WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Knight Commander of the Doomed Heroes ◈
Chapter 6: Peaceful Days (1)
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Sir Soyeon had survived.
At last, we had broken the absolute rule that one hero had to die to destroy a single apostle.
For me, too, it was my first success after 130 failures.
But this was only a temporary success. The real work was just beginning.
With that in mind, I snapped my fingers. Snap!
At the same moment, the barbell across Sir Soyeon’s shoulders grew about 100 kg heavier.
“Gyaaah!”
Sir Soyeon screamed and dropped into a squat.
Hmm. Good form just now.
“Excellent. Even with the sudden increase in weight, you took the load and lowered yourself smoothly. Now, stand up once more from that position. Up!”
Tremble, tremble.
Sir Soyeon’s hands shook as she held the barbell.
On closer inspection, her thighs, calves, and the rest of her body were shaking too.
“Urrrgh… I-I can’t. Please spare me.”
“You have to. You have to do it now.”
After using ignition, a hero entered a recovery period during which their magical power remained unsettled. They had to limit their use of it for a while.
This was our chance.
If she pushed her body hard now, magical power would naturally seep into every cell.
“Up! Doing it now is at least ten times as effective.”
“I-If it’s ten times as effective, it hurts ten times as much!”
“It does not. Up!”
“J-Just kill me instead…”
“I’m doing this to keep you alive. Up!”
“Eeeek.”
We had recently begun Sir Soyeon’s physical strengthening exercises. She kept whining.
“This isn’t fair! I lived! I killed an apostle and lived! You should congratulate me and give me a vacation! How can you do this to me?!”
“Sir Soyeon. You’ve already heard the explanation. Your time is still limited. You’ve merely escaped immediate death. Now we must begin the real work of restoring your normal lifespan.”
The words left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Sadly, Unhindered Harmony (圓融無礙) was only a temporary measure.
It wasn’t a miracle that extended a hero’s life, but merely a spell that controlled a nuclear explosion.
She still had less than a year to live.
Now I had to find a fundamental solution before that time ran out.
Physical strengthening exercises were only the beginning.
“Ah, I don’t know. I don’t care. Commander, my vision’s going dark… I think I’m going to faint…”
“A lie. I know you still have strength left.”
Sir Soyeon squirmed. Was she trying to drop the barbell?
Not a chance.
Snap!
With a snap of my fingers, telekinetic magic took hold of her body and kept her firmly in place.
“Not happening. If you want to escape the pain, stand up.”
“W-Wait. Just a second. Seriously. I seriously think I’m going to die.”
“Why on earth are you acting like this when you can do it?”
“I have something to say! Something to say! Wait! Just let me put this down for a second!”
“Stand up first, then speak.”
“I’m telling you, I’m really struggling!”
“Training is supposed to be hard.”
“Oh, ssaem! Are you a T?!”
“Ssaem?”
Was that Korean? I thought I had studied Korean quite hard… Ssaem? I had never heard that word before.
“What does ssaem mean?”
For some reason, Sir Soyeon grew flustered and avoided my eyes. Was it something that bad?
“Huh? Uh… Oh. Um! W-Well. It means an ugly, boring old guy you can’t get through to!”
So it was something bad.
“And T?”
“A cold-blooded person with no feelings! So, ssaem! Let’s take a little break!”
“I see. Another new word. Korean has such a vast vocabulary.”
I took out my notebook, quickly made a note, and looked down at her.
“All your judgments about me are wrong. But I am indeed cold-blooded. Now, up again!”
“Aaargh!”
In the end, Sir Baek Soyeon stood up once more.
And that was the end of it.
“Nope. Can’t do it. I’m done. Go on, gut me.”
Training ended right there.
There was nothing I could do.
What more could I do when a hero lay flat on her back with her belly shamelessly exposed?
With no other choice, I covered her stomach with my coat.
Why on earth was she doing this?
We needed to make as much progress as possible while the exercises were most effective, yet she kept making such a fuss.
This wasn’t a matter of stamina. It was a matter of will.
‘Her fatigue level should only be at about 80%…’
It probably wasn’t a lack of willpower. She was a third-year hero, after all.
Then why was she deliberately slacking off?
“Oh, ssaem! What? Why are you looking at me like that? I’m telling you, I really can’t move a finger!”
