WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Genius Knight of a Fallen Race ◈
Chapter 65: Even a Mad Rabbit Fears It
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“Eek!”
“W-who are you!?”
“Please spare us!”
At Shan’s command, the two squires rushed straight into the estate, throwing open every door and checking whoever was inside.
The armed boys had suddenly burst in while the servants were sleeping, so they screamed in terror.
A few tried to resist with candlesticks, pokers, and whatever else they could grab, but the boys cut them down as ordered.
The tapestries on the walls and the carpets beneath their feet gulped down blood.
The commotion outside grew louder as well.
Soldiers sleeping throughout the inner castle heard the noise and began waking one after another.
With the enemy army surrounding the castle, most of them had been prepared to fight at a moment’s notice. They moved quickly.
“What’s going on?”
“I heard there’s an enemy... Was I mistaken? W-what is that!?”
The men approaching with torches froze in terror at the corpses scattered before the lord’s estate and the lone knight standing beside them.
A boy knight wearing armor that did not quite fit him.
Those two glowing green eyes alone made his identity obvious.
“D-don’t tell me this is a night raid...”
“How did he get in?”
The screams and shouts from within the estate made it obvious that their lord was in danger, yet none of them dared charge in.
A knight wielding a magic sword stood firmly at the entrance. Whoever attacked first would certainly die.
Then, with the clatter of armor, a knight appeared and shouted at Shan.
“You filthy Alto who knows nothing of honor! So you’ve finally shown your base nature! Sneaking in during the dead of night like a coward!”
“If we’re talking about cowardice, shouldn’t that mean kidnapping a little girl and threatening her mother into serving like a slave?”
“How dare you spout such nonsense... Everyone, attack!”
Shan’s reply left the knight speechless for a moment. Then he snarled, pointed his sword, and charged.
He might have been some nameless provincial knight, but he was still a knight.
Having trained in combat his entire life, his strength and speed were on a completely different level from ordinary soldiers.
Standing before the main gate, Shan blocked the man’s sword strikes.
As Guardian of the East clashed with his opponent’s blade several times, Shan once again felt how much his body had changed.
‘It’s only grown a little bigger and heavier, but it feels completely different.’
His longer legs had widened his stride and improved his mobility. His longer arms had extended his range for both attack and defense.
His stronger, heavier body could now withstand impacts and strike back hard even without Spirit.
He had felt it while sparring with Roden and the others, but a real battle with his life on the line was different.
Only in a moment like this, when every sense sharpened coldly, could he truly observe himself.
“Now!”
“Help the knight!”
Once Shan had matched the knight’s strength for a while, the soldiers around them must have mistaken it for an even fight. They rushed in at once.
Shan dodged the spear flying toward his face, stepped forward, and swung his sword diagonally.
The magical inscription carved into Guardian of the East flashed.
The knight confronting him was split diagonally in two.
It was the result of overwhelming equipment combined with Spirit.
“Urk!”
“T-the knight...!”
The knight who had served as a sheepdog for the flock could not even scream before he was cut in half.
The soldiers’ faces turned pale.
What followed was a one-sided slaughter, like a wolf let loose among sheep.
Just as he had at Hasra’s eastern gate, Shan ran through the soldiers and swung his sword wildly, butchering them.
There was no need to sharpen his nerves and focus on avoiding attacks from every direction like before.
His armor might not have been enchanted, but it was the finest plate armor given to royal knights.
‘Haa...’
It had been the same in the past, but whenever he fought, especially when he saw human blood, something seemed to boil within him.
Suppressing the excitement rising inside him, Shan took incoming arrows in his back and shoulders before cutting down more enemies.
A few had thoughtfully brought steel nets and thrown them at him. Unlike ordinary knights, who would have gotten caught while raging around and tumbled helplessly to the ground, Shan raised his Spirit and cut through them or leaped aside.
He made examples of the men who threw the nets, splitting them from head to crotch.
“W-we can’t win...”
“Run!”
Fear spread in an instant.
Once more than ten men had fallen, the soldiers lost their will to fight. They backed away, then turned and fled.
After confirming that, Shan sheathed his sword and caught his breath.
He had rested a little, but he had also climbed down a high cliff while carrying two people. He was quite tired.
His grip strength had taken a considerable hit as well.
If only he had received a blessing of vigor, he would have recovered quickly. Still, using a priest’s power in a fight between humans was a serious taboo.
Just then, a shout of “Found them!” came from inside the noisy estate.
Before long, the two squires emerged, dragging several people with the ropes they had used to tie themselves to the cliff.
“Eeeek! Let me go!”
“You bastards! Do you have any idea who I am!?”
“Sniff, sniff.”
“Big brother... Don’t cry...”
There were two adults in their early to mid-forties, along with two boys, one in his mid-teens and the other in his early teens.
Biko, who had brought out all four, reported to Shan with a confident expression.
“We’ve secured Viscount Zerkan, his wife, and both heirs!”
“Good work.”
Bringing the two squires had clearly been worth enduring the extra physical strain.
If Shan had come down alone, he would have had to run all over the place and would certainly have missed one or two people.
