WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 364: The Marquis's Gift

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He had more white hair than black, and his beard was short. His body was decently trained, but his prime had clearly passed. A little softness still lingered here and there. He was not someone who had honed himself to the extreme.

Even standing still, he carried dignity. It felt as if he were saying, this is what a noble is.

That was how he looked, and how he felt, through Enkrid's eyes and senses.

So after hearing what the man said, this was the thought that came to him.

'His Lordship the Marquis.'

Enkrid calmly admitted that he had taken the bait.

It changed nothing, so it did not matter.

More than anything, it was something he had intended to involve himself in from the start.

At this point, he almost felt grateful the marquis had said exactly what he needed.

Still, there was no reason to move right away. His sweat had cooled enough that the breeze felt cold.

Enkrid set the axe-spear in his hand to one side. He stored each remaining weapon in the armory beside the training yard so dew would not settle on them.

Right now, none of that mattered as much as hunger. He had trained, and he had dealt with the marquis. He was hungry. It was about time for lunch too.

"Let's eat first."

Enkrid said it as he shut the armory door.

Kin raised his head at that. For a moment, he seemed to wonder whether anyone would invite him.

No one did. No one even glanced his way.

'Are these people blind.'

For the first time in a while, he felt his confidence in his looks dip.

And because of that, he had no desire to stay any longer.

"I'll be going."

Kin left. Five guards had been waiting outside for him. Every one of them stood in neat posture. They looked skilled in their own right.

Enkrid gave them a quick glance and thought:

He drags around a whole pack.

Then again, people had been saying capital security was a complete mess lately. At times like this, that level of escort made sense.

The number of guards Kin had brought in earlier had just been unusually small.

After Kin turned away, Enkrid headed into the manor and spoke.

"Weren't you interested?"

Andrew was right beside him.

Enkrid had seen Andrew glance at Kin a few times, but then let him leave quietly, so he asked.

"I'm too busy restoring my family. It's not the time to look elsewhere."

Enkrid nodded. He had no interest in calling it right or wrong. Life was not built like that.

In the end, it was all just people's own choices.

Enkrid respected Andrew's choice.

"The captain really is unusual."

Andrew said it. Enkrid heard that often enough that he let it pass through one ear and out the other.

It was still better than being told to go to a temple and get treated.

"Ah, I was starving anyway."

Dunbakel walked up from behind and said that. Enkrid firmly told her no washing, no meal.

Of course, Enkrid washed up too.

A little later, once everyone gathered at the table, the food came out.

The maid who had made a mistake in front of the marquis had steadied herself by then and busily carried dishes and water back and forth.

Soon, a generous spread filled the table.

Today's menu was a stew made by simmering beef in wine with carrots, broccoli, and potatoes.

It was one of Naurillia's traditional dishes.

Demon Creatures and Magic Beasts had pushed humans to live clustered inside fortresses, and naturally that had developed food culture.

The same reason had driven fortress-building techniques to advance so dramatically.

In any case, food culture inside fortresses had grown diverse, and this was Nauril, the capital of Naurillia.

Even Andrew's hired cook would rank first-rate or better in a provincial city.

Slurp.

Enkrid tasted the stew broth first.

A heavy savory flavor wrapped his tongue and slid down his throat. It woke the hunger that had briefly faded while he washed.

He lifted his fork, set the cubed beef and carrots onto his plate, and ate.

He moved the bay leaf aside without eating it, stabbed the meat, and put it in his mouth.

One bite in, the well-cooked beef felt soft, then quickly pulled apart.

Tender and fluffy. It tore and scattered in his mouth. The rich fat of the beef mixed with the umami and balanced into a clean taste as it ran down his throat.

The carrots were warm and soft, and the broccoli had soaked up seasoning so well it felt like a different vegetable.

It was a satisfying meal. The hand holding his fork moved faster and faster.

Everyone else was similar.

Esther had transformed into human form and taken a seat at the table too.

"It's fascinating every time I see it."

Andrew said that while looking at Esther.

The five trainees and Mack ate separately, so aside from Andrew, everyone here was Enkrid's people.

Esther checked where Andrew's eyes were aimed and said:

"First time seeing a witch?"

It was rare for Esther to ask first. She was showing goodwill because he had provided proper food.

Of course, to anyone else it did not look like goodwill. For Esther, it was.

"This is the first time I've seen a mage this beautiful."

