WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 431: Two Days Is Enough

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Audin examined the Prohibition Seal on his body by looking inward.

Soon, an image rose in his mind: golden chains wrapped tight around his entire body. He had drawn on a little divine power over time, so the thin strips of cloth covering those chains looked worn and partly gone, but the chains themselves were still there.

The chains were his own, and the cloth over them was a seal placed by others.

When he checked the seal again for the first time in a long while, memories from the past surged in like a flood.

They were moments he had deliberately looked away from.

"Defending heretics, and you call that the duty of an Inquisitor?!"

First came the voice of a fallen bishop, shouting in rage.

"We trusted you because you believed in the God of War. Hah!"

Another priest's words came back too.

"What are you going to do?"

There had also been the man who taught him and led him this far.

The former pope, the one who could not see, yet said he could glimpse a person's future.

He stepped down from the papal seat only ten days after taking it.

"This is not where I belong, brothers and sisters."

After casting away his authority, he told Audin in secret:

"If I stayed in that seat, I felt I would not live long."

It was an absurd reason, but he added that it was the conclusion he reached after divining his own future.

Those memories tangled together, but in the end, Audin had not been able to answer easily when asked by the man who had shown him fatherly affection when he had no blood family.

It was right after he became a sinner for failing to fulfill an Inquisitor's duty.

"So, you truly do not know what to do?"

"Yes. I have lost my way."

Audin answered while kneeling.

"There is only one place for a shepherd who has lost his path."

The former pope, the man who had been like a father, spoke in a stern tone.

"You must go below, to the underground prison wrapped in darkness."

Audin answered again.

The one who judged sin was the God of the Scales, who ruled the sun and moon.

If one sinned, one went before the God of War to be judged by him.

And those punished by the God of War were imprisoned in the underground prison.

That was part of doctrine. It was also written in the holy text.

Audin served the God of War, and the former pope served the god with two faces.

One face was the warden of the prison made by God, and also the god of love. The other was the god of judgment, symbolizing brilliance and holy radiance.

The holy text said those two divinities looked completely opposite, yet were originally one.

There had been a god who descended deep underground to the prison, so he could bestow pure love.

He left the light within his own body on the surface, so the world above could still be illuminated.

So one face became the warden of the underground prison, symbolizing darkness and love while embracing sinners.

The other became the one who punished sinners with brilliance and holy radiance.

"You are the one who will guide the light of brilliance."

Drawn by those words, Audin became someone who punished heresy.

The God of War had given him an exceptional body.

Audin switched to a Battle Priest while he was still a trainee priest. Naturally, he stood out during his Battle Priest days too.

"You are probably the first to study Valaf-style Grappling that deeply and truly understand it."

His uncommon talent led him straight to divine power.

The light of brilliance and holy radiance descended into his body through the god of battle and war.

"It is a miracle!"

No one held back words like that. Everyone blessed him.

While training to become a Holy Knight, Audin was appointed as an Inquisitor.

"Pray there, and sharpen your body and mind there."

Those were the words of an archbishop. With his strangely slit eyes and vile-looking face, the archbishop told Audin to become a judge who punished heretics.

Audin did exactly that.

As an Inquisitor, he chose to punish people with the light of brilliance and holy radiance.

Then, while carrying out missions, he punished a bishop's hidden son for his sins and took his life.

He handled several more matters after that.

Then, in a small city he reached under a bishop's orders, Audin felt doubt.

A man accused of heresy burned himself alive to prove his innocence.

Watching him burn, Audin instinctively felt this was wrong.

Then what was wrong?

Was it him, for believing in God?

Or the temple that had rotted away?

The archbishop drunk on power?

The man who claimed he saw the future and abandoned the papal seat?

Or was it...

'Should I call it the fault of God, who gave strength to someone as lacking as me?'

No, that could not be it. He simply had failed to understand the will of the Lord Father.

He began to wander. His faith shook. The very foundation that made Audin, its cornerstone itself, cracked and fell away.

His dream shattered, the dream of becoming a Holy Knight and standing at the front to destroy evil, of sending demons to the Lord and extinguishing wickedness.

The tower built on faith collapsed like that.

"If you hate giving punishment through brilliance, then go to darkness and hide yourself."

Following the words of the one he thought of as a father, and honestly because he wanted to do nothing at all, Audin placed a Prohibition Seal on himself.

As if that was not enough, several other users of divine power added more seals to his body.

"I am sorry, brother."

