WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Knight Commander of the Doomed Heroes ◈
Chapter 15: Peaceful Days (10)
──────
Peaceful days passed. At least, that was how I tried to make things seem to Sir Soyeon.
But at some point, I began to feel that something was off.
A crisis.
Something had gone wrong.
I had overcome countless hardships since joining the Order of Eternity.
But I had never faced a crisis like this.
It was all the more dangerous because even my sense of time had become completely tangled.
It went something like this.
One day, while I was studying angelic magical power in my laboratory, Deputy Commander Keron came to see me.
“Commander. Twisted angels have appeared. Three this time.”
“We move out.”
“Yes, sir.”
A fierce battle followed. We all returned battered and wounded. Some were so badly hurt that they had to retire.
Then another few days passed. I performed Unhindered Harmony for Sir Soyeon, handled the order’s paperwork...
“Commander. A twisted angel has appeared. Just one this time.”
“We move out.”
“Yes, sir.”
Even one was no easy opponent. When our abilities matched up well against it, we suffered fewer injuries. When they didn’t, even a single angel forced us through several brushes with death.
And throughout all this, my research continued as usual. My research into restoring Sir Soyeon’s lifespan to normal.
Every day, I formed four hypotheses and carried out eight rounds of review...
Another few days passed like that.
“Commander.”
“We move out.”
I returned and presented strawberry yogurt ice cream prototype 32 to Sir Soyeon.
Then, a few days later...
“Commander.”
“We move out.”
Huh?
After finishing the hunt, changing my bloodstained bandages, and returning to work, I suddenly felt something was wrong.
“What... day is it?”
Time was all mixed up in my head.
Was the hero Dang Seorin still asleep?
Had I let Sir Soyeon taste strawberry yogurt ice cream prototype 33? No. Hadn’t I already finished developing that ice cream? Or had I?
I needed to tell Helian why I had changed the way I spoke.
How many more apostles had appeared since that disgusting one that looked like a pus-filled boil? Had any appeared?
...What was Harin noona doing now?
I couldn’t tell whether this was the past or the future.
Or even where I stood.
“Commander.”
“Commander?”
“Commander!”
I started.
“Huh? Hmm? Ah. Deputy Commander Keron. When did you get here?”
“I arrived ten minutes ago and have been reporting to you... You asked me for more details, so I was answering your question.”
I had asked? Me?
I tried to sort through my memories. As I pieced together the scattered fragments of the puzzle, I remembered. Yes. Deputy Commander Keron had come. I had been listening to a progress report on the development of new weapons.
...Then why did this memory from only moments ago feel like the distant past, or the future?
“My apologies. My mind wandered for a moment. You were saying that the analysis of the angel’s corpse won’t be finished until next week?”
“Yes. There seems to be a lot to investigate, so it’s taking some time. But, Commander, why don’t you get some rest?”
“Rest?”
“I’ve never seen you like this. You look completely out of it. Honestly, this isn’t a schedule a human can handle. Fighting angels is hard enough on its own. Then there’s all your research, and looking after the heroes...”
I touched my face. My jaw hung slightly open, and the muscles around my eyes and cheeks felt slack.
I rubbed my face to fix my expression, then answered.
“There is no time to rest. I will make my work and rest more efficient and correct this as quickly as possible.”
“No, Commander...”
“Enough. How is Dang Seorin doing?”
“...She’s asleep.”
“Since then? A new record, then. She’s been sleeping for 58 hours. She might make it to 60.”
“Yes. She did defeat five twisted angels all by herself, after all.”
...Had there been five that time? Not two?
I felt around for the pieces of my memory again.
Ah. Right. It had been five. The two angels were from two weeks ago.
I spoke without showing any of my confusion.
“Her growth is astonishingly fast, however many times I think about it.”
“Yes. She’s only been here for fourteen months, but I think she’s about as strong as Sir Soyeon was at eighteen months.”
“She knew how to handle magical power from the start, after all.”
“Yes. And those poison arts of hers keep getting stronger. It’s frightening. Last time, she wiped out an army of 2,000 monsters on her own...”
During my time in the Order of Eternity, I had met all kinds of heroes from all kinds of worlds. Yet they never stopped surprising me.
Such varied people.
Such astonishing people.
And yet every one of them was destined to blow themselves up in the end.
I simply couldn’t accept that such a thing was reality.
“Commander.”
“Commander?”
“Commander!”
...Wait. Where had Keron gone?
The slanting red sunlight had turned bright and white.
What was this? I was sure I had been talking to Keron just a moment ago.
“Ah. Hmm. Sir Soyeon. When did you get here?”
“What?”
“Hmm?”
“What?”
I searched my memory.
