WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES
Chapter 330: That Bastard Is a Lunatic.
= = =
This bastard is a lunatic.
‘This bastard is a lunatic.’
In a single instant, Kin read the madness hidden behind Enkrid’s face.
Forget looks or skill. There was something wrong with him at the core.
She grasped his true nature immediately.
Kin had sharpened her eye for people while handling outside affairs for House Baisar.
That eye proved its worth now.
‘That crazy bastard!’
What if the Count accused him on the spot of insulting a noble?
No, what if he went back offended and raised an army?
Even in the center, Count Molsen was a massive headache.
He was known to have several fighters at squire level under his command.
No, they still had not fully measured his real military strength.
At this point, it was hard not to wonder why he had stayed quiet and waited this long.
Kin could not even swallow as she stared at the Count’s mouth.
Enkrid, on the other hand, looked perfectly calm.
‘You sure can talk.’
People who died to Demon Creatures?
People who died to Magic Beasts?
People left behind?
And this was from a man who had sent no reinforcements and looked away.
No, this was a man who had even turned away from his own family from the start.
Was Edin Molsen some child he picked up from the street?
If not, why had his name never even come up?
When Edin Molsen heard his father had arrived, he even said he wanted to be dispatched to the Green Pearl garrison.
That was unbelievably strange.
‘He used sparring with me as an excuse to stay here.’
At some point, he stopped sparring too, started quietly backing off, and now he had dropped even his public excuse and simply run.
Though Kraiss had said this when he arrived.
“He’s probably a frightening man.
Well, he looks that way at a glance.
But him casting out his own son looks even scarier.”
The current Enkrid trusted his instincts more.
Those instincts told him this.
A winged chimera that had swallowed dozens of giant serpents was sitting right in front of him.
So this current face was a disguise.
The mask glittered, sure, but now that he could see what lay beneath, it looked disgusting.
“Not working?”
The Count’s attitude changed at once.
He did not get angry.
Instead, he asked again like some market-hardened merchant, and in an instant the mood turned soft and loose again.
“It isn’t working.”
“I heard you fought magnificently while saving that child.
If you had not stepped in like that, allied losses would have been worse, and after that I heard you risked your life to cut across the battlefield.”
None of that was wrong, though there was plenty he could have corrected.
Enkrid did not bother.
Why drag it out?
“Yes, that is what they say.”
“You talk as if it happened to someone else.”
“My combat fatigue still hasn’t cleared, so I haven’t had the chance to think.”
Of course, that was nonsense.
He had gone off into his own world and made two nobles, one of them a house head, wait two whole days.
What combat fatigue was he talking about now?
“Did you see my bodyguard?”
“I did.”
“What do you think would happen if you fought him?”
Enkrid thought for a moment.
Honestly, the moment he saw him, he wanted to fight him.
Just not now.
He should not.
If he fought now, he might kill him by accident.
If the opponent were far below him, or far above him, that would be one thing.
Otherwise, he might kill him.
His control over his strength was still unstable.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re no fun.”
“If I want to be fun, should I promise I’d win?”
“That would make it enjoyable.”
That same bodyguard stood behind the Count.
Of course he was hearing every word of their exchange.
The Count had spoken this way so he would hear.
In other words, it was provocation.
The bodyguard did not hide his presence.
He stared at Enkrid like he could crush him instantly if he charged.
Enkrid ignored him completely.
Normally, he would have fought. It was not something he would avoid.
Yet he avoided it now?
If someone who knew Enkrid saw this, they would wonder if he had a fever.
“Then I’ll be the boring one.”
“I see.
After I leave, things will get troublesome. Are you fine with that?”
“I’m fine.”
The Count watched him for a while, then the corner of his mouth lifted higher.
“Worrying for nothing.
Hahaha.”
The Count laughed loudly and stood up.
At a glance from the Count, the bodyguard reined in his pressure.
He turned to the side and waited for his master to pass.
Watching him, Enkrid thought he was no different from a loyal dog.
Did they feed him snacks on time?
Did they take him for walks on time?
Who knew.
“My offer still stands. If you decide it is not too late, you are welcome any time.”
The Count said that as he turned.
“Yes.”
“Please look after my son and daughter too. They seem eager to leave my side.”
The Count was meticulous.
If he wanted to drag Edin Molsen back, he could have done it whenever he liked.
And he openly mentioned the daughter Edin had brought while disguised as a man.
Of course Enkrid already knew.
Anyone sharp would know.
Every member of his company probably knew too.
“Safe travels.
I won’t walk you far.”
He made them wait two days and now said he would not walk them far.
At the Count’s request, Lord Graham, who had been outside the door, went to see him off instead.
“Your Excellency.”
“He is your company commander, right?
Too insolent. How about a quick hanging?”
