WeTried Translations

Translator: Dawn

Editor: Dawn

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Genius Knight of a Fallen Race

Chapter 14

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I’m Fine By Myself

“It-It’s a troll!”

The words that the warrior who had just been crushed to death tried to say came out of the mouths of those nearby. As the troll lifted its blood-stained wooden club and widened its eyes, one of the nearby warriors muttered,

“It’s huge…”

It was probably around three meters tall. Even compared to its size, its abnormally thick bones, overwhelming muscle mass, and body covered in hair gave off an immense sense of intimidation. Even the club it held was too big to be called a mere club; it was more accurate to call it a log.

As if its previous silence had been a lie, the troll let out a thunderous roar to intimidate the humans around it. The sensation was as if the sky and earth had flipped, and several people lost their balance and fell.

“Wh-what—!”

“The ground’s rising—!”

The troll rolled its large eyes to spot a weakened human and charged forward with its club swinging. Just as one person, still dazed, was about to be crushed, something suddenly appeared in front of the troll.

“Fall back!”

A nearby knight swung his greatsword with both hands, slicing halfway through the troll’s thick right arm. As the troll let out a tearing scream, the one who had nearly died hurriedly retreated.

“D-damn it! I almost died!”

“Get a grip!”

“Attack!”

After regaining their senses, the expedition surrounded the troll and launched their assault. Blades thrust in from all directions, but they only managed to cut and tear its tough hair and skin. Even so, the troll screamed in a mix of rage and pain. As a ruler of the forest, it was not used to being injured. Soon, the troll, driven by fury, swung its club at the most threatening target—the knight who had severed its arm.

“Ugh!”

The knight raised his greatsword to block, and with a thunderous crash, he was pushed back nearly a meter. Yet that was all. Compared to the massive club, the thin blade neither broke nor cracked. It was an impossible feat made possible by some mysterious force—an extraordinary defensive ability. 

Confused by the lack of impact, the troll glanced at its club, and in that moment, another knight stabbed from behind. Unlike the others, the knight’s blade pierced through the tough hide and reached into the troll’s side, wounding its insides. 

Groaning, the troll stuffed its spilling entrails back in with one hand and swung its club wildly with the other. Even with its clumsy movements, the sound of tearing wind rang out, forcing the approaching warriors to retreat in fear. Only because they were elite fighters did they manage to avoid it—ordinary people would have been turned into pulp.

The battle continued in a similar pattern. Whenever the troll swung its club like a mad beast, one knight stepped forward to block while the other delivered a powerful strike. The rest of the party constantly inflicted small wounds to distract it. Though each injury healed quickly, its massive body fat was consumed each time, and its body gradually shrank.

Watching from behind, Shan had almost fully grasped the troll’s movements and was about to join the fight. But suddenly, the troll covered its face with its club and hand and broke through a weaker point in the encirclement.

Two nearby warriors stabbed its legs with a sword and an axe, but they couldn’t stop it. Though its large body made it slow to react, once it gained momentum, it was far faster than a human. As the others hurriedly gave chase, they realized in horror that an Alto boy—brought along for his night vision—was right in its path.

“This is bad…”

“Move!” Kob, a middle-aged swordsman who had felt a sense of kinship with him as a fellow Alto, shouted.

But instead of fleeing, Shan released the reins and lightly slapped the horse’s rear to send it away. Then he leveled the spear he had recently acquired.

Let’s see.

Having observed the fight earlier, he had already grasped the troll’s movements and behavior.

One step. Two steps. Three steps… now.

Matching the rhythm of the troll’s footsteps, Shan leaped the moment it swung its club in annoyance. Even as that mass of violence passed beneath him, his green eyes did not waver. Putting all his weight into it, he drove the spear into its eye. The sensation was thick and resistant—different from piercing wood or stone.

“Grrr—!”

As the troll desperately screamed and swung its club again, Shan kicked off the spear shaft and leaped away. The club barely grazed his back, carrying enough force to tear flesh and crush bone with even a slight touch.

“What?”

“H-how…?”

The warriors stopped in shock at the sight of such a technique from a boy barely in his early teens. What he had shown would have been dangerous even with perfect coordination, yet he executed it alone in real combat. However, Shan clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

Even that wasn’t enough to kill it.

