WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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Chapter 115: Silver-Gray Knight (3)

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Until just a moment ago, Elbridge had been waiting atop the fortress wall for the knights' battle to unfold.

'This isn't a situation where I should step in.'

Elbridge knew better than anyone how much rested on his shoulders.

Rombel's Ascension, the expectations the God of Fox Rain had for him, Sonia's revenge, the future of the Order and the Goddess, and perhaps, in some small part, even the fate of the world.

Of course, Elbridge had never promised to grant their wishes.

Still, people had gathered around him with their own hopes, and Elbridge wasn't cruel enough to ignore their hopes even knowing them.

He couldn't risk his life somewhere meaningless.

Yet as he watched the knights approach the demon, his chest felt tight.

'I warned them.'

All Elbridge could do now was hope luck favored them and they survived.

At first, things seemed to be going reasonably well.

But the moment the demon skillfully made the divine powers collide with one another before slipping between the knights, the battle's outcome was decided.

It was exactly the flow Elbridge had predicted and warned them about.

'Count Hebron and the others chose not to heed my warning.'

As he thought that and tried to look away, someone caught Elbridge's eye.

An old knight who had sent the other knights back and remained alone on the battlefield.

Elbridge's heart sank.

Though Elbridge did not know the old knight's church affiliation, he saw his former self and the senior Paladins he had once known in the old knight's back.

The one person who remained on the battlefield until the end.

There might not be anyone willing to take on such a role. Yet if someone did remain, it had always been the Order of the Rusted Shield's duty.

That was the Order's identity, and the virtue Elbridge had always taken pride in.

Before he knew it, Elbridge threw himself over the fortress railing.

He slid down the steep wall, half sliding and half falling toward the outside. The sight horrified Count Hebron and Murvach.

"What are you doing? Come back!"

But Elbridge couldn't hear their shouts. An oracle descended as if it had been waiting.

- I knew it, Elbridge.

"...I'm sorry."

Of everything Elbridge carried, the future of the Order and the Goddess weighed most heavily on him. It was also the one thing he had promised them.

If Elbridge died, the Order of the Rusted Shield would surely collapse. That was what it meant to concentrate all the Order's strength in one person.

- You have nothing to be sorry for. An Order that loses its identity has no value.

"..."

- Elbridge. Your Goddess is not so narrow-minded. As you walk toward the battlefield, I only want you to cast aside all your lingering attachments and burdens.

Elbridge nodded and looked ahead again. The demon held its four swords upright, showing respect to the old knight.

Then the demon swung a sword.

Clang!

The old knight raised their sword and blocked the demon's attack.

From that single clash, Elbridge realized two things.

The demon had held back, and the old knight wasn't particularly skilled. Their stance was somewhat clumsy and unstable.

The demon swung again, slashing diagonally from low to high.

A downward strike could carry great force. By contrast, an upward strike couldn't carry as much power. Yet upward strikes were more effective at breaking an opponent's balance. The demon knew that, while the inexperienced old knight did not.

The old knight blocked the attack again, but lost their balance.

The battle had effectively been decided.

The demon's sword aimed for the old knight's neck. Just as another victim was about to be added to the count, Elbridge thrust out his sword with all his strength, intercepting the demon's blade with a harsh scrape of metal.

Krrrang!

Elbridge spoke to the old knight.

"Fall back."

The demon violently jerked its sword free from Elbridge's.

Metal grated again between the two blades.

Elbridge couldn't tell what expression the demon wore beneath its helmet, nor what kind of body lay inside that armor. Still, from its movements and presence alone, he could tell it was displeased.

Naturally, it would be unhappy when someone interrupted before it could finish a battle.

Following Elbridge's command, the old knight took several steps back.

Like everyone Elbridge had seen so far, the old knight would surely flee the battlefield in a panic.

But the old knight acted differently from what Elbridge expected.

Instead of running at once, they sheathed their sword and set it on the ground.

