WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 346: Pahahahaha

= = =

The Queen of Naurillia had no children.

Which meant she had no successor.

Then who should become the next king?

Why did the queen not have children?

That situation was one of the reasons people from all sides started setting their sights on the throne.

Of course, the biggest reason was probably that the queen's central authority was weak.

So people like Count Molsen claimed kingship over frontier regions.

There were also people inside the capital who wanted to become the queen's consort.

Some even came as delegations from other countries and said they would send a prince.

Countless people were aiming for the throne.

Crang was one of them.

Kraiss had not seen every person who coveted the throne.

But even just comparing Crang to Count Molsen was enough.

Wasn't Crang currently the most threatening candidate to seize the throne?

That was what Kraiss felt.

"He's on a different level."

Enkrid felt something similar.

The comparison with Count Molsen made it clear.

It was pure instinct, but what Count Molsen wanted was the throne itself.

That was where his goal ended.

Crang was different.

The royal bastard son was not looking at the throne. He was looking beyond it.

He had faced this country's problems head-on.

Count Molsen probably had thoughts about what came after taking the country too.

But it was a matter of where each man placed more weight.

Was the throne first, or the work that had to be done first?

What were they moving for?

Where did that purpose lie?

Sunlight filtered down. Vines tangled along the barrack wall to the right. Green moss and twisted creepers wedged between the stones looked full of life.

It was deep spring, and the temperature was slowly rising.

Still, it was not hot enough to make anyone sweat while walking.

In that gentle sunlight, the man who drew everyone's eyes gave a short smile and spoke.

"That's why I really hated dirtying it."

His last words were almost a joke.

"Is that so?"

"Not for you? Have you never had a time you didn't want to do it? Never gotten sick of the road you're walking now? Never wondered if you really had to walk this road?"

Enkrid mulled over Crang's words. He had not. He had never felt bored of it, or troubled by it. Not even once.

Swinging a sword was fun.

He enjoyed the road he advanced through it.

Every moment of becoming a knight thrilled him.

Even after speaking almost playfully, Crang's distinctive air did not break.

His eyes locked onto Enkrid.

At that moment, Enkrid felt like everything around them had vanished, leaving only the two of them.

Could he really say there had never been suffering?

It felt like Crang was asking that.

He felt like he had to answer yes. It was not pressure, but the mood around him made him feel he had to answer that way.

That was Crang's unique atmosphere. Inside it, Enkrid became a straight, unwavering sword.

He spoke through the wick he had planted inside himself.

There was no wavering.

"Not at all."

Enkrid answered.

The smile vanished from Crang's face.

His blue eyes in that expressionless face stared straight at Enkrid. Enough time passed to take a sip of tea, hold it in the mouth, enjoy the flavor, and swallow.

"Pahahahaha."

Crang laughed hard. He threw his head back and burst into clear, refreshing laughter.

* * *

Crang's guard had never seen Crang laugh like that.

Head thrown back, laughing until tears formed at the corners of his eyes.

It looked unfamiliar, and the guard could not understand it.

Given everything he had seen of his lord's life, the very fact that he could laugh like that felt strange.

Traveling with separately prepared food out of fear of poison was the easy part.

Assassination threats were constant.

Even identifying who was behind them made each day exhausting.

They had to dodge and dodge again, and in the middle of all that, they still had to grow their power. They had to turn anything that could be called luck to their side.

"What are we supposed to trust in you and support you for?"

A noble had once said that, and the guard had agreed. What exactly were they supposed to trust and support?

"Did you really move people with things like faith and trust?"

His lord had turned situations around with just a few words and his natural charm.

He captivated people and changed circumstances.

Even then, he kept the line. He could not cross it. What had to be kept, he kept. That was the life his lord had chosen.

Harsh. Harsh and harsh again. The standards he kept for himself were painfully high.

That was why he shone.

To shine meant stealing people's eyes, captivating them, standing out anywhere.

Was that why a pebble that scattered colorful light could be valued more highly than food, drink, and clothes?

The noble who had said those words became one of his lord's strongest supporters.

"How can you get what you want by walking only the righteous path?"

Someone called a sage asked him that.

His lord answered.

"At times I may step into mud, and the filth on my boots may dirty a room, but can I really leave people living with me to see that and frown?"

The sage sank into deep thought at those words.

"That is true as well."

"Your words are true as well."

Crang and the sage became extremely close.

The guard had watched that entire process.

He knew the years they had gone through.

So he knew. Not once had he seen his lord laugh like this. Seeing him laugh with genuine feeling felt unfamiliar.

"Ha, right. So there isn't."

His lord wiped the tears at the corner of his eye with a finger.

He had laughed hard enough for tears to come.

"Yeah. There isn't."

The other man did not even ask why he laughed. He only answered calmly. He did not look baffled either.

