1040. The owner of the thick hand asked
“Surely not, just in case, but you won’t die, right? If things go wrong, I really wish you’d run away.”
Enkrid suddenly sprang to his feet after two days. Naturally, one would have expected him to pester others with sparring or whatever, or rush off to Audin, but he did neither. Instead, he focused on contemplating his body and examining it piece by piece.
From morning till evening, he meticulously refined every single muscle and moved his body with great care.
Instead of moving vigorously, he acted as if he were performing every movement for the first time. He looked like someone who had just begun moving their body for the first time.
Meanwhile, Kreis had been by his side all day, talking like that.
It was due to the anxiety that kept rearing its head and rising no matter how much he pushed it away.
Enkrid had nothing much to say either. He, too, could not dare to speculate or judge the future.
Yet, he couldn’t send reinforcements or do anything pointless here.
“Ah, I didn’t send Ragnar because I thought he would definitely get caught if I sent him along, but should I have? If not, should I have at least gotten support from the Legion?”
Crys chattered on beside him. As he said, sending Ragnar would be tantamount to saying they were determined to fight, and if Audin was being defeated, the Legion’s support would only increase the sacrifices.
Therefore, there was nothing they could do right now except wait.
That was why Encred had simply done what needed to be done today. He
repeated the day, and the realizations continued. He needed a process to engrave what he had learned and realized into his body.
Leaving aside the complex explanations of spirit versus body, his body was not yet the same as before. It was time he felt the need to loosen up his body.
“One round?”
Ragnar, who had been watching, spoke. He sat with his greatsword leaning diagonally against the ground, resting his chin on the end of the grip.
He spoke as if asking a question, but it was a question with a predetermined answer. He had scrutinized Encred’s movements and his changes in detail for two days straight.
What had changed? He couldn’t tell just by watching. So, a desire to fight him immediately welled up inside him.
Should he call it fascinating? When he thought back to when he first joined the Border Guard standing army to serve in the war, such passion should have felt awkward, but now, this situation didn’t feel awkward at all.
It was simply a burning desire to fight him right now.
Captain, what have you been doing? What has changed? Do you know what to load onto that blade now?
Ragnar also swung his sword the entire time he was away. However, his old habits hadn’t gone away.
He felt bored with no one to hang out with. The time he spent training out of habit decreased. Instead, he wandered around here and there, suddenly bringing Pell, Roford, and Dunbakel along to teach them swordsmanship.
Did I do something wrong?
Pell was suspicious.
Are you bored?
Lawford guessed at least a valid answer.
Ah, why me!
Dunbakel rebelled. Yet, he did not avoid Ragnar.
How could he break the boredom? Ragnar was acting while asking and answering questions to himself. This, too, was a habit he had acquired thanks to Encred.
Still, it was true that he had lost his energy and there was nothing exciting to be had. At this rate, should he stop by Zaun for a bit and torment them?
He was so bored that he was beating up even the ten swordsmen under his command every day when Encred returned.
Had he arrived just a little later, he intended to say he was going to take a look around and enter the Fen-Hanil Mountains, but Crys stopped him.
“If Ragnar isn’t here either, who will protect the city?”
“The remaining soldiers will guard it.”
“No, wait a moment. We need to get there immediately if we hear from Audin that something has happened.”
I wish something would happen so they would call me.
Overwhelmed by boredom like this, I ended up watching the Captain’s training. At first, I didn’t sense any change. Rather, it was the change in the demeanor of that bastard Rem and the assassin that came first.
Then I saw Encred, who had fainted and woken up, and my boredom vanished in an instant.
Swordsmanship, sparring.
Only two things remained in Ragnar’s mind.
“Hey, you crazy lazy bastard. I told you to fight me first, but you’re avoiding me no matter what?”
Rem harassed him from behind, but he was already deaf to it. Rem was also half-giving up. He wouldn’t even look at him at ordinary words. Yet, swinging his axe first to force a duel would have hurt his pride. He was determined to somehow draw him out with words.
Meanwhile, Ragnar completely ignored all of Rem’s provocations and stared directly at Encred.
If you have returned and changed, please show me.
It was a speech with the eyes. Ragnar acted as if he would do nothing before sparring with Encred.
