A Knight who Eternally Regresses - Chapter 392

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 392: Knowing Exactly What I Have

= = =

"I'm a sinner."

Eisia had to admit what she had done wrong.

Even if Enkrid covered for her and said nothing, what she had done would not disappear. She did not think her sins vanished just because her younger sibling had been taken hostage.

Everything was an excuse and a rationalization.

At least, that was how Eisia saw it, so she was a sinner.

After she said that, Crang answered her.

"How about covering your mistakes with merit? Like I said, we're so short-handed we'd borrow even a cat's paw."

He said it like it was nothing.

Was he acting that way because things were urgent?

Even so, Crang's attitude was calm enough to feel excessive.

If he needed someone, did it not matter who? No, that was not it. She felt something like trust directed at her.

Could he really be like this when she had stood with the side that betrayed him just half a day ago?

She did not even notice the two marquises watching.

Eisia opened her mouth.

"How can you trust me?"

She could not understand Crang's attitude.

Because of the Red Cloak Knights? Because they were truly short-handed? Because they needed one of the few fighting forces left in the royal palace? Because she was a squire?

Eisia looked at Crang, and Crang looked back at her and smiled.

"I trust this guy's eyes. That should be enough."

He said it while pointing a finger at one person. That was all.

The one he pointed at, the "this guy" he meant, was Enkrid.

"Looks like I have mountains of cleanup to handle right now. See you again."

Crang said only that and left. After he left, Enkrid asked,

"Want me to set your nose bone?"

He looked like he did not care about her betrayal at all.

"I already set it."

She answered while looking straight at him.

'Does he know me that well?'

They had spent a little time together, but not long. She also did not think he knew why she was standing here.

She did not want to explain that she had stood in his way only because she had to protect her sibling.

"See you later."

So those were the only words she could manage.

After that, she had to move fast because her sibling's safety came first, and thankfully her sibling was unharmed.

She moved right away, but Eisia's face was still a mess. The bridge of her nose was badly swollen, and purple bruises covered her face.

On top of that, every step made her chest throb, so she kept one hand gripping her side.

In that state, Eisia explained everything to her sibling.

"I was shown mercy."

That was the conclusion she reached after saving her sibling and coming here.

Whatever lay at the root of it, he had protected her and trusted her.

She could not say everything ended perfectly, but for Eisia herself, it had ended in the best possible way.

"That counts as mercy? He smashed your face like that?"

Her sibling asked. They had been kidnapped, panicked, even fallen into despair, but now they looked fine. At least on the outside.

It was the calm tone people put on so others would not worry. She was deeply grateful for it.

"Yeah."

"If he hits you twice, are you going to ask him to marry you?"

"I should consider it."

A silly joke.

Even after their life was threatened because of her, her sibling did not blame her.

They had grown up well.

For her sibling, Eisia could have broken her own sword.

So she did not regret her choice. If the same situation came again, she would choose her sibling again.

She suddenly wanted to ask Enkrid something.

What was he going to do if she made the same choice again?

For some reason, the answer felt easy to guess.

She did not know him well, and she had only received from him, yet she felt she had already heard his answer.

"Then don't let that situation happen."

That was the right answer. Enkrid was actually moving with exactly that mindset.

After saving her sibling, turning away, watching the sun set, going home, washing, and tending her wounds,

she received a message from the Marquis of Okto.

"Be grateful for his generosity. You will not get another chance to stand on the right side, fight, and prove yourself."

She had already planned to do that without being told.

She had identified the one behind the bastard who took her sibling hostage.

Viscount Mernes had stood at the front, yes, but who had pushed that viscount out there?

Crunch.

Her teeth shook, but she clenched her molars hard.

Her injuries would mostly heal in under fifteen days.

If she stayed still and rested for fifteen days, that would do. After that, she would beg to be placed on the battlefield.

Then she would make them understand who she was, and what price came from touching her sibling.

Looking forward to that moment, Eisia stroked her sibling's hair.

* * *

'I will avenge you, Lykanos.'

Lykanos was the one who had shared the same dream, the comrade and younger brother who had stood with him when the Black Blade Bandits first began.

They were not blood-related, but he had been no different from family.

It was dawn before sunrise. The world looked blue. The man slipped out of the castle and headed for the north gate.

Getting out of the castle had been hard. From here on, it was easy.

No one would suspect him.

The Tax Collector had already died as the Black Blade leader.