Esther gave no particular reaction to that.

Andrew had not meant anything deep by it either. He simply thought it made sense that Enkrid was not distracted by Kin Baisar. Esther sliced broccoli with her knife and popped it into her mouth. Her looks were almost unfair.

Long flowing hair, blue eyes, and a mysterious aura wrapped it all together and made her feel like someone no one could approach.

Yet everyone treated her casually.

Rem asked something, and Esther nodded.

"Which tastes better, eating as a panther, or eating as a human?"

Dunbakel asked too.

"Why don't you transform and test it yourself?"

Esther answered in a flat voice. She was not angry. This was just how she normally was.

Andrew had watched her for days now, so he had finally started to get used to it.

'So that panther was a witch.'

But what shocked him even more was Enkrid. Compared to when Andrew served under him before, Enkrid had become a completely different person.

'Will he really become a knight?'

The thought came naturally.

Andrew drifted into stray thoughts, then focused on his own food.

At this rate, if he took too long, he might not even see another piece of meat.

Even with generous portions, this happened. These people ate about three times as much as ordinary men.

Everyone looked like they had already forgotten about the marquis.

Even that felt strange to Andrew.

No one asked what was going on. No one pressed for details. That was the gap between following and trusting.

Watching Enkrid, Andrew quietly realized what a leader had to earn from subordinates. It was unexpected luck.

After Andrew sank into thought and everyone filled their stomachs, Dunbakel asked with sauce smeared around her mouth:

"What do you think that thing is? Saying this first, it's not beastfolk."

He had chopped off the front and back of the topic, but everyone understood.

What he meant was simple. What was that thing roaming the capital streets at night, kidnapping people?

Whether they were going to hunt it or lose it, they had to know what it was first.

Rem agreed.

They needed to guess the prey's identity first.

'A beast rampaging at night?'

Even if capital security was a disaster, Demon Creatures openly rampaging still made no sense.

Which meant it hid in the day and only moved at night, and not even every night, just once every few days. Even after narrowing it down that far, it was hard to pinpoint.

Ragna nodded lightly too. He understood, and he had the same question.

At this point, Enkrid found it strange that no one asked why they had to catch it themselves.

The way they jumped straight to what it was showed that even Dunbakel had no complaints.

That part really was surprising.

How were they following him this far without whining or grumbling?

To be fair, they were bored too. Bullying trainees and sightseeing the capital only stayed fun for a day or two.

Rem had started sharpening his axe blades more often.

That was also a signal that he wanted to fight. The mood running through the capital was provocative as well. It felt like the air before a battlefield. Enkrid chewed what was in his mouth, swallowed, and spoke.

"The mage who controlled lightning, the cave, the alchemist's drug test subjects."

It was a list of words.

Enkrid had an excellent memory. He had also heard about what had happened in the capital so far.

Andrew had organized and briefed him too.

The beast-like howl that created a missing person every few days.

A presence that was not felt in daylight.

As he put all the information together, something came to mind.

Enkrid spoke again.

"And the Black Blade."

Jaxon had been there too, in the place where those things converged.

It was where they had raided the Black Blade's drug production site and found clear traces of live human experimentation.

Was the alchemist named Raban? There had been a madman with that name.

He had also seen a human there, sprawled out and half-turned into a ghoul.

Enkrid sorted the information, retraced his memory, and thought.

What kind of being rampaged at night and hid its body by day?

What was it connected to?

What happened if he combined that with the current situation?

The head of the Black Blade was in the capital.

He had lost a sword called Lykanos, and those he would call enemies had come close to him. No. It had gone beyond just coming close.

"Wouldn't he know Jaxon is hunting him?"

He knew. If he could not even notice that much, he never could have hidden himself this long and kept pulling tricks like this.

"Am I right?"

Jaxon asked, narrowing his brow. Enkrid nodded. Then, for those who had followed him without a word, he continued the explanation.

The traces were close to those of a Demon Creature, but the fact that it hid in daylight proved this being had reason. If not, then someone would have to be keeping it captive and releasing it on schedule, which was unrealistic.

The capital security force was not full of idiots. No one could pull that off repeatedly without getting caught.

Enkrid remembered the guard captain he had seen when entering the capital. The feathered hat had stuck in his mind.

Skill aside, he had not looked like an easy man to deal with.

If even they had missed it, that meant the target's force and movement were that hard to handle.

