1099. I’m so, so, so, so, so anxious
We’re going to fight in the spring, but I was just so, so, so, so, so anxious to simply watch.
Crys reported that he had sent some soldiers while saying those words. He hadn’t even had a drink, yet he looked a bit out of his mind, but this was the normal Crys.
Of course, if the soldiers saw him, he would return as a cool-headed and composed strategist and a member of the Mad Knights, but for now, there were only two of them.
Well done.
Encred had just finished spending a considerable amount of time with Jjak-nuni again today. He answered calmly. One might expect him to be anxious, but if he had decided to entrust it, he had to do so. He
had flown through the sky so much that his body was covered in dust.
He would likely sweat again in the afternoon, but since swinging a sword while breathing in dust wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience, he was roughly wiping himself with a damp cloth.
That was when the thought occurred to him.
Winter Wall.
That is what the walls built by the fairies were called on the continent.
Therefore, the southern front is currently a battlefield held by Sinar, so they will not be pushed back easily.
But what if the demons step forward? Then they will rush there in a single breath.
The possibility of settling things in winter, not spring.
That is part of it. However, as Crys predicted, the demons would not step forward.
Although the question arose of how to kill those hiding behind the scenes, Encred did not ask.
He knew that Crys had already thought that far ahead. Therefore, there was no reason to ask.
If necessary, he would tell him. Encred trusted Crys.
“So I sent only a few, a very small number. I thought the Southern Front needed elites.”
“I said I get it.”
Since I trust you, it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t tell me the details, but didn’t you say that you feel anxious if I didn’t tell you?
That is the reason why Kreis is chattering right in front of me.
“Ha, should I just take the entire Knights and fight, spring or not?”
“Is that your plan? Is that the best option for success?”
“No. I’m just grumbling. But suddenly, I became curious.”
“What?”
“Do you remember blocking my path back when we were in the squad? Why did you do that back then?”
Encred retold his memories.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you realize after spending that much time together? My body just moved. The Captain is that kind of crazy bastard. I thought he would die easily like that, so how have you managed to survive until now?”
Rem spoke from behind, asking when I had arrived. Ragnar, who had followed him, was also with them, and the two seemed to have had quite a good time together.
However, rather than fighting, it was as if they had practiced together in sync. That was the atmosphere.
“When I die, I repeat the same day.”
Encred preached the truth as if it were nothing.
“Even a dog with a human face wouldn’t laugh at that.”
Rem let out a laugh at those words. “Anyway, they are the best on the continent when it comes to provocation, jokes, and nonsense,”
he muttered.
“Haha, loser brothers, have the two of you, who have never killed a devil, teamed up?”
Behind Rem, a deep voice and a resonance that sounded as if coming from a cave were heard. It was Audin.
He held a holy sword in one hand and a mace in the other; although the two objects would normally be quite mismatched, they looked quite fitting in his hands.
“ah.”
Saxen, who had followed behind, expressed his agreement with Audin’s words with just a single word. Saxen nodded and looked back and forth between the two. It
was only natural that Rem and Ragnar would get angry at that.
Still, they do not cross the line. I don’t know what kind of instinct they possess, but even while pushing their bodies hard in preparation for a big fight, they do not fight as if to kill each other as before.
It naturally became that way, even without Encred stopping them.
Is it progress?
That cannot be the case. If they kill all the demons, they will likely bare their fangs at each other again without hesitation.
But could that also be a face of friendship?
It could be. After all, they are invaluable allies when fighting on the same side.
Right? It’s just that my body moved.
Crys speaks, turning away from those fighting.
“Why is that?”
Encred asked back.
“To be honest, I wondered if I really had to go this far, but my body just moved on its own. Ah, in my case, I suppose you could say my mouth moved on its own.”
“So, do you regret it?”
“No. I used the Captain’s name quite a lot.”
“Go ahead and use it to your heart’s content.”
Enkrid replied calmly. Watching the captain, Kreis weighed whether he had gone too far or too far, but eventually gave up. It was because
he was now recalling something Abnaier had told him once. They say the green-haired strategist from Azpen is called a wizard who does not cast spells in his own country, don’t they?
Come to think of it now, that remark really did sound like a spell.
