WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: nemui

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◈ The Forgotten Curse Knight ◈

Vol. 2 Ch. 14: Carla's Curse, Hugo's Proposal

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Almost at the same time Theo and Hugo returned to the meeting room in the assembly hall, one of the Holy Knights came back.

He was Matthew, a young man with dull blond hair, one of the Holy Knights who had been checking on the Cursed victims.

"I have a report. Of the seven victims this time, five apparently aren't from this village. The villagers say they may be from the neighboring village."

Theo compared that report with the places where they had encountered the Cursed so far. In an instant, the worst possibility flashed through his mind.

"...This is bad!"

A moment later, Oswald seemed to reach the same conclusion as Theo.

He rose halfway from his chair and murmured, "Could it be...?"

Hugo, who did not understand what was happening, frowned as he looked between Theo and Oswald.

"What's with those serious faces all of a sudden? I mean, things were already serious, but we've got five Holy Knights here."

Then something flew in through the open window on the wind. White hair, a mask covering the upper half of her face, black wings. It was Carla, who had gone out scouting.

Theo stared in shock. Her uniform was torn around the left arm, with blood seeping through it.

"Carla, you need treatment right away...!"

There was currently a doctor at the assembly hall to examine the Cursed victims. Surely the doctor could tend to Carla too.

But before Theo could call for the doctor, Carla spoke.

"...Report. A great many Cursed are surrounding this village."

"Huh?"

Hugo groaned, his face twisting in despair. His expression said, Tell me that's a bad joke.

（Ah... Just as I thought.）

Theo looked out the window in anguish.

All the places where the Cursed had been found were on the outskirts of the village. Theo had felt that, rather than being attacked by Termea and turned into puppets inside the village, puppets were attacking from outside.

Most likely, before Theo's group arrived here, the Termea had attacked the neighboring village and built up its forces of puppets.

Then, after gathering more pawns, it had begun invading this more populous village.

Oswald grimaced as he asked Carla,

"...How many?"

"About one hundred and fifty. More than half are armed. Some had bows or hunting rifles."

As she spoke, Carla bent over the map and marked Xs where she had seen the puppetized Cursed.

They were around the forest and river at the northeastern edge of the village, where the farmland began. That also meant there might be ambushers hiding in the forest.

The enemy force consisted of one hundred and fifty puppetized Cursed and an unknown number of Termea. There could even be more than one Termea.

Their side, meanwhile, had five Holy Knights and three Gray Knights, eight people in all.

The difference in numbers was overwhelming.

（The main roads in this village are concentrated in the northeast. That's exactly where the enemy is attacking from. The southwest has a lot of uneven terrain, making evacuation difficult... Damn it, we're completely cornered.）

Even if they evacuated to the mountains in the southwest, the villagers who fled would eventually be caught if the village was occupied.

（Do we barricade ourselves in the village and wait for help? No. If we don't defeat the Termea as soon as possible, around one hundred and fifty people will turn into Termea...!）

More than a hundred people turning into Termea at once would be a disaster-level incident. They had to stop it here.

Theo glared at the map as he spoke.

"If Carla couldn't find it even from the air, then I think the Termea itself is probably hiding in the forest. Is there any way we can lure the Termea out of it?"

"Hmm."

Oswald considered Theo's suggestion. He traced a finger around the southwestern part of the map, deeper within the village.

"We could barricade ourselves deeper in the village. If the puppetized people invade that far, the Termea controlling them would have no choice but to leave the forest as well... But."

A Termea could not move far from the offshoot bodies attached to its puppets. It was not a bad plan, but Oswald did not seem satisfied with it.

He continued, his expression grave.

"The problem is how the eight of us can neutralize one hundred and fifty puppetized Cursed and reach the Termea. Even if we find its location, there's no point if we can't get there."

That depended entirely on the positioning of the Termea, the puppetized Cursed, and Theo's group.

If they were lucky, they might be able to avoid the puppets and circle around them, but that was hardly a reliable plan.

Then Carla spoke up.

"...Then I'll fly to the Termea."

"No!"

Theo raised his voice without thinking.

Carla could fly. But the enemy had ranged weapons such as bows and hunting rifles.

"The enemy already knows we have someone who can fly. If Carla takes to the air, they'll definitely focus all their attacks on her."

