WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 506: Coming to Say Hello

= = =

Past Martai and on to the east.

The journey was not as grueling as Dunbakel had expected. Running into Demon Creatures and Magic Beasts was ordinary enough, but their numbers had fallen sharply compared to before.

That made sense.

Outposts had been built all along the road from Border Guard to Martai.

The soldiers stationed at those outposts rotated through shifts with one job: kill Demon Creatures and hold the line.

Banditry had not filled the gap, either.

There was an old saying on the continent: when Demon Creatures thin out, bandits thrive.

If demonic activity dropped off, people traveled more freely, and bandits would naturally settle wherever the foot traffic was. But not here.

"Get caught banditry and lose your head. Get caught stealing and lose your hand."

The Frontier Guard commander who had become lord of Martai ran the city the same way things were handled back at Border Guard.

That was also why criminal guilds never got a foothold.

Maelrun the Frog sometimes wandered over because he was bored, and every time some mercenary or swordsman caused trouble, he beat them senseless without a second thought.

"If you think that's unfair, come find me at Border Guard."

Ever since fighters stronger than him had started piling up at Border Guard, Maelrun had developed a new hobby: taking the occasional stroll out here whenever the frustration built up.

Word had spread at one point that anyone who actually took him up on that offer would find a muscle-bound monster forcing them through drills.

Dunbakel heard similar stories as she passed through and nodded. Sounded about right.

When Border Guard began producing stronger soldiers and pouring more into military readiness, Martai naturally followed.

"Will you disgrace the name of the Frontier Guard?!"

Torres drove his troops harder than ever. He was not about to let the unit's storied reputation slip on his watch.

He refused to let the Frontier Guard become just another forgettable outfit under his command.

As part of training, Torres had sent Frontier Guard soldiers out on outpost duty, and in line with what Krais had wanted, Martai began building outposts of its own.

With a safe road connecting Border Guard to Martai, trading companies naturally started using it more and more.

Martai had always been a kind of gateway city where rare relics and goods from the east filtered through.

The things that crossed over from the east, relics included, carried real value. In the old days the Rockfreed Trading Company might have monopolized all of it, but they played it smart.

Rather than clawing for everything, they took their cut and left the rest alone.

Eastern relics, traveling merchants, peddler caravans, none of them were touched. Pay the toll and they could pass through without trouble.

For trading companies already established across the continent, not heading to Border Guard had become practically asking to be called a fool.

Business was booming. There were no particular local specialties, and Greenfield still had plenty of obstacles before it could become proper farmland, but trade had blossomed, and Krona moved freely as a result.

That was why Martai was so crowded.

Dunbakel tracked down Torres as Enkrid had told her to and managed to secure proper supplies.

"You're heading east? Dangerous, wait, no. You're one of Enkrid's people, aren't you? Handle yourself."

Torres said that much and added one thing more.

"Want me to have a tub filled for you?"

She looked like she hadn't washed properly in days.

"No, I'm fine. I'm leaving now."

Dunbakel moved on just as she was, grimy and all. Out of Martai and east.

At first, a wide wasteland greeted her.

Once she left the stretch where Demon Creatures and bandits were scarce, she started running into creatures she had never seen before.

A two-headed lizard. One head clacked its teeth together to throw sparks, while the other breathed out something like gas.

Put the two together and you got a fire-breathing monster.

Long ago, a fire-breathing lizard Demon Creature called a Salamander had arrived on the continent through divine manifestation, and these were part of what it left behind.

A subspecies of the Salamander, more or less.

People had taken to calling them Flame Lizards, roughly speaking.

In some regions they were simply called Two-Headed Lizards. They were not a common sight.

She walked, killed, and walked some more. The east was far. The road was dull enough that stray thoughts began to drift in.

The Chronicles of Dunbakel, Who Went East and Came Back.

What if she turned that into a story?

A subtitle about honeybees drunk on flowers?

Everyone, Enkrid included, falls for her.

Maybe leave Rem out.

He was married, and Arath was a good person. Dunbakel still remembered Arath looking after her during her time in the west.

She nearly died twice before she reached the eastern frontier city.

That story was long if you told it in full and short if you didn't.

When she finally met the ruler of the east, the Mercenary King Anu, his first words were these.

"Hey, did that bastard get all his fingers chopped off? Why isn't he writing back?"

He was complaining that Enkrid hadn't replied to his letters.

There was no word of welcome for her, but that was fine. When had she ever been welcomed?

It used to bother her a little. Now it didn't matter.

"How would I know."

Dunbakel answered without much feeling.

The king looked at her.

"What did you come here for?"

"To rest."

At the word rest, the eyes of those standing beside the king sharpened.

What did this half-wit Beastfolk just say?