Despite putting his full weight behind the thrust, it hadn’t pierced through the eyelid and eye deep enough to reach the brain. He wondered if he should have kicked the shaft to drive it deeper. Roden was right—Shan needed more strength and better equipment. While he was still thinking, the troll pulled out the spear along with its eye, roared, and fled.

“Everyone, pursue!” A knight shouted sharply.

Once discovered, the next step was relentless pursuit until the target was exterminated. 

As they ran, a hunter shouted urgently, 

“Be careful! It’s a clever one!”

Intelligence varied among creatures, and that troll was clearly far more cunning than its kind. An ordinary troll would never think to hide in trees and ambush passing enemies. As everyone chased after it, Shan retrieved his spear from the ground, mounted his horse, and followed.

“Let’s go.”

Although the area was a dense forest, Shan skillfully rode his horse and moved forward. He avoided branches aiming for his head with sharp reflexes or knocked them away with his spear. Before long, he was able to catch up with the subjugation members who were chasing the troll at full speed. Kov, the Alto swordsman, saw Shan riding up from behind on horseback and shouted while catching his breath.

“So you really are confident in your skill!”

Shan gave a faint smile in response and urged his horse forward, overtaking them. The knights and their squires were no longer visible, likely having mounted up to increase their speed. After about a minute of riding, he spotted the two knights and two squires on horseback, their mounts exhausted. Chasing a troll through rough terrain on horseback was difficult, especially with heavy armor.

“Did you lose it?”

“…Yes.”

One knight looked irritated, but the other stopped him and answered calmly.

“It ran without even looking back. It’s no ordinary troll. Just as the hunter said, it’s highly intelligent.”

It was certainly unusual behavior. Even if a large monster retreated at first, once it tasted blood, it would normally go berserk and attack recklessly. Soon, the rest of the party regrouped. The hunter even took a lock of hair from a fallen warrior as a keepsake.

“What do we do now?”

“We’ll continue tracking its footprints, but it likely won’t engage us easily,” the hunter politely replied.

Having realized its disadvantage, such an intelligent creature wouldn’t start a losing fight. Especially since even its terrifying roar would lose effectiveness once they got used to it.

“This is going to be a long chase,” one warrior muttered with a sigh.

“We knew that from the start.”

No one had expected a troll hunt to end quickly. Otherwise, Shan wouldn’t have been brought along just for his night vision. However, finding it and hunting it down in one go was one thing, but chasing it down until exhaustion was another entirely. Sensing the difficulty ahead, several members sighed. As expected, they failed to catch it even after tracking it all day. As darkness fell, the hunter pointed ahead.

“We should stay here tonight.”

It was a cave deep enough, with only one entrance to defend, making it ideal against ambush.

“Then the night watch—”

The knights glanced at Shan before looking away. By principle, Shan, brought along as a night scout, should have stayed awake all night. But after seeing his skill, no one dared say it. After a moment, one of the knights spoke.

“You, Alto boy.”

“Yes.”

“You’re exempt from night watch. Stay with us.”

“Sir Katra!”

The other knight exclaimed, shocked that he was treating an Alto as an equal to them. However, the knight referred to as Katra ignored him.

“We need capable fighters against that thing. It’s better to conserve strength by keeping the useless ones on watch.”

“But even so...”

“If you have an alternative plan, I’m listening, Sir Soros.”

Soros grumbled under his breath at the knight Katra’s resolute declaration, but he did not argue further. When Shan first saw them, he thought they were equally arrogant, but it seemed Katra held the upper hand between them. With that, Shan was haphazardly exempted from duty.

“Damn it, this is sad...”

“Then you should’ve tried stabbing that troll’s eye yourself.”

The other members, who were warriors of some renown, were displeased at being called useless, but they didn’t dare argue with a knight. They had seen firsthand how those two had fought that terrifying troll earlier that day. 

Likewise, none of them dared to vent their frustration on Shan either. Those who had once looked down on him as an Alto now couldn’t even meet his gaze. Only one person—the Alto swordsman Kob, who had been friendly from the start—casually patted Shan on the shoulder.

“Good for you, Shan.”

“I’ll have to work even harder since the others are giving me a chance to recover my stamina.”

