WeTried Translations

Translator: Dawn

Editor: Dawn

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Genius Knight of a Fallen Race

Chapter 5

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The Lion That Needs a Heart

It took about four hours on foot to get from the hut where Shan stayed to Leaf Village. Considering that all the nearby villages were much farther apart, it would be fair to call them neighbors. That was also why the vigilantes had stepped in to deal with the tragedy in the neighboring village.

Many of the villagers from Mountain Shade Village who had been killed were friends or relatives of the people here. Thanks to that, Shan, who had set out early in the morning, was able to safely enter Leaf Village by the time the sun hung high in the sky. The wheat fields spread out around the village still had a bluish tint, perhaps because it wasn’t harvest season yet. But Shan could easily imagine them dyed gold. 

Even though he had never properly learned farming, he had sown seeds, tilled fields, and harvested crops every year as instructed. While he was cutting a few stalks to check how well the grains had ripened, curious about how things were going in this area, an irritated shout came from a distance.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing! You’re trampling all the hard work!”

A young man, looking five or six years older than Shan, just at the age of transitioning from boy to adult, approached with a scowl. But he froze as he caught sight of Shan’s figure, which had been hard to make out from afar. A young boy armed with a sword and mace, wearing tattered leather armor and carrying a short spear...

“Hello. Do you have any food—”

“Aaah!”

With a scream of “A young demon!”, the man, unlike before, ignored the crops he was trampling and ran back toward the village. It seemed that the people who had returned earlier had spread Shan’s notoriety far and wide. Scratching his cheeks awkwardly, Shan soon walked toward the entrance of the village. Perhaps because the young man who ran ahead had warned them, the villagers had gathered, young and old alike, holding whatever could serve as weapons.

Even so, this wouldn’t be a challenge at all...

Shan sensed the deep fear in the villagers’ eyes as they looked at him. If he cut down just the few at the front, the rest would likely scream and run. Even a group of strong men had done so; with women, children, and the elderly mixed in, it would be even easier.

Even those who hadn’t experienced his strength firsthand were the same. The survivors had exaggerated his power to justify their fear. Stopping at a position where he wouldn’t be too deeply surrounded, Shan slightly bowed his head to Orgo, the village chief standing at the front.

“Hello.”

“It has been a while, Sir Knight.”

At the sight of the chief bowing deeply, the villagers murmured among themselves, but Orgo paid them no mind. No matter why that young boy had come, if things went wrong, everyone here could easily be killed.

“May I ask what business brings you to our village?”

“I need food.”

“I will prepare it right away.”

Shan was about to say that he had something that could be used as payment if needed, but at Orgo’s reply, he stopped mid-sentence. 

Since I haven’t threatened them, I guess this isn’t a robbery.

But it didn’t seem like they were giving it out of the goodness of their hearts either. Still, if they were offering it freely, insisting on paying would feel like a loss. After a brief moment of thought, Shan nodded.

Well, good is good, after all. Since it was a large village, they probably had plenty of food to spare.

Not long after, several villagers brought sacks filled with food. Barley, flour, dried meat, cheese and butter, vegetables, fruits, salt, and various spices… Standing still and looking at it all, Shan pointed at the grains and said,

“I don’t know how to make bread, so can you use the flour and barley to bake it into bread? And is there anyone who knows how to make a fire?”

“Fire?”

“Yes. I tried, but it didn’t go well.”

Making a fire was something anyone would know how to do, unless they were extremely incompetent. Thinking that, a few people looked at Shan in disbelief, but when their eyes met his green ones, they flinched and lowered their gazes. Though it was still daytime, the sky was overcast with clouds, making Shan’s eyes glow faintly. Orgo was also baffled, but did not show it.

“It’s not a difficult request...”

Soon after, Shan learned that he couldn’t just use any random stone to start a fire—he had to strike flint like quartz against metal, and that he also needed tinder to catch the sparks. For an ordinary village child, this was knowledge they would have long learned from their parents, but as an Alto orphan, nobody had taught him that.

“Oh, now I can cook the meat I hunt. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

“But there’s too much food. It’ll be hard to carry.”

Although Shan could move his body well and had more strength than others, that didn’t mean he could exert the power of a giant. To carry all the supplies that several grown men had struggled to bring would take multiple trips over several days.

“Then we will also help you transport these.”

“That would be too much trouble. You can just give me a cart.”

“A-a cart…”

Considering the value of a properly made cart, it was a painful request, but Orgo could not dare say no. Even now, he still vividly remembers the sight of that boy smiling like a monster while slaughtering the villagers. As he nodded while crying tears of blood inside, Shan wanted to ask for an animal to pull the cart, but stopped. Horses and cows were out of the question, and even a donkey was valuable property in a farming village. In truth, he simply didn’t have the confidence to take care of an animal.

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy the food!”

“May fortune in battle be with you, Sir Knight.”

Though it meant “please go die somewhere while fighting,” Shan didn’t know that, so he waved cheerfully. Since it sounded like a difficult phrase, he figured that it must mean something good.