Ah. Right. After easing her body with Unhindered Harmony, I had been listening to how she had been doing lately. What had she said? Something about a band she had come across at the market near Estellan’s north gate? Or was it pork bone soup? I vaguely remembered her excitedly telling me she had found a similar soup.
“That came out wrong. You enjoyed the pork bone soup, then?”
“What? Pork bone soup? Where did that come from? Haven’t you been sleeping? Now that I look at you, your complexion... actually isn’t that bad. What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
So it hadn’t been pork bone soup. Had that been last week? No. That hadn’t been Sir Soyeon. Harin noona had told me that story.
“What I meant was, the band. You said they reminded you of your time on Earth?”
“Yes. That’s right. Have you seen them too, Commander? They didn’t just sing. They danced while they sang and got the audience going too. I thought they were an idol group!”
I shook my head. I had seen broken instruments, but never a live band performing.
“Then let’s go together next time. They really do feel a tiny bit like an idol group from Earth. I’ll have you know I was in a dance club!”
“I see. Very well. Ask me, and I’ll go with you.”
“That’s a promise?”
“A promise. Ah. And I have a new ice cream prototype. Strawberry yogurt prototype number 33...”
I opened the box. Inside was ice cream labeled Prototype 34.
“34. This one will be completely different from the last.”
“Oh, really?”
Sir Soyeon grinned and moved closer to the desk.
My gaze happened to fall on the pink stain on her thumb.
“I see you’ve been using Fairy’s Sigh regularly.”
“Yes. These days, I change it every other day. I guess a lot of the magical poisoning is gone, because my body feels so light.”
“That is good news.”
I scooped a generous serving of strawberry yogurt ice cream prototype 34 into a crystal bowl and set it in front of her.
“Ooh? This is it? It looks promising. Let’s see if it’s full of proper strawberry goodness this time.”
“This one should be different.”
“Oooh. Confident. I like it. I’m going to be a very strict taste tester.”
With an exaggerated gesture, she dug out a spoonful of ice cream and slowly put it into her mouth.
Her big eyes rolled one way, then the other as she worked her small mouth.
Clink.
She dropped her teaspoon.
“Strawberry goodness...”
Tears filled her wide eyes.
“It tastes like strawberries.”
“That was the goal.”
Sir Soyeon held back her tears. Her red lips pressed tightly together.
“I just remembered the strawberry buffet I went to in my first year of middle school.”
“I see.”
“And the strawberry cream sandwiches I loved from the convenience store.”
“I see.”
“I always chose strawberry milk instead of plain milk.”
“Hmm.”
“I even liked my fruit punch made with strawberry milk.”
“Hmm...”
A strawberry buffet, strawberry sandwiches, fruit punch. She poured out one unfamiliar thing after another, and I struggled to respond.
I wanted to share in her joy properly.
“I really loved strawberry cake too...”
“Ah! Cake! Yes. Next, I will use this recipe to make a strawberry cake.”
“Hh...!”
Round tears rolled from Sir Soyeon’s brimming eyes.
“I-I’m not crying!”
She quickly wiped around her eyes with her sleeve and raised her voice. It still sounded thick with tears.
Without a word, I took out a handkerchief and offered it to her.
“Ugh. Stop being so nice to me. If you keep doing this...”
Sir Soyeon bowed her head and bit her lip.
“You’ll make me want to live longer.”
“Then live.”
“Stop... If you keep this up, I really will believe you.”
“Believe me.”
“Ugh. I’m telling you...”
Her back shook.
Humanity’s ultimate weapon. Its final line of defense.
No matter how many twisted angels I dealt with myself, apostles were different.
When an apostle appeared, all of us would be helpless again.
When that time came, we would have to rely on her once more.
On an eighteen-year-old girl.
On these slender, fragile shoulders.
That fact filled me with sadness and guilt.
I patted her back very gently and slowly.
“Please. Believe me.”
She had to.
Whatever solution I found, its effects would be greatest only if the hero herself wanted to live, if she had the will and the belief that she could.
Because a hero’s faith and wishes had the power to create miracles.
I had to do everything I could to make her want to live. To make her want to trust me.
“Don’t worry about anything.”
I would make sure she lived.
I would carry her burden in her place.
“Hic. Hhh...”
Sir Soyeon ate her strawberry yogurt ice cream as tears dripped from her eyes.
* * *
“...This is unpleasant.”
I had been thrilled to finally recreate the strawberry flavor after so much effort.
But the arrival of one unwelcome visitor left me unsettled again.
“Why have you come again?”
“You only just saw me at the Academy. Why so stiff?”
Only just?
Ah. When I presented my new theory of magical power.
But had that been recently...?
“I would prefer not to see you unless there is a reason.”
“Really. Aren’t you being a little harsh on your teacher?”
The head of the Academy.
Eihen Giheis, the man responsible for all education and research in Estel.
He sat across from me without a hint of shame.
Had I not hit him hard enough last time?
“I handed over all the material on Unhindered Harmony. I also handed over everything on the Three Spirits, Eight Bodies Formation of Severance and Linkage that I recently demonstrated. Why exactly have you come? There should be nothing left to discuss.”
“My pupil, I’m sorry. I was so busy teaching you magic that I never taught you manners. When a guest arrives, you should offer them tea first.”
Swish...
The tea set in one corner of the room floated up on its own and settled between us. A ball of water appeared in the air, bubbled to a boil, then entered the teapot to steep the leaves.
“Oh, right. My pupil likes his tea ice-cold.”
The teapot floated up and poured tea into the cups in a thin stream. Though it had been steaming hot as it left the pot, the tea cooled the instant it entered the cups, until a thin layer of ice formed on top.
I watched quietly.
His skill with magic was uncanny, no matter how often I saw it.
Without complaint, I took a sip of the cold tea he had poured.
“...”
I hated to admit it, but both the taste and the temperature were exactly how I liked them.
“So. What do you want?”
“My pupil, I took a good look through that Unhindered Harmony of yours.”
“And?”
“Since you’d succeeded, I thought you might have changed something from your original plan. But no. You share the hero’s magical power and guide the whole thing yourself. You simply forced that insane idea to work.”
“And?”
“...Will you stop pretending not to know? If a hero’s body is left with magical poisoning, yours has to be too. That’s how the spell is designed.”
“...”
I wanted to ask why that was any concern of his.
But the words never left my mouth.
Eihen studied me quietly. He wore the same expression he used when scolding me as my professor back when I was an Academy student.
“You’ve been doing remarkable things lately. I hear you’ve dealt with plenty of angels yourself, with minimal help from the heroes.”
“...”
“It’s amazing. Thanks to you, research into the angels’ weaknesses is moving forward, and we’ve learned about their magical power. Even their soft corpses are a revolution in magical materials. Everyone is full of hope now. We’ll keep getting stronger, and someday we’ll overcome this apocalypse.”
“That is good news.”
“It is. It’s very good news.”
Bang!
Contrary to his words, Eihen slammed his palm down on my desk.
He thrust his face close to mine and growled.
He laid bare all the menace in those red eyes that he always hid behind a smile.
“But you see, my pupil isn’t a hero. The Three Spirits, Eight Bodies Formation of Severance and Linkage. No matter how monstrous your control is, or how strong your body, a human can’t keep enduring that tremendous magical power flowing through Linked Rings and Swarm Rising.”
“No. I am enduring it.”
Kra-booom!
Thunder crashed outside the window.
It had been a perfectly clear day, but the sky had darkened and rain was falling.
They said that a mage who reached the very height of magic could affect the weather through their state of mind alone.
I had only ever read about such things in history books.
“Just listen.”
“...”
Eihen’s warning was low.
For now, I kept my mouth shut. I couldn’t afford to waste energy on a pointless fight.
“You perform Unhindered Harmony for Sir Soyeon every day, don’t you? Every time you do, the magical poisoning transfers to you and builds up.”
“...”
“Your body must already be a wreck from magical poisoning, yet you keep going out to hunt angels two or three times a week. You and your order are filling every gap the heroes leave. I hear your face is the only part of you that looks fine, and the rest of your body is covered in wounds. They don’t even heal properly anymore, so you’re barely holding on with spells to resist weakening. Isn’t that right?”
“...No.”
“Don’t deny it. I don’t have to look to know. You’re not a hero. You don’t have the heroes’ natural ability to purify magical power, or their capacity to hold it. Your ability to regenerate is far weaker too. Of course you can’t hold up.”
“Your thinking is far too negative.”
“Is it?”
Suddenly, Eihen lowered his gaze.
He stared at my hand resting on the desk.
Ah.
A pink petal clung to the nail of my index finger. Fairy’s Sigh. A precious item that neutralized magical poisoning inside the body.
He had secretly moved it onto my nail with telekinesis without even letting me notice.
Fssss...
The petal blackened from its tip, burned to ash, and scattered at a startling speed.
In a mere two or three seconds.
...I had expected this, but had that much magical poisoning already built up?
“...”
“...”
Neither Eihen nor I said a word.
He clenched his teeth and slowly raised his head.
His face was marked with unmistakable anger.
“So how many years do you have left?”
Footnotes:
“Noona” is a familiar Korean term used by a man or boy for an older sister or an older woman he is close to.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
