Chapter 239 - That Wasn't Bad Either

Determination showed in words and deeds. That visible determination lent weight to Encrid's words, and everyone withdrew. He had said he would protect them. Having said it, he was the sort of man who would do it. And if he failed? That was a question for when the time came. Ragna was the last to leave. He silently watched Swallow Blade until the very end, turning away only after tossing out a few words.

"I'll see you later." Swallow Blade ignored him. Encrid thought ignoring that was a bad idea.

'Even hearing Ragna say that is a rarity.'

It wasn't something one saw every day. The others withdrew well beyond sight. Once Encrid was alone, Swallow Blade spoke again, neither his face nor his voice holding any amusement.

"Impressive. Truly." The smile had vanished from Swallow Blade's face, leaving it impassive. Encrid simply watched in silence, sword still drawn.

"Let's begin," Swallow Blade said. A brief silence fell. Nothing happened. It should have been embarrassing, but Swallow Blade merely twisted his lips into another smile. Watching his face, Encrid thought it looked squeezed out of him. The original plan was for the half-Giant to charge first, then for Swallow Blade to exploit an opening and join the attack. But she didn't move. "Begin talking?" Encrid ventured. He meant to ease the awkwardness, but his intention failed to get across.

"Just shut the fuck up." Swallow Blade glared at the half-Giant. She stood in her helmet without looking his way. Together, they could kill him. What was wrong with the bitch now? Of course, Swallow Blade hadn't made his move relying solely on her. He also carried something for a moment of danger.

'Use it wrong and I'm dead, though.'

He just had to use it right. Naturally, the more dangerous a tool, the deadlier it was when used properly. When the half-Giant failed to move at his signal, he spoke again.

"Let's go."

An impatient prod. Only then did she silently raise her shield. Encrid looked at her. The helmet concealed her face. Its visor had only a single horizontal slit, barely exposing her eyes, and those eyes were so small and narrow that he couldn't make out their expression. That didn't mean he couldn't sense her mood. Even without words, people's feelings inevitably showed in their bearing. "Don't you want to fight?" he asked, facing her. Over their sparring matches, her enthusiasm had grown, whether she realized it or not. Encrid had felt it too. That was before today began repeating, a long time ago now, but the memory remained vivid. Some memories weren't easily forgotten. This was different from forgetting Edin Molsen's name. "I'm only doing my duty."

Her husky voice echoed through the helmet. It was recognizably a woman's, but with a distinctive roughness. She raised her shield, a gray wall of iron. As she lifted it, she leaned forward and kicked off the ground. Tremendous thigh muscles and ankle strength sent earth flying, propelling her forward. BOOM! The sound of her launching herself shook the air like an explosion. At the same instant, she hurtled straight at Encrid. It was like an enormous mountain bearing down on him. Indeed, she herself had named the technique Landslide. The angled shield swept toward him, poised to slam down from above. Encrid instantly activated Concentrate on a Single Point. The peculiar sensation of his surroundings slowing was familiar now, a technique that consumed his concentration. Even in that focused state, the shield approached with extraordinary, overwhelming speed. With the shield tilted slightly skyward as she charged, he judged that catching and throwing her was out of the question. What, then? If he couldn't throw her, what about letting her force flow past? His opponent had lost her enthusiasm, but Encrid hadn't. Just as he was about to move against the shield charge, Landslide, killing intent stabbed at the back of his head. His Sixth Sense activated. His dodging sense readied itself automatically. Swallow Blade was up to something. Encrid didn't mind that either.

'It does sound like fun.' That was why a smile appeared on his face. Seeing it, Swallow Blade felt ready to go mad with disgust. The murderous urge he had held back all this time surged up at once.

'Die.' Silently uttering the word, Swallow Blade reached for his belt and flicked his hand forward. This was, in fact, the weapon that had earned him his nickname: a flexible sword made of thin wrought iron. It had been wrapped around his waist. What had looked like a belt became a sword, extending straight out before him. Half again as long as an ordinary longsword, it also resembled a pointed iron whip. SHRING! The thin blade rippled with a metallic sound, its tip darting like a viper toward the back of Encrid's head. He was just lifting his left hand toward the shield crashing down on him like a landslide.

* * *

"I keep thinking this is my fault."

Krais spoke almost to himself. Rem glanced sideways at him.

"Why?" "The guide maps. And I knew, but I still left our precautions lax." Krais had drawn and sold rough maps of the territory. Those maps would have helped the captors find their way around. He could have used the Gilfin Guild to watch them, but hadn't. He couldn't have guild members getting slaughtered en masse against such skilled opponents. He had weighed the practical benefits. That decision weighed on his mind now, prompting his words. "By that logic, the Battalion Commander should take responsibility, shouldn't he?"

Pin spoke from behind them. Dunbachel stood beside her, apparently without a thought in her head. The Beastman merely asked a puzzled question.

"Is it all right to leave him there?" Rem responded.

"What, would you rather sneak back and help? Confident you won't get caught?" Some Beastmen were said to be born with a hunter's instincts, but Dunbachel wasn't one of them. She was a warrior, not a hunter.

"I think I'd get caught."

"Then why bring it up?"

"If he dies, I have no reason to stay here." It really was remarkable how openly she said these things. Wasn't she admitting that she had stayed solely for Encrid? As Rem considered that, he aimed a low kick at her calf. Her training hadn't been wasted: she instinctively lifted and turned her leg to block his foot. SMACK! There was impact, but little pain. She had been subjected to savage violence all this time, after all. She could block at least this much now. "Well done, you Beastman bastard. And quit worrying. Who are you to worry about him?"

