CHAPTER 46

Encrid was told that the healer came by because he had stab wounds and puncture wounds all over your body.

"Fortunately, there won't be any permanent disabilities. You're lucky, Squad Leader."

Big Eyes said with a smile.

"It sounds like you wanted me to get hurt."

"No, I'm worried. You should be honored. You're the first man I've worried about."

"Alright."

Encrid had thought they would retreat soon, but the forces were still facing off against the Duchy of Aspen.

Will there be more battles?

Even if there are, it wouldn't be a concern for Encrid.

It was impossible to stand on the battlefield again with a body like this.

Maybe if it was just watching.

Big Eyes had left an apple, which he was munching on, when Rem came in.

The whole squad was out, so there was no one in the tent.

Rem sat next to Encrid, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands.

With his lips tightly closed, Rem stared intently at Encrid.

"If you're thinking of confessing, let me reject you first."

"Don't you know I like women? If you and a woman fell into the water, I'd save the woman. Provided she's pretty, of course."

"It's fine. I'm a good swimmer. I can save myself."

"Then save me later. Come to think of it, I'm not a good swimmer."

So what was this idiot thinking when he said he'd save a woman who fell into the water?

Encrid thought it was typical of Rem.

"Sure, I'll throw you a rock."

It was the usual banter. Then Rem stopped talking and stared at Encrid.

His gray eyes looked steadily at Encrid, a seriousness in them that hadn't been there before.

"Do you have something to say?"

"How did you know it was sorcery?"

Huh? Encrid didn't expect this question here.

"I saw it during a scouting mission."

"Did you guess it was sorcery just from that? You seemed to know the flag was the target and ran straight for it?"

That's right. That was the target. He knew everything. But he couldn't say that he knew through repeating 'today'.

He needed a suitable excuse.

So he tried to come up with various lies and excuses, but the gray eyes staring at him were getting on his nerves.

Even if he told the truth, Rem wouldn't believe it. But should he pass it off as a lie no matter what?

Rem would see through a clumsy lie right away. He had a feeling. Encrid didn't want to treat Rem like that.

So he mixed in some truth.

"I used to live with a settler once."

That was true. Rem was from a settler background.

"I heard a lot of things from that friend."

That was also true. Rem had talked about sorcery.

"So I pondered and guessed."

This wasn't entirely true, but in a way, it was close to the truth.

Instead of pondering and guessing, he repeated today and figured it out through experience.

He could say he thought with his body instead of my mind.

At least Encrid believed that and spoke.

"It seemed like the flag was a medium for the sorcery. I saw something strange in the enemy formation before the fog appeared, and then, well, I charged."

"Hmm."

Why do people believe mixed truths and lies?

It's because the speaker is sincere. Because of the sincerity, even a perceptive person finds it hard to detect the lie.

Encrid spoke with sincerity except for the part he couldn't say.

Rem believed it.

Even if he didn't believe it completely, it wasn't something he could argue with.

"Is that so? It was impressive how you figured it out immediately."

"So what if it's sorcery?"

"I wanted to let you know not to use it carelessly."

"Really?"

Rem nodded. Encrid remembered that Rem had disappeared during the battle.

He had certainly charged with him, so Encrid thought he would come to his location, but he didn't. She was nowhere to be seen after that.

Then he returned to the unit.

"I want to ask where you went during the battle."

"Nothing special. I was curious about who raised that flag, so I went to take a look."

"...You went to take a look?"

"Had a chat with my axe."

Rem grinned and walked out of the tent.

Encrid recalled the moment when he had toppled the flag.

The sorcerer had been shaking a bell and then quickly disappeared.

At the time, he was too busy destroying the flag to pay attention.

It seemed that the sorcerer had tried to retreat alone and ran into Rem's axe.

Encrid didn't think much of it.

Rem's impulsive actions were nothing new.

In a previous battle, he had charged into the enemy lines to catch someone called the Hawk's Eyes.

Knowing this, the platoon leader had neatly excluded the troublesome squad from the main force.

Only the remaining squads were counted as part of the platoon's strength.

This time was no different.

However, there was one difference.

This time, Encrid had left the formation first.

