Chapter 747 - Breathing Resolve Into It
Enkrid acknowledged that the Ferryman's words were out of the ordinary.
But wasn't it almost like he was giving us a shove, telling us not to waste time basking in the present?
Or maybe he was telling us to use our rest to gather our strength?
'Or is he saying we should finally deal with what we've been putting off?'
The Ferryman's point was valid, but Enkrid interpreted it in his own way. He came to a decision.
'Let's take down the Beelrog.'
The hope of the city Oara still lingered, etched in his heart.
Then, it was as if the Ferryman's phantom leapt out and shouted at him—of course, it wasn't real.
He was just picturing the sort of reaction he'd expect.
"You lunatic. I said live in the moment, not charge off and fight," he imagined the Ferryman snapping.
Honestly, the real Ferryman probably wouldn't respond much differently.
Enkrid showed his resolve by the campfire.
He wasn't leaving just yet, but he would soon.
Crackle, crackle.
By the firelight, Enkrid's determination blazed all the brighter.
Just as he once said he would become a Knight one day, now he declared—he would defeat the Beelrog.
It didn't sound unrealistic.
Every step he'd taken so far bore witness to the person he was now.
Stars glittered in the night sky, the fire burned bright, insects chirped, and moths flitted about as if flaunting the vibrant energy of early summer.
Luagarne's tongue darted out, snatching up one of the bugs.
"There's a special taste to eating things raw."
If grass and fruit made up the staple diet of fairies, then bugs rich in nutrients were said to be a Frog's mainstay.
'Luagarne talks about it so much, it pops into my head automatically.'
Under the starlight and moonlight, the group gathered around the campfire came into view. Each of them was in their own world. They'd sat wherever they wanted, in the spots they liked best.
Rem leaned back at an angle, idly spinning his axe between his fingers.
Ragna hugged Sunrise, still sheathed, to his chest.
They were friends and comrades who had no intention at all of simply settling into the peaceful vibes of this early summer night.
The campsite set up on one side of the Madmen Knights' Dueling Hall was as quiet as ever.
Since the usual chatterboxes had all fallen silent, a calm, tranquil atmosphere lingered.
Rem spun his axe and chuckled quietly, while Ragna hugged his sword and kept yawning.
Maybe he planned to go back to being lazy, since they weren't leaving just yet.
As Audin straightened his posture in silent devotion, Teresa began humming a little tune.
Ropord and Fel met eyes and exchanged a quiet nod.
At the center of it all, Shinar was smiling.
Since the hour of sunset had passed into night, the moonlight lingered on her face.
Her otherworldly beauty could sway the very air around her with just a smile.
Capturing Enkrid's gaze, Shinar began to recite, her words fluttering like poetry, like song.
"If you leave me behind again, the City of Fairies will show you quite the spectacle as it follows in your wake."
Through the tranquil, warm air, it felt as if a dagger made of ice flew by.
A chill ran down his spine.
Not even when the legendary alchemist he'd met in Yohan doubled his voice had Enkrid felt this kind of danger that made the hairs on his arms stand on end.
'This is…'
A threat.
And fairies—while they might twist the truth—simply don't know how to lie.
Her tone was beautiful, but a threat was a threat.
Ropord blinked a couple of times, thrown off for a moment by the mismatch between her gentle delivery and her words.
Still, he composed himself quickly and pushed past that cognitive dissonance to focus on the point.
"…The city?"
"Thanks to our migration experience, the city of Kirheis has now gained the knack for detaching and moving a part of itself."
Shinar spoke casually, though her voice carried a subtle hint of pride.
Even as Enkrid caught the faint complexity of her feelings, he failed to see why this was something to be proud of.
Regardless, if he ignored Shinar's words now, there was a very good chance the forest city, with the Woodguards at its head, would actually break off and chase after him.
"Let's go together"
Enkrid answered.
Shinar nodded her head.
Then, Esther, who had been in leopard form, performed a flip in midair and transformed into a human.
Even seeing it right before his eyes, it was hard to believe.
Her fur stretched out into a robe, white skin appearing briefly before being quickly covered by the robe.
It was a sight only visible from Enkrid's vantage point; to everyone else, it probably just looked as if the fur on her back turned into a robe.
"Sorry. I'm too busy to go with you."
"That's fine."
Krais had told him to give some advance notice if he was going to do something.
That's why they'd called everyone together to say it in person, but from the start, Enkrid had never intended this to be a group effort.
Part of him simply wanted to show his resolve to everyone, and partly, he just did as he pleased.
