Chapter 440 - I think I killed him on the way here

Chapter 440 - I think I killed him on the way here

The brown-haired woman's eyes sharpened.

"I agree."

From behind, Luagarne spoke. It felt like a pointless remark after all the trouble of bringing him here.

Enkrid didn't intervene immediately.

He knew from experience. When situations like this arise, adding a few more words often worsens things.

"Do you have a girlfriend? Maybe Aishia?"

"He can have her as a mental spouse, and he already has a fiancée and a pet cat at the main base."

The brown-haired woman and Luagarne spoke incessantly, with Enkrid in between.

"That's harsh, ma'am. Keeping me on the side like this."

Then, a man beside them opened his mouth.

His voice was deep, whining in a way that didn't suit him at all. If whining like that could be called a talent, then it would be a strange one.

The woman laughed, "Ha ha ha," and slapped the man's back.

Enkrid found the interaction awkward.

The man was shorter than Audin but still quite large, while the woman was less than half his size.

Her hand slapping his back seemed tiny.

But of course, that wasn't everything.

Enkrid's gaze shifted to the woman's palm.

Without saying anything, he cast an observant look.

The palm was calloused. It was the kind of callus that only comes from wielding a sword for years without letting go.

Enkrid then examined the man.

Large stature, a rough look, a whining tone, yet an incredibly well-trained body, muscles as defined as a sculpture.

The last was a woman with short blonde hair and sharp eyes.

Her eyes met Enkrid's.

The brown-haired woman, seeing where Enkrid's gaze was directed, spoke.

"Is he your type? You like dangerous ones? But he's really handsome. Just looking at him would be enjoyable. Hey, people from Border Guard must be lucky!"

She paid no attention to the man, continuing her own conversation. As she spoke, she tapped the table rhythmically with her glass, making a sound that wasn't jarring but perfectly timed, like a beat.

"I'm Enkrid from Border Guard."

Enkrid introduced himself plainly.

He had long given up on clearing up the misunderstanding caused by Luagarne's words. He knew nothing he said here would be heard.

And that wasn't important.

The brown-haired woman, if seen on the street, might have been mistaken for an ordinary person with an average appearance.

Knight Oara, however, leaned back in her chair, raising the front legs and resting her right arm on the backrest as she responded.

"I'm Oara of the Red Cloak Knights."

As expected, she was a knight.

Though her appearance was slightly different from what Enkrid had imagined, it was clear from her behavior that she was indeed a knight.

"Quite a provocative one, huh."

The short blonde, twirling a metal goblet in her hand, commented.

In that instant, Enkrid quickly assessed the situation, imagining how he would react if that goblet came flying at him.

It was a thought that came instinctively, not intentional.

Having experienced similar situations a few times, Enkrid quickly grasped what was happening.

Why was the goblet dangerous?

It wasn't just the goblet.

The man who had been whining had also moved his right hand under the table.

He was holding a weapon.

But Enkrid didn't look at that. His gaze remained fixed on Oara, the knight.

Enkrid, adding intent to his instinct, deliberately exuded pressure.

It had been happening since earlier. That's why the two had reacted.

However, Knight Oara dismissed it all. To be precise, she ignored it.

"If you're not possessed by some dead spirit that couldn't fight, then drop it. I know you can strike, but these two are also capable."

Oara said.

"If you want to spar, I'm always welcome."

Enkrid spoke calmly.

"You're just like Millio," the man responded, matching his gaze.

The woman who had been twirling her goblet subtly eased her pressure.

Knight Oara smiled faintly.

"But you really are handsome."

It was an unpredictable direction for the conversation, but Enkrid was used to people like this.

Rem, Ragna, Jaxen, Audin, and so on.

It felt familiar.

"I hear that a lot. May I ask for a spar?" Enkrid requested.

"Oh, you're a persistent one. I've been reading about characters like you in novels lately."

"I suppose I am persistent. I'd like to learn from a knight."

"You're stubborn, I like that."

Knight Oara said in her own way, just like Enkrid did.

Aishia, who had been observing quietly from the side, seemed to be seeing parallel lines that would never meet.

"Let's stop the small talk and get to business, Master."

The knight, as the master of the entire order, was called 'Master' by her semi knights.

"Oh, business?"

Enkrid finally sat down, listening to what resembled an explanation.

Knight Oara, unpredictable as ever, immediately brought up the alcohol ban.

"With so much to do, how can you be drinking? We don't even have enough manpower to handle the aftermath."

"Then why are you drinking?"

The curious Frog, asked, unable to hide her curiosity.

"I'm the head of this city and the lord of the castle."

Oara replied with confidence.

Luagarne, after thinking for a moment, seemed to accept that. After all, it wasn't unusual for superiors to act a bit more freely. She knew humans well.

Enkrid saw Oara as a free spirit, a knight who didn't fit the usual mold.

Still, he wasn't surprised.

After all, not everyone in the world was the same.

Most importantly,

'Does it really matter?'

That was the thought that crossed his mind. What mattered was that she was a knight and that her skill was real.

More importantly, she was doing something for the city.

There were things about Knight Oara that couldn't be learned just by observing her, but the way Aishia and the others acted made it clear.

Even though she seemed tired, she respected and honored her opponents.

Both as a knight and as a person.

A respect that even Krang had never easily shown.