Then his lord and the black-haired man kept talking.

After that, there was no special radiant atmosphere. Just a few trivial lines were exchanged.

"Why did you charge into the enemy line alone back then?"

"It wasn't a charge. I meant to strike and pull back, but I got pinned down."

They were talking about when he fell into the trap set by the strategist Abnaier.

"Wouldn't it have been easier if you had led your troops?"

It was a question for next time. Not judging the past, but reviewing the situation, chewing over what happened, and not repeating the same mistake.

Listening from the side, Kraiss felt Crang's attitude was wise.

Even battlefield situations had things to learn from.

Crang was not interrogating him. He was listening.

He was as willing to hear others out as Enkrid.

"Then allied losses would have grown out of control."

Enkrid could die and die and come back because it was him.

If he had led a unit in? They all would have died in there. At minimum, half the force would have been destroyed.

In the end, it had been the right choice.

"But you didn't know that then."

Crang asked.

"I thought if I hit the enemy front alone, I could draw major attention, and then our side could move more freely."

"So this was a small elite engagement."

Someone watching might have thought it was serious strategy and tactics, but for the two of them it was trivial talk. So it was natural for the topic to switch instantly.

"What is that scar?"

Enkrid asked.

"I misjudged someone."

Crang had a long scar under his chin. It looked like the kind of wound from surviving death.

Enkrid said nothing much.

His attitude was basically, Ah, I see.

He only thought to himself that maybe there was a problem with Crang's eye for people.

What was a king? A king commanded people. If he had no eye for people, then getting hit by that was only natural.

Sometimes meaning got through without words.

Enkrid's attitude right now was like that.

Things that should get through got through, even if no one said them aloud.

Seeing that, a vein bulged on the guard's forehead.

It was not that he had misjudged someone. If Enkrid knew that situation, he could not talk like that.

"I've learned a lot already."

Crang answered with a small chuckle.

This too was unfamiliar to the guard.

Until now, at best, his lord only smiled.

The meeting ended after they enjoyed their walk, conversation, and the gentle spring weather.

"See you again, friend."

Kraiss felt deflated.

Crang never once told them to stand on his side in the end.

Then why had he prepared to parry all kinds of arguments?

No, but wasn't there a set line for times like this?

Normally, anyway.

How about dreaming of that kind of kingdom? Stand on my side and spread your dream. I will let you swim in gold coins, and spend a whole month with different beauties!

Didn't people usually say things like that?

Then again, if he were that kind of man, maybe he could not have come this far.

Kraiss was lost in those stray thoughts when it happened.

"Are we friends?"

Enkrid asked Crang.

"Then are we not?"

"I'll say we are."

To the guard, it was the kind of conversation that made the back of his neck stiffen.

Still, he could not step in. Had his lord not told him to stand down?

More than anything, he believed his lord's actions had intention and meaning.

That did not mean it looked good.

Did it not look like his lord was pressing Krona into someone's hand and asking him to be his friend?

Like that common saying, paying silver to make a friend.

The guard's jaw muscle twitched.

Without realizing it, he bit down hard on his molars.

"If we keep this up, that guard's whip might fly right at my skull."

"Try dodging it."

Crang chuckled again with another joke.

Enkrid gave a short laugh too.

He had become friends with Leona, the owner of the Rockfreed Trading Company, so getting along like this with someone who might claim the future throne was not bad either.

Truthfully, leave all that aside, he just liked Crang as a person.

"Then."

"Yeah."

Enkrid and Kraiss left.

Crang quietly watched the two of them go.

Seeing that, the guard spoke.

"You know coming here is dangerous, don't you?"

"I do."

Crang put one hand on his waist and tilted his head up.

No matter how many times he thought about it, the day was good.

The sunlight was warm, the air was gentle. The kind of day where it would be nice to lie on grass and take a nap.

Watching him, the guard had to ask a basic question.

It was something his lord had said countless times.

If you left doubts alone and did not communicate, misunderstandings piled up in the end.

Do not turn something that could end in simple Q and A into a situation where people drew blades, he used to say.

So the guard did exactly that.

"Then why did you come?"

"Because I was curious."

He had to mean the man who just left. The question naturally followed, and the guard voiced it.

"His skill?"

Then should they have fought?

That was what the guard thought to himself.

Crang shaded his eyes from the bright sun with one hand and looked at the sky.

The clear sky was dotted with clouds.

Good.

Thinking that, Crang answered.

"I wondered whether he had changed."

As he said it, Crang gave another soft laugh.

The guard tilted his head, but that was all.

He could not ask every single thing one by one.

He did not think he needed to know every corner of Crang's mind.

His lord had needed to confirm something, had confirmed it, and was satisfied.

That was what mattered.

That ended his doubts.

