WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Genius Knight of a Fallen Race ◈
Chapter 56: Sometimes Threats Are Better Than Persuasion
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Pendia might be a kingdom of monsters, but monsters did not normally swarm even around Hasra, the capital, where troops patrolled regularly and travelers passed through in large numbers.
Normally, anyway.
While the two princes fought their civil war, the area around the capital filled with people fleeing the grim news.
In the process, defenseless people became prey to monsters, and the scent of blood drew in even more monsters.
That was how a pack of lesser vampires had come to infest this place, only thirty minutes from the capital's walls.
It was also why Serin and the Weavers household servants had encountered them.
“Uuugh...”
“Butler! What do we do!?”
There were ten monsters in total, attacking the group that had gone on ahead without Shan.
A few capable warriors working together could have beaten them to death without much trouble, but they were difficult opponents for civilians who had never received proper combat training.
“Everyone, shoulder to shoulder! Don't show them your backs! Keep your weapons pointed forward!”
Tata, the butler who had encountered monsters while traveling outside before, directed the group into formation.
They formed a circle around Kalion, who lay unconscious on a stretcher.
[Kyaaaah!]
The vampires surrounded the formation, thrusting out their hook-like claws and shrieking to frighten them.
Like all monsters, they could smell terrified prey with frightening accuracy.
“Ah!”
A kitchen assistant cried out and stumbled back after their hand was lightly scratched.
The vampires sensed the weakness and rushed toward the opening. Before they could reach it, Serin stepped in and slashed her own forearm with a dagger.
Blood sprayed beside her, making everyone nearby recoil in horror.
[“Urkbakh Kruga!”]
With her spell, the blood flowing from her pale arm hardened into sharp spikes and shot outward.
The crimson spikes tore through four vampires at once, shredding their bodies.
Startled by the powerful blood magic, the vampires screamed and retreated well away after having been close enough to touch.
Only then did the panicked servants regain some of their senses and cry out in amazement.
“Wow...”
“My goodness!”
They lacked the magical knowledge to understand that the spell she had just used was an extraordinary ability, nearly impossible for modern mages.
They were simply relieved and amazed that, unlike them, she had the power to resist the monsters.
If she used that magic two or three more times, every vampire would surely be dead.
“Haa...”
Yet contrary to their expectations, Serin quickly stepped back instead of casting another spell.
Her pale face was drenched in cold sweat, and her entire body shook as if she had chills.
Only then did the head maid realize how much blood she had lost and grab Serin's arm in alarm.
“M-Miss! Your arm! Someone, quickly, bring some cloth...!”
Anything usable as a bandage was packed away in the luggage, so all they could do was press down on the bleeding wound with their hands.
Once the person who had launched that terrifying attack retreated, the vampires guessed that she had exhausted her strength and began to close in again.
The stablehand swung a club at one that leaped forward, making a maid behind them scream in fright instead.
“Eek!”
“Get back!”
As the vampires approached once more, the sound of hooves came from far away.
One vampire turned its head, saw two green lights approaching through the darkness, and let out a warning roar.
[Kyaaaah!]
Before its roar had even ended, Shan rushed in at lightning speed and cleanly severed the heads of three vampires with his spear blade.
Awin made her presence known as well, crushing two obstructing vampires beneath her hooves.
Shan watched the last one flee, then threw the spear he held from Awin's back.
Crack!
The spear pierced straight through the vampire's chest. It collapsed and did not move again.
“Is everyone alright? Is anyone hurt?”
Only after Shan arrived did the servants' legs finally give out, and they collapsed where they stood.
They had lived in the capital all their lives and had only heard that life beyond the walls was dangerous. Having experienced it firsthand, they could no longer believe it was a place where people could live.
On top of that, the boy before them moved freely through that wilderness and cut down terrifying vampires as though mowing grass. He hardly seemed human.
Before they could dwell on their amazement, the stablehand quickly answered Shan's question.
“We're all alright, sir, but Miss Rin badly hurt her arm.”
“Yes, um... She used magic...”
“Let me see.”
Shan jumped down from his horse, took Serin's arm, and rolled up her blood-soaked sleeve to inspect the wound.
The long cut across her pale forearm was deep enough to expose a glimpse of white bone.
“How did you get hurt this badly?”
“I had no catalyst for the magic...”
From the servants' chatter, Shan learned that she had used the same kind of blood magic as the high vampire he had encountered before.
Unlike a monster with immense vitality, it was clearly difficult for a human body to use such a power. Serin looked utterly exhausted.
“Bring me medicine and bandages.”
“Here!”
At Shan's order, a maid quickly pulled bandages from the luggage and held them out.
He spread on ointment made by boiling troll marrow, which he had used before, then wrapped the wound with bandages. Serin groaned in pain.
“Ugh...”
