1046. Isn’t that mine?
“next.”
Encred spoke, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead with one hand. There was no easy solution just because they were Audin or Saxony.
Just as Ragnar had assessed, Encred had become a monster. If his Usuke used to be a deep well where the bottom would be faintly visible after prolonged use, now it was like a majestic river flowing. He
showed not a single sign of fatigue, as if he had become a golem. Even looking closely, there was no sign of exhaustion. Could he really not be tired? That couldn’t be right.
Everyone shared the same thought. Even if Will were unlimited, the body using it was bound to get tired.
Since concentration naturally has limits, it would be difficult to continue using Will with such delicacy.
Of course, even taking that into account, it was an ability that could not be understood.
“From my experience, if the purity is high, handling Will is ten times easier.”
It means that it consumes less concentration. On top of that, it will drain less stamina.
If you make something ten times easier a little more difficult to use for a momentary burst of power, it becomes possible to create absurd scenarios like the current situation.
Enkrid spoke nonchalantly as he faced his third opponent. It was Sinar and Temaris.
Excluding Esther, who was not present, and Crys, who had no talent for fighting, he would be facing the entire Order of the Mad Knights.
“Is this the last one? Ah, am I a little tired? It would be a bit awkward to lose to someone like me in this state, so I suppose I should let you off the hook. What do you think, Sinar?”
Sinar Kirhais. The Lord of the Fairy City, a fairy who has lived for hundreds of years, and a noble knight who tried to sacrifice himself to save everyone from demons.
Where could she have heard such a story?
Yet, she was neither flustered nor surprised. After all, she was accustomed to her fiancé’s smooth talk.
“Since we’re engaged, isn’t it only right to let it slide?”
What set Sinar apart from others was that, no matter what Enkrid said, he was a fairy eager to crack his own jokes rather than get angry. Simply put, provocation didn’t work on him.
“I see. Then you won’t go easy on me?”
Temares chimed in from the side. “Provocation doesn’t work here because of their sheer innocence.
Even if you insult their parents, there is no interaction between parents and children in Yongin.”
Enkrid watched the two of them for a moment. A brief silence passed between the three. Under the moderately hot sunlight, the grass that Kreis had laid out for them to rest swayed back and forth in the wind.
The cool breeze in the shade had turned into a lukewarm wind in the sunlight.
hook.
It was a blade cutting through the wind. The first to move was the fairy, who had been smiling along with a joke.
Sinar’s spirits flew on the wind. It was more graceful than fast. And if asked if it was simply graceful, it was more straight. It looked like a single sharp branch flying on the wind.
earth.
Today blocked it. Encred blocked the blades of the Ages with the blade and deflected them to the side.
With such a gentle movement, the Ages did not resist and were pushed back smoothly.
“I never showed you. That I wasn’t just stuck playing around in the city for nothing.”
Moreover, she, too, had seen and learned a great deal while traveling all the way to the Empire together. Encred’s influence did not remain confined to a single direction. He, too, was influenced by the Knights of the Road. Furthermore, within the Order of the Mad Knights, they influenced one another even without Encred present.
This compelled the fairy, who should have been at ease, to grip and wield her sword with such fervor.
As her sword moved on the wind once again, her steps were as fresh as spring, and her approach was as hot as the summer sun.
The blade, swung as she drew closer, was as irregular as fallen leaves scattered by the wind. The moment this unpredictable attack met Encred’s sword, a chill ran through even the hand gripping it.
The four seasons change in an instant.
Sinar had been dying to show this to her fiancé. Since she has finally brought it out, one might call it the moment she had been waiting for.
It could even be called Encred’s weakness. He was completely captivated by the new swordsmanship—and not just any swordsmanship, but one honed by an elf. He was swept along by what Sinar was demonstrating.
Not a single person among the onlookers took their eyes off them. Even Kreis, who could barely see properly, was staring wide-eyed.
Rem displayed Indules through a simultaneous descent, while Ragnar showed off blades originating from Will overlaying them upon the sunrise during battle.
Saxen easily slipped beyond Encred’s detection range by demonstrating ‘Absence,’ the art of concealing oneself and vanishing; and Audin demonstrated his mastery of Indules by thickening his Holy Armor at the necessary moment and making his blades of light and maces rise upon love and mercy. Sinar was no
different. She wielded the Four Seasons. She roamed the seasons. She traversed spring and summer, and moved back and forth between autumn and winter.
