Chapter 799 - That Sword Style
He spoke with a smile that revealed a thick forearm and his front teeth.
"I have never once lost."
Waaaah—!
Giants, so tall one would have to crane their neck to look up at them even from horseback, stood in rows across from the blond man.
The one that stepped forward from the group let out a monstrous cry that shook the air and made the fine hairs on one's skin stand on end.
Giants?
No, they were similar but different.
They were beings with yellow or red skin, wielding weapons like studded clubs.
The one that had shrieked was clad head-to-toe in metal.
It was similar to a knight's heavy armor, but its craftsmanship was crude.
Separate from the crude armor, the presence emanating from the hulking figure within was real.
The sight alone was enough to make one dizzy.
And yet, the man was unfazed.
He even snorted before opening his mouth.
"I told you, I don't lose."
Their numbers were few.
The martial prowess of each individual was lacking.
That was the situation.
But the man was always confident.
He had to be.
As the leader of a group, he had to possess an unbreaking will.
Because if the heart breaks first, nothing can be done.
"Watch."
He stepped forward and fought the mutated giants.
Enkrid didn't know it, but they were one of the giant-type monsters called Jotun.
Their appearance was similar to giants, but they were a completely different species from the giants who were one of the intelligent races.
Some scholars occasionally questioned whether giants could be considered an intelligent race, but that was no reason to compare them to giant-type monsters.
Unlike beasts, which were nicknamed for having red blood, these were truly monsters.
The man fought fiercely and won.
His blond hair became soaked in blood and his arm broke as he struck the giant's neck.
"I told you I don't lose."
Confidence—no, a hint of the anxiety hidden within it could be seen.
He plunged his sword into the giant's heart and roared at the sky.
Aaaaaah—
The cry of victory rang through the battlefield.
"You're the first one I've seen whose skill improves so quickly."
"Because I'm a genius."
Because the man possessed outstanding talent, to others his life was a shining star.
At least, that's how it looked to everyone.
No matter how steep the cliff, he could climb it by repeating the day.
When everyone gave up, he alone swung his sword and turned the tide of battle.
He fought a great wolf beast, fought a lumpy monster formed from a pac
k of Draugrs, and fought and fought to seize tomorrow. He endured and endured.
Then, one by one, he saw off those who had protected his side.
On the outside, the man looked fine.
There was a 'today' he repeated to protect someone.
There were days he achieved his goal, and days he did not.
Enkrid watched it all.
'Let's fight, as if this is the first time.'
The man repeated his vow.
He brainwashed himself like that every day.
And then, his lover died.
He made love with her during the day, and she died in the evening.
While the man was out fighting, the rear was attacked.
The man broke down then.
And so, he decided to remain in that 'today'.
He repeated that day, always holding the woman and loving her as if it were the first time, whispering sweet nothings.
"Don't you have to go to the battlefield?"
"No. What's important to me is this moment."
If you could only live for one day, what would you want to do?
I would give up anything if I could be with this woman, even if I were bound to this 'today' for all of eternity.
That was the very reason he had tried to move forward, even while bearing the curse of 'today'.
He hadn't dreamed of saving the world, but of living with this woman.
"Elena."
The man became trapped within that 'today' with his lover.
That was the end.
"Go forth, as if you have never once broken."
That was the life this man had dreamed of.
It was his attitude toward life.
It was the form he had ultimately wished to become.
He did not regret repeating that day with his lover.
However, what the version of himself on the battlefield had desired was something different.
That lingering attachment, regret, remorse, and sorrow gathered and delivered the words.
Enkrid knew that what he had heard during the fight was not an auditory hallucination.
"Fight. As if this is the first time."
The man who had been floundering in the dream was suddenly staring intently at Enkrid.
Everything in the city was dyed in gray, and a shade of purple covered the man's blue eyes.
"That was the exact kind of person I wanted and wished to be."
He said.
Then, a black robe draped over his shoulders, enveloping his body.
He was a part of the Ferryman.
"It will be difficult to meet again, but go forth, Enkrid."
A part of the Ferryman cheered for Enkrid.
Even in the dream, his feelings were keenly felt.