One brother there would even have given his own life in his place.

"Why did you do it?"

There was also a sister who had laughed with him until yesterday, and now looked at him with hatred.

Audin accepted the seals without a single excuse, gave up his position, and left the temple.

On his way out, he still clearly remembered what Father Bishop said.

"The day your path becomes clear, you will step forward on your own."

"Is that a prophecy?"

"What prophecy. I will be honest. I cannot prophesy. It is a guess and a prediction. If I become pope of a temple where more people hate me than follow me, it is obvious someone will try to kill me."

It was Father Bishop's confession.

"I cannot know every corner of a person's heart, but I have seen enough to know part of you. If it is easier for you to think of this as prophecy, think of it that way. I do not mind. I am only saying what little I know. The day you step forward on your own, God will gain the hardest shield to protect his child."

With those words, Father Bishop turned away. Half a year later, he was accused of heresy and stoned to death. The divine power he had only amounted to simple healing arts.

Audin heard that news another half year after it happened.

Right after hearing it, he could not contain the boiling rage inside him.

He wanted to run to the temple at once and slaughter every last one of them.

But he could not.

That would have meant tearing out his last remaining root, burning it, then pouring water over it so even the ash disappeared.

It also would not have been what Father Bishop wanted.

'Lord. Must I quietly die like this?'

He knew why he was here, because he had killed the bishop's hidden son.

He knew why he was here, because he became an Inquisitor, then failed to punish the heretic designated by the temple.

Audin knew all of it.

Still, he did nothing with his hands. He could not. His hands were only hands that struck and broke things.

As he wandered, the place where he settled was the Troublemaker Squad.

At the point when he had given up everything, he saw someone who had given up nothing.

That man survived against knights, overcame wars, led a civil war to victory, and still did not stop even when he faced a demon.

He even made the King of the East come to find him in person.

Audin thought deeply.

Could he choose not to give up while leaving his Prohibition Seals in place?

Audin tried to dream the same dream again.

He would become the radiant shield and sword that destroyed evil, and the fist that acted in God's place.

He wanted to fulfill the duty given to him again and walk the path laid before him, but one problem still remained.

He had sworn the seal, and he could not break that oath as he pleased.

Also, no one currently in the temple would approve of him lifting the seal.

The past kept tangling until it reached the question he had always thrown into his own heart.

A corner monastery in Legion, the city of divine power.

He had no parents from birth.

"Why was I born?"

Audin had asked that countless times. What was this uselessly huge body for?

It was the same even when he gained divine power.

Was it so he could kill the temple's enemies called heretics?

That could not be it.

I will become a fist that destroys evil.

He had set that as his goal, but there had been a time when he could not become that.

He threw that time behind him. He set the past aside for a moment and looked toward a new sun, toward tomorrow coming instead of today already gone.

"What did you say you would do as a knight?"

Audin asked, and Enkrid answered.

"I want to build that kind of world, battlefields where children do not have to step forward, knights who keep chivalry, a world that honors what is right."

Ah. On the day he heard that answer, Audin cried. So no one would notice, he prayed and cried in a corner behind the barracks.

Jaxon and a few others saw it, but ignored it.

It was not the first time Audin cried while praying.

While he prayed like that, Teresa approached him. She waited patiently until his prayer was over, then spoke.

"I think my body and talent are insignificant. I tried to learn songs to control my heart, but it is not easy."

"Why are you trying to go further?"

"Because I want to walk a path I believe is right. I think that path is beside that man. More than anything, I am full of the desire to protect this place."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it is. I want to prove myself by competing with him, and I want to help the path that man is walking."

To set one's purpose and carry it out, that was the greatest light a person could possess.

It might not be holy, but it was a light that would not fade.

After reciting words from the holy text, Audin nodded.

"I heard you selected a few members. Let us begin true training together."

Audin said it. After speaking her worries, Teresa regretted it for a very brief moment.

Just hearing those four words, true training, gave her a feeling.

It would probably be training so harsh that being locked in the underground prison might be better.

It happened while she was forming a unit after being told to pick believers with large builds and good strength.

And Audin realized one of the seals that had been constricting him in his mind had broken.

'The temple's word is absolute truth, so never go against it.'

Then he would have to go to the temple and change that truth a little.

If needed, he would have to lift the seal.

But until he received permission, he would not lift it on his own. That was because of the faith Audin still held.

Even if he died, he still would not lift all the seals.

