Chapter 178 - I Shall Fall for You

"Truly, anytime, come anytime. No, you're welcome to come. No, do come. Are you married, by any chance? That's good too, good. Yes, come anytime, anytime, and you're welcome to put down roots here. My daughter's quite pretty, so you could live with her too. Hmm, that's a fine idea. Isn't it?" Repeating himself for the nineteenth time, the drunken headman turned to the person beside him. An equally drunk villager nodded over and over, scattering bits of food from his bushy beard with each bob of his head. "A fine idea. Yes, absolutely." Anyone could see he was drunk. But the headman seemed to lose his mind when he drank. Encrid had caught a glimpse of the headman's daughter before. As far as he knew, she wasn't even fifteen yet. A child. Early marriage might be customary in the west, but not in the central regions. This really was just drunken nonsense. "Hahahaha!" The headman and the man carrying a packed lunch in his beard wandered off with their arms around each other's shoulders. Encrid watched them quietly. A village that had weathered a crisis always celebrated afterward. Whether the Border Guard blacksmith was a mage or not, Encrid had tried to cut down the Cultist. Luagarne had shaken her head. Was there some reason to keep him alive? When he looked at her questioningly, she had said, ["He's already dead. His heart stopped."] The Cultist had met his end through cardiac arrest. The monsters had come to their senses and fled afterward. A few remaining ones had attacked, but Encrid hadn't needed to intervene. Arrows had whistled through the air and buried themselves in their heads. ["We won!"]

["We held them off!"] Shouts and cheers, cries of joy at surviving. And amid them, his name. ["Encriiiid!"] Already, everyone in the village knew his name and was shouting it. The voices of the people he had protected, the people who had watched his back as he fought before them. Feeling rather good about it, Encrid had flicked his sword clean and turned. Through the cheers. Through the people. It was time to return to the village just beginning to stretch itself awake. ["Long live Encrid's Wall!"] He had heard some peculiar things, too. The master builder had insisted on it, the headman had nodded his agreement, and even Deutsch Fullman, the guard captain who aspired to become a major power in this future city, had said the name was only fitting. 'Naming a wall after me.' Well, honestly, he didn't dislike it. He also thought they were probably half joking. And so came the night after they had driven off the monsters and demonic beasts. The headman brought out all the food left in the village and ate and drank with everyone. Encrid did the same. He ate, drank, and enjoyed himself. "A drink?" He accepted the drink Pin brought him and took a sip. It tasted good. It was cider, its sweetness and mild acidity mingling with the distinctive aroma of alcohol to fill his mouth with flavor. "Good, isn't it?" The speaker had a scraggly beard that looked as though rats had gnawed at it. Encrid knew neither his face nor his name. The man smiled pleasantly and asked again what he thought, so Encrid nodded. "It's good."

"My pride and joy." The man with the rat-gnawed beard puffed out his chest. Apparently, he was a brewer. "I've been saving this one, but I want you to have it." His words were rough, but the feeling behind them was not. He was expressing his gratitude. "Thanks to you." Leaving the words "we're alive" unspoken, he offered Encrid some cider. He said it was a little different from what everyone else was drinking. Encrid opened it with a pop and took a sip. 'Hmm.' It was different. The flavor, the taste, the aroma. Everything. The scent of apples brushing his nose, a rich savor that deepened the longer he tasted it, and the sweetness enveloping his tongue kept him reaching for his cup. Never in his life had he drunk anything like it. "This seems like something precious."