If you are anxious about the process, just produce the result.
Anxiety is a weapon, but you must not let it ruin things. Abnayer pointed that out.
If you are worried, you can pour the water until it overflows a little. If you have a wide, large glass, that is fine.
Kreis looked at the ‘wide, large glass in which it is okay to pour water until it overflows’ placed in front of him.
“why?”
A bowl with black hair and blue eyes asked.
“no.”
Instead of revealing his true feelings, Kreis briefly scanned the list of senders in his mind.
Marco.
Among the soldiers, he selected those with decent skills, led by Marco, and sent everyone else he could think of.
Excluding Marco and a few others, Kreis sent everyone he could contact who was not part of the Border Guard forces. By now, they should be standing on the winter walls built by the fairies.
* * *
Marco hasn’t told anyone, but he is a knight. He has surpassed the level of a squire. If you ask why he didn’t say that…
Do I really need to let you know?
It seems he used to need fame or honor. Before he knew
it, he was captivated by Encred. To be precise, he was tainted by the ambition Encred displayed.
Even just one more time.
I wish to further hone my spear skills. My mind flows consistently, and because I am free from worries and anxieties, my growth has been remarkably fast.
Moreover, whenever I hit a wall or faced difficulties, the Mad Knights were by my side, so there were plenty of people to ask questions, argue with, and answer.
Furthermore, hadn’t I witnessed firsthand the secret manual of knighthood composed by Encred and compiled by Luagarne?
Master and learn.
It is only natural that he would improve after training without rest. Moreover, his talent was genuine from the very beginning.
Should one say the only problem was that he went unnoticed due to the presence of the Order of the Mad Knights and the qualitative improvement of the other soldiers?
Even if he himself did not care.
Here, on the Southern Front, he was free from such problems. The difference between him and the surrounding soldiers was incomparable.
Marco thrust the spear he had drawn with his right hand forward. Power was generated as he rotated his waist and twisted his upper body. The jagged blade, rotating in that manner, pierced straight through the Harpy’s head.
Bang!
With the sound of air bursting, the head shattered, and black blood splattered in all directions. The creature, sensing the force of its own spearhead, tried to dodge, but it was too slow. The harpy that died that way had clumsily dodged to the side, so its body tilted and fell straight out of the castle wall.
Boom!
As he fell, cutting through the fog, the fog that had briefly obscured his vision cleared along the path he had fallen, only to be filled again soon after.
He killed one of them and pulled out the spearhead. Then, he darted to the side and swung the shaft like a blunt weapon.
Bang!
He struck the wing of the Harpy, who was just about to tear into a soldier’s chest. Snap!
It was a spear made of Valerian steel, gin, and black gold. This, too, had been forged using the secret techniques of the dwarves.
Not a single scratch remained on the shaft or blade that struck the wing. The creature hopped backward.
Marco swung and pulled the spear while jumping with his legs crossed. In an instant, he was in the Harpy’s embrace. It was just before the retreating creature spread its wings wide and feigned flight.
Cut!
The harpy curled up and bared its sharp teeth, but before that could happen, the spear in Marco’s hand shot up vertically.
It is a technique of using a weapon advantageous for medium to long range even at short range.
It involves holding the shaft short, placing the end opposite the blade on the instep of the right foot, and pushing it upward; for this reason, he had iron plates attached to the insteps of his boots.
A good weapon is as important as skill.
This is also something I learned from the madmen.
The spearhead split the jaw of a harpy vertically and pierced the sky.
puck!
Then, pulling on the spear shaft that had slipped halfway out of his hand was the end of it.
A monster that would have been considered a “named” in other regions collapsed, having lost its head.
Marco pulled away, flicking the spearhead that had struck the dead monster into the air. With this gesture, repeated several times already, blood, hide, and other byproducts of the monster were scattered across the castle walls built by the fairies.
The soldier, who had been cornered on the verge of death, was so shocked he could not breathe and his face turned pale.
Breathe.
Marco shook the shaft like a lever around the center of the spear, lightly tapping his thigh as he spoke.
The soldier regained consciousness from the light blow.
“Hooak, hooaak, aaaak.”
Is he a mercenary? No, rather than that, he is a soldier with a youthful face. He is a regular soldier, but he hasn’t been properly trained.