While his true intentions were somewhat discernible, this time it was almost excessively persistent. Few suspected that it was simply because he had been bored for a long time.
Whatever the case, it was the perfect timing. Encred threw out a light provocation to lighten Rem’s mood as well.
“Raise your sword, you lazy swordsman who relies only on your meager talent. I will show you where your limits are. Now, if you lose here, you’ll quit swordsmanship and live quietly as an assistant to the woman who makes medicines.”
Rem nodded in agreement upon hearing those words, but Ragnar remained completely unmoved.
People grow. Ragnar had become someone unshaken by mere provocation. To be honest, it was more that he was distracted by the Captain’s transformation.
In any case, what he had been hoping for was waiting right before his eyes. Signs of excitement appeared first in his sword. The sunrise emitted heat.
Heat haze rose from his blade. Due to the heat, the space around the blade appeared distorted and warped. Instead of visibly blazing flames, heat was trapped within the blade.
Ragnar hadn’t been idle all this time, either. Wasn’t he speaking through the heat trapped in his sword right now? This was proof that he hadn’t been idle.
“Even a graze will leave a scar for a lifetime.”
“Not on the face.”
Sinar interrupted, having arrived at some point. He was on a tree standing next to the training ground. Sitting on a thin branch with only his right foot lowered, he spoke while dangling back and forth.
“My Enki, shouldn’t you still be resting?”
Beneath that tree, a witch embodying the refreshing coolness of the night sky spoke. For some reason, Esther’s manner of speaking had become strange. To be precise, her tone was the same as before, but she insisted on using a title.
Had she said the day before that she didn’t want to part ways without saying what she wanted to say?
Encred let her do as she pleased. And now, he had forgotten worries about Audin, demons, and the Emperor.
It was a time when only the sword and the opponent, you and me, remained.
The greatsword, brimming with heat, fell vertically to the ground.
Ragnar’s swordsmanship had returned to its roots. It was Northern-style heavy swordsmanship. It was a greatsword style that prioritized weight and power over speed.
Encred raised his sword horizontally to block and was kicked in the stomach by Ragnar’s foot.
Flying backward, Encred rolled once, placed his knees on the ground, and straightened his posture. Then, he spoke forcefully.
Now, again.
Ragnar held onto the heat he had built up to the maximum with sheer willpower, preventing it from cooling down. What is this? Why did I get knocked out in one hit?
“What is it?”
“It is currently being adjusted.”
Encred was pushed back and defeated two more times in a similar fashion.
The tide of the fight turned from the moment they exchanged their swords for the fourth time. Facing each other against the blazing sunrise, they pushed and pulled their swords until they became bound, narrowing the gap in an instant.
Using the exact same motion Ragnar had used to kick earlier, Encred lifted his pelvis to deliver a front kick and withdrew his foot.
At the end of the clean move, Ragnar’s body was pushed back. Instead of falling, he drew his greatsword, his eyes gleaming. His red eyes held a light.
They were eyes filled with fierce will, heat, enthusiasm, and ecstasy.
The sparring continued. Starting at noon, they skipped dinner and stayed up all night.
There was never a single fierce fight. Regardless of their momentum, they did not overuse their Will; in a sense, it was a test of each other’s swordsmanship.
Yet, Encred was always ahead. Ragnar lost time and time again. If one had to pinpoint a reason, it was the difference in instantaneous speed.
Purely in terms of swordsmanship, there was no significant difference. Still, Encred’s understanding was deeper. I wondered what on earth he had been doing in the Empire, but his swordsmanship had risen several levels in a flash.
Well, it would be fair to say that he had reached a point where classifying levels was pointless.
Amusingly, however, Ragnar kept up with it in real time.
When Encred performed a diagonal slash, Ragnar immediately copied him the moment he saw him counterattack by changing his motion to a thrust striking the top of the blade. Before he knew it,
a smile of ecstasy had formed on Encred’s lips. He was completely absorbed in this moment.
If honing his skills by repeating today was a pleasure accompanied by agony, this moment was pure joy.
Learn, master, and follow along. Don’t be boring.
When Encred spoke with his sword, Ragnar immediately proved what true genius talent is.
With someone guiding him, he excitedly chased after them and swung his sword at unexpected angles.
If he fell behind in speed, he simply shortened his movement path.
