WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Genius Knight of a Fallen Race ◈

Chapter 39: If You Run Faster Than Flight

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Just before they left Hasra, after completing all their preparations, someone from Prince Elvin's side came to visit, just as Princess Serin had warned.

The man introduced himself as Baron Rosk, a handsome man in his late twenties with a neat, polished appearance.

“Prince Elvin wishes to form a vassal contract with me?”

“That is correct. I hear you are acquainted with Sir Lugh, and he spoke very highly of you. Naturally. You were the winner, after all.”

Though he smiled easily, Shan could sense the baron sizing him up at the same time.

To escape that uncomfortable scrutiny, Shan took a sip of tea before giving his prepared answer.

“I appreciate the offer, but I intend to prove myself further as a wandering knight first.”

“The winner of the Hasra jousting tournament wants to prove himself further? Don't tell me you plan to slay a dragon.”

“If I get the chance.”

An incredulous look appeared on the baron's face.

He seemed unsure whether Shan had said it in earnest or was simply joking.

After a moment, Baron Rosk asked in a somewhat ominous tone.

“I only ask on the off chance, but you did not form a vassal contract with Princess Serin in addition to receiving your knighthood from her, did you?”

Apparently, someone had seen Shan and Roden heading to Count Paless's estate, Princess Serin's maternal uncle, in the middle of the night some time ago. The baron pressed the matter surprisingly sharply.

“I did not form a vassal contract. If I had, I would have told you.”

A knight should never be ashamed to declare the name of his lord.

Still, Shan truly had not formed a vassal contract with Princess Serin, so he had nothing to worry about.

They were only allies, after all.

At the same time, Shan was not particularly skilled at acting, and the awkward movements of his eyes and facial muscles only seemed to confuse the baron further.

Baron Rosk stared at Shan for a while, then groaned and shook his head.

“Right. Of course not. Hm... Very well. Contact us if you change your mind.”

Baron Rosk left an invitation for Shan, then departed Weavers Estate.

Roden, who had been standing silently behind him, snorted.

“That prince really is stuck-up. I wasn't expecting him to come himself, but I didn't expect him to send someone like that either.”

“Someone like that?”

“Baron Rosk is a famous lecher and a complete piece of trash in the capital. Look at the people he keeps around him, and you can tell what sort of person sits at the top.”

There was something almost personally bitter in Roden's voice when he spoke of the baron.

Rather than pry into it, Shan brushed the spider off Roden's shoulder.

“Either way, this makes it even clearer. We can't let go of our connection to Princess Serin.”

“Why?”

“Because the gap in information is too wide! The two princes can't even tell whether the princess is their enemy, but she has both of them completely in the palm of her hand. You can tell just by the fact that she predicted someone would come today.”

Roden rested his hand on his chin and tilted his head, unable to imagine what methods Princess Serin had used.

“Maybe she made the princes' aides swallow poison that only she can neutralize and controls them that way... Considering she said it was fine if everyone knew we were hunting vampires this time.”

Princess Serin had said that even if they hunted the vampire at Kastaman Castle, Prince Elvin would not even suspect that the information had come from her.

If he learned of it, he would instead suspect Prince Conrad.

Conrad, a devout follower of the Old Faith to the bone, would never have taken Shan in as a subordinate. Prince Elvin would assume Conrad had simply heard something about vampires somewhere and secretly leaked it.

In other words, it was a scheme that would block one of Prince Elvin's moves while also driving a wedge between the two princes.

“Now that I think about it, Prince Conrad really doesn't do much, does he? Hiring a vampire, trying to recruit me, and suspecting the princess, it's all been the second prince's doing.”

“Those at the top benefit just by maintaining the current state of things. Clever moves are for those at a disadvantage, the weaker side.”

As the king's eldest son, backed by the wealthy and powerful provincial lords of the Old Faith and the kingdom's strongest knight, Prince Conrad had no need to concern himself with such underhanded schemes.

After chatting for a while, the two headed to the stables.

