WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES
Chapter 436: I Can't Let That Slide
= = =
Rem watched Enkrid struggle desperately, but he did not step in.
He rarely joined the swordsmanship debates that came up between sparring rounds either.
“If it hurts, rest.”
He never pushed himself far enough to hear that from Enkrid.
“Mind your own business.”
Even after hearing that, Rem only drew a line, just enough that he would not seem touchy.
After seeing Ruagarne step in, he also stopped putting real effort into sparring Enkrid like before.
Now he only crossed hands with Enkrid once in a while.
“You want to fight? Come out.”
Only at times like that did he teach.
As always, his lessons were action first, words second.
From Rem’s point of view, Enkrid was still about the same. He improved so slowly it was frustrating. Still, he was not regressing.
He was moving forward.
Rem stopped there. He stayed at the level of watching.
Even without him, there were plenty of people who matched well with Enkrid.
He did not need to force his way in just to spar.
He helped only enough to make Handful of Breath settle into Enkrid’s body.
Once it was in place to a certain extent, he even stopped that.
So these days, all he really did was swing his axe alone and occasionally bother Dunbakel.
Or he went to the Pen-Hanil Mountain Range, basically a walk he took now and then whenever his body felt stiff.
Though one such walk was enough to soak the dirt with the blood of the demon creatures living there.
He was on one of those walks.
“If you’re heading out anyway, please clear out that Man-Faced Hound pack.”
Kraiss walked over and said it to Rem, who was strolling along. Somehow he had found a feathered hat. On anyone else it would have looked idiotic, but on Kraiss’s head it suited him perfectly.
“Fine.”
Rem gave a rough nod.
Watching Rem’s back as he left, Kraiss asked Nurat, his lieutenant and lover. She had just come up beside him.
“Has something happened lately? Why’s he so quiet? I’m uneasy. Really uneasy.”
“Isn’t quiet a good thing?”
His dark-skinned lover tilted her head.
When Rem was loud, was that not the problem?
“Hey, I’m bored. Fight me.”
He used to pick on soldiers and commanders from nearby units every chance he got.
“You call that swordsmanship? Come here. I’ll teach you from the beginning, step by step. You should feel honored. I am Immortal Rem himself. Now shout this. One swing means immortal, two swings means Lord Rem. Hahahaha!”
He also used to crank the training intensity up to insane levels.
“You call this cooking? This chicken is so undercooked it’ll lay an egg soon. Move. I’ll show you what cooking is.”
Then he would boil western-style mixed stew and torture the soldiers’ taste buds.
Enkrid said Rem could actually make pretty decent food, so this was just him being spiteful.
Of course, Enkrid still ate it well anyway.
“This is highly nutritious. It’s health food.”
That was what he said.
Ragna smelled it and flipped the pot immediately.
Audin said, “Is this also a trial,” then prayed, took a few spoonfuls, and fell silent.
Jaxon would lightly slip out whenever Rem pulled that kind of nonsense. Kraiss did the same.
Nurat had watched all of that from the side, so she naturally thought this.
At least this was better than back then, was it not?
That was why she said quiet was good. She said it while remembering what Rem used to do.
Kraiss let out a short grunt and spoke.
“That’s true, but watching him like this makes me think the next incident might be a big one.”
Man-Faced Hound packs had grown in number lately, but they were no challenge for Rem. Not a threat either.
Regardless of Kraiss’s worries, Rem just did what he had to do.
Even while balancing his axe handle on his forehead like a trick and sinking into thought.
Even when the Man-Faced Hounds of the Pen-Hanil Mountain Range swarmed him as a colony.
“Krrraaah.”
With a grating metallic shriek, the Man-Faced Hound that had become the colony leader spat fire from its mouth.
It looked like it had swallowed flint wrong.
Rem read the direction of the flames and dodged. It was not difficult.
This thing was just a demon creature with no eye for an opponent’s skill.
‘I miss the west.’
Many monsters and beasts there used cunning as a weapon.
Creatures like these were only enough for warming up.
That thought crossed his mind. Rem took the creature’s flank and swung his axe.
The descending blade cut through the demon creature’s neck.
The axehead, made of Lewes steel, split hide, muscle, and bone.
Pwahk!
Black blood splashed everywhere, and the severed head rolled down the slope.
Krrraah!
As for the rest of the Man-Faced Hounds, he simply swung his axe a few times and beat to death the ones that charged.
It was easy.
Rem returned to the barracks, idly swinging the axe in his hand.
Right then, Enkrid had received a letter in the form of a request and was choosing who would go with him.
“Let’s go together.”
The request just happened to be for a place near the west.
He had already decided to go, but his heart had not settled enough to leave at once. Now it was clear.