Then Encred would do the same, shortening his path to torment Ragnar. Beads of sweat splattered from Ragnar’s face.
Hiss.
Splashing sweat dropped onto the sunrise, creating steam as it vanished.
Encred did the same. He, too, was sweating, and the droplets that fell today trickled down and dropped flat onto the ground.
The two took a brief moment to catch their breath, but they did not rest. Rem, who had been watching all along, vented his frustration from behind.
“Good grief, you’re explaining all of that.”
Some of what Encred learned while fighting the Empire’s Four Great Knights and mingling with the boatman flowed into Ragnar.
A bundle of dry cloth, brimming with talent, instantly absorbed the water that had been painstakingly gathered. It was after quite a long time had passed since then.
Should I call you Teacher or Master now?
Ragnar asked.
It was the point where it had started at noon and turned into noon the next day.
“If you look at it that way, shouldn’t I have called you that first?”
When I thanked him for telling me, he said it was okay because he had given me a lot before.
Audin will return. If it were a place of death, he wouldn’t have taken Teresa with him.
At the end of the sparring match, Ragnar spoke. Encred thought to himself that this guy had changed a lot, too. Of course, Encred was the one who had changed the most. When did that pathetic squad leader become like this?
Rem, having watched the match just moments ago, was not confident that he could defeat Encred right away.
Now, the captain is the best.
And I am not the only one to tell you this.
There is a sly wildcat, a lazy man who has just sheathed his sword, and a religious fanatic resembling a bear who will soon return.
Heeeee!
From one side, the one-eyed one called out to Encred.
“Oh, right. I saw it yesterday and I see it today, and I like it too.”
Was he sad that I hadn’t seen him for a while?
Or perhaps he was fascinated by the change in Will’s purity? Even One-Eyed came to see him every day.
Well, I suppose I should say it was good that he came today; I was actually planning to visit One-Eyed anyway.
You really spar to death and do nothing but swing your sword.
These were the words of Krang, who had not yet returned. Enkrid took off his soaking wet shirt. His sculpted muscles were such that it would be fine to turn him into a statue right there.
Enkrid hoped that the person who had trained his body this far would not have a rough journey back, and, to make matters worse, his own body had just recovered.
“Kreis.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go to the Village of the Erosors.”
If you’re anxious, just go and see for yourself. Encred gestured to Jjaknuni. He had been full of the intention to go ahead first.
But a familiar face entered the training ground before him. It was beyond the clumsy wooden fence entrance. A large shadow filled the ground first.
“Theresa!”
Just like that, a familiar face came inside.
I’m late.
Her complexion was pale from exhaustion. Those who saw her face looked grim.
“Why are you alone?”
Kreis asked, and Theresa could not bring herself to smile. She looked at Kreis with trembling eyes. The message of all those actions was clear.
She had returned alone. And the meaning of that fact was also clear.
“Hey, stop messing around.”
Rem muttered.
What if Audin is dead? Then he would want to know what killed him. He wouldn’t be able to just let it go.
“I’m sorry, Captain.”
Theresa approached and bowed her head. Encred said nothing.
Sinar, the fairy’s eyelids trembled. That is typical of a fairy who never reveals her emotions. While Esther quietly gazed at Theresa, Ragnar asked.
“who?”
Had Audin died? If so, who was he? Since when? Bound within the fence of the Order of the Mad Knights, they were comrades and brothers.
If such a person had died, would they simply let it slide ?
Encred, for one, was not the kind of person to do that.
Should they have chased after him as soon as he arrived? With their bodies not in normal condition? If so, wouldn’t that have just added one more corpse to the list?
Should they have sent Ragna along with him? Crys despaired. The corners of his eyes dropped sharply, his legs trembled, and he knelt on the floor.
His face contorted. Like rainwater pouring onto a portrait, his face slumped downward.
Everyone watched Theresa in silence, her face growing increasingly pale.
That’s nonsense.
Pell, who had been watching from the side, spoke, and Roford nodded weakly. “Right, that makes no sense.”
Dunbakel fidgeted with his fingers. “Someone died? Isn’t that unbelievable?”
Then, someone placed a hand on Kreis’s shoulder.
“What is bothering you so much?”
The owner of the thick hand asked from behind Kreis.