The moth, trapped on the ferry boat now that the repeated 'today' was over, wanted to find a flame and burn its body at any time.
And so, he too wished to disappear from this world like Elena.
Since she was gone, he too wished to die.
But still, all of him remained trapped on the ferry boat.
"Still, let's meet again."
With those last words, a spray of water rushed in from all sides, filling the surroundings with a black river, and a ferry boat suddenly appeared at his feet, lifting his body.
On that ferry boat stood the Ferryman, holding a lamp.
Black holes took the place of his two eyes, and the back of his hand, revealed from outside the robe, was like a gray wasteland.
Enkrid met his gaze with those black pupils.
There were no words.
However, he understood that the entity known as the Ferryman was not just one being.
Well, he had noticed that long ago.
If the Ferryman was not one, then they were ultimately prisoners and jailers, who had succumbed to their 'today' and become trapped.
Enkrid woke from the dream.
And he fell into deep thought.
"Did you have a nightmare or something?"
Rem, who had woken up at some point, asked.
Enkrid did not answer.
He looked to be engrossed in something.
"Did you have a dogshit dream?"
"Not that."
Only then did a reply come back.
Had the story of the blond knight and his lover struck a chord?
Was it a feeling like the melancholy one feels after waking from a gloomy dream?
It was not.
'That sword style.'
Enkrid was immersed in the swordsmanship the blond man had shown him in the dream.
He had often fought against opponents larger than himself.
A historian might have called it the age of colossal beasts, but Enkrid was no historian, so he didn't know that.
However, he knew one thing.
'A sword style acquired through fighting opponents several times larger than a normal human.'
He focused on the swordsmanship.
He remembered each and every one of the techniques the blond man had shown.
Separate from his talent for using his body, his memory had always been excellent.
Furthermore, he had now risen to the rank of a knight and was even creating his own sword styles.
To Enkrid's eyes, the core of the techniques the blond man had displayed and the method of their implementation came to him at once.
If he mulled it over a few times, he could sublimate it into a pretty decent sword style.
If the Ferryman could have read his thoughts thoroughly, especially if the blond Ferryman had known this, he would have felt very strange.
"Not the story of my love for Elena, but my sword style? In that moment, my sword style? Again, my sword style? Isn't this bastard truly insane."
Well, wouldn't he have said something like that?
"Training is forbidden. No. Stop. Halt."
Rem chattered from the side.
No matter how crazy one was for training, when one's body was in this state, rest came first.
Enkrid had no intention of training either.
But his appearance of being lost in thought seemed to Rem like he was contemplating whether to go out and train.
And for some reason, the way he tried to stop him was grating.
"Am I a dog?"
"A dog in heat and a captain crazy for training are synonyms."
Enkrid thought it wouldn't be too difficult to use only his foot to smack Rem in the head, but he didn't.
For one, it was true that he shouldn't overexert himself.
Rem was in a state where he would vomit blood from even a small impact.
When asked what on earth he had done, Rem had given a strange answer.
"I was planning to kill that horned idiot who was said to have a wandering habit. That's all."
He said it with a smile, but it was a smile trying to hide something.
Enkrid, for no reason, thought of Elena and the blond man from his dream and said.
"Don't do anything that would make Ayul sad."
"Hey, don't meddle in other people's family affairs."
After that, the party repeated a cycle of sleeping and eating as if they were dead.
Two days later, in the morning—that is, exactly two full days after the fight had ended—a troop of soldiers appeared in the distance.
If they were enemies, this side would have had a very hard time.
Enkrid still couldn't use his arms, and Audin couldn't use his holy power comfortably either.
Luagarne, who had only her right arm left and was regenerating the rest, had to be completely counted out, and Roman had also been seriously injured in the fight.
He had a large gash on his thigh and was undergoing treatment, but if it went slightly wrong, he would be limping for the rest of his life.
"Just because I have a bit of a limp doesn't mean I can't be a knight, right?"
Roman, having realized something, had uttered these words.
It was a valid point, so Enkrid had only nodded.
In any case, the only ones who could fight were Ropord, Fel, Theresa, and Enkrid.