But that is just Marco’s perspective; he was a soldier trained in his own way. He was young, though.
“Thanks, thanks.”
The soldier muttered. His hands were trembling, indicating that the shock hadn’t completely subsided yet. Still, seeing him try to take deep breaths, he was certainly not a soldier who had trained half-heartedly.
Even so, he didn’t meet Marco’s standards. His standard was a Border Guard soldier. So, it was only natural that he didn’t meet them.
Hold onto your shield and get out.
Right now, it is defense rather than offense. With a horde of monsters posing such a threat, the answer is to attack only a few and have the rest hold out. That is how it is from a tactical standpoint.
Marco spoke and aimed his spear forward. Even if he could handle a few harpies, he couldn’t stop them all alone.
‘but.’
So, Lord Kreis must have sent several men.
Didn’t he bring several soldiers with him as well?
Some of them stayed nearby before scattering to the left and right to fight; while not quite at the level of a squire, they are very skilled fighters.
Moreover, he didn’t bring only soldiers.
It is a distance of less than five paces. A swordsman exuding a familiar aura stripped the flesh of several harpies, severed their heads, and split their bodies.
A man who had stepped onto the battlefield in his old age instead of watching his grandson’s antics gripped his shield in his left and swung the sword in his right.
The heavy steel sword fell vertically and split a harpy in two. Split from one, the harpy writhed and sprawled on the ground, scattering black blood and entrails.
Aren’t you busy?
Sensing the gaze, the sword’s owner, a man named Graham who had once served as the Lord of the Border Guard, asked a question. As the fog was gradually thinning, it was no longer difficult to determine each other’s locations or identities with the naked eye.
It looks too relaxed to call it a crisis.
Marco’s instincts told him so, and they were right. To be precise, it was because these two weren’t the only ones who came.
To elaborate properly, it was because the support itself didn’t come solely from the Border Guard.
That’s true.
Graham felt a sense of joy that there was a battlefield that needed him. He realized that the reason he had trained so diligently was to prove his worth.
Therefore, he wanted to run wild here, but there didn’t seem to be many opportunities to do so.
Graham and Marco’s gazes turned to one side.
As the fog lifted, several people came into view revealing their prowess, and he was one of them.
This isn’t your territory.
As the two caught their breath for a moment, a moving shadow shattered the fog. It was a swordsman charging, pushing off the ground. He was clearly a nobleman. His attire and the equipment he wore belonged to his family.
He was also different from Marco and Graham; while those two engaged in mindless, blind fighting, he grasped and executed the tactical perspective that Marco had perceived.
Should we say that he drew everyone’s attention more, even though he had killed significantly fewer harpies than the two?
Indeed, he let out shouts without pause.
“Come behind me, everyone! My name is Andrew Gardner! I am the master of the house that protects the royal family!”
Shows spirit with a shout. Raises determination and asserts will.
“Do not try to kill! Block and hold! Step back and form a battle line! Grab your shields!”
He is a junior knight. Marco recognized his opponent’s skill at a glance.
“Do not let the monster pass behind you!”
Wherever he shouted, the soldiers reformed their formations. It was the result of a combination of outstanding skill and decisiveness.
Regardless of skill, if Marco himself were a mere soldier, the other side was certainly a commander. He was the one leading people. Judging
solely by his ability, it was hard to consider him inferior.
He ran along the castle walls as if they were level ground, and his speed was extraordinary. It was a sprint that seemed to have poured all of Will into his legs.
Bang, bang! He kicked off the wooden walls, leaped, and passed by while thrusting his sword. In the meantime, when a Harpy reacted to his speed, he instantly twisted his waist to change his stance, struck the head of the one who had reacted, and passed by. Then, slowing down, he bought time by blocking and parrying rather than killing with a single blow.
Somehow, he smelled of Rem. Instantaneous reaction ability—is that what they call immediacy?
Seeing him instantly change his personal tactical formation, it naturally came to mind.
It was only natural for Marco to see it that way. After all, Andrew had honed his skills while suffering terribly at the hands of Rem. And
it didn’t end there. There were many more guarding the winter castle walls besides himself.
So much so that he began to doubt whether coming here was really the right thing to do.