That was unusual.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The platoon leader came to the tent.

"Are you visiting the sick? Are we not returning yet?"

Encrid asked abruptly. The platoon leader shrugged.

"There's no order from above yet. Everyone is on standby."

Winter is coming soon. It's a difficult season for battles. Though they wouldn't completely abandon this position, since this battalion had made significant efforts in the current battle, they would likely rotate out.

So it was strange that there were no return orders yet.

The platoon leader scratched his head while looking at Encrid.

"You."

"Yes."

The platoon leader hadn't thought much of Encrid's departure at the time.

He just thought Encrid had finally gone mad.

Then, barely surviving the shouts to get down and hold up their shields.

In the fog, at the moment he thought they were all done for, the fog suddenly cleared.

They turned around and fought the enemy.

Later, he heard that the fog was sorcery and that sorcery has a medium that must be destroyed or the sorcerer must be killed to break the spell. He heard all of this from the Company Commander's mouth.

"Who could have done that?"

The Company Commander had asked, staring intently with her green eyes.

At that moment, the platoon leader thought of Encrid's name.

At least he figured that squad had done something.

After all, hadn't Encrid rushed out just before the fog appeared?

And that shout sounded like Encrid's voice.

The platoon leader organized his thoughts and spoke up.

"They say that fog was sorcery."

"Oh, yes, that's right. I reported that."

Indeed. It was Encrid, dispatched on a scouting mission, who had reported it.

"Hmm. Right."

The platoon leader looked at Encrid for a moment, then told him to take care and got up.

'It's absurd.'

He knew Encrid's skills. He wasn't the lowest rank, but at best, he might be a village militia leader.

While there were some formidable members in his squad, Encrid wasn't one of them.

The medium for sorcery would have been deep within the enemy lines, unless the enemy were complete idiots.

That would mean someone had to infiltrate that far.

'Through that dense fog?'

Facing a barrage of quarrels and arrows?

The Troublesome Squad Leader?

Not a chance.

Just in case, he had asked Rem if he had done it, but he said no.

And Ragna? No way. When the fog cleared, he was already fighting by his side.

So, maybe the remaining squad members? But they were also part of the rear platoon formation, fighting.

'Could there have been reinforcements from the main unit?'

The platoon leader thought as he stepped outside the tent. The sudden drop in temperature brought a chill.

"Are we really not retreating?"

He missed the city's air. He longed to see his home, his wife, and his daughter.

He wanted to roast potatoes over a fire and sleep soundly.

* * *

After lying down for two days, Encrid was able to get up and move around.

"Don't push yourself," Big Eyes cautioned, but Encrid felt better than expected.

"Has that beast left?" Big Eyes asked. Encrid, who was sitting up in bed, nodded and looked around.

"Seems so. I don't see it."

"It seemed to follow you well, Squad Leader."

"Weren't you scared?"

"Of course, I was. It's a beast, after all. A beast."

"It still seemed like a cub."

"Do you know the hunter Enri, who went on scouting with you? They said he went out with you."

Big Eyes asked suddenly. Encrid nodded, thinking that Big Eyes really had connections.

How does he even know Enri?

"He's a plains hunter, you know."

Encrid knew this well. He had learned a lot from Enri.

"Enri said there are many beasts on the Green Pearl Plains, and the top one is the Blue-Eyed Black Panther, also called the Lake Panther."

Big Eyes seemed excited, as if this story piqued his interest.

"They say its eyes are like lakes, hence the name Lake Panther. Anyway, they hunt gazelles and nus, but they also feed on some energy from the earth. It's a mystical creature. Just one of its claws is worth over ten thousand Krona."

Krona was the currency made by the Empire.

One copper coin was equivalent to one Krona.

A hundred copper coins made a silver coin, and a hundred silver coins made a gold coin.

So, ten thousand Krona was equivalent to a gold coin.

One claw worth a gold coin.

That was more than Encrid's salary.

"That claw can slit a person's throat. Think you can pull it out?"

"...No, I don't have that kind of greed."

Big Eyes waved his hands dismissively. As Encrid moved around a bit, sweat formed on his forehead. There was a dull pain, but it was manageable.

