WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 421: An Omen Draws Near

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"An omen is approaching."

The violet lamp, the ferryboat floating on the black river, and the Boatman.

It was a place so familiar by now that he could draw it with his eyes closed.

He was dreaming, and he was on the Boatman's boat.

"What omen are you talking about?"

Enkrid asked while sitting at the end of the boat. Could he cross his legs here? As that thought crossed his mind, the Boatman turned his eyes to him.

"I cannot tell you more."

It was the kind of answer you got from someone seriously fickle.

That was exactly how Enkrid saw the Boatman.

Every time he saw him, the man's temperament changed, his tone changed, and he spoke however he felt like it.

Enkrid was not bad at dealing with people like that.

He had not rolled across the continent to learn swordsmanship for nothing.

Brawlers, mercenaries, noble bodyguards, swordsmen from merchant companies, sword instructors at the Training School, many of them had been strange and eccentric.

Out of all of them, the strangest were probably the company members under his command now.

He had experience to spare.

If they compared pure personality alone, the Boatman might even be better than Rem.

At times like this, there was no need to force agreement or show emotion.

"I see."

Enkrid nodded along, waited a moment, then asked:

"How do you know that omen is coming?"

The Boatman did not answer. He truly seemed to have no intention of saying more. His gaze dropped toward Enkrid.

Then, all at once, his vision went dark.

When Enkrid opened his eyes, it was morning. In summer, the sun rose early, so even by the time he trained the Isolation Technique, daylight had already filled the area.

As always, Enkrid focused on training.

Jaxon, who had been deep in thought about something since coming back from the royal palace, had briefly started acting friendly after sparring with him and had even spoken to the other unit members, but now he had returned to his usual self.

Not only that, he said he had business and left for a few days, so he was not even around.

If he had stayed, Enkrid planned to spar him again, so it was a little disappointing.

"Good morning, brother."

A little later, Audin came out behind him.

After that came Teresa, Dunbakel, Ropord, and Pel.

"You're brutal this early in the morning."

Pel muttered.

Anyone could tell at a glance. This was not training for show, he was just doing it.

"When are you going to come at me?"

Beggars could not be choosers.

"Not yet."

He was definitely possessed by the evil spirit of someone who died because he missed a spar.

Pel's hands itched too. He just did not want to jump in when it was obvious he would lose.

A Shepherd always moved efficiently.

Still, there really was something about him that made your blood boil.

Just watching him made something in your chest start boiling.

Since he could not force someone who clearly did not want to fight, Enkrid turned away and started pushing his body with Audin.

They started with striking methods, then moved into strange postures that stretched his whole body as if every muscle would tear.

"Muscles that lose flexibility are useless lumps of meat."

Audin kept teaching.

Teresa watched over Ropord's training, Dunbakel copied Enkrid's routine while sweat poured down her, and the morning training continued as usual after a dream that might have been a nightmare or just one of the Boatman's pranks.

After that, all sorts of tasks waited for Enkrid.

It had been half a month since he returned to the Border Guard. The days were gradually becoming familiar.

That included things like the battalion commander calling him "General."

There was a lot of work, but once Kraiss fully threw himself into it, there was not much Enkrid had to do himself.

"I think we should standardize the soldiers' equipment. After that, we split them by branch and train them accordingly."

Training first.

"We'll expand that outpost even further. Up to gate-fort level. Right now it only has twenty men, but we should build it to hold at least a hundred. If we give each one a name, they'll feel more ownership and defend them better. That's my prediction."

Security.

"The nobles keep sending gifts. I'll handle the reply letters."

Diplomacy.

"The Rockfreed Trading Company, which has been doing great work for us, wants to open branches in nearby cities. Shall we allow it? If not, Leona might sulk."

Economy.

"I raised soldier pay, and I'm planning to pick a few capable people and make them landholders. There's too much good land to leave idle. Since that land is in Green Pearl, I think we should set up a few outposts on that side's gate too."

Even finances.

At this point, even if Kraiss had ten bodies, it still would not be enough.

"Are you at least eating your meals?"

Enkrid asked while wiping sweat, in the middle of weapon-control training with a practice sword that weighed five times more than an iron sword.

"Huh?"

Kraiss turned his head and asked back.

