WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Ryuu

Editor: Ilafy

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 184

──────

The Knight Demon (5)

Depending on the demon, its core part varied widely. For humanoid demons, that core was the heart. If you destroyed the heart, the demon would fail to maintain its shape and collapse.

Crunch, crackle…

Orgis’s body melted away. A black, tar-like fluid splattered onto the floor with a squelch. In a few more minutes, even that fluid would evaporate, and all traces of the demon’s existence would disappear. Typically, one would say that a demon has been “subjugated” in that state.

Najin knew otherwise. In fact, others besides Najin might’ve also known. It wasn’t so much subjugation as it was forcing the demon into “dormancy.” After dozens of years, or up to a century, the demon would resurrect again.

- Demons are inherently immortal beings. You can’t normally grant them eternal death.

Merlin shrugged and cast a brief glance at Najin.

- Unless there’s an exception, of course.

Najin silently summoned his Sword Aura, the end of which shone platinum. Before Argo could notice the glow, Najin thrust his sword into the black fluid the demon had left behind.

The platinum-colored aura touched the demon’s soul. To a demon, that platinum aura was the ultimate bane. Because Najin’s Sword Aura was merged with Excalibur, it partly shared that holy property and became capable of killing the “unkillable”.

Ssssssssss!

A hissing sound spread as the fluid roiled. Though the demon had no mouth, hands, or feet in that liquified state, it seemed to be letting out a silent scream, thrashing about in agony.

“Mm? What are you doing?” Argo asked.

“Nothing much.”

“Hmph. Well, in any case… We can’t recover that Masterpiece, can we?”

“We can’t recover it? What do you mean?”

“That’s the way Masterpieces are. Basically, they don’t break, but if they become too contaminated or their functions go awry, they vanish, like a demon. They disappear without a trace, only to suddenly be found somewhere else on the continent. That’s how it usually goes.”

He mentioned such items sometimes reappeared near whoever had the strongest connection to the previous owner. In the case of the Bookmark, though, who knew? It’d blended with the demon’s remains.

Argo shook his head.

Najin looked silently at the demon’s black, tar-like remains. Indeed, he saw nothing within that might resemble the Bookmark.

Sssssss…

When the last of the fluid evaporated, Najin withdrew his Sword Aura. Shaking his sword off lightly, he gave the dark-stained ground a scornful glance.

‘You thought I’d just let you run away?’ The demon’s soul, which tried to flee without paying the price, was burned to ashes. Najin let out a long exhale and rolled his stiff shoulders.

‘It ended more smoothly than I expected.’ He’d been told it was an ancient demon and that it had swallowed a Masterpiece, containing the strength of dozens of knights combined… Just from the rumors, he’d been braced for a tough battle. Contrary to his expectations, the fight proceeded swiftly and ended simply.

‘Could it have been weaker than the rumors suggested?’

- Nope. It was as strong as the stories said, maybe even a bit stronger.

‘Huh? It didn’t really feel that way to me.’

- You, on the other hand…

Merlin gave him a disbelieving look.

- You’ve been fighting Fallen Stars in the Outland, monsters that have lived hundreds of years, and even Transcendents. Your sense of what’s “normal” is messed up.

She pressed a fingertip against Najin’s forehead.

- Against any regular group of knights, that demon would’ve been a nightmare. In fact, it was even stronger than that Red Dragon you nearly died fighting.

‘It was that formidable?’

- Absolutely. You’ve just grown too fast for your own sense of scale to keep up.

When Najin thought about it, it made sense that his sense of danger was distorted. Ever since arriving in the Outland, he’d faced nothing but absurdly powerful foes. The moment he defeated one monstrous enemy, an even more monstrous foe appeared, and so it went.

After going through that cycle repeatedly, he could see how there was a big gap between how strong he thought he was and how strong he actually was, objectively speaking.

“It’s finally over.” Once things settled down, Argo let out a long sigh and gazed skyward. “Finally, I’ve had my revenge.” He spoke softly, his tone light. A satisfied smile lingered on his lips. 

