"Why all of a sudden?"
Aurelia was pretty flustered, but that didn't mean she refused Enkrid's order.
"Shut up and focus."
Well, with him talking like that, she didn't really have room for other thoughts.
Enkrid's thinking was simple. He'd loosened up her muscles, so now it was time to poke at her head.
'With that good head of yours.'
She walks a single road. The Aurelia Enkrid had seen was the type who walks one road. A skilled one with great stamina, and who knows how to run.
But she can't fly. If an obstacle suddenly appears, aside from jumping over it, she has no options.
'Sometimes you break through with strength.'
Other times you predict, and in another case you detour.
You don't cage your thinking—you make it varied. You expand the concept of fighting packed into your head. There was nothing better than experience to accomplish all of that.
'Innate sense, athletic ability, and even reaction speed.'
If you talk talent, she's missing nothing. That was why what she needed right now was also clear.
Not something carved into her head, but experience carved into her body.
"Today it's me. Tomorrow it's Rem, then Ragna, then Audin. You won't die."
Aurelia grew up in a knight order. Sparring and fighting are everyday life to her. On top of that, she trained right in front of the Demon-lands and made it to where she is now.
It's just that there weren't lunatics like this there.
The part about not dying snagged in her heart.
The next day, a lunatic called Rem came over with a big, goofy grin.
"I don't have a hobby of bullying weak people, but it can't be helped. Well, since it's that Sir Cypress's request."
Seeing the barbarian's eyes full of anticipation, Aurelia got goosebumps all over.
Get out of here right now, don't face that bastard—her instincts screamed a warning.
She forced that urge down and raised her sword. Just that made her arms tremble.
"What? Are you shaking because you like it so much?"
The lunatic from the west picked only the most unpleasant things to say and beat her black and blue.
The next day Ragna cut her neck with an illusion. It was a trick shown by pressure alone. Aurelia praised herself for not pissing herself.
After that, the bear beastman she met tried to twist her joints to their limit and yank them out.
"They were all crazy bastards."
She spat that out right away, and she saw a crazy bastard called Kraiss nod like he understood, then get his ear grabbed by his dark-skinned lover.
'Mad Order of Knights.'
That name hit deep in her chest all over again. Even so, she didn't run. That was true not only for her, but also for the two soldiers she met during roadwork training.
Even if they called it hell and whatever else, they stayed too. When she ran into the two of them in the dining hall one day, she asked them.
"Why did you come to the front?"
It was a question that cut off everything before and after, and her tone was stiff, but compared to before it was softer, and the meaning got across.
Aurelia showed pure curiosity. Why do these people endure this training? For gold coins? Or honor? Or to learn how to use strength rationally? If they learn here, are they going to go make a killing somewhere else?
"My whole family moved over to this side."
One soldier said.
"The person who saved me when I was young retired, and after that he took care of me like a father. Well, there isn't anything I want to be besides a soldier."
After that, the other soldier opened his mouth too.
Their answers were different, but the same.
The two speaking had eyes that shone. The eyes of people who fight for a city called Border Guard.
The eyes of those who protect something behind them.
"I really hate hellish training, though."
At the add-on, Aurelia snorted and said it.
What you're doing isn't hellish training.
Real hell is inside that knight order, she said, like she was warning them.
The two soldiers mumbled that they had no desire to become a knight order member anyway.
And yet, if you watched them pour themselves into training more than anyone, they were the kind of people who might stand as members of a knight order someday.
Aurelia liked this place. The atmosphere, the momentum, the air. Everything was really good.
The sight of people who live one day for a year, sweating like rain every day, and even so laughing and joking and mixing with the city's people—it felt like it kept tapping at her heart.
'In the south, too.'
In that moment, her dream was decided.
'In the south, too—spring.'
Bring in the season when wind holding magic power comes. Call a warm breeze to that place where her knight order is.
It was her vow that she would do that. Wishes and dreams were the support that held up Aurelia's present.
"Die. Die."
A crazy axe murderer, the bastard called Rem, collapses and tries to chop down right where her head was. Even while hearing what he says, she thinks about spring wind inside. Aurelia was becoming flexible, and becoming solid.
In the meantime, a little more snarling mouth was just a small side effect.
"Die yourself, you crazy barbarian bastard."
At the words that popped out by reflex, coins passed between the hands of Pel and the guy called Lawford.
