WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES
Chapter 332: The Trigger Spreads and Spreads (1)
= = =
Esther thought, ‘The curse is unraveling.’
She had believed she would stay tangled in this damned curse and suffer for decades.
No, if luck went bad, she might have suffered for more than a hundred years.
If luck had gone even worse, she might have lived her whole life with her World of Spells contaminated.
Just thinking about it was horrifying.
It was that kind of curse, which was why she could have done anything to break it.
That was why she had slept in Enkrid’s arms.
Now she rarely did, because she no longer had that reason.
The threads of the curse had finally begun to come undone.
Luck had favored her too.
While fighting Galaf, who held the river in his grasp, she recovered her old senses and swallowed several spell objects he possessed.
Naturally, some of them helped her World of Spells.
It would have been even better if she had found and looted Galaf’s private lab, but when would she ever find that?
He was famous for having many disciples.
So whatever treasure remained in that lab would become their share.
They would covet it, steal it, fight over it, and the last one standing would take what remained.
A mage’s greed would make sure of that.
Disciple brothers getting along well, that was a story fit for dreams.
If they were not people drunk on the desire to seek truth and break beyond the human frame, they would not have become mages in the first place, so what kind of nonsense was that?
‘Ah, idiots.’
She had once fallen into that kind of dogfight herself, but not anymore.
Thinking about Galaf’s disciples happily tearing into each other warmed her heart.
No matter how you looked at it, Esther was not a gentle person.
She knew that too.
Still, for a mage, she was relatively normal.
‘No, even in this place full of freaks, I’m one of the normal ones.’
It was the same in the Madman Company.
One thought led to another, and her mind circled back to where it started.
Back to the curse.
Esther sank into those thoughts again.
The curse had not left only bad things behind.
There were benefits too.
She had never expected that.
She had even gained things like the Lake Panther’s muscle strength.
Still, since it was called a curse, of course it was not all good.
There were side effects.
And they were worse than she had expected.
‘My body’s shape memory changed.’
A physical being, a body, exists in the form the self recognizes.
For mages especially, who deal with the mental realm called the World of Spells, maintaining physical form requires an exact awareness of their own body.
Otherwise, they could be devoured by their own World of Spells and become an evil spirit.
‘Should I force it here?’
If she pushed herself, she could maintain human form, but if she made even one mistake, this time it might truly be irreversible.
Esther made her choice.
She gave up on remaining strictly human no matter what.
Living half as a panther would be fine.
This problem could be solved another way later.
Another issue was even more suffocating.
‘Stagnation.’
Her World of Spells had stagnated.
Even as she resolved the curse, even as she kept thinking and scheming without end, it had stagnated.
It had stopped.
No growth.
That deeply bothered her.
So what should she do?
The same as before.
Wait for inspiration, train her spells, refine the shape of her world, and repeat.
Was there not also a man by her side who shattered his limits through endless repetition?
When she thought of Enkrid, she felt an irrational certainty that her own problem would somehow be solved as well.
The tightness in her chest eased a little.
Her mood lifted.
It was strange that just thinking of him could do that.
She had just about sorted out her thoughts and was on her way back to the barracks.
In her black robe, Esther walked between the military tents.
She was a beauty who drew everyone’s eyes wherever she went.
People usually stared, but today those looks were rare.
‘Hm?’
She was not disappointed.
It just felt odd.
Esther quickened her pace.
Soon she saw Enkrid.
More precisely, she saw Enkrid fighting while smashing a barracks apart.
That was pure coincidence.
Still, even coincidence comes from ordinary chains of cause and effect piling up.
Enkrid had just driven back Teresa and Dunbakel with three consecutive crushing sword blows and was now pressuring Rem.
“You think this crap works on me?!”
Rem roared and swung his axe over his head.
Boom!
In reality, no sound came out, but Esther heard something like it.
The spell Dmueller’s Scythe compressed air and launched vacuum blades.
It was superior in both cutting power and speed.
What were wind and vacuum spells, really?
To be exact, they were arts that handled pressure.
Then what was the ultimate form of wind, pressure, and vacuum spells?
It was influencing atmospheric pressure.
Through that, they produced abnormal pressure.
Part of Enkrid’s swordsmanship remained as an image in her mind and stimulated her thoughts.
The mage plunged into her own world and sank deep.
