Chapter 342

“You bastard.”

Rem gritted his teeth. Ragna stood in front of him, showing a composed attitude.

He pulled back his chin and tilted his nose slightly upward. At the same time, he lowered his gaze gently and murmured as if reciting a poem.

“Keep moving forward.”

Move forward, in other words.

Enkrid thought that those words were spot on.

Rem was boiling with anger. He wanted to go back to where he was born and grab what he had left behind.

Even though he didn’t use a sling, he lost.

No, he couldn’t use a sling.

There were two reasons.

Despite his instincts, Rem realized it would still be difficult to win, and even if they both died together, it wouldn’t mean anything.

Since the moment they first met, he knew that Enkrid wasn’t someone he’d want to kill.

There were many out there who were just like the bastard who raped and killed passing women, living their lives shamelessly, so a fool who gets lost now and then could easily be spared.

“You really want to die, huh?”

Rem said. He spoke like that, but he didn’t actually plan to act on it.

If it came to a confrontation, he might risk death, but he knew it wasn’t the right time. Rem understood that it was still a loss.

To win, he needed to overpower his opponent with skill.

Just like what Ragna did.

Like the fool who got lost, he should have ended it without cutting off his own arm or leg, just like Ragna did.

But now, he couldn’t do it.

The opponent was Enkrid, who fought while handling the sword of Will.

The sword blade, wherever it swung, carried power.

Even if he blocked it, the sword would come at him faster than he could retreat.

The lightly aimed tip of the sword landed on his shoulder with an almost crushing force.

Even though the power behind the strike seemed skipped, it still landed with that impact.

What was the reason?

Rem could sum it all up in one word.

It was Will.

So, did that mean Ragna had become a knight?

Not exactly. But at this moment, just a little, he was in a superior state compared to Rem.

That fact made Rem frustrated, nearly maddened.

“Can you do that? If you want to die with me, go ahead and try.”

Ragna’s tone implied that he didn’t think Rem would be affected by it.

Rem understood too. If he attacked with all his might, it would be hard for him to walk away unscathed.

He would get hit, at least lose a limb.

Even so, Ragna didn’t change his composed attitude.

‘Ah, should I just beat him to death?’

Rem seriously considered it.

“I get it. Rem.”

Enkrid intervened.

He had just finished his sparring too. Well, it wasn’t even a serious duel to begin with.

Shinar had kept a teaching attitude, and Enkrid had accepted that, so it became a training spar.

It wasn’t bad, but Rem and Ragna’s fight was so captivating.

Naturally, after finishing his own spar, Enkrid observed their duel, and especially the exchange of the final blows shook Enkrid’s mental state.

After six short slicing strikes, the last was a heavy downward slash.

A longsword-style downward slash.

That was when Enkrid felt that Ragna’s sword was different from before.

As Rem blocked the vertical sword with two axes, twisting his strength to deflect it, the two axes seemed to absorb the force like cotton balls.

If Rem had a little more leeway, the outcome of the fight would have changed.

It certainly wouldn’t have ended the way it did.

But Rem couldn’t hold on. Ragna’s sword drove downward with consistent force.

It resembled a crushing sword, but it was different.

There was determination to cut, but the intent was prolonged, unlike before.

Whereas the previous cuts were brief, this one was long enough to savor like a sip of tea, infused with Will.

A crushing sword applies pressure through the preparation process, and the actual imposing moment is when the sword strikes.

It could almost be called a trick.

Since it wasn’t possible to use sheer intimidation for a long time, Ragna slowly used a crushing method.

So now, what about Ragna’s sword?

‘The sustainability is different.’

Ragna had always used cutting techniques with Will. It was about infusing Will in the moment.

But now?

It descended with steady force, the sword infused with Will.

The result came from that.

Rem could not draw out Will.

While the physical strength wasn’t far off, the mastery of it made a huge difference.

It wasn’t that Ragna was stronger, but the addition of Will put him at the next level.

‘Ah.’

Enkrid quickly grasped the situation.

The experience of receiving a knight’s sword opened his eyes.

Ragna’s new swordsmanship—light and heavy swordplay—was born from Will-based techniques.

It wasn’t just talent; it was the result of meeting the knight’s sword.

Because of his prior experiences fighting semi-knights and squires, Enkrid had already resolved to break past his limits.

What made the difference was seeing Enkrid’s steady, unwavering life.

That combined with everything.

What had been the most meaningful recently?

It was the knight.

In other words, the experience of receiving a knight’s sword brought forth the results.

Enkrid thought this and then comforted Rem.

“You’ve never fought a knight, have you?”

“…What?”

“Try fighting a knight. Things will change.”

Enkrid passed on the experience he had personally felt, words meant for Rem.

Ragna added to that.

“I see. You’ve never fought a knight. You…”

Then Rem responded.

“Grrraahhh!”

He briefly showed the human side of him turning into a beast, but he didn’t act on it.

Enkrid had expected this.