Enkrid rested his right elbow on the table, raised his index finger, and said:

"Conclusion one, a human undergoing Demonization."

What kind of thought process led to an answer like that?

Even Esther only understood after hearing him explain it.

When Enkrid studied swordsmanship, he examined everything from one to ten.

His memory supported that.

Then creative and flexible thinking was layered on top.

Creativity and flexibility were not solved by talent alone.

They needed constant training and repetition.

For Enkrid, swordsmanship and martial arts had always been a cliff with no clear path or answer.

To climb that cliff, he had to keep thinking and rethinking. Without that, he could not move forward.

That was why his thinking could expand this way. If anything was possible, then every possibility had to be tested.

He gathered the information, and the answer appeared.

"It only came out when the moon was up."

Jaxon added that.

Jaxon watched every unusual incident in the capital.

Naturally. You never knew where a clue might emerge.

Still, this had been outside his expectations.

If he was honest, he had forgotten it.

The world was full of mad alchemists running that kind of live experiment.

Yet once the pieces were linked, it fit perfectly.

If this was a human undergoing Demonization, what kind of monster was it becoming?

Something that came out only on moonlit nights and could not suppress instinct in deep night.

'Lycanthrope.'

Jaxon knew that if he could infer that, his captain could too. But there was no need to say it. He kept his mouth shut.

"Now we only need one thing."

Enkrid continued.

Rem, who had been listening quietly, nodded and said:

"We don't have the right."

"Right. If we start investigating incident sites from tomorrow daytime, that commissioner bastard will be thrilled to death, asking who gave us the nerve to step in."

"And we can't just beat down everyone who rushes us."

Rem picked up the line. Enkrid nodded.

Rem was not stupid. Sometimes his troublemaking was just raw troublemaking, but at other times it was calculated troublemaking.

'Still troublemaking either way.'

Enkrid set that thought aside and spoke.

If the marquis had not been speaking empty words, he would send something.

If Enkrid had the ability needed to handle this, where would the authority come from? Who could give it?

With a noble's permission, things became easier.

A shield strong enough to block the commissioner's tantrums would be enough.

Enkrid had already expected that.

If Marcus or Kraiss had been here, both would have stood up and clapped.

"You should go into politics!!"

Marcus would have said it first.

"You steal women's hearts with that silver tongue. A woman's heart is pure caprice, so thinking with every possibility in mind is talent!"

Kraiss would have said that.

The two of them would have been looking in pretty different directions.

Of course, neither of them was here, so no one bothered to marvel.

Rem wanted to swing axes.

Ragna was about the same.

Dunbakel was no different.

Esther did not feel like casting spells either.

Still, the test-subject part had caught her interest.

A fusion of human and monster?

That was called a Chimera. She had no intention of doing that.

It had nothing to do with her World of Spells. She did not need it, and she found it repulsive.

For mages, feeling was important. If she felt revulsion, it meant it did not fit her.

If she kept doing things like that, she would lose influence over the spell world she had made, and in the end lose magic itself. Esther had made a similar mistake before, so she stepped out of this one.

"I'm resting. I like this cushion."

"Do that."

Losing Esther changed nothing.

Enkrid raised a second finger above the table.

"Conclusion two, tonight has no visible moon, so all we need to do is sleep."

Andrew had been watching from the side, and at some point his mouth had dropped open and stayed there.

Then at Enkrid's words, he closed it and asked:

"Why are you so smart?"

"Wasn't there enough time to think?"

Did that mean anyone could figure it out? Was this really something time alone could solve?

"Then you're basically saying every commissioner and guard captain in the capital is an idiot."

Andrew muttered in disbelief, but everyone brushed past it.

Because it was true.

No, this was Enkrid being exceptionally sharp. But no one showed much reaction to that.

"Why is no one surprised?"

Only Andrew kept muttering, then he closed his mouth too.

This was just the kind of man he was, and this was just that kind of unit.

That night, Enkrid and his group slept deeply. As usual, Enkrid woke before dawn and started the Isolation Technique, and Andrew joined a little later.

They were about to greet a morning no different from any other.

In the middle of morning training, an outsider's voice rang out.

"So it really was you?"

A guest had come. More precisely, you could call her a gift sent by an organization.

He had secured the authority needed to do the job properly.

By sending Eisia, a squire and member of the Knight Order, and of course, she recognized Enkrid.

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