“Bear with it a little longer. Oh, right. There's another horse I need to bring back.”
After saying that, Shan realized there was no good way to retrieve Kamad's horse.
It would be dangerous for Shan to go back alone, but sending someone else would be dangerous too.
As he wondered whether they should all go back together, Kamad's horse emerged from the darkness and slowly approached them.
It seemed to have followed Shan because it was afraid of being left alone.
“Good. It came on its own.”
Kamad's warhorse pressed itself close to Awin's side and gave a timid whinny.
* * *
Once the treatment was finished, the group began traveling east again.
Exhausted by blood loss and the side effects of magic, Serin rode Kamad's warhorse while Shan held her steady from beside her.
“Thank you, Sister Rin. Because of what you did, nobody died.”
Serin shook her head with an embarrassed expression.
“I only tried because I wanted to live too. More importantly, that form of address...”
“Ah, sorry, Princess. It's become a habit already.”
They had made up the form of address on the spot to hide her identity from the servants, but Shan had used it without thinking even while speaking with her alone.
“No, it's fine. Keep using it. Now that I've heard it, it's not as bad as I expected. You can just call me by my name too.”
“Sister Serin?”
Serin let out a quiet laugh at Shan's words.
It only lasted a moment before her attention turned to the warhorse she was riding.
“By the way, did you take this horse from the pursuer earlier? Looking at that armor, he seemed to be a royal knight.”
“His name was Kamad Entor. He said he was one of Sir Darkal's disciples, like me.”
“Kamad? Was he a short-haired man with an obnoxious face?”
“Uh... yes.”
His hair had certainly been short when Shan removed his helmet.
At Shan's answer, Serin looked down at the horse she was riding with an expression of disbelief.
“There aren't many royal knights with Horais warhorses, so I wondered if it might be him.”
“Did you know him?”
As a royal knight, Kamad would naturally have known Serin.
Shan looked uncomfortable, wondering whether they had been close, but she shook her head.
“We weren't close. We only recognized each other's faces and names.”
“Phew.”
“Kamad is Count Ronsh's son. His talent was recognized from a young age, and he became a royal knight, but because he came from a prestigious family, he was always assigned to guard royalty and never had the chance to build a reputation.”
That explained it. Shan knew the names of the knights considered Pendia's best, but Kamad had not been among them.
A knight's reputation did not always match their ability.
‘Is that why he came after me?’
If he defeated Shan, who had hunted a cockatrice and an ogre and won the capital's jousting tournament, in a one-on-one battle, he could claim all that fame for himself.
Anyone starved for recognition might have tried it.
While Shan considered Kamad's motives, Serin spoke with admiration in her voice.
“Still, it's amazing that you defeated Kamad so easily. He was considered the most skilled royal knight after Marquis Abel.”
What especially surprised her was that Shan's armor was completely intact despite fighting someone so skilled.
Only the shield on his left arm was dented.
“He definitely knew how to fight.”
If two opponents as strong as Kamad attacked at once, even Shan would have difficulty gaining the upper hand.
If three such fighters came at him, he would have to run or die.
Serin laughed as though his assessment was absurd.
There might not even be five people in all of Pendia who could compare to Kamad, so how often would Shan ever need to face three of them?
“Either way, you've completely become Conrad's enemy now. Kamad was Conrad's second cousin.”
“What about you, Sister Serin?”
“He's related to me through Conrad's mother, so we're not closely related.”
“Then that's fine. Even without that, he had plenty of reasons to hate me.”
Wasn't Conrad the man whose first plan after taking power was to expel every mage and every Alto?
If Shan was to remain in this country, they were bound to be unable to coexist.
As the conversation turned in the direction she wanted, Serin brought up what she had been about to say before they were interrupted.
Tension showed on her beautiful face.
“So, if you don't have anything planned for the future, could you help me? I know it isn't convincing to ask in such a pathetic state... but if I have you, I'm confident I can win. I really am.”
Before Shan could even answer, Serin clasped her hands together and began laying out her plan one point at a time.
“My maternal uncle's territory is a natural stronghold, blocked off on all sides. It has plentiful resources too, so it can sustain itself even if it is cut off from the outside.”
If an elite force centered around a powerful warrior like Shan was formed, then whoever won between Conrad and Elvin would have difficulty invading Count Paless's territory right away.
The land was not suited for a large army to simply force its way through.
“Once we've secured our defenses, we'll gather the Magic Society's mages who were expelled from the capital and launch a proper revolution. If we can produce magic devices in large quantities, we'll be able to overwhelm them in both administration and war. So just give me a few years!”
Like a merchant selling goods, Serin cast aside even the last trace of a princess's dignity as she passionately made her case.
The desperation in her voice and gestures made the servants following behind them look on curiously, wondering what she was talking about.