At first glance, Rem seemed like a madman who would chop someone’s head with an axe at the slightest provocation. But despite the madness, he still held onto a sense of control.

Enkrid knew that about Rem.

It was just unfortunate that he couldn’t accept the advice fully, so Enkrid kept offering it.

“You should try fighting a knight…”

“Shut up, what are you saying?”

“You haven’t seen it, but once you do, things will be different.”

“Damn, damn, damn.”

Afterward, Enkrid insisted that he hadn’t meant to tease, but Shinar, who was watching, saw things differently. She summed up the day’s events as follows.

“The devil has taken residence in my fiancé’s tongue.”

Esther, who had been watching from the side, thought similarly.

A wizard who had actually encountered a demon wouldn’t hear the whispers of a devil in this way.

“It’s for your own good.”

Especially when he spoke like that, there was a clear intent to drive someone mad.

“Stop, stop it!”

This wasn’t something commonly seen. Rem was in distress.

After hearing Enkrid’s words over and over, Rem soon had an epiphany.

“Fine. I’ll meet a knight someday.”

Seeing that, Audin quietly muttered a prayer.

“May the divine guide him. He’s gained an important realization, brother.”

“I see. I’ve gained that realization.”

Rem accepted it.

Ragna, watching Rem for a moment, then turned to Enkrid.

“I’ll admit, the leader is a few steps ahead in cruelty.”

Enkrid quickly clarified that it was a misunderstanding, but no one believed him.

Rem didn’t fully regain his senses until the night.

“If you mention knights again, I’ll turn that tongue of yours into a serpent’s.”

The threat of splitting his tongue in two didn’t seem like a joke.

It felt as though Will was infused in his words.

Sometimes, a strong will resonates deeply.

Enkrid stopped teasing and just licked his lips.

“Alright, let’s stop.”

It wasn’t often he had the chance to tease Rem, so he’d been a bit more enthusiastic.

“Damn.”

Rem eventually got angry, but then calmed down. Later, he focused on his training, requesting a spar with Ragna at least once a day or every few days.

“You lost, didn’t you? Can you fight like that? Come to the sparring grounds.”

Ragna always accepted the request and came forward.

“Let’s do it. Today, I’ll take that useless head of yours.”

Enkrid sometimes joined them, but Shinar, more than anyone, eagerly came to join him in a teacher-student sparring session.

“Are you busy these days?”

“I’m busy. King Eyeball’s been stirring things up.”

Enkrid, of course, had an ear for gossip. Kraiss had been talking a lot.

Kraiss had expanded the trade routes, laying stones and even paving paths for the rain.

“Who’s handling that?”

Enkrid asked, since he had been the one explaining it.

The Border Guard was short on hands. Wasn’t there work to be done in the Green Pearl plains?

“There are people from the settlement village who specialize in this. We paid them for their services.”

The settlement village had no extra hands, but...

“We’ve used the leader’s name.”

Kraiss said confidently. Enkrid didn’t reprimand him.

Kraiss was the best at getting things done.

What was wrong with using a name to make things happen?

“They even tried to put your name on the walls, didn’t they? This is good for both sides.”

On top of that, people from Martai had been dispatched, and passing mercenary groups had also joined in.

“The labor shortage will be filled soon. But in the meantime, could you handle the training of the new recruits?”

Just as Kraiss had promised, the shortage was quickly addressed.

Enkrid’s name had spread far and wide, and that had its effects.

At the same time, the saying that you wouldn't starve to death if you joined Border Guard quickly spread.

In a world where monsters and fiends roamed the streets, there were no vagabonds.

Instead, those who had no choice but to become thieves did exist.

They were those who had escaped from the clutches of their parasitic, dog-like lords.

Kraiss, along with these people, took in refugees from various cities.

There were many who could potentially cause trouble, but since it was not the time to be picky about who to accept, they took them in. If any trouble was caused within the city, it would be dealt with swiftly and harshly.

Everything was done under the lord’s consent, so there were no problems.

Of course, there were those who voiced concerns because of the previous worries.

“Do you not realize that accepting anyone like this will cause security issues?”

The lord's assistant spoke up.

“And what would you have us do then?”

Kraiss retorted and scolded him.

“Hmm? We’re turning this opportunity into a trade city! Making Krona a goldmine! You’d throw that away? And you still call yourself the lord’s assistant? Go to Rem and ask him to get rid of that head of yours. He's been in a bad mood lately, and he’ll cut it off real pretty. What are you waiting for?”

If anyone could argue with Rem, it was Kraiss.

Especially when it came to Krona, his verbal combat ability would increase several times over.

The assistant was speechless. He thought he heard something about Krona, but he couldn’t argue anymore.

It wasn’t like he could strike Kraiss either.

Kraiss was a madman from the unit.

Could he hit him? Should he hit him?

The assistant couldn’t.

Kraiss leaned in as if to say, "Go ahead, try."

“If you’re not going to hit me, then let’s get to work.”

He was calm and sharp enough to sit in the assistant’s position.

