WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Ryuu

Editor: Ilafy

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 145

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Questions and Answers (2)

Every day after stepping into the Outland was a continuous cycle of learning. Najin gained new insights almost daily, and those moments of realization often came unexpectedly.

This moment was no different.

Najin realized that giants, despite their massive bodies, could run incredibly fast and were even quicker when their food was stolen.

"Uwooooooooh!" A giant whose food had been taken let out a sorrowful roar that carried a sense of injustice. 

Najin empathized with the cry to some extent, but it wasn’t in his nature to sit down and cry alongside them.

‘The living must survive.’ He had to do what needed to be done. He sprinted at full speed, glaring at the culprit behind the chaos.

Tak, tak, tak!

Helmet Knight ran at full tilt, carrying a jar as large as his own body on his shoulder. 

He couldn’t fathom how the knight could run so fast while carrying such a thing, but he put that thought aside and shouted at him. “Damn it, if you were going to run away, you should have warned me first!”

“Oh, come on. How can a knight talk about running away? Tsk, tsk. You still have much to learn.”

“Then what is this?”

“A knight must always head toward the light. Look there. That’s where the light is. Run toward the light!”

“What kind of bullshit…?”

“Or you can face the giants head-on.”

“Why are you still talking? Run!” Najin agreed. Behind them, the earth shook beneath the giants’ heavy footsteps. 

Ignoring the noise, Najin and Helmet Knight sprinted with all their might.

"Uwoooooh…" The melancholic cries of the giants echoed behind them, but they paid them no heed. After all, they seemed to have plenty of food. Couldn’t they share a little? They were being overly greedy.

“Isn’t this theft? Can knights steal?” Najin asked.

“Tsk. Theft? It’s a donation from the giants. Look, they’re even waving us off. Isn’t that a proper send-off?”

Najin glanced back silently. There, the giants were reaching out desperately toward them in sorrow. "Uwooooooooh."

Looking at it again, it did seem like a kind of send-off. Since it was a bit dramatic, he waved back at the giants.

The giants pursued them relentlessly, but catching up to Najin and Helmet Knight was beyond their capabilities. 

Perhaps, during the Mythic Era, there had been giants who could use movement techniques, but no such giants existed anymore. The difference in movement techniques made it nearly impossible for the giants to keep up.

"Are you sure it’s hard? They were really coming after us," Najin noted.

"Well, if someone stole your prized food stash, you’d lose your mind too."

"Stole? Didn’t you say they "donated" the food?”

"Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s not worth the headache." Returning to their base, Helmet Knight set down a jar he had looted from the giants’ food storage with a heavy thud. 

"Since we worked hard, I’ll take care of cooking the meat." Next, the knight went to gather firewood and began building a fire before grabbing a sword lying nearby and using it to skewer the meat. 

As Helmet Knight grilled the meat over the fire, Najin prepared the tableware. The modest feast was supplemented with fruits and honey he had foraged.

"It’s coming together nicely." Helmet Knight chuckled contentedly as he began plating the well-cooked meat. True to his word, the taste of the meat was extraordinary.

"Hey, this is actually pretty good," Najin said.

"Didn’t I tell you? Giants are great at seasoning meat. Maybe that’s partly why they’re called giants instead of giant trolls. Their gourmet instincts must play a role."

The seasoning was just right—perfectly balanced between sweet, salty, and rich. Unlike trolls, who only ate raw food, giants seemed to have a sophisticated palate. 

"Aren’t you going to eat?" Najin asked. Even he, who had a discerning taste, found the meat quite enjoyable.

"I haven’t eaten food in so long that my body probably wouldn’t handle it well. You eat your fill." Helmet Knight focused solely on grilling the meat, refraining from eating any himself. 

The portion was too large for Najin alone, so the leftovers were stored in the jar and buried in the ground.

"Don’t worry about preserving it too much. This jar itself is a magical artifact. Pretty neat, huh?"

As he savored some fruit for dessert, Najin found his gaze fixed on Helmet Knight’s helm. Despite traveling together for a considerable time, Najin had never seen Helmet Knight’s face.