Shan remained quiet and listened to her argument.
With his limited knowledge, he could not tell whether Serin's plan was truly possible or simply an unrealistic fantasy.
After finishing her rather lengthy explanation, Serin looked as though she considered something for a moment before speaking again.
“Lastly, your reward for helping me become queen will be... a ducal title and independent authority.”
“A ducal title and independent authority?”
“Yes. I'll give you the title of Duke Ranphel, Conrad's maternal grandfather. You will nominally be my vassal, but you will bear no obligations whatsoever. You may gather every Alto in the kingdom there. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you want to declare independence, I'll accept that too, and I can include a clause that we will jointly respond to foreign invasions.”
Duke Ranphel was Conrad's maternal grandfather and the great lord of the west. Most of the current lords and knights supporting Conrad had come from under his command.
Of course, if Serin became queen, they would all have already fallen. Even considering that, granting an independent ducal title to an Alto would be an immense political burden.
It was far too great a reward to offer a mere knight, no matter how powerful he was.
Tolerating and guaranteeing the Altos' independence was beyond comparison.
After throwing out such an enormous prize, Serin looked at Shan's face and asked with a slightly defeated expression.
“I suppose you need to discuss it with Roden first?”
“Yes.”
Serin heard the answer she had expected, let out a deep sigh, and lowered her head.
Her dark blue hair fell forward, hiding her face.
“I thought so...”
“But.”
Serin's head snapped up at Shan's next words.
Her round reddish-brown eyes looked like those of a rabbit that had spotted food.
“I don't know whether what you're talking about can really happen, Princess... I mean, Sister Serin. But if there isn't a problem, I want to help.”
“...Really?”
“Yes. I don't care about a ducal title or independent authority. I just don't want you to lose, die, or come to harm, Sister Serin.”
Serin had known Shan long enough to recognize that his words were completely sincere, without even a trace of pretense.
A ticklish feeling fluttered in her stomach. She stayed silent for a moment, then smiled softly.
“You flirt.”
“What? Why all of a sudden?”
Shan asked with an utterly confused expression at the word that had come out of nowhere.
* * *
After marching through the night, Shan's group finally reached their destination village around sunrise the next day.
Naturally, the villagers tried to turn away the dozen or so outsiders who had suddenly arrived.
Some of those who had fled Hasra during the height of the civil war had passed through this area before, and a few had committed crimes because they lacked food and money.
Yet they could not treat the group as ordinary refugees when a boy wearing magnificent plate armor stood at the front.
Especially when he was Shan Barendil, known even here as the Green-Eyed Knight.
When Shan told them to open the gates because they wanted to rest, the sturdy wooden palisade gate opened at last.
The servants, finally back in the civilized world, let out sighs of relief.
“At last...”
“I never want to go outside again.”
“Me neither. I wouldn't mind living here for the rest of my life.”
The memory of being surrounded by red-eyed vampires had apparently become a terrible nightmare for them.
Bran Village, where they had arrived, had a population of around five hundred and was the largest village in the area.
While Serin and the others rested in the village hall they had borrowed, Shan spoke with the village chief and asked for help finding a priest.
Fortunately, they soon found someone suitable.
The village originally had ten priests. Seven had been taken into Conrad's army, leaving only two child apprentice priests and one elderly priest.
The old priest, who effectively served as the center of the village's priests, was said to be a skilled priest and a devout follower of the Old Faith.
“Hm? Shan Barendil? Ah, that Alto knight...?”
The elderly priest knew Shan's identity and clearly disliked him, yet still bowed his head.
Whatever his personal feelings, knights and priests were people who had to respect one another, and healing the injured was a duty he bore as one of the goddess's servants.
The problem arose after he heard about the proposed treatment.
“You want me to aid a mage? Surgery, too? Cutting open his head? Such a thing would bring divine punishment...! Absolutely not!”
The old priest's face turned red as he erupted in anger after hearing about Kalion's surgery.
According to him, the proper treatment for Kalion was only to use the goddess's power to strengthen his healing ability.
If Kalion opened his eyes afterward, it would be the goddess's blessing. If his breath ran out, then the goddess had called him back.
Serin sighed in frustration at the priest and explained again.
“I told you already. A large amount of blood has clotted and is pressing on his brain. Healing and purification won't solve this. We need to cut it open and remove it, then ask for a miracle to regenerate the damaged brain tissue...”
“Silence! How dare a mage girl who wields demonic power judge the goddess's authority as she pleases!”
Serin flinched and clenched her teeth as though he might strike her at any moment.
She wanted to shout at him for daring to berate a princess, but that would not have been a wise choice when Conrad's army was only a few hours away.
As the mood turned hostile, Shan stepped forward and separated the two.
Facing a knight, the priest seemed to calm down somewhat, though he still breathed heavily.
