WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Order
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Dark Knight in the Game World ◈
Chapter 57: A Very Ordinary Journey (2)
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After stroking the Mark of the Great Warrior once, Morgina spun around and stretched her arms overhead.
She had just started walking back toward the Gabi Family estate when she let out a brief “Ah” and looked at Kriel.
A pouch whose contents were anyone’s guess flew from her arms toward him. Kriel snatched it out of the air as it came hurtling toward him at an alarming speed.
It was quite heavy, and something inside clinked.
“That’s your Champion’s maintenance allowance. And this is─”
The second pouch was much lighter than the first. It held small pills packed neatly together.
“Emergency rations for marching. Eve Kaha’s Combat Rations. One pill will keep you going for ten days... no, that’s too much. You could march for a day on one.”
“Your order makes things like that?”
“Do you know how many soldiers die because they can’t eat properly? If supplies arrive according to plan during a war, that’s a miracle in its own way.”
Kriel took the pouches and stepped closer to Morgina.
“Is it really all right to give a maintenance allowance to someone who only picks and chooses when to use the title of Champion?”
“Enough. Just take it.”
“If you’re fine with it...”
Kriel moved even closer and whispered to Morgina.
“If you need my name as a Champion in negotiations with the Gabi Family, feel free to use it. You’ll have to discuss it with Armede beforehand, though.”
Morgina had tensed up, wondering what he was about to say when he came close enough for her to see her own face reflected in his eyes. Her lips pushed into a pout.
“You said honor is something to be spent, so you should build it up diligently and conserve it when you can. There are plenty of ways for the Church to exert its influence without tarnishing your reputation for no reason. I’ll leave worldly affairs to the pink-haired young lady.”
“Is that so?”
Kriel scratched his head and asked with a blank expression.
“How do the Combat Rations taste?”
“Combat Rations are Combat Rations, even if they were made with a god’s power. If you want the miracle of delicious Combat Rations, you’ll have to visit some goddess of abundance.”
Kriel had secretly been looking forward to the taste of the sacred Combat Rations. Without a word, he tucked the pouch into his clothes.
Ever since becoming a Dark Knight, Kriel had possessed a simple way to satisfy his hunger. He could kill another living creature and absorb its Blood Energy.
Yet for his plan to live with a healthy body and sound mind, that method was worse than useless. The more emergency rations he had, the better.
“I’ll accept these gratefully. See you later.”
“Very well─.”
Her voice was as soft as a purring cat. Kriel left through the rear gate of the Gabi Family estate without hesitation.
* * *
After Kriel had walked along the road behind the estate for some time, Orisin suddenly spoke.
[Hey.]
“Yeah?”
[You got a sword, armor, and now money too. You’re completely becoming a kept ma...]
Kriel smiled and pulled his clothes open with both hands to show the inside. Only the pouch of Eve Kaha’s Combat Rations pills could be seen. The heavy bundle of money containing the Champion’s maintenance allowance was gone.
[Huh?!]
“Did you really think I intended to take that money? Someone who only picks and chooses when to use the title of Champion shouldn’t accept it.”
[No, wait. Where did you put the money pouch?!]
“Why do you think I got close to Morgina? With a suitable distraction and some quick fingers, I returned it to its rightful owner.”
[You know how to pickpocket too?]
[How dare you! My righteous master would never take part in such wickedness!]
[Hey, pickpocketing is a lot healthier than becoming the Demon King, you know?]
Kriel did not bother answering and only chuckled.
It was a magician’s technique, pulling off little tricks while someone’s attention was elsewhere. A small hobby he had originally learned on Earth to show others.
With the superhuman physical abilities he possessed now, he sometimes used it to secretly return money to people who insisted on giving it to him.
“Morgina is stubborn in her own way. I thought the fastest solution would be to pretend to accept it and run off like this.”
[Is it all right for a knight to lie when the Abyss isn’t even involved?]
“Oh, my dear horse head. I have never lied. I said I would accept it gratefully, but I never said whether I was grateful for the money or the Combat Rations, did I?”
Trading silly jokes, Kriel quickened his pace. Morgina still had business in the Empire, so even if she realized where the pouch had gone, she probably would not pursue him. Still, there was always a chance.
* * *
[Is this really right?]
The horse-headed ghost suddenly voiced a complaint. Tuon answered with a dignified lecture.
[A true knight does not turn away from someone in danger.]
[There are too many dangers!]