At this rate, he would keep getting pushed back by that bastard Ragna.
‘I can’t let that slide.’
* * *
Crang sat in the great hall, watching officials chatter about protecting Krona, and sank into thought.
‘Did they say this was something that happened every few years?’
Some of it he had heard from Marcus, and some of it he had gone and seen himself.
The Demon Realm border was dangerous in many ways, and often short-handed.
It was always starving for talent, starving for people in general, and dangerous on top of that.
Who would want to go there?
‘In a way, it’s like a cracked jar that only eats budget.’
If it were an ordinary jar, that would have been fine. This was a magic jar that would spit poison as soon as no water was poured into it.
If they failed to hold it, they would have to give up part of their land to incoming demon creatures and magic beasts.
That was also why he could not play the joker card called knights in the civil war.
‘Rihinshtetten in the south is another problem.’
In other words, the Demon Realm border was not the only place short on people. Everywhere else was much the same.
Naurillia’s condition was worse than Crang had expected.
If things went wrong, they could be swallowed by the south or forced to fear incursions from the Demon Realm, and Azpen had not fully tucked in its tail either, so it remained a nuisance.
“So?”
For some reason, he could almost hear Enkrid asking that.
‘Right. So what.’
He was already seated on the throne. Crang had to do what he had to do.
Oara, the knight guarding the Demon Realm border, sent the usual request form.
Short on hands, so send people who can fight.
“If possible, over five hundred troops. If that is impossible, then at least three to four junior knight class fighters, and they must be accompanied by a trained Ranger unit. This is difficult to accept. Please consider what is currently underway in the capital. Both are impossible. It is right to end this by sending Sir Eisia with ten soldiers attached.”
Inspired by the public security policy used by the Border Guard, they had begun roadwork on nearby routes and were lining those roads with outposts.
Simple work, but labor-intensive.
While doing that, they also had to clear nearby demon creatures and magic beasts and keep bandit bastards in check, the kind that popped up from nowhere like fresh-baked bread.
There was no room to rotate troops.
Was that all?
They had earned recognition from the people, yet idiots who were starting to entertain other thoughts were beginning to appear.
Was it really right for a bastard son to hold that position, that was the talk.
Of course, more than half of those people had been manipulated by foreign schemes.
In truth, all proper nobles and officials were on Crang’s side.
Crang dropped the tangled thoughts.
He turned his mind toward what was urgent and what had to be done now.
If he did not take broad strides, he would barely take a few steps before death.
‘Whose dream is bigger, mine or yours?’
That was what he wanted to ask that bastard Enkrid.
Crang looked toward the colored glass window. Dark clouds had gathered, and the sky looked dull.
“Or there is another way.”
It was Marquis Baisar.
“What?”
Crang turned his gaze from the window to the marquis.
“Does Border Guard not have a force stronger than junior knights?”
“If I tell him to go, will he go?”
“If the king commands it, should he not naturally obey?”
“But that’s the Demon Slayer, is it not?”
“So you are saying he would disobey a royal command?”
After the marquis spoke, nobles tossed in comments one after another.
“Naurillia has a system called the Soldier-Mercenary System, Your Majesty.”
Marcus backed him up.
“Use the form of a request and provide compensation.”
The marquis followed.
“The state treasury is empty.”
Crang said it the instant the marquis finished.
Their three voices clicked one after another like stage lines.
“We are securing trade routes and earning Krona, yes, but it will still be difficult to produce food independently by sowing crops and breeding from precious stud stock. On the surface things look smooth, but in truth we still lack much.”
The marquis spoke again.
“As it happens, there are people in this room deeply versed in exactly those areas...”
Marcus picked up the line, and the marquis added more.
Looking at them, Crang thought the two were quite alike.
They moved in perfect rhythm.
Of course, he matched that rhythm too.
One southern noble family known for breeding excellent stud horses for generations listened and tried to agree, but something felt strange.
‘So we are paying all the compensation?’
As nobles, working for the country was right. But recognizing private noble assets was also long-standing law.
He agreed to provide stud seed, and another noble agreed to pass along irrigation techniques for managing farmland.
No one forced them.
It just happened that way as the conversation continued.
“Then let us send the request form, Marquis Baisar?”
“Yes, I will send it.”
With that, the meeting ended.
As for the support request from the Demon Realm border, it was a call made more for lack of hands than for danger, so Crang thought it would not be a bad assignment for Enkrid either.
‘Wouldn’t he want to meet a knight?’
Crang knew Enkrid had already met the Mercenary King, but a knight of a knight order would be different.
Crang did not know Enkrid was already associating with Ragna and Sinar.
= = =
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
