1034. Awareness, Circulation, Accumulation, Change, Renewal
After asking the meaning of the name, she suddenly asked without even waiting for an answer.
“You little bastard, do you like winning?”
Encred considered honesty and frankness to be virtues.
“Yeah, that’s good.”
“Look at this, now we’re on equal footing? Hey, when were you born?”
Encred had become accustomed to the mocker’s jokes. Out there, there is a fairy who enjoys ridiculous jokes just as much as you do.
It must be entirely thanks to a certain fairy that I have adapted to this strange boatman so quickly.
“Back in the day?”
“Look at this bastard.”
Primahild smiled. How many people had she ever conversed with in such perfect sync?
Even among the countless lovers she had met and broken up with, a guy like this was rare.
She had been living in a dark age. Most of the people around her could not keep up with her pace.
“Hey, if I really wanted to, I could lock you up right here like this. If you thought making you repeat this just for today was the answer, you’re mistaken.”
“Are you good at calculations? You don’t look like it.”
This is clinging to the word ‘miscalculation.’ Because it means the calculation was wrong.
“You want to settle this with a verbal argument? Fine. I’m telling you, I have a track record of chattering non-stop for three days and nights.”
Encred just stared at her silently. This time, he didn’t even answer.
“Is that a seductive look? This guy is using his face as a weapon.”
“If necessary, you should use anything, not just your face.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Encreed glimpsed her life, and Primahild naturally contemplated Encreed’s life, which repeated the same day.
The two shared the same experience. Primahild endured hard times, borrowing strength even from a passing pack of wild dogs if necessary, and Encreed did the same.
“I’ll do anything to achieve my dream. But you’re saying you do it without crossing the lines you’ve set for yourself? That’s actually harder than just achieving the dream.”
“If I were looking for the easy way out, I would have laid down my sword from the start.”
What if he had settled down by the side of a suitable noblewoman?
Whether the continent fell or not, Encred himself would have at least led a happy life in his own way. If he disliked a static life, living as a moderately skilled mercenary or guide wouldn’t have been a bad option either.
After all, Encred had shown some talent in things other than sword fighting.
“Hey, just stay with our guild. I’m telling you, I’ll take responsibility for you.”
Was he the only one in his life to hear such things?
One swordsmanship instructor even suggested that he simply work at his training center.
There were also more than five women who fell for his looks, were captivated by his personality, and proposed marriage and living together.
“Hey, are you bragging just because you’re popular?”
“Do I look like that?”
“No, if I were the type to brag, I wouldn’t have picked up a knife.”
Encred and Primahild met each other’s eyes. Their gazes met. After a brief silence, the two burst into loud laughter. They laughed heartily for quite a while, without holding back.
“Hey, it’s class. Draw your knife.”
Primahild picked up her staff. The name of that weapon was Discipline or Discipline.
There was no need to ask why it was named that way.
“I’m not doing this just to save myself. Alright, everyone, grab your weapons and charge. Go!”
It was a remark she often made. I mean, back when she was alive.
She was the mentor of everyone living through the Dark Ages. The Knight of the Opening of the World split the pitch-black sky with a single sword during a time when the world was dark. That was the case in the minstrel’s song, but reality was a little different.
Her weapon was shaped like a bladeless club, and she did not split the world with a sword.
Instead, I taught and led them to do so.
She challenged the dark sky and seized the light. Her light was people, life, and the future.
Throwing trivial jokes to survive a dreary world, and ultimately dying while protecting her people—that was her life.
Encreed drew today and slashed from top to bottom. As she did so, she crossed her feet back and forth to narrow the space.
Ting-
It felt awkward. If you ask why, the last time I fought the Phoenix in my memory, I fought by unleashing the Will inside me as if burning everything I had, but now it felt different.
Skill, artistry.
Everything learned and experienced so far.
Forget and erase.
There was once a boatman who said that to me. Now I know who that was.
