WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 438: A Foolish, Stupid Thing.

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The bandit gang had been lining their pockets lately by robbing merchant caravans passing through this area.

They did not even have a name. At their center stood Swordsman Jack.

He was a former mercenary turned bandit, known for swinging a broad blade without recoil.

To be exact, he was a deserter, but while robbing people, he had no reason to lay out his whole past piece by piece.

Jack brushed past the man who had stepped forward and moved up himself.

'So he can swing a sword a bit and already forgot fear? Or is he trusting that Frog?'

In moments like this, all he had to do was break the pride of the one standing at the very front. After that, the rest would crawl on their own.

That was why.

Clang.

Without a word, Jack drew his sword and brought it down.

A path close to perfect, one he had only felt a few times in his life, carved through the air.

Jack felt it as he swung.

Sometimes luck struck and gave him moments like this. Moments when a cut sharper than his actual skill came out.

A gap carved out of split time.

He targeted the black-haired man at the very front. Anyone could see he was the center of the group.

Kill the leader, and the rest would be easy.

Frog bothered him, but Jack was confident.

If he worked just a little harder, he was skilled enough to reach junior knight level himself.

'Damn knight bastards.'

For no reason, those bastards came to mind.

'But why does time feel this slow?'

Everything around him seemed to slow down. In that stretch, something shot past him.

Faster than the raccoon he had seen in the mountains as a child.

Back then, he had only seen a shadow, so his friend said it was a rabbit, and he said it was a raccoon.

It really had been a raccoon.

As he thought that, Jack suddenly saw sky and ground flip.

Huh?

Before he could even register the dizziness, he saw a body still standing.

A man stood there with his neck gone, still in the middle of a swing.

The clothes looked strangely similar to his own.

His thoughts ended there.

After taking Jack's head in one strike, Enkrid flicked his sword from a horizontal finishing posture.

Bandit blood on Aker dripped to the ground.

Swordsman Jack had recently become a known mercenary name. He had also been a soldier who held out on the Demon Realm frontier, then deserted.

He knew the layout of this region and had planned to grab a big score and disappear.

Less than a month after turning to banditry, he met Enkrid.

Jack was never the kind of man who should die in one slash. Yet that was exactly how he died.

"Run!"

The remaining bandits fled at once. Even the one holding a bow could not bring himself to draw the string.

Of course. Swordsman Jack was the reason this bandit group had survived this long.

If not for him, they would not have bothered doing this here in the first place.

That terrifying Jack had just been beheaded in one cut. Fear seized them instantly. The rest scattered in every direction on pure instinct.

Enkrid did not bother chasing them.

"Leave them. They'll die on their own anyway."

Rem said, wiping his nose. Of course they would. In land crawling with Demon Creatures, they split up and ran like that?

It was almost like praying to the sky to kill them.

They had already run into quite a few Demon Creature and Magic Beast packs on the way here.

Bandits attacking them was unusual, but Demon Creatures or Magic Beasts attacking was close to normal.

From the outside, did they not just look like a group of four?

Some groups had even tried ambushes, but no one here was getting caught just because a Demon Creature used its head.

Before that, it was rare for Demon Creatures or Magic Beasts to even get past Dunbakel's sense of smell.

"That was weak."

Dunbakel said.

"Looks like it's the season when guys like that run wild."

Ruagarne added.

She looked like she knew something, so they asked.

"There are times when Demon Creatures surge in like waves. A lot of troublesome ones come too, and then people fight without sleep. The pay is low, and if you slip up, you're dead, so of course some people run. Even so, that group was pretty large."

There had been more than twenty bandits gathered around one man. Were they all deserters?

Hearing Ruagarne brought up old memories.

To be exact, he remembered something an old comrade once said.

"This is a foolish, stupid thing."

Enkrid had answered that he knew.

"We need to run."

That was what the man insisted.

A man-eating bear that had turned into a Magic Beast attacked a village. It was a village that had only just started, barely gathering people.

It was not a request. They had only stopped while passing by, and it happened.

His comrade's words were reasonable.

Enkrid knew that too.

"Is it foolish or stupid? With our skills, staying here is suicide!"

The comrade got angry. Back then, Enkrid did it anyway, even knowing it was stupid.

The bear that had become a Magic Beast ate people, and Enkrid saw one of the dead person's children crying.

A child who had barely survived, and might not survive much longer.