Even while leaving, the Count threw out a joke.
Graham broke into a cold sweat and answered.
“If Independent Company Commander Enkrid is hanged, the citizens will stone me to death.”
In other words, he had become the city’s hero.
At those words, the Count burst out laughing again.
He said with that hearty laugh,
“It was a joke.”
Was it really a joke?
Enkrid watched the departing Count leave.
Soon the reception room door closed.
The soldiers guarding the door stood as if they had seen and heard nothing.
If they got involved, even ten lives would not be enough.
“Are you insane?”
Only then did Kin finally open her mouth.
Even she had held her breath through that verbal clash.
“I hear that a lot.”
Enkrid was still calm.
“No, if you do that...”
She had not come this far with a bad head, so was she this shaken from surprise?
Enkrid noticed the refreshments left in the reception room, popped one into his mouth, and spoke.
He was hungry.
He had gone two days without eating.
Crunching on a cookie, Enkrid said,
“Did you decide to hand Border Guard over to the Count’s domain?”
“That is absurd.”
Kin was here in part to keep either Enkrid or the Lord from being swayed.
She was also a warning from Marquis Baisar.
“If someone has to tell him to back off anyway, the Count won’t care whether those words are polite or harsh.”
Kin understood that part.
Count Molsen was the kind of man who felt like a loaded crossbow.
If things turned wrong, the tip of that crossbow, that arrowhead, could point at the royal palace.
They could not wipe him out right away, because his strength was unusual, and the center’s power was not united.
At this rate, even if the country split, no one could object.
Kin brushed aside the clutter in her head and looked at this madman named Enkrid again.
His words had a blind spot.
Knowing and doing were different matters.
This bastard was not normal.
That thought did not change.
“You’ve got some nerve.”
That was Kin’s assessment.
“Will you stay and solve the troublesome problems?”
Enkrid brought up the real point again.
Kin shook her head.
“The Count withdrew, so I cannot stay here.
It would cause another problem.”
If rumors spread that Marquis Baisar was eyeing this place, it could damage his footing in the center.
Marcus had not headed to the center for nothing instead of forcing things here.
He had to consider his house’s political position.
Of course, he also could not risk being branded a traitor plotting rebellion.
That was why they said the method used by that Black Blade leader who forced Marcus back then was frighteningly clever.
In terms of petty schemes, he was on Kraiss’s level.
“Then.”
“Are you telling me to leave right now?”
Kin asked in disbelief.
Did this bastard even know she had waited here for two days?
More than that, with her looks, everyone usually looked back at least once, did they not?
Once would have been lucky.
Men and women alike turned their heads countless times.
Kin Baisar was a recognized beauty even in the capital.
How many young men in the capital had cried and suffered just because she wandered off on outside business?
Yet this man was so clean and brisk about it.
“Do you have business to do?
Didn’t you say this was difficult for you?”
That was true.
Kin stood up.
She had to go.
It was time.
There was nothing to gain by staying longer.
Still, she could at least spare a day, could she not?
As she rose, her bodyguard came close and whispered.
“He’s a peculiar man.”
It was her own guard, one who had loaded a spell into her eyes by some special method.
Someone like a sister.
“He’s a lunatic.”
Kin said that and stepped forward.
They called him the Alluring Squad Leader, so was this how he left a first impression?
If so, it was effective.
She did not know what he was like as a man, but her interest had grown sharply.
‘He’s unusual.’
“Well then.”
Enkrid repeated the same words.
Was he telling her to get lost already?
Kin felt irritation, but forced herself to ignore it and walked on.
A short send-off followed.
When Kin stepped out too, she saw all the riffraff who had been reading the room around them.
Single-generation nobles, figures from merchant groups that bought titles with gold, and so on. There were several hereditary nobles among them too.
She even saw a few noblewomen who had come just to look at Enkrid’s face.
A gathering of people without real power.
No, some had probably come backed by someone else’s power.
In any case, all of them were a pack of jackals gathered to seize the luck called Enkrid.
‘Jackals of the political board.’
Nothing dangerous would likely happen, but dealing with them would be a headache every single time.
How would this turn out?
Kin decided not to worry.
He was a man who had driven back even Count Molsen with his tongue.
Worry should be saved for someone worth worrying about.
As she left the city, Kin looked back three times.
Then a thought suddenly hit her and she spat out a curse.
“Fuck.”
Her sister-like bodyguard turned her head.
They had just climbed onto the carriage.
“Kin?”
“That bastard didn’t even ask my name.”
Even as a famous beauty, she got treated like this.
It felt like both her family’s halo and her looks had been ignored.
Yet she did not completely hate it.
‘First time.’
A mad bastard like that.
So let’s meet again.
Kin made up her mind.