***

With him now regularly bringing food from Leaf Village, nothing disturbed Shan’s peaceful daily life anymore. One of his new hobbies was practicing the fire-making technique he had learned. However, it turned out to be harder than expected and required considerable persistence.

“Phew...”

He had to strike sparks by scraping metal against quartz and make them land precisely on the tinder, then quickly feed the tinder with heat before the flame died out, to grow the fire. Unlike fighting, it wasn’t something he could just do roughly as he pleased, and that made it more interesting.

After learning to start fires, he began hunting forest animals even more actively. As he continued practicing archery, he became able to hit moving targets fairly well. The beasts of the forest were slaughtered in droves, allowing Shan to eat fresh roasted meat.

“Wow…”

The day he first ate roasted rabbit meat, Shan shed tears of emotion. It was incomparable to the scraps he had eaten while living as a laborer in the village, or even to the dried meat he received from Leaf Village. Of course, objectively, it wasn’t a particularly delicious dish. He had roughly seasoned tough game meat and cooked it poorly. 

But the feeling of eating food he had cooked himself for the first time made it feel like the greatest delicacy in the world to him. Naturally, he did not learn the lesson of conserving food for the future. If he ran out, he could simply go back to the village and ask for more.

Eating as much as he wanted every day, Shan ran wildly through the nearby mountains and fields to burn the energy off. Most of it was consumed as energy, but the remainder settled into his body and brought about change. His once skeletal frame gained thin yet wire-like tough muscles, and his height, once half a head shorter than his peers, grew rapidly. 

Naturally, this led to an improvement in his physical abilities. Leaping across a stream in a single bound, Shan realized this dramatic growth and grinned. Not long ago, he couldn’t make that jump and fell straight into the water.

It wasn’t just his jumping ability that had changed. His stamina, once unimpressive despite his efficient movements, had increased several times over. Furthermore, even though his weight had nearly doubled, he could still climb trees like a monkey with ease thanks to his strengthened arms. Which meant he could now swing his weapons faster and with greater force.

Whoosh!

With a single swing of his axe, Shan cut down a tree thicker than his thigh, then clicked his tongue as he realized the blade had shattered. To think it would break already, even though he had only recently taken it from the village.

“Too weak…”

He realized only recently, but now he saw that iron weapons weren’t as sturdy as he had thought. The only thing that held up somewhat was the bandit leader’s sword. If he had a better weapon, he felt like he could split even rocks with a single swing. Then he would even be able to cut down those armored monsters called knights.

Maybe I should ask the people of Leaf Village for one.

While Shan sat in the middle of the forest, thinking of the village as a kind of magical pouch that would give him anything if he asked, they were talking about him as well.

“Village chief, how long are we supposed to keep being exploited?”

“We can’t keep bearing these losses forever.”

For the past few months, the people of Leaf Village had been exploited by a little demon from Mountain Shade Village to the south. Despite his small body, he devoured more food than three or four grown men, and only the finest quality at that.

As time passed, the more he ate, the more he grew, and the more he demanded. Recently, he had even started asking for tools like axes and sickles, so for Leaf Village, already weakened with ten men dead or crippled, it was unbearable.

At the complaints of the village leaders, Chief Orgo let out a deep sigh,

“What can we do? It’s not like we can rise up and say we won’t live like this anymore. We can’t even borrow the lord’s army.”

A couple of months ago, a few badly wounded vagrants had appeared not far from Leaf Village. Half-mad, they muttered about a “green-eyed demon.” During questioning, they confessed they were mercenaries hired to erase several nearby villages without a trace.

In response, Baron Mahosel, the lord who ruled this region, had them taken away and then shut himself inside his castle. Even when asked to send troops to deal with the young Alto bandit, he only replied to exercise restraint. Even without knowing the full details, it was clear that the identity of those bandits had greatly affected the lord.

In such a situation, the villagers couldn’t do anything. Stories of the “green-eyed demon,” who had single-handedly slaughtered a powerful mercenary group, had spread everywhere, and even passing mercenaries or problem-solvers fled in fear.

Even accounting for exaggeration, someone capable of slaughtering over a dozen properly armed mercenaries alone was comparable to a knight. As the village leaders continued sighing, someone burst through the door in a hurry.

“Ch-Chief!”

“What is it?”

“We have someone who agreed to accept the request to subdue the demon…”

The influential villagers rushed to the village’s only inn and tavern.

“Wh-where is this person?”

“Over there.”

The one occupying a table in the tavern was clearly a seasoned warrior at a glance. Perhaps around thirty years old. He was tall, broad-shouldered, muscular, with thick sideburns and a beard covering his rugged face. He looked every bit the image of a veteran fighter.

Though not clad in a knight’s plate armor, he wore chainmail with metal gauntlets and boots, a mace at his waist, and a long rod with a peculiar end strapped to his back. The fact that he didn’t use a blade likely spoke to his confidence in his immense strength.

