We should at least have part of a knightly order coming. But they aren't coming. What does that mean? Politics. Did they pay some price to give up Green Pearl? Or did they open dealings with the cultists? At minimum, the Black Blade..."
He went on and on. Enkrid understood half and let the other half pass.
Enkrid looked around.
He saw their eyes on him. He felt one thing clearly here.
They would do whatever he told them to do.
If he said abandon the territory and leave right now, they would all follow.
Rem, Ragna, Audin, Jaxon, Dunbakel, Teresa, and finally Kraiss, soaked in anxiety.
That panther that had slipped in quietly would be the same.
Eight of them and him.
Nine in total, a force that could have been discarded in normal times.
But now?
In the previous battlefield, Marcus had said the easy victory came because he had hidden this company's real ability.
That was Kraiss's analysis.
Enkrid agreed.
Then what happened if they pulled out now?
What would happen? It would collapse completely.
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