He would lift them only after telling the temple what was right.

Even if that was difficult and got him killed, he would still do it.

Because one man fully showed his dream, another man's life changed.

* * *

Ragna fell asleep, and the moment he woke, he noticed the change.

'Cold air.'

Breathing in and out.

Fallen leaves.

Dust drifting through the air.

Everything felt several times clearer in his grasp than before.

If he reached out now, he even felt like he could snatch the axe from that stupid barbarian sitting far away.

It was nearly twenty steps away, but it still felt possible.

Ragna released his Will and clenched his hand at empty air.

Of course, unless it was a supernatural ability or magic, an axe far away was not going to jump into his hand.

But at the same moment he mimed stretching out and gripping, Rem gripped his axe handle tightly.

It happened almost at the same time.

Rem, who moved along with Ragna's gesture, looked at the mad slacker and said,

"You crazy bastard, get the hell away from me."

It was as if he had read what Ragna wanted in his mind. Still, it also meant the thing Ragna wanted had not happened.

'This does not work.'

It felt like anything was possible, but plenty of things were not.

He had realized something and crossed a wall, but there was too much to examine one by one.

Ragna recalled the spar between the King of the East and Enkrid.

Enkrid had resisted the force of a knight without taking a single step back.

The king held back a lot. It was not fully a teaching match, but it was close. He helped Enkrid draw out all his strength.

Ragna had seen all of it.

He had seen, no, felt, the force flowing out of the king's weapon and stacking onto Enkrid's sword.

'Can I gather Will and manifest it in reality?'

For example, could he ignore physical distance and pull Rem's axe from where he sat?

'I can.'

To do it, he needed to move his feet and close the distance.

He could not do it by keeping his feet still and only reaching out his hand.

Ragna naturally understood the principle of Pressure too.

It was not something you achieved just by glaring with fighting spirit and killing intent.

It was manifesting Will into a phenomenon.

In other words, speaking to the opponent through Will.

A sword at your waist, a spear on your back, a fork used to stab and eat steak.

Whatever was in your hand, you told your opponent you could kill them with it.

'No, a hand blade alone is enough.'

You pictured the movement and quietly conveyed it to your opponent.

Then survival instinct would tighten their hands, feet, and heart.

That was Pressure.

At some point, Ragna was sitting in the dining hall, testing it with a fork.

He tried it on Rem once.

"Has this bastard gone insane?"

Rem glared fiercely with a barbarian's temper.

"Brother, please control yourself."

Audin said it with a smile, though a small vein rose on his forehead.

Dunbakel yelped and stepped back.

Teresa frowned and quietly recited a part of the holy text. At the same time, she subtly pulled her tray closer and tried to use it as a shield.

That guy named Ropord endured it while trembling right beside him. Cold sweat ran down and dripped onto his tray.

"You are going to kill someone like that."

That was from his friend from the Shepherds of the Wilderness. The man quietly drew his sword a little.

A black blade appeared. It was the sword named Idolslayer. Ragna saw something settled onto that sword too.

They said it was a sword that gnawed at souls. It was a sword that cut the Will held by existence.

He felt a certain presence, but could not tell exactly what was contained inside.

To know, he would have to grab it and swing it himself.

After that came Big Eyes.

Kraiss, clueless as ever, only said, "Isn't it kind of chilly today?"

'Some react sharply.'

Others do not.

Could this be used to gauge skill, or maybe talent? It seemed possible.

Except for eating and sleeping, Ragna devoted himself to swinging his sword.

What the King of the East said before leaving was right.

He had to set his path correctly now.

He felt omnipotent, like he could do anything, but to actually do anything, a process was needed.

Could he split a mountain with a sword?

There was no sword slash that split a mountain in one strike.

'But I can kill a mage who tries to split that mountain with magic.'

He separated what he could do and what he could not, and recognized both.

For that, he repeated training his basics every day.

He moved his body without rest until his whole body was soaked in sweat, and as a result he started sleeping at night with loud snores.

After repeating the same thing for several days, Enkrid unwrapped the bandages tightly wound around his hand and asked,

"When will you be ready?"

It meant he wanted to fight.

Ragna observed himself for a moment and said,

"Two days is enough."

That should do it. Right now even controlling his strength was hard, but two days would be enough.

It was insane talent.

Even if most people crossed the wall and got one foot into a knight's level, they needed at least three months and sometimes six months to settle their body again, but Ragna was different.

Even fifteen days was long for him.

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