1055. Where are you looking?
Thump.
He lightly pushes off the ground and leaps forward. It seemed as though he were running not by cutting through the pouring rain, but by mingling with the rainwater.
Moreover, the very motion of drawing and swinging his sword resembled a dance that traced soft lines. He lifts his feet, moves his body, and swings his sword. It
is as if he has marked dots and filled the spaces between them with lines. As he moves while wrapped in a dark green cloak, a single streak of green rain—unusually thicker than ordinary rain—swept through the horde of drowners and slipped away.
Without a sound, the heads of eight drowners were severed. Wherever the dark green line brushed past, hordes of monsters, reduced to mere torsos, fell ceaselessly to the ground.
There are many.
Sinar spoke as he spread out a tree leaf to shield himself from the rain. Whether it was the skill of a fairy or not, the leaf deflected the raindrops.
Still, getting wet all over his body was unavoidable, but the fairy cloak prevented that.
His feet didn’t get wet either, thanks to the boots that covered his shins.
Esther had transformed into a leopard before he knew it and simply let himself get soaked. Rather than thinking about using a spell to help Encred fighting in front or shielding himself, he just wanted to watch the back of the person fighting ahead.
You’ve really made up your mind.
It was the words of the mind-reading dragon. He was right.
Encreed swung his sword with determination. Although he never let his guard down before a fight, no matter who the opponent was, he appeared to have steeled his resolve even more now.
As he swung his sword, Encreed recalled the conversation he had with Crys, Edin, and his younger sister.
Lady Rosalind, please explain it yourself.
Kreis usually speaks up himself about most things, but he had mentioned that Rosalind had actually conducted the investigation of this area in the first place. That was why he had left the explanation to her as well. It
was a lazy afternoon, and although teacups were placed on the table, it was no such thing as tea time. It was a gathering where we were busy sharing our usual thoughts rather than swallowing our tea.
“Several merchant caravans in the east suffered heavy losses as a result of creating safe roads centered around the Border Guards to push back monsters and beasts. This isn’t the last time, and I expect it will continue to happen in the future.”
“I don’t think it’s entirely our fault, though.”
Edin added, “The truth is the truth.
There are repercussions, but that isn’t the whole story. And there is no need to take responsibility for that.”
Encred nodded. It was a nod acknowledging that he understood that much himself.
Edin easily loses his composure when it comes to his younger sibling’s affairs. He thought Rosalind would be forgivable once she got a boyfriend later. He had added this remark now, speaking in advance, to lend validity to what his sibling had said.
“Yes, you can’t define the cause based on a single fact. But there was an impact.”
Rosalind continued, and she was right.
“Monsters and demon beasts are like weeds that keep growing back no matter how many times you get rid of them. But how do those weeds grow without even being watered? They are truly damned bastards. Since you are heading to the southeast anyway, I would appreciate it if you could clear that area out before you leave.”
That is the conclusion. Should I call it thrifty? The
point is, if you are going to leave anyway, why not clean up the surroundings before you go?
“Yes, well, that was the intention. Captain.”
The cry comes to an end.
“I get it.”
Encreed nodded easily. It wasn’t a difficult task. He just needed to track down, find, and lure out some monster tracks on the way. He suspected that since
there had been a few accidents in this area recently and it had been a long time since they had seen a human, there would be quite a few monsters ready to pounce. It was a
moment of fleeting thought. Amidst the herd of drowners, one of them stretched out his claws, and his arm extended.
It flew like an arrow, aimed at Encreed’s neck. It was like an arrow shot from a fully drawn longbow right at his nose. It was that fast and threatening, but that was only true for an ordinary person.
He was a knight known as a Calamity, and moreover, a being whose skill gap with the average knight had widened.
In an instant, the world slowed, and Encreed stepped his left foot half a step back, twisting his waist and head slightly to dodge the claws, and swung his sword diagonally to cut.
three.
The blade sliced through the drowned man’s muscles and bones like a ripe radish. The drowned man’s rotting forearm fell to the floor.
Ack!
That must be the sound of pain.
The creature lifted its head, revealing a throat with bulging blue veins. With a guttural scream, the surrounding pack reacted wildly, charging at him in frenzy.
A few of the drowners were unusually fast and ferocious. One of them was particularly so. He was
the only one whose eyes were so pitch black that black water seemed to stream from them. He was the leader of the drowner pack, the most troublesome in this area these days.