Look. She was still talking…
Now that I considered it, her fatigue level must only have been at 70%.
Chatter, chatter, chatter. How much energy did she have left to speak so fluently?
She might as well have been mocking me.
And then, to make matters worse…
“Ah, that was rough. I used up so much energy.”
She glanced at me, picked herself up, actually stood, and gulped down some water.
Unbelievable. She could stand? Her fatigue level had been below 60%?
As the person responsible for her training, I felt humiliated.
Vowing to repay today’s disgrace before long, I approached Sir Soyeon. She was just wiping the water from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve.
“Wh-What is it?”
She flinched as I reached out, gently resting my hand over her shoulder blade. Her short hair brushed the back of my hand.
“Feel this.”
I cast the spell that was, for now, our only solution.
「Unhindered Harmony (圓融無礙)」
This time, I wasn’t using it as fully as I had before. I was merely correcting the misaligned phases of her magical power for a little while, as though combing hair that had grown in every direction.
“Ah…”
Sir Soyeon’s shoulders relaxed. She looked as comfortable as if she had stepped into warm water.
“Focus. I’m not doing this to help you relax. Remember this flow. You must be able to use Unhindered Harmony yourself. That is our starting point.”
“Ah, I don’t know. I don’t get it.”
“Could you try getting it?”
“Honestly! It’s too hard. I thought I knew a thing or two about magic… But this? I can’t.”
“You must do it anyway.”
Once Unhindered Harmony had more or less settled her magical power, Sir Soyeon stepped away from my hand, looking refreshed.
“I want to do it too. But I really can’t. Commander, can you look at something an A.I. wrote, then understand and explain every step the A.I. took to write it?”
“A.I.…?”
“Ugh! It’s so hard to explain! Anyway, it’s something like that. There’s too much of your own heart and belief in this spell for me to make it mine. I can barely even understand why it takes that form.”
“You don’t need to understand. Believing that you can do it and wishing for it with all your heart is enough. That is what heroes are. Beings who can work miracles simply by wishing for them.”
“Can you really make your heart do whatever you want? It’s only natural to feel afraid when you don’t want to, or have doubts when you don’t want to.”
“If you keep trying, you can get there. You will.”
“Ssaem. You’re an INTJ, aren’t you? Always thinking about tomorrow. Such an idealist.”
“What does that mean? You use a great many words I’ve never heard before.”
I took out my notebook and quickly wrote them down.
INTJ.
A.I.
I would have to keep updating it. Only then could I understand and motivate Sir Soyeon.
“Ugh… Seriously.”
For some reason, Sir Soyeon looked thoroughly fed up.
Regardless, I finished my notes and looked down at her.
Why was she being so uncooperative?
In truth, I did have a suspicion.
“Sir Soyeon.”
“What?”
“Do you perhaps not believe that you can live beyond this next year? That you can live out your full lifespan?”
“Ah…”
“So that was it.”
“…”
“You can live. Trust me.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Just as I thought. This must have been the reason. She believed that training like this wouldn’t extend the year she had left.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand how she felt.
She would be more keenly aware than anyone of the magical power growing inside her.
More than anyone, she must have been weighed down by the terror of that overwhelming strength.
That was why she needed to train harder, learn Unhindered Harmony, and keep trying every possible approach…
“Commander. Then let me ask you straight. If I learn Unhindered Harmony, can I really live? Me?”
“…Of course.”
“Can you prove it?”
“…”
“Can you show me for certain that I’ll live if I just learn Unhindered Harmony?”
“That is unnecessary. Just… trust me for now.”
“Commander.”
She gave a bitter smile.
“Last time, in front of the apostle, you said it with confidence. That I could live. That you could prove it. Back then, you were sure of it yourself.”
“…”
“But you don’t know the answer to this problem either. Be honest. Learning Unhindered Harmony doesn’t mean I’ll live, does it? You don’t actually know what to do after that yet. Am I wrong?”
“…Sir Soyeon. Even so, trust me and…”
“I do. But no matter how I work it out, the chances are slim. Too slim to spend my life clinging to that one possibility.”
“But it is the only way. And we can do it.”
“No. I don’t think so.”
I stared at Sir Soyeon.
What on earth was she trying to say?