“So you're saying you won't help?”
“That's right! As I said before, I can use healing power, but joining it with evil magic for something like surgery is absolutely unacceptable!”
“We'll pay you ten times the usual fee.”
“This isn't about money! It's about faith! What meaning does worldly gold have when my soul would be defiled?”
The negotiation methods Shan had learned from Roden did not work at all.
The priest before him looked like he would never agree to Serin's treatment, even if Shan offered him an entire country.
After a moment of silence, Shan voiced the bad idea that had entered his mind.
“What if I said I'd kill you if you don't comply?”
The atmosphere instantly grew cold at the threat delivered in such a calm tone.
The village chief who had brought the priest here spoke to Shan in a trembling voice.
“S-Sir Knight... This priest may be stubborn, but he is a good person. He has done much good in this village over the past several decades...”
“This man is the father of my closest friend and someone who has supported me.”
Shan dropped even his polite speech and spoke sharply to the priest, who was more than fifty years older than him.
Though Shan was slightly shorter and had to look up at him, everyone felt as if Shan were looking down on the priest. A strange pressure radiated from him.
“I don't give a damn whether you think magic is demonic power or not. I want to heal this man by any means necessary.”
“Hmph. Then kill me if you wish! I'm already old. I only need to return to the goddess!”
The elderly priest shut his eyes tightly and stubbornly refused to compromise before Shan's cold threat.
Even he had no choice but to open his eyes wide at Shan's next words.
“You don't care about your own life? Then what about the lives of everyone in this village?”
“What...?”
“You've spent decades in this village, so you must know a lot of people. Come to think of it, didn't you say there were two child priests too?”
As if confirming what the priest must have thought he had misheard, Shan pointed at the villagers around them with his chin.
“Until you say you'll lend me your power, I'll kill the villagers one by one. I won't spare women or children. If necessary, I can torture them too.”
“H-How can someone who calls himself a knight say something so barbaric...!”
“If you think I can't do it, then keep being stubborn.”
At Shan's open declaration of slaughter, the faces of the villagers around them turned pale.
Still, none of them dared to challenge him.
A heavily armed knight already stood in the center of their village.
The people of Pendia frequently encountered monsters, so they worshipped knights who defeated those monsters just as much as they feared them.
All the more so when their opponent was a mighty knight who had defeated every kind of infamous large monster.
The threatened priest muttered in a trembling voice.
“You would never dare. More than five hundred people live in this village.”
“I can do it. Five hundred people aren't stronger than a cockatrice or an ogre.”
The priest meant that Shan's conscience would not allow him to commit the sin of killing five hundred innocent people, but Shan took it as a question of ability and gave an entirely unrelated answer.
For an ordinary knight, killing over five hundred people, even civilians, would be difficult.
That difference in perspective made the priest even more afraid.
Under normal circumstances, perhaps not, but now the two princes were fighting a civil war and public order had nearly collapsed.
At a time like this, even if a single knight massacred an entire village, it might truly be brushed aside...
“Besides, I've already seen a village destroyed by a few skilled warriors. I know exactly how to do it.”
Shan was only speaking from his own experience, but to the priest, it sounded as though the young knight had already committed such acts many times.
“The goddess will never forgive you.”
“The life of someone precious to me matters more than the goddess's blessing. What will you do? If you refuse, I'll kill about a hundred people first and ask again.”
Silence followed his final ultimatum.
Then the priest answered in a voice that sounded close to a sob.
“Alright...”
It was the moment one person's faith broke and yielded to violence.
* * *
After the terrifying threats were over, Serin prepared for the surgery. She looked at Shan standing beside her and asked, trying to sound casual.
“Shan.”
“Yes?”
“If that priest hadn't yielded, would you really have killed the villagers?”
Serin had analyzed Shan thoroughly in her own way, yet she could not tell whether his threat had been sincere.
Considering how he treated people precious to him, it seemed possible. Yet considering how he pitied the weak and those in difficult circumstances, it also seemed like a bluff...
Shan smiled at her question.
“Come on, would I really have done that? The villagers aren't guilty of anything.”
“I see...”
“But I did threaten him while believing I would really do it. Roden told me that since I'm bad at acting, I need to fool myself into thinking it's real.”
That meant that, at least for the moment he made the threat, Shan believed he would kill every villager if he were refused.
It was a frightening way to act, one where the fabricated feeling could become genuine if he took even one wrong step.
Serin had watched the capital court's political struggles from behind the scenes, guiding them as well. She had seen many people swallowed by the masks they had created.
She had thought it before, but the boy had a dangerous quality, like a sword without a sheath.
If she joined forces with Shan, she would have to put a sheath on that sword and make sure it was drawn only where necessary.
For her own sake, and Shan's as well.
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