Chapter 238

The half-blood Giant stared blankly at the pouring rain.

As she wiped off the moisture and sat by the window, watching the rain pour down, Encrid’s words came to mind.

‘Tomorrow too?’

Not today, but tomorrow. Not the present, but the future.

Is it okay to live thinking about such things?

Is there no problem with that?

Such questions swirled inside her.

As a cultist, a member of the Sacred Cult of the Demon Realm, her duty was clear.

“Hey.”

So, she had to be shaken by that man’s words now. Even though her heart didn’t stir at all, she had to agree forcibly.

The man called Swift Blade leaned against her door frame and spoke.

“I was never interested in sparring from the start. Weren’t you similar?”

Swift Blade was quick-witted and had a good memory. The half-blood Giant had a history with him. Therefore, he knew her true identity. Hence the proposal.

The cult wasn’t a group that revered brute force, and if she had come this far, her purpose was clear.

“Let’s kill him. That’s what we have to do, right?”

That’s right. The half-blood Giant knew it too. Yet, her head didn’t nod easily. Her lips didn’t move. But it was something she had to do, so she nodded.

‘If you want to survive, endure. If you want to survive, kill.’

The teachings of the cult were still vivid in her mind. Until she died, she was solely a cultist, solely a warrior of the Sacred Cult of the Demon Realm.

She acted exactly as those words dictated. She agreed to Swift Blade’s proposal.

“I have a plan.”

Swift Blade took a step closer. A foul rotten smell emanated from his mouth. The contents that came out of his mouth smelled just as rotten.

Thus, the plan began.

Swift Blade wandered around the castle gate and found a soldier.

“Hey, friend!”

“Huh?”

It was raining so hard that the oiled cloak seemed pointless. It was dark all around. It was a day when visibility was naturally reduced.

Even lighting a torch under a roof didn’t help much on such a dark day.

It was natural for visibility to be limited.

Bell stepped into the light to identify the face of the person calling him.

The other person did the same.

It was a familiar face.

What was his name? Come to think of it, no one asked for names when they entered the territory.

One thing was certain, he was a guest of Encrid. A guest who used a sword and sparred while staying at the inn.

Also, he was someone Marcus had told him to keep an eye on.

“What do you need?”

Swift Blade smiled broadly. That smile was somehow irritating, but Bell didn’t say anything.

“Do you have some time?”

The guy with the dirty smile asked.

Bell was on patrol duty. He didn’t have time.

What kind of nonsense is this?

Just as he was about to reply.

Crack!

At the sudden sound, he turned his head sharply backward. A large warrior stood behind him.

The half-blood Giant warrior.

Another familiar face. Bell had watched Encrid’s sparring sessions many times.

As he confirmed the cold, hardened face of the female warrior.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to shout for an ambush or surprise attack, he felt the cold touch of a blade on his neck.

The speed was too fast to react.

“Shh.”

That was the last of Bell’s consciousness. Something hit the back of his head, and when he opened his eyes again, his hands and feet were tightly bound. ṚãƝꝊʙЕs̈

His entire body was soaked, and he wasn’t alone.

“Oh Lord in heaven.”

A prayer came from right next to him.

It was a middle-aged woman, tear-streaked, mumbling. She was the mother of a comrade who sold spiced jerky.

Not just her, there were a few other familiar faces.

“Vanessa?”

“Damn it, you’re finally awake?”

There was also the rough innkeeper. Her tone was still harsh, but her eyes were wavering, showing signs of anxiety.

Bell looked around again. His vision was blurry, but not so much that he couldn’t recognize people.

Looking around, he saw that dozens of people, including himself, were all tied up.

And then.

“If you resist, I’ll kill them one by one.”

The voice came from a distance, and Bell realized that he was in some sort of hut.

He recognized a few familiar items.

An old leather sunshade, some rotten leather pieces that smelled musty, and a fireplace that had been dead for years.

It was a hunter’s hut, abandoned outside the castle gate, in a remote area. In other words, a deserted hut.

What was going on?

Familiar faces, all tied up, were confined in the hunter’s hut.

Sunlight streamed in through the window. Bell, who was lying sideways, tensed his abs.

“Hup!”

After straightening his body, he looked out the window.

He saw the back of the man he had seen just before he fainted.

‘That bastard?’

His head was still throbbing. When he got up, he felt something sticky next to his face, indicating he had bled a bit.

He wasn’t dead, but his head was cracked.

Beyond the man’s back, he could vaguely see the shape of a person, but not clearly.

However, he instantly recognized who it was from the voice he heard.

“Well, you seem like you’re about to die too.”

It was Encrid’s voice.

Bell quickly grasped the situation.

It was a hostage situation.

At the same time, Bell wondered if it would make any difference.

It was a world of kill or be killed.

In such a world, would Encrid die for these dozens of people?

That seemed highly unlikely.

So why was this still going on?

Questions continued to swirl in Bell’s mind.

He would have to keep watching to understand what was happening.

Swift Blade’s scheme was neither extraordinary nor brilliant.

It was simple and annoying, that’s all.

“I said I’ll kill them all.”

From the first day he arrived at the Border Guard, he observed his surroundings.

He watched and understood. Here are a few things he learned.

First.

‘Damn it? They put a watchdog on me right away?’

There were eyes on him. Thanks to Krais reporting him to the higher-ups on the first day.

Because of that, Marcus assigned people to watch him.

That greatly displeased Swift Blade.

Putting that aside.

What he found out later was that Encrid had unknowingly grown close to the people around him.

Even if he took them hostage and demanded Encrid’s life, he would probably just snort in derision.

A hostage must hold enough value to the other party to be meaningful.

‘They’re not family, nor lovers.’

It’s not like they are hidden children or anything.