If she fell fully into meditation, she would obviously stand there with a blank, foolish look, but it could not be helped.
This was a chance to weave something new into her World of Spells and gain it for herself.
She could not miss it.
* * *
“What is this?”
When Kraiss snapped at him, Enkrid forced strength into his trembling legs and answered.
“Sparring.”
What else was there to say?
Kraiss did not press further.
It had already happened.
What was the point of arguing now?
The broken barracks would not fix itself, and Enkrid was not the type to reflect over it.
The corners of Enkrid’s mouth were gently raised, as if he was pleased with himself.
He looked refreshed.
That faint smile made people feel oddly good.
Naturally, nobody really felt like scolding him.
“Is this a rebellion? You planning to cut my head off and become castellan now?”
Castellan Graham had apparently suffered a lot lately, because he had started talking more nonsense.
“You’d do all this just for that?”
Enkrid shot back and looked to one side.
A breathtaking beauty who stole every gaze wherever she went was standing there motionless.
Esther.
He had seen her come close, then suddenly stop like a wax doll and quietly breathe.
The watching soldiers had formed a wide circle around her.
None of them dared touch her carelessly.
Esther was also a member of the Madman Company.
A mage who could turn into a panther, a witch in a black robe who said she would gouge out anyone’s eyes if they ogled her body.
In other words, very dangerous.
Enkrid walked over to the witch.
Her eyes were unfocused.
What was wrong with her now?
No one could tell.
It was not common for someone to see his swordsmanship, get stimulated, and try to change their World of Spells, and Enkrid was not a mage.
There was no way he could know.
Esther was sensitive about people touching her body.
Enkrid was the only one allowed.
He scooped Esther up and turned.
He lifted her lightly, starting from her legs.
Once he held her like that, her body went limp.
She looked like someone standing upright while lost somewhere deep inside.
Was this what he looked like when he got lost in swordsmanship and blanked out?
“She looks like the captain when he drools.”
Kraiss said it after a glance.
Enkrid did not bother guessing Esther’s condition.
This was mage business.
There was no telling what exactly was happening.
He should toss her onto a bed for now.
Her eyes were unfocused and she was not in her right mind.
But when Enkrid turned, all he saw was the shattered barracks.
“Clear out another barracks.”
Graham stepped in.
“If you want my castellan seat, just say so instead of going for my neck.”
Had this guy always been this good at jokes?
Enkrid let out a short laugh.
After pouring out everything he had been learning, practicing, and awakening, he felt refreshed.
No, it did not end at refreshed.
He could see the road forward too.
“You’ve changed, brother-nim.”
Audin praised him.
“Not bad.”
Ragna muttered that as well.
Dunbakel had fainted, and Teresa, charging around without thinking, got her arm twisted by Audin.
It was not broken, but she needed a full day of rest.
Enkrid laid Esther down roughly and came back out.
Then he found Rem.
“Damn, did you roast some other bastard’s heart on the battlefield or what?”
That was his way of saying Rem had gotten stronger.
“In the West, do people get stronger through cannibalism?”
“Some crazy bastards believe that.”
Rem said it while wrapping himself in heated leather.
His sweat seemed to have cooled.
They had all just moved into the neighboring barracks.
Other than the people inside, Rem was the only one outside.
That itself was strange.
He was not going to wash up, and it was not like he had something to say, so why was he lingering here?
Rem, of all people?
Instead of narrowing his eyes, Enkrid spoke.
“Rem.”
“Why call me?”
“Nothing.”
Right before the spar, at the start of all this, where had this mood come from?
Rem.
Enkrid had picked up on it by instinct.
Audin had quietly tipped him off too.
He had been too busy handling people constantly looking for him to watch closely, but he had still sensed a subtle change in Rem’s mood.
Not unstable, but sharply edged.
If he asked why, would he get an answer?
Maybe.
But even if he knew, what could he do with that?
“What’s with starting to talk and then stopping? Doesn’t it bug you when a fight cuts off halfway?”
Rem grumbled.
At least that dangerously sharp edge had already dulled a little.
Enkrid decided to skip the whole back-and-forth.
“Tomorrow morning.”
“What?”
“We do this properly.”
One-on-one.
He finished the rest with his eyes, and a smile rose at the corner of Rem’s mouth.
