WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 685: Remede Omnia

= = =

Shhhhhh.

Fog and Scalers were a natural pair. That was why the Fog of Annihilation had been deployed.

There were four knights here, though.

Ordinary Demon Creatures could not even buy time against that. Ragna proved it first.

His greatsword cut down the Scaler that had been made into a Sorcery Medium. Under normal circumstances, that should not have been easy. The medium had been lurking at the back, keeping as much distance as possible, doing nothing but roll its eyes. How had he chased it down and killed it?

Ragna had simply walked forward and stepped directly into the enemy's encirclement.

If Demon Creatures had been intelligent, it would have been exactly the kind of charge worth calling suicidal.

If they want to hit from behind, then fine, surround yourself with enemies on every side and cut them all down without bothering to sort front from back.

Ragna's thinking was that simple.

The medium dying from that unexpected charge was where the Scaler pack's mistake began.

'The fog would not have mattered much anyway.'

With that settled in his mind, Enkrid took the hand of the lady in the amber dress and danced. His feet never stopped moving, stepping and turning, and the sword he swung caught a Scaler across the head.

Schick!

The head of the one caught on the true silver blade came clean off without the slightest resistance. The hardest iron added weight, lending force to the speed, while the meteorite iron held the center of gravity.

It went beyond a clean cut. The feel of it through his grip was lively enough to lift his spirits.

'This is something else.'

Had Aetri's skill improved, or was it the difference in materials?

'Both, probably.'

It fit his hand better than any hardest iron or true silver he had received before. The way it wrapped his grip felt like Lady Three-Iron was speaking to him.

That she was glad to have found such a partner.

'Same here.'

Enkrid murmured that inwardly, the sort of thing that would earn him another round of madman remarks if anyone heard it, and kept moving his feet, helping the lady dance.

It was not random movement. He circled around Ann as the center, round and round.

With his thoughts sharpened and his senses keen, he accounted for every attack that came in. He kept to the wave-break form, thrusting and cutting whenever a gap opened, over and over.

His circling kept everything, Scalers and Plague Brides alike, from closing within a certain distance.

Ann felt like she was standing in the eye of an amber-colored typhoon.

"The Plague Bride's breath is poison too," she said.

No one reacted. From the start, they had been cutting and stabbing without keeping their distance, and there were no Brides left.

Ann could barely see what was happening, but she had needed to say it anyway.

It did not even take half a day for the entire Scaler pack to die.

The last few tried to feign retreat, pressing their bellies flat against the ground and crawling toward Ann, but it was just as useless.

Magroon ran around stabbing the ground with his sword again and again.

Thud, crack!

A few dead Magic Beasts were scattered here and there, but that was all. The lizard Magic Beasts numbered fewer than five. Ragna had killed every one of them.

'In terms of raw combat strength, the Magic Beasts were probably the bigger threat.'

That was how Enkrid saw it. The Scalers were dangerous because they had a trick for deceiving even a knight's senses.

They cried out, shhhhh, vibrating the air and disturbing perception.

They gave off no natural scent, so detecting them by smell was difficult, the hardest way to catch them, really.

Natural enemies of the Beastfolk, perhaps.

They had methods for subtly interfering with touch, hearing, and smell all at once.

The answer was simply to check with your eyes and cut and stab. Confirm each one, and the sixth sense pricking at the back of the skull would tell you when they were close.

'There is no way a knight should fall to things like that easily.'

They were a nuisance, nothing more. No spells or sorcery had come in to complicate things partway through.

He had spent a good while enjoying himself with a fine partner, swinging his sword with real pleasure, and when he came back to himself the question surfaced.

'Why did they attack? Why spend this much against us?'

The reason became clear after the fight ended.

Thud, crack-crunch!

Ragna drove his greatsword through the skull of the last one. He shoved the blade in and twisted his wrist, and skull fragments scattered in every direction. Brain matter and black blood spilled from the split head.

Grida, who had been watching the perimeter, furrowed her brow.

"These bastards."

Her gaze had gone somewhere far behind what they had been using as a battlefield. They had moved forward to keep the horses out of the fight, and now something unexpected was visible at the rear.

The horses that had carried them from Border Guard lay on the ground with their throats cut. Bright red blood poured from their necks and spread across the black soil, turning dark crimson.

"They took all the water and food."

