Enkrid also had experience working as both a guide and a bounty hunter. It was a time when he would do anything to earn Krona.
But he hadn't learned the trade with a half-hearted attitude, so finding his way by looking at tracks on the dirt ground or broken branches was no trouble at all.
Moreover, deliberately 'upward-bent' branches sometimes guided the way. Grida must have done that along the way.
If you run forward, branches can't bend upwards like that. It's normal for them to bend down or forward.
At regular intervals, every thirty paces of an adult man, a bent branch guided the path. It was a consideration left by an excellent guide for the one left behind.
So, chasing them was easy. It was inevitable that the three ahead would be slower than him running alone. Ragna was carrying Anne, so his movements would be restricted.
However, he did wonder if something had happened to the party that went ahead.
'Did they prepare another trick?'
Enkrid thought as he ran. Had the mage predicted that the party would change its route?
If so, a large-scale sorcery that concealed their sense of direction would probably be waiting for the party.
Did they block the path twice?
He didn't know. He would have to go and see. He kept moving his feet. At the same time, in one corner of his mind, he followed his amusement, repeatedly reviewing the situation regardless of the present.
'Swordsmanship.'
This was something Enkrid couldn't help.
Hadn't he just come up with the concept of the Sword of Calculation?
If so, there must also be a Sword of Instinct in concept.
'Interesting.'
The joy sent a thrill through him. Something new had arrived, and it didn't feel so far away, so he felt like he could die of happiness.
'If I repeat today by dying of happiness, what would the Ferryman say?'
The Ferryman didn't actually appear and say it, but it was as if he heard an auditory hallucination.
"...Are you serious?"
He might get to see the Ferryman dumbfounded.
In any case, dividing his perspective into Calculation and Instinct, the specialties of his unit members became clearly distinct.
'Audin and Jaxen calculate.'
Those two always considered the situation and variables, keeping everything in mind.
'On the other hand, Ragna and Rem follow their instincts more.'
Ragna and Rem didn't consider or keep things in mind.
'Instead, they twist everything to their advantage and accept it.'
To add one more, Shinar was a bit different from them.
The Fairy used a tactic of creating harmony and using the opponent's strength against them.
'If I had to categorize her, she's a Versatile type.'
Shinar compensated for the weaknesses of the Versatile type by using the opponent's strength.
'Winter Breeze.'
Her sword lay in the harmony of Calculation and Instinct.
The swordsmanship Shinar had shown after finishing the Fairy village's migration was clearly etched in his memory.
He didn't know it well then, but he did now.
'She read some of my movements and matched the rest with her instinct.'
Looking at it this way, Shinar seemed the most outstanding, but.
"There is no 'perfect' person in the world. It's a matter of who is sharper."
Jaxen's words also came to mind, and he thought they were right. In the end, the sharper person wins. So, Shinar's and Jaxen's perspectives were for later.
Whatever the case, Enkrid now knew what he had to do.
'The Sword of Instinct.'
He would acquire it after Calculation. Not hiding his specialty, but having two specialties altogether.
The words he was saying to himself now were also the answer to the question that arose from his duel with Audin before they departed.
"There won't be any problem, right?"
Magrun said, adjusting his running speed. It was directed at Enkrid, who was left behind.
The night was still long. There was a high probability that this ambush would not be the last. That's how Magrun saw it.
Whether it was sorcery, magic, or monsters.
Whatever it was, it would block the party's path. It was a natural prediction.
There was no way anything would happen to Enkrid, but since the identity of the one doing this was unknown, the question came from a nagging feeling.
Ragna answered Magrun's question.
"It's better than me staying behind. He looked like he was having a blast."
When Enkrid was excited, he fought twice as well. Besides, he wasn't the type to forget his duty just because he was fighting.
Magrun had also watched Enkrid for two months.
'Yeah, that's true.'
It had only been two months, but he was the kind of man who made you agree with those words.
Still, he felt he should at least worry, but no matter how skilled the Scaler group was, they couldn't do anything to a Knight with those numbers.
This was also true, and moreover, even in Magrun's eyes, Enkrid was no ordinary Knight.
"I think it was the best judgment in that situation."
Grida also said, and as she spoke, she was inwardly amazed.
If you looked closely, it seemed that Enkrid, in a short moment and despite the lack of time, always made the best decision.