'He was a useful tool to the very end.'

The man walked quickly, turning revenge over and over in his head. He had a plan too.

'The secret vault.'

He had piled wealth there for over ten years.

The man had been the Tax Collector's attendant, and also the true head of the Black Blade.

Once, he had been a man who drew his sword with Lykanos for those who were persecuted and despised.

If Lykanos had proved himself with force, this man had led the Black Blade Bandits this far with conviction and brains.

Of course, anyone changed once soaked in power and wealth.

That change had brought him to this point.

That change had gotten Lykanos killed.

That change had left only money in his grip, though he was still far from realizing it.

'No matter what.'

He kept repeating revenge in his heart, but deep down he knew too.

In reality, it was impossible. Even with noble backing and all the force they had built so far, they had failed. How could he do it now while barely escaping with his life?

He knew all of that, but as he ran to save himself, a vow of revenge was the perfect rationalization.

In truth, Lykanos's death had made him feel danger, not sorrow.

His past self and current self were too different for that.

'First I just need to get out of here.'

He would probably forget even that vow of revenge.

He would take the money in the secret vault, flee to another country, and live there.

Then he could even play at being a noble himself.

Or maybe build a trading company.

If not that, being a wealthy patron in some decent city would also be fine.

Before he noticed, his mind had already painted another future.

The man shook his head hard.

'No, I will definitely take revenge.'

In the end he kept lying even to himself and walked on. Dawn slowly broke. The blue air around him held a strange calm. Warmth seeped in. He walked with sunlight at his back.

He was no longer dressed as an attendant.

He wore a filthy hooded cloak and gaiters. He was disguised as a hunter.

'Idiots.'

They would never find him.

When a guy named Jaxon was chasing him, his breath had nearly stopped. It had felt like a blade was pressed under his jaw.

And now?

'I lived.'

Of course, he had not planned to just run.

He had caused chaos to the very end.

He had ordered every remaining Black Blade member to set fires inside the royal palace.

The flames should start rising soon.

Thinking that, he turned and looked back. Quiet. Even diligent people were only just waking, but because of last night's uproar, some had stayed up all night and were still lingering around.

No battle or riot had broken out in the capital itself, but there had been chaos at the palace gate, and the disturbance in the royal palace had planted unease in everyone's hearts.

Still, he could not see the flames that were supposed to finish it all.

'Why?'

The question lasted only a moment. Question or not, his feet kept moving. He slipped through alleys and hurried forward, and when he reached the north gate,

"Hold it right there a moment."

A soldier leaning by a side gate, helmet crooked, called to him. The voice was thin and high. Like a woman's.

"What is it?"

The man answered. The soldier removed the crooked helmet. Long blond hair dropped down. It was a female soldier.

"Why do you keep glancing behind you as you walk?"

Was that really something to pick a fight over?

And in this situation, where was the north gate captain? Why was there only one soldier here?

The Black Blade leader felt a chill. The air was wrong. His heart pounded with danger.

Then he looked past the female soldier. A few other soldiers were sitting quietly, dozing.

'Dozing?'

He understood at once why this felt wrong. After last night's chaos, did it make sense for gate guards to sit around half asleep?

"Sorry, but no fire is going to break out."

The female soldier said.

"...Who are you?"

"Georg's Dagger."

She answered with her arms folded.

She looked completely relaxed. That made it more ominous. Cold sweat rolled down his back.

"You're late."

She added, glancing past him.

The leader flinched and turned around.

There stood a rare-looking man, with striking reddish-brown eyes that showed no emotion.

"Nice to meet you."

The man said.

The leader thought this was a complete nightmare, and at the same time realized he was the one now trapped in it.

He cursed his own complacency for not carrying even one escape scroll.

Still, if he had done that, he never would have made it this far.

To avoid the dense detection sorcery inside the palace, he could not have hidden that kind of thing anyway.

Right now all he had was a single sword. He already knew his opponent was not someone he could reason with.

He had seen how the Tax Collector he pushed forward had died.

Fear made his hands shake.

"You had fun all this time, right? Looks like now it's my turn to have fun."

Jaxon had felt something was off when he killed the Tax Collector. A guy who had hidden his identity so thoroughly had gone down this easily?

Then Enkrid had ordered internal cleanup.

Civil war was coming.

What had to come first before fighting?

Clean up what was around them.

If a blade flew in from behind, they would lose before they even started.