Magroon moved to check where the horses had been gathered and reported it. Since they had been riding, there had been no need to carry gear themselves, so everything had been loaded into the saddlebags, and their packs had been draped over the horses' backs.

All of it was gone.

'Was I too absorbed in the fight?'

Enkrid was not the type to be crushed by a mistake. Not that he refused to reflect on one, either.

So he spent a moment reviewing the situation with tactical thinking.

That was what had prompted the question he put to himself. His answer to whether he had been too absorbed in the fight.

'No.'

This had been the enemy's target from the beginning. The Scalers and the Plague Bride had been sent for exactly this purpose.

One disrupted the senses, and the other paralyzed the nose.

On top of that.

'They even used a bold spell that risked giving away their position.'

If things had broken a little better when he blocked that fireball, he might have pinpointed the sorcerer's location.

'He could have pushed harder and done it.'

The problem was that pushing harder meant putting Ann's life on the scale, so he had not.

'What if he had called Ragna over to guard her and moved himself?'

When it came purely to detection ability, he was the better choice.

Of course, he might have still missed them. And it was already done, not worth picking apart further. Even if the same situation came again, he could not easily leave Ann's side.

'The enemy revealed the sorcerer's existence for this too.'

Kill a few horses, wipe out the water and preserved food. That was what all of this had been for.

"Feels like they're trying to drive us back."

That was Enkrid's conclusion. Either that, or...'That sorcerer uses repeated spells to arrange things into the shape he wants.'

What if that sorcerer thought the way Krais did?

"The horse road is finished and they pull this, they're after our supplies," Grida said, reading the situation as a guide. Nothing good about it. But there was no need to be at a loss, either.

Mountains lay ahead. Threatening for ordinary people, maybe, but not for her.

Mountains had food everywhere. The weather was warming, so there would be grass, berries, fruit, and animals to hunt. Water could be replenished along the way without much trouble.

"We push on."

Enkrid had reached the same conclusion. He said it and glanced at Ann. His eyes held a question.

It looked like he was telling her she could turn back anytime she wanted.

Ann bit down on her back teeth. Someone with malice was targeting her. That was not a pleasant thing.

But she would not flinch here and retreat. Absolutely not.

"I am a healer. Curing every disease in the world is my goal."

And besides, what was waiting in Zaun was one of the reasons her family had been taken from her.

"Right," Enkrid said.

Ann steeled herself and spoke again.

The amber liquid's effect seemed to have run its course. It dissolved from the blade and ran down to the ground.

"I'm not the lady anymore, am I? Just fight normally from here."

She was probably talking to settle her own nerves.

Enkrid responded in kind.

"Next time, make it a black tailcoat."

Ann's reply was the highest of compliments.

"...That order name is never going to change, is it."

The group moved forward again. The habit of keeping all weapons on their persons meant everything lost was blankets, a pot, cups, and food.

The blankets could be replaced by draping cloaks. Ragna pulled the cloak from around his waist and handed it to Ann.

He did not usually bother wearing it, calling it a nuisance.

It was lucky it had been at his waist at all. If not, it would have been taken too.

"Oh, thank you."

Ann took the cloak, folded it in half, and wrapped it around herself. She stepped forward in the dark navy cloak.

"Let's go."

"Yeah, let's."

Grida echoed her, and Magroon nodded.

It seemed both of them had decided something was happening inside the Zaun family. What else could explain everything that had occurred so far?

The fact that all of this was happening before they had even reached imperial territory left an uneasy feeling in both of them.

They began walking.

Enkrid walked beside Ann and asked, "What is the Panacea, and what is the Remedium Omnia?"

"Pardon?"

Ann turned to look at him, blinking. The open land seemed to recede behind them, and after a few low hills, patches of grass sprouting from the ground welcomed the group underfoot.

Walking through the grass, the terrain gradually began to rise.

They had started climbing the mountain range. The increasing number of trees around them said the same thing.

"Where did you hear that? It has the same meaning as Elixir, but Panacea is the word the elf race uses. Some scholars also say that dissolving the philosopher's stone produces the same effect."

Enkrid knew the word Elixir. He had heard it described as the water of life, a medicine that cured all illness.

It appeared often in the stories traveling bards told.

Not the bards who recited historical fact, but the ones whose stories brimmed with legends and things meant to hold interest.

In some stories it was a golden apple. In others, a potion inside a glass bottle that kept moving on its own.