Following Argo’s gaze, Najin also looked up. A new star was ascending in the sky above—Argo’s second star. Rather than merely being earned by defeating a strong enemy, it rose after resolving a long-festering regret.

“You’ve obtained another star. Congratulations.”

“Thank you. And you? Did you get another star of your own?”

Najin shook his head and pointed at the sky, where four stars sparkled. Next to them, the faint outline of a potential fifth star remained unchanged.

“Ah… right. Well, the more stars you’ve already gathered, the harder it is to claim a new one. Makes sense. Then again, having four stars at your age… I’m still not used to the idea.”

“Not used to it, huh…?”

Argo let out a soft laugh. Gesturing toward a corner of the ruined city, he said, “Let’s walk a bit. We have some things to discuss.”

Najin asked what he meant, and Argo gave a simple answer…

“It’s about Ivan.”

Najin hadn’t noticed at first, but it was impossible not to realize by then: Argo knew about Ivan, and he also knew that Najin was Ivan’s disciple.

Then again, the alias he used from the start was “Ivan.” Perhaps he had known it all along. Back then, Najin hadn’t recognized it, but it’d become certain during that battle that the demon Ivan used to talk about while drinking was “Knight Demon Orgis,” and the comrade who excelled at parrying was none other than Argo himself.

“There was someone named Ivan among my peers back in the day.” Walking through the city, Argo talked. “He was a real talent. Among our group, he was the strongest. He was good enough not to lose, even against the senior knights, let alone his own peers. He had tremendous talent, and his character wasn’t bad. There were always people around him.”

He walked on, reminiscing. “He was the one everyone gravitated toward. My other peers used to joke—half in jest, half in truth—that he’d be the first among us to claim a star.”

“By ‘star,’ you mean…”

“Yes, not some metaphorical star or a title, but an actual star shining in the sky.”

Looking up, you would see stars. Even then, as always, they shone overhead, looking as though you could reach them if you only stretched out your hand.

“Hold honor in your heart. Keep your pride. Chase the stars.” Those were the words Ivan had always repeated, as though they were a habit.

“A knight who chases the stars… that was his nickname. Half of it was mockery—meaning he was chasing an impossible dream. The other half was respect for his unyielding challenge.”

Argo let out a bitter chuckle. “The more he accomplished, the less mocking that nickname became. People started to really believe that maybe, someday, he’d actually claim a star if he kept at it.”

Argo’s laugh turned sour. “In the end, it became mockery again.”

Najin remained silent.

“He became a criminal and fell to a place without stars.”

The Underground City, Artman—that was where the knight who once chased the stars ended up.

“What was his crime?” Najin asked.

“I’d tell you if I could, but I can’t. The Church declared a gag order on the entire affair. All I can say is…” Argo paused, then continued softly, “Ivan took a chance. Rather than staying put, he reached beyond his station and failed. Because of that failure, he became a criminal.”

He let out another bitter laugh. “Some knights liked to gossip about it in their own way. They called him an idiot, said he’d overstepped, that he’d reached for something out of his grasp. ‘He should’ve stayed in his lane. Why do something so reckless? With such a golden future ahead, why be that foolish?’ That sort of trash talk.”

Argo’s expression twisted as he recalled it. “They can all go to hell.” For the first time, he spat out a curse. “Aren’t knights supposed to be like that? Dream big. Reach for what you can’t grasp, and if someone sneers, calling you a fool, then shout back that it’s romance and charge ahead. That’s the privilege of a knight, isn’t it?”

Sort of like a recitation, he said, “Even if you fail and fall, even if you’re defeated and kneel, the cowards who never tried in the first place have no right to mock your loss. None at all. Even if that’s where the story ends…”

“No,” Najin interrupted, “It hasn’t ended.”

“What hasn’t ended?”

“The story. The story of the knight who chases the stars… it never ended.”

Argo turned his gaze on Najin. His eyes held a certain hope.

Najin was ready to fulfill that hope. “A human’s lifespan—no, even a Transcendent’s lifespan—is too short to contain just one grand story. Even the great hero, King Arthur, never finished his story, did he?”

