The calm before the storm was truly quiet only before the storm arrived.
Enkrid was the same now.
'There's nothing particularly pressing to do.'
It seemed like something was about to happen, but there was no immediate threat visible before his eyes.
Grida seemed busy, but there was no reason for Enkrid to go around stirring up trouble everywhere.
So that's what he did. Enkrid swung his sword all day long.
He had done this at Border Guard too, but Enkrid in Zaun was even more dedicated. Moreover, this was a place that encouraged such behavior.
Everyone didn't look at Enkrid strangely but rather questioned how an outsider could be so diligent, and they enjoyed the present moment.
The things Enkrid taught were also novel, so there was no reason not to enjoy them.
After all, everyone in Zaun craved new techniques.
"Rest day over! Fighting begins!"
There was a boy who shouted this and attacked Enkrid before dawn even broke as he was warming up.
"Would you like to melt in this beauty's embrace?"
There was also the greatest beauty of the giant race—limited to Zaun—who said this while attacking.
Beside her was an old swordsman named Rynox who let out laughter that was hard to imitate, going "Heh heh—"
"Hey, this is my home. You can't fight with 'Calculation' like before in this courtyard, can you?"
There was also a swordsman who had spent days surveying the surroundings, confirming that there were traces of monsters and something happening inside Zaun, suspecting the family head while outwardly pretending to be calm.
It was Grida, who had disappeared for a day or two and then suddenly appeared, pretending to be normal.
"Your eyes are dark underneath. Are you sleeping well?"
"...My sleeping quarters have been rough lately. Maybe it's because I came home after a long time."
Rather than that, shouldn't we say that tension was eating away at people?
If you string a bow and leave it taut with the bowstring pulled tight, both the bow and string will quickly break.
People are the same way.
Knights might have slightly thicker nerves, but they're still human.
Well, even knights would find it hard to rest comfortably in the ominous atmosphere flowing through Zaun right now.
Ah, of course, that would be true for normal people. Enkrid had rested well. He slept very well and ate well too. And so did Ragna.
"You said you came to get Sunrise, so why haven't you brought it?"
This was a question thrown to Ragna, who was rubbing against him from the side.
Ragna wiped the sweat flowing down his forehead and quietly turned his head toward where the family head would likely be.
Of course, the direction was wrong, so what he looked at was the path leading outside of Zaun.
"Mm."
Ragna chose his words for a moment. This was behavior not seen before. The guy who used to blurt out whatever came to mind during the days of the troublemaker squad, the predecessor to the Mad Knight Order, now actually thought before speaking.
Should I say it struck deep into my heart?
While Ragna was choosing his words, the nephew-like kid muttered from the side.
"The strength flows smoothly into my muscles. It's working properly. Oh, good. Good."
During this time, Enkrid had sparred and trained while expounding Audin's physical training method to them.
Some of Zaun's children tried Audin's physical training method and immediately showed signs of adaptation, and this was one of the prime examples.
Muttering while holding stones and making his back muscles ripple. Since his body was already somewhat developed, he quickly increased the weight too.
Zaun also had its own training methods, which Enkrid observed and learned from, but when it came to purely training physical abilities, nothing could match Audin's methods.
He had improved and newly established the training methods of orthodox martial priests from the sacred city of Legion, added several theories, and tailored them to fit Enkrid.
It was a part where Audin's genius could be glimpsed anew.
If Audin saw this, he would show a satisfied smile across his entire face.
"Excellent. Brother, you're doing well. Sister! Did I mention? Your muscle strength is superior to most men!"
He might even shout like this right away. That's how well they had adapted to Audin's torture.
Moreover, since they were people with strong competitive desire and a thorough spirit of improvement, they would look at their peers beside them, grit their teeth, and concentrate on training, so there was no reason for their skills not to improve.
After watching them for a while, Ragna opened his mouth.
"I definitely thought it was urgent, but my heart isn't in it."
"Why?"
