Eternally Regressing Knight

Esther noticed that Enkrid’s gaze swept over Kaisella’s entire body.

Having observed him for a while, she didn’t miss that look.

Kaisella was wearing clothes that clearly displayed her figure.

Her face wasn’t ugly, but that was about it. It might catch a frog’s eye, but not hers. It was below average.

‘No, it’s just that Meellun, that frog, had particularly low standards.’

As they had traveled here, Enkrid had casually mentioned that, so she knew the words of Meellun the frog.

She also knew what kind of place this village was.

So, she had already sensed the spells prepared here, and had finished her own internal preparations as well.

Esther’s eyes casually regarded her opponent.

It wasn’t just her appearance, but what kind of dark magic was she trying to cast?

Was she really attempting to burn that man’s hair or something?

In reality, the lightning spell wouldn’t be enough to kill Enkrid.

Even though it was a prepared spell, Enkrid’s body could now withstand it.

Moreover, Esther herself had implanted several defenses on the new armor he had acquired.

But did that mean she should forgive someone who did such a thing?

Esther was inherently far removed from the concept of “forgiveness.”

She would interfere with and dismantle any magic the enemy attempted to summon, disrupting the mana as it gathered and dispersed.

Even now, with “Banah’s Mirror,” she had reversed the summoned spell and twisted the enemy’s insides.

As the repeated spells failed, her complexion grew pale.

As she drew near, Kaisella pulled a dagger from her waist and lunged.

She cried out.

“Fire!”

The crossbowmen, who had been hesitating, reacted.

Without a hint of worry, Esther struck at Kaisella’s wrist holding the dagger.

One of the most useful things gained from the curse was now revealed: the strength of a leopard, manifested in her slap.

The slap, with a perfectly straightened hand, struck Kaisella’s wrist, producing a clear, bone-breaking sound.

The power from a slender hand twisted Kaisella’s wrist. It dangled limply.

“Ahh!”

The one who had ruled the village in fear screamed.

The bolts fired by the crossbowmen were blocked by the rapidly moving Enkrid.

Two were deflected with his sword, and one was grabbed mid-air.

When the onlookers saw him catching the arrows, their faces turned pale.

It was clearly beyond their ability to fight.

“When you’re spared, it’s better to stay quiet.”

Enkrid spoke calmly. All the bandits dropped their weapons in fear. Some quick-witted ones had already begun to retreat.

There were too many to chase, so they were left alone.

Esther took Kaisella’s dagger from her hand and drove it into her heart, turning it into a brooch.

With a dull thud, the dagger pierced her heart and twisted. Kaisella gasped and whispered.

“Why… why?”

Why was there a mage like you here?

“You don’t need to know.”

Esther murmured with a smile.

A small sense of satisfaction crept in. Enkrid, who had been watching, approached.

“Good fight.”

“Not bad.”

She answered quietly, and Enkrid nodded and looked around.

A mage had appeared, gritting his teeth, and at the moment of battle, Esther had done it all herself.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

There was no problem with her stepping forward if she wanted to.

Enkrid considered Esther part of his group.

Whatever she did, it would be better than Rem.

The defeated ones, those who had been shocked by the lightning, and those still staring blankly.

And from the back…

“Throw down your weapons!”

The fairy commander’s unit entered the village and began to surround it.

He wondered how they had known to arrive at this exact moment.

A man who appeared to be the squad leader hurriedly approached.

He looked around, his confusion obvious.

“Everyone, huh? What? Oh, have you already thrown down your weapons?”

He muttered in disbelief.

He was panicking, but asking the enemy wouldn’t give him any answers.

“…He said to throw them .”

An answer came from one of them.

The one with a burned arm murmured, his eyes spinning wildly in panic.

“Throw them, throw them just like that?”

The squad leader repeated.

Enkrid silently watched the back of the squad leader’s head, wondering what kind of exchange that was.

The squad leader was baffled.

Having seen the increased number of torches in the village from a distance, the atmosphere in the village seemed strange, so he had hurried the unit in.

But as they entered, everything seemed already over.

The village was in disarray, seemingly under the control of a few individuals. A thief using magic was lying dead with a dagger embedded in her heart, and those who were still alive had lost the will to fight. All the rest were dead.

That was all they could see.