Dunbakel had chosen hardship for herself. That was exactly why she had come.

So.

"So take care of me," she said, without a trace of shame.

* * *

Crang hated politics. Just look at the situation now.

"It seems there are many eyes keeping close watch on Enkrid."

"Why? Are they afraid that if they get friendly with him, I'll take their land and give it to Enki?"

The Marquis of Okto said it with a smile.

"What can you expect? When royal authority grows stronger, nobles grow anxious."

Crang tapped the armrest of his chair.

Why did these self-serving idiots keep appearing no matter how many you got rid of, like mosquitoes.

Just like those annoying creatures that showed up every summer, this sort kept multiplying.

It was not a major concern. You could not tend to every single thing on the road ahead. What was going to fall away would fall away on its own.

Grumbling had come from a few landed nobles in the provinces that Enkrid's domain was too large.

There was even one among them openly saying he would take part of it by force.

Were they out of their minds?

And if they died in the attempt? Crang told them to do as they liked, but they would have to bear the consequences of armed conflict themselves. Some of the landed nobles, perhaps moved by some suicidal impulse from living in such a shallow pond, had agreed to those terms.

Well, foreign meddling seemed to be part of what was driving the behavior, but if they kept screaming that they wanted to die no matter how much anyone warned or soothed them, what more could be said.

"Ah, well, nothing to be done about that. I hear Azpen has been restless."

Seasonal rains had come, and the season now rightly deserved to be called autumn.

Crang spoke while watching leaves slowly turn red beyond the window.

"We have kept every channel open and are gathering information. My assessment: yes, they are preparing for war."

The answer came from the Marquis Bysar, seated beside the Marquis of Okto. Across from the marquis, Marcus Bysar moved his utensils. It was a morning meeting and meal combined.

That meant, instead of sandwiches, a modest steak, roasted broccoli, and mashed potatoes.

Crang detested waste. He had seen too many people starve to death while drifting across the continent as a child.

He believed that reducing what came to the royal table could save dozens or even hundreds of lives. In practice, it had.

Naturally, some nobles disliked it.

Why stop us from enjoying what we deserve?

Crang did not punish them for it. That was their own business. But the royal household set a tone.

A tone of caring for the people and doing one's duty rather than spending freely.

They chafed against that, then raised a fuss about him favoring Enki, then complained that knight cultivation was lacking.

Nobles, honestly.

And now on top of all that, Azpen was picking a fight. Could he pull the knights posted on the southern border and use them here? Could he draw soldiers from the City of Aoara?

He would need knights.

This war was not going to stay a small skirmish the way previous ones had.

Azpen would commit fully. There was nothing they would not do to get Greenfield back. But what were they counting on, coming at him like this?

If he were king of Azpen, this was the time to bow his head to the floor. And yet they were coming anyway, which meant they believed they had something to stand on.

Some people do not treat failure as despair. They see it as a new opening.

Close to home, Enkrid was one of those people.

Maybe somewhere in Azpen there was someone who refused to call failure failure and instead thought: again, one more time.

Having been beaten back so many times before, they would have patched every gap before coming again.

Crang chewed his meat, face unreadable. The well-cooked lamb melted in his mouth.

Nobles, wars, none of it mattered. Meat was meat, and it was good.

"The lamb is done nicely. Please, eat while we talk."

At Marcus's words, the Marquis Bysar moved his hand as well. Age had weakened his bite and made eating meat difficult. He had received holy healing once, but his gums could not be made as healthy as they once were.

Young lamb, though, was soft enough to pull apart even with teeth like his.

"So if Azpen crosses the line, I'm supposed to tell Enki to hold them back with nothing but Border Guard's own strength, is that it?"

Some nobles had been gathering and making noise about cutting into General Enkrid's power. The line going around was that he was lord of the region and the city built to hold Azpen back, so he should fulfill his obligations, something along those lines.

These people had no conscience left to speak of.

Had they forgotten calling him the one who ended the civil war, the Demon Slayer?

Well, provincial nobles probably had not seen Enkrid's feats firsthand.

Those same provincial nobles were the ones driving this now.

Among them were people who did not like the way Count Molsen's territory was being managed like a royal holding.

Idiots who believed that once Count Molsen was dead, part of that county would fall to them.

Crang asked the question, and the Marquis Bysar nodded.

"Even in the worst case, if Border Guard holds for one month, the royal house can send military support."

Knights might be part of that support.

One month at most. They would only have to make a show of fighting.

It looked like a thin pretense, but the point was to demonstrate that Border Guard was fulfilling its role and that Enkrid was the right person for that position.

"As a precaution, I was thinking of sending Viscount Andrew's forces. He would be more than enough help."

