WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 415: A Noble Asks, Enkrid Answers

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How many nobles were there in the capital?

Not all of them were sane.

Anyone could tell that with a little thought.

"So? If you come to my territory, I can personally grant you an estate and the title of Territorial Protector..."

Baron Somerset started it.

Whenever possible, Enkrid turned people down gently.

"I'm not interested."

It was a situation he had never really gone through before. Had he ever received this much attention from nobles in his life?

Enkrid pushed people away by making his position clear.

"Th, um."

Baron Somerset was left speechless. Enkrid's tone had cut the offer off too cleanly. He had no idea this was Enkrid being polite.

So yes, he felt offended.

Sure, the man was clearly an exceptional fighter, but who lived in this world on swordsmanship alone?

Everyone needed backing.

If he wanted to stand out in the capital later, wasn't that obvious?

People only saw as far as they knew, so to Baron Somerset, this was only natural.

"Then I'll be on my way."

Enkrid gave a light bow and turned away. A young page saw his master's hand trembling.

Even so, the hero who saved the nation looked cool as he walked off.

'So cool.'

He said what he had to say to a noble, then left. What child would not admire that?

And children were not the only admirers.

Among the palace maids, there was even a group arguing over whose face was better, Enkrid's or Jaxon's.

Audin, Rem, Dunbakel, and Teresa were also mentioned in the running.

Enkrid had already been known among noblewomen before. But now it was on a different level. In the capital, there was no noble who did not know Enkrid and the Lunatic Company. Some even brought their daughters to him. Enkrid met all of them, for Krang's sake.

"This is my daughter."

She was fairly pretty. She lowered her head shyly and looked innocent too.

Enkrid looked at the lady's bare arm, decided those arms could not even hold a rapier properly, and declined.

"I'm busy."

"Busy with what?"

"I have to train."

There were all kinds of polite words mixed in, but that was the core of it.

If some brought daughters, others told him to become their heir.

"I have no child."

He looked around seventy, a gaunt old man. He said he had never spent his wealth carelessly in his life, and choosing the king's side this time had been the greatest gamble of his life.

After Enkrid dealt with him and sent him back, Jaxon walked over and said:

"I heard he has six children, but he disliked all of them and drove them out."

He was a miser among misers, a noble who ate black bread at home instead of white.

That kind of man had come offering his entire fortune.

No, he had even brought the deed papers. He said it would be done as soon as Enkrid stamped his seal.

Enkrid had no seal. He was a commoner.

After that, a few more nobles came.

Even after filtering out the riffraff, this was still how many came among those with real power.

A few unusual visitors came too.

"I'll say this first, I'm not from Azpen, and this is only a commission. So there's no need to cut me down or beat me. My whole job is to deliver their words and hear your answer."

He was dripping cold sweat under a shaded tree from sheer tension.

He looked like a magistrate who worked in the capital.

He was a single-generation noble, the type who made side money through odd commissions.

From the way he kept insisting he was only a messenger and begging for understanding, it looked like someone had him by the throat.

Enkrid nodded.

"Azpen promised the rank of duke."

Was the civil war only Naurillia's problem? No. Every neighboring nation was watching.

So in a way, it was only natural that Azpen made this offer first.

What kind of man was Enkrid?

Was he loyal to his country, or did he want something else?

"They said if you want, a marriage arrangement with a princess is possible too."

Enkrid started worrying the magistrate would collapse from dehydration.

The man's sweat was pooling and running down.

"I refuse."

"Ah, yes. Understood."

He did not look like he planned to persuade him twice.

Piles of gold coins. Beautiful women in his arms.

Around the time all those offers were really getting on his nerves...

"Cut off a couple of their arms. Then they won't come."

Rem gave that advice. Enkrid was so annoyed it sounded tempting.

"I'd rather just ignore them."

Ragna stepped in too. It was at least a softer method, but the problem was that noble bastards never came alone. They brought pages and maids.