Encred’s body, which had been moving in graceful curves, suddenly traced a straight line. Everything happened in an instant. The elegant line snapped, and with an explosive leap, he reached his target. He
stepped forward, striking the ground with a thud, and thrust his sword.
The drowner leader’s head caught in that movement. The creature’s head exploded, and traces of blood and bone that had once formed the shape of a head spread outward in a radial pattern from the direction the sword thrust.
Even after witnessing the leader die, the remaining ones continued to attack. Encred did not rest. Then, he cut down the entire group of drowned people.
“I’ll probably have to fight like this for the rest of my life. And many people will likely die in the meantime.”
It was after I nodded and replied that I understood. Rosalind Molsen had spoken with an expression and tone that were neither gloomy nor somber. She simply stated the facts.
“I heard rumors are spreading about an Iron Sage.”
This was what Crys had said. Didn’t they say she
always spoke the right words and even figured out how to execute them?
Whatever the case, she was right. I would have to fight for the rest of my life.
If things went wrong, all of this might end in a meaningless struggle. No matter what I did, the Demon Realm might remain the Demon Realm, and the Devil might remain the Devil. I might fail, and I might be risking my life for nothing.
But that wouldn’t be a reason to stop.
It was a route Rosalind had considered herself. It was one of the paths leading to the southeast. It
was after she had dealt with the herd of drowners. A few skeletons had been found among them.
When she spoke of suffering heavy losses, she wasn’t referring only to material goods.
“Aaaah.”
Encreed recalled the sight of a wife collapsing after losing her husband one day. How many such people had he seen during his days as a mercenary?
The mother who had lost her child did not even scream. The father, instead of tears, bled from his tightly clenched fists.
He had seen many who stepped forward to take up their swords and fight like that. And he had seen even more who died.
A few skeletons caught his eye. Perhaps somewhere he had not seen, there were those who had experienced despair because of their deaths.
Damn hellish realm.
Damn devil.
Damn war.
Damn things.
I want to erase them all. What is it boiling inside me right now? Is it anger, or craving, or perhaps madness?
Hitting a rock with an egg, fighting a soldier armed with nothing but a thin stick. That was Enkrid’s wish.
“A knight? What a joke.”
“Get a grip.”
“Hey, stop it, stop it.”
He reached the present, having pushed through the criticism. Encreed did not outwardly reveal his emotions this time. He
simply desperately wanted to erase the things he disliked.
And present here were many who were second to none when it came to being perceptive.
You shine, my Enki.
Esther saw a light in Encred. The man standing there now wields his sword solely for the sake of the weak, without weighing the benefits or making any calculations.
What is chivalry? It is a question so far removed from what a wizard, who recites spells and is called a seeker of truth, should ask. Yet,
she felt as though she knew the answer.
It is you. You are chivalry.
Esther muttered to herself.
Since Sinar was a fairy, she sensed Encred’s true intentions with her keen senses.
The dead.
One cannot save everyone. His fiancée could not possibly be unaware of that obvious and simple truth.
That must be why he wears such a sorrowful face. Where does the sadness hidden within that expressionless face stem from?
It comes from the past and experience. He has lost so many people to get to this point.
Sinar did not know, but Encrid has sacrificed even his own life thousands of times to reach the present; in a way, he has grasped the situation with remarkable accuracy.
Of course, Encrid’s anger stems from losing someone he considered good and pitiable, regardless of whether they were weak or strong.
Get angry. Get angry to your heart’s content.
You surely know exactly where that rage will be directed, so show your spark.
Then the horde of demons will be truly delighted.
To Sinar, too, demons are goddamn beings. She staked everything she had to cheer for Encred.
If my life is needed at the last moment, burn even that.
Temares, a dragon, read Enkrid’s mind more deeply than witches or fairies. That was the thought that crossed his mind.
That human fought a Balrog and survived the Phoenix of another dimension.
Moreover, he did not survive by running away, but fought back to the very end.
All that spirit turns into murderous intent directed toward a single target. Resolve shines as will.
The man who had shone time and time again gathers his heart and makes a wish. He builds up his days to fulfill his dream. And the time, experience, and life accumulated in this way are truly beautiful.
‘scary.’
Witnessing that overwhelming will, fear surged alongside nobility. In the face of such determination, the duty of acceptance felt utterly worthless.