They brought out Awin and the best horse they could find for Roden, then loaded the baggage they had prepared in advance. Their preparations for the journey were complete.

“Isn't it too heavy, Awin?”

Awin snorted as if the load was nothing.

Considering she carried roughly twice as much baggage as the horse beside her, it was an incredible display of physical ability.

Soon, Shan donned full plate armor like a proper knight, while Roden stood behind him in the chain mail he usually favored. After bidding farewell to the people at the estate, they headed out.

It was time to hunt vampires.

* * *

There was a tavern in Raven, a small city in north-central Pendia, where mercenaries often gathered.

Calling them mercenaries sounded grand, but they were closer to a group of layabouts who had grown sick of farming while fighting monsters and decided to make fighting monsters their profession instead.

A proper mercenary company would have gone east, nearer to the Demon Realm, or to the west or south, where there was more traffic.

“Looks like nothing happened today either.”

“Did anyone deal with the earth ghost in old Etin's field?”

“Who knows? He might have handled it himself.”

“Handled it? If that old fool went out there, he would've done nothing but add more fertilizer to the ground...”

The bored mercenaries were chatting idly when the tavern door suddenly burst open.

The mercenaries turned their heads, thinking something had finally come along to relieve their boredom. Then they quickly took their feet off the tables and sat properly.

A young knight in full plate armor had entered through the door.

‘Whoa.’

‘A knight!’

‘He's young.’

‘What is he doing here?’

Everyone watched with a mixture of interest and caution, but none dared speak first.

Then the large man standing behind the knight spoke first.

“I'm Roden, squire to Sir Shan of House Barendil! We are recruiting brave men to join a vampire hunt!”

“A vampire...?”

“Why would a knight need to hire mercenaries to hunt something like that?”

A few mercenaries would normally be more than enough to handle an ordinary vampire. No matter how young the knight looked, hiring mercenaries to hunt one seemed strange.

Their doubts were quickly answered.

“Our target is no ordinary vampire. It is a high vampire capable of disguising itself as a human!”

“Ooh...”

“There is a monster like that around here?”

“I'm out.”

Some listened seriously, hoping for a large reward from a substantial job, while others remained entirely indifferent.

They simply could not trust a knight who looked so young.

Knights and mercenaries had a relationship much like shepherds and sheepdogs. If they went vampire hunting and that young knight died without putting up much of a fight, they would be in danger too.

At that moment, one mercenary who was fairly well informed stared closely at Shan, then cried out in surprise.

“Wait, could you be Sir Shan, the winner of the Hasra jousting tournament?”

“That is correct. It seems the news has already spread this far.”

Roden answered for him, and exclamations broke out among the mercenaries.

“The jousting tournament winner? That kid?”

“Yeah. There was a huge commotion because the winner was a boy who wasn't even fifteen. They say he's one of the Altos.”

“Good grief.”

“Then he must be younger than my youngest brother.”

Some people dismissed jousting tournaments as games for knights, but everyone agreed that someone who could win one had to possess extraordinary skill.

If a powerful knight like that led the group, the situation was different.

“When do we leave?”

“Right now. We head north.”

“What is the pay?”

“Will there be a hunting bonus?”

After several rounds of negotiation, Sir Shan quickly found himself with sixteen mercenaries under his command.

There were not many skilled mercenaries in a small city like this, and considering what Shan needed them for, there was no need for a large number either. This was enough.

Roden handled every step of the negotiations. The mercenaries marveled that although he looked like a bold knight, he was as shrewd and calculating as a merchant.

A little later, the hired mercenaries were shocked once more when they saw the horse their knight rode.

From her mysterious metallic sheen to her elegant build and stature, a full head taller than the other horses, she looked like the sort of horse a goddess herself would ride.

“Wow, that is...”

“A Horais Warhorse. Apparently it was the prize for winning the jousting tournament in the capital.”

“Sir Shan's warhorse is extremely picky about people, so do not approach her carelessly.”

Everyone nodded at Roden's warning, though it was hard to hide the greed shining in their eyes.

If they stole and sold a horse like that, they could earn more money than a lifetime of mercenary work would ever bring them.