After clearing his throat a few times, Orgo cautiously approached. The man noticed and frowned.

“What is it?”

“Excuse me. I am Orgo, the chief of this village. I heard you are accepting a request to subdue a bandit…”

“That’s right.”

“May I ask your alignment and family?”

“I don’t know how it was passed along, but I’m no knight. Just a wanderer from Pendia. Call me Roden.”

Pendia was a country east of the Libert Kingdom where they were born. Even if the distance wasn’t that great, anyone capable of traveling alone through foreign lands and protecting themselves would be a skilled individual.

Moreover, his armor was clearly of high-quality metal and craftsmanship. It was far beyond what a mere drifter could normally possess. Seeing that it fit his large frame perfectly, it wasn’t something he had stolen either.

“I understand, Sir Roden. Then you are willing to accept our request?” Orgo’s face brightened as he spoke.

“I heard it’s just a child.”

“As you’ve heard, it’s no ordinary child. An Alto, wielding the ability of a powerful demon, one that destroyed an entire mercenary group. Several of our villagers have been harmed as well. Around here, he’s called the green-eyed demon.”

Though it would have been better to downplay the target to reduce the fee, the chief deliberately exaggerated Shan’s strength. From experience, he knew the boy’s appearance was enough to make others lower their guard. Such carelessness would lead to devastating consequences. If this wandering warrior lost and revealed who hired him, the village may get into trouble.

“Enough. That ‘demonic power’ of the Alto is just superstition. Anyway, I accept the job.”

“Then the reward—”

“For chasing off a mere child? No need for a reward.”

This man seemed to be a rare embodiment of true chivalry. Just from his appearance, he looked wealthy enough, so perhaps he was simply being generous. But either way, the village was relieved they could save the thirty gold coins they had painstakingly gathered.

Still, one concern remained: he clearly didn’t take the demon’s power seriously. So Orgo repeatedly tried to impress upon him how dangerous Shan was. If this man lost and lived to reveal the client, it would be disastrous. As Roden left the village, all the villagers closed their eyes and clasped their hands in prayer.

“O’ Goddess, please bless that knight and let him defeat the evil Alto demon.”

At the hut in a corner of Mountain Shade Village, Shan, who had been idling around after playing as usual, suddenly raised his head at a strange sound coming from afar. It was a sound he had never heard before—metal clanking rhythmically against metal.

When he stepped outside, he saw what it was. There stood a man clad head to toe in metal armor, with a tense posture. He was clearly a knight, just as he had heard about. The knight stood still, looking down at Shan, and spoke quietly.

“So you’re the young Alto who’s been frightening people and plundering them.”

“No,” Shan denied it immediately.

Not because he felt guilty, but because he genuinely didn’t think of himself as someone who had plundered others.

“To be honest, I did think about becoming a bandit if I had no way to survive, but thankfully, the nearby village sends me food, so I’m getting by.”

“Taking supplies without payment is called banditry.”

“Then is the church a bandit too?”

“That’s a donation, so it’s different—”

The knight, who had been speaking, let out a short sigh.

“Trying to stall with nonsense won’t help. I don’t believe in the so-called demonic power of the Alto. Surrender your weapons and come quietly, and I’ll show leniency. If the villagers try to harm you, I’ll protect you. I can even introduce you to a proper place to work.”

“That won’t work.”

For Shan, surrendering his weapons meant returning to his past—a life of weakness, with no dignity or freedom, enduring all kinds of humiliation and violence. If anyone tried to drag him back into that pit, he would kill them without hesitation, even if it were his own parents. As Shan drew the sword at his waist, the knight’s fierce face hardened, and he gripped the rod on his back with both hands.

“So you’ve made your choice… This is your last warning. Once my flail is swung, it cannot be stopped midway.”

The knight’s weapon resembled a farming flail. At the end of a long handle was a chain, and at the end of that chain was a short metal rod. It seemed to be a weapon meant to be swung around to attack.

Though this was the first time Shan had learned its name, he could tell it would be quite useful in a one-on-one duel. At the very least, it had far greater reach than his sword or axe, and given the wielder’s physique, any hit would be strong enough to break bones.

I’m getting nervous...

This was his first time fighting a knight. Shan felt both tension and anticipation as he wondered how truly strong the warriors appointed by kings and nobles were.

Would my skill work against a knight?

As he sharpened his focus, his heightened senses picked up even the smallest physical changes in his opponent. The faint tremor traveled from the knight’s feet through his body. It might be the prelude to some hidden technique only knights knew.

After tensing up, Shan quietly observed the knight’s expression. The knight’s eyes weren’t on Shan—but on the tip of his sword. Just to test it, Shan lightly moved his blade, and the knight’s focus wavered along with it. The sharp gaze from before now looked like that of a rabbit facing a predator.

Wait, could it be...?

One step. Two steps.

As he slowly closed the distance, Shan stopped just within the flail’s reach, then suddenly stamped his foot and thrust his sword forward.

Clatter—

The knight dropped his flail and fell onto his backside.