For a knight to lay down their sword meant accepting defeat.

It might be understandable in a friendly spar, but not in a battle against a demon. Knights and Paladins did not accept defeat before demons.

Feeling Elbridge's gaze, the old knight spoke as if making an excuse.

"That demon showed me respect as well."

"..."

The old knight had likely lived a life far removed from real combat. That was why they didn't know whom they should show respect to and whom they needn't.

"Please leave."

Only after Elbridge spoke again did the old knight finally head toward the fortress.

A strange tension hung between Elbridge and the demon.

The demon waited until the old knight was far enough away, then picked up the sword they had left behind. The old knight's sword turned into fine powder and scattered through the air.

Then, just as it had done for the old knight, the demon raised its four swords straight and showed respect to Elbridge.

A demon acting like a knight. What a ridiculous thing.

Even so, Elbridge tapped his shield with the flat of his sword a few times, like any knight preparing for a duel.

He steadied his breathing.

In his right hand was the sword forged by Rombel. In his left was the shield Leonhardt had left behind.

The demon, on the other hand, held four swords.

It had used only one sword against the old knight. Expecting it to fight the same way now would be foolish.

As expected, the demon tilted its four swords diagonally and prepared for battle.

'How do I defend against four swords with one sword and one shield?'

Before he could sort through his thoughts, the demon began to move. Elbridge stepped toward it as well.

Step, step. After only a few paces, the demon's and Elbridge's strides shortened.

Adjusting their strides meant they were measuring the distance between them. It signaled that the exchange was about to begin.

Whoosh!

The four swords began tracing their own paths.

Elbridge's eyes followed their positions. At the same time, he mapped the routes the demon's swords would take.

Four curves spinning around four shoulders as their axes.

Elbridge judged the place and moment when those curves would come closest together. He swung his shield, binding three sword paths at once. At the same time, he knocked aside the remaining blade with his sword.

'Blocked it.'

The motion itself wasn't difficult, but finding that answer had been no easy task.

It was a solution found half through instinct and half through luck.

'Its strength isn't much different from an ordinary Knight or Paladin's.'

Leading with his shield, Elbridge stepped further into the demon's reach.

The four swords swung again. Once more, the demon's sword paths struck Elbridge's shield and were cut off.

This was a situation he couldn't respond to through judgment alone, one where more than half his response had to rely on instinct. It wouldn't have been strange for him to allow a fatal blow at any moment.

Yet fear and helplessness weren't what he felt first.

'What excellent swordsmanship.'

The demon's swordsmanship was strangely clean.

There was no wasted movement, no shallow trickery.

Because its swordsmanship was so straightforward, understanding its paths wasn't difficult. But there was no opening to exploit.

Since being released from the seal, Elbridge had never met anyone who could teach him. He had always been the one teaching others.

But this demon was different. Though it was neither human nor elf, it possessed skill enough to guide Elbridge.

If he survived this battle, he would certainly grow stronger.

'If I survive.'

With every sense sharpened to its limit, Elbridge watched the demon's swords.

After a tense exchange that continued for some time, Elbridge's shield missed one of the demon's blades.

'Damn it.'

The demon's sword passed over the shield.

A chill ran down his spine. The demon's sword was about to cut his shoulder.

A cut to the shoulder wasn't a simple injury. The wound would open a great gap between Elbridge and the demon, and that gap would hand him certain defeat without any chance to recover.

'But I have no way to respond.'

Just as Elbridge's shoulder tensed on its own, the demon pulled back and crossed its four swords.

At that moment, something heavy flew past Elbridge's ear toward the demon.

Then came a deafening roar.

Boom!

Only then did Elbridge see what had flown in from behind.

An axe. A massive double-bladed axe.

Elbridge put a little distance between himself and the demon, then turned around.

As expected, Rombel stood there. A little behind him were Marcus and Sonia, and farther away stood three elves.

The problem was that even Rombel, the closest of them, stood more than thirty paces away.