Of course, with the tournament's champion standing right in front of them, they could not even dream of it.

Once the employment contracts were finalized, the group immediately left the city and headed north.

Only then did Roden reveal their destination to the mercenaries. He had been worried that there might be someone connected to their target within the city.

“The vampire we are hunting is at Kastaman Castle.”

“Kastaman Castle... A high vampire lives in a place like that? This is the first I've heard of it.”

“Come to think of it, I have heard that there are an unusual number of vampires around there.”

“Really?”

Even the local residents who lived relatively close by seemed unsure, which showed how well the creature had concealed its identity.

If Princess Serin had not somehow intercepted the communication between the lord of Kastaman and Prince Elvin, they would never have uncovered the truth.

“Our target is the lord of Kastaman.”

“What?”

“Sir Knight, that is...”

Kastaman Castle was too small to truly call a fief. It was closer to a manor, but its lord was still a noble.

Had they been hired for a dispute between nobles? They had been told this was a vampire hunt.

Roden glared fiercely at the troubled mercenaries.

“The creature bought the position of lord of Kastaman and has been impersonating a noble. Even if something goes wrong, none of you will be held responsible.”

“Ah, understood.”

Under Roden's stern gaze, the mercenaries accepted his explanation and backed down.

Judging by appearances alone, that squire looked even more like a knight than the knight himself. They could not bring themselves to defy him.

* * *

The mercenaries did not have to wait long for a chance to witness the skill of the boy knight who did not seem very knightly.

Half a day after leaving Raven and heading north, just as they were beginning to set up camp, a bear appeared before them.

“What? It's just a bear.”

“Be careful. Those things are more dangerous than most monsters.”

Most predators in Pendia's food chain had been driven out by monsters, but a few apex predators, such as bears and tigers, had somehow survived the competition.

Naturally, the creatures that had survived while clashing with monsters were larger and more vicious than normal, making them dangerous even to armed warriors.

They were not impossible to kill, but doing so meant risking serious injury and perhaps even death.

The bear was painfully thin and enraged with hunger as it approached, huffing and snorting. The mercenaries took hesitant steps back.

Shan watched them, dismounted, and stepped forward.

“Everyone, move back.”

“Yes, sir!”

No one dared defy their employer's command. As they withdrew, the starving bear immediately charged.

It interpreted the threatening enemies in front of it retreating and leaving behind only the smallest creature as a signal that this group of prey had offered up food as bait.

That mistaken interpretation decided its fate.

Shan stood still with the new spear in his hand, then accurately thrust it into the approaching bear's head.

Thud.

Despite not putting much force behind it, the spearhead pierced the bear's thick hide and skull, tore through its brain, and ended its life.

‘Nice.’

Shan looked down at the fallen bear and smiled in satisfaction.

He had not used Spirit at all, yet it had pierced through flesh and bone as smoothly as cheese. It had also endured the weight of a huge bear without breaking.

It seemed more than capable of inflicting fatal wounds even on a large monster.

‘Choosing a spear was the right call.’

He had considered choosing armor instead of a weapon, but Thousand Forms was difficult to use in front of others. He needed a weapon he could wield openly.

A long spear like this was also difficult to make and use through Thousand Forms because of its size.

When Shan pulled the spear from the bear's head, the mercenaries around him finally seemed to thaw from their shock and burst into cheers.

“Wow...!”

“So that is a knight?”

“A bear was not even a challenge for him.”

They had heard he was the jousting tournament champion, but his young appearance had honestly made them uneasy. After seeing what he could do, those concerns completely vanished.

Even the faint green glow that began to shine in his eyes as darkness slowly fell seemed strangely reassuring.

For dinner, they butchered and roasted the bear they had hunted.

The meat was tough and smelled strong because it was wild game, but no one complained. Fresh meat was a luxury during a journey like this.

“I hear this creature's paws are a delicacy if you cook them right.”

“Can something this tough even be cooked?”

“Huh? That's why it needs special preparation...”

