1064. Unpretentious words
Whoosh.
Flames soar along the wings. The demon of the demonic realm, the burning crow, thrashed its fiery wings.
Ugh.
A wild boar beast standing nearby collapsed, groaning as it burned.
Whoosh.
The flesh of the burning monster quickly burns and crumbles. Along with the smell of roasted meat, the blood evaporates, spreading a metallic stench. It is a death without even a scream. A death without any meaning.
Dying merely to make someone feel a little better is a cruel way even for a monster, but who would dare say anything to the one to be called the ruler here?
No one. Of all the ways to express anger, violence was the most familiar to him and the closest to his instinct. With this, he had shaken off the residue of his emotions.
Are you trying to trick me?
The burning crow raised its arms, filled with muscles so swollen they looked as if they were about to burst, and stroked its horns. Bright red lightning flashed across the thick, twisted horns. The muscles crackled as they couldn’t withstand the force, exposing tendons and blood vessels through the skin, making it look as if long, thick thread-like snakes had been implanted beneath the skin.
Tap tap.
The lightning discharged a few times and scattered.
That madman didn’t leave because someone told him to; it was all a coincidence. Once I realized it, I was enraged, so I expressed my emotions through violence and burned him to ashes.
I knew he was an enemy by nature, but this time, I was furious. The guy I had left alone to keep the other Ascendants in check is running wild without knowing any better. A
subordinate who was supposed to drink the flesh and blood of the Beastmen and open his own new territory there has died. That is a tremendous loss. But if I let my emotions get the better of me and do something here…
Only the others will reap the benefits.
Ascendants regard each other as rivals. Just because a reckless human was insolent, it was not a reason to stake everything on a fight. He sincerely believed that.
That’s a bit of a shame.
There is a sleeping soul in the land of the Beastmen that, if gathered, would influence the Scales. He had missed the opportunity to awaken it and bring it under his command.
However, that was not a reason to waver. It was merely nice to have it, and a slight regret if it wasn’t.
If he had jumped up and down over something like this, he would not have been able to become one of the Lords of the Demon Realm.
The demon known as the Burning Crow took pity on the City of the Beastmen.
If he had been under me, he would have survived even inside the demon realm.
Now, the City of Beastmen shall destroy itself.
Apart from the ringing, a face with horns and a beard is revealed beneath the light. It is a head resembling a goat’s. It is also a demon who calls himself the father of all beasts.
Thus, he foresaw the future of the City of Beastmen.
The future is variable, but if one examines the past and the present, it is not difficult to glimpse a part of what lies ahead. Simply put, what is meant to happen will happen. It is a
truth realized by a demon who has lived for a very long time ruling over a part of the Demon Realm.
He wished that when the City of Beastmen fell, all the madmen within it would die as well.
* * *
“head.”
Encred thrust his wooden sword forward along with his words. Beastmen are all beings who retain their innocence.
In other words, one might say they are incredibly easy to deceive.
They speak of the head, but their intention targets the chest. Tofi raised his left arm to block and held the sword in his right hand in front of his chest.
It was an excellent defense. Since the head was merely words, he attempted to deflect them with the leather wrapped around his forearm; unlike words, his momentum and intention were directed toward the chest, so he attempted to defend with his weapon.
Encred, concealing both his momentum and will, swung his foot and kicked Tofi’s ankle.
The trajectory of his foot was as fluid and natural as flowing water, yet incredibly fast, leaving a brown afterimage on the ground. Tofi lost his balance, kicked by the dark brown boot.
“Sigh.”
Suin, reflexively regulating his breathing, maintained his balance despite being suspended in mid-air, extended his sword, and thrust.
It was excellent. At first, he was helplessly beaten and rolled around when attacked like this, but now he is responding quite well.
Encred pushed away the blade Tofi had thrust with his palm and reached forward to strike his jaw.
Jeong.
With a crisp sound, Toffee’s head spun. Although unseen, his eyeballs must have rolled along with it.
Toffee, lying on the floor, twitched but could not get up. That did not mean he had fainted. At the very end, he snapped his head back to relieve some of the shock.
“monster.”
Tofi muttered while lying on the ground. Though his brain was shaken and he couldn’t get up immediately, he still had the strength to open his mouth and speak. What a fine will. There was a sense of injustice in his eyes, but no malice. Perhaps it was pure admiration.
Encred found himself struck anew by the fact that others were calling him a monster.
Now the intimidation is gone.