The squad leader didn’t understand the situation fully, but there was one thing…

“Scary.”

Though he had always felt uneasy around his squad leader, this place was far more terrifying.

“Should I gouge your eyes out?”

A voice came as Esther’s gaze was drawn to the figure beneath a robe, where faint skin could be seen.

Black hair, red lips, blue eyes. A mysterious aura, illuminated by falling moonlight, and a curved silhouette.

Everything about her stole his attention. It was only natural for a man to be captivated.

But despite the brief glance, the words coming from her mouth were chilling.

“He’s an ally. Don’t gouge his eyes out.”

“Then should we beat him?”

“That’s not allowed either.”

“How about blinding one eye?”

“Just keep your own eyes well-covered.”

“Disappointing.”

In truth, Esther was awkward with all things human, and everything felt strange to her.

Enkrid, while speaking, thought to himself that training this one would be a hassle.

Anyway…

“I’ve seen it too,are you going to gouge my eyes out as well?”

“You’re an exception.”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

Esther pretended to think for a moment before shaking her head.

Then she nodded, signaling she would leave his eyes alone.

Enkrid exhaled lightly and gestured toward the squad leader.

“Clean this up and tie them all up.”

“…Huh? Okay, but where are you going?”

“Inside.”

Neither Shinar, Jaxen, nor Finn had returned.

They must have gone inside. The village chief’s house in the center of the village was quite large.

It looked like a good place to hide something.

“I smell magic.”

Esther spoke, and Enkrid also sensed that something was amiss there.

Esther confidently moved forward, with Enkrid by her side.

“Do you know the way?”

He asked, half-jokingly, wondering if she might be like Ragna.

“Do you think I’m some fool who can’t find his way?”

So, she had thought that about Ragna all along.

Enkrid silently responded, “No, you’re not that kind of fool.”

Then, the two entered the village center, while the squad leader, looking over the remaining enemies, shouted.

“I’ll gouge your eyes out if you move recklessly!”

His voice echoed as he and his subordinates began tying up the remaining bandits.

By the time they were finishing, Shinar, Jaxen, and Finn had already descended into the underground tunnels beneath the village center.

There were a few things left behind by the mage preparing for them.

For instance, ghouls and werewolves.

And naturally, those creatures posed no threat, being sliced and cut down easily.

When the three entered, they were met with a scene of indescribable horror.

“Gr-gr-gr… medicine… give me… medicine…”

One of the victims mumbled, his nails broken and bleeding as he clawed at the walls.

A small child lay collapsed nearby, drooling uncontrollably.

There were no words left but for “horror.”

***

The bodies of ghouls, werewolves with severed heads and arms, and a few man-faced dogs were scattered around.

The collars around their necks suggested they had been used as guard dogs.

The man-faced dogs, too, were cleaved in half.

It seemed like a path paved with the blood of monsters. The village chief’s house was an unusual structure.

Inside, there was a sloped path leading further down.

It led to a large underground cavern, which felt like a vast cave. Though there was no wind, the space seemed quite expansive.

‘A wide but blocked cave.’

It was the perfect place for strange things to happen.

Enkrid and Esther entered.

Torches were placed along the walls, illuminating the way.

As Enkrid observed the monster corpses, he noticed signs of Shinar and Jaxen’s presence.

‘They’ve cut their way through.’

They arrived at a rather large cavern, where Shinar, Finn, and Jaxen were already waiting.

“You’re late,” Jaxen remarked. Enkrid sensed a slight awkwardness in his tone.

The cavern had more tunnels, and some were barred with iron bars, holding people inside.

They looked like half-mad individuals.

Enkrid approached.

Amidst the crowd, he saw an older man muttering. He had a stubborn face, with a hooked nose, sunken cheeks, and protruding cheekbones, his small eyes glaring.

His demeanor didn’t seem typical.

“Shut up,” Finn said coldly, reflecting the torchlight off her blade. The man only pouted.

The light didn’t penetrate deep inside.

Enkrid grabbed a torch from the wall and illuminated the room.

“Do you have medicine? Huh? Medicine? I’ll treat you well, I promise.”

A frail woman, her chest sunken as though she were starving, whispered.

It was clear from her vacant gaze that she was not just addicted to the medicine, but had already lost all sense of reason.

If left alone, she would spend the rest of her life searching for drugs until she eventually died.

