WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: nemui

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◈ The Forgotten Curse Knight ◈

Vol. 2 Ch. 9: Yes, I Am a Cautious Man...

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Captain Oswald Gregory of the Holy Knight Order's First Knight Division was twenty-three this year. He was tall, lean, and well-trained, with dark blond hair, sharp eyes, and a rugged face. A large scar ran diagonally across it, a reminder of the carelessness of his youth.

After underestimating an enemy and being defeated in return, Oswald had repeatedly told himself to be cautious. He had lived steadily ever since, never letting his guard down.

His caution was so thorough that he always checked whether his underwear was inside out before putting it on. He pointed and called out every lock as he checked it, kept supplies perfectly stocked, and had earned the nicknames Supplies King and the First Knight Division's Nag.

That meticulousness served him well in his work, too. Whenever he received a mission, he never neglected preliminary checks. If he had to travel far, he even made packing lists for his subordinates. （Once you've put something in your bag, tick the box on the list!）

Still, no matter how carefully one prepared, other people's involvement could bring any number of unexpected developments.

The Gray Knights accompanying his mission that day was one such unexpected development.

"I'm Theo, a Gray Knight. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

The one who greeted Oswald and the others briskly in front of the Gray Knights' headquarters, commonly called Cinder House, was a small blond boy with a little braid.

Oswald remembered him.

"You're that child who was so familiar with Commander Randolph on the train."

Oswald had been one of the holy knights who accompanied Elbert as he returned from Worg, a mining town in Legato, the Central Western Region, to Erington, the Central Region.

Theo seemed to remember Oswald as well.

Oswald was the one who had advised Elbert against accepting candy from Beryl on the train, only to be rebuked for it. That exchange must have stayed with Theo.

Theo looked up at Oswald with sparkling green eyes.

"You remembered me?"

"...Of course I remember you."

Oswald grunted with a sour expression.

This boy was a Mad Walker, yet he had spoken so casually to the hero Elbert and even received encouragement from him. It was far too much for someone like him.

How enviable.

（Why do we have to come pick up Gray Knights...?）

Gray Knights were dangerous people who could turn into Termea at any time. That was why they needed permission to leave Cinder House, and holy knights accompanied them to keep watch whenever they travelled far on a mission.

For that reason, holy knights travelled by carriage to Cinder House and picked up the Gray Knights. （Because "going to meet them" irritated him, Oswald preferred to say he was going to "pick them up."）

Beyond the iron fence of Cinder House, Beryl, the dark-skinned Gray Knight, waved her hand.

"Do your best!"

Apparently, she had come to see the young people off. What a leisurely thing to do.

"...I'm Captain Oswald Gregory. Get in."

At Oswald's prompt, the three Gray Knights, Theo, Carla, and Hugo, boarded the carriage. From behind the iron fence, Beryl blew them a kiss.

"Have a safe trip!"

（...That woman is as shameless as ever.）

Once the carriage began moving, Oswald looked over the group again. He sometimes fought alongside Gray Knights on missions, so he knew most of them.

The white-haired girl with the upper half of her face hidden by a mask was Carla. Behind her back, she was called the Gray Knights' Slashing Doll. Her abilities were unquestionable, but she seemed so lacking in humanity that she was unsettling.

Then there was Hugo, the orange-haired boy. He kept glancing at the holy knights with a thoroughly servile expression.

Oswald glared at Hugo and spat out, "You there. You were on a mission before, weren't you? I remember you because you did hardly any work and spent your time running away."

The Gray Knights could hardly be called well-behaved, but they were still a group of people willing to fight Termea.

Even Carla, whose thoughts were impossible to read, would silently begin fighting as soon as she faced a Termea.

Yet Hugo had done almost no work on previous missions. He only hovered around the other Gray Knights, then hid somewhere whenever fighting began.

At Oswald's accusation, Hugo turned away with a sulky look.

"...My ability isn't suited for fighting."

Oswald did not like that excuse-making attitude.

He understood that almost no Gray Knights had become one by choice. Still, when someone so openly showed no motivation, it made him angry. Why did he have to watch over such dead weight?