It was obvious more children like that would follow.

A child who lost their mother.

A mother who lost her child.

A person who lost their lover.

A person who lost their friend.

A person who lost their comrade.

Things like that were common across the continent. The threat of Demon Creatures was always like a blade pressed under your throat.

People were dying. He could plainly see it.

Even so, should he turn away just because what stood before him was dangerous?

Even knowing there were people struggling to live?

Enkrid came out of his thoughts and looked down at his own palm.

It was full of scars where calluses had split again and again.

What had he meant to do when he first took up a sword with this hand?

It was a sword raised to protect what stood behind him.

He chose to live that way, and that was why he was here now. So not stopping was only natural.

"Let's go."

Enkrid said.

What was different from the past was this. Back then, he only had comrades who turned away from him, but not now.

"Let's do it."

A barbarian who followed as if it were nothing.

"Yeah, let's go."

He also had a Beastfolk with blinking golden eyes, and Frog.

'Should I call this a luxurious group?'

That thought suddenly crossed Enkrid's mind.

Honestly, these were people who could grind down most Demon Creatures the moment they met them.

They had already done exactly that until now.

* * *

The group headed straight for the frontier, staying in villages when they found one and camping when they did not.

None of them were awkward with camping.

They were used to it.

Anyway, tonight was another camp.

There seemed to be no small villages nearby, probably because a large city was close.

Soon they would see the city that guarded the Demon Realm frontier.

Before sunset, they found a spot where two rocks blocked left and right, leveled the ground, and lit a fire.

Dunbakel caught rabbits, and Rem minced them and cooked stew.

"If you can cook like this, why are you like that in the barracks?"

Dunbakel asked, genuinely curious, and Rem grinned as he answered.

"This is field cooking. That's proper cooking."

"Then how about only doing field cooking from now on?"

Sometimes Enkrid thought Dunbakel had no fear. It did not seem intentional, but still.

"It's been a while, right?"

Rem asked while slurping stew. A drop of broth ran down the outside of the wooden bowl.

"What has?"

"Sparring."

"It hasn't been that long."

It had. Dunbakel was fearless because Rem had been quiet for some reason. But now he seemed back to normal.

"Come out after you finish eating. Beastfolk can regrow a leg or two, right?"

"I can't!"

"Ah, was that Frog?"

Rem knew how to torment people. At times like this, he really did talk well.

If only he taught like this too.

As Enkrid watched, Ruagarne, sitting beside him, spoke.

"For some reason, the atmosphere feels worse than before."

"What does?"

"Just a feeling."

"Does it?"

"That's why. Want to learn Frog's step?"

The conversation did not connect, but Enkrid did not question it. This was part of learning. He knew how to set aside minor awkwardness.

He set down his empty bowl. They could wash dishes later at the stream they had already spotted.

If Dunbakel did not pass out, they could just make her do it.

As expected, Ruagarne's teaching was enjoyable.

"Bend the knee of the rear leg first. Then drive force into it all at once to gain the burst that launches you forward. Before that, show the front leg so the opponent does not notice you are closing distance. It's called Tree Frog Step."

It was more of a charging step than swordsmanship.

In a way, it was closer to a Vallen-style mercenary sword technique.

You feinted with the front leg, then exploded forward with the rear leg.

Besides that, Frog taught several more steps.

On the way here, she had also explained how to jump off a wagon, how to fight on horseback, how to fight a rider from under a horse, how to handle a Demon Creature you had never seen before, and eleven secrets for blocking arrows.

The best method among those arrow-blocking secrets was a shield.

Still, she said practicing with a sword was not bad either.

She really was an excellent teacher.

"Yeah, that's pretty good."

Even Rem, who had been listening from the side, nodded.

Enkrid was an ordinary man who worked hard to master one thing whenever he was taught one thing.

Ruagarne broke every process into pieces for him.

He even learned things like jumping off rocks while holding a sword in each hand, rolling, and recovering balance.

Today, step training alone made time fly.

Before they knew it, night had come with a bright moon, and Dunbakel did the dishes.

She was limping after getting hit by Rem, and anyone looking at her would have felt bad.

"One more limp and I'll cut it off."

At Rem's words, Dunbakel's walk returned to normal at once. She had been faking it.

Her acting is pretty good.

Thinking that, Enkrid went to the stream and washed off his sweat.