'He's like someone who has experienced similar situations countless times alone.'
It was similar to her guess. Because he had gone through the process of making countless choices in his repeating days.
And some of those days required him to make repeated judgments in an extremely short amount of time.
This judgment was also one of the things Enkrid had gained through his repeating days.
Since Grida didn't know that, she saw it as Enkrid's talent in hindsight.
Anyway, if the party had fought together earlier, it would have only delayed them more.
'If the monsters had split their forces in half and chased us, it would have been easier to deal with them.'
Because this side had strength to spare.
She was here, and so was Magrun. It would be troublesome if Magrun had another seizure from his illness, but there was no sign of that now.
In other words, by choosing to stay behind without a moment's hesitation, time was not delayed, and it rather forced the monsters to make a choice.
Since there was no colony leader to guide the monsters, the Scaler group would naturally be unable to make tactical movements.
'It's a mystery why a special individual popped out here, though.'
Now was not the time to question that.
'Everything will be answered in Zaun.'
Once there, most of these questions would be resolved.
'There's no way they wouldn't know about something like this happening nearby.'
Odinkar would have gone ahead and delivered the message.
While she was thinking, Enkrid joined them.
He wasn't agitated, but he spoke with a slightly excited face.
"Now it's time to learn Instinct."
"...What?"
Grida was about to say he had done well, but she asked again. She wondered what the hell that bastard was talking about.
"I roughly know the way. The wall isn't high."
Enkrid said again. While doing so, he quickened his pace and moved next to Ragna.
Ragna must have heard him, but he showed no reaction.
"What are you talking about, you crazy bastard."
Grida said. She was so dumbfounded that she didn't see a tree root sticking out and her toe got slightly caught. Of course, right after getting caught, she put strength into it and broke part of the root as she walked. With a Knight's strength, such a feat was possible.
Crack, snap.
The root, almost kicked by Grida's foot, broke, scattering sap and fragments around.
"Were you poisoned?"
Magrun asked, looking back, and their pace slowed down as a result.
"No, that's just him being normal."
Ragna replied.
Even though Magrun and Grida had watched him for two months, it was the first time they had seen such madness.
"I'll strike with instinct. Not with judgment, but with instinct."
Enkrid only said what he had to say. It didn't seem like he was ignoring Grida or Magrun's words, as he soon spat out a perfectly normal sentence.
"I took care of all the Scalers."
"And you're only telling us that now?"
"There were four of the black ones. Are those things common around here?"
"So you're only asking that now?"
If so, it would be a headache for the Border Guard and Martai as well. It meant there was a colony just ten days away by horse.
And it was a colony that included special individuals.
Ghoul Jerix, hadn't they already experienced it in the city of Oara? He knew that monsters that train and evolve exist. Therefore, he also knew they were dangerous.
They used telekinesis, and there was one with a hard body.
To be more precise, there were two that used telekinesis, and two that had iron armor that made their bodies hard.
"No, I've never seen them before either."
Magrun gave up on getting an answer from Enkrid, who wasn't responding to his words, and answered himself. His complexion was darker than when they had started. He was worried about what might be happening in Zaun, and his chest felt tight, as if a seizure from his curse or illness was about to occur.
"That's strange. There will be more ambushes."
Enkrid said again. Normally, it wasn't a situation you could just pass off as a strange event, but because the things he had experienced so far were not ordinary, he could say that and move on.
If there was nothing he could do by investigating right now, this was the right thing to do.
Everyone present had enough sense to understand that, so they all just accepted it and moved on.
The only important thing here was whether there would be an ambush or not.
"We expect so too."
Grida agreed with Enkrid's words.
"Even if we go like this, it will take more than ten days."
Magrun was the same.
"When we get back to Zaun, we'll be able to find out what's going on around here. Odinkar would have gone ahead too."
Grida continued. Magrun, who had slowed down a bit, picked up the pace again.
They slowed their running speed slightly, heightening their senses to their surroundings. There was no need to rush and miss a presence, giving up the first strike.
They also refrained from talking to each other. Conversation was a hindrance to identifying friend from foe and detecting ambushes.
They saved their words and ran through the night, but there were no more attacks. As dawn passed and the sun rose, Magrun stopped, and Grida opened her mouth.
"How about we push ourselves a little and run until evening? Freckles seems like she'll sleep more too."
"Agreed."