Marcus swallowed a piece of meat and said it.

Andrew, the man given land and made lord of the city just beside the capital.

He was building stronger soldiers every day with the royal house's backing, so yes, as Marcus said, he would be of use.

Crang nodded. It was time to write another personal letter.

"But is this fellow busy? Why hasn't he written back?"

He alone had sent more than ten letters, and Enkrid had sent nothing in return.

If he was back, surely he could at least reply.

Hadn't enough time passed since he returned from the west?

* * *

Does he have no sense?

Or perhaps he fought well but thought poorly.

Enkrid read the Mercenary King's letter and thought exactly that.

It was pressing him for a reply. Nothing important in it. So why press for one at all?

Anyone without a rooster's comb on their head should be able to figure out that sending a reply was not a simple thing.

The Mercenary King could manage to get letters delivered using his own people, but sending a reply all the way to the frontier city required at least a squad-sized escort.

Until now, the arrangement had been to leave a reply in Martai for the eastern courier who delivered the letter to take back on his way out.

Which meant the timing had to line up for a reply to go anywhere.

Enkrid had been busy for quite some time, moving back and forth between the City of Aoara and the west.

And yet there were complaints about no reply.

Even setting that aside, it did not seem like the kind of thing that actually required one.

Enkrid went through the letters that had piled up while he was away, one by one. The bulk of them were from the Mercenary King Anu and Crang.

A few useless ones were mixed in.

Letters from noblewomen writing about longing for him, about falling for him at first sight.

A noble's letter asking him to meet his daughter.

Once you set aside the letters from the two kings, about half of what remained were marriage proposals, a quarter were provocations questioning whether his reputation was deserved, and the last quarter were trading companies and the like asking for his favor.

"The bribes must be rolling in too?"

He skimmed through the letters, scribbling a few lines, and asked Krais. Krais nodded.

"Yes, quite a lot. Want some?"

"No."

There was not much he needed. He would have to buy a suit of armor at some point, but the Krona for that could come from a single prod at Krais's side.

Actually, a gambeson, chainmail, and a Plate Cuirass made specifically for him were already prepared.

The gambeson was dyed deep blue, with a sword embroidered across the front in gold.

Whoever made it had apparently left their sense of aesthetics somewhere in a back corner of the Cursed Ground.

It was sturdy, though. The outside was wrapped in the hide of a wolf that had become a Magic Beast, and the inside was padded with trimmed Owlbear feathers. It had some weight to it, but not enough to be a bother.

After roughly writing out and sorting through the letters, Enkrid put on the armor, strapped Aker to his side, and tucked three throwing daggers against his chest.

It was a small office. He rose and headed for the door, and Krais asked from behind.

"Where are you going?"

"To pay a visit."

"To whom?"

"A noble."

That was enough for Krais to know exactly what Enkrid intended.

There was a noble who had been sending clumsy assassins after him and picking fights at every turn.

His domain sat between Border Guard and Count Molsen's territory. Not a small holding, but not one with any real power behind it either.

Then the man had suddenly taken in an adopted son, and the adopted son had supposedly trained under some great master of martial arts. Ever since that master had taken up residence in the domain, the lord had gone completely unhinged.

He had been acting as though part of Count Molsen's territory belonged to him by right, and going around calling Enkrid a lucky swordsman.

"Going alone?"

Krais stood as he asked.

The man had sat down at his desk fully armed and had clearly been itching to leave.

Was there any particular reason to bring a crowd?

Enkrid did not think so.

This was no different from a stroll around the neighborhood, as far as he was concerned.

He set off straight for the noble's domain, and Rem followed along, saying he was bored.

"I'll come with you. I'm bored."

Ragna said he was too tired for this and went to sleep. Ruagarne had thrown herself into training ever since returning from the west.

Fell was still a little down, and Ropord was as lively as ever.

On deep nights with the seasonal rains falling there had been time for this and that kind of talk, and time spent training as always, same as any other day.

The rains that had been falling for days finally stopped. It was one of those days where the temperature had dropped just enough to make walking and moving feel good.

"Are you going to cut his head off?" Rem asked as they set out.

"Don't go straight for someone's neck," Enkrid answered.

The two of them walked off at an easy pace.

It was a bit far to go on foot, and someone had offered them a carriage, but Enkrid shook his head.

He wanted to walk. He had some thoughts to turn over about a path that felt almost within reach and kept slipping away, and he wanted to clear out a few things cluttering his head.

They took ten days walking slowly, training and hunting along the way.

Enkrid reached the noble's domain. As luck would have it, the noble had gone out on a Demon Creature hunt, and the two parties met at the boundary of the estate.

The noble had his son and twenty attendants with him. Enkrid had only Rem.

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