WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 426: Anu, King of the East

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The surface reason King Anu of the East came to Border Guard was Martai, but of course, he had other motives.

"Is Naurillia crazy, or is the newly crowned king crazy? I should find that out. Before that, I want to see this so-called Demon Slayer with my own eyes."

Anu first made his name at eighteen by hunting lions on the eastern plains, and before turning fifty, he gathered his own people in the eastern lands and founded a nation. He was a hero.

But even a man like him had one bad habit.

Whenever he saw someone capable, he wanted to bring them east. He was greedy for talent.

That was not always an unfortunate thing for those people.

"Do you regret becoming my brother? Then go back!"

Was he not a man who could be called the most open-hearted on the continent by boldness alone?

Once he brought people over and they went through enough together, they usually became easterners in the end.

They fell for his charm and got drunk on his spirit and his dream.

That dream sounded vast, lofty, even absurd, but he was in the middle of making it real.

By now, it was fair to say every eastern frontier settlement had felt Anu's hands and feet.

From eighteen until now, he had thrown his whole life into developing the east.

Anyone who knew his life and then met him would have to admit his appeal.

'A little stubborn and rough, though.'

His brown-skinned Lieutenant Asaluhi adjusted his turban and thought to himself.

No matter what anyone said, he respected his king, a man as straightforward as he was free of grudges.

Asaluhi believed his duty was to cover the king's blind spots.

"Let's go. Let's meet this man whose dream is to slay demons."

By now, rumors about Enkrid had spread in a slightly twisted form, but the King of the East had no prejudice.

A man crazy enough to want to kill demons?

Sure. Why not?

Martai was just an excuse. His hunger for talent had clearly flared up.

A few recent incidents in the east had kept the king extremely busy, but he was in a lull now. The timing was good.

After arriving at Border Guard and finding a plausible excuse to enter the city, tracking down this Enkrid fellow was easy.

Even getting all the way into the inner training yard of the barracks was not that hard.

"If someone asks for a spar, he accepts? Anyone at all?"

At Lieutenant Asaluhi's question, the soldier studied the two men, but he did not look like he intended to stop them by force.

Anyone who made it this far could not be stopped by an ordinary soldier anyway, so the general had given a direct order.

Do not stop them. Let them pass.

Assassin or sparring challenger, it made no difference. If a soldier could not stop them either way, there was no point picking a needless fight.

Of course, there was also a note that no one would be stopped if they insisted on fighting, but among the soldiers, those itching for a fight were very, very, very rare.

So the soldier opened his mouth, ready to let them through.

"That's right, but..."

Anu laughed and stepped in first. The soldier did not stop him. A raw recruit might have tried. He was a veteran.

After all, these two had already gotten past Frog and Maelrun, the men guarding the city.

The general had said this too: if you are not confident you can put Maelrun on his back, do not even think about starting anything.

"Yeah, you've got a different kind of fire in you, kid."

The king muttered as he passed the soldier and kept walking without hindrance.

Watching him, the soldier thought, for some reason, that the man's face looked excited.

The king stepped into the training yard.

'Interesting.'

He felt genuine delight.

He briefly revealed his presence while watching the Demon Slayer, and the other man immediately showed his competitive spirit.

It felt like the first time in a long while he had sensed that urge to clash.

And such clean, upright fighting spirit, too.

Normally, he would not throw hands right away, but the force the other man gave off stirred him.

"I don't know. Me neither."

To be precise, he liked the other's raw stubbornness so much that he ended up using his hands.

* * *

After that, the eastern mercenary king stayed with the unit.

'Let's see.'

As the king looked over the unit members, greed for talent rose in him again and again.

First, Rem.

'His instincts are excellent.'

He used two axes, and his skill was no joke.

The king called those he acknowledged his brothers. That came from his earliest days in the east, when his group moved under the name Ocher Turban Brotherhood.

It had stuck ever since.

Even among those brothers, skill like that was rare.

Not entirely unheard of, but still rare.

The east was rough country, as dangerous as a demon realm. Untamed frontiers were like that.

Giant Demon Creatures appeared often, and there were many beasts even more dangerous.

If that had been the end of it, they would have been lucky. There were flying Magic Beasts too, and demon bastards that toyed with humans.

In any case, the east was the east, and even there, Rem stood out. A fighter like him was not common. And he was not even the end of it.

Then what about this man called Audin?

"Let's test strength!"

In the middle of a spar, they suddenly clasped hands and tested raw power.

'He's stronger than a Bloodhide Bear?'

Anu was impressed. More importantly, this human-shaped bear called Audin was not someone who relied on strength alone.

'I've seen plenty of strong men.'

Anu tried to lightly twist his wrist, and Audin answered with refined technique.

Strength was one thing, but who had both strength and this kind of skill?

That put him among the top fighters even among Anu's brothers.

Then there was the swordsman called Ragna.

A person with exceptional talent was called a genius.

This bastard was unquestionably a genius.

He was pure heaven-given talent.

He saw the core of any technique shown in front of him and copied it at once.

His Basics were solid too.

His swordsmanship with that single black greatsword was fast and heavy. A man who had clumsily risen to knighthood would be no match for him.

All of this fueled Anu's greed, but it did not shock him.

Exceptional instincts.

A trained body.

Terrifying talent.

Rare, very rare, but not things he had never seen before.

So there was no reason to be shocked.

Not being shocked did not mean he wanted them any less.

There was also a Beastfolk with excellent potential.

The half-giant Teresa was just as desirable.

And the rest too, the man called Ropord and even the shepherd called Pel.

Every one of them was talent that made greed rear its head.