"Why do you keep wearing that helmet?" he asked.

"Because I’m ugly."

"Pardon?"

"For a handsome boy like you, walking around without a helmet is an advantage, but for someone like me, who’s insecure about his face, a helmet works better. You could say it sparks curiosity. It has its perks."

Whether it was a joke or the truth, Najin couldn’t tell. 

Helmet Knight’s tone was casual. "Think about it. Why do knights wear helmets? Once your opponent knows how to wield Sword Aura, helmets become useless. They’re as good as paper against Sword Aura."

Perhaps high-end artifacts or rare metals could withstand Sword Aura, but even those defenses would be meaningless against a Sword Seeker of higher skill.

"Armor and helmets—it’s all meaningless. They’re cumbersome and irritating." He tapped his helmet. "It makes the head heavy, it narrows the vision, and if you have a crest or emblem on your armor or helmet, you’re just advertising your affiliation to your enemy. That’s a tactical disadvantage. Worse, if that emblem holds sentimental value, it becomes a vulnerability you’ll instinctively try to protect."

Caressing the horns on his helmet, he continued, "In the end, that’s all they are… Useless, inconvenient, bothersome. They’re just for show and meant to look impressive. That’s it."

"Then why do knights wear armor?" Najin asked.

"I told you… To look impressive." Helmet Knight laughed. "Being a knight isn’t easy. You become one after proclaiming honor and pride, but reality hits hard—it’s dirty and wretched. The more you face the world, the more you realize how futile your ideals are."

He sighed deeply, his tone a mix of bitterness and resignation. "Why am I doing this? Is this necessary? Why did I become a knight in the first place? Do I have to walk this difficult path? Honor, pride—what are they worth? Do they reward me in any way?"

"…” Najin remained silent.

"You question it over and over, and every time you do, you waver. That’s why older knights tend to cling to things like armor and helmets, the outward symbols."

Helmet Knight tapped his helmet with his knuckles. "They hide their festering insides and act as if they’re still knights. They polish their armor, wear embellishments, and loudly proclaim ideals like romance and chivalry. They might not even understand those ideals anymore, but as long as they act that way, they can convince themselves they’re still knights."

He exhaled a long breath. "Those who truly see themselves as knights don’t need armor or helmets. They can call themselves knights without those things." 

He pointed at Najin. "That’s why people like you, those who find honor and pride beautiful and cherish ideals, don’t need to cling to appearances. If your inner self is already a knight, what does it matter what you look like on the outside?"

There was a hint of envy and admiration in his gaze. With a wry smile, he lowered his hand. "Take Sir Kirchhoff, for example. He walks around without covering his face, doesn’t he? It’s because he’s confident. Then again, it’s probably because he and you are disgustingly good-looking."

"Do we really have to?"

"What?"

"Do we really have to do that?" Najin’s question interrupted tHelmet Knight, who had intended to wrap up their conversation with a light-hearted remark. As Najin tossed another log onto the fire, he nonchalantly said, "Do we really have to cling to appearances, as you say?"

"That’s because you don’t understand the world yet—"

"Yes, I don’t understand." Najin shrugged. "Compared to you, I haven’t lived long, lack experience, and know little about the Outland. I don’t even fully understand what you’ve been through, but,” he continued, "even someone like me knows one thing…"

"…”

"It doesn’t matter how you regard honor and pride. It’s okay to question them. It’s okay to struggle and agonize over them. Those things aren’t the most important."

"Then what is?"

"What you want to be." Najin looked directly at Helmet Knight. His platinum eyes, reminiscent of starlight, met the knight’s gaze unflinchingly. "Do you want to be a knight?"

The phrase was a passage from the autobiography of King Arthur, the Knight King.

Agonize, hesitate, falter. It’s all fine. You don’t always have to be knightly, but in the final moment, I will ask you this:

Are you a knight?

At the very least, do you want to be a knight?