But whether it truly existed was another matter. No alchemist on the continent had managed to produce it. It remained a mystery.

"Remedium Omnia is a concept from alchemy. Loosely put, it means a form that cures all disease."

"Is something like that real?"

Enkrid asked. Grida, walking just beside him, cut in.

"Now and then a wandering alchemist shows up claiming to have that kind of medicine, and every single time it turns out to be closer to poison. Medicine and poison are barely a step apart, aren't they."

Ann looked at Grida and spoke.

"Do you have knowledge of alchemy? You are right. Even poison, used properly, can become medicine. And medicine used wrongly becomes poison. There are medicines that turn to poison in excess, and poisons that become medicine in small amounts."

"So the question is whether something that cures all disease can actually exist."

Grida said it in a flat tone. Enkrid just listened quietly.

Ann did not answer right away. She walked along a path with tree roots jutting up through it and looked toward a lone tree standing in the distance.

Small beads of sweat had formed on her forehead. She was not particularly weak physically, and the group was walking at a pace that considered her, but it was still tiring.

'A bit further and I should have Ragna carry her.'

Enkrid thought that to himself, and Ann took a few more steps before she spoke.

"Everyone who studies the healing branch of alchemy dreams of the Elixir. I decided early on that every single one of those attempts was foolish."

So she was saying it did not exist.

Ann's talent had stood out even among those who had studied alongside her. The alchemist Raban had coveted her gift and resented it in equal measure.

That was why, even though Raban had passed on only part of his knowledge, Ann had surpassed his level of healing long before it should have been possible.

Just as there were geniuses in swordsmanship, there were geniuses in alchemy.

Ann herself thought she had grasped the principles only because luck had helped her again and again, but what she called luck was a matter of a few ideas suddenly occurring to her.

To anyone watching, that was what you called talent.

Because her talent was so exceptional, she understood that an Elixir was something that could never be made. A medicine that existed only in legend, nothing more.

"But what if you change your perspective a little? People believe the words Elixir, Panacea, Remedium Omnia refer to a medicine, don't they."

"Your perspective?"

Grida asked. Enkrid held still and focused on listening.

"What if it is not a medicine, but a title?"

Ann answered.

Something stirred in Enkrid at those words.

'A shift in thinking.'

If it was a title rather than a medicine, the legendary potion did not exist. But.

"That is my dream. Remedium Omnia. My goal is to become a person who cures all disease."

A person could exist. That was Ann's dream.

Hearing those words, Enkrid had a sudden sense that he understood what the enemy wanted. Shifting his thinking from a tactical standpoint, the enemy's intent came into view.

"I can smell water."

Grida said it just then and led the group forward. Over a small hill, a lake of modest size came into view.

The water was clear, and behind it a steep path was visible. Water had pooled in a hollow in the terrain. It may have been groundwater rising to the surface, there was a cold bite to the air around it. They still had a few canteens, so they were not short on containers.

But.

"Wait."

Enkrid stopped Grida and looked at Ann.

"Can you check whether the water is safe?"

"What? Yes. Of course."

Alchemy was a discipline that examined even the quality of water. That was why among those particular about their tea water, many had ties to alchemists.

Marcus had said as much more than once.

"Know one alchemist and finding good water gets easy. The best of all is said to be the morning dew that elves make."

Ann approached the water source, filled a canteen, and let a few drops of liquid fall into it.

She always carried a small pack, and inside it were reagents she never let leave her person.

"You must not drink this. Drinking it would let toxins build up in your organs. It is not fatal, but you should not drink it regardless."

What the enemy was after was clear.

"They knew this water source was contaminated and went after our supplies because of that?"

Magroon muttered.

"Or they poisoned it in advance."

Enkrid heard what Grida added, though that much could not be verified.

Whether someone had poisoned the water or it had been tainted from the start, one thing was certain. The road ahead was not going to be easy.

Drinking a little of this water would not put someone who wielded Will on the ground, so the enemy's aim this time was also obvious.

'Ann.'

The reason was still unknown. The enemy's identity was unknown. But something had started to simmer in him.

What was simmering.

The will to never give the other side what they wanted, whatever that was.

And he was not the only one simmering.

"The nerve of these bastards."

A sharp, crude mutter shot out of Ann's small mouth, carrying bite and contempt.

It sounded like a declaration. Not that Ann was impressed, not in the least.

= = =

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried