WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Knight Commander of the Doomed Heroes ◈
Chapter 4: Descent
──────
Baek Soyeon shuddered.
As a hero, she had already risen far beyond ordinary people. Yet she shuddered again, just as she had when she first used magical power after coming to this world.
That was how overwhelming the power she now felt was.
‘I can feel everything.’
The entire city. And every part of the apostle clinging to it and multiplying.
Every person, every strand of their hair, even every speck of dust floating in the air.
Now, she feared nothing.
Baek Soyeon trembled with the sense that she could do anything with a flick of her hand.
To see like this. To feel like this. To be so free.
Had she been living like a prisoner, blindfolded and bound hand and foot, until now?
Joy kept flooding her mind.
‘No!’
Baek Soyeon struggled to collect herself. She couldn’t let this power go to her head.
‘I’m not a god.’
She didn’t forget what she truly was.
‘Because I’m not a god, I have to be all the more desperate.’
Revel, commander of the Order of Eternity, had given her only five seconds.
‘I’ll save everyone within five seconds.’
She sharpened her focus and concentrated on the apostle she could sense.
Boils writhed, spreading and multiplying in every direction.
She had to grind them down into pieces no larger than 0.1 mm.
‘That won’t be hard.’
She tightened her grip on her sword. There was no need to swing it. Her mind already held that sword along with her hand.
Ssshhhh.
All of her immense magical power, which could easily dwarf a nuclear bomb if it exploded, turned into blades.
Ten blades,
a hundred,
a thousand,
ten thousand,
an infinite number.
The blades of magical power split again and again.
‘Don’t hurt the people or the buildings. Grind down only the apostle.’
Her will became a whisper that settled into those countless blades. The word made blade.
5 seconds.
The blades of magical power poured out of her.
Shhhhh.
Rain fell.
Rain made of blades of magical power.
Mist made of blades of magical power.
As the light of magical power scattered between them, the entire city grew a little darker and turned dawn blue.
Blades too small and thin to see slashed through every part of the city, steadily extending their reach.
Like the sound of rain, like whispers, they filled the city.
4 seconds.
The boils covering people and buildings crumbled everywhere.
Cleanly. The tiny magical blades ground away only the apostle’s boils, precisely targeting them at the cellular level. Even as the little blades slashed across people’s skin to scrape away the boils, they didn’t harm a single hair.
3 seconds.
A child running away in tears suddenly heard a whisper.
- It’s all right. It’s all right now. You won’t get hurt.
Fssss.
The boils on the child’s arms and face crumbled away without a trace.
“Ah.”
The sounds of blades cutting through the air met and formed a voice.
- Don’t be afraid.
The child thought that voice was so very kind.
2 seconds.
Deep inside the wells.
Deep inside the sewers.
Far beneath the ground.
On top of the buildings.
Everything was soaked in rain. In magical power.
Baek Soyeon’s blades swept through every corner of the city, determined not to leave even a single fragment behind.
1 second.
The apostle didn’t simply let itself be destroyed. Even the tiniest remaining fragments fluttered like butterflies, trying to evade Baek Soyeon’s blades.
‘You think you can get away?’
The apostle’s fragments danced out of the way, and Baek Soyeon pursued them to the end, grinding them down completely.
But...
“Ugh! There isn’t enough time!”
Baek Soyeon’s shout was almost a scream.
The pieces hiding in every corner. The tiny pieces floating around, dodging her blades. She had spent so much effort dealing with them that she hadn’t managed to destroy some of the larger chunks.
“Just another half a second...! No, even a tenth of a second would be enough to finish this perfectly...!”
Just as Baek Soyeon clenched her teeth and tried to draw out a little more power, Revel spoke.
“No. You can’t. That’s enough.”
Crack!
Lightning burst inside Baek Soyeon’s body.
“Aah!”
Revel’s 「Unhindered Harmony (圓融無礙)」, which had been gently guiding her magical power until now, suddenly sparked and locked her body in place.
It happened so suddenly, and from within, that Baek Soyeon froze before she could react.
“I’ll stabilize it.”
Revel took that opportunity to gather her magical power and gradually slow it down.
Her hair, which had turned silver as though it might melt, settled back into black. Her blue eyes, which had shone so pale they seemed about to evaporate, regained their black pupils and brown irises.
Baek Soyeon spoke, her lips twitching from the electric shock that had numbed them.
“Ugh... C-Commander, you... Wha’re you doin’! I haven’... finished off the apostle yet!”
“I know. But you’ve nearly finished it. Leave the rest to us.”
“Wha...?”
Revel gently lifted her into his arms and sat her down against a wall.
He even took off his cloak and wrapped her in it as gently as he would a baby, as though daring the grime on the wall to touch her.
“The Order of Eternity supports the Knights of Eternity. This is the role we were always meant to play.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his voice.
“Knights!”
Swish. Swish, swish.
Several shadows leaped onto the rooftops of the ruined city.
They moved like highly trained warriors.
Together, they shouted toward Revel.
“Yes, Commander!”
* * *
I was the commander of the Order of Eternity.
And the Order of Eternity wasn’t made up solely of the Knights of Eternity, the girl heroes.
Our order had an enormous number of members, including ordinary knights, knight captains, rangers, intelligence operatives, various other agents, and support staff.
The Order of Eternity was one of Estel’s foremost and most powerful organizations.
Our mission was to support the heroes.
Some people sneered that the heroes did all the fighting anyway, asking whether the rest of us did anything at all. But that was far from the truth.
The knights and rangers of our order traveled throughout Estel, venturing into its most dangerous places.
Monster movements.
Attacks by twisted angels.
The appearance of new apostles.
Their mission was to identify these threats before anyone else and report them to headquarters.