"I was going to open it when my daughter got married." The drink had a history of its own. Encrid asked whether he was sure he should be giving it away. "I've still got another bottle." His smile was radiant as he spoke. Ratlike beard or not, it was a truly radiant smile. Encrid could glimpse pure joy in it. "Here, you should come say hello too." The brewer soon brought his wife over. She was beautiful. They said a man with talent won a beauty, and that seemed quite true. "I'll enjoy it." Encrid gave her a glance and savored the cider. The headman, Deutsch Fullman, and many others took turns sitting beside him before moving on. They had set up a large gathering in the village center, something like a grand festival. "Let's commemorate this day every year. Shall we call it Encrid's Day?" Were they going to attach his name to everything? "What does the name matter?" Someone countered with that, and the others nodded, agreeing that was true too. They decided to commemorate this day, the start of summer, every year. Would they really? Encrid watched idly, sipping his cider. The drunken headman kept repeating himself. His wife claimed that in just two years their daughter would be a beauty who set the whole city astir. 'Not a chance, I should think.' She was a perfectly ordinary child. Too shy even to speak to Encrid. In her place, perhaps, a cheeky little boy came over and asked to serve under him. "Go beat five of Deutsch Fullman's militiamen first," Encrid told him. The boy looked deadly serious. "I shall!" Then he charged a drunken militiaman, got a knuckle to the head, and burst into tears. After trying to act grown-up, he ran away crying, looking like a little kid who probably still wet the bed. He certainly had nerve. The world was too harsh to live in without even a dream like that, so Encrid silently wished him well. "We owe it to you." Deutsch Fullman seemed able to hold a great deal of liquor. He wouldn't get drunk easily. His nose was a little red, but at least he wasn't slurring his words. He silently drained a few cups before grumbling about the brewer. "He told me he didn't have anything like this." "If you ever need Glaive, call on me. I swear it, dancing upon the blade." A mercenary's oath. A declaration that he would answer the call, no matter what. A dance upon the blade. It was an evocative salute. "Dancing upon the blade." For the first time in a very long while, Encrid returned a mercenary's salute. "Until we meet again." With that simple farewell, Deutsch stood up. Another cup of cider. A few drinks weren't enough to cloud Encrid's mind. But he didn't feel like picking up his sword and swinging it like a madman again, either. He had largely finished his Review of the fighting. ["Rest is important, brother."] Audin's words came to mind unbidden. Encrid agreed. Rest was always important. In that respect, today seemed a fine choice for the day off he might not take even once in a year. With that in mind, he ate and drank. A militiaman who had once been a skilled hunter had brought back a deer from somewhere and roasted it whole. Whoever had dressed it knew his work. The meat was tender, with almost no gamy smell, and salted just right. "Whew. Will anyone believe me when I tell them about this back home?" Pin came over, pleasantly drunk. "About what?"

"The Monster Slaughterer. The dance of a madman wielding twin swords." Pin had the makings of a Bard, though only when drunk. Giggling, she wandered elsewhere. Krais came over looking as though he'd had plenty to drink too, and poked Encrid in the side. Encrid sensed both his approach and the poke, but let him do it. "Let's go find that treasure."

"All right."

"Come on, let's go. Do you think I'm going to keep it all? I'm not. I mean it. You never believe a word I say."

"All right, let's go."

"Look, it's not even half a day's journey from here. I've already worked out how to get in. Traps? Not a problem."

"Sounds good."

"Don't you think it's time you made up your mind?" Krais's eyes blazed. Who had let him drink this much? Encrid gazed at the moon and sipped his cider. Krais blinked his large eyes a few times, then spoke. "Wait, what did you say just now?"

"Ask tomorrow's you when you sober up."

"What?"

