WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Order
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Dark Knight in the Game World ◈
Chapter 54: Inheriting the Trading Company (2)
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[This vulgar sword has no tact at all... I recognized it from the lewd curves of its blade.]
[What the hell are you talking about?!]
Without a word, Kriel raised Orisin and quietly brought the Horn Dagger toward its sheath.
It was the Silencing Sheath Morgina had made as a set with the curved sword. Normally, Orisin refused to enter it, claiming it was suffocating, so it had lost half its purpose as a piece of equipment.
Startled, Orisin cried out.
[Wait! I'm right! Knights don't all have to use swords! They use spears! Axes too! But without a horse, they aren't knights!]
[You vulgar wretch. How can a sword dare mention other weapons so casually!]
[What the hell is wrong with that bastard's head?!]
Orisin felt the Horn Dagger slowly sliding into the sheath. This sheathing felt different from usual. A sense of dread told it that once it was shut away in the darkness, it would not see the light again for a long time, at least a full day.
[C-could it be that a noble knight is sulking? I wasn't trying to tease you. It's just true─]
Kriel silently placed the Horn Dagger into the sheath. The click of it locking into place was pleasing to hear.
It almost sounded as though a voice in his heart was shouting, “How ugly, to refuse to accept the truth!” Kriel decided to dismiss it as a hallucination caused by a skill.
He had not used any Dark Knight-exclusive skills these past few days. Still, he would likely use them soon, so perhaps he was simply hearing future hallucinations early.
He gripped Tuon.
[As expected of my upright master. Keeping a pure straight sword like me close instead of that lewd curved sword is a truly admirable attitude.]
Kriel ignored Tuon's nonsense as well. There was a good reason he had sheathed Orisin and drawn Tuon.
When he poured Fighting Energy into it, the blade turned a deep blue-black, like the night sky. Beyond the cold feel of metal, it carried a chill that no natural thing could possess.
The massive face of Tushkin Gabi, the ash monster, glowed red. Flames formed in both his eyes.
“You really have all sorts of tricks!”
Morgina drew out her Divine Power. If she had served a natural god, such as a water god or fire god, her church might have been able to perform miracles that directly countered an elemental attack like that. A water god could summon water to extinguish the flames, while a fire god could grant a blessing against burning.
Eve Kaha, though, was the goddess of fallen warriors and rest. As far as Morgina was concerned, she was the goddess of those who brawled.
Miracles that interfered with a specific element were therefore extremely rare. Morgina had two options against the breath attack. Dodge or block.
This time, she chose to defend. She would draw out as much Divine Power as possible, block the attack, then counterattack the moment it ended.
“Hey! Pinkhead!”
“What?”
The casual address was so out of character that it startled Armede. Just a few days ago, had Morgina not been putting on airs and spouting nonsense while pretending to be refined?
“Magic! Don't you have a spell that can blow his jaw clean off?”
Unbothered by Armede's surprise, Morgina stubbornly continued speaking casually. Come to think of it, this pink-haired mage had watched Morgina cast aside all the dignity expected of a Saintess and fight Kriel at close range. It was far too late to act refined now.
If Armede had been the kind of person Morgina wanted nothing to do with, she would have continued pretending to be dignified. Yet after fighting Tushkin Gabi together, Armede's temperament was not half bad.
A mage who specialized in throwing rocks? Wasn't that exactly the sort Eve Kaha would like?
Rather than whining about being out of Mana, Armede would grab a stone and try to smash in the Abyss's head. Eve Kaha would surely approve.
Armede let out a sound that could have been an exclamation or a sigh, then spoke.
“That was the last rock I had prepared!”
“You have no plan at all! I like you! Get behind me! If you can make cover with the debris, reinforce it!”
The two maces in Morgina's hands transformed into shields. They were no ordinary shields. They were so enormous that they looked more like gates. The red shields were symmetrical, designed to interlock perfectly without a gap when brought together.
“Kriel! You get behind me too...?”
Leaving behind a deep blue-black trail of sword light, Kriel charged forward. He rushed in a straight line beyond the destroyed wall.
“Seriously, this chivalry-obsessed blockhead of a knight...!”
Tushkin Gabi's massive eyes followed Kriel as he leaped beyond the wall. Naturally, the fiery beams shifted toward Kriel as well.
Somewhere between ascent and descent, with the sun at his back, Kriel swept his sword. Crescent-shaped Fighting Energy, deep blue-black in color, bored into Tushkin Gabi's eyes.
Tushkin Gabi laughed at the foolish attempt. He had taken the shape of a face, but his essence was formless ash. Even if Fighting Energy cut him, he only needed to restore his form.
But the Fighting Energy flowing through Tuon resonated with the Demon Sword's power, carrying the deep chill of the Underworld.