Then Rem launched a scathing critique of her abilities. "An animal that can't even protect itself is worried about who? Who was that? The Captain? Pardon? You're worried about the Captain who just awakened Will? Are you confident you could beat that pervert with the weird sword over there? Oh, you aren't? But you want to charge in? Is your head broken, or did you leave it somewhere? Why carry a head around if it's no use even as a helmet stand?" From animal to helmet stand, it wasn't perfectly metered, but it all came together into a marvelous poem.

"Four and a half stars."

Krais delivered his verdict on the poet Rem's work. Krais worried, but he had faith. The burden of feeling responsible remained, but he had faith. If he had realized the danger early on, he should have taken stronger precautions. That was regret. A brief moment of regret was enough. Reality stood before him, and he had to face it. Since it had already happened, he chose to believe. It was their Captain, of all people, who had stepped forward. Krais still hadn't forgotten the sight of his back when he had saved him.

'That's the kind of captain he is.' Besides, Encrid's skill had grown beyond belief lately. He had improved. He was moving upward. So Krais believed. More than anything, just before they withdrew, the sight of that black-haired man standing beneath the blue sky had brought a single word unbidden to Krais's mind.

'Knight.' What sort of person was a knight? Surely the word wasn't reserved solely for those of superior martial strength.

'A knight is one who protects.'

Something Encrid had once said. True to those words, if he said he would protect them, he would. "Fucking hell."

Grumbling, Rem stopped walking. They had come a long way. Worrying and watching were separate matters. It was a real shame that they were too far away to see properly. The lazy bastard beside him seemed especially bothered. Lately, he had been brimming with an unusual amount of motivation. A rare sight indeed for that ridiculously lazy man. The moment they stopped, Ragna turned back and readied himself. That was how Rem saw it, anyway. He hadn't drawn his sword. He simply stood still with his head turned toward Encrid.

'He's readying himself.'

If anything went wrong, he would sprint straight over. That was how it looked, though Rem didn't think anything would go wrong. "The Father will protect him," Audin murmured beside them, offering his usual prayer. Jaxon had disappeared long since. The moment they were out of sight, he had become an alley cat. Esther hadn't even come along. The mage, who happened to have taken human form today, had said,

"I'm busy. Don't bother me." That was all. The blue-eyed beauty hadn't shown a trace of worry. A peculiar mystique in her face marked her as a mage. Yet she still pretended to be a panther to outsiders, the coy little thing.

'Acts like she doesn't care, but she wouldn't even get out of the Captain's arms.' Rem was chuckling at the thought when he saw people hurrying toward them from the opposite direction.

"Is it true? They've taken hostages?" It was Battalion Commander Marcus with a group of swift-footed soldiers, most of them archers. Platoon Commander Vengeance was there too. Only Rem and a few others had moved as soon as the incident broke out. Marcus had received the report afterward and brought the missile troops. "Yes, but you needn't worry. They say they'll kill the hostages if we approach, so you'll have to wait here for now."

Krais stepped forward to answer. The Battalion Commander had come in person for something like this? Well, now that the Captain had awakened Will, perhaps he counted as a valuable asset. Thinking that, Rem watched the back of Krais's head as he spoke. Then came a shout.

"What utter nonsense! Do you intend to trade a commander for a handful of hostages?" Edin Molsen, who had followed Marcus, stepped forward. His faded blond hair was closer to yellow. He shouted as though delivering a reprimand.

"Show me the way at once! I'll punish the bastard myself!" Since when had he cared so much about the Captain? Edin Molsen snorted in agitation. His huffing and puffing was no different from usual. The only remarkable thing was that this time, he was doing it out of concern for Encrid. "Leave him be."

Left with no choice, Rem stepped forward.

"What?" The ends of Edin Molsen's eyebrows shot up. The man had a talent for expressing anger with his face. He was a nuisance, but Rem couldn't go killing another noble's son. That would be a real disaster. Exercising patience, he spoke. "I said, leave him be. Nothing's going to happen."

His tone was near-certain. What kind of bullshit was that? Edin's face asked the question. Rem summoned his patience once more.

"It's fine, all right?" Rem had been Encrid's last sparring partner. He had lost an axe fighting him, and learned something in the process.

'They're no threat.' The half-Giant was fairly skilled, but Swallow Blade was no match for him. And Encrid, as he was now...

'Taking that sneaky bastard's head off while fighting the half-Giant would be nothing.'

Besides, hadn't the Sneaky alley cat already made his move? "We just keep an eye on things for a while, then go watch."

Rem spoke again, but Edin saw no reason to back down.

"Out of my way, you insolent barbarian." Just as Edin spat out the sharp words and took a step, chilling killing intent sliced his throat. He thought he had died. No, he had come to the very brink of death. His bodyguard had stopped it. "That's going too far."

"I told him to listen. He keeps pushing it, eh? Think he should be crossing that line?" Rem grumbled. What had that been? Edin stroked his neck. Intimidation? Or something similar? "Could you always do that?" the bodyguard asked. Only Rem would understand the question. No, Audin understood it too. Ragna appeared uninterested. He remained turned toward Encrid, paying no attention to whoever came up behind him. "Saw it this time and tried copying it a little."

Was intimidation something you could copy just by watching? The bodyguard thought his opponent was toying with him, but didn't draw his sword lightly. This was no time for infighting. "The Captain said he'd protect them and save them. So wait."

Rem spoke again. In the face of that savage presence, Marcus kept his mouth shut. He had judged it wiser to remain silent than to invoke his authority as Battalion Commander and embarrass himself for nothing. A politician's approach to the situation, through and through. "We'll wait."

Marcus settled the matter. Edin Molsen lost his temper a few more times, but that was the end of it. They stayed where they were and waited. They didn't have to wait long for news from up ahead. They might have been out of sight, but that didn't apply to Rem. Even the rough movements he could make out in the distance told him most of what was happening. "Let's go," he said a little later.

He could see that it was almost over.