WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ I Became the Dark Knight in the Game World ◈

Chapter 34: A Short Recollection, a Long Recollection (2)

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At the very back of the group of mages stood a girl with pink hair.

It was a hair color rarely seen in the world where Kriel had originally lived. A vivid pink, bright enough that one could safely say it never occurred naturally. Yet in Tirnanog, unusual hair colors like that were not uncommon.

But more than the color of her hair, what drew Kriel's attention was who she was.

"Oh."

It was a familiar face. A mage he had intended to meet after coming to the Empire.

The young lady of Count Kett's household, who had completely shattered Kriel's fantasies about mages.

"It's been a while, Armede. No, since you've returned to Count Kett's household, should I call you Lady Armede?"

Armede's eyes trembled as she looked at Kriel, his hand raised in greeting.

* * *

For a moment, Armede felt as though time had stopped. When she had first thought, That voice sounds familiar, she had been able to dismiss it easily.

How many times had she turned around after noticing white hair and hearing a similar voice, only to be disappointed?

This time would be the same. Just a stranger with a few similarities. Armede reached for the resignation she had taught herself.

Then, as she stepped beyond the barrier after settling her shaken heart, familiar white hair suddenly came into view.

It was neither the cold, unyielding white hair inherited from the northern frost nor the dignified white hair of an old person naturally bleached by time.

It was pale and ominous, like skeletal remains.

White hair that only she could embrace.

No matter how much she tried to deny it, there could not be another person in this world with such white hair and such ominous eyes.

He casually raised a hand to greet her, as if the years of separation had never happened.

Something began to boil inside Armede.

He was the man who had coldly left her behind.

No, perhaps abandoned was not the right word. Still, he had been cold. He had tried to disappear without a word, and she had only heard a farewell because she had woken before dawn and waited for him.

And that man had never once shown his face at the society gatherings over the past few years.

Now he was appearing as if nothing had happened?

* * *

Seeing Armede stare at Kriel with trembling eyes, the members of the Abyss Eradication Society cautiously stepped back.

Could he be the society head's creditor this time instead of ours?

T-that can't be. House Kett is incredibly wealthy...

Isn't the Count's wealth being poured into research that doesn't make any money?

As Armede remained silent, Kriel awkwardly lowered his raised hand.

There was something ominous about the silence. Orisin, sensing dark clouds gathering over the hope they had finally found, hurriedly whispered.

[You know each other, don't you?]

"I told you before we came. I remember her, but I wasn't sure whether she'd remember me. Looks like I acted familiar for no reason..."

He seemed to think he had spoken quietly, but at this distance, there was no way she would not hear him. Armede whispered softly.

"I remember."

"Oh. That's a relief. I didn't know you were the organizer of this society."

How could he say that?

Armede swallowed the emotions that refused to become words.

She had founded this society because of what he had said when he left. He had only told her his name before leaving, so she had had no way to find him.

She had thought that if she created a society to research ways of purifying the Abyss, as he had asked, perhaps he would come looking for her.

And now he finally appeared, only to say that?

Armede took a deep breath to calm the turmoil inside her. As she had always been advised while working alongside him as a mercenary, a mage needed to remain calm.

"Yes. It's been a while, Kriel."

"I'm honored that the young lady of House Kett remembers my name."

Armede looked around. The society members were watching the two of them with confused expressions.

"Leave."

"Pardon?"

"All of you, leave. I'll call if I need you."

Armede waved her hand. Her pink hair, falling to her shoulders, swayed with the motion. The mages were deeply interested in their society head's personal relationships, but their fear of their financial backer outweighed their curiosity.

Once the last member had left, only Armede and Kriel remained in the hall. Kriel naturally turned and stepped down from the stage, then held out a hand.

It was a gesture offering support so she would not fall. A signal to escort her.

Damn it...

Armede cursed both Kriel, who had probably offered his hand without thinking, and herself for feeling her heart race anyway. Rather than taking his hand, she trudged down the steps toward the round table below the stage.