No, if he had been too focused on fighting, he might not have caught the nobles trying to escape after changing clothes with the servants.
The two squires had barely finished their energetic report when they saw the more than ten soldiers and the knight’s corpse scattered around the main gate.
One look at Shan, his sword and armor stained bright red, was enough to tell them who had done it.
Viscount Zerkan and his wife, who had been screaming and resisting, saw the sight and stopped struggling in fear.
“D-don’t tell me that’s all of them?”
“They’ve all run for now, but they might call in the forces from the outer castle and join up. We need to move quickly. Viscount Zerkan?”
Shan spoke to the fat man dragged out in his nightclothes, Viscount Zerkan.
The Viscount recoiled in terror as the blood-soaked knight strode toward him.
“W-what do you want!?”
“Where did you lock up Ravana’s daughter?”
“Ravana... You mean that mercenary bitch? Why should I tell you, Aaagh!”
A mere knight speaking down to him must have offended him, because Viscount Zerkan stubbornly answered in a curt tone.
Shan grabbed one of his fingers and snapped it.
As Shan took hold of a second finger, he warned him quietly.
“Tell me quickly. We don’t have time.”
“I-I’m a titled noble with the right to participate in the Pendian Royal Grand Council! I have the right not to be tortured, Aaagh! The underground prison! It’s in the underground prison! Go that way!”
“Good. Luckily, I won’t need to break the third one. Let’s go. If you lead us somewhere strange, I’ll kill you and ask your son instead.”
“Urgh...”
Shan ordered the two squires to bring the groaning Viscount and his family, then took the lead.
* * *
The small hut-like prison was less than a minute from the lord’s residence.
The soldiers who should have been guarding the underground prison were nowhere in sight. They had either died in the earlier fight or fled.
Shan descended the stairs into the basement, where a stale smell hung in the air. He saw several people locked separately behind iron bars.
There were two men who looked like hardened criminals, an old man with a thick white beard, and an Alto girl in her early teens with animal ears and a tail of some unknown kind.
The dark interior, untouched even by moonlight, brightened under the lamp magic device Shan carried.
“Eek...”
The prisoners recoiled in fear at Shan’s sudden arrival.
Screams had come from outside, and then a knight in bloodstained armor had entered. Their reaction was only natural.
Ignoring the others, Shan walked to the bars holding the girl.
She appeared to be in her early teens. Her long red hair looked dry and tangled, as if it had not been cared for properly.
“You’re Ravana’s daughter, right?”
Instead of answering right away, the girl kept her mouth shut and watched Shan closely.
She seemed to be considering whether answering would benefit her.
That alone was answer enough.
Shan immediately swung his sword and cut through the iron bars.
The sturdy bars sliced apart like cheese, and the girl’s eyes widened as she pressed herself against the wall to get away from him.
“Let’s go. I came to return you to your mother.”
“...Really?”
“Yes. Look, I’m an Alto too.”
The lamp magic device lit the area, but the darkness made Shan’s eyes glow faintly.
Noticing that, the girl’s expression brightened and she stepped closer.
“Shan Barendil of the Bright Eyes!”
“That’s right. You know me?”
“My mother told me about you. She said you were the first Alto to become a knight!”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
It seemed her mother had not said anything bad about Shan, at least.
Thinking this would make things easier, Shan led the girl out and had her stand between the squires.
“It could be dangerous, so let these two protect you. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“She’s important. Guard her well.”
As he gave the squires his instructions, someone coughed behind him.
It came from the old man curled up in one corner.
The Alto girl gasped as if she had suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, right! He has to come with us too!”
“That old man? Do you know each other?”
“Yes. He’s a wizard grandpa. My mother often said Princess Serin would be happy if we brought him with us.”
“What?”
Who could he be?
Shan quickly cut through the bars on the other side and checked the old man’s condition.
Perhaps because he was elderly and had been imprisoned in a filthy, cold cell, his health looked terrible.
“Sir, are you conscious? Can you speak?”
The old man slowly opened his cloudy eyes and nodded.
Yet his body did not obey his will. He could only move his lips without making a sound.
Shan understood what he was trying to say and held out his hand behind him.
“Water, quickly!”
At Shan’s shout, Tavera swiftly handed over his leather waterskin.
Once Shan poured water into the old man’s mouth, he drank with difficulty and finally found his voice.
“I... Tenon... Count...”
“Count Tenon? Don’t tell me...”
The name sounded familiar, and after thinking for a moment, Shan realized it was the title held by the head of the Magic Society.
Was this ragged old man really one of Serin’s teachers and supporters, whom Shan had only heard about from her?
“Are you Count Tenon?”
The old man struggled to nod.
Shan had never met him before, so he could not be certain this was truly him. Still, his appearance matched Serin’s description of an elderly old man.
“How did you end up in a place like this...?”
Shan only wondered for a moment before lifting the dying old man and handing him to Biko.
Whatever he wanted to ask would have to wait until the old man’s condition had improved, even a little.
“Biko, carry this gentleman. Tavera, you handle all the hostages. Kill them immediately if they try to run.”
“Even the Viscount?”
“No exceptions.”