Carla gazed steadily at Theo through her mask as he spoke in a firm voice.

He could not see her eyes because of the mask. Still, somehow, he could tell that she was neither putting on a brave face nor afraid.

"I'll be fine."

"You won't be fine..."

"I won't die."

Interrupting him, Carla roughly rubbed the bloodstain on her left arm with her hand. That would only make the wound worse. Theo was about to stop her when he noticed something.

There was no wound beneath the blood.

Carla's voice was calm, as though the truth of it no longer meant anything to her.

"My Curse is Immortality. Even if arrows and bullets pierce my whole body, even if my head is cut off, even if my entire body is burned, I won't die. That's my Curse."

It felt as though he had been struck hard in the head. Why had he assumed he was the only one burdened with an unreasonable Curse?

He remembered the first time he had met Carla.

She had been wounded on the western front, fallen into the sea, and washed up in Worg. At the time, her clothes had barely retained their original shape.

And yet she had no injuries to speak of, because while her clothes remained damaged, only her body had regenerated.

（She must have gone through something terrible.）

Even now, the arrow wound had certainly not been shallow.

Carla spoke only the facts in an expressionless voice, as if it meant nothing to her.

She must have kept fighting like that for so long that her heart had worn away.

（Even so...）

Even if the wound closed quickly, Theo did not want to overlook Carla's injuries.

"Even if Carla can't die... we should think of another plan!"

The red eyes beyond her mask seemed to ask, Why?

He hated that he could not give a logical, rational answer. Still, he felt he had to say it.

"A way of fighting that leaves Carla battered and broken is wrong. It's not right. A knight doesn't allow that!"

It was such an emotional, childish opinion. Even so, Theo could not overlook this girl being pierced by arrows and bullets.

He thought everyone would be exasperated with him, but surprisingly, Oswald agreed.

"I agree. Even with Immortality, it must take some time for wounds to heal. If she is focused down again, she may be unable to move."

If Carla's Curse Armament Manifestation ended while she was flying and she fell into the enemy ranks...

The thought alone made Theo shudder.

"She could crash and be captured. Given that possibility, it cannot be called a cautious plan. We need a more reliable way to hold them back, or buy time."

Theo felt relieved by Oswald's words.

This was someone he could trust. At the very least, Oswald was not thinking of treating the Gray Knights as disposable pieces.

Then Theo had to offer as many ideas as he could. He glared at the map.

"Could we have the villagers help us set traps, like pitfall traps? If we can slow them down even a little, we can circle around from both sides on horseback..."

As Theo clumsily explained his idea, the other Holy Knights began offering their own opinions one after another.

"We do not have enough time to set traps. Instead, could we have the villagers help restrain the puppets?"

"Certainly, the offshoot bodies attached to the puppets do not have Blood Tails, so they are less dangerous. Perhaps we could leave that to them?"

"No, we don't know that. Nightfall is coming soon. The Termea may attack under cover of darkness. More importantly, we Holy Knights cannot propose a plan that puts the villagers in danger..."

The enemy had one hundred and fifty puppetized Cursed, plus an unknown number of Termea.

First, they needed to hold back those one hundred and fifty puppets. How could they do that with the resources they had?

（Think. Think of a way to fight without using Carla as a shield...!）

Then Theo saw Carla quietly approach the window.

She had not yet dismissed the wings from her Curse Armament Manifestation.

"Carla, don't!"

Carla intended to fly out the window and hunt the Termea alone. He had to stop her.

Almost at the same time Theo moved to stop Carla, Hugo spoke.

"Hey."

Theo and Carla both froze at the unexpected voice.

Hugo, who had been silent all this time, kept his head lowered and stared at his feet as he muttered in a quiet voice.

"...Those puppetized Cursed bastards have enough intelligence to use bows and hunting rifles, right?"

Carla nodded at Hugo's question and touched her bloodstained arm.

"Yes. This wound was from a bow too."

Though they were puppets, they did not simply swing weapons around.

If their bodies remembered the necessary steps, they could nock arrows to bows or load bullets into hunting rifles.

That was exactly what made them troublesome, but Hugo raised the corner of his mouth in a smile.

"...Ten minutes."

With a forced smile that was far paler and more strained than fearless, Hugo said,

"For ten minutes, I'll hold those things back."

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