The mercenary who had been about to answer casually realized that the one asking was the young knight. He stiffened.

After a moment, he quickly forced a servile smile.

“I don't know the details myself, sir, but I heard it from a traveling merchant. They say those Ajun bastards like cooking bear paws...”

“I'd like to try it someday.”

“If I ever learn the recipe, I'll definitely make it for you.”

Since the contract began, Shan had left everything to his squire and kept his mouth firmly shut. When he finally spoke, the other mercenaries were surprised but pleased.

An employer they could talk to was much more reassuring and comfortable than one they could not.

Having seen Shan kill the bear in a single strike, none of them was foolish enough to look down on him or try to lord over him.

In truth, Shan had stayed silent until now and only begun speaking because he had calculated that far ahead.

Of course, it had been Roden's advice.

Yet something happened that very night which made their growing closeness feel meaningless.

They woke to a terrible scream and discovered that two mercenaries who should have been standing watch were gone.

When they went toward the scream, they found one of them shrieking with one leg crushed.

“P-Please save me. Please, save...”

“Haa.”

Roden sighed as he understood the situation.

Behind him lay the other watchman, dead with a crushed skull, and Awin, furious at having her sleep disturbed.

The two had tried to secretly steal the horse and run away while everyone slept, only to meet a horrific end.

Stealing an employer's horse, especially a knight's horse, was a grave crime that deserved immediate execution.

Still, they were all distant relatives of the local people, so no one knew what to do. They only hesitated.

These local mercenaries mostly fought monsters and were not used to killing people, unlike mercenaries from Libert, who were frequently called into wars between people.

In the end, Shan could no longer stand their pathetic behavior and stepped forward himself.

The boy knight, who had been speaking so familiarly with them only moments ago, calmly drew his sword and cut off the thief's head.

Everyone gasped.

“Leave the bodies far away. Monsters will carry them off.”

“Y-Yes, sir.”

The mercenaries looked at one another and marveled. Even if he was young, a knight was still a knight. He was merciless.

* * *

“That is Kastaman Castle.”

On the second day after leaving the city, a mercenary acting as their guide pointed at the castle sitting atop a hill.

Kastaman Castle was the very image of a feudal manor.

Below its stone walls on the hill, a church, mill, and village were protected by a wooden palisade. Farmland and pastures where sheep grazed surrounded them.

“Good. Everyone moves according to the plan.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Let's go!”

With that shout, Shan and Roden led the armed mercenaries straight into Kastaman Manor.

The farmers working under the blazing midday summer sun were startled by the sudden appearance of an unknown force and shouted.

“Bandits! It's bandits!”

“Eli's father, get out here! Bandits have come!”

“No, wait. I think the person in front is a knight-”

At least one sharp-eyed farmer recognized Shan's knightly attire at the head of the group and tried to stop the others.

Around then, Roden shouted in an enormous voice that came from his broad chest.

“We are the force led by Sir Shan of House Barendil! We have come to purge the vampires in this territory, so all humans are not to act rashly! Anyone who runs will be judged a vampire's lackey!”

The residents were confused by the sudden declaration, but they stopped just as they were about to flee and looked at one another.

Roden immediately gestured to the mercenaries behind him.

“Come on, round them up!”

“Yes, sir!”

The mercenaries herded the villagers working in the nearby fields inside the palisade, then blocked every possible escape route.

Twelve of the fourteen men handled that task, while the remaining two stayed with Shan and Roden.

“Having mercenaries under you to do the work is convenient, isn't it?”

Roden spoke quietly as Shan watched the scene with a strange expression.

If only the two of them had come, they would have struggled to control more than a hundred people. It would also have been difficult to deal with the possibility of the lord or one of its lackeys hiding among them, returning to the castle to warn it, or stirring up the villagers.

“It is. Though it feels a little strange.”

“Why?”

“It reminds me of the past.”

Was this not exactly like the time the Steel Lion Legion slaughtered the people of Willow Vilalge?

There had been no knight back then, of course.

At that moment, a priest ran out from the church building between the village and castle. Upon seeing the scene, the priest cried out furiously.