As Oswald drew breath to shout at him, Theo spoke to Hugo first.

"Then let's do our best together this time, Hugo!"

"Why are you so fired up, anyway?!"

"It's my first mission. Of course I'm fired up. You're my senior, so I want you to show me how it's done."

Hugo frowned at Theo's straightforward gaze.

Then Carla, the masked girl, spoke softly.

"An example... I'll show one too..."

An example.

This was the first time Oswald had seen this doll-like girl try to act like a senior to someone.

Unaware of Oswald's inner turmoil, Theo nodded with shining eyes.

"Yes, I'd like to learn from you."

"An example... When Termea appear... slash a lot..."

What kind of crude example was that?

Oswald wanted to retort, but Theo looked impressed.

"Carla, you're brave."

At this rate, this newcomer might charge straight at Termea exactly as he had been taught.

Oswald's eyebrow twitched as he shouted, "Your job is to wait! Don't do anything unnecessary! That's all!"

* * *

Worg, the mining town where Theo grew up, and Grandrium, the capital, had many industrial districts. Their skies were always covered in reddish-gray smoke.

But southwest of Grandrium lay one of Erington's precious agricultural regions. The sky overhead was a clear, pale blue.

The village of Rejilna, where Termea had been sighted, was a fairly large farming village. Spring was a busy season when seeds and seedlings were planted, and the villagers seemed deeply unsettled by reports of Termea.

They welcomed the holy knights' arrival and offered them a two-story building used as the village meeting hall for their stay.

Theo was waiting in one of its rooms, sitting in a chair with his fists clenched on his knees, groaning.

"I want work... I want to work..."

"Huh? Are you an idiot? If you can get paid for doing nothing, that's the best possible deal."

As Hugo said this, he crunched away at the tea snacks the villagers had prepared.

How lazy.

Carla sat perfectly still in her chair like an ornament, without complaining.

Theo looked pleadingly at the young holy knight assigned to watch them.

Nicola Ron, one of Oswald's subordinates, had brown hair tied in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. When they first met, he had said, "Nicola is fine," making him seem like a friendly older brother.

"Nicola, is there any work I can do? Sorting documents, managing schedules, keeping the books, anything..."

"Nope. Bring a book to pass the time next time."

"Uuuugh..."

As Theo groaned unhappily, Carla quietly said, "That captain... is unusual..."

Theo was confused. He did not understand what Carla meant by "unusual."

Perhaps noticing this, Carla added in a low voice, "At the scene... there are people who make us do everything..."

"More like that's normal. Us Gray Knights are disposable pieces, after all."

Hugo, who had been eating snacks, spat out the words bitterly.

"From what I've seen, holy knights' attitudes toward Gray Knights mostly fall into three types. The 'Gray Knights are disposable pieces, so send them right to the front lines' type. The 'They're comrades we fight alongside, so be reasonably friendly' type."

If Theo took Hugo's words at face value, the hero Elbert Randolph belonged to the friendly type. Elbert treated Gray Knights like Beryl and Carla no differently from anyone else.

Hugo rested his cheek on one hand and glared at Nicola.

"And then there's the type like that rigid captain. The 'Gray Knights can't be trusted, so I want them isolated' type."

Nicola gave a wry smile at Hugo's barbed words.

"Captain Gregory is cautious. He hates having uncertain elements mixed into a mission."

"Ha! Uncertain elements, huh? So he doesn't trust us after all."

Hugo snorted sarcastically, but Theo did not think Captain Oswald Gregory's way of thinking was so wrong.

Gray Knights were Mad Walkers, dangerous beings who could turn into Termea at any moment. Oswald must have been unable to relax seeing such a being sitting beside Elbert on a steam train.

（Besides, when we come to a mission site, they have to assign someone to watch us...）

Compared with someone who considered Gray Knights disposable pieces and ordered them into reckless charges, Theo felt that Oswald, who wanted to keep them away from the scene, was kinder.

Of course, if possible, it would be best to build trust and fight together.

Nicola looked a little lonely.

"I'm in the friendly camp, though."

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