'Interesting.'

Anu felt that same joy again.

And there was one existence outside the normal track.

"So there is a mage too."

After Esther transformed into human form and looked at the king once, she completely cut him off. She did not even pretend to look at him again. She seemed to have no interest at all.

All of this was fascinating enough, but Anu found something even more fascinating.

There was one man leading all of them.

'Defeat.'

What did it mean to lose?

Men with real skill all had strong pride.

They were all the same.

Rem, Ragna, Audin. None of them should have been exceptions.

So what was this?

'What is this guy?'

One man overturned all of that negative energy.

"Can I request a spar?"

Losing meant your own skill had been denied.

Before competitive spirit came the sting of defeat. It lingered in the heart, gnawing away like a demon's whisper.

That was how negative emotion worked.

Especially for those he had thoroughly crushed in front of him.

Anu accepted the other's stubbornness, but not gently.

He crushed every technique the man brought.

And still.

"Are you busy?"

He challenged him again and again.

Defeat ate away at your very being. The more skilled you were, the more true that was.

But not this man.

Anu did not care for the concept of a junior knight, but even on that scale, this man was at a high level.

Compared to Anu's own brothers, would he not rank in the top ten?

A fighter of that level did not care about losing.

'Does he have no pride?'

Or did he have something bigger than pride?

Anu remembered his own defeats from the past.

No, they had not felt good. But there had never been time to dwell on them.

He had to keep moving forward.

This man was the same.

Anu caught that same scent.

"Let's spar."

King Anu nodded.

The opponent who gave no thought to defeat raised his sword.

Enkrid lost, and Anu won.

Even though the result never changed.

"My thanks."

That was what the loser said. Looking at the longing and heat in those eyes, it was not that losing meant nothing to him.

He was simply dreaming of something bigger.

"I will develop the east."

Anu said it.

Enkrid stared at him, waiting for what came next.

"We'll talk again next time."

Anu laughed out loud.

It felt like it would be thrilling to drag every one of these bastards east.

* * *

A few days later, no one had to ask why the King of the East had come.

"Your skill is impressive. How about walking the road of exploration with me?"

He wanted talent, and he did not hide it.

Rem blinked at those words.

He was getting used to a newly made axe and had cut down a thick tree to make a log chair.

Every swing shaved and split fresh wood.

Sawdust and wood chips had piled up all around him.

Anu could tell from just the way he made a wooden chair.

'This bastard's axe handling...'

At first, he thought it was a style he had seen somewhere before, but the longer he watched, the clearer it became that this man had unusual instincts.

"If I'm impressive, what does that make you?"

Rem asked in a loose, insolent tone. If he worried whether the other person was a king or a knight, he would not be Rem.

"Should you compare yourself to me?"

Anu shook his head.

What was anyone supposed to do with that comparison?

"You talk even more annoyingly than our captain."

"...Asaluhi, is this insulting the royal family? Is this a royal insult crime?"

He was joking.

Even if he made a scene and called it a true insult, Rem would not have cared.

'I should go west.'

Rem made up his mind again. Without sorcery, he felt oddly burdened about striking first, no matter what this King of the East did right in front of him. He hated that feeling.

If he fought in earnest, it was not like he would definitely lose, and he had learned things through sparring too.

Still, it left him twisted up inside.

'Let's go west.'

Rem repeated the decision to himself.

The king was no fool. He knew how to dig into an opponent's weak spot.

He traded banter with Rem, but to Ragna, he offered exactly what Ragna wanted most.

"Right, we need a lot of pathfinding in the east. Why don't you come help?"

"You need a guide?"

"Of course."

"I'm good at finding shortcuts and carving new routes, but I'm busy right now."

Once Ragna got in a foul mood, he could be worse than Rem.

So once he decided not to listen, his resolve was like Audin's fist. Iron.

The king did not tire. He kept making similar offers to everyone.

When he saw Dunbakel in particular, he threw out a proposal bold enough to sound absurd.

"Do you want to be my daughter?"

"Why would I?"

Dunbakel fired back in Rem's style.

"Do you want to be my wife instead? Sorry, but I have no need for a partner."

"What are you talking about? I don't like old men."

The King of the East was not hurt by talk like that. He only laughed.

Everyone thought roughly the same thing. What kind of bastard is this to be King of the East?

The one most swept up was Kraiss.

"Your Majesty, King of the East! Is that true? Is there really gold piled up like mountains in the east?"

The king laughed again and said,

"I don't need you."

The kind of person he wanted was obvious. Someone good at fighting.

Lieutenant Asaluhi stayed calm, as if this happened all the time.

* * *

Ragna watched the two men who had just finished sparring before him.

'By changing the tempo, an ordinary thrust can look like an incredible technique.'

What was technique?

In the end, it was only for stabbing and cutting what stood in front of you.

Ragna sank inward.

His talent had gone past excellence into something exceptional and superior. It almost seemed hard to imagine anyone with greater talent in that regard.

The battles so far had stimulated that talent.

He was someone who could advance even without a trigger, so what would happen if one stood right before his eyes?

He reviewed everything he had learned, discarded it, and recalled it again.

Ragna lay on his bed, looking outside.

The Lunatic Company's training yard was directly connected to the lodging, which made that possible.

A little dust blew around, but Enkrid liked that it was close, and Kraiss had understood that in advance and built it that way.

Because of that, Ragna could watch the training yard, forget himself, and sink into the sword.

And because of that same layout, to an outside observer, Ragna looked like he was just lying around asleep.

"That bastard's slacking off again. I wondered how long it would last."

That came from Rem, who had finished the log chair and was now making a table.

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