Najin continued, “If one lifetime isn’t enough, you pick up a second. If two aren’t enough, you move on to the next… That’s how humans pass their stories forward, countless times over. Ivan simply did the same.” He raised his hand. At his fingertip were four shining stars. He smiled. “Now, here I am.”

He stood where that story continued. Gesturing to his star-laden sky, Najin explained, “I trained under Ivan, learned the sword from him, and made a promise with him.”

“What promise?”

“That I would reach the highest place of all. That I would stand atop it and proclaim—for all to hear—”

‘That at the start of my story, Ivan was there.’

“That the knight who chases the stars—Ivan—truly existed.”

Argo fell silent, but the silence did not last long. He swept a hand down his face and burst out laughing. “Yes.” He spoke through his laughter. “That’s the privilege of a knight, indeed.”

He rummaged through his coat and pulled out a single sheet of paper. “It seems now is the right moment.” The page bore both the Imperial Crest and that of the Atanga Knights. Holding it up, Argo proclaimed, “I, Argo of the Knights of Atanga, in place of the Empire’s Sun and the Atanga Knights, ask you this—”

Najin already knew what he was going to say. Realizing it, his eyes grew wide.

“You, the boy who dreams of becoming a knight…” Argo posed the first of the questions that marked the knighting ceremony…

“What do you believe a knight is?”

What is a knight?

The question came up in their very first conversation, so long ago. Back then, Najin had answered. Time having passed, he replied again…

“One who never loses their pride.” It was a similar answer to before, yet just a bit different. “Someone who does not yield, who fears loss but isn’t paralyzed by it, who always sets their eyes on lofty heights and moves forward.” 

Najin lifted his head. “Someone who bears honor, holds fast to pride, and chases the stars… That’s the kind of knight I aspire to be.”

Argo responded with a broad smile. Tapping Najin’s shoulder lightly with his sword, he said, “It’s easy to say but hard to keep. Talk alone is cheap. However, you’ve proven the worth of your words through your deeds—deeds of the highest value.”

He knew well what Najin had done in the Outland. He’d heard the tales through Imperial channels; he’d witnessed the record within Najin’s stars. 

“You gave back honor to those who’d lost it, returned pride to those who’d been stripped of it, and offered a chance for those who were no longer knights to become knights again.”

Atanga’s leader, Gotif, had said, “He turns knights into true knights. He helps them regain the honor and pride they’d lost. If that’s not an Atanga, then who is?”

The Emperor, too, had spoken of him. “You’ve done a marvelous job upholding your promise. It’s only fair that I keep my promise.”

The Imperial Family and the Atanga Knights both agreed; Argo was the final witness, and from the moment he’d first laid eyes on Najin, the decision had essentially been made.

“You, who make knights truly knightly…” Argo boldly said, “I declare you a knight.”

Amid collapsed buildings and a ruined city, no crowd cheered; no spectators watched. Did any of that matter? Najin’s heart pounded in his chest.

“By the Empire’s Sun and the Guardian Knights of Atanga, I affirm that you are a knight as of this day. A Free Knight, bound by nothing. Uphold what you deem right. You have every right to do so.”  Argo drew a deep breath.

Thus far, he had been speaking on behalf of the Imperial Family and the Atanga Knights. The next words came from him as an individual. “Rise, Sir Knight.”

Najin stood. 

Argo offered him a handshake. “I am Argo, of the Knights of Atanga.” Introducing himself, he then asked, “And your name?”

He was finally posing the question he’d delayed so long. Even when the whole world was chanting Najin’s name, Argo had never once uttered it—he wouldn’t allow himself to do so until he heard it personally from the boy’s lips.

“In that case, I’ll wait to hear your name until after you’ve become a knight.”

“When you’ve become a knight of pride and honor, then you can tell me your name.”

Recalling that day, Najin smiled with genuine joy. At last, he could offer his name to the proud knight, face to face. “My name is Najin. Najin, the Free Knight.”

“Pleased to meet you, Sir Najin.”

Their handshake was neither up nor down—both grasped each other’s hand as equals.

In the free city of Pavane, the knight demon who had occupied it was gone, and in that place, two knights remained. 

The two knights looked at each other and burst into laughter.