Did nobles suffer? No. The attendants suffered.

When he saw a little kid trembling while looking for him, it was hard to ignore them outright.

"Haha, you just have to calm your heart with prayer. You can pray together with those who come to visit, Captain."

If the first prayer meant real prayer, the second kind of prayer together could involve fists and kicks.

Enkrid thought it was basically the same method as Rem's.

Dunbakel and Teresa had no interest in this kind of thing.

Jaxon privately thought it would be easier if they just killed them in secret, but he did not say it out loud.

He knew what should and should not be said.

Esther only watched with sleepy eyes.

"Since you've been marked by a demon, you should be careful."

When she said that, Enkrid's response unsettled Esther in a strange way.

"It'll be strong, right?"

He was asking about the demon's combat power.

"Will it be hard to beat?"

He even looked like he was looking forward to fighting a demon.

"Crazy bastard."

Esther bothered to turn human, curse at him, then turn back into a panther.

It was muttered to herself, but if she did not say it out loud, she would feel even more stifled.

She could not carry that kind of suffocation if she wanted to maintain her World of Spells.

And Enkrid was not the kind to scold her for blurting something like that anyway.

In any case, Enkrid ignored everyone's advice and decided to brush people off as needed.

It annoyed him enough that he even considered running off to Border Guard in the middle of it.

"It has been a while. Hero who saved the nation and Demon Slayer, of Border Guard..."

"I think that's enough."

He recognized her. Enkrid opened his mouth, thinking that if he forgot her name again, that beauty's face would turn into an angry ghoul.

"Lady Baisar."

"...You didn't forget my name, did you."

"How could I?"

Enkrid had a special talent for talking his way through things. He got through the situation without saying her first name.

Even Kin Baisar, counted among the greatest beauties in the capital, could not press further.

She had not come alone, and there was no opening in what the man in front of her said.

In a setting like this, she could not just force him to say her name.

It would be impolite and beneath a noble's dignity.

'I think he forgot, though.'

Still, she suspected it.

A fair suspicion. Enkrid really had forgotten her name while repeating this day.

Then he wondered why she had come all the way to the training ground.

Five attendants and an old man approached behind her.

"I heard a lot of bothersome people have come to see you lately."

It was Marquis Baisar.

Kin lowered her head and stepped aside.

"You don't need to offer me a seat, and I have no intention of taking much of your time."

Marquis Baisar was efficient by nature. He hated wasting time.

That was what set him apart from the others. Instead of sending pages and maids, he sent someone from his own family, and came into the training ground himself. With Rem and the others watching, the marquis spoke.

"I hear you are of age. Marry Kin."

Enkrid was not stupid. Kraiss had acknowledged his sharp mind. Kin lowered her head without even pretending to be embarrassed, and the marquis carried himself like this was a good offer for everyone.

"My marquis rank will go to Marcus."

With that included, the meaning became clear.

Kin Baisar was a symbol.

A symbol tying Enkrid to the Baisar family.

What did that symbol bring?

Once the ceremony for conferring honors began, the Baisar family would receive ducal rank.

They had that much influence, and one of the people with the greatest merit in this war was Marcus Baisar.

If he became master of the Center Pole Family, ducal rank was certain.

Take as your backing the house that would become the kingdom's one and only ducal family.

Do whatever you desire.

And there would be no coercion.

That was the hidden meaning of this proposal.

Marquis Baisar was no fool either. He had no intention of forcing or pressuring Enkrid.

If Enkrid would simply form a deeper bond with his family, he would give him the kingdom's greatest beauty, and everything else he needed.

That was the marquis's offer.

He could have put forward another daughter instead of Kin, but he did not.

Kin Baisar herself was the marquis's show of respect.

Even Krang, if he heard this, might think maybe.

It was that bold.

Enkrid stared at the marquis for a moment, then shifted his gaze.

Toward Kin Baisar.

Daughters of noble houses usually entered political marriages. Society encouraged it.