The decision to not strike him was obvious. Kraiss knew that, and that’s why he leaned in.

If it were anyone else, he’d have just punched them.

If the assistant was the type to throw the first punch, Kraiss wouldn’t have dared to act this way.

The assistant, after a while, obediently followed Kraiss’s orders as if they weren’t orders at all and buried himself in the work.

The lord, enjoying his renewed interest in wielding his sword, hadn’t been free from the aura of death surrounding him.

The assistant, instead, began to recite prayers before bed.

Half of it was Kraiss’s cursing, and the other half was cursing the lord.

Enkrid didn’t know all of this, but he got the gist of it.

If Kraiss worked this hard, the rest would inevitably grumble.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Kraiss knew how to drain a person’s potential to the bone.

“The new recruits’ training will be handled by Audin.”

Enkrid gave Kraiss a hand.

“Yes, brother. I’ll do it. At least I’ll make sure the little lambs can run.”

There was no better person for basic physical training than Audin.

Of course, the new recruits would cry, but it wasn’t a bad thing for them. If they went through enough suffering in training, their chances of survival on the battlefield would increase.

Instead, they raised the soldier’s pay significantly. They also hired a lot of laborers, increased the number of maids, and even formed a sewing guild by gathering women skilled in embroidery.

“Let’s use Krona.”

Kraiss completely burned through the Krona remaining in the castle.

He made sure to use up every last bit, including a single coin.

“That’s castle funds.”

The assistant gathered his last bit of strength to question him, but it was futile.

“So what? If we hoard that money, will some wheat fall from the sky? Will an apple be thrown to us? What are you trying to say?”

“I just said it.”

The assistant gave up questioning.

It was because the lord had permitted it.

His prayers before bed became considerably longer as a result.

Kraiss, known as a veteran soldier, made several changes to the organization.

He had all the equipment remade.

Standardizing the equipment was meant to increase the sense of belonging.

The missing Krona was lent by Leona.

“There’s no interest. But don’t forget to increase my authority.”

Kraiss had to leave the upper business and other tasks to the Rokfreed Trading Guild.

Leona knew that, but they were both playing the game of mutual benefit, with Leona offering the gold coins to put on a good face.

This way, when it came time to give special privileges to the Rokfreed Trading Guild, it wouldn’t seem out of place.

Meanwhile, the rumor spread that joining the Border Guard's standing army meant a higher salary.

The word of mouth spread quickly, and people gathered in no time.

As fugitives began escaping from nearby territories, the lords from other places started sending petitions to the royal palace to tighten the control over their territories.

People came out from the royal palace and told them to stop. The lord, though, pretended to acknowledge it on the outside but, of course, didn’t hear a word of it.

“What, if this is how it’s going to be, shouldn’t they help when we’re being harassed?”

Kraiss sharply criticized them.

He knew very well that the royal palace couldn’t mobilize its forces at the moment.

So he did things as he pleased.

After all, once he had enough power and justification, they wouldn’t be able to say anything about it.

From then on, he began setting up outposts along the road, creating what looked like Border Guard landmarks.

The newly organized units were sent out.

They renamed the ten-man squad the Outpost Squad.

“Are we supposed to guard this place?”

The first squad leader showed some anxiety.

They were supposed to work day and night without guarantee that monsters and fiends wouldn’t appear.

Kraiss, as if it were obvious, provided an answer.

“We’ll give you additional allowances.”

“Still…”

“Do you want to go through more advanced training?”

“I’ll guard the outpost.”

Audin’s training felt like a gateway to hell for the new recruits.

It was a saying that anyone who wanted to die should become a soldier.

Yet, many still came to become soldiers.

The Border Guard was changing at an astonishing rate.

At the center of it all was Kraiss.

He truly got things done.

Meanwhile, Shinar also became busier.

Her unit was in the process of familiarizing itself with the newly acquired swamp area.

It was indeed a time of great busyness.

Even so, she always made time to visit Enkrid, asking him if he wasn’t busy.

“Well, you could come when I’m less busy, couldn’t you?”

Enkrid asked in return, but to Shinar, it was a baffling question.

“I’ve got a date scheduled.”

“…Ah.”

Perhaps Shinar seemed more persistent than Enkrid himself, but Enkrid’s intuition told him that the fairy wasn’t doing this just because of a date.

There was something more.

Otherwise, wouldn’t she have suggested going out into the market already? But that wasn’t it.

“When the time comes, I’ll make the request.”

That was all she said.

“Let’s have fun today, fiancé.”

Shinar unsheathed her blade.

Enkrid also drew his silver longsword.

It now fit in his hand as if it had forgotten its previous owner.

“You’re better than me now.”

While they sparred, Shinar spoke.

She was saying that Enkrid’s skill had surpassed hers.

Enkrid didn’t deny it.

He felt the same way.

As usual, the end of the duel was approaching.

Shinar stepped back and raised her chin.

Her gaze rose, locking eyes with Enkrid’s, and her lips parted.

“We can’t go on like this.”

And just after she spoke those words...