“You still got no plans to treat that head of yours? Why, you think if you come at me alone you can do something?”
“Don’t cry after you lose.”
Enkrid used his tongue well.
Rem snickered.
“Fine. Good. I’ll make sure you cry.”
After they traded something like fighting spirit, Enkrid walked away.
Rem stayed where he was and quietly looked up at the sky.
Stars shone in the night above.
Warmth from heated leather and warm stones wrapped his body.
As Enkrid’s footsteps faded, Rem felt his mind settle.
A short laugh escaped him.
Did that bastard Enkrid know something and act like that?
The thought came to him.
If he knew, then what did he know?
Rem thought of that lazy, directionless bastard.
‘What the hell did you go and do?’
He asked silently.
Of course, he would never ask directly.
Enkrid had changed.
Rem had seen how different he was now.
That was where all this had started.
That was why that strange tension had been in the air.
It was not Ragna who provoked first. Rem noticed it first.
A sword on a different trajectory than before would come out of him.
You could tell just by looking.
The atmosphere had shifted, subtly.
Of course, you only know for sure once you fight.
You have to match long and short head-on to know.
Unless the gap in skill is obvious, that is only natural.
The problem was that Rem had reacted to that change.
He had grown sensitive.
‘What if I use the sling?’
Naturally, he started thinking of ways to deal with Ragna.
That rising momentum stirred Ragna, and Ragna had no intention of backing off.
“You want to get buried?”
He did not hold back his taunts either.
Would Rem retreat from that?
“I’ll crack your skull.”
That was the beginning.
Rem looked at the night sky and thought.
‘Am I paying the price for what I gave up?’
Even that thought came to him.
His mind went all the way back to old memories.
When he left, he remembered the fortune-teller’s curse aimed at him.
“You’re giving up that power, that right? You will pay the price.”
“Eh, I’ll handle it myself.”
Rem had said that and turned away.
At those words, the fortune-teller beat their chest and spat blood.
That was how furious the fortune-teller had been.
Well, the past was the past, and the present was the present.
Ragna was Ragna, and he was himself.
‘Stray-cat bastard.’
If that Jaxon bastard had been here too, would it have been a little less insane?
Sure, they were ugly bastards to look at, but it was hard to truly wish them dead with Enkrid, their center, being this big of a presence.
This time, Ragna’s change had acted like a stimulant and burst out something like competitiveness in him, but Rem decided to shake it off.
‘If things go bad, I’ll just go back and get it.’
There was something he had left behind in the place where he was born and raised.
What could anyone do with what he had given up?
If he brought it back, even someone like Ragna would be beneath his feet.
* * *
The morning after they moved barracks, Enkrid began dawn training.
After watching for a few days, Audin said they should begin proper training.
Even now they drenched themselves in sweat every dawn and their arms and legs trembled, so what exactly counted as proper training?
Just hearing it gave Dunbakel inner turmoil.
‘Should I quit?’
Teresa did not show it outwardly, but her pupils shook.
That was how far Audin’s training method was outside normal bounds, yet Enkrid stayed calm.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
He even said that, and Teresa and Dunbakel once again realized how firm his resolve was.
And that became a trigger for both of them as well.
Someone stood beside them who never gave up, no matter what.
It lit a fire in the half-giant and the beastfolk too.
‘I won’t fall behind.’
Dunbakel renewed her vow.
‘Wandering Teresa does not know surrender.’
Teresa was the same.
They finished dawn training and were about to spar with Rem.
“Company Commander-nim.”
A messenger came running and called Enkrid.
“What?”
“You need to come right now.”
After taking down Count Molsen, Enkrid had personally handled the matters that arose because of him.
Annoying, but it was right.
Still, having training time taken away over this was another issue.
“It’s a noble.”
He could not simply tell them to get lost.
Even a single-generation noble, a non-hereditary one, was still a noble.
Enkrid was genuinely annoyed.
He felt again that this had to be solved.
There had been a process of finding a solution.
Enkrid called that process.
“Kraiss?”
No way he was slacking off, right?
No matter what else happened, he had no intention of meeting people who came looking for him if it interfered with training and drills.
Enkrid’s intent was clear.
Big Eyes came out rubbing his eyes, asked, “Yeah?” then yawned and spoke.
“Time to play a little trick, right?”
That was what he said.
Enkrid nodded.
= = =
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