Was that fun for her? Was she happy?

Enkrid did not know Kin Baisar well. But he saw her as a person, not just a woman. He did not know her deeply, yet they had crossed paths a few times and spoken.

The Kin Baisar he saw then did not look like someone who wanted to live as a mansion's lady.

Even knowing it could sound insolent, Enkrid did what he always did.

Since when had he lived by holding back what he wanted to say for the sake of manners?

"What is your dream?"

So he asked.

Kin Baisar kept a blank face, then looked at Enkrid.

She was a symbol. A target for political marriage. That was all. No one needed to feel affection for her, and she did not need to do anything.

So what dream? It did not fit the situation at all.

"No dream? Anything you want to do?"

Kin Baisar was flustered. She even thought, this bastard is impossible to read.

Marquis Baisar said nothing. He was not a man who showed expression easily.

Was she allowed to answer?

"I think you have one."

She was born into a noble house, but she had not stayed quietly inside it. So she did have things she wanted to do. But those were not things to speak in front of the head of house.

Inside the family, the marquis's word was law. If he said political marriage, that was what happened.

"I wish to be with the hero who saved the nation."

Kin gave the model answer. No one spoke. The marquis only watched.

"What you want to do."

Enkrid asked again in a clipped tone, and Kin began to sweat. She felt like she was standing at the edge of a cliff.

"Speak."

The marquis said it while staring at Enkrid. Only then did Kin carefully open her mouth.

"I'm interested in working with gemstones, so I do it on a small scale."

"For something small-scale, I heard you even sought out a trading company with real size."

The marquis said it. He already knew.

Kin Baisar had an excellent eye for gems. She also helped lead fashion and trends in the capital.

Part of it was natural instinct, part of it was the cultivated eye she gained by being born into Marquis Baisar's house and raised there since childhood.

And yes, she had talent strong enough to be called genius.

"Is that what you wanted to do?"

The marquis asked. Kin did not know how to answer. When she did not respond, Enkrid answered for her.

"Why ask? People get stubborn when they get old. Stop being stubborn and stop making her suffer."

More than half the attendants recoiled in shock.

Had he not crossed a line?

Even so, none of them thought of rushing him.

Enkrid alone was already terrifying, and seeing the people behind him made charging in unthinkable.

Rem was grinning and licking his axe blade with his tongue.

"Filthy."

Ragna rebuked him.

"Mind your own business."

The two soon started bickering.

"You mean I'm like this because I'm old?"

The marquis blinked and asked back. There was no humor in his voice. It could have felt oppressive, but compared to Count Molsen possessed by a demon, this was cute.

"A sword is enough to prove me."

Enkrid answered.

That was the end of the conversation. There was no reason to treat him differently from other nobles. Enkrid truly thought that.

Marquis Baisar, Somerset, whoever, they were all the same.

"Then."

Just annoying people who stole his training time.

He bowed to show courtesy and turned away. The marquis glared at him for a moment, then turned his head.

He looked deeply sulky.

"Still, he's a marquis, is this really fine? Or should I just slice him?"

Rem traced a hand across his own neck and offered advice again. Enkrid ignored him.

"Waste of time."

He meant it.

There was so much he had newly learned and realized. It made his body itch to move.

No wonder. From the first day he picked up a sword, Enkrid had no talent at all.

Yet he had awakened Will in an instant, applied it in combat, and even imitated Ragna's sword.

After feeling the changes in his own body, every swing was now ten times more fun than before.

To outsiders like Pel and others who did not know him, he just looked like a madman obsessed with training.

After seeing Kin Baisar's beauty, Pel looked at Enkrid and wondered if that man really had two stones and one stick made of stone.

"Is he a eunuch?"

So he asked Dunbakel beside him.

"I think so too. He never falls for me either."

Pel looked at Dunbakel, who gave off a stale smell, and thought:

'Even I wouldn't fall for you.'

The Beastfolk next to him really hated washing.

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