It was the next day.
Enkrid, who had deliberately woken up late, slowly and carefully warmed up his body. Almost no fatigue remained in his body.
The bruises from being hit by Ragna would have faded too. He knew without looking in a mirror.
A Knight's trained body far surpassed an ordinary person's recovery ability.
'Legend.'
It was a title that always preceded mention of Zaun. A name that couldn't be heard in bards' songs, that only those who had surpassed a certain level could occasionally hear. Zaun was those to whom the word "legend" fit perfectly.
'Among them, the family head.'
A thrilling sensation struck from his toes to his head, making his hair stand on end.
'How fun would it be?'
His anticipation ran high.
"Nice weather."
Enkrid said, looking up at the sky, and Anne, who came out rubbing her eyes beside him, looked at the sky and asked.
"Nice weather?"
The sky was full of dark clouds. What exactly were his standards for nice weather?
"Yeah, very much so."
Enkrid answered. Right behind Anne, Ragna said.
"You won't hear anything. He's like that sometimes."
It was the first time Anne had seen this. But there was nothing to be surprised about. She just thought this was why they called him a madman.
'I think I'll have a busy day too.'
Anne had come to find the source of the disease, not to leisurely visit Ragna's family home.
Soon, a sword-bearing servant came to announce the family head's summons.
It was just when the sun was beginning to rise, so it was quite early, but Enkrid had been ready for a while. So he went to answer the family head's call.
At the center of the wide training ground, the family head and his spouse welcomed Enkrid.
Was there a need for greetings asking if he slept well?
The moment Enkrid stepped forward from about ten paces away, he knew who would come out first in the duel.
'The family head.'
The representative of Zaun, Ragna's father.
This kind of intimidation was a first. It didn't simply end with pressure weighing down on his entire body. The intimidation took form. A huge sword stood in front of him.
It was an illusion, but it wasn't an illusion. Because the substance was breathing and living right in front of him.
'It feels like it really exists.'
This was what should be called presence.
The form drawn by intimidation that should have no substance was a sharpened great sword, a huge sword that made the size of a human body seem laughable. The blade was three times larger than the family head's body.
But it wasn't particularly filled with killing intent.
Why? The answer came quickly along with the question. Insight and experience helped his intuition.
'It's not intimidation directed at me.'
It was just indicating that preparation for battle was complete.
Probably the minimum condition for fighting the family head would be to withstand the intimidation he emanated and remain standing. It was an intuition close to certainty. And it was also correct.
Ragna saw his father's manifested pressure for the first time in a long while.
'It's grown larger.'
Separate from swinging a sword, he crushed opponents before even fighting. It was his father's specialty.
Enkrid standing before it was like a reed swaying in the wind or a branch that might break at any moment. The difference in their auras was that stark.
Most people felt infinitely small before manifested aura. Conversely, it meant that before even fighting, the enemy grew within themselves, and that gradually growing enemy would soon crush them. A fight lost from the heart first was referring to something like this.
The pressure that the huge sword would crush you if it moved oppressed the mind to a dizzying degree. That was the power of that intimidation.
While watching, Enkrid's aura suddenly changed.
Since Ragna stood behind Enkrid, he couldn't see his face, but he could tell without seeing.
'He's smiling.'
That's the kind of person he was. It was exactly as he thought.
Enkrid felt his lips naturally curling up as he trembled with joy and excitement.
The aura itself was different. This was a first. That's why it was enjoyable.
The person who suddenly came to mind was King Anu of the East. Anu would probably be at a similar level.
'When he came to the Border Guard, he was just playing around.'
The Enkrid of that time hadn't been able to draw out the Mercenary King's true self.
Then what about now?
His lips twisted and his canines showed. At the clearly revealed smile, Alexandra's right eyebrow twitched.
'Smiling?'
Her expression seemed to ask that. Of course, it didn't enter Enkrid's eyes. He only looked at the family head.
Teresa, who had been immersed in training, suddenly opened her mouth at a thought that occurred to her.
"Brother Audin, Sister Shinar."
The two who had been helping with her training simultaneously turned their heads. Shinar recalled the daggers she had floating around her with energy, and Audin was in the process of removing the steel gauntlet that had broken during training.
"What's the most troublesome thing when fighting Captain Enkrid?"
It wasn't a deeply considered question. She just threw out words as they occurred to her. It was also a good topic to share while taking a short break.
Audin and Shinar answered simultaneously.
"Stubbornness."
"Rejection."
Their answers were different yet the same. Shinar had said stubbornness, and Audin said rejection. Audin added.
"In terms of learning, he accepts anything, but once fighting begins, no pressure has any effect. I heard it's called the Will of Rejection. That might be his foundation. The power to push through and advance no matter what anyone says."