“Now that’s something to say…”

After a brief chuckle, Kob looked at the sword at Shan’s waist with a curious expression.

“Mind if I take a look at that sword?”

“This one?”

Though puzzled, Shan drew the bandit leader’s sword, which was his first spoil of war. It had rusted after months of poor care, but after following Roden’s advice, it now looked fairly decent again. Examining it closely, Kob nodded as if realizing something.

“The hilt shape looked familiar… I thought so. The emblem’s been removed, but this is a sword used by officers of the Steel Lion Legion. Where did you get it? Surely they wouldn’t recruit an Alto.”

“The Steel Lion Legion?”

“First time hearing it? They’re a long-established mercenary group from the northern Ajun Kingdom. I’ve heard they recruit only warriors trained from childhood in certain mercenary villages.”

Seeing Shan’s confusion, Kob explained slowly. He even showed the twisted scar on his own arm, saying he had nearly lost it fighting them.

“Steel Lion Legion…”

“If you got it from fighting them, you’d better be careful. It’s a mercenary rule not to hold grudges, but rules exist because there are always those who break them.”

One thing Shan had long been curious about was the identity of the group that had destroyed his old village. Unlike the other cheap weapons, this sword had always stood out. He had suspected it might be a clue, but even Roden hadn’t recognized it. Yet this middle-aged Alto swordsman had identified it immediately. Shan resolved to tell Roden later and repeated the name in his mind so he wouldn’t forget it.

***

“Aaaaargh!”

In the dead of night, as everyone slept, Shan shot awake at a horrific scream from outside the cave. Others woke as well, grabbing their weapons.

“Wh-what was that?”

“An attack!”

At the cave entrance, the two on watch looked panicked. The old hunter stepped forward first.

“What happened?”

“The knight went outside alone for a moment…”

At those words, Shan quickly realized one of the people inside was missing in the dark cave. It was Sir Soros, the knight who had been complaining earlier. The remaining knight, Sir Katra, was already putting on his armor with his squire’s help and hurried outside.

“Why did Sir Soros go alone?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Maybe he went to relieve himself?”

Someone made a crude remark, but Katra’s sharp glare silenced them. Soon after, Soros’s corpse was found with his pants and undergarments pulled down to his knees.

“…Damn.”

“Torn clean in half…”

Under the torchlight, the horrific sight left everyone speechless. To die caught off guard while relieving himself was the worst possible end for a knight, as knights always wished to crown their end with a glorious battle. As Soros’s squire wept and tried to gather his remains, one of the warriors looked around and spoke in a pale voice.

“I was here earlier too…”

“Me too. Guess we got lucky.”

The ground nearby was littered with others’ waste. This was the nearest clearing with some cover from the cave. Had they been unlucky, they might have died instead. However, the hunter shook his head.

“It wasn’t luck. That thing was waiting for the knight from the start.”

He pointed to a spot beyond the bushes. From the deep impressions, the troll had been crouching there, ambushing from behind.

“Judging by the tracks, it had been hiding here since before we chose this place. Waiting for a target it recognized.”

Considering its size and footsteps, it had moved with unbelievable stealth. It was unusually patient and calculating for a troll. While the others discussed Soros’s death, Shan scanned the area with his sharp night vision and spotted the enemy.

“There. The troll is watching us from over there.”

“What?”

“That bastard!”

The members looked toward where Shan pointed, their eyes filled with a mix of anger and fear, but none dared to charge forward. Relying on a single torch in pitch-black darkness to rush at a troll wasn’t courage—it was recklessness. 

Of course, if it charged in mindlessly like other trolls, they could easily kill it, but that one would surely flee again and then, in the darkness, scatter them apart before launching ambushes. After a long silence, Sir Katra spoke as if lamenting.

“We recover Sir Soros’s body and rest here tonight. Alto boy, sorry for taking my words back, but you’ll have to take watch until dawn.”

“Okay.”

With one knight dead and the troll lurking nearby, it couldn’t be helped. The party lay down, trying to rest under the constant fear of attack. Shan stood at the cave entrance, having a stare-down against the troll hiding in the dark. Its eye seemed to have regenerated since it now had two again. Only shortly before dawn did it finally disappear. The next morning, exhausted and shaken, the group held a discussion.