Orisin lamented the nature of this absurd journey. Orisin agreed with the idea that, since they had consulted a priest and a mage, they should seek out a Spiritist as well.
The question was how to find one. Spiritists were even rarer than mages. They were not easy to find under ordinary circumstances.
Orisin’s suggestion that they return to the Duchy of Argetlam and post a notice at the mercenary guild was rejected.
Kriel’s experience was the reason. Not every mercenary who claimed to command Spirits was a fraud, but Spiritists intelligent enough to analyze Orisin’s condition academically and find a way to lift the curse were extremely rare.
“It might be different if we found someone high-ranking in one of those so-called Ten Great Mercenary Companies. But the Duchy of Argetlam has been peaceful for years. Mercenary companies that flock to conflicts have no reason to come close.”
[Then where are we going?]
“There’s a race that comes to mind when you think of Spiritists.”
[Elves? Would they welcome an outsider, knowing what they’re like? Even if we went there, they probably wouldn’t let us in. The ones who live in the Great Mountain Range alongside dwarves must have had their tempers ruined by complaints about upstairs noise long ago. And those religiously enthusiastic ones who tend the World Tree have strange personalities...]
“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
Kriel shook his head and told Orisin to remember whom they had met in the Gate City.
[Lewein Lir. You mean the Advisory Mage of the Gate City? He was from a collateral branch descended from a distinguished family of Ancient Elves.]
For once, Tuon spoke without making an excuse related to chivalry. Kriel nodded.
“I did not make proper use of Lewein Lir’s letter of delegation during the Abyss Eradication Society meeting. He may be from a collateral branch, but I have a letter written by someone capable enough to secure the position of Advisory Mage on the border. The main family is likely to at least hear me out.”
He would show them the invitation to the Abyss Eradication Society and Lewein Lir’s letter of delegation, then politely ask whether they could introduce him to a Spiritist with both time to spare and abundant learning, as he wished to consult them about purifying the Abyss.
That was Kriel’s plan. Convinced by the highly persuasive idea, Orisin danced happily despite having no body beyond a head.
[The Lir Family is fairly remote, but it won’t take that long. Not at the speed you walk.]
“There’s no need to rush this time. I plan to take it easy. I’ve been running around far too much lately.”
After that conversation, Kriel moved at a truly slow pace compared to his previous travels.
Judging only by his speed, it would have looked as if he were enjoying a leisurely journey. But the journey itself was anything but leisurely.
[How does every village we pass have some kind of trouble?!]
As though bad luck had attached itself to him, every village Kriel stopped at to rest had problems of its own.
Sometimes it was a Monster that had appeared one day and started killing livestock. Sometimes it was a strange creature that stole shadows and ran away, or poison spreading through the water source of a mountain village.
Kriel answered calmly.
“That can happen.”
[What can?!]
“The aftermath of the Demon King War has not faded yet.”
Orisin fell silent. Kriel calmly reflected on their journey.
He had cut apart Monsters, while Orisin had scolded the strange creature playing with shadows because it was a native Spirit. The sight of it fleeing with a disgusted expression, perhaps because of their considerable generational gap, had been worth seeing. The object that had been releasing poison into the contaminated water source was, as expected, a cursed item touched by the Abyss.
At times, Kriel used his sword himself. Other times, after using it, he called the local lord or the lord’s steward and asked them to handle the aftermath. By the time he reached the Lir Family, he had earned four copper coins and two silver coins over the course of a fortnight.
[You vulgar curved sword. Are you displeased that Master is practicing chivalry? How can that be? Is your honor crooked because you are curved?]
[That’s not what I mean. I just wish things would be quiet for once, instead of trouble breaking out everywhere we go...]
Orisin muttered after spending the previous night using every bit of a unicorn’s purification power to treat the villagers’ poisoning and cleanse their drinking water while Kriel went to find the source of the poison.
“Don’t worry. We won’t be caught up in any commotion for a while.”
Kriel pointed ahead.
The forest beneath the ridge obscured them, but the faint outlines of uniquely styled buildings could be seen.
Houses built inside enormous hollowed-out trees. It was an architectural style unique to the Ancient Elves, found in the territories of families descended from the Ancient Elves.
‘Once I get a Spiritist’s opinion, I should rest for a while, then go to Armede’s festival.’
Dreaming of a rest somewhere with beautiful mountains and clear water, Kriel raced down the ridge as if flying.
Footnotes:
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