A Knight who Eternally Regresses - Chapter 414

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 414: [Demon Slayer, Hero Who Saved the Nation, Guardian of Border Guard, the King's Close Friend, and the One Who Dreams of Becoming a Free Knight]

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"A banquet? Tell them to process one more document instead of wasting time on that crap."

What kind of seat was a throne?

What was a crown?

By now, Crang could answer with complete certainty.

'A perfect seat to work yourself to death.'

There was too much work. Way too much. Enough to make his head burst if he tried to handle it alone.

Still, it had to be done.

So Crang slept less, and in the process made the royal chef miserable.

"Shouldn't you at least eat properly?"

Marcus said from beside him.

Crang chewed his sandwich and widened his eyes at Marcus.

His eyes, not his mouth, said it all.

'With work piled this high, you want me to leisurely light candles, pick up a knife and fork, slice meat, chatter with nobles, and throw away my time?'

"...Understood."

Marcus had seen a new side of Crang. The man was a workaholic. He had his reasons, of course.

Even so, some things had to be said.

"Several nobles are trying to approach Enkrid."

Crang, buried in papers with a sandwich in his mouth, looked up again.

Marcus continued in an even voice.

"They want the hero who saved the nation on their side."

Even after all that had been cut away, how many nobles still remained in the capital?

At a rough guess, over a hundred.

And if he included nobles based in other regions?

Not all of them were sharp or quick-witted.

Some had stayed loyal through the civil war, and now that it was over, they were likely trying to secure their own share.

Among them, what was the best way to claim the biggest one?

The king personally called him a close friend.

At the Memorial Coronation, the king had even yielded his place in order to him.

The hero who saved the nation.

If they could place that man in their territory? What if they brought him under their command? On top of that, his affiliation was painfully vague.

He was just a company commander in the Border Guard.

So they would try everything, starting with honey traps.

"People change."

Marcus said it quietly.

Crang swallowed his sandwich and met Marcus's eyes for a moment.

Dark circles sat under both their eyes. They stared at each other, then suddenly burst out laughing together.

"Hahaha."

"Pffhahaha."

Some people did change.

Enkrid was not one of them.

"Tell them to suffer a little. He'll handle it."

Crang did not care at all about nobles bothering Enkrid. He had something else to ask Marcus.

"Anyway, are you really fine with this?"

"Yes? Ah, the title? Yes. This is better."

"Hm."

Crang nodded.

"It seems Marquis Baisar also went to see Enki."

"That man's instincts have dulled too."

Crang truly was not worried. Anyone who had rolled around with Enkrid would feel the same.

"Then the nobles saying they'll host banquets too..."

Marcus started, and Crang cut in.

"Can I confiscate those bastards' property?"

"By force?"

"Yeah."

"Was your next goal becoming a tyrant?"

Would becoming a tyrant really be so bad? Crang was tempted for a moment.

'Why is the royal house this poor?'

The queen inherited the throne, said her farewells, and left without a second thought. She even took the court mage with her.

Crang had already decided to treat her as someone who was gone.

His biggest concern these days was how to raise Krona.

If he had known Kraiss better, he would have seated him as finance minister on the spot.

Of course, this was also a pit Crang had dug himself.

He had pushed policy changes a little too aggressively.

The deadliest of those was the issue of the king's guard.

Crang started by replacing the king's Guardian Knight.

"I heard you keep your rank on the condition that you never leave the royal palace for your entire life. Is that really what you want?"

The Guardian Knight, who preserved his status through several magical forces and the mysteries of Will, had to process what the king meant.

The words were that absurd.

He was third generation to guard the king. His grandfather and father had walked the same path. The spell bound to his bloodline was both shackle and restraint.

"Are you asking me that sincerely?"

When the Guardian Knight asked back, Crang removed his shackles. He told him to do what he wanted, go where he wanted, and granted him freedom.

For the guard, he appointed men from the former Royal Guard. One man in a gray helmet dropped to his knees and wept.

"I will protect you with this life. I will protect you even in death."

Including Matthew and the others who had stayed beside him, Crang had effectively reestablished the king's personal guard unit.

He raised their numbers and increased their pay.

Then he moved to patch defensive holes all over the palace.