“How about we retreat for now?”

“That’s right. This isn’t something we can handle.”

“I’ve never even heard of such a cunning troll.”

Most of the members had already lost their morale. It was only natural, since one of their two strongest forces—the knights—had died. However, the only remaining knight, Sir Katra, firmly shook his head in refusal.

“No. Returning like this would stain Sir Soros’s honor. To make his death a glorious one, we must slay that creature.”

The squire of the late Sir Soros nodded fervently. At this, several members muttered inwardly, 

What glorious warrior? He died while taking a shit!

In any case, since the leader refused, it was time to figure out how to catch it. With their lives on the line, all sorts of ideas came up, but none were particularly useful. Naturally so—if there had been a good method, they would have already used it the day before. After a long stretch of noisy debate, when everyone had grown weary of arguing, Shan raised his hand.

“I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

Some looked at him dismissively, thinking what a mere kid could come up with, despite his excellent fighting skills. But Sir Katra listened seriously.

“Before that, I want to ask... Is  your warhorse slower than the troll?”

The question arose because they had failed to catch the troll during yesterday’s chase. The knight gave a thought for a brief moment, then shook his head.

“No. On plains, not even close. Even in forests, my horse would be slightly faster at full speed. But pushing it like that could injure its legs, so we didn’t pursue.”

“That’s what I thought. Then how about luring it into the plains and attacking together? If we stay in the forest, it’ll just run again like before.”

“We couldn’t even figure out how to lure it in the first place.”

“Trolls won’t attack unless they think their opponent is weaker. So we just need to make ourselves look weaker. Split into two groups, for example.”

[Move to a nearby plain and split into two groups. The two groups keep each other in sight but stay far enough apart that they can’t immediately support one another. When the troll attacks one side, the other rushes in to join and subjugate it. If it tries to flee into the forest, those on warhorses actively block its escape and drive it back into the plains.]

That was what Shan suggested. At Shan’s proposal, the members all looked at each other and made an expression saying,

“Do you really think that would work?”

There was a reason no one had voiced such a simple idea until now. One of the two knights was already dead. The remaining knight couldn’t split himself in two to protect both groups. 

“…Don’t tell me you intend to protect one of the groups?” Sir Katra asked with a doubtful expression.

“Yes.”

“That’s reckless.”

Even though Shan had landed a blow on the troll before, fighting it head-on was an entirely different matter. A warrior who couldn’t properly wield spirit couldn’t deal a fatal blow to a troll, nor withstand its attacks. Shan met the suspicious gazes with a calm expression.

“I can hold out, at least.”

Though his attack power was lacking, he could avoid the troll’s attacks again and again. Seeing that confidence, Sir Katra made a reluctant face but agreed for now. The problem, however, was which group Shan would join once they split. Naturally, no one wanted to be in the group with an overwhelmingly high chance of death. 

This wasn’t something even a knight could force. The harshest punishment he could impose was immediate execution, and dying by a knight’s sword or being sent to be crushed by a troll was the same death. But Shan solved this problem with one answer.

“Then I’ll go alone.”

***

Shortly after, the troll subjugation force headed toward a wide plain they had noticed during the chase. One group consisted of eleven warriors, including Sir Katra. The other group had three: Shan, Kov, and Sir Soros’s squire. Borrowing the late Sir Soros’s warhorse, Shan turned his gaze to Kov, who was following on horseback. He looked somewhat awkward, clearly not used to riding.

“You didn’t have to come along.”

“I can’t just leave two kids on their own…”

Despite his bold reply, fear and doubt were evident on his face. Ignoring the squire who looked displeased at being lumped in as a child, Shan grinned and patted Kov’s shoulder.

“If it gets dangerous, get behind me. We Altos have to look out for each other.”

Realizing his own earlier words had been thrown back at him, a faint smile appeared on Kov’s face. The small joke seemed to ease the tension a little. After chatting like that while walking across the plains for a few minutes, Shan’s gaze suddenly fixed in one direction.

“It’s here.”

A brown-furred monster burst out from the forest and charged toward them at full speed. Gripping his spear tightly, Shan’s mind sparked with anticipation for the coming battle.