I asked because I couldn't guess the reason, but Ragna didn't know the direction of his own heart either. He was lost again this time too.
"That's what I'd like to know."
He spoke matter-of-factly, but to Enkrid's eyes, it seemed like he had some dissatisfaction.
'If not that, then he's angry.'
Ragna, who had given a rough answer, just swung his sword, and Enkrid also swung his sword as he had been doing.
Meanwhile, Anne was always doing something while fidgeting in one corner.
When I occasionally looked over from the side.
"Did you extract poison from a corpse? No, you kept a sick person alive and extracted the seed. Look. That's right, isn't it?"
She would say things like this while asking back.
"That's right."
Enkrid agreed without knowing anything. There was a force emanating from Anne that made it impossible not to answer.
She placed a table she had brought from somewhere in front of her, sat in a chair, and did something in a corner of the training ground. She made solutions, mixed them, poured them, smelled them, and sometimes carefully touched something while wearing deerskin gloves.
From behind, you could only see her small back, but she poured out her entire will from her whole body.
I naturally knew she was doing something. Enkrid's sensitive senses felt the momentum emanating from Anne.
'It's Will.'
Therefore, Anne was also a genius. Enkrid naturally reached such a conclusion.
"This much."
Anne spoke while concentrating. She didn't seem to notice Enkrid watching.
"I can do this. I'll eliminate it. This damned thing."
Anne continued muttering to herself.
If you looked at Anne's eyes from the front now, wouldn't they be blazing?
"How many days has she been like this?"
When I asked Ragna, who was guarding the front of the lodging, Ragna answered nonchalantly.
"Ever since she arrived, continuously."
Ragna had practiced swordsmanship beside Anne and generally didn't leave her side.
Enkrid nodded, saying "I see," and was about to leave the lodging when Ragna threw out these words.
"She said she likes me."
"...Rem?"
"Even as a joke, it was so unpleasant to hear that I wanted to cut out that tongue."
"I apologize."
"Anne said that."
Enkrid recalled Anne from Border Guard.
The scenes of her frequently entering and leaving the knight order's training ground. She would always grumble about being busy while frequently going in and out.
She would bring food, bring drinks, and sometimes make potions good for physical recovery.
'All of that went into Ragna's mouth first.'
Also, whatever Anne did, she stayed closest to Ragna.
Krais had known long ago, Enkrid knew, and even Rem knew.
Anne liked Ragna.
But Ragna himself was too indifferent.
This bastard couldn't just find his way—he couldn't recognize people's feelings either.
"Thinking about it, I think I felt the same way."
Ragna spoke matter-of-factly in a volume that wouldn't reach Anne's ears.
He meant that he had also developed feelings in response to the favor she had shown, but he said it quite ungracefully.
"You don't seem to be asking me to convey it for you."
"I'm just saying that's how it is."
Someone would be happy if their feelings were acknowledged. Ragna's thinking was simple.
For some reason, his heart wasn't moved to go get Sunrise. Maybe that was why his chest felt stuffy. Or maybe his illness had worsened.
Yesterday too, when sleeping, he had coughed up blood-mixed phlegm. He had been fine all the way here.
'Is the end approaching?'
That might be the case.
So it was probably because of this kind of moment. Because part of his heart was foggy and stuffy, he wanted to clearly reveal other parts—that kind of emotional outpouring.
"That doesn't mean I'll be close with Anne."
And then.
"Though I don't know if the situation changes."
He muttered.
Enkrid nodded and answered.
"Do as you wish."
He says he has feelings but won't get close.
Right. That's crazy talk. It was understood as something a madman would say.
So there was probably no need to particularly understand it.
Since the troublemaker squad days, Enkrid had long given up on reading Ragna's or others' inner thoughts.
So he went outside and swung his sword again.
Still, black storm clouds covered overhead like a pitch-black wall. It looked like a pitch-black ceiling had formed in the sky.
Those are supposed to be clouds? Ridiculous.