It was a phrase Najin held close to his heart, a phrase proven through the sacrifice of a certain knight who had once inspired him. 

He thought of that azure knight, who bore the lowest star yet shone the brightest. "Even if you lose honor and fall, even if you’re stained with filth and have your pride shattered, even if you question it all, as long as you never fully let go of it…"

There was nothing to gain from keeping it; no one would blame you for letting it go, yet some couldn’t bring themselves to relinquish it.

"If you continue to dream of being a knight, if you at least strive to be one…" Najin knew what such people were called. "Aren’t you already a knight?"

Helmet Knight remained silent. For a long time, he said nothing—he couldn’t break the heavy mood with his usual jokes or dismiss Najin’s words as youthful naivety, so he simply kept his mouth shut.

Crackle, crackle.

The sound of the campfire echoed as Helmet Knight finally opened his mouth. Letting out a long breath, he chuckled faintly. "Even without clinging to helmets, armor, or banners?"

"Yes, even without."

"What matters is what you think of yourself, huh?"

Najin added more wood to the fire. 

As the flames reignited and roared, Helmet Knight reflected on his words. "Hard to argue. After all, the Knight King himself said it."

"Exactly. Denying those words would require pulling out Excalibur."

"That’s a cheap trick. Quoting the Knight King in a discussion about knighthood is like cheating."

"If you don’t like it, why don’t you go pull out Excalibur?"

"Ha! You’ve got a sharp tongue for someone who’s never even touched it. For your information, I almost pulled it out once. The blade even sparkled in my hands." Helmet Knight jabbed his finger at Najin. "A brat who’s never laid a finger on Excalibur dares to talk so big!"

Najin simply smiled silently in response. Beside him, Merlin doubled over, clutching her stomach as she burst into laughter.

"Do you know about fallen stars?"

"To some extent." Najin nodded. Fallen stars, descending stars, corrupt constellations… He had heard about them from Merlin and read about them in historical records. "I’ve heard of the Thousand Moons and the corrupted constellations who stood in King Arthur’s way."

"The Thousand Moons? Oh, you mean the Infinite Moonlit Stars. I heard the continent’s Sword Masters exterminated them. Well, they were fallen stars too." Helmet Knight nodded but then paused. "What you’re referring to are the Inverse Stars, the corrupted stars that defied and reversed natural order, turning black. They’re also called fallen stars, but what I’m talking about is something more literal."

"Literal?"

"Yes. I’m talking about constellations that lose all their stars and fall completely." He gestured downward with a sweeping motion. "Fallen Stars, or Forgotten Stars."

Fallen Stars—stars that had forgotten themselves.

"When a constellation denies itself or has its achievements invalidated, it loses its stars. Each star lost erodes the constellation’s mind, leading to extreme wear and tear. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?"

"Just like the erosion process for the Forgotten Ones…"

"Exactly. Constellations aren’t immune to erosion. In fact, they need to be even more cautious. Losing all their stars brings about something truly horrific."

Merlin groaned beside Najin. Her voice carried a note of empathy.

- Yeah, it’s pretty bad. Actually, no, it’s really bad.

‘What on earth could it be?’ Najin blinked in confusion. 

Helmet Knight elaborated. "When a fallen star reaches that point, it can no longer maintain a human form. Becoming a constellation already means transcending humanity."

"What does it mean to no longer be human?"

"It means gaining a rather peculiar appearance. You’ll understand when you see it.” Helmet Knight rose from his seat. "Najin, this is my second request…" Bringing up the victor’s right to make three demands of the defeated, Helmet Knight announced his intention to use his second request. "We’re going to hunt a fallen star now. Cooperate with me. There’s one in particular that must be dealt with."

“Which star?” Najin asked.

"The Silent Knight, Crunbelle." Helmet Knight spread his fingers wide. Even after using the five fingers on his left hand, he had to borrow one from his right hand to indicate the number six. "A constellation that once had six stars. Also called ‘The Hornblower.'”

He tapped the horns on his helmet lightly. "The same bastard who broke the horns on this cool helmet."