Even though he clearly swung his sword, took steps, stepped, deceived, struck heavily, thrust swiftly, drove his opponent straight, and evaded smoothly, all of it was the season.
Cherry blossoms bloomed, then sunflowers resembling the sun thrust their faces forward; red and yellow maple leaves flew in, and then camellias bloomed like drops of red blood bursting on the white snow.
They bloom and fall, and bloom again. The flow of the four seasons is the flow of life. It is a cycle. Sinar trained and disciplined alone, studying the strengths of his own vital energy.
If I stop here, I might have to let it go just like this.
Should I send my fiancé away first? I would rather not.
My heart was overflowing with the desire to keep that promise, which had started half-jokingly.
And so, the Sword of the Four Seasons was formed. Sinar’s sword sang, danced, became an orchestra, and became a dance troupe.
Encred blocked and deflected each one individually, yet he did not cut them off by force. He mingled with them.
It was not a very long time. It was shorter than the time spent facing Rem and Ragnar simultaneously.
Thump. Encred pierced through the vibrancy of spring, the heat of summer, the coolness of autumn, and the coldness of winter, and embraced Sinar’s waist. He
then pressed his left thigh against Sinar’s leg and pushed. The elf, having lost his balance, staggered until he finally stopped only after slamming his face into the ground.
It is truly rare for an elf to lose their sense of balance and fall. Since their innate sensitivity is different, this is what constitutes defeat.
“Isn’t that a bit discriminatory? They swung their swords at us as if they were going to kill us.”
Rem muttered.
“Ah, do it like this there. Hmm. Reform is about purity, so you just have to burn it all.”
Ragnar had long since fallen back into his own world. Saxen simply watched silently. He, too, was marveling at what the fairy had shown him just moments ago.
Audin merely smiled sweetly. It was indeed a truly amusing sight, considering that even the fairy sister hadn’t been playing around.
They were all people who had changed because of the one man standing before them. Whatever the case, there was no response to Rem’s words.
“Anyway, I’ll just talk to myself.”
I told them to attack at the same time, but somehow only Temares remained. Yongin stared blankly at Encred.
There was a gap, but they didn’t come in.
Enkrid said.
“If I really do this, you might die. Do we really have to go this far?”
“Yeah.”
Enkrid nodded. If it was a provocation Temares had intended, he had chosen the right words.
“To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t know how far I’ve gone. But one thing is certain. Observing you, I’ve gone as far as you have. If I take this seriously, your beautiful face will be scarred, and then fairies and witches will try to devour me. I know that much by now. Still, if you want, I am perfectly willing to take the insults.”
Speaking, Yongin kicked off the ground and swung his sword. It wasn’t quite swordsmanship of deception, but he moved so naturally, interrupting his speech, that it was a step above even deliberate deception.
The white sword, the blade named Baek-a, swooshed past the line Encred had set and pierced his chest. Encred parried the sword with immediacy and a split-second reaction.
earth.
Yongin’s sword revealed no light, yet it was dizzyingly sharp.
The trajectory of the incoming sword, and the Will residing within it, were both like that.
Oneul let out a sharp sob. It was as if he were speaking to me, saying he was in pain. Encred shifted the position of his feet and thrust his sword.
At the instantaneous reaction, Temares twisted his body to the side. It was an evasive maneuver where he pulled back just his right foot. He sent his empty hand behind him and raised the sword held in his other hand vertically in front of his face.
hook.
As the space narrows, they thrust beams of light at each other. Their blades grazed in the air.
Ddddddd.
Instead of sound, vibrations resonated throughout his entire body. Encred acknowledged the Dragonman’s arrogance.
He possessed a pure Will from the start, and now he was using Indules effectively as well.
However, when it came to combat experience, even the oldest Dragonman was inferior to Encred.
He pressed down with force the moment the blade grazed him. That created an opening, and Encred struck the Dragonman’s face with his forehead.
bang!
He struck so hard that Yongin’s nose bone snapped, and blood splattered everywhere.
With this single blow, my head throbbed, and my vision was obscured by blood. Then, taking the win would be easy.