Then Shinar also spoke.
"He should stop at this point, but he doesn't stop. That stubbornness can't be predicted."
If Enkrid weren't there, the frequency of Shinar's jokes would decrease. If he had been here, probably.
"The stubbornness, obstinacy, and dullness of not easily falling for a Fairy of my caliber."
Such words would have been added.
What the two had said were different words, but the core was the same.
"I think the same. So it's my turn to show the temperament I learned from the Captain."
After Teresa nodded, she got up from her seat with a limp. One leg was broken, but this wouldn't be a sign to give up.
Enkrid had stimulated everyone, and thanks to that, everyone except Ragna had remained at the Border Guard.
Because they wanted to digest that stimulation.
"Well, let's go."
Teresa shouted. She wanted to surpass her limits and was in the process of doing so.
Smiling?
Alexandra knew the aura her husband displayed.
Just receiving that intimidation and aura could serve as a standard for glimpsing the opponent's temperament.
The worst were those who had already concluded they absolutely couldn't win and started from there.
Such people ultimately couldn't become pioneers.
'No, leaving aside pioneers, it would be difficult to even rise to the rank of Knight.'
Zaun's classification of Knights was threefold.
Pioneer, Research, and Observation.
Among them, pioneers were also called seekers, researchers were also called technicians, and observers were also called guardians.
This was also Zaun's way of training swords and revealing part of an established system.
'Anyway.'
If you charge assuming you'll lose, you'd be a researcher at best.
The second worst were those who turned away from their own weakness.
'Obstinacy.'
They knew they would lose but wouldn't admit it. These were people lacking the ability to objectify themselves.
Some of them might become pioneers by virtue of talent, but among such people Alexandra had seen so far, there were no outstanding pioneers.
'They also can't become researchers.'
Those who grasp, break down, and research techniques again must know how to look back at themselves.
Third were those who acknowledged their own weakness.
It was a common trait of those who advanced to the next stage. Acknowledging their weakness and finding what they could do right now.
Her husband disliked it, but Alexandra thought even this much was an outstanding temperament.
Even if they anticipated defeat, they wouldn't just fight. They would try to do something, anything.
These were people who struggled desperately to increase their odds of winning.
'They have sufficient temperament to become researchers and good observers.'
The last was the temperament her husband liked most.
'They enjoy pressure itself.'
Beyond enjoying swordsmanship, they joyfully received even pressure. Enjoying meant becoming intoxicated with fighting. It was the qualification of a pioneer. One who advances forward.
And among those who enjoyed it like that, this kind of fellow was a first.
A smile across his entire face.
You could tell just by looking how delighted he was.
This fellow called Enkrid charged forward with a face that looked like he might die of happiness.
He stepped forward, piercing through the aura. Even if a meteor fell in front of him and mountains collapsed, he would charge with just one sword in hand.
'Temperament shown with his whole body.'
Her husband, Tempest, drew his sword. Alexandra didn't take her eyes off them.
Even though it wasn't a fight to the death, both their auras were elevated. It was like fighting just one step back from actual combat.
Bang!
Her husband's great sword fell vertically. It was a strike with the nickname "sword that crushes like a mountain."
It was that heavy. Though it looked slow on the surface, just before swinging that sword, the intangible power called Will would already move to bind the opponent's entire body.
As she expected, Enkrid felt pressure constricting his feet and entire body, and immediately rejected it.
'Interesting.'
Odinkar was also outstanding and interesting, but not as much as the family head.
When still, like a great mountain; when moving, like a storm. That aura heated the Will swirling through his entire body.
Enkrid gripped Tri-Iron and extended it. Receiving the heavy sword head-on?
That's how it looked. But Tri-Iron, with its Black Gold blade leading, twisted strangely and the force contained in the family head's sword flowed to the side.
Bang!
Even so, their collision created an aftershock. Ragna blocked Anne's front, and Alexandra just watched with her arms crossed.
"What was that?"
Anne couldn't even see what was what.
"We should step back."
Ragna said, protecting Anne's front. If they just stayed there, flying stones might split their foreheads.
Whoosh.
The moment the swords met, Enkrid let go of Tri-Iron and burrowed inside. It was one of the crazy moves. It would be a move the opponent couldn't predict.
It was a type of Valen-style mercenary sword, and the result of calculation through Flash.
From the first attack, it was extremely aggressive.
Enkrid clenched his fist tightly and struck at the family head's face.
If hit in the jaw, whether Knight or not, one would momentarily lose balance and consciousness. The family head pulled back his chin and received the punch with his forehead.
Bang!
Simultaneously with the second explosion, the family head struck Enkrid's face with his sword-gripping fist.