“Honestly, I’m not even confident I can learn Unhindered Harmony within a year. But you’re saying that wouldn’t be the end of it. You want me to spend all my remaining time and effort hoping there’ll be a whole string of unknown miracles after that? That’s just… such a worthless way to live.”
Worth?
What was she talking about?
She had to live.
Just live.
“I will find a way.”
“When? How?”
“Every day, I form three hypotheses and conduct six reviews. If I do that for 300 days, that will be 900 hypotheses in total, and…”
“See? An INTJ.”
Sir Soyeon smiled bitterly.
“I’m an ESFP. Sometimes an ESTP.”
What does that even mean, you hero?
* * *
On our way back from the training grounds, neither of us spoke.
I had no idea what Sir Soyeon was thinking, and I was busy making a new plan.
I had intended to form three hypotheses and conduct six reviews a day. Had Sir Soyeon felt that wasn’t enough?
Then, if I formed four hypotheses, conducted eight reviews, and performed six experiments a day…
Hmm. I couldn’t cut my sleeping hours any further. I would have to work more efficiently.
While I was deep in thought, Sir Soyeon suddenly spoke.
“About the six grand dukes.”
“Hmm?”
“I’d heard a lot about them, but this was my first time actually meeting any of them.”
“Ah. You mean the Tribune and the commander-in-chief?”
“Yes. Lord Astrid, the Duke of the People, and Lady Helian, the Duke Protector.”
“They are capable colleagues.”
“Just like Lord Revel, the Duke of Eternity.”
“…”
Duke of Eternity was an honorific title for me, the commander of the Order of Eternity.
Somehow, it felt as though she was teasing me, so I didn’t answer.
Perhaps Sir Soyeon hadn’t wanted a reply, because she continued chattering away.
“The Round Table Council, which leads all of Estel’s survivors. The six grand dukes who make it up. It felt amazing to meet these legendary people I’d only ever heard about. And they all seemed so nice.”
Her eyes sparkled.
“So now I’m curious. What are the others like? Especially Headmaster Eihen Giheis, the Duke of Nurturing Talent. I heard he’s the most handsome man in Estel. Is that true? Is he better-looking than you?”
…Of all people.
“I needed to speak to you about that anyway. Good timing. Sir Soyeon. This is a recommendation from your commander. If…”
I was just turning toward Sir Soyeon to give her a serious warning when someone called out.
“Commander!”
The steward of the Order’s estate hurried over. They looked deeply troubled as they watched for my reaction.
What was going on?
“Commander. The Duke of Nurturing Talent has arrived. He is waiting in front of the mansion.”
“…”
Now, of all times? That man?
I glanced sharply to my side. Sure enough, Baek Soyeon was delighted.
“Huh? Really? The Duke of Nurturing Talent? The headmaster of Estel Academy and humanity’s mightiest champion! The greatest archmage? He’s here? The most handsome man in Estel?!”
You called me ssaem. An ugly old man.
“Sir Soyeon.”
“Yes?”
“This is a strong recommendation from your commander. Do not speak to that man, Eihen, under any circumstances. No. Do not even go near him. I recommend that you return to your own mansion immediately.”
Sir Soyeon’s mouth fell open.
“Huh? Why? Is he a bad person?”
Was he a bad person?
“…By ordinary standards, he is a good person.”
“Huh?”
“A skilled, responsible champion who devotes himself to humanity. He is indispensable.”
“Huh? Then why?”
Baek Soyeon glanced up at me and grinned.
“Are you jealous?”
“…”
An indescribable anger welled up inside me.
Even in front of Sir Soyeon.
I kept remembering what had happened back then.
Eihen.
I understood him.
I acknowledged that we needed him.
But we would never be able to accept each other.
“He…”
I didn’t want to become too emotional in front of Sir Soyeon, but I clenched my teeth before I could stop myself.
“…has killed a Knight of Eternity before.”
Footnotes:
“Ssaem” is an informal Korean form of “teacher,” not the definition Soyeon gives.
T, INTJ, ESFP, and ESTP refer to MBTI personality types. T stands for Thinking and is often jokingly associated with blunt, unemotional responses.
“Go on, gut me” is a Korean expression of defiance, similar to “Do your worst.” Soyeon makes the expression literal by exposing her belly.
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