'No wonder we're short on gold coins.'

It still looked like this even after he sold off part of the treasury.

Crang never looked back. Regret was a waste of time. He had learned that from Enkrid too.

'Do what must be done first.'

Even if the continent ended tomorrow, Enkrid was the type who would still train his sword.

If emptying part of the treasury meant people could eat well and live well, what was the problem?

It was a radical way of thinking and pushing things through.

There was no one around to stop him either.

Because of that, the investiture ceremony that should have rewarded merit had been delayed. That was why Enkrid was still in the capital.

* * *

Rem clearly recognized the difference between who he was now and who he had been when he first joined the Troublemaker Squad.

'How did I end up like this?'

His skill, which had stagnated while wandering the continent, had improved.

There were several reasons, but three of them were Ragna, Jaxon, and Audin.

He fought those bastards again and again, and because he hated losing, he got stronger.

'What a cursed way to grow.'

As he thought that and watched, his eyes met Ragna's, who was shirtless and swinging his sword.

"What are you looking at, you crippled barbarian who can't even walk alone?"

For a moment, Rem scolded his own brain for thinking those bastards had helped.

Truthfully, the biggest reason was Enkrid himself.

He learned while teaching, and watching Enkrid grow never let him slack off.

"Keep yapping and die."

Rem tossed that at Ragna and started loosening up himself.

He had thought he'd be bedridden for a month after forcing that reckless sorcery, but he recovered quickly.

His vessel had grown with his skill. Sorcery was built on the body.

Enkrid listened to their warm conversation while checking what he had and repeating drills.

Rem walked over as he watched.

"You said it's a new Will? Show me."

He could move well enough now, so sparring was possible. Enkrid had already decided today was the day, and picked up a sword.

He had gone to the smithy asking them to repair the broken Silver, and they told him it was impossible. The core was completely ruined.

So he asked them to melt it down later and took up an ordinary longsword.

He did not want to blame his weapon, but he still wished he had a blade on Silver's level.

"Do it properly."

Rem said.

Enkrid did.

He poured Will into his eyes and sustained it. Eye That Sees One Inch Ahead.

It was a manifestation of Will that fit perfectly with the Capturing Sword.

Enkrid glimpsed the future. Rem's breathing, shoulders, hands, feet, all came into view.

Rem would swing the hammer in his left hand as if throwing it. After that, he would slash diagonally with his axe.

First hammer at normal speed, then axe half again faster.

A trick visible only because he handled both weapons perfectly.

The brief future he had seen unfolded exactly as seen.

Rem's hammer flew in.

Enkrid's sword had greater reach, yet he stepped forward. At the same time, he crossed the wrists holding his sword and raised them upward.

He planned to lock the wrist holding the hammer, step on Rem's foot, and drive his knee into his groin.

If he closed in that tight, the axe from the other hand would still be a threat, but at best Rem would be reduced to punching while holding it.

Because Enkrid would stick so close that he had no other choice.

'I can take that punch.'

Give flesh, take bone.

Not even enough time for a full exhale passed before their weapons, hands, and feet crossed.

Thud, smack, crack.

After they clashed once, Enkrid stepped back and stared at Rem.

"How did you do that?"

"Hmph, did you think that thing was invincible?"

It was beastlike instinct and a beastlike counter.

Enkrid realized again. This bastard was insane, but extraordinary.

The Capturing Sword belonged to the Correct Sword. It was a style that dragged the exchange into the flow he wanted.

That was what had harmonized with Eye That Sees One Inch Ahead.

But Rem moved as predicted, then changed at the last moment.

Instead of swinging the axe, he let it go. He blocked the knee with his palm, then drove his forehead in.

Enkrid had no choice but to answer on instinct.

That final crack was their foreheads colliding.

The centers of both their foreheads turned red. It looked like they would both swell.

If someone moved on impulse before he could read and process with his eyes, how was he supposed to read that?

From that point on, the only answer was techniques engraved into the body.

Inside, Rem highly rated Enkrid's response that ended in a headbutt, but kept his mouth shut.

For days, he had been searching for ways to break Enkrid's newly awakened Will.

He did not want to show that he had been thinking that hard.

If he praised Enkrid too easily, maybe Enkrid's drive to improve would weaken.

