WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ I Became the Dark Knight in the Game World ◈

Chapter 47: The Gabi Trading Company (1)

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Kriel scratched his head. What was she talking about?

“There wasn't even a dubbing ceremony.”

“I gave you the armor.”

Did that count as a dubbing ceremony?

Come to think of it, the original act of dubbing a knight involved striking parts of the body. Analyses of modern knighting rituals stated that this had been simplified into lightly tapping both shoulders with a sword.

Morgina had infused the armor with Divine Power several times. Naturally, as an extension of a laying-on-hands prayer, she had needed to place her hands at various points on the armor.

“Uh...”

“Who recommended you as Champion? Me. Who gave you Champion's armor? Me.”

It was a subtle boast. Morgina herself did not understand why she was flaunting something like this, but she certainly felt better the more she spoke.

“There wasn't any fancy inauguration speech, but doesn't it suit a modest dubbing ceremony performed by clergy?”

Kriel thought of the Head of the Order of Eve Kaha. Had the Head of the Order not said there was no intention of binding Kriel to the position of Champion? More precisely, the implication had been that since no one would become Champion if he refused, he should occupy the position at least temporarily.

“The Head of the Order, Grandma...”

Ah, a mistake. He had heard Morgina call her Grandma so often that the word slipped out.

“Hey! She's only my grandma!”

Morgina's reaction came a beat late. Though puzzled, Kriel apologized honestly.

“My apologies. It slipped out. The Head of the Order of Eve Kaha did not seem to consider me a formal Champion.”

“Tch.” Morgina clicked her tongue.

Kriel looked around. She said there was no need for compensation, but standing in the room he had personally wrecked still left him feeling uncomfortable.

“The trial is over. Why don't we talk outside?”

* * *

Kriel led the two of them to the courthouse waiting room. Priest Daucrius, who was seeing the Saintess for the first time in quite a while, came with them.

“Ha ha, your temper has calmed down considerably. When the end of the duel was declared, you did not even swing your mace. I was touched.”

“Damn it. Did you think I was that much of a loose cannon?!”

“Not at all. It was a figure of speech.”

While Daucrius dealt with Morgina, Kriel quietly slipped out of the waiting room. Armede followed him.

“Let's leave Morgina with Priest Daucrius and return to the lodging for now.”

“Friend?”

Armede was taken aback. Had Kriel not described their relationship to that Spirit as one of employer and employee? Yet Morgina was his friend?

“Hm? Comrades-in-arms are friends too. So she is a friend.”

“Wait, then why am I just your employer?!”

Kriel rubbed his chin. He had only said that because she was the one paying him.

“Think about it. Between a comrade-in-arms and an employer, who would people generally treat with more deference?”

“An employer...?”

“That is why I introduced you to Orisin as my employer. We were meeting for the first time, so I meant to show proper courtesy.”

Armede's expression turned sulky. Still, perhaps because she had always been small, she was not very intimidating.

“Hey. I hated authority so much that I even gave up my place as heir to a count's family. Just treat me normally.”

“So you say. Did you hear that, Orisin?”

[My back hurts so much I feel like dying, so don't talk to me...]

[You're exaggerating. You lack willpower. A seasoned knight would overcome pain through sheer will.]

[I'm a Spirit, not a knight!]

[Discard the prejudice that Spirits cannot become knights! Knighthood is open to all who embrace chivalry!]

My head hurts.

Kriel lightly tapped both blades, signaling them to quiet down.

“Fine. The wedding uproar has more or less been settled, so what do you plan to do now?”

“What else would I do? I need to examine that Horn Dagger some more.”

“Hm? Didn't we already conclude that there was nothing we could do in a short time?”

“I was about to get more reagents and conduct a proper experiment when that idiot Mazhar proposed. Everything I have done up to now has just been preliminary work squeezed in while preparing for the trial.”

Was that so? Kriel nodded. It was fortunate that they still had time to stay. The lodging Armede had prepared was among the most comfortable places he had stayed since coming to Tirnanog.

Knights were not meant to pursue personal comfort, but there was no reason to be upset that the comfort available to him would last a little longer.

“Then I'm counting on you.”

Kriel handed the Horn Dagger to Armede.

“Huh? Where are you going?”