This was something Crang agreed with, and the two great marquises did too.

Marcus even joined midway and sped things up.

Jaxon did what he had to do as well. Hunt down and crush the remaining remnants.

In the middle of that, a Georg's Dagger guild member who had followed Jaxon joined in.

He told her she did not have to step up, but she did anyway.

"Master."

The woman said. She was Jaxon's lover and a member of Georg's Dagger. Calling him that title came naturally. Of course it did.

Jaxon was the master of Georg's Dagger, the top assassin guild on the continent.

"Are you returning after this is finished?"

She continued. In her judgment, there was nothing left to do here now.

"We can talk later."

Jaxon answered. The matter in front of them came first.

* * *

Count Molsen did not bluff. He also did not lie. He sent troops to Border Guard.

Among them were over fifty Lycanthropes.

Monsters that transformed from human to wolf.

The one at the front had killed people and chewed flesh even when he was human.

Back then he had already been squire level, but now he also held the power of a Demon Creature.

"Let's go chew on tender flesh."

He cackled and led the way.

'No one can stop us.'

He was sure of victory.

No, he went further. The Lycanthrope unit under his command would become the name of terror ruling this region.

The bastard who had been a dog when he was human was now truly a dog-headed beast, raising his snout and howling.

Awooooo!

Following him, fifty Lycanthropes howled.

Awoooooooo!

The cry of Demon Creatures planted fear in humans. It was fear carved into instinct.

But the troops lined up before the Border Guard gate stayed calm.

Anything repeated enough grew dull.

The standing army at Border Guard had fought to the point of disgust.

Azpen, Demon Creatures, Cultists, territorial troops, and more.

Too many different bastards had targeted Border Guard relentlessly. Inside and outside, they never had a break.

Once Cultists came at the gate facing the kingdom interior, Azpen struck from the opposite side next time.

These were the standing soldiers who remained after all that.

Their dulled hearts were hard, and the city itself had gained room to breathe.

In the past, battle news alone would have cut off merchant traffic, support would have run thin, and anxiety would have spread.

"Do they not trust us? Or do they want us dead?"

Now the center of logistics in Border Guard was the Rockfreed Trading Company.

The moment the trading company merchants recognized enemy intrusion, they secured routes to move food and all kinds of supplies.

There were many around them willing to help.

Of course Count Molsen tried to isolate Border Guard, pressuring nearby nobles and cities.

If you help them, you are next.

Even so, the city Enkrid had saved at the Gnoll colony and Martai still helped.

And the reputation Rockfreed had built up was no joke either.

So the city itself was not in a savage mood.

In short, many things were different from before.

Watching fifty charging Lycanthropes from atop the wall, Kraiss felt like he had to pee.

'Ah, scary as hell.'

Still, he had to do what had to be done.

If they lost this first battle, even the limited support they had would be cut off.

That would be bad.

'Whoever seizes the initiative wins.'

The enemy was a great noble responsible for this whole region. Count Molsen, the king of the frontier.

"If all else fails, we take hostages."

Kraiss muttered in a voice only he could hear.

He was already watching Count Molsen's two children so he could do exactly that if things turned ugly.

More precisely, he had already had eyes on them from before.

You never knew when or how they might be useful.

Even after doing that, he did not really expect hostages to work.

Hostages against Count Molsen?

Not a chance.

Still, he could not just leave those two alone either.

He already had thirty-six escape plans ready in case things went bad.

And before those thirty-six escape plans, Kraiss had already thought up one hundred seventy ways to win and hold out.

Among them, the most useful, rational, and efficient first move was this.

"Will this be okay?"

Vengeance, now in charge of the archers on the wall, asked from beside him. Kraiss answered while looking at the giant figure standing before the lined troops, a body two heads taller than the other soldiers.

"Out of strategy, tactics, military methods, everything, what do you think has to be considered first?"

Vengeance thought for a moment and answered,

"...Morale?"

Morale, a soldier's momentum, mattered too.

But there was one thing to think about before that.

"Knowing exactly what I have."

It sounded vague, but it was simple.

Use what you have properly first.

How could anyone fight without even knowing what they had?

Kraiss knew Audin. He did not know everything about him, but he knew Audin was not the kind of man to retreat from just fifty Lycanthropes.

And Teresa, the one called part of the Bear Siblings, was there with him.

So Kraiss ordered that not a single arrow be fired.