Rombel had thrown an axe from that far away, close enough for it to brush past Elbridge's ear. Elbridge grumbled despite himself.

"My head nearly got split open by your axe instead of the demon."

"Should I have just left you alone, then?"

"...Who knows."

If an ordinary person had thrown an axe from that distance, it would have been reckless bravado.

But Rombel was different.

Those who didn't know Rombel often thought his greatest strength was his physical power. It was understandable. A dwarf whose forearms were as thick as an average person's waist swinging a massive axe would leave that impression.

But Rombel's greatest strength wasn't power. It was his unmatched precision.

The dexterity of dwarven hands that could carve intricate patterns into precious metals smaller than a fingernail. Senses sharper than those of most dwarves.

The God of the Iron Anvil couldn't grant divine power related to battle.

Even so, Rombel had survived on the battlefield entirely because of that precision.

Rombel often said he could shave someone while swinging an axe with both hands.

No one had volunteered, so there was no way to confirm whether it was true. Still, it wasn't something that could be dismissed as a simple joke.

"Hmm..."

Rombel's eyes fell on the axe lying on the ground.

Unless he retrieved the axe at the demon's feet, Rombel couldn't rejoin the battle. And the demon had no reason to return it willingly.

Marcus stood in an oddly half-crouched posture, as though looking for a chance to join the fight. But Marcus still lacked the ability.

The same went for Sonia. Sonia was a fairly capable mage, but she wasn't accustomed to combat, so there was no telling whether her intervention would help or hurt.

The demon stared silently at Elbridge.

Just as when Elbridge had stretched out his sword to save the old knight, the demon seemed slightly displeased.

Only then did Elbridge understand why it reacted that way.

That demon was, in its own way, a knight. A knight who wanted a fair duel.

That was why it had personally killed the demonic beast that interfered with the battle, acted cruelly toward enemies who rushed in relying on numbers, and respected the old knight who had remained alone.

Getting lucky and surviving once was enough.

Elbridge gestured to Rombel.

'Don't interfere. Wait.'

In the end, the battle returned to Elbridge's hands.

Then the Goddess of the Rusted Shield delivered an oracle.

- Elbridge. So much time has passed, yet you still haven't broken that old habit.

Elbridge knew what habit the Goddess of the Rusted Shield meant.

Even when pushed to the limit, he could never fully trust himself.

"I know I'm not the best."

That was the reason for Elbridge's habit, and one reason he had chosen to be trapped within the seal.

Elbridge had been able to throw himself away as a discarded card because he knew he wasn't the most important card.

But the Goddess of the Rusted Shield had never treated Elbridge that way. Not in the distant past, and not now.

- Elbridge, my most precious child. Do you remember the day your Goddess first gave you an oracle?

Before being trapped in the seal, Elbridge had received exactly two oracles from the Goddess of the Rusted Shield.

He still remembered that situation and the oracle's words clearly.

"Yes."

Elbridge took a deep breath and offered the same prayer he had made on the day he received his first oracle.

"Goddess. Please grant me divine power."

The Goddess's answer was the same as before.

- What divine power do you desire, Elbridge?

Neither the sealing authority, No Retreat, deferred death, nor any other divine power would be of much help in this duel.

What Elbridge had needed on the day he received his first oracle, and what he needed now.

It was conviction. Conviction in himself.

"Take away all my fears."

That wasn't a divine power held by the Goddess of the Rusted Shield.

But it was certainly a strength she could grant him.

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield spoke.

- Go, Elbridge. I will stake my divine throne on it.

Hooo.

Elbridge let out a deep breath.

Then he walked steadily toward the Silver-Gray Knight. The Silver-Gray Knight approached Elbridge as well.

At the same time, both their strides shortened.

Elbridge knew better than anyone that he had no chance in a long fight.

'There will be one chance to seize victory.'

With his shield held before him, Elbridge kicked off the ground with all his strength.

Footnotes:

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