“What are you going to eat? Swear? I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Encred, having knocked Yongin down, spoke. The countless nights spent with the boatman made the Encred of today, the Encred of now. He spoke while looking at everyone.
“One person comes every two days. If you can’t keep up, I’ll leave you behind when we fight.”
If stimulation is needed, then stimulation.
Also, because he knows well that this is the best he can do for the one who has guided him to where he is today.
Because he respects, admires, and loves everyone.
Encred gave everything he had. Everyone receiving it knows this as well.
Rem clicked his tongue and said, “It’s hard to curse at you like this,” and Ragnar returned his vacant gaze to normal and replied that he understood.
Saxen nodded, and Audin murmured that the Lord would bestow blessings upon the captain brothers.
Pell was moved, and Roford placed his right hand on his hip and saluted. It was a sign of respect.
So, it is the happiness gained by becoming a wanderer without dying.
Theresa speaks. Sinar cracks a joke asking if our wedding is next, and Dunbakel, stroking the spot where he was hit, asks.
“Me too? Ah, I’m sick. It’s tough.”
“Ah, don’t worry, I’ll take care of that.”
Rem stepped forward at Dunbakel’s words. Encrid nodded slightly in permission.
Kreis, who had witnessed everything, spoke loud enough for Abnaier and Edin to hear.
You’re going to sleep really well tonight.
There are people like that around me. It seemed like they wouldn’t lose no matter who they fought, even if the opponent were a devil.
* * *
When he said one person every two days, he meant that he would use the remaining time for personal training and attending to personal matters. This was one of those moments. As
Encred set out, shouldering the Balrog’s Gauntlet he had painstakingly brought with him to meet his blacksmith, Audin followed him.
It just so happens that I have Mass today as well.
Theresa joined in as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Encred replied, “Is that so?” and walked on. Roughly pulling up his hood, he admired the scenery of the city that Crys had painstakingly crafted and Edin had completed.
There was a person roasting potatoes and a child gazing at them with sparkling eyes; the alleyways, which should have reeked of urine and decay, were spotless.
Inside, a man who appeared to be a member of the Gilpin Guild bowed slightly in greeting.
Encred merely nodded in acknowledgment and walked past. The city was clean, and the people’s faces were bright.
They had heard that a demon had pulled some stunt in the capital, but the Border Guard seemed like a completely separate world, entirely unrelated to that.
That made it feel rather awkward. One of the demons had died, yet were the Lords of the Demon Realm really just watching?
He watched and thought, and then arrived at Eitri’s forge.
“Well, brother. We’ve arrived.”
It was Audin, who had been following all along. Enkrid looked at him. For some reason, the eyes of this man, who was human yet had the physique of a giant, were sparkling. Why didn’t he go his own way halfway and follow us all the way here?
“why?”
Enkrid looked at him and asked. He would understand perfectly well even if everything had been cut out. Audin prayed for a moment.
“Lord, please close your eyes for a moment. I believe that accepting the hearts of others is also an important thing.”
That is what they often say.
“Isn’t that mine?”
Audin’s gaze turned toward the gauntlet Enkrid was carrying.
“What about love and mercy? This isn’t for you.”
It was an item that Audin would have no use for unless he wore the gauntlets stacked on top of each other. Audin’s smiling face froze.
It’s mine, after all.
Theresa chimed in from the side. “You can tell just by the size. Isn’t this something meant for a half-giant?”
“I’m going to modify it for myself.”
Encred answered. Theresa quietly took a step back.
“We have jumped to the wrong foot, Sir Audin.”
“Haha, the Lord has put us to the test. We have strong bodies even without such things.”
Encred looked at the two without even smiling and spoke.
“Ah, I broke one shield. I was thinking we could swap it for yours, Theresa.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Theresa approached using even an Audin-style snake walk.
“……Lord.”
Audin muttered. Only then did Encred chuckle. However, it wasn’t really an item meant for Audin. Though, he really was concerned about Theresa’s shield.
“If you’ve come, why didn’t you come in?”
Eitri came out from inside and spoke.
I’m about to go in now.
As Encred spoke, Eitri’s gaze was already fixed on Balrog’s gauntlet. His eyes gleamed as if tainted with madness.
“What is that?”
Eitri asked.