The deep blue-black sword energy pierced his pupils and lodged within them like thorns. It grew like vines, cooling the ash. Startled as his body began freezing, Tushkin stopped projecting the heat rays outward and used them to melt himself from within.
That brief second was enough time for Kriel to fall from the air.
In an instant, Kriel shifted Tuon into a reverse grip and drove it straight into Tushkin Gabi's forehead. The power of Tuon, once one of the Seven Demon Weapons, was unleashed. Tushkin felt the sinister Demon Sword's power devouring his very essence.
[W-what is this...?]
He could not resist. How could a mere blade be rooted in the Abyss more deeply than he was?!
Then another question occurred to Tushkin. What, then, was the one wielding such a blade? A being who wielded an Abyssal Demon Sword. Someone whose appearance showed no trace of life or vitality.
An Abyssal legion commander.
[W-was it you who tempted Mazhar and persuaded him to inherit my position...?!]
Kriel did not answer. There was no need to disguise himself as something of the Abyss and use bait tactics now. Let Tushkin die with his questions unanswered.
[Even so! Grikenkos will punish you! Don't the Abyssal Grand Dukes know that they must respect each other's territories?!]
Naturally, Abyssal Grand Duke was what a servant of the Abyss called a Demon. The servant of the Abyss, who had badly misunderstood something, began spewing absurd claims. Kriel finally spoke.
“I had no part whatsoever in Mazhar's decision. Know that your greed was the root cause that led you to your death.”
[Greed...? I haven't done anything yet─]
Tushkin truly felt wronged, but Kriel had no intention of listening to a servant of the Abyss until the end.
He poured every bit of his remaining Fighting Energy into Tuon. Like night staining the sky, deep blue-black sword energy spread through Tushkin's entire body.
The blue jewel embedded in the center of Tuon's crossguard flashed. The blue chill spreading across Tushkin's face like cracks instantly reached the entire mass of ash.
The Blood Energy boiling at the center of Tushkin's face cooled in an instant. He tried again and again to kindle the flames, but each time they rose, the chill smothered them.
The glowing red ash slowly cooled. Red, orange, then finally gray once more.
Tushkin let out a final death rattle.
[Grikenkos...]
That was the end. When Tuon's jewel flashed once, the ashes that had formed Tushkin's face crumbled apart.
The lush garden became covered in ash. At the center of the gray waves stood Kriel, with Tuon planted in the ground.
[Behold, Master! This is our power! If you are with me, then─]
Kriel quickly drew Orisin and shoved Tuon into the empty sheath. Its blade was too long to fit all the way inside, but it was enough to stop Tuon from saying anything strange.
[Oh, am I being released?]
“What are you talking about? It sounds as if I imprisoned you.”
Orisin was about to say something, but then looked at Tuon vibrating inside the sheath where it had been stuffed until moments ago.
Forced silence was not to Orisin's taste.
[Right! It looks like everything's been resolved, so let's go check on Mazhar!]
* * *
Morgina rubbed the back of her neck. No, that sword was certainly the best tool for cleaning up the situation.
But why did he have to draw it?
Armede looked down below the wall with suspicious eyes. Kriel was visible, waving at them.
“What was that sword?”
Artifacts that powerful were rare. It had destroyed the soul of a servant of the Abyss with a single swing. Was it not the kind of precious artifact wielded by the leading figures of the Demon King War?
“Shouldn't we go down? Mazhar and Kriel both seem to be in the garden.”
Morgina hurriedly changed the subject. It would be deeply troublesome if Armede became interested in that sword, then started taking interest in Kriel's identity.
Armede still looked uneasy, but nodded for now. They had to settle the aftermath of this.
* * *
Mazhar shook his head as he looked at the ashes that had once been his father.
“Father...”
The mage guards followed close behind him as if escorting him. Kriel slowly walked toward Mazhar as well.
“Mazhar. I know this will not comfort you, but think of it this way. Since the moment he was corrupted by the Abyss, he was no longer your father. I am sorry things turned out this way.”
“No. You are right. If he had accepted the Abyss so long ago, then the man I knew must have disappeared long ago as well.”
Mazhar let out a long breath before speaking again.
“Is there anything more you desire? You have saved our family. I will give you anything.”
“What are you talking about? We only did what needed to be done. The payment we agreed upon beforehand is more than enough.”
“For only that much─”
Mazhar had been about to ask whether Kriel was truly satisfied with receiving a single coin for defeating a Servant of the Abyss when he sensed something strange and looked around.
The guards were staring at him with bizarre, fervent expressions.
‘They had agreed on the payment beforehand! Young Master already knew of his father's corruption!’
‘That is why he used us to watch Tushkin and bought time until he could bring in people capable of eliminating him!’
Mazhar could hear voices in their gazes.
“No!”
“Yes?”
“Whatever you are thinking, it is all wrong!”
Footnotes:
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