His tone was ordinary, as he did not marvel anew simply because it was surprising. Encred was merely staying faithful to the present, to reality. Just
as he was now. He observed, beat, and verified the beastman Tofi. To be precise, he knew him better after putting him through the wringer for a while. Tofi was just inexperienced; his talent was exceptional.
“You said you were going to the temple tomorrow, right?”
Toffee asked in an expectant tone.
Encreed judged that there was a hint of worry in his voice, wondering if he might skip training.
“Oh, I have to spar with you in the morning before I go.”
Encreed met his expectations. It was very commendable that Suin was worried about missing even a single day of training.
In that case, it would be the right thing to do to spend time with Tofi, even if it meant shortening the early morning training a little.
“Aaaargh!”
Tofi let out a scream of joy. Blood vessels bulged in his eyes. Staying in the Beastman City was more fun and enjoyable than he had expected.
Besides Tofi, there were many others with exceptional talent, but none of them had the habit of training persistently.
“Why is everyone so lacking in perseverance?”
“Because it’s hard.”
That was Torsoe’s answer. Lying sprawled out, he looked up at the sky and continued speaking.
If it’s too hard, everyone dislikes doing it. That’s only natural.
Yeah, that’s obvious.
Encred didn’t think of himself as being as clever as Crys, but seeing him this close, it wasn’t difficult to guess why.
The city of the beastmen is rarely known.
In other words, it means they are living well and prospering without any significant threats.
That is why even a single sea snake settling in Suwon causes such a huge commotion.
If it were Kreis.
They probably wouldn’t have even thought of fighting piecemeal in the first place. In Encred’s view, it was possible to kill the Sea Serpent with just the pack of beastmen, even without him and Dunbakel coming. At the very least, it wasn’t something they wouldn’t have dared to attempt.
I’ll have to make a sacrifice, though.
It probably wasn’t easy either, but there were still many means worth trying.
Practicing how to fight with your sense of smell completely blocked.
As is, a portion of the warrior corps distracts the Sea Serpent with spears and stones. Then, Topi, a warrior-level warrior, stabs its head with a blade. If
once isn’t enough, they charge at it ten or twenty times, screaming and fighting tooth and nail.
You think a lot of warriors will die?
How can we protect the city without such sacrifices?
If it were Kreis, he’d just say something like this.
An uncertain match?
“Isn’t it better to take a gamble than to die?”
Then they would say something like this.
Beastmen are laid-back. That was due to an environment where they are not easily exposed to threats.
I heard that the Beastman who founded the Black Leather Guild is treated as an anomaly among them.
That was the more realistic one.
Even if one possesses a carriage capable of clearing over a rough obstacle, it overturns if the coachman gets scared and twists the reins prematurely.
That is the nature of the City of Beastmen. Encred disliked this a little—really just a tiny bit.
Natural athleticism is a factor that can quickly raise a Beastmen warrior’s level and is overflowing with potential, yet they lack persistence—this was the situation Encred hated the most.
Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen, Frogs, and Giants.
Excluding the Dragonmen, six races inhabit the continent, but there are very few naturally gifted warriors among the Elves. This is because
they are born with thin and slender physiques.
Dwarves are good at fighting, but their limbs are short. When looking at the species as a whole rather than just a select few, they are not well-suited to become warriors. Frogs, who
only need not be stabbed in the heart, and Giants, with their naturally sturdy shells, certainly have the conditions to become warriors.
Suin is similar, too.
Natural athleticism is as precious as a Proc’s regenerative ability. At least, that is Encred’s judgment.
Of course, just because he thinks this way does not mean he can force them onto the battlefield. Only those who willingly choose to wield swords and spears take up arms.
That is the right way. Only those who have risked their lives in battle are qualified to fight others.
A horde of soldiers driven against their will is nothing more than a force perfectly suited for slaughter.
After all, there are no serf soldiers on the continent to begin with. Though
, if the city walls were to fall and everyone were to die, the entire city dweller would likely take up swords or clubs.
If that situation arises.
He might have been tainted by Crys. Encred wasn’t exactly anxious, but he hoped that if such a situation were to arise, these people—the Beastmen—would not die in vain.
In the current circumstances, if someone even slightly more troublesome than the Sea Serpent were to appear, the majority of the Beastmen would suffer near-total annihilation and be ruined.
Encred hoped that those whom Dunbakel had embraced with forgiveness would not die, and he wanted the Beastmen’s children to survive and discuss their dreams while basking in the sunlight of tomorrow.
“Don’t you think it’s too much of a dream?”