'At most, three?'
He could guide the way himself, so including the job of tracking down Beelrog, there weren't many people needed.
In the midst of this, his eyes met Krais's.
"You're not actually thinking of taking me with you, are you?"
'You're not that crazy, right?'
'Right?'
Krais asked with his eyes, and Enkrid, annoyed, tossed the jerky he was holding.
It was just jerky, but the guy who threw it was a knight. The flying piece of jerky smacked Krais right on the forehead.
"Argh!"
As Krais cried out and asked if it had put a hole in his forehead, Rem tossed his axe into the air and spoke up.
"I'm coming too."
If you had to sum up Rem these days, he was utterly frustrated.
If Rem's assault unit were here, they would probably be bowing their heads at Enkrid's feet, burning with impatience, begging to be taken along. Please, let us go with you.
"If I don't use Sunrise regularly, it burns its master."
Ragna, not being a fairy, was a habitual liar.
"Try to be half the man your father was."
Enkrid called him out on it, but Ragna didn't even pretend to listen.
Whatever excuse he could come up with, he was going to tag along.
"Is this your first mission as a knight?"
At that, Fel joined in.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Facing a Beelrog, no less."
Ropord chimed in as well.
"Brother, my place is always by your side. And if our master seems to be keeping an eye on you now, how could I not go too?"
Audin spoke up with something that was practically a sermon, and Teresa stopped humming and said,
"I'll go with you too."
Hearing everyone's remarks, Luagarne puffed out her cheeks and smiled.
She didn't even need to say it—The Frog was going to follow no matter what.
Last time, she claimed she stayed behind to revisit his own skills and help Teresa.
And she'd said that although she regretted it, she also enjoyed it.
"When you come back after a long time and see that something's changed, it's amazing and funny, and it's fun to dig into how it happened. But honestly, watching the whole process right up close is the most exciting of all."
Frogs are a race that lives for their desires.
Ignore those desires, and you wouldn't even be a Frog anymore.
Of course, each Frog's desires are a little different.
For example, Maelun, who is now considered a key officer in the Gilpin Guild, practiced and trained, but he wasn't interested in the kind of harsh, bone-grinding self-discipline others pursued.
For him, it was about just the right amount of training, just the right amount of sparring, and just enough sense of accomplishment.
That's what the Frog named Maelun was after, and Enkrid respected that.
Luagarne, however, was different.
She endured—and even surpassed—harsh trials out of a single desire: to stay by Enkrid's side and watch over him.
She never shied away from grueling training or intense practice.
Enkrid knew as much, having already realized how much her skills had improved after sparring with her not long ago.
'To a Frog, the idea of knighthood doesn't exist'
Even so, there's a reason they're called a naturally gifted warrior race.
Frogs have no limits.
This was a theory Luagarne had recently established.
If an ordinary Frog can peel away just one layer of their limits, it's like stepping into a whole new world.
That's how, by discarding old, fixed ideas from the past, they set foot in a different reality.
"Maybe that's the difference between me and those who showed extraordinary abilities," Luagarne said, and her pale cheeks stuck in my memory.
In any case, she was definitely coming along as well.
Looking around, I realized that everyone here was planning to follow.
I hadn't expected that.
"The Border Guard's standing army is strong. Even without a knight order, we won't collapse so easily. There aren't any major threats at the moment, either. Even if the Empire makes a move, Yohan is basically on our side now, so I believe we can counter the threat from the Empire to some extent,"
Abnaior said, as clearly as ever, analyzing the current situation.
"Still, you never know. What if some hidden cultist suddenly shows up with knight-level forces?" Krais replied.
"If we're talking possibilities, anything can happen in this world. Just remember everything we've scattered around us so far, Krais. We set up the Safe Road centered around the Border Guard," Abnaior said.
This also meant that they were able to gather every rumor or story spreading through the area by means of the Safe Road.
In fact, the Gilpin Guild had now become an Information Hub set up outside the Border Guard.
They could pick up everything from the most trivial rumors spreading throughout the city to the recent troublesome incidents in Naurilia.
After exchanging a few more words, the two finally decided that everyone, including Enkrid, could leave.
If Krais was vulnerable to anxiety, Abnaior could fall into the trap of certainty.
With the two of them together, though, there were no gaps to exploit.
Enkrid nodded.
He figured, what's the harm in going together?
As soon as the traveling party was decided, he remembered the demon who had faced Oara.
A being born to fight, wielding a sword and whip engulfed in flames.
Just thinking about it sent a chill of excitement up from his toes.
