บท 71: Chapter 236 - The Path to Becoming a Knight
Enkrid's "will" was neither complete nor perfect.
It was a fragment, a shard, and just a part of something larger.
Despite this, it was still his "will."
This was why Marcus was shocked, and why the fairy squad leader, who had briefly left for business or perhaps leave, returned almost immediately.
She hadn't denied that she had come to enjoy the view while soaking in the bath.
"It's quite nice," she said, which was an implicit acknowledgment.
"Anything else to say?"
"No."
Her visit was simply to confirm if Enkrid had truly withstood the pressure, that was all.
It was a strange thing, Enkrid thought.
He knew what he had done was impressive, but was it really worth all this fuss?
Moreover, Enkrid himself knew it was just a piece, just a part.
Of course, that in itself brought both joy and satisfaction.
No other feeling could give him as much fulfillment as this.
While feeling fulfilled, he also felt the urge to continue.
"If this is just the beginning..."
He could go even further.
It was like a torn dream, stitched together and becoming something magical, something whole.
"No, it really is that," he thought, scratching his cheek.
The curse of repeating today had mended the torn dream into something complete.
Enkrid didn't deny it.
"Well then."
The fairy squad leader turned and walked out, braving the pouring rain.
Enkrid, watching her leave, thought to himself how strange her personality was as well.
Even the swiftest fairy couldn't avoid the rain, and she was drenched to the bone.
As she walked, Shinar checked the wound on her side.
"It hurts."
She would need to apply some medicine and rest for a day or two. It wasn't unbearable, but she could still move without issue.
As Shinar treated her wound, her thoughts drifted to Enkrid.
She remembered his blue eyes, staring at her in the bath.
She had liked his face from the start.
So, had she targeted him from the beginning? No, he had merely been the subject of some teasing at first.
Now, somehow, he had become a figure of intrigue.
"I'd like to pull him in..."
But she knew it wouldn't be as easy as it sounded.
She had just returned after handling some tasks for the guild related to regaining the kingdom's language, tasks that she believed would be beneficial for her future.
If they hadn't been useful, she would have stayed here.
And yet, after returning, the news had been that Enkrid had collapsed.
No, to be more accurate, he had passed out, but now he had endured and resisted without fainting.
Those who didn't know wouldn't understand, but those who did would catch on immediately.
'Pressure.'
'Will' could only be resisted by a force of equal measure. Anything less than that couldn't fight back.
And if someone managed to endure it...
'Will.'
Was that man, the one who had just been the subject of a joke, really able to withstand it?
Shinar couldn't help but feel alarmed, so much so that she didn't even attend to her wound.
It wasn't surprising. She too had eyes and could recognize the situation.
Even if lightning struck repeatedly, it was impossible.
And yet, against hardship or crisis, he overcame and stood up again, no matter what stood before him.
How could that not be thrilling?
'I want to show him to the idiots back home.'
She had half a mind to take him to her parents, and it was half-serious.
Fairy humor often hid deeper intentions, after all.
"It's fun."
Shinar muttered to herself, her red lips moving.
The rain poured down relentlessly.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Without realizing it, Shinar smiled.
The work she had been doing had been tiresome, painful, and seemingly endless, but she had rarely smiled while doing it.
But now, because of some man, she couldn't help but smile.
She thought it was a bit ridiculous but was satisfied with the feeling.
Was that why she hadn't left yet, even though she should have?
'Maybe I'm making excuses for myself?'
Perhaps.
Shinar continued walking, unfazed by the pain or the tasks she had yet to complete.
She was simply inwardly congratulating Enkrid on what he had achieved.
For now, that was enough.
"I think she's hurt."
Enkrid also had keen senses. His heightened sense of smell caught the faint scent of blood among the steam.
He could tell by sight too.
If he had noticed, others would have surely noticed as well.
"Seems like you've taken quite a fall," Rem said.
"What are you talking about?"
"Boss... if you've got something like that, you're truly a master of the arts."
Enkrid had just gotten out of the bath, rinsing off the sweat and other things.
At that moment, Rem spoke while looking at Enkrid's legs.
