WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: nemui

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◈ The Forgotten Curse Knight ◈

Vol. 2 Ch. 11: Bitter Memories in the Scar on His Face

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Five people headed to the place where Mylene's brother had been abducted: the Holy Knights Oswald and Nicola, and the Gray Knights Theo, Hugo, and Carla.

Oswald seemed unhappy about the Gray Knights coming along, but Mylene had taken a liking to Theo and Lenny, so he apparently swallowed his complaints. Muttering, “What is that fluffball...?” he still kept a sharp watch on their surroundings.

“Ahh, why do I have to come too...?”

The one grumbling as he dragged his feet was Hugo. Lazy as he was, he had apparently wanted to relax in the waiting room.

But leaving the Gray Knights unsupervised went against Oswald’s principles, so Hugo had been forced to accompany them.

“If we’re looking for Mylene’s brother, wouldn’t more people be better?”

Theo spoke reproachfully, and Hugo wrinkled his nose.

“If we’re looking for someone, just leave it to people who are good at that. I’m not good at this sort of thing.”

Then what was he good at? Theo wondered, but decided not to say anything more to Hugo.

Right now, he should stay close to Mylene, who was anxious after her brother had been taken.

Mylene walked slowly with Lenny in her arms, and Theo walked beside her.

Theo, who bore the Oblivion Curse, was prone to being forgotten by others. Even so, if he kept interacting with people, he could remain in their memories as someone they vaguely remembered.

That was why Theo did not give up on connecting with people, and why he did not hesitate to speak to them.

“What kind of person is your brother, Mylene?”

Speaking softly, as though talking to a neighborhood child, Theo asked the question. Mylene, who had buried her chin in Lenny, looked up at him.

“Um, my big brother is very big.”

“I see. I have a big brother too. My big brother is very, very big.”

After all, he ate an absurd amount.

Allen was probably preparing to leave for the Reyel Holy District right now while stuffing himself with Press Bread, mourning the thought of parting with it. Theo was worried about the Holy Knight Order’s future food stores.

“Mylene’s big brother is definitely bigger.”

“How big is he?”

“About this big!”

Mylene stood on tiptoe and stretched her arms as high as she could.

Even stretched out, the small Mylene’s arms only reached about Theo’s head. Still, she was surely trying to show just how big her brother was.

“That is big.”

“When he gives me a shoulder ride, it’s very high up.”

“He gives you shoulder rides? He sounds like a kind big brother.”

“Yes, he is kind.”

Allen, on the other hand, would say, “Theo, you’re small, so should I give you a shoulder ride? Since you’re small,” whenever Theo could not reach something high up.

He said small twice, so Allen was not kind.

“You speak very politely, Mylene.”

“Knights are important people, so I have to speak politely.”

Theo was a little surprised by her words.

（So she sees me as a knight too.）

Most ordinary people did not know about Gray Knights or Mad Walkers. To Mylene, the Gray Knights probably looked like trainees accompanying Holy Knights.

Then Theo had to behave in a way befitting a knight. Be thou a knight.

Theo placed his clenched fist against his chest. It was an abbreviated form of the oath of truth.

“I’m sure we’ll save your brother.”

The tension in Mylene’s expression eased a little. Her arms seemed to loosen too, and Lenny, who had been squashed lengthwise, returned to the usual shape.

Theo was a knight now. As he savored that realization, someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Nicola.

Nicola pointed a thumb toward Oswald behind them and silently mouthed, “Switch.”

It seemed Oswald had something to say. Theo followed the instruction and traded places with Nicola.

Standing beside Mylene, Nicola said, “That little one is so fluffy and cute, isn’t it?” While Nicola spoke with her, Theo slowed his pace and approached Oswald at the rear.

After confirming that some distance separated them from Mylene, Oswald addressed Theo, Hugo, and Carla with a grim expression.

“This Termea is the type that abducts humans. Tell me, what reasons might a Termea have for abducting someone?”

Now that Theo thought about it, none of the Termea he had seen before had gone out of their way to abduct humans. Yet this time, Mylene’s brother had been taken.

（Termea eat and absorb living creatures, but they cannot absorb or eat humans. To Termea, humans are merely seedbeds for planting curses and increasing their numbers. Which means...）

Before Theo could voice the answer, Carla muttered it in a low voice.

“It wants to be sure to plant a curse in the person it abducted... Or it wants to use the abducted person as bait to lure in other humans.”

A chill ran down Theo’s spine. It felt as though a shard of ice had fallen into the chest that had been burning with ideals.

Oswald gave a small nod and spoke heavily.

“That’s right. This Termea can think like that.”

“!”

Theo had believed Termea were unintelligent creatures that attacked humans indiscriminately. But if one had the intelligence to abduct people...

The thought sent another shudder down his spine.

Even Hugo, who had been sulking the whole time, had gone stiff-faced.

Oswald drove the point home, speaking as though making them swallow every word.

“Intelligent individuals are troublesome. Keep that in mind and act carefully. Carefully.”

“...Yes.”

When Theo answered stiffly, Oswald narrowed his eyes as though recalling something from the past and touched the scar on his face with his fingertips.

“I have no intention of coddling you because you’re children, nor do I intend to underestimate you. I learned the hard way because of that once.”

The words “learned the hard way” carried a strange weight. That scar on his face must have held a truly frightening memory.

“So if I’m taking you to the scene, I won’t treat you like children. Be prepared.”

* * *

The place where Mylene’s brother had been abducted was near the boundary between the farmland and the forest surrounding it.

There were a fair number of trees, with plenty of places to hide. A river also ran through the forest.

“Your brother was around here?”

When Theo spoke to Mylene, she nodded while hugging the fluffy Lenny tightly.

“Something black wrapped around my big brother’s leg, and he fell down. Then he was dragged drag, drag... that way.”

The direction Mylene pointed toward was the river.

Theo had checked the map beforehand, and he had a bad feeling about it. Termea were invaders who swam across the Sea of Oblivion from the west of the continent. Many of them were skilled at moving underwater.

Termea were naturally amorphous creatures that took on the forms of other living things by absorbing them. They could take the form of creatures that were poor swimmers, but in those cases, they apparently crossed water in various ways, such as reverting to an amorphous shape or absorbing a creature that swam well.

（The Termea that appeared in Worg even used a groundwater pump to get out of the coal mine.）

The river visible beyond the forest connected to farmland belonging to villages other than this one.

If the Termea that had appeared in this village had crossed the river, other villages could suffer harm as well.

“I’ll search from the air...”

Carla, who could fly using Curse Armament Manifestation, made the suggestion just as a nearby thicket shook violently.

“Ugh... ah...”

The one who emerged was a tall young man in his late teens. He walked hunched forward and unsteadily, Curse Marks surfacing all over his body and staining him mottled red-black.

“My big brother,” Mylene whispered in a trembling voice.

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