Knight Oara had staked her life to destroy that fragment.
But what Enkrid wanted to see wasn't just a fragment—he wanted to face the real thing.
It would be a lie to say he wasn't looking forward to it.
Rem glanced at Enkrid and remarked,
"There it is again, that weird grin."
Krais tilted his head.
"The Beelrog's nickname is War God? Isn't that a bit off? It'd fit the Commander better, don't you think?"
Shinar, still smiling as usual, simply said what he wanted to say.
"If everyone didn't tag along, the two of us could've gone by ourselves and had some peace and quiet."
***
That night passed.
Enkrid planned to leave within two days at most.
At least, that was the plan.
That is, until Aetri called for him the next day.
When he headed to Aetri's forge, he found the madman gripping his hammer with shining eyes.
"I've received some good materials."
That was the first thing he said after calling Enkrid over, without so much as a greeting.
"...true silver?"
"I already used that before and it failed. What I just got is a rare metal I've never seen before."
When Enkrid asked where it came from:
"It was brought in by the Lockfreed Merchant Company."
The color of the refined iron ingot looked normal, but Enkrid had a hunch what it was.
It was the same material as the metal he'd tucked away in his own possession.
However, unlike before, it didn't emit that refreshing energy.
Rather than that—
'It's been mixed.'
He just knew it by instinct.
To put it bluntly, it had been altered—for better or worse, something else had been added to it.
"No matter what I tried, nothing came to mind except the shape, but as soon as I saw this, I hammered away at it for three days straight. I got a feeling for it."
He looked like a young man falling in love for the first time, or a child tasting something sweet for the very first time.
A faint smile lit up his face.
Aetri, excited, started rambling things Enkrid couldn't understand, then straightened his back, gripped his hammer, and sat down, locking eyes with him.
Enkrid could see in those eyes a determination as strong as any knight's.
Then Aetri spoke.
"Please imbue it with your will."
An engraved weapon is one that bears a knight's will.
That's why it's called 'engraving.'
"I will make your weapon."
At those words, Enkrid nodded and took a seat across from Aetri.
"You've kept your promise."
Aetri responded quietly.
"Of course."
Without Enkrid noticing, Aetri's smile faded, and he took up his hammer again.
As he worked the bellows and stoked the forge, a wave of heat filled the smithy.
An assistant prepared various tools and stepped out, and even the Frog, who made accessories, left the area.
"Four hours a day is enough."
That was the time Enkrid needed to stay in the smithy—and the time he'd have to continually pour his will into the process.
The sword was not forged in a single day.
That was why Enkrid had postponed his plans.
He quickly realized where the metal had come from.
When he'd ordered food to be delivered to the Village of Hermits, they had sent something precious with it.
He hadn't expected anything in return for saving them, so he found it strange—almost wondrous—that things had come full circle like this.
For four hours each day, he watched the fire-kissed hammer strike the metal.
As he sat there, silently observing, memories of his past steadily surfaced.
When had it all begun?
"Enkrid, you are a genius."
That was what a third-rate mercenary had said to him—the moment everything started.
"Why do you even want to become a knight?"
There was a question he'd heard more times than he could count.
"Just give up already."
"Quit."
There had been a time when everyone around him had urged him to abandon his path.
"What difference do you think you'll make by going?"
There was a time when he'd desperately fought to save someone.
"Damn it."
He had even cursed the heavens for failing to save them.
He'd always put on a calm face, but inside, his heart would sometimes boil over.
Bang-
Amidst it all, the sound of hammering echoed over and over again.
With each strike, memories of the past tangled together, mixed, then drifted apart.
Enkrid knew how to control Will exactly as he intended.
Compared to some knights who hadn't properly completed their training, he was on another level.
Having learned restraint and explosiveness in Yohan, he wielded Will with complete mastery.
On top of that, he could even manage Will while it remained untempered.
"I'm still inexperienced, so you'll need to show me several times."
Aetri insisted, as if it were only natural.
Enkrid obliged.
So, after spending four hours each day with Aetri, Enkrid would worry for a moment about what would happen after he was gone—and that concern guided him to the training ground.
Suddenly, he found himself with extra time and the urge to get involved in training.
Of course, when Rem saw Enkrid like that, he would remark, "Are you just looking for someone to torment?"
Clemen, who had fallen, greeted him with a smile.
Officially, she was the Moreover, Clemens also served as the Unofficial Royal Guard Training Instructor.
Even so, he could see what she was still lacking.
Enkrid could clearly tell what she needed right now.
***
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