Temares awakened a fragment of his past memory. He couldn’t recall when or where it was, but he had seen a massive rift cutting between mountain ranges.
It was pitch-black darkness with no bottom visible, and its width was so great that he could not cross it no matter what he did.
Beneath the pitch-black darkness, a roar beyond the realm of comprehension rang out, and his body trembled from a strange vibration.
Just looking at it sent shivers down his spine and sent shivers down his spine. He had no intention of falling into it, nor did he intend to jump over it, yet that was how he felt.
Was it a memory from his very early childhood? Or was it a fragment of emotion left behind by his ancestors?
Whatever it was, seeing the human named Enkrid now, the fear, dread, nobility, and anticipation he had felt upon seeing nature shook Temares’s emotions to the core.
‘ah.’
She must have staked everything on that man, ultimately making him her anchor and her duty, just to see something like this.
Yongin felt an intense thrill at the emotional shifts, like a ferry boat swaying in turbulent waves. It was a feeling that would normally be difficult to experience. Perhaps
fear and pleasure were fundamentally separated by only a thin line.
A voice suddenly cut in amidst the emotion of the three.
“No, why are you doing it all by yourself? I’ve piled up enough, too.”
Esther, Sinar, and Temares were very perceptive, but the last beastman in the group was not.
She vented her grievances without restraint. “What is the point of just training him? When it comes time to fight to his heart’s content like this, shouldn’t he also be given a chance to satisfy his urges?”
she spat out such words. The three, excluding Encred, looked at Dunbakel. Though only slightly, the three understood why Rem kept beating up that beastman.
Whoosh.
Amidst the pouring rain, Encred let out a soft, deflated laugh with his head bowed. When he raised his head again, he was expressionless as usual—the very look devoid of a smile. Then, he opened his mouth.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, sure. Let me do it next time.”
“Go ahead.”
Encred shook today in the air. It is a blue blade that scatters rainwater.
I guess I need to get out of the rain first.
Sinar spoke as he led the party. They relied on Dunbakel’s memory for the way to the City of Beastmen, but everything else was up to the others. After all, Dunbakel was a Beastman who just wanted to sleep and wake up on the ground.
Sinar found a considerably deep cave. It was a natural cave free of the gamey smell of beasts.
Inside, there was a stream with clear water flowing, making it good for washing.
Here, they summoned a part of the salamanders to add warmth, and the clothes dried quickly.
Everyone watched nonchalantly even as Encred removed his shirt and tidied his clothes wearing only his underwear.
Esther didn’t just dry her clothes; she conjured a small flame with a spell, transformed into a leopard, spread a thick black blanket on the floor (she had apparently taken it out at some point), and lay face down to dry her body.
You may look as much as you want.
Sinar changed her clothes without hesitation, wearing form-fitting green underwear underneath that revealed her figure. The clothes were not wet in the slightest from the rain.
I’m sorry if you were expecting something.
Sinar teased Enkrid and boasted about the clothes I was wearing.
“This is a garment in which Dryuers imbued a fairy vision into a leaf picked at dawn. Of course, it may be less durable than the armor of your ignorant fighting spirit, but isn’t this still excellent?”
“Yes, indeed.”
As Enkrid answered and scanned the texture of the fibers and the layered leaf shape with his eyes, Sinar subtly covered his chest with both hands and spoke.
“What are you looking at?”
“I was looking at your clothes.”
“How devious.”
“…….”
No matter what is said here, Sinar will say what he wants to say and believe what he wants to believe.
Don’t you prefer the more sensual side?
Temares spoke of a fact he had learned through years of experience, starting with his time as the Emperor of the Empire.
Sinar was about to let out a battle cry but held back. He couldn’t possibly show such an undignified side here.
Then is it my side?
Dunbakel, reeking of a foul odor, slyly slipped in.
If you really don’t want to die, wash yourself properly.
Since Rem was absent, Enkrid gently persuaded Dunbakel on his behalf.
“Tch.”
Dunbakel clicked his tongue, and the next day, the group set out before the rain had even stopped.
It’s raining and the weather has been dreary all this time, so there’s no need to waste time, right?
Dunbakel spoke as soon as he woke up. Had he sorted out his thoughts a little during the night?
He suggested going straight to the City of the Beastmen.