After facing death so often, he could gauge the state of his wounds just by the level of pain.

"If you push yourself, it'll get worse."

Jaxon watched all this and spoke. Everyone else seemed to be gone, leaving only Big Eyes and Jaxon.

"I'm still adjusting," Encrid responded vaguely and continued moving his body, recalling the moment when he dodged the mustached man's strike.

How has that been possible?

Could he do it again if he tried?

He wasn't sure. Maybe not?

Or maybe, with a few more attempts, he could do it again.

As he was lost in thought, Rem and Ragna returned.

"Keep your distance. Laziness is contagious," Rem said provocatively.

"Why do you have a death wish every day?" Ragna shot back twice as harshly. Before the argument could escalate, Encrid spoke first.

"I have a question. About swordsmanship."

Both of them turned their attention to him.

"Go ahead," Rem said.

"If it's about swordsmanship, I should answer," Ragna added.

As they glared at each other again, Encrid quickly explained. There wasn't anything complicated. He had seen the enemy do it a few times, and it became ingrained in him unconsciously.

That was the gist of it. He explained as calmly as he could.

"Isn't that something that comes with practice?" Rem replied first.

"That's an interesting experience. I don't think it's special since I've been that way since childhood, but in your case, Squad Leader, it's like a blessing from the gods. The goddess of luck stumbled and spilled gold coins," Ragna added.

Neither comment was particularly helpful.

As they bickered with Encrid caught in the middle, more detailed explanations emerged.

"Sometimes, in the heat of battle, your vision can clear. Usually, this happens only after countless real-life combat experiences. If you've achieved a Focus Point, the chances are higher," Rem said.

"The Heart of the Beast has stuck with you a bit, huh? You've gained the ability to look your opponent in the eye without blinking. If you had a chance to see your opponent's sword move up close, you might have noticed the way they wield the sword or distribute their strength. Then your body might react on its own, but that's only if you have a solid foundation," Ragna added.

"A solid foundation, yes, but you'd also need to have gone through hundreds of rough combats."

Listening to them, Encrid came to a conclusion.

"I see."

For some, today is just another day.

For Encrid, it was one of the many fiercely intense days he had endured hundreds of times.

It wasn't just another day given up and passed.

It was a day where every moment was spent desperately and with utmost effort.

The countless hours of enduring and enjoying, had brought him fortune.

In truth, it wasn't even luck.

It was inevitable.

The reward for enduring cuts, stabs, scratches, and death in his relentless pursuit.

The foundation of all this was, of course, the boldness given by The Heart of the Beast and the Focus Point.

'I'm grateful, after all.'

So, it was thanks to these two. Moreover, hadn't Ragna completely revamped the basics of his swordsmanship?

The battle with Mitch Hurrier, the chase with the mustached man, today on the battlefield.

These complex thoughts filled his mind and stirred a single desire.

He wanted to hold the sword again. He wanted to swing it. He wanted to see how well the last technique had stuck with him.

"I want to spar."

When Encrid muttered this, both Rem and Ragna shook their heads.

Rem added a comment.

"I've been told since I was young that I wasn't normal, that I was crazy. But from what I see, Squad Leader, you're crazier than I am."

Of all people, he didn't want to hear that from Rem.

He constantly tormented nearby soldiers.

He even tried to decapitate his superiors.

To be considered as crazy, or even crazier, than this madman?

"Today, I have to agree with that. How can you think of sparring in your condition?"

Wanting to spar doesn't mean people should treat him this way.

Encrid felt very wronged.

"Sparring is too much in your condition, Squad Leader."

The flap serving as the tent's door was pushed aside, and a voice was heard.

Looking up, he saw the Fairy Company Commander.

As Encrid tried to rise, the Company Commander stepped forward.

"So, it was you."

Before he could salute, the Company Commander asked abruptly.

Encrid, seeing the Fairy's cold, sharp, and beautiful appearance like a sculpture made by an artist, opened his mouth but first wet his dry lips with his tongue.

In fact, he had expected the question to come from here rather than from Rem.

How did you break the sorcery?

That was a question that the command would naturally ask.