Enkrid hurriedly bent his knees to avoid the punch and crossed his arms in front of his chest to block.
Wave-Blocking Sword blocks all attacks. It was judgment through high-speed thinking.
Thunk!
The family head's knee, raised at some point, struck the center of both arms. Enkrid deliberately made his body light and flew backward.
While doing so, he extended his left hand to grab Tri-Iron again. The blade tip that had been stuck in the ground was naturally pulled out, and Tri-Iron raised its head in its master's grasp as if it had been waiting.
Seeing this, the family head used the elasticity of withdrawing his raised knee to thrust his great sword.
'Skilled.'
Both fighting and dueling.
Enkrid felt numbness in his right hand from the knee strike just before.
He had aimed for the muscle grain and struck.
Blocking the punch he had thrown with his forehead and temporarily robbing the freedom of his right hand with his knee.
Leaving aside swinging a sword, he was a natural-born fighter.
Since Enkrid could use both hands freely, the power didn't decrease even when swinging a sword with his left hand.
Rather, he showed the skill of changing left and right hand positions, using his temporarily numb right hand as support.
Now techniques naturally ingrained in his body emerged. Valen-style mercenary sword hand-switching.
With his left hand up and his right hand supporting the bottom of the grip, he attempted blade-breaking against the thrust.
'Aetri.'
It was a sword he had forged. It wouldn't break easily.
The family head didn't stop his thrusting sword.
Clang!
The tip of Tri-Iron drew a curve in the air and the blade struck the middle of the thrusting sword. Then the targeting point of the family head's sword tip changed. Enkrid had made it deflect with force.
Will boiled up. The exhilaration and enthusiasm rising from within also overflowed like an active volcano.
"Ha!"
Enkrid burst out with a battle cry, put strength into his right foot, twisted his waist and extended his left foot. He had kicked the family head's sword with his foot.
Thud!
Changing the target point with his sword and kicking the sword's surface with his left foot to nullify the attack.
Then this time the family head let go of his sword, clenched his fist tightly and swung it.
Light flowed from his indifferent amber eyes, leaving afterimages like a meteor's tail as he came close to Enkrid's front.
'Did I unconsciously judge that the sword-swinging speed would be slow just because it's a heavy sword?'
He had.
In reality, the family head's sword wasn't that fast. But his feet weren't. His feet were very fast.
The calculations of Wave-Blocking and Flash overlapped to provide an answer. It was a conclusion derived from high-speed thinking.
'I can't avoid this.'
Enkrid bit his molars and, with his smiling face unchanged, looked at the family head, let go of Tri-Iron, and stabbed at the opponent's eyes with his left hand fingers raised.
All movements came out naturally. Therefore, there was no hesitation.
If he couldn't avoid it, he would block attack with attack. It was the result of Wave-Blocking.
The family head closed his eyes and struck Enkrid's stomach with his fist.
Thud!
Along with the sound of air bursting, Enkrid felt a floating sensation for the first time in a long while.
He floated in the air and flew backward. At the end of the floating sensation, he felt his back hit the ground with a thud.
He immediately straightened his body like a cat, but being hit was being hit.
If the family head had charged with his great sword in succession, Enkrid would have suffered fatal injuries, but the family head stopped, bleeding from the corner of his eye.
There was no impact to the eyeball. The finger that stabbed the eye area only tore some skin around the eye.
Though he felt his breathing blocked with a tingling sensation from the impact received on his back, Enkrid was still holding the horn dagger he had drawn.
Though in a sitting position, it was also a posture ready to throw the dagger and get up to charge at any time.
"Excellent."
The family head said. The duel was over.
Someone let out a sigh, and the family head opened his mouth.
"Immediate desperation is always one step too late."
He added a few more words.
"Only previous efforts respond to present desperation. Therefore, excellent."
He wasn't someone who talked much during or after duels to begin with.
Though Enkrid didn't know, those who had unknowingly gathered around to watch knew how excited the family head was right now.
Usually after dueling, he might or might not utter a single word, but now didn't he start with saying "excellent"?
So they couldn't help but be surprised.
"A precious guest."
A middle-aged man with dark blonde hair said a word.
"He doesn't seem particularly talented though."
A man with light brown hair who carried six swords on his back, waist, and the outside of both thighs also said a word.
While everyone watched in surprise, Enkrid said.
"One more round?"
It was the kind of temperament that would say such words. However, his expression was different now. The smile remained the same, but a different emotion could be felt within it.
He seemed to be speaking as if staking everything he had. The scent of emotion spread like spilled perfume.
It was thick enough that even ordinary people who couldn't handle Will could feel it.
Thanks to the uncontrollably spreading scent, everyone knew the emotion Enkrid was showing. It was desperation.