Of course that would never happen, but after rationalizing it to himself, Rem spoke.

"See? It can be broken like this too. So don't throw it around carelessly."

Next came Audin.

"Heh heh, Brother. Every technique has gaps."

His method of breaking Enkrid's Will was simpler and dumber.

He suddenly closed in and forced point-blank combat. The dumb bear's power was stronger than Enkrid's, even with Heart of Superhuman Strength active.

Audin smoothly applied a joint lock and tried to dislocate Enkrid's shoulder, and Enkrid applied what he had learned, curling his fingers, snapping his palm upward, and slipping out.

After that, their sparring kept following similar patterns. Both ended up sprawled on the ground, covered in dust.

Enkrid lost in the end.

"What will you do if someone sticks to you like this?"

Audin said it with one eye swollen from a hit to the cheekbone. Enkrid's trapped knee was also one push away from shattering. If Audin added force there, it would break. So Enkrid conceded. In return, he gave Audin blue makeup around one eye and cheekbone.

"Hm."

Enkrid nodded. He still had plenty to learn.

Ragna stepped up too.

His method was even simpler.

A slash that Enkrid could see and understand, yet still could not block.

To be honest, it was more vicious than Rierbart's sword had been.

"Are you trying to send him to the Lord's side?"

Audin said in admiration after seeing that.

"That bastard's really insane."

Rem insulted him by saying his head was even more broken than his own.

"As long as he didn't die, it's fine."

Ragna only said it calmly.

Cold sweat ran down Enkrid's neck, and he wiped it with his hand.

He could have repeated today if things had gone wrong.

He had raised his sword and blocked, but his own blade was forced halfway into his chest. If he had not been wearing bandage armor just in case, he would have bled.

That did not mean he was dissatisfied.

He felt like he understood what they were telling him.

'Keep using any technique until it sticks to your body.'

In truth, the three were busy proving they still were not behind him, but Enkrid interpreted it that way.

A good interpretation was good enough.

As he threw himself into training, a young boy entered, watching everyone's reactions.

"Are you perhaps Demon Slayer, Hero Who Saved the Nation, Guardian of Border Guard, the King's Close Friend, and the one who dreams of becoming a Free Knight, Sir Enkrid?"

Enkrid doubted his ears for a second. Wasn't there something very wrong with that title string?

He had heard many praises going around after the battle, but training was better than paying attention to each one, so he kept training.

"They only call me the Immortal Axe."

Rem had another nickname floating around too, Noble Slayer, because he spoke so brutally to nobles who kept bothering him.

Shadow-Stepping Guard was Jaxon's.

There was also White Lion Monster Dunbakel.

She was beastfolk, but looked like a lion, so that nickname stuck, and unexpectedly, Dunbakel liked it.

Ragna was called Merciless Sword.

Naturally, he did not care much.

"Wouldn't Pathfinder Ragna fit better?"

Still, he asked that sometimes, which made people think he might be even crazier than Rem.

Audin got a nickname similar to before.

Was it Giant Bear?

People said that was how he looked from a distance.

Audin only smiled silently, but he did not look happy about it.

Enkrid looked at the servant boy who had called for him.

"Just Enkrid or Lunatic Company Commander sounds right."

Border Guard Independent Combat Company was the official name, but now even Enkrid called his unit the Lunatic Company.

Everyone under him was a lunatic anyway.

There was nothing he could do about that just because he alone was normal.

The boy who had come up looked extremely tense as he spoke.

"My master wishes to see you, if you have time... ah, if this is inconvenient, I can come again when you are free, ah, if you could tell me when you might be free, ah..."

Enkrid did not want to make the servant boy's life harder. He gently placed a hand on the shoulder of the boy who kept stammering and asked,

"Who's your master?"

"Ah, Baron Somerset, sir."

He had never heard the name in his life. Enkrid nodded, wondering what this was about.

He truly did not want to make this boy any more uncomfortable.

The boy moved off with legs trembling from tension and eyes full of admiration.

Enkrid followed behind him.

"Another noble bastard?"

Rem said from behind.

Enkrid waved him away.

Better for him to go and send the man off calmly than watch Rem cause trouble.

Besides, that person had come looking for Enkrid.