“What would you say if I told you to forget about it and erase it now?”
Primahild spoke as she pushed the blade with a stick. Encred braced herself, gripping both arms tightly. Beyond the blade and the stick, bright yellow eyes stared directly at Encred.
“Give me the answer, you mortal disciple.”
And I now know who the boatman was that had been urging me on and showing me various paths in the realm of swordsmanship all this time.
Encred spread his feet to the left and aimed for the Beastman’s head with an overhead horizontal slash.
Instead of blocking, Primahild ducked down and swung to the side like a weasel.
That swift movement reminded me of her true race. The movements of the weasel and the Beastman were close to mystery. As their spinal muscles contracted and expanded, their forms vanished in an instant. It was an evasive maneuver that fast. Encred turned his body, raising his blade perpendicular to the ground purely by instinct.
If the opponent is faster, one simply needs to shorten their movement path. It is the most basic of basics. The sound of the stick striking the ground was crisp and clear. Encred spoke as he blocked the attack.
“Instead of forgetting and erasing, return to the basics.”
“That is the correct answer.”
I am not saying you shouldn’t use techniques. You should know how to use more complex skills as well.
However, before that, staying faithful to the basics was the starting point.
If you have transformed Will into a pure being, you must build everything anew, piece by piece, to match that pure Will.
The process of reaching the pinnacle of a knight.
That is how it will be written in my book. If, originally, the process involved making a circle, sharpening one point, and repeating the process of drawing a larger circle.
Now, reduce the expanded circle.
The beginning is realizing Will, awareness.
Next is spreading Will, circulation and control.
Following that is gathering Will, accumulation.
The fourth is changing Will, changes in density and properties.
The final is returning to the basics, renewal.
This is not a path for those who start with renewal thanks to innate talent, but a path of ascent through effort.
Seek purity and hone the fundamentals of swordsmanship. All principles lie within it, so you simply need to re-examine your swordsmanship in accordance with it.
Encred mentally listed and organized everything he had accumulated through experience and contemplation.
Awareness, circulation, accumulation, change, renewal.
What was interesting was that it was divided into five stages. Had the rare genius Lionesis Oniak done the same? Jitte’s help was greater than Primahild’s in organizing it this way.
As she spoke of her realization in a murmuring tone, Primahild smiled.
Was she feeling a sense of accomplishment because she was indeed the one who had just moved her body and served as the catalyst? It was impossible to discern the boatman’s true intentions. Whatever the case, not only she but also Jitte was pleased.
As Primahild stepped back briefly, a hood and robe were placed over her head, and when the robe was removed, the dragon form returned.
“So, five concepts. They are just like my old friend. Now, I really cannot appear again. I only came out briefly because the mocker shared a little of his time with me, so even the optimist and the mocker really… you…”
Jitte stopped mid-sentence as if she had turned into a doll. The boatman was dressed in a hood and robe again, then returned to Primahild.
“You’re talking nonsense. Hey, if everyone fought well just because they sorted out their concepts, there wouldn’t be a single person who wasn’t a knight, right? Right? Stop talking with your head and mouth and just put your body to work. You mortal bastard.”
His tone was the same as ever. Encreed thrust his sword forward once again. After that, he forgot the time and the situation. For a moment, only he, wielding a sword, and his opponent, holding a stick, remained in Encreed’s world.
Within that space, Encreed honed his swordsmanship. He delved into the basics: diagonal slashes, one-handed thrusts, sweeping strikes, and fighting while bound.
If today were like this, would it be good to continue forever?
Not really. Hadn’t he already fallen deeply into the idea of viewing everything through the lens of swordsmanship while fighting a mage?
Having experienced it once, he would not repeat the same mistake. Encreed recalled the words of the boatman, Zaiden.
“Awaken, Enki. If you stay there, you will only end up fighting again and again. Protect those standing behind you, just as you wish.”