“To Mazhar Gabi.”

“What? Is there something else you can squeeze out of him?”

Kriel shook his head. Explaining that Orisin's radar suggested Mazhar was not completely rotten, so he wanted to hear Mazhar out, would be too cumbersome.

“I'm curious. Why was he so desperate to get married?”

Armede considered trying to stop Kriel, then gave up.

That man had faced the Wild Hunt alone without telling anyone. He said he was curious, but he would surely find out Mazhar Gabi's circumstances and quietly step in if Mazhar needed help.

As though anyone who pursued chivalry would do the same.

Others might be sick of him for being so obsessed with chivalry, but was that not why the County of Kett had been saved? No matter how unpleasant Mazhar was, Armede could not stop Kriel from following his knightly ideals when she herself had received his help.

“Fine. Come back safely.”

[Hey. Wait. You're leaving me behind? Really?]

“I need to examine you. Shall I take you apart piece by piece, from the hilt to the blade?”

[Not to a patient!!]

* * *

Kriel went to Mazhar's lodging. He already knew its exact location.

It was thanks to the recruitment flyers Mazhar Gabi had scattered throughout the Duchy of Argetlam for quite some time.

‘If I'd known Morgina would fall for that guy's flyers, I would have used that plan.’

He would roughly conceal his face and voice, become Mazhar's Champion, then fail to appear on the day of the trial. Kriel had secretly considered the plan, then discarded it because it felt too underhanded.

If it worked, it would boast a one-hundred-percent chance of victory. Still, Mazhar was not a servant of the Abyss, so Kriel decided he did not need to go that far.

Now that he had been hit by the unexpected bomb named Morgina, though, regret washed over him. Maybe he could have closed his eyes just once and gone through with it.

‘There's no point dwelling on what has already passed.’

Mazhar Gabi was lodging on the third floor of a Gabi Trading Company branch. The first floor was an office that handled the company's business. Since it was a fairly well-known trading company, a considerable number of merchants came and went.

‘How should I approach him?’

Should he pretend to be a major investor and summon Mazhar, who was likely the highest-ranking person at this branch? Or should he simply wait for him to come out?

[Master.]

Tuon spoke to him in secret. Kriel answered in an alley near the Gabi Trading Company building.

“What is it?”

[Mazhar Gabi is capable of protecting himself. Is he not different from the good and weak people whom a knight ought to help? Goodwill should be encouraged, but might there not be a more efficient use for it?]

Kriel scratched his head. Come to think of it, Tuon was right.

“Still, something bothers me.”

[Something bothers you? Is it because of what that no-good-for-a-mount Spirit said?]

Was it because he had listened to Orisin? Kriel questioned himself. Orisin's words had influenced him to some degree, but it felt like something else was bothering him.

It was at that very moment, as Kriel asked and answered his own question.

Boom!

A blast of heat surged from the third floor of the Gabi Trading Company building.

Only then did Kriel realize what the strange discomfort lingering in his mind was.

“Ah.”

He had seen the name Mazhar Gabi before.

In Tirnanog RPG.

It was natural that he had difficulty recalling him. He was a minor character with no connection whatsoever to the main story. He only had one related side quest, and even then, he was found dead almost as soon as the quest began.

Kriel immediately leaped up and began climbing the building's wall.

Black smoke billowed upward. The fiercely burning flames spread explosively. Screams echoed through the chaos.

It was time to use the Dark Knight's power. The Dark Knight's ability to amass Blood Energy told him that there were still lives inside the building that he could claim. The ability to sense life had originally existed to kill them and gain power, but it could also serve as a life detector for rescuing people.

Kriel's sight that pierced the darkness, which he considered one of the few useful traits of a Dark Knight, saw through the devastation beneath the choking black smoke.

Just as Kriel was about to rush toward those who had collapsed, he stopped.

A way came to mind to bring down the fiery monster consuming the building and growing larger by the moment.

Tuon, hanging from his waist, possessed the ability to wield the cold born from the Resentment of the dead.

‘The problem is...’

Could he use a Demon Sword here?

In the middle of the duchy?

Author's Note

I only meant to close my eyes for a bit yesterday, but when I woke up, it was already this afternoon. I'm posting this in a rush!

Footnotes:

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