Enkrid said, nodding his head.
The party started running again. They sweated a little while crossing a few mountain ridges, but now was not the time to leisurely wash up.
They found a stream along the way to replenish their water and caught a few animals.
In the Pen-Hanil mountain range, monsters and beasts lived, but animals also coexisted.
Since the existence of beasts itself was animals contaminated by the blood of monsters, it was a matter of course.
Far away in the Great Forest, only beasts lived, but that was another place called a demonic realm.
Anyway, they caught animals, roughly roasted them over a fire to fill their stomachs, and ran while drinking water.
They hadn't packed any salt, so they couldn't be picky about the taste, but what could they do? In a situation like this, seasoning was a luxury.
The meat had a gamey smell, but they had to be glad they had something to eat.
Anne, who woke up from time to time, also ate and drank.
"I can't sleep any longer with medicine. It's taking a toll on my body."
At times like that, Anne would stay awake, clinging tightly to Ragna's back.
"Ugh, this is really killing me."
It was slower than riding a horse, but being strapped to the back of a person performing three-dimensional maneuvers couldn't have been easy.
Enkrid thought Anne was enduring it quite well.
Weren't they crossing mountain paths, not just running and walking on flat ground?
The party had run, jumping over boulders and kicking up dust.
They were so covered in dry dust that if they picked their noses, black boogers would come out.
It was the same when they scratched their ears with their fingernails.
By the time three days had passed, Enkrid, including Ragna and Anne, had expected something to block their path, but nothing happened.
They still didn't let their guard down for an ambush, but there was no ominous smell or sound at all.
They crossed several mountain ridges, passed steep mountain paths, got covered in dust, and even crossed a fairly wide stream.
The stream was only waist-deep, but since a gambeson or cloak would become a burden if it got wet, they had to cross wearing only thin pants, holding their weapons and gear above their heads.
Honestly, Enkrid thought this was a good opportunity for the enemy, but again, nothing happened.
That was the place they arrived at.
"This is Rapata Gorge. You might be curious about the etymology, but I don't have the leisure to tell you right now. Even if you're disappointed, bear with it."
Magrun said, looking at the dirt road with steep slopes rising on both sides. His tone was firm, but Enkrid was now used to conversing with Magrun.
'He's sad he can't explain it.'
His words were thorny, but that was the meaning.
For example, it was like the feeling of wanting to explain the famous scenery of one's hometown to a friend.
But some crazy bastard's ambush had thwarted Magrun's intention.
And that fact was also the reason why passing through this gorge now felt unsettling.
But the other paths were too much of a detour, so they had no choice but to pass through the gorge.
"...Why is nothing happening?"
Grida muttered.
"I know, right."
Ragna caught her words.
Funnily enough, there were no enemy attacks even as they approached the very doorstep of Zaun.
Enkrid found that questionable.
'Why?'
He seemed to vaguely understand the reason when they arrived in Zaun.
Zaun was situated in a basin on top of a mountain ridge, and the first impression was that of a clan village.
Except for a few buildings in an old-fashioned style and the fact that everyone carried a sword, it wouldn't be wrong to say it was just a rural village living in a place that monsters or beasts couldn't easily reach.
And the person guarding the front came into Enkrid's sight. Funnily enough, it was an old face.
Not that he had seen him in reality.
"You're late, Grida."
It was a place where a sharp-pointed wooden fence soared far above an adult's height.
A man stood with the hinged gate in the middle open.
For a moment, Enkrid imagined a castle gate that would never open or a sword that would never break.
He had never seen a castle gate that had never been opened, nor had he seen a sword that was said to be unbreakable, but the moment he saw the man in front of him, he imagined such things.
That's how high his spirit was. When he was still, he was like a mountain.
'When he moves, he will be like a storm.'
He could see it because his insight had become extraordinary.
In his dream, the thick eyebrows, hollow cheeks, and sturdy physique had caught his eye first, but when he faced him in person, his spirit represented him first and foremost.
"The family head."
Magrun said, but Enkrid knew the answer before he heard it.
The head of the Zaun family, the leader of a family that produced Knights. If not that man, who would represent Zaun?
"You've brought a guest."
The family head said, and Enkrid, as his Will of Rejection activated and pushed back the gentle pressure of the head's spirit, had a question.
'He doesn't know of our existence?'
If Odinkar had come first, that couldn't be.