"You crazy bastard."
"What?"
Enkrid responded to him, and Rem shook his head.
"I lost. Can't beat that."
Really, Enkrid was not a normal person.
Enkrid kicked Rem's side, and Rem naturally avoided it.
"Even if it hurts, you need to come to see it. Truly a madman."
Ragna added his own commentary.
"Definitely the kind of face to have a salon or something with me, haha, especially for that."
Krais also made a remark while looking at Enkrid's legs.
"Watch out, it's the captain."
Enkrid warned them to be careful. Marcus, laughing next to them, added:
"I envy that."
"What is it that you envy?"
Everyone was heading back after they had all bathed.
"You must've been through quite a rough job. I can see the fairy's injury. But it doesn't seem too serious, so you can stop worrying about your fiancée," Jaxen said as they were nearing the inn.
Enkrid heard what was said and corrected him immediately.
"Not my fiancée."
"Yes," Jaxen replied absently, opening the inn door. Dunbakel and Esther's gazes turned toward them.
And, somehow, Finn had returned as well.
"Is it true?" Finn asked. Enkrid realized that the question was directed at him.
Was the "Will" true? Had he truly withstood the pressure? This was probably a question about the truth of the rumors.
"Just luck," Enkrid answered, having nothing else to say.
"Wow," Finn exclaimed in surprise.
"Does that mean you're actually going to become a knight?" Finn mused. He had thought Enkrid was not an ordinary person from the start, but this—"Will" now?
Enkrid didn't respond to Finn's surprise.
Becoming a knight was a dream, something he was moving toward. Whether or not he achieved it had never crossed his mind.
He would keep moving forward, regardless.
That forward movement had now borne fruit.
As they settled down for the night, exchanging casual jokes, with Rem teasing Dunbakel and Enkrid asking Finn where he'd been, Finn muttered something about hanging around language-obsessed weirdos.
He shook his head, unable to elaborate, and no one seemed particularly interested in hearing more.
Enkrid had asked, but he wasn't eager for the details.
"Why ask if you don't care? And why aren't you interested in me? There's a beautiful woman in this room, you know?" Finn said, his hair a bit disheveled, but her face not unattractive.
Thanks to the repetition of today, Enkrid no longer remembered her face clearly, but compared to the woman bandit with the black sword, Finn was definitely more beautiful.
"Grrr," Esther snorted, a clear mockery.
"Even the leopard's mocking," Rem laughed as he teased, prompting Finn to curse and resent the pouring rain.
"Damn rain."
With that, Finn made a move to leave to bathe, but as he reached for the door, Jaxen caught her wrist, and Esther had approached Finn's feet.
Rem, Ragna, Audin, and even Enkrid turned their attention to him.
Dunbakel seemed to sense something as well, tensing and baring her fangs.
"…What is it?" Krais, who hadn't noticed anything, asked.
"Guest," Enkrid answered.
This was the Border Guard's barracks, not a tavern in town, and it wasn't a place where unexpected guests could easily arrive.
But someone was here as a guest?
"Can we have a moment?" a voice suddenly called from outside as everyone stared at the door. Enkrid stepped forward.
"My guest," he said.
Opening the door, they found a middle-aged man soaked from the rain, looking like a drowned rat.
He was a rapier-wielding swordsman, once a guard for the Rokfried Guild. He was the same man who had tried to intimidate Enkrid earlier that day, only to be rejected, leaving him stunned and repeating the word "uh" over and over.
"Looks like you've come to your senses," Rem sneered from behind. Was it a trait of his species?
The rapier swordsman ignored Rem's mocking comment.
"I wanted to see you once more, so I took the liberty to come," he said, his words revealing how much the events of earlier had shocked him.
His current state made it obvious. His face was pale, his eyes were dark from fatigue, and his cheeks had hollowed out in just half a day.
"Of course," Enkrid replied, not turning him away.
"Just had a bath, but you're not tired?" Krais asked practically. Enkrid shook his head slightly.
"Not at all."
If he'd been bothered by such things, he would have dropped his sword long ago.