Some people might say this, couldn't they?
Enkrid himself was calm. It would be better if the sun shone, but he wouldn't immediately voice complaints about it.
He would just swing his sword as he had been doing.
That's what he did.
The ferryman didn't appear again, but what he had said still remained in memory.
Protect Anne.
Enkrid conveyed those words to Ragna, excluding the part about the ferryman and such.
Something might happen to Anne. So protect her.
He had also seen monsters targeting Anne on the way here. Instead of having doubts, Ragna was faithful to those words.
A day of feigned normalcy passed.
During this time, Enkrid was sometimes lost in various thoughts.
Who was it that stirred up the family? Someone had been up to something. This was an unchanging truth. To add one more thing here, someone had used a coincidentally occurring event as a tool.
He had only thought this far and didn't wander around looking for answers.
There was no need for Enkrid to appoint himself as a problem solver. Even though what he saw and heard had increased during this time, his thinking remained the same.
"Family head, are you really not going to do anything?"
One day, he saw Heskal, who had returned from the retirees' village, confronting the family head.
Rynox also requested a private audience with the family head, saying he would push through with his opinion, but nothing had changed.
After hanging around with Enkrid, Heskal would sometimes blurt out things like this.
"Hah, it would be nice if the family head were a little more proactive."
This was after some lackluster swordplay where he wasn't concentrating on the sparring. Enkrid retrieved his Tri-Iron and said.
"Are you saying to accept that man Schmidt's proposal?"
"That would be good too. The Empire's embrace is wide."
These were empty words with no real meaning behind them. That's how they sounded.
Enkrid didn't know the family head's heart. But he seemed to understand what Heskal wanted. His eyes were full of the desire to achieve something.
"May I ask what you want to do?"
Heskal had eyes filled with dreams and hopes.
"I'll tell you later."
From his words said with a smile, Enkrid got the feeling that the dream he harbored was quite difficult to achieve.
Even so, he knew that Heskal wouldn't give up and would continue forward.
It was an intuition that could be called recognizing a kindred spirit.
"Damn it, I can't find any trace of Odinkar."
Even after this, Grida spent several days rummaging through various parts of Zaun.
She seemed anxious because neither Magrun nor Odinkar could be seen.
In the evening, an old woman named Mileschia came to visit Anne. She was Zaun's healer.
"What is all this?"
After hearing about part of Anne's research, she opened her eyes wide and then rejoiced greatly, saying this might actually work.
She also greeted Enkrid when she saw him in passing.
Then one dawn, Enkrid was involuntarily awakened from sleep.
CRASH!
It was because lightning struck and the roar hit his ears.
ROAAAAAR!
As soon as the thunder was heard, rain that pounded the ground poured down. When he got up and turned his gaze to the window, he could see the pouring rain, and the streaks of rain looked like metal rods.
It was worrying whether the ground might be pierced.
"Enkrid of Border Guard."
And someone he never expected to visit at this hour called his name from outside the door.
Enkrid got up and immediately checked his equipment.
Tri-Iron, Penna, one shortsword and horn dagger, cloth gauntlets, undergarments given by the fairy, and leather armor covering his shoulders and torso over them.
'I can't put on the cloth armor.'
With so much rain, if it got wet, it would interfere with movement. This was something he knew from experience, and now he moved by instinct.
There was no reason to arm himself, but Enkrid thoroughly prepared his equipment before calmly opening the door.
The family head stood in front of it. Completely soaked by the rain.
He said.
"Follow me. Mileschia is dead."
Enkrid naturally had no idea about this at all, but the family head looked as if he had come to interrogate him.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking 'so what?' at this point?"
Enkrid asked while standing. Water pooled at the wet family head's feet. He spoke in the same emotionally drained voice as before.
"Just follow me quietly."
Creak.
The door to the side room opened. It was Ragna.
"Who are you interrogating about what?"
In the pitch-black darkness, candlelight flickered and Ragna's shadow swayed.