"See? Didn't even last a week."
"Damn it, no backbone. Acting like your mouth was heavy and you couldn't even last a week before you ran it?"
It looked like they'd made a bet over her, and the one who won seemed to be the one called Lawford.
'Spring revenge—no, spring breeze.'
Aurelia pulled herself together again and again. If she didn't, it was an environment that was hard to endure.
***
'The world is wide.'
Enkrid did not confine the road to becoming a knight to a single one.
'Every path is different.'
But the destination is about the same.
After he'd recently knocked everyone down, including Rem and Ragna, everyone had their eyes lit with fire and were absorbed in training, but not a single one of them asked him for a path.
'Because instinctively they know it isn't one path.'
That didn't mean they truly had no worries at all.
Rem will go Rem's path, Ragna will go Ragna's path.
The reason sweat stank off Jaxon for three straight days was similar.
"Barbarian, come at me putting about half your life on the line."
It was something you couldn't have seen from Jaxon before. For him to go find Rem first and propose a spar.
"Why? You want to get hit?"
Rem greeted him like usual. Their sparring took a unique form. Once, they faced each other head-on in the training grounds, and every time, Jaxon lost again and again.
After they fought three or four times at a level where, if an ordinary soldier saw it, it wouldn't be strange to ask if they were doing their best to kill and be killed, Rem proposed it in reverse.
"Bastard, change the battlefield."
After that, the two went into the Pen-Hanil Range late at night. Enkrid found that sight impressive.
'Helping each other?'
Maybe if you said it out loud, both would say no even if they died, but if you looked deep, they were helping each other.
Jaxon is stealing what he can by watching the balance Rem has, and Rem, in reverse, experiences that exquisite knack Jaxon has. The reason they changed the battlefield would be for fairness. When the battlefield changes, the way you fight changes too.
Rem is familiar with mountains too, but fighting in the training yard holding only a sword was, for Jaxon, the same as fighting with his arms and legs torn off.
"Bring something besides a sword too. I'm not dying to your little tricks."
Rem growled. Drunk on victory, he wouldn't stop at just this. That mindset naturally showed itself.
Would Ragna and Audin be any different?
Those two also clashed without resting. One day they fought only with hands and feet, and the next day there were two short iron clubs in Audin's hands.
Then they switched opponents. Jaxon fought Audin, and Ragna clashed with Rem. Sometimes they called Temares and dragged him into the fighting too.
Shinar hadn't come out since entering the fairy city, and watching that, Pel, Lawford, and even Teresa heated up and fired each other hotter than before.
Watching all of that, Enkrid quietly sank into thought.
'If you fall, you get back up.'
If you can't do it alone, you reach your hand out to others.
Humans are that kind of existence. You can't live alone.
Looking at them, Enkrid repeated the same thing. Meaning, it was a continuous stretch of ridiculous training.
"Mm, Master. That sounds good. Master Enkrid."
Lawford said that while looking at Enkrid.
It was a title that fit well, since he led the Mad Order of Knights and was an example to everyone. Enkrid was indifferent, and no one raised an objection to the title.
Looking at Enkrid like that, Lawford spoke.
"My sword's name is 'Rampart.'"
Rampart.
It was the engraved weapon Lawford chose. Aitri set the foundation and his disciple completed it, and a dwarf craftsman helped while staying up for several nights.
Even while the engraved weapon was being made, Lawford held a practice sword and threw himself into training. It was a sword that, compared to an ordinary blade, was twice as heavy, thick, and wide—closer to an iron club.
Just as Pel gained enlightenment on his own, Lawford, who changed weapons, also improved that much.
'Will is an intangible, invisible power—ultimately, it's influenced by willpower.'
It was the conclusion Enkrid came to while looking at the two of them. There was still a lot for him to watch and learn from those two.
'I learn a lot while teaching.'
Luagarne still stayed by Enkrid's side, and took it upon herself to organize what he said and write it down.
"You're going to establish a path to becoming a knight?"
The Frog was quick on the uptake.
"Thanks to you, it'll be faster."
Enkrid accepted her help without resistance.
Everyone changes. In the meantime, it was only natural that some fell into worry. Dunbakel rested well even while everyone was actively awakening to something, but Teresa wasn't like that.
She couldn't easily get out of her worry. It was when Pel, using a simple way of thinking as his strength, shook off worries like that, and Lawford strained himself to make his engraved weapon.