Only then could we send out the Knights of Eternity with accurate information.
Bad information could lead to the pointless loss of a Knight of Eternity.
That must never be allowed to happen.
Naturally, our order included the finest warriors in Estel.
We were the ones who found heroes newly crash-landed in this world. We were also the ones who gathered all of humanity’s combat techniques and passed them on to the heroes.
There was a reason we were counted among Estel’s most powerful organizations.
And yet I had never been satisfied with our order.
I had always thought we needed to grow stronger and do more.
So we could better support the Knights of Eternity.
So the heroes sacrificing themselves for this world could have things a little easier.
That was why, even before being appointed commander of the Order of Eternity, I had kept changing the way the order worked wherever my influence reached.
Today, I intended to see the results for the first time.
I cast a pain-relieving spell on Sir Soyeon, who was groaning, then stood.
Looking up at the order’s members waiting for my command, I shouted.
“Go to the targets I mark and eliminate every remaining fragment of the apostle!”
“Yes!”
“And civilians, listen as well!”
The moment I mentioned the civilians, the knights on the rooftops scattered in all directions and repeated my words so everyone could hear.
「Civilians, listen as well!」
“Scorch every place where the apostle’s boils grew. Once a god has done their part, the rest is in human hands!”
「Scorch the area and disinfect it thoroughly! Once a god has done their part, the rest is in human hands!」
The civilians murmured.
They had only just escaped death, but not one of them seemed to resent the work.
Instead, they came alive again.
“Fire! Get some fire ready!”
“We still have torches left over from last year! Bring them all out!”
“We have to be thorough! That’ll take some of the burden off the knights and the hero!”
Everyone hurried about and began disinfecting the area.
Some noticed Baek Soyeon leaning against the wall and asked after her.
“But... is the hero all right?”
I deliberately kept my answer businesslike.
“Of course.”
“Thank goodness! Thank goodness!”
“Really? Even after defeating an apostle...! Ah... Come on, everyone! Let’s keep going! We have to help the hero too!”
“I’m so glad...”
Everyone loved the heroes like this.
They all moved with perfect coordination.
Each person might be fragile, but with enough of them, humans could work miracles too.
Countless people rushed about, burning even the smallest fragments the apostle had left behind. Weakened, the apostle was helpless to resist being disinfected out of existence.
And to finish,
「Clarity (瞭然)」
I surveyed the entire city using the reconnaissance spell I had developed.
I ran around dealing with the fragments the knights and civilians had missed, grinding them down and burning them one by one.
And so...
- Confirmed complete elimination of the apostle.
My 「Clarity (瞭然)」 no longer detected anything.
“We did it...”
Had I been tense without even realizing it?
I felt so drained that I could barely stay upright.
But no matter how tired I was, it couldn’t compare to what the hero was going through.
I composed my expression, forced my back straight, and walked with firm, steady steps.
When I returned, I saw Sir Soyeon starting to get up. She seemed to have recovered a little.
I supported her as I spoke.
“Take it easy. Above all, you must not use any magical power for the time being.”
“I can feel that already. My magical power’s so stirred up... It feels like the slightest touch would make it go bang! It’s scaring me to death.”
Grumbling, Sir Soyeon pushed away my supporting hand and stood on her own.
Then she looked around, glanced down at her hands, and lowered her head before asking me a question.
“I’m... alive, right?”
Her voice trembled.
“You are.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Sir Soyeon suddenly looked up at me. Her already large eyes looked even bigger, brimming with tears.
Only one thing came to mind.
“Let’s go back. I’ll have some strawberry yogurt ice cream prepared.”
“Waaah... I’m really picky about strawberries...! I’ll get mad if it tastes bad...”
“No need to thank me so much.”
“Waaah...”
Sir Soyeon hung her head and sniffled.
This was a little awkward. Was she really confident she wouldn’t end up kicking her blankets in embarrassment after crying like this in the middle of the street?
Worried about that, I partly shielded her with my cloak and guided her away. I needed to get her some ice cream quickly.
That was when it happened.
“Steliya...”
“Steliya.”
“Steliya!”
I had meant to slip away quietly, but somehow people noticed and gathered from every direction.
They placed their right hands over their hearts, extended their left hands below their waists with the backs facing outward, and bowed.
All toward Sir Soyeon, whom I had covered with my cloak.
“Huh?”
Sir Soyeon peeked out from under the cloak.
At that, the people called out even more earnestly. Now people were running over from far away, bowing as they cried out.
“Steliya!”
“Steliya...!”
Every face was filled with the deepest respect and care.
Even I was a little surprised.
Was this what happened when a hero survived after performing a miracle?
Sir Soyeon whispered to me.
“Commander. What does ‘Steliya’ mean? I’ve lived here for over two years now, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Of course you haven’t. It’s a greeting once offered to the old gods, whom no one worships anymore.”
“What? Gods? There’s religion here too?”
“There was. Not anymore. Steliya is an ancient word meaning ‘May the light endure forever.’ Humans used it when they dared to wish a god well.”
“Ugh. What the heck? Tell them to stop.”
“Why?”
“It’s weird. I’m not a god. Anyway, people from Earth can’t stand this sort of thing! Especially Koreans.”
I chuckled at that.
I could have told them to stop, but somehow I didn’t want to.
“What’s the problem? You’ve done something even those so-called gods couldn’t do.”
“What?”
“Every one of them was slaughtered by the apostles. But you killed an apostle and survived. No being has ever achieved that before.”
So enjoy it.
As I told her that, I walked as slowly as I could, allowing more people to gather and call out, “Steliya.”
“Oh, come on! Walk faster!”
Until Sir Soyeon pinched my side.
Hmm. That was probably going to leave a nasty bruise.
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