Kriel rubbed his chin once, then pulled out a chair for Armede without much thought before sitting across from her.

[Hey. Are you sure you two parted on good terms? Why is she being so cold?]

"No. Armede was always like that. Even when she worked as a mercenary, she had a noble disposition and enjoyed contemplating things alone."

[You said she's a noble lady. Why was she a mercenary?]

"As part of her training. In the County of Kett, the most talented mage among the children traditionally succeeds as the head of the family."

Listening to him explain it so casually made her insides twist. Armede held back a sigh as she watched the exchange between Kriel and the unicorn Spirit.

[So what, then? Were you fellow mercenaries?]

Kriel fell into thought for a moment. Fellow mercenaries.

They had not actually belonged to the same mercenary company. Kriel had always acted as an independent mercenary, while Armede, though she had volunteered to work as a mercenary for training, was still the Count's daughter.

She had a separate mercenary company for herself, more like an escort force made up of people from Count Kett's household. Kriel and Armede had only been assigned to the same requests a few times.

Considering even their last meeting, their relationship could be summed up as...

"We were employer and employee. I worked under her for a while."

"How can you reduce it to that!?"

Armede shouted in disbelief. Was the event that had changed her life only that much to him?

"It would take too long to explain everything. And it's accurate when you summarize it."

"You really are an idiot!"

Seeing Armede growl at Kriel as though she wanted to devour him, Orisin grew curious. What had happened between them?

[Don't start fighting. Sit down first, then tell me what happened between you two to make this such an enthusiastic reunion.]

Armede, who had been breathing heavily, closed her eyes for a moment before calming down. Kriel spoke with his usual blank expression.

"Nothing much happened. Monsters came to the territory, and I happened to be in the right place. That's all."

"That's exactly why you can't summarize it like that!"

Armede recalled the calamity that had invaded the County of Kett.

It went by different names depending on where it appeared. In some places, it was called the Procession of a Hundred Ghosts. Elsewhere, the Procession of the Dead.

Its best-known name was the Wild Hunt. A stormy night when inhuman monsters poured forth.

When Count Kett was felled by an unknown curse and the territory's barrier collapsed, Kriel had stepped forward to block the procession of horrors.

"I keep telling you, I was lucky. The leader of the force that leads the Wild Hunt differs by region, and the leader of the Wild Hunt that appeared in your territory was one that could be reasoned with."

"Really? Because it accepted your challenge to a duel?"

Kriel explained slowly. That much did mean it could be reasoned with. Since it was a Wraith King that had once been human, rather than some giant beast condensed from a storm or the remains of a Demon, his trick of buying time through a duel had worked.

If something other than a Wraith King had manifested as the leader of the Wild Hunt, the village would have been swept away before he could even propose a duel.

[Huh?]

Orisin looked at Kriel in surprise. The Wild Hunt was a calamity ranked alongside the war machines left behind by ancient dwarven civilization. Though lesser than the Abyss, it was one of the Three Calamities that threatened humanity.

In terms of scale alone, the horde of wraiths in the Wild Hunt could not compare to the Automaton, the legacy of an entire civilization. Yet it was considered a calamity because of the immortality of its wraiths and its ability to appear anywhere across the continent without warning.

If Kriel had fought and won against such a calamity, he deserved to be praised as that region's hero.

Kriel answered with the same expressionless face.

"I didn't win."

[Ah. Then I suppose...]

"What do you mean, then!?"

Armede shook her head. Normally, one did not describe challenging a Wraith King to a duel and holding it off alone from midnight until dawn as not winning.

Backlit by the rising sun, Kriel had been supporting himself with his sword. His armor was utterly shattered, his right arm bent at an angle it should never have bent, and his legs looked barely capable of keeping him standing.

The knight, who had endured without letting go of his sword until the Wraith King completely vanished, had answered that way when asked what reward he wanted.

"One coin."

Then he had left.

Seriously, did he not realize how extraordinary what he had done was? She had wanted to repay him somehow, but he had only taken a single coin...!

Author's Note

Day 2!

Footnotes:

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