Managing four hostages alone would be difficult if Tavera tried to restrain them half-heartedly.
Tavera clenched his teeth and nodded at Shan’s command.
They left through the underground prison and headed straight for the inner castle gate.
With Viscount Zerkan and his group captured, the war was as good as over before it had even begun.
All that remained was to let everyone know.
Yet as they crossed the inner castle toward the outer wall, they realized something was wrong.
“What is it? Why do I hear fighting...?”
Biko muttered in confusion.
They had agreed to only pretend to conduct a siege until this side gave the signal.
As they approached, they realized the battle underway was not a siege.
The fighting was taking place inside the walls, between conscripts and mercenaries.
“You traitorous bastards!”
“You threatened people into serving you, and you’ve got the nerve to call us traitors...!”
Thirteen or fourteen mercenaries had formed a formation and were surrounded by around a hundred conscripts and a small number of armed soldiers.
They had held out despite the enormous numerical disadvantage because nearly half the conscripts needed to watch the army beyond the walls.
And there was another reason.
“Urrgh, aaaah!”
“A monster! It’s a monster!”
The Butcher Rabbit, Ravana, was showing everyone with her entire body why she was called that.
Whenever her huge axe swung in a whistling arc, flesh burst apart and bones flew.
Arrows struck her body from every direction, and stones split her head open, blood flowing down her face. She did not care.
Her eyes had rolled white, and burst blood vessels had turned them crimson, revealing that she was no longer fully sane.
While the other mercenaries barely held their formation, she had charged into the enemy alone and slaughtered them wildly.
Even the two knights mixed among the soldiers could do little but desperately defend themselves and dodge her attacks.
The assessment that she was skilled enough to surpass most knights was no exaggeration.
She might have been below Shan’s level, but even royal knights would have been wary of her.
“□□□□■■■----!”
Ravana let out a roar closer to that of a monster than a human and chopped three people apart at once.
The conscripts fled backward in terror.
Watching them, Shan shouted.
“Everyone, surrender! Viscount Zerkan has been captured!”
The situation was so noisy that his voice did not reach everyone at once.
But Shan was not alone. Once the two squires shouted along with him, the people nearby soon noticed Viscount Zerkan and his family tied up with ropes.
“The lord’s been captured!?”
“Should we save him?”
“How?”
Tavera held a sword to the Viscount’s neck, so no one dared rush in.
Besides, Shan Barendil stood beside him unharmed.
The enemy army was clearly waiting outside, while an internal conflict had broken out within the walls and their lord had been captured.
The soldiers, sensing defeat, quietly lowered their weapons.
“D-did we live?”
“Damn it, my ass hurts... Did an arrow hit me?”
“That wasn’t an arrow.”
“Please stop talking shit.”
As the fighting slowly died down, the mercenaries who had gathered in a circle behind their shields began trading jokes to ease the tension.
Then Ravana’s snarling gaze turned toward Viscount Zerkan and the girl behind him.
“Mom!”
“K-Kiri...”
Calling her daughter’s name, Ravana let out a thunderous roar and charged with her axe raised.
The soldiers in front of her scattered to either side as though a wave had swept them away, opening a path.
Terrified, the Viscount tried to run, but tripped over the rope and fell flat.
“S-save me!”
The axe fell toward his head.
At that moment, a longsword slipped between them and threw off sparks.
Ravana’s attack was blocked, and she looked at Shan with blazing eyes.
“You!”
She growled in fury and swung her axe again.
Shan calmly remained where he stood and met it.
An ordinary longsword would have been crushed in an instant beneath the monstrous strength and Spirit behind that huge axe.
Guardian of the East was sturdy enough to endure it, and Shan’s technique was precise enough to smoothly redirect the impact.
‘As expected, she can use Spirit too.’
No matter how exceptional one’s body and technique were, a warrior had limits without Spirit.
Had that not been why Shan had found it so difficult to hunt trolls in the past?
Of course, if he had possessed Guardian of the East back then, he could have easily killed a troll.
‘Still, that strength is far beyond normal... Did she take some kind of drug?’
Shan himself was strong for his build, but even he was not that strong.
Considering she looked half-mad, perhaps she had taken the berserker’s elixir he had only heard about.
He had never been interested because it depended heavily on the user’s constitution and shortened one’s lifespan, but its effects looked stronger than he had expected.
While the two clashed weapons, no one around them dared interfere.
Ravana displayed strength and ferocity closer to a large monster than a human, while Shan received her assault without even changing expression.
After exchanging several dozen blows in an instant, Shan finally leaned his center of gravity forward, intending to subdue her.
He had wanted to wait until she tired herself out and stopped on her own, but she looked as though she could keep raging for quite some time.
He was truly tired now and wanted to deal with her quickly so he could rest.
Yet the moment Shan shifted into an attacking stance, the wildly raging Ravana suddenly trembled and took a step back.
It was a sight completely at odds with her earlier behavior, like a frightened rabbit.
When Shan took a step toward her, her stiff rabbit ears drooped backward.
“Whine...”
Everyone stared blankly as Ravana suddenly threw down her axe and curled into herself.
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