WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: nemui

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◈ The Forgotten Curse Knight ◈

Vol. 2 Ch. 15: The Girl Is Looking for a Book

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The sky above was layered in beautiful shades of evening orange and night-blue. Far from the city, there were fewer reddish-gray clouds, and the sky looked clear.

The sun had already sunk halfway below the horizon. Night would soon fall.

The darkness of night favored Termea. Their entire bodies were like sensory organs, making them adept at moving in dark places, and the darkness concealed their dark-colored bodies.

Oswald Gregory had explained the situation to the villagers and asked them to light every fire they could around the residential area.

Thanks to that, the village and its wheat fields were now brightly lit, like a festival night.

"Captain Gregory, everyone is in position. It looks like the three Gray Knights have reached their assigned locations too."

Oswald nodded at the words of his subordinate, Matthew, a young holy knight with dull blond hair.

Oswald's subordinates were all elite. Matthew was still young, but he was Blessed with 〈Destruction〉 and perceptive.

Those granted the Angel of Destruction's Grace had enhanced physical abilities. In most cases, that enhancement manifested as physical strength, and Oswald was one of those types.

Matthew, on the other hand, was an unusual type, with decent strength but enhanced vision and hearing.

Vision and hearing superior to those of ordinary people could make daily life inconvenient, but they were useful in operations that required this kind of coordination.

"That's unusual, Captain."

"...?"

Matthew was not the type to enjoy small talk during a mission. He was a cool man who usually watched his companions from a step back with half-lidded eyes.

So when he said something was unusual before an operation that could cost them their lives, Oswald could not help being curious.

"What is?"

At Oswald's question, Matthew looked toward the village meeting hall. Small figures stood there.

Matthew could probably see them more clearly than Oswald could. The three Gray Knights.

"You being cautious, Captain, yet trusting Gray Knights with your life. Honestly, I didn't expect it."

"...You're right. It isn't something I wanted to do."

Gray Knights were dangerous beings who could turn into Termea at any moment.

Relying on them went against Oswald's belief that one must always be cautious.

"But it's also true that we have no other plan."

"That small blond kid... Theo, was it? How well can he fight? I haven't seen his Curse Armament Manifestation."

Oswald pressed his lips together, remembering the battle from earlier. A frown naturally formed between his brows.

"His sword forms were those of a holy knight."

"Theo's?"

Matthew's surprise was understandable.

A holy knight's sword was meant to defeat Termea, not people. Since their intended opponents were not human, their techniques differed greatly from schools of swordsmanship designed for fighting people.

It was not something an ordinary child could learn at a swordsmanship dojo in town.

Theo was probably still unaccustomed to his Curse Armament Manifestation. His movements did not seem to have adjusted to his suddenly enhanced physical abilities.

Even so, Oswald had been secretly impressed by the concentration that had allowed Theo to sever a Termea duplicate so precisely.

Once Theo grew accustomed to his Curse Armament Manifestation, he would likely reach Oswald's level. Oswald was one of the finest swordsmen in the Holy Knight Order.

Of course, Oswald had no intention of losing.

"It seems he's currently training at the Erington Army's Second Base... Why is no one talking about him?"

"Huh? Is he really that remarkable?"

Oswald hesitated over how to respond.

He knew prodigies who could be called transcendent, beginning with the hero Elbert Randolph. Because of that, he did not often praise others when it came to swordsmanship.

（That boy's sword is not the sword of a genius. But...）

Theo's sword belonged to someone who had lost again and again and kept losing, had their pride crushed and been thoroughly beaten, yet never let their heart break and kept swinging their sword.

Oswald knew because he had once been the same.

He touched the old scar on his face with his fingertips.

"...For someone his age, he is exceptionally capable."

Because Oswald was Blessed, Theo's Oblivion Curse did not affect him. He could recognize Theo normally.

That was why he had overlooked something.

No matter how hard Theo worked, ordinary people only saw him as a blond boy who was easy to overlook.

That was why, even if he trained with the Erington Army and defeated fully grown adults, no one talked about Theo, the Gray Knight.

* * *

"Oh, they're here. A whole bunch of them."

Just as Hugo said, puppets were emerging from the forest in a long stream. Those at the front had already begun entering the fields. Before long, they would reach the residential area.

Theo watched them from the roof of the village meeting hall with Hugo and Carla.

The villagers had already been evacuated to the western side of the village. The holy knight Nicola was guarding them, so Theo had left Lenny, his fluffy fluffball companion, with Nicola as well. Theo thought Lenny might comfort Mylene if she became anxious.

The remaining four holy knights, including Oswald, had borrowed horses from the villagers and ridden around to either side, waiting for the operation to begin.

Only the three Gray Knights, Theo, Carla, and Hugo, waited on the roof.