"I'm asking if you're too busy."

Even the genie from those eastern continent fairy tales that comes out of a rubbed lamp probably would not work this hard.

"I'm busy enough."

"You raised your own salary too, right?"

"I'm already at the cap. If I get any more, I'd be making more than the Border Guard lord."

He was not the kind of guy to neglect his own pocket, that was certain.

Enkrid nodded.

"Also, am I the one doing the work? I just review things from above."

That was exactly what Enkrid was doing now. Kraiss had even gotten an official seal made from somewhere.

Even as a general, he had not originally been a noble, but the current Enkrid was different.

With the kind of power that could slap most nobles around two hundred and eighty times over, it was only natural.

After all, the entire territory once held by the rebellion's ringleader had been handed over to him, and he was known as the hero who saved the kingdom, the Demon Slayer, and the king's friend.

"I also brought in Gielpin and put him to work. I'm pulling in people from all over. The Rockfreed Trading Company helped a lot with this too. They handle many of the number-related tasks overall."

Enkrid told him to handle it as he saw fit. Honestly, even if he stepped in, he did not think he could do this much.

Enkrid boldly delegated most things to Kraiss and only examined a few parts in detail.

One of those was soldier armament.

"Split them into spearmen, swordsmen, and shieldmen. Make everyone train with all weapons as basic training. Then equip them like this."

The standard swordsman loadout was one longsword and one dagger, plus a wrist-mounted light crossbow that Kraiss forced blacksmith masters and several workshops to produce, armor stuffed with oil-soaked linen and covered with leather on the outside, arm and shin guards, three throwing knives, one Throwing Axe, a kite shield, a leather helmet layered with cloth, and a short club.

The light crossbow was developed from an idea Enkrid remembered after trying one bandits had used before.

Spearmen and archers were similar aside from their main weapon.

Fully armed like that, if they even added one backpack, it would be torture by itself, Kraiss thought as he looked at his commander. Enkrid caught on and answered right away.

"Anyone who says this is too hard gets sent back."

There was once a time when the Border Guard standing army was so short on numbers that they took everyone who came and threw them into battle however they could.

But now they did not have to do that.

"Instead of many soldiers, we raise a fixed number of elites."

Kraiss agreed. Everything they were discussing had been designed to raise combat effectiveness from the start.

They had created an office but did not use it, so these discussions in one corner of the training ground were deciding the soldiers' future.

Swordsmen, spearmen, archers, shieldmen, cavalry, and mounted archers.

Enkrid laid out the broad framework, and Kraiss added his judgment to it.

"Since we're already doing this, how about gathering some better soldiers and reorganizing your subordinate unit? You know you can't stay an Independent Company forever now, right?"

Enkrid nodded.

He passed along what he and Kraiss had decided.

"Rem, pick out some good ones and make a unit."

An assault unit, ideally the kind that would charge in and tear through things when war broke out.

"Huh? You're serious-serious?"

Enkrid paused for a moment. This could end with half-crippled soldiers instead of a unit.

"I told you to build a unit, not torment them."

"I'll do my best."

Rem said as he stood up.

"Don't do your best."

Enkrid said it because he felt sorry for the soldiers.

He gave Ragna a similar assignment.

"Too bothersome."

"Cavalry is fine, swordsmen are fine."

"Too bothersome."

After coming back from the royal palace, Ragna had focused on training for a few days, then went back to nodding off and rolling around in the barracks like before.

Other than Ropord dragging him out with great effort so he occasionally showed up at the training ground, he had returned to his old lazy self.

Fearless as ever, Ropord kept asking Ragna to spar again and again.

As expected, he got beaten or threatened with death.

"If you keep bothering me, I'll cut off an arm."

"I'll train hard so it doesn't get cut off!"

Even then, Ropord did not back down. He had unusual spirit. At least on the surface.

Ragna was the kind who did what he said, but he probably would not actually cut it off.

Probably.

Still, Enkrid was worried enough to throw in a word.

"Don't cut it."

"I'll decide when I see."

That unsettling answer came back anyway.

Still, having Ropord attached to someone who wanted to do nothing out of annoyance made Enkrid feel a little better.

When it came to organizing units, Ropord was more skilled anyway, since he had trained and been educated in a knight order.