"Brother Audin, holiness doesn't change. Is that right?"
Rem, Ragna and Shinar all fought Enkrid and noticed something and set their training methods.
Even Pel, Lawford and Dunbakel changed their direction while watching Enkrid.
Nobody around hid what they were doing, so if you looked a little closely, it wasn't hard to know.
Watching all of them, Teresa realized she'd lost her way, so she asked the person who had led her here.
When everyone set their direction and moved forward, she was someone who didn't even worry alone.
She answers Ragna and others' calls to spar, but she was someone who didn't move toward anything herself, you could say.
Or was it because she was already complete and couldn't go further?
'Or maybe it's because I don't have the qualifications.'
She swallowed the self-mocking question. It was the kind of thing that, if she spit it out, would become reality.
Does she dare handle holiness? It was something that wouldn't come out from inside Teresa. She had been a member of a cult, and a mixed-blood giant. The past doesn't change. Maybe for her whole life she would ask about qualifications and wander looking for an answer.
Teresa felt something like a limit, and that question stretched out in another direction and came out.
Holiness doesn't change. Then isn't it the opposite of Will's variability?
"That's right."
Audin answered.
"Then what should I do?"
Instead of a painful question, Teresa showed desire.
To Audin, that question was reasonable. The competitive spirit hidden inside Teresa in the meantime didn't look that bad either.
Pel, Lawford, Dunbakel and Teresa subtly took each other as rivals. With the others charging ahead, falling behind alone wouldn't feel good.
"First is humming."
"What?"
"For a full month, without rest, you chant. Do that in every moment your eyes are open. Even when you eat, make time and do it."
Audin didn't prefer a method of giving answers first, and Teresa was used to that.
"After that, you'll have to find the path yourself."
It was what he said next, smiling like usual.
Teresa followed that, and Audin thought it was time for him to leave this place for a while.
Meaning, it was when not even a month had passed since returning from the southern front.
"Captain Brother, Giant Sister and I will go to Legion."
As always, Enkrid didn't bother asking the reason. Instead, Kraiss asked.
"For what purpose are you going?"
He said he was leaving suddenly, but not a single person thought he would leave the Mad Order of Knights and return to the holy knight order.
"Why? You going to pray to your god so you don't become the Youngest again?"
Rem only teased him.
"Prayer alone won't change anything, Brother."
Audin spoke like usual and answered Kraiss's words.
"My armor and hammer are there."
"…Is there armor that fits your body?"
Even Lawford asked in surprise.
"It's not for combat."
Just like that, Audin and Teresa left Border Guard for a while.
"I'll go to the Zaun family too."
It was with the intent to deliver what he'd realized this time.
Ragna tried to leave without even telling Enkrid, and Kraiss barely stopped him and attached Lawford.
"I'm looking forward to it. I think there'll be a lot to learn."
Lawford accepted gladly, and the two set off quickly.
With Shinar, Audin, Teresa, and Ragna gone, the training grounds were a bit quieter, but nothing changed.
Letters still flew in from noble ladies, and letters also came often from the Eastern King, Crang, and Pope Noah.
Enkrid sometimes even wrote replies, and sometimes he went down into the city and looked around here and there.
He hadn't done it with some meaning in mind. Then Vengeance invited him to dinner.
"I don't know if I'm allowed to call you."
"I'm the one getting fed."
He hadn't done it with any special meaning. Enkrid sat at Vengeance's table, and he saw his child.
Bright eyes, flailing hands, and even the way, with a mouth that couldn't even speak, it babbled "uh-buh-uh-buh" nonstop to assert its will.
"The kid's pretty lively."
Vengeance said, and Enkrid smiled while looking at the child.
If someone later asked what he drew his sword for, he would answer without hesitation: today.
The stew was warm, the child laughed a lot, Vengeance treated him with friendliness, and Vengeance's wife recalled the past, said it was a waste, and teased her husband.
The time when she'd once kept Enkrid in her heart had become material for jokes now.
It was a moment beyond cozy, to the point his whole body turned languid. With the crackling fireplace as the backdrop, fleeting stories went back and forth. Enkrid ate his fill, got up, and went out. Outside the door, a chilly wind made him forget the fireplace's warmth in an instant.
Outside was still winter. A cold, cruel wind was blowing.
"I waited. Enki."
Facing that bitter wind, the witch with black hair called to him.