Theo closely observed the puppets' movements. He did not want to miss a single piece of information that could be learned from the enemy.

（The puppets are surprisingly slow... They probably won't reach their destination for a while.）

While they had been making the plan, Theo had been anxious because there had seemed to be so little time. Yet now that they were drawing the enemy in like this, time suddenly felt much longer.

Hugo spoke in a trembling voice.

"H-Hey, can we start already?"

"...No. We need to draw them in until the very last moment, or the Termea won't come out."

Carla shook her head, and Hugo clicked his tongue. Tch, tch, tch. The tongue-clicking repeated in a steady rhythm, surely an expression of his impatience.

But Theo thought something else.

"Hugo, you have a good sense of rhythm."

"...Seriously? Why are you saying something so deflating at a time like this?"

"Sorry. Your tongue-clicking was so precise."

Theo had not meant to ease Hugo's tension. He had simply thought so and said it without meaning to.

Hugo gave a snort and fell silent.

Perhaps Hugo had been concentrating before his Curse Armament Manifestation, and Theo had interrupted him. As Theo reflected on having done something thoughtless, Hugo spoke.

"Hey, don't you have anything else to say?"

"Anything else?"

"Come on, say something nice about me. Compliment me and get me fired up."

"Uh..."

What a troublesome man. Theo spoke to Hugo with complete seriousness.

"If you make other people's praise your source of motivation, you won't be able to perform consistently. Wouldn't it be better to start by encouraging yourself, so you can always perform at your best regardless of the situation?"

"Are you some kind of genius at killing people's motivation?"

"Isn't this a situation where we have to rise to the occasion whether we're motivated or not?"

"I don't want the right answer. I'm telling you to flatter me and make me feel good."

Theo did not know how to respond. If Hugo knew it was flattery, would it really make him feel good?

A knight must be sincere. Flattering an ally to motivate them was not conduct befitting a knight.

So Theo answered honestly and sincerely.

"Sorry. I'm not good at that kind of empty praise. If I see your skills and think they're amazing, I'll praise you from the bottom of my heart. I hope you'll forgive me until then."

"You..."

"Hugo, you've devoted everything to that talent, haven't you?"

Perhaps remembering their argument that morning, Hugo made a bitter face.

When Theo had said he wished he had even one thing he excelled at, Hugo had replied without hiding his irritation.

"If you just try a little harder, do you think you'll get that one thing? People who have one thing they're good at give up other things, endure it, and spend their time on that one thing."

Hugo had possessed it. The one thing he could be proud of before others.

That was his way of being, his own Curse Armament Manifestation.

"...It's not talent. Now, it's just a curse."

Hugo spat the words out self-deprecatingly, then glanced sideways at Carla.

"I've never heard that your curse is Immortality. Do you really not die?"

"That's right."

"How many years have you lived?"

"I don't know. I haven't counted."

Hugo probably did not want to talk about his own curse, so he had turned the conversation toward Carla.

Carla did not seem offended. She answered in her usual calm tone.

Then Theo suddenly realized something.

"Could it be that you wear a mask... to hide your Immortality?"

"That's right. To people who don't know about Mad Walkers, I'm an unnatural existence."

Gray Knights and holy knights who knew about Mad Walkers could accept it if they were told it was her curse. But to ordinary people who did not know the circumstances, Carla, whose appearance never changed, would seem unsettling.

That was why she hid her face, so citizens would not fear or suspect the Gray Knights.

Even the holy knights who traveled with Gray Knights probably did not want citizens to feel hostility toward them.

Carla touched the mask covering the upper half of her face with her fingertips. Her slender, delicate fingers somehow looked very beautiful to Theo.

Hugo sat cross-legged on the roof and looked up at Carla.

"If you're immortal, couldn't you escape the Gray Knights if you really wanted to? Don't you ever want to be free?"

"I've been kept by the Gray Knights for so long that I don't know any other way to live. But..."

Was it Theo's imagination, or had those final words held a little emotion?

Without taking her eyes from the front, Carla quietly murmured,

"I've been searching for something for a long time."

Her voice sounded lonely, and before he realized it, Theo had asked,

"For what?"

"...A book."

Her pure white hair stirred in the night wind.

Theo found himself following with his eyes as the girl held down her hair with pale fingers.

"If I can find it again, I don't need anything else. That's the only reason I'm alive."

With that, Carla extended red-black wings from her back.

She did not need words for her Curse Armament Manifestation. Now Theo understood why.

She had mastered that power so completely that she did not need to say the words aloud.

Just how long had she continued fighting as a Gray Knight?

"...They're here."

The puppets had reached the scarecrows in the wheat field, where Carla was looking. The operation was beginning.

Hugo, who usually stood around looking sluggish, straightened his back and raised his voice.

"Curse Armament Manifestation: Serve the Sacred Hymn."

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