There was no misunderstanding here.

"Yes, I see."

"Mm."

Crang valued Enkrid very highly.

More highly than anyone who knew him.

In truth, more highly than Enkrid himself did.

If he could remain that unchanged.

A person who moved forward without changing captivated those around him. He pulled them in, held them, influenced them.

By Crang's own beliefs, influencing others meant something truly great.

If only he had gone into politics.

A man who could have founded a great house swung a sword instead. He dreamed of becoming a knight.

A knight stood at the peak of martial force.

Then what would happen if someone like that became a knight?

Not Crang's concern. The man's attitude was consistent. He did not change.

He simply walked his own road.

Crang was satisfied because he had confirmed that.

His friend Enkrid had indeed not changed.

Enkrid wanted to become a knight.

Crang wanted to lead the kingdom.

"Is a continent without war possible?"

"If my lord wants it."

"Easy to say."

Crang gave a faint smile and patted the guard's shoulder.

Now he was his usual self again. Though if his shoulders looked a little softer than usual, was that just an illusion?

Crang walked.

"Let's go. If we want to stay alive, we still have to struggle."

The guard knew that very well too.

"Yes."

With the sunlight behind them, the guard followed after Crang.

* * *

"The throne should be sat by the person who doesn't want it, not the one who wants it."

Enkrid said that on the way back.

Kraiss corrected him.

"More accurately, it should be sat by someone who understands it. A bastard who doesn't even know what he's doing can't even beg properly, let alone sit on a throne."

He corrected it and mixed in a proverb.

Even to become a beggar, if you did not know what to do, you could not become one.

It was a proverb of the continent.

Enkrid's line had been an answer to Marcus's question.

It was not a road for someone who just wanted and wanted. It was a road for someone who knew the weight and walked it.

"In that sense, he's an impressive man."

"Not just because his head isn't bad?"

Enkrid's question held another meaning, and Kraiss caught it. So he gave the answer he could.

"No. I don't think that's it."

Kraiss guessed why Crang came here.

What else could the reason be?

He came to see this guy.

Why did he want to see Enkrid?

Because he was a man advancing while spreading his name far and wide?

Because he had gotten a bit famous lately?

Kraiss did not care, but it was probably not for that reason.

Then what had he sacrificed to see the captain?

Time, place, information, position.

"Dangerous, right?"

Enkrid asked out of nowhere.

He sensed, no, inferred and grasped, the danger created by a man like Crang coming here.

The captain really was quick in the head.

Kraiss thought that and answered.

"Yes. Not sure he'll make it out alive. He said he was heading to the royal palace, right?"

He had said that. He would return to the royal palace now, and he expected the road to be rough.

In that situation, he still came all the way to Border Guard.

Whatever the reason, he had clearly accepted a very large risk.

The outposts Kraiss built in Border Guard had triggered explosive growth in trade traffic.

And with the involvement of the Rockfreed Trading Company, trade had literally surged.

All that happened in just one or two months, and the city was already buzzing.

Which meant a huge number of people had gathered.

And lots of people meant it was easy for shady bastards to slip in.

No one could block every spy anyway.

Kraiss only tightened defense around key facilities.

Everything else? For now, he left it alone.

Later, he planned to grow the information guild further and tighten internal control, but not now.

If someone like Crang was still under threat of death?

Kraiss naturally assumed yes.

Even now, Enkrid was talking on and on. These were the signs his judgment was based on.

"That guard shifted his posture. He was braced to move at any time."

"He wouldn't eat or drink unless it was prepared by his own side, so he must've gone through hell."

"He moved without hidden escorts, so I don't think he has many people around him."

Then for Crang, there might be no place more dangerous than Border Guard right now.

The moment he left this place, assassins might rush his carriage as a group.

Kraiss nodded while listening to Enkrid.

He also knew why his captain was saying all this. The reason was simple.

"If you want to do it, can't you just do it?"

Who commanded the Madman Company?

The madman with black hair and blue eyes.

Enkrid.

"I know. Still, I should know why."

"I agree he's too valuable to die here."

When they returned to the barracks, Marcus was already there.

Enkrid had already expected assassins, assassin brothers, older brothers, fathers, younger brothers, and grandfathers to come storming in, so before Marcus could say anything with serious eyes, Enkrid moved first.

"We'll escort him to the royal palace. Discuss the commission fee with Kraiss."

Marcus let out a meaningless "Uoh," then froze with his mouth hanging open.

The speed of Enkrid's thinking had jumped far past what Marcus expected.

"Huh? Where are we going?"

Rem asked from behind.

He already looked twitchy for action.

Better bring Rem along.

Thinking that, Enkrid nodded.

If Rem stayed in that state, he would definitely cause trouble.

Better to keep him nearby.

= = =

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