Just acquaintances. That’s all.

“I’m not asking for much. Just that much. Move everyone back and stay here alone.”

That’s why Swift Blade proposed conditions that the other party could accept.

Honestly, he believed that if he fought alongside that crazy half-blood Giant, they could kill Encrid.

What’s the problem?

‘Those bastards, right?’

From the guy snickering while stroking his axe, to the bear-like man who seemed two heads taller than him, to the quiet one who wouldn’t be surprised if he started swinging a sword at any moment.

“Especially you, don’t disappear. If I can’t see you, I’ll kill this woman right away.”

He was speaking to Jaxon.

Swift Blade already had a villager in his arms. She was the woman who made marmalade. A sharp knife was pressed against her neck.

A drop of blood trickled down.

Encrid didn’t remember her name.

But Krais did.

“If you even touch a hair on Jurie’s finger, you won’t die peacefully.”

Krais was rarely serious.

Since she made excellent marmalade with those hands, her fingertips must be especially important.

Jurie was pale and unable to speak a word.

Frozen as if she had been dipped in wax, she was dragged around by Swift Blade’s rough grip.

Even watching this, Encrid didn’t show any urgency. This made Swift Blade’s smile even wider.

‘That bastard’s eyes are so annoying.’

If things go as he wants, he’ll gouge out those eyes first.

“Is what I’m asking difficult? No, right? If you’re not confident… well, that’s a different story.”

It was still a crude provocation. Swift Blade’s condition was simple.

Move the people back. Leave only Encrid. And then?

“If you can take us both down one by one, it’s over, right?”

If he did that, he’d supposedly release the hostages. It was clearly nonsense, but he wasn’t asking Encrid to die or to cut off an arm.

If he didn’t agree, Swift Blade would kill people without hesitation. It was an ambiguous situation.

Can’t you at least meet this condition?

‘That’s what he’s aiming for.’

Logically, it made no sense. He was asking Encrid to face two enemies after moving his allies back.

What if both of them attacked to kill him?

‘Then, can he handle the aftermath?’

What if he got seriously injured? Even if they moved back, Rem and the others wouldn’t just sit quietly.

They’d pursue them immediately. Did Swift Blade have another plan?

How many years had he survived by outsmarting others with less skill?

In terms of intuition, Encrid was second to none.

He read Swift Blade’s intention. Not only did he read it, but he also saw beyond it.

Beyond the five senses, his sixth sense spoke to him.

‘Besides the escape plan, there must be something hidden.’

Next to him, a half-blood Giant, clad in armor with a sword and shield, stood idly.

Handling that warrior alone was a challenge. No, it used to be a challenge.

Before, it would have been impossible, especially before mingling with Shepherd Pel.

‘Maybe it’ll work.’

She was calm and composed. Her eyes reflected the same.

Seeing Encrid’s eyes, Swift Blade’s smile deepened.

From the first time he saw him, his smile had been insufferable.

But he had let it go, wanting to glimpse the hidden skills. Encrid thought this was his responsibility.

He was about to respond in agreement.

“Bullshit!”

What a powerful voice.

“Huh? Who’s eavesdropping on my thoughts?”

Rem spouted nonsense from behind.

It was inside the abandoned hut. Bell’s shout.

If he keeps that up, he might die first? Encrid was a bit worried.

Everything had happened because of him, and he knew all these faces.

It wasn’t a battlefield, and if someone got stabbed here, it would be troubling.

So he wished they would keep their mouths shut.

Swift Blade’s face now looked less like a smile and more like a twisted mask.

Doesn’t it hurt his facial muscles to smile like that?

“Haha, insufferable brother, let’s have a conversation instead of this. The scriptures say, turn back those who are on the wrong path. So, look behind you.”

With incomprehensible words, he extended his hand, naturally guiding the attention backward. Following this, Jaxon subtly lifted his left foot. Rem let his left hand hang loose, and only Ragna yawned and watched.

“Cut the crap.”

Swift Blade didn’t fall for it.

Encrid decided. What else could he do? It didn’t seem like a life-threatening matter.

“Everyone, go back, wash your feet, and rest.”

“You’re going to do it alone?”

“I think I can handle it.”

It was something he used to say often. If he had said this before, Rem would have sarcastically mocked him.

He would have asked if he was going off to die alone.

But now?

Having sparred with him just before coming here,

‘Tsk.’

Rem swallowed his words. He had indeed improved. He was no longer someone to be underestimated. Moreover, he had awakened a part, a fragment of ‘Will’.

He was now qualified to join the only Knightly order in the Kingdom, the Red Cape Knights.

Well, joining the order required meeting various conditions.

He had even received an offer to join the order, from some naive members.

“So, what now?”

Encrid nodded toward Swift Blade, whose eyes were twisted with malice.

He sent everyone far back, to a place where they couldn’t be seen.

Swift Blade never let go of the hostage.

If it weren’t for Jurie being held, Encrid would have made a move much earlier.

From the beginning, he had a knife hidden under his hand.

He was ready to use a technique called the Tangum style.

If he threw it now, Swift Blade would use the hostage as a shield.

‘Should I kill the hostage and charge in?’

The hostage would die, but it would be a way to subdue the opponent.

Sacrificing one to cleanly resolve the situation.

That was also an option.

But then someone would die. A resident of his domain, someone he was supposed to protect, would die because of his actions.

He wouldn’t feel much guilt over it.

He had no habit of self-torment over things that had already happened.

But standing by idly while he could prevent something didn’t suit him either.

Clang.

“I never swore to protect the people of the Border Guard, but they are in my domain.”

Encrid said, drawing his sword.

“I can’t just stand by and watch.”

The rain had stopped. Under the clear blue sky, under the shining azure sky.

There stood Encrid, with his sword drawn.

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