He put Dunbakel with Rem.

If Rem tormented Dunbakel, he would torment the other soldiers less.

Then he spoke to Audin too.

"Gladly, brother."

Audin accepted too readily. That made Enkrid slightly uneasy, so he put Teresa with him.

With this, he believed training elite soldiers would work out to some extent.

They would not need huge numbers anyway.

Enkrid was not the type to ignore the work given to him. He did everything he could without reducing training and conditioning time.

Thanks to Kraiss, that training time did not really shrink either.

"Let's just watch the training. Try doing what you were doing."

Ruagarne made an official request through the royal palace and formally entered Enkrid's command.

After that, she followed him everywhere like a duckling following its mother.

After joining Gielpin's guild, she beat up anyone who picked a fight and even once ran into Frog Maelrun in the city, but they ignored each other.

Neither seemed to have even the slightest interest in the other.

When he asked why:

"I'm a Frog."

"So why does that make it like this?"

"They're all living by their own desires, and that Frog's desire has nothing to do with me."

He had felt this before, but Frogs did not bother trying to understand things outside their own interests.

A Frog as knowledgeable as Ruagarne was the unusual one.

Her desire was to explore the unknown, and if she had to classify it, she was an academic Frog, which made that possible.

"What do you think is the essence of the Correct Sword?"

Ruagarne was helpful in many ways, and beyond pure skill, what she taught was good.

A great sparring partner was not always a great teacher.

Rem, Ragna, Audin, and Jaxon proved that well enough.

Even if told to train soldiers, they were terrible at the act of teaching.

Geniuses were often like that.

From that angle, Ruagarne was an excellent teacher.

"Calculation?"

"Feints and control."

That was the point.

You did not even need to swing your sword. By showing a few feints, you had to make the opponent move as you intended.

"Swinging your sword is just the motion you show after the confirmation is already complete."

"Even when I force Rem into the Correct Sword, he counters right away. What's that?"

"That axe guy is a monster."

Ruagarne's eyes read talent. In her eyes, Rem was a monster.

"And Ragna?"

"That bastard's a sword monster."

"And Audin?"

"His body's a monster first."

"And Jaxon?"

"Hmm, a scheming monster?"

Ruagarne's vocabulary was not great, but Enkrid honestly agreed.

"And you're an incomprehensible monster."

"I see."

Sinar came by sometimes to spar, and she showed techniques that sent a chill through him in split-second moments.

It also made him think that was not even all she had, as if she were controlling how much she revealed.

"What? Did you think you'd beat someone at my level that easily, fiance?"

"I think it's about time you changed what you call me every time."

"General fiance?"

"Let's not change it."

Kraiss could infer Crang's true intentions just by looking at what Enkrid asked for.

"So we're preparing for war."

"Probably."

"Hm, with Azpen as the opponent?"

"Probably."

Enkrid answered roughly and moved on, but Kraiss seemed to have already figured it all out.

No one could tell what was inside that man's head.

Even as each day passed like that, the Boatman appeared every time Enkrid slept.

"An omen is approaching."

Enkrid had heard the same words for fifteen days straight. He wondered if the Boatman wanted to hear him say he was tired of it.

Whenever he saw him, the Boatman called him a stubborn bastard and a tiresome bastard.

But Enkrid did not actually find it tiresome.

"Do you not know how close it is?"

"I cannot tell you."

He was simply curious. Since it came from the Boatman, he felt it was a certainty.

In truth, even the Boatman could not know exactly what the omen was.

If an event happened and today repeated, he could see the fixed future, but he could not know everything that had not yet happened.

Not even a god could do that.

The Boatman thought to himself.

No, even a repeating today changes.

The man before him had proven that.

That was the price.

"An omen is approaching."

The Boatman offered goodwill.

"Yes, I want to see it soon."

Watching the owner of the curse answer so calmly twisted the Boatman's gut a little, just a little, but he did not take back his goodwill.

"The omen is close."

"Yes, is that so?"

Enkrid was calm as always.

"Take this seriously. O foolish one who walks the path of mortality and will eventually reach a day of ruin."

"Yes, I am serious."

He did not look serious at all, he looked full of anticipation. The Boatman found that deeply displeasing.

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