He does not surrender to madness. Nor does he become intoxicated by it. Encred did so because he was able to. Instead of being intoxicated by the allure of swordsmanship or the magical power that moved his body, he thought of the things he had to protect.
For the child who dreamed of becoming a herbalist and the fruit vendor who used to split apples for him stood behind him.
You’re good at everything except physical things.
Primahild was impressed.
“Anyway, you passed. You’ve earned the right to be my girlfriend. Feeling ecstatic? You rascal, but no. The last guy I dated told me never to get a girlfriend again.”
Primahild also revealed her true feelings. Is it some rule the boatman has to state what he truly desires? Perhaps so.
It is my last memory.
Primahild fought and fought, yet eventually found a lover. She tried her best to make her days and her life enjoyable, no matter what. Her
last memory was of a silent wasteland. She slumped to the ground, and her lover lay with his head on her lap, looking up at her from below. Primahild lowered her head and met his eyes straight in. She did not avert her gaze. She opened her heart and listened to his words.
“This isn’t what you really want. Just do what you truly want. Stop making fake lovers.”
Everyone had been getting along just fine on the surface, but a beastman warrior shook her heart. The words of her dying lover gave her a purpose in life thereafter.
Yeah, catch five devils.
I will leave cleanly.
Her real wish is not to kill more demons.
I want to take refuge in the Goddess of War and Struggle.
Squeezing through each day, enduring today, is not her dream. She endured somehow, cracking jokes, not for herself, but for those standing behind her.
“If you ask me about my sole deepest desire, I would answer like this: that I want to fight until I die.”
I wish to offer my soul, which fought and died within the eternal vortex. I seek to become a new sword once again by the Goddess’s side.
Primahild—the meaning of the name is Kriemhart’s first sword.
Her name is the very embodiment of my long-cherished desire.
That is how it will turn out.
Encred replied, ”
If I die fighting, will her wish be fulfilled? That is not the case. Primahild was already trapped by today’s curse while fighting.
In a way, all the boatmen share the same wish. They all want to escape the curse. Primahild, too, hopes to return to her goddess now that the fighting is over.”
“This is my last fight and battle. Mortal. I bet on you, too.”
The figure of the Suin Knight also gradually disperses like water mist. She seemed as though she would vanish, but then clearly revealed herself again.
Ah, wait.
Had things continued this way, it would have looked like an epic, but it didn’t necessarily have to be.
She held onto her time and said everything she had to say. Perhaps it was a fitting ending for her.
“Hey, tell Dunbakel to fight without transforming. It’s frustrating to watch him. That’s not the right path.”
“……I will.”
“Ah, if he really can’t do it, tell him to look for the Holy Land of Kriemhart.”
“What’s in there?”
I asked out of sudden curiosity, and Kriemhart smiled, raising one corner of his mouth high.
“The piece I left behind, it’ll be interesting, won’t it?”
No matter how I looked at it, it felt ominous, so I asked again.
“Who do you think finds this funny?”
“Of course, it’s me.”
With that, Primahild vanished like smoke. The robe and lamp fell to the floor where she had disappeared. No, as soon as they landed, a dark shadow appeared, grabbed the lamp, and pulled the robe and hood over his head. His
gray, cracked skin was visible. It was the original boatman. He said nothing, and Encred woke up immediately.
When he opened his eyes, a familiar face was looking down at him.
“Oh, you’re awake. I actually had a lot to talk about.”
It was Kreis. For some reason, his complexion was paler than usual. As Enkrid woke up and sat up, a glass of water approached from beside him.
Drink up.
It was water given by Sinar. Upon tasting it, he realized it was spring water of morning dew brought from the City of Fairies. The moisture entered his body and spread instantly, and his mind returned to clarity.
Kreis stood in the center, looking at those surrounding him in a circle, then stopped his gaze upon Enkrid. His pupils trembled more violently than ever before, to the point where he resembled a child waiting for the outcome after causing a major accident.