"I mean get lost." At first, everyone had crowded around Encrid. Now, one by one, they had moved away to mingle among themselves. Watching them, he thought it was a pleasant sight. Moonlight spilled down. The air wasn't hot, and it wasn't yet the season for swarms of flying insects. Not that the northern part of the continent had many of those to begin with. Add to that delicious cider, roast venison, and the food each household brought out as its secret weapon. Cheese and smoked meats appeared. They seemed to be squandering their provisions, but what harm was there in this much? They had eliminated the colony's threat, after all. The Cultist's corpse and the bodies of the monsters still lay scattered outside. The village had paid a fair price in Krona for the equipment the Knolls had used. Starting tomorrow, their days would be busier than ever. They would have to dispose of the bodies, repair the damaged defenses, and meanwhile haul stone from the quarry and recruit new villagers to expand the settlement. Would they absorb the smaller villages nearby? That was usually how it went. That was how a pioneer village grew. They would even take purses of Krona with them to recruit people with useful skills. And so they would turn this village into a castle. How long would it take to build proper walls and something resembling an inner keep? Assuming they had only the craftsmen's guild to help them, and no mage... 'It'll still take a few years, I think.' They would need to build a manor, too. Taking everything into account, it might take longer. Still, the headman was brimming with enthusiasm. He would manage somehow. Getting trade goods into a land overrun with monsters and demonic beasts would be difficult. 'They'll have to do everything in short, intense bursts.' That should make it possible. His thoughts wandering, Encrid looked up. In the middle of the village square, noise surrounded him. Someone was singing. Someone else had brought a lute and was plucking its strings. That fellow could play. Listening closely, he gazed at the stars embroidering the sky. He had just begun to think one cluster looked like a man swinging a sword when someone spoke. "Aren't you curious how to acquire Will?" It was Luagarne. Encrid didn't turn toward the Frog who had settled beside him. He didn't answer, either. She spoke to him again. "Why don't you ask?" Only then did Encrid slowly part his lips. "I'll find out when the time comes." Was he simply carefree? Surely not. The man she had watched all this time was far from carefree. Luagarne didn't know why she felt impatient, but an urge to tell him welled up inside her. Today wasn't the first time. She had felt that way throughout the intervening days. Unable to hold back, she had brought it up, only to receive such an unruffled response. It made her want to needle him. "Do you think you can become a knight?"

"I don't know." Another deflating answer. It didn't suit him at all. Looking at the moon, Encrid continued. "A dream. It's simply my dream." Brief, but a blade that drove straight into her chest. That was what his words were like. Luagarne rested a hand on her heart guard. Her left arm was still regenerating, leaving her one-armed. It felt as though the muscles of her heart were tightening. "This is how proto knights use Will. They deliberately bring it forth in one or two movements. Even that is no easy feat, but it takes at least that much to enter the superhuman realm beyond one's limits. The realm beyond mastery." Why was this Frog suddenly telling him all this? Was she drunk on moonlight? Or on cider? "Do Frogs get drunk too?"

"Sometimes. Not now." Luagarne tended to be honest, so she went on to say exactly what was on her mind. "Right now, I seem to be intoxicated by a man." There was no need to ask who that was. Nor did Luagarne wait for an answer. "The proto knight Aesia is absorbed in the use of Will to create presence." Knights were those who could properly wield the power called Will. Proto knights were those who could wield a part of it. "Even among proto knights who have attained some understanding of Will, there are those who never become knights. No, there are many. Do you still want to become one?" Had she explained all that just to ask him this? In any case, it had helped. Encrid nodded silently. "Yes. I'll become one. A knight." His dream had been torn to shreds. Encrid had patched and stitched it back together. And now it had drawn close enough that he could almost grasp it. Luagarne stared at him. No passion showed on the surface, but she had watched the man called Encrid long enough to know. 'What a relentless human.' He harbored a fierce flame that he never brought to the surface. That was what made him beautiful. That was what made him a pleasure to behold. "If you become a knight, I shall fall for you." To Frogs, propagating their race and loving someone with their hearts were separate matters. That was why they could love humans, too. Above all, a Frog's love differed from the human concept. It wasn't merely different, but an entirely separate concept. They had no notion of possessiveness, nor of physical love. They didn't mind if the man they favored saw another woman. Indeed, they might even make themselves known to that woman and ask for her understanding. Humans who received a Frog's love were exceedingly rare. It was that special, something that did not happen easily. Encrid looked at her, wondering what she was talking about, then nodded. "Suit yourself." A casual answer, an attitude that revealed his breadth of spirit. Luagarne liked that very much too. As the two shared drinks against the backdrop of moonlight, a panther nudged her way between them. She gave them a sidelong look, as though to say she knew how to drink too. "Want some?" At Encrid's question, Esther opened her mouth. The precious cider poured between the panther's jaws. She gulped down a mouthful and gave a low rumble. "Taste good?" The panther answered Encrid's question only by opening her mouth again.