Then he came back, cleaned up his spot, lay down, and slept.

Lying there, Enkrid used his dream to continue training.

It started with basic steps like lunge, passing, and gathering, then moved to steps that erased distance and steps that confused distance.

After waking, they cleaned up, reheated yesterday's leftover stew, ate, and moved again.

Summer should have been ending, but by the time they came this far, it had grown hotter and the air had turned damp.

Ruagarne liked this weather, and Dunbakel did not care, but it was not pleasant weather.

Frog originally liked this kind of wet weather, and Dunbakel's specialty was not washing, so they seemed fine.

After rain fell once in the middle of the trip, the air grew even more humid.

On the way, Enkrid felt like he had forgotten something.

'I forgot.'

He had left without saying anything to Sinar. She had asked him to tell her next time he went somewhere, if he remembered right, but Kraiss would probably explain it properly.

He walked on with that rough thought in mind.

"Rancid smell. Magic Beast."

Dunbakel said it, and Enkrid felt killing intent in his gut.

This was an official road. A road toward the city. Not a path formed by footsteps, but one paved with stone.

Magic Beasts, in the middle of a road like this?

No matter how hungry they were, this could not be common.

Especially with the gate city that blocked the Demon Realm frontier right ahead.

"Grrr!"

Several hounds affected by beastification appeared. They were far larger than ordinary dogs.

After bandits came Magic Beasts. It was not like they had seen no Demon Creatures on the road, but Magic Beasts appearing here was a different issue.

This area was on the inner side of the city zone. In other words, the side opposite the Demon Realm.

A few ghouls showing up might make sense, but hounds affected by beastification should not be bursting out here.

"Is the situation bad?"

Ruagarne blinked her big eyes and puffed her cheek.

She had done various things at the royal palace before and knew this side of affairs to some degree.

It looked like the number of Demon Creatures coming out near the Demon Realm frontier was far from small.

Otherwise, there was no way hound-type Magic Beasts would be roaming here.

The bandits earlier had been the same.

Normally, a bandit group could not stay active in this region.

If they robbed people openly, knights would come out and slice their throats clean, so who would do bandit work near here?

'Control is failing?'

Watching events unfold, Ruagarne started making several inferences.

Every one of them was bad.

In the meantime, four Magic Beasts charged in fearlessly.

While Dunbakel stepped out and cut the necks of two with her curved sword, one attacked the horse carrying their baggage.

It did it by circling to the side, then sprinting in.

It slipped through short brush, pretended to run away, then suddenly clamped onto the horse's neck. It launched itself off the ground and struck in one burst.

If it had been Odd-Eye, maybe it would not have fallen for it, but the horse they had brought this far was a normal riding horse.

It was not trained as a warhorse.

As soon as its neck was bitten, the horse let out a sorrowful cry.

Hiiiiing!

Horse blood spilled over the hound's hide. The hide drank it in and darkened to black-red.

It was an unexpected attack. It did not target Dunbakel from behind, and it did not target the other companions glaring with killing intent. It targeted the horse?

'Smart.'

Were Magic Beasts this clever? Even its size was abnormal.

It looked like a Magic Beast that had learned tactics, showing a half-hearted charge to bait attention, then targeting the horse.

Ruagarne kicked the Magic Beast that killed the horse and killed it.

Yelp, gghk!

Frog strength filled the kick, the beast's belly split, and its guts spilled out.

"This is strange."

Ruagarne pulled back her extended leg and kept repeating similar words.

This region was under the control of the Red Cloak Knights. Magic Beasts could appear, and Demon Creatures could appear too. But there were too many, too often.

"Too many."

"The smell is still coming."

After Ruagarne's words, Dunbakel added that.

Rem turned his gaze.

He felt something bad too. They had come near the Demon Realm, but this side was still under the city walls, so this road should have been relatively safe.

Otherwise, they would not have built such a well-maintained official road.

Enkrid checked the horse's neck. It was beyond saving. It had been bitten by a Magic Beast, so with bad luck it could turn into one.

"I'm sorry."

They had grown attached while traveling together this far, and it felt like he had not taken proper care of it.

Hiiing.

The horse cried. Enkrid cut its throat.

Horse blood soaked the stone road. Stepping through the flowing blood, Enkrid spoke.

"Let's keep going."

If turning back was not an option, then going forward was the only choice.

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