The man before him was valuable.
He knew how to use pressure and likely had considerable skill, so Enkrid had planned to challenge him again tomorrow.
"I have business to attend to tonight. I'm sorry for the rudeness of coming here like this," the swordsman said, explaining that he had climbed over the barracks wall in the dead of night, avoiding the guards' watch.
His skills were impressive.
But more than that, Enkrid felt a small thrill at the situation.
"Another illness?" Rem muttered from behind, but the man who sought him out for a duel was still standing there.
It wasn't some useless man. The shock from the encounter had been so profound that, even though he had forgotten Edin Molsan's name, the name "Ibarn" had stuck with him.
The man before him was someone who wielded "Will," a true semi-knight, in some senses.
The rain still hadn't stopped. The downpour had lightened, but the fact that they were getting wet hadn't changed.
Though Enkrid had just bathed, he didn't mind getting soaked again. What was wrong with getting a little wet?
When he stood in front of the practice field, the ground was slick.
The dirt surface was usually forgiving when someone fell, reducing the risk of injury, but on a rainy day, it made it easier for one to slip.
Of course, for the two standing before each other, the slippery ground wasn't much of an issue.
"I'll go alone," Enkrid said as he stepped forward.
Though everyone generally agreed, Jaxen, being human, was inherently suspicious.
'If anything goes wrong…'
He moved cautiously behind. This was the reason why Jaxen had disappeared from the inn.
Noticing this, Rem stayed still, and so did the others.
Esther, too, sensed a subtle change in Enkrid's demeanor.
'What's this?'
Though she was skilled with weapons herself, it was unusual for her to sense anything so acutely unless it was related to magical forces.
Had the power that had obscured her curse faded?
No, that wasn't it.
Had his attitude changed? No, he was still the same crazy man as before.
But still, Esther couldn't shake the feeling that something had shifted. Even so, she wasn't about to stand out in the pouring rain to watch.
So, she closed her eyes, feeling drowsy. Recently, she had been transforming into a human several times and had honed her spellcraft with each experience.
Through those many lessons, she had learned something important about the world.
She had learned that life could change in an instant.
So, she had to always be prepared.
As a mage, preparation was second nature.
Esther rested her head on her knees. She wasn't worried about Enkrid. He wouldn't die.
So, she shut everything out, sinking into her own world.
"Since the stray cat's gone, I might as well sleep," Rem muttered.
"Oh, really. Jaxen disappeared so quickly, huh?" Krais responded, noticing after the fact.
Not long after everyone had agreed to spend their time in their own way, Rem, feeling a bit bored, stood up.
"It's kind of boring, isn't it?" he said.
That seemed to echo everyone's feelings.
They all decided to go and see what was happening, even if it meant making up an excuse.
Standing in the practice field, Enkrid once again rejected the pressure from his opponent.
"Truly," the rapier swordsman said, still shocked. Of course, it was understandable. Who could have expected someone to return and fully grasp the power of "Will"?
But at that moment, blood began trickling from the left side of Enkrid's nose.
'It's easier than a sword fight.'
Still, it wasn't something he could use recklessly. But he did sense something.
"The more you use it, the more you'll hone it," the rapier swordsman said, seeing the blood mixed with the rain.
Enkrid felt the same way.
The more he used it, the more his body had begun to adapt to it.
The two of them stood, staring at each other. The rain intensified, and the rapier swordsman locked eyes with Enkrid before speaking.
"I cannot reveal my affiliation, but I am a member of a knightly order. That's all I can say for now. But, perhaps, would you consider joining me?"
The sound of the pouring rain filled the space between them.
Thunder rumbled, and a flash of lightning illuminated the sky, lighting up the world in bright white light.
The rapier swordsman's eyes met Enkrid's.
'This isn't about a duel.'
The man hadn't come to fight but to measure Enkrid's strength and potentially win his loyalty.
He had mentioned that he belonged to a recognized knightly order.
Which meant that he was offering Enkrid a path forward.
"This is an invitation to join the knightly order. I will show you the way to become a knight."
It was an opportunity to walk the path toward knighthood.
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