The bodyguard worried about the woman she protected like a sister.
One of Kin’s flaws was obsessing stubbornly over useless things.
* * *
Many nobles and merchant groups coveted Enkrid.
“I can’t handle this alone.”
Graham threw up both hands, and Enkrid said fine and stepped in.
“If you come to my domain, along with my daughter...”
The first one was a fool trying to sell off his own daughter.
Enkrid brought Esther with him.
“Can you stay in human form?”
“It’s fine.”
Anyone with two eyes would turn at Esther’s looks.
If Kin had seen it, she would have nodded and said of course.
Wasn’t the reason Enkrid showed no interest in her face obvious now?
“Uh, well...”
The daughter-selling noble shut his mouth quickly.
Then the opposite happened.
“Um, what is milady’s name?”
Someone appeared trying to flirt with Esther.
Enkrid had to stop it in a hurry.
Esther was about to act immediately, without even asking whether she could kill him.
After that, he often brought Sinar.
He could not keep producing noble corpses.
Sinar at least would not kill on the spot.
But she had her own downside.
“She’s my fiancee.”
Strange rumors spread.
People started saying the Alluring Squad Leader had an elf and a witch as fiancees.
Enkrid let it spread.
If this kept going, at least they would stop trying to use daughters or honey traps.
“Why don’t you take me?”
“I have free time too.”
Dunbakel and Teresa spouted nonsense in the middle of it all.
Both were beautiful, sure, but if he brought Teresa, some nobles might misunderstand and think he brought her along to beat them to death.
And in some ways, Dunbakel’s hands were faster than Esther’s.
A weird rumor was better.
When merchants came talking about gold, he took Kraiss with him.
“If you come to my company, you could gain wealth beyond anything you imagine.”
“Yes, how much?”
“...What?”
“Yes, so how much?”
Kraiss was cold.
“If it is under one hundred gold coins, don’t even mention it.
And don’t try to frame it as a one-time payment.
The contract is monthly, and we take equity too.
By the way, what was your company name again?”
No merchant sold equity.
“That’s absurd!”
“The exit is over there.”
“You bastard!”
“Got a complaint?”
When a few standing soldiers appeared behind the man yelling in anger, it was over.
The men who had stepped up as escorts only watched.
Even without the Madman Company, the standing army’s force was superior.
They were men who had survived the war with Azpen.
If you said one wrong thing, you died.
The merchant shut his mouth and withdrew.
In truth he was grinding his teeth, but that still counted as leaving quietly.
There were others who waved their own authority around.
At times Enkrid wanted to send Rem and split their skulls, but he let it pass for the sake of peace.
“Come under my command.
That will raise your honor.
If it were me, I could even recommend you to a knight order.
And you dare reject me?”
Enkrid really did keep to that approach.
“A sword has no eyes.”
So he had to shut them down with a line stale beyond stale.
“You insolent thr...”
Whoosh.
When he showed the skill of slicing off some of the noble’s remaining hair with a hand blade, the noble’s mouth closed.
“A mosquito.”
What mosquito existed in midwinter?
The noble lord could not push further.
He was staring at someone whose eyes said he would bury him if things turned bad.
“Is it really fine to do this?”
The Lord asked with worry.
“If that bastard truly has an incredible army and starts a territorial war...”
“Oh, we should thank him and fight.”
Kraiss picked up the rest.
Border Guard was, in name and reality, the strongest military force in this entire region.
They lacked gold, though.
So what they needed most right now was Krona.
City expansion was essential, but Krona was not circulating smoothly.
So if someone attacked, they could swallow them cleanly and take war reparations.
Anyway, Kraiss kept turning them away again and again.
Sinar and Esther turned them away too.
Enkrid got called out nonstop as well.
After about half a month passed like that, Enkrid realized his body was mostly recovered.
His senses came back too.
Now he could avoid killing opponents carelessly.
“Whew.”
He breathed out in satisfaction.
What would have happened if he had fought the Count’s bodyguard back then?
Most likely he would have killed him or left him badly injured.
It was the moment he reviewed what he had learned and built up so far.
It still had not fully settled into his body, so control had failed.
So the last half month, even while wasting time on pointless things, had also been a period where Enkrid refined what he had as much as possible.
Once that clicked, the urge to swing his sword freely surged up.
As luck had it, today none of those scraps, noble or merchant, came looking for him.
Enkrid returned to the barracks.
He had been so busy that he had not visited often lately.
Inside the barracks, a familiar atmosphere greeted Enkrid.
Silence, with tension running through it.
Heavy air pressed down inside, like something could happen the moment things turned wrong.
A dangerous scent he had not smelled recently hung thick in the air, but it was familiar.
In other words.
It was similar to when Enkrid had first visited the Troublemaker Squad barracks.
= = =
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