In reality, Enkrid shouldn't have been involved either, but he was insisting that he could just fight using only his feet.
The approaching group was not one.
A subtle dividing line was drawn between two factions.
The sunny days continued, and the rising sun shone as if to cut through that boundary.
They were approaching with the light at their backs.
From the group, two people broke away and came closer.
The residents of the Demon Realm, though anxious, now simply trusted the band of mad knights.
The two people who rode their horses toward them with the light at their backs opened their mouths at the same time.
"Captain?"
"Brother?"
Both were familiar faces.
One was a man who had once been under his command and had now revived his fallen family to become a noble.
His name was Andrew Gardener.
The other was someone he had seen coming and going.
The Grand Master of the Order of Cultists Annihilation, belonging to the Holy Nation.
"If Krang sent you to strike me, his head must be broken, so that can't be it. I can assume that Noah didn't order an attack and send you either, correct?"
At Enkrid's question, the two dismounted and nodded as if it were a matter of course.
"His Majesty the King ordered me to help. He said to tell him if you need anything."
"The Legion has always said it stands by your side. And it is half the Pope's command, and half my own heart moving me to come."
The Grand Master said with a faint smile.
Neither was an enemy.
It just so happened that he was worried about leaving all of them, the residents of the Demon Realm, behind.
After making such a fuss about protecting and saving them, they couldn't just clean up the area and leave, could they?
It was a given that in time, monsters and beasts would rear their heads in this area again.
'As long as the Demon Realm does not disappear.'
That would be the case forever.
His plan to leave Roman here was to have him train while also protecting this city.
Enkrid slowly recited to Andrew what he had said before.
That some of the forces from the city of Oara could be moved here, and that he would make this land the Border Guard Territory.
"It is too far from the Border Guard. And it's not like you're greedy for land. For its protection, His Majesty said he would make it Naurillia Territory."
My country, my people.
In the speeches of Krang he had always heard, there was something he sought to protect.
The decision to make this place a part of Naurillia's land meant that regardless of their appearance, they would be accepted as part of the nation.
All of that was because Enkrid had wished it.
Of course, Krang's thoughts were deeper.
A strategic point from which he could occupy a part of the Demon Realm and put pressure on the south.
That is what he desired from this village.
Therefore, he also approved of relocating a part of the city of Oara's forces.
"We will help."
And in that process, the Legion intervened, and Andrew displayed his noble side here.
That is to say, he played politics.
"Let's do that."
By maintaining a reasonably good relationship with the Order of Cultists Annihilation, he had formed something like an alliance with the Legion.
Both Krang and Noah had been cautiously observing each other.
Since they weren't entirely without internal problems, they couldn't openly say, 'We are friends now!'
But inwardly, both felt closer to each other thanks to the focal point that was Enkrid.
Their plan was to start the relationship by protecting this small village together.
Andrew, too, had become a full-fledged noble now.
"He asked if you could stop by on your way."
"Krang?"
"Yes."
At Andrew's words, Enkrid gave a stoic nod.
They didn't say anything about having killed Beelrog or not.
Thanks to that, nowhere on the continent did they know of Beelrog's death.
However, it was a different story for the demons living coiled up inside the Demon Realm.
Also, Beelrog had been performing a certain role on the southern part of the continent, whether he wanted to or not, and that role had now disappeared.
Well, Enkrid didn't bother himself with such matters.
That was a problem for later, and besides him, there were plenty of people to use their heads.
It was after Andrew and the Grand Master had joined them.
"How was she?"
Roman asked.
It was a tranquil afternoon, a time dedicated to rest.
"She was still smiling well."
He once again relayed Oara's end.
Oara with the smiling face.
Roman, her last squire, was lost in thought for a moment before nodding.
The resolve etched in layers on his face would not be easily shaken now.
Well, if he did waver, he could just be beaten up again.
Enkrid and his party rested for a fortnight more.
Just before they left, the village chief, Zhoraslav, came to them holding an object wrapped in a clean cloth.
"Please."
As a sign to accept it, he bowed his head and held out the cloth-wrapped bundle.
***
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