“Do you have any medicine?”

This one was a slightly better case.

A man with broken nails and scabs, scratching at the wall, was beside her. His eyes were hollow.

Next to them, a child lay on the ground, drooling, but Enkrid could tell the child was already dead.

There was no life left in his eyes .

The chest did not rise and fall. No sound of breath was heard.

“He was alive just a moment ago,” Finn muttered from behind.

Shinar was busy surveying the surroundings.

As a fairy, she remained focused on her task, whether it was horror or anything else. She searched for hidden items.

“Do you even know what that is? And you’re touching it!”

The middle-aged man with the hooked nose shouted.

Meanwhile, Enkrid continued his silent examination of the tunnel.

One by one, he observed everything without a word.

“Leave it!” Shinar ignored the man, and when Finn noticed his eyes were sinking, the man backed off, not daring to interfere.

After all, it would be foolish to challenge someone with a weapon drawn.

With a small snort, the man crossed his arms and turned around, showing some semblance of defiance. But he remained silent.

Shinar continued her search.

Enkrid then spotted something strange in the next tunnel.

It was a human, but their eyes were a strange color, the pupils missing and replaced with dull, monochromatic sclera.

The blackened eyes and the visible split muscle fibers of the thigh were unmistakable.

“What is this?” Enkrid asked, his gaze not wavering.

“Ah, that’s a failed experiment,” the middle-aged man answered nonchalantly.

“A failed experiment?”

“It didn’t work out.”

“Was it human originally?”

“Why ask if you already know?”

Enkrid silently watched for a moment before drawing his sword.

The blade sliced through the iron bars, ending the life of the half-ghoul, half-human creature that had been breathing weakly.

The tunnels contained several such creations.

“The werewolf we saw on the way here was similar,” came Jaxen’s cold voice, even colder than usual.

Enkrid’s head turned slightly, and his foot took a step.

He did not show anger or sadness.

Finn watched him, wondering if it was because he didn’t feel anger at something that could no longer be undone, or if he was detached from the horror, like the fairy.

Did he, like Shinar, not accept the atrocity as his own and simply view it as a result of someone else’s actions?

Finn noticed something about the difference between humans and fairies in this situation.

She saw that Shinar did not react to the horror with any emotion.

“Monster deserves to be torn apart,” was all she said before returning to her task, searching for clues about the drugs and any potential noble involvement.

If she could find any leads here, it would define who to punish.

She wasn’t sure whether it was acceptable to kill freely in pursuit of answers, but…

Enkrid trudged forward.

Finn, holding her sword, watched him.

Jaxen remained behind, not seeming to care about confronting anyone.

Upon arriving, Jaxen asked a few questions, received his answers, and then stepped back, as if it were not his concern.

Finn’s heart ached.

Seeing the dead child, the drug-addicted woman, and imagining the screams and horrors that had happened here, she was in pain.

She wanted to strike down the alchemist with her sword, but she knew that wasn’t something she could decide on her own.

The alchemist was quite famous. His name had spread across the kingdom.

Lavan, the alchemist.

Though he couldn’t create gold from nothing, his skill in brewing potions was unrivaled.

“Hey, I was forced into this. The Black Blade ordered it,” Lavan muttered, seemingly aware of something as Enkrid approached.

Esther, who had transformed from a leopard into a human, silently observed Enkrid.

And it wasn’t just Esther. Everyone’s eyes turned toward Enkrid—Jaxen, and Shinar, who had stopped what she was doing.

What would he do?

If they took Lavan and sent him to the kingdom, it would be a significant achievement.

His value wasn’t just in his body but in his mind.

Perhaps by helping him now, they would owe him a favor. After all, he was an alchemist.

The lives of many could be saved with his healing potions.

He had experimented on humans, but was that truly a crime?

Among the great alchemists of the continent, how many hadn’t used people for their experiments?

Moreover, it wasn’t entirely his fault, since the Black Blade had ordered it.

If someone dies by a blade, should the blame fall on the blade or the one wielding it?

Enkrid locked eyes with Lavan.

There was no remorse in those rotten, soulless eyes.

———————————————————————-
TL here! Thank you for reading!

For some extra chapters or if you want to show your support head here:

https://ko-fi.com/samowek

https://discord.gg/eXsm6WsQE6