This sight, too, made Shan think of Priest Ador's final moments.

“Unknown knight! By what right do you oppress the weak like this? The goddess is watching you!”

“I came here to carry out the goddess's will. Priest, please cooperate.”

“Cooperate? What do you...”

Shan dismounted from Awin and approached the bewildered priest, holding out a polished silver coin.

The priest's eyes wavered visibly at the sight.

“It's only a simple test-”

Before he could finish, Shan swiftly bent backward and evaded the incoming attack.

The priest's right hand, perfectly normal just moments earlier, had turned pale as marble. Its nails had grown long and sharp like hooks.

The vampire, which had fully abandoned its human shape and now had a batlike snub nose and glowing blood-red eyes, growled.

“How did you find out?”

“So there was more than one after all.”

According to Princess Serin, the priests of the Church of the Goddess were the people who should be most wary of monsters like high vampires, which had humanlike forms and exceptional intelligence.

If the creature had remained hidden for so long, the church there was likely in league with the vampires. Her warning had been correct.

“It really is true!”

“Urgh!”

They had heard the story, but when the priest truly transformed into a vampire, the two mercenaries behind Shan recoiled in terror and leveled their spears.

They also felt relieved that they had not truly been dragged into a dispute between nobles.

Their caution proved unnecessary.

The vampire lunged with the speed and agility of a beast, only to be instantly cut into several pieces by Shan's longsword.

The mercenaries had no idea that the vampire had tried to use its eyes to cast hypnosis, or that it had become meaningless before Shan's overwhelming Spirit.

To them, it simply looked like Shan had cut the creature down in an instant.

Shan watched with fascination as the organs and flesh scattered across the ground wriggled, trying to reassemble themselves.

“The regenerative ability of high vampires really is incredible...”

Even trolls did not regenerate to this extent. It was vitality beyond supernatural, something almost transcendent.

Thinking about it, Shan should have tested how powerful the spear's regeneration-suppressing effect was.

Fortunately, the lord of the castle remained, so he could test it on that one.

Roden scattered the silver powder he had prepared as though sowing seeds. The body that had been trying to reassemble itself burst into white flames.

A high vampire in perfect condition might have resisted, but after being cut into pieces, its resistance to silver was greatly reduced. They could finish it this way.

Afterward, Shan and Roden ordered the mercenaries to conduct a simple test on the villagers.

They only had to press a silver coin firmly against a patch of skin.

Vampires, along with werewolves, were among the races that reacted badly to silver. High vampires possessed a degree of resistance, but they could not avoid even a slight inflammatory reaction.

That was enough to identify them.

“Unnecessary killing and looting are strictly forbidden. If I receive reports of either when we return, you will be severely punished. Make sure you understand.”

“Of course, sir. Some of us are distant relatives of the people here.”

The mercenaries responded obsequiously to Roden's threat.

That was why they had intentionally hired locals instead of mercenaries from the capital.

Of course, there had been some risk that one of the vampire's lackeys might be among them.

After giving the orders, Shan and Roden took two mercenaries and headed straight for the castle, where the lord of the manor should have been.

Then something black suddenly shot out from the top of the castle and flew away.

“What is that...?”

“Don't tell me...”

In the past, vampires had sometimes been called batmen, much like werewolves.

They resembled a grotesque mixture of human and bat.

Only a very small number of them possessed wings developed enough for flight. It seemed the lord of Kastaman was one of those.

That was proof that it possessed strength on an entirely different level from the vampire they had just killed, even among high vampires.

The mercenaries stared at the creature rapidly vanishing into the distance and cried out in alarm.

“T-That!”

“What do we do?”

“What do we do? We catch it.”

Shan grabbed the spear strapped to Awin's side and cut the rope connecting the baggage to her saddle with a dagger.

He felt her body instantly grow lighter as she stepped lightly.

“I'll leave things here to you! Do not enter the castle!”

“Understood!”

Leaving Roden's reply behind him, Shan urged Awin into a sprint toward the vampire flying far in the distance.

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