Temares asked. Sometimes, I really do think so.
That I dream of a truly absurd and preposterous world.
But if I didn’t even dream like that, the world wouldn’t change at all.
Encred knows that he is being overly greedy. That is why he lives each day even more fiercely.
And that is the strength that prevents him from wasting a single day.
“So work hard. Theme, you’re a member of my Knights, too.”
“……Right.”
Yongin replied with a sly look. Encred had trained all day, eaten, drunk, and fallen asleep. Now, when he opened his eyes, he would pat Tofi in the morning—no, watch his training a bit—and then head to the Beastmen’s Sanctuary. Well, could there be anything extraordinary? I don’t think so.
With that thought, he closed and opened his eyes to find himself on the swaying deck of a boat. A purple lamp and a boatman draped in a robe were before him.
From within the robe, gray, split lips parted, and he asked.
“What is the reason for going to such lengths?”
The boatman asked.
What do you mean by ‘going this far’?
Encreed stroked the area around his belt with his hand, feeling a sense of emptiness at his waist. There was no “Today.”
The only things covering his body were a thin tunic and linen trousers. He was barefoot and bare-handed.
Even as he asked back, he expected the boatman not to offer a detailed explanation. If asked why, his past experiences had been like that.
Every boatman has different characteristics, and the one stepping forward now was, by all appearances, a boatman who asks questions.
In other words, he was someone who asked questions but did not seek answers. But today was different.
Devoting oneself to unnecessary things, saving people even though swordsmanship is more fun.
Enkrid blinked twice. Perhaps the boatman was changing just as much as he was.
Was it a question worth pondering deeply? No. It was a thought he often had, so there was no reason to hesitate. This was his conviction and his will, and it was also the foundation that had brought him this far.
There was someone who fed me when I was a nursing infant, and there was a child who said they would survive and become a medicinal herb gatherer.
Still, he couldn’t say anything grandiose. If he were to bring out his true feelings, this was all there was to it.
It was thanks to the people who protected him in his childhood, and because of those he had protected who survived. That was all.
The boatman did not answer. Instead, he mumbled for a moment, his gray lips turned blue, and he shrank.
His robe dragged on the floor, and the lamp’s light spread from bottom to top.
The side of the boat tilted a little more toward the boatman.
Hi, nice to meet you. I’ve just been watching you until now.
He is not a boatman who throws questions at you. Now, I can tell just by his tone of voice.
“You’re a really interesting mortal. Really.”
Encred remembers the seven boatmen who remained after scattering like black sand. And he also remembers that the boatman who has stepped forward now is the fifth of them.
“My name is Schreiber.”
The boatman takes off his robe. The lamp light reflected from inside the robe he had flung off. It was because a round sphere without a single hair had appeared before his eyes.
“Is this the first time you’ve seen a hairless dwarf?”
The boatman, who identified himself as Schreiber, spoke with a smile. There was not the slightest hint of malice or negativity.
It’s been shedding hair since it was little.
He stroked his head with his palm and spoke. It wasn’t an embarrassed tone; it was just a tone of stating the facts.
Another boatman keeps trying to step forward, but since that breaks the rules, I stepped in to stop him. So you just need to do what you’ve been doing.
What could this mean?
It didn’t seem like thinking about it would yield an answer.
“but.”
Encred hadn’t said a word, but the bald dwarf opened his mouth again, grinning as if he were excited about something.
If you wish to stop, you may turn around here.
Why has the boatman come out now? There is only one difference between yesterday and today.
What is in the temple?
Do those boatmen really know anything? They are beings bound by a curse, not possessors of any power. Therefore, they do not intervene in the future or the present. This is something I know from experience.
“Yeah. What.”
With those words, the boatman vanished like smoke. Then, as the boat scattered like sand, Encred fell with a splash into the river.
A whirlpool formed beneath the water and sucked his body in. Things whizzed by in all directions, driving him insane.
Among them, the voice of the previous boatman brushed past his ears.
“Don’t interfere. Spectators just watch.”
It was Primahild’s voice. When I opened my eyes, it was the time I usually woke up. It was a time of blue light, a moment dominated by coolness, and just before dawn, which was as impressive as a sunset.
Did you have a bad dream?
Sinar asked at the wooden door in front of the leather roof.
No. It’s just like usual.
It was a familiar occurrence for a boatman to come out and spout nonsense. If I had stopped and changed the direction of my thoughts because of a sense of foreboding, I wouldn’t have made it this far.