The other two felt the same.

They trusted her, more than just respecting her.

She may have acted like a fool, slapping his back and calling him handsome, but her eyes and attitude remained unchanged.

You could tell what kind of person someone was by how those around them treated them.

Enkrid had learned that lesson as he wandered across the continent. Having internalized that lesson, he didn't look down on others.

He was solely focused on being a knight.

He hadn't forgotten why he came here either.

"Isn't the situation worse than expected?"

Enkrid quickly grasped the situation. If he couldn't do that, surviving this far would have been impossible.

Since taking up the sword, he had repeatedly engaged in acts close to suicide, running toward his dreams.

To survive, he had to use everything around him.

Surviving was one thing, but he also had to find ways to make difficult and dangerous tasks work.

The experiences from that time had also helped Enkrid. Those experiences gave him the keen awareness to assess situations.

"It's bad,"

Aishia nodded and summarized the situation.

"The desertion problem is bad enough, but there are three colonies that appeared while we were dealing with the monster wave."

It wasn't a coincidence that they encountered the harpy casting a spell earlier, and it wasn't surprising to spot the intelligent monster. The colonies were what raised the levels of monsters.

Oara, meanwhile, was casually eating roasted broccoli.

She acted as though none of this was important.

As she chewed the broccoli, she spoke again.

"This year, there are a lot of deserters."

"There are more than just a lot. We're running out of hands."

Aishia responded, and Enkrid focused on the most critical issue in the situation.

Deserters and colonies were problems to solve, but all of this depended on surviving the tide of monsters from the Magic Domain.

That was the most dangerous and important part of the situation. Beyond the western gate lay the Magic Domain's borders, and this city was one built to protect those borders.

"How are we handling the monsters coming from beyond the western gate?"

Enkrid asked.

"I'll handle it."

Oara answered simply.

Enkrid was genuinely interested in seeing her fight.

A knight standing alone, ready to face the monster waves of the Magic Domain.

Could Aspen's knight, the eastern mercenary king, Ragna, or even Shinar do this?

At least, that wasn't how it seemed right now.

Only the seemingly ordinary knight in front of him seemed capable of handling this.

"Can I watch?"

"If you do your part, I'll let you watch from the front row. Just make sure you take care of yourself. If I kill you, half the women in the world might become my enemies."

Oara ended with a joke. Enkrid, now accustomed to her manner, responded.

"If it's too dangerous, will you not protect me?"

Oara laughed loudly at his unexpected answer.

She burst out laughing, and the man next to her, seeing her laugh, puckered his lips and said,

"You're not bad."

It seemed that there was a standard for measuring skill through humor in this place.

If that's the case, Enkrid might become the continent's top knight.

"Not bad."

The short blonde junior knight nodded.

"Let Aishia take care of the work. I'm getting drunk today."

Oara said, and Aishia nodded. Oara slammed the chair back and finished her drink.

The meeting ended there. As they went outside, Luagarne asked,

"What do you think?"

Her words were blunt, but it was clear she was asking about the impression of the knight.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I'll have to see."

He was curious about her fight. Her sword was even more intriguing. What about her tactics? How good was she as a knight? Not all knights are the same. Everyone has their own path. He now understood that.

So,

'I can't guess without seeing it.'

He really wanted to see her sword, which gave no sense of intimidation outwardly.

His thirst had not been quenched even after receiving four knight-level swords.

Instead of impatience, passion bloomed.

'If this too is a talent...'

Luagarne, watching Enkrid, was deeply curious about what would happen if this man truly became a knight and used Will like a knight.

It was something she couldn't predict at all.

It seemed like he was already reaching his limits, which made it even more exciting. To make the impossible possible, and to not even know what the end would look like.

She felt a thrill that, for a human, would have sent chills down their spine.

Her skin turned red instead of goosebumps. It was the trait of a Frog. She was filled with emotion on her own.

She had resolved to do her best for that.

Asia, despite her tired eyes, didn't offer any excuses about Oara.

She understood Enkrid.

He wasn't the type to disregard or belittle others because of their attitude.

In fact, if someone showed curiosity and wanted to learn from him, that would be different.

Sure enough, he showed such a side even now.

Dunbakel, who had been listening from the side, asked.

"Are we going into the Magic Domain?"

She didn't seem scared, but there was a subtle concern in her voice. She was trying to appear calm, hiding her fear.

"If the opportunity comes,"

Enkrid said bluntly. If he hadn't expected this, he wouldn't have come this far.

Dunbakel swallowed quietly, not making a sound. She felt the urge to run, even though nothing had happened yet.

"Now, should we go over the request list? There's more than one or two. If we resolve half, it might ease things up."

"Tell me."

Aishia did as Enkrid suggested.

The requests could be divided into two major categories.

One was the deserters.

This year, it had been particularly bad.

From Enkrid's perspective, it was no surprise that there were so many deserters. Battles that could kill you at any moment had been frequent, and the supply lines weren't stable, nor were the wages high.

Compared to the Border Guard soldiers, the pay was less than half.

Yet, this was considered a relatively higher pay than other regions' soldiers.

If things were like this, they should at least imprison the deserters to prevent them from running away.

"Would the ones who are leaving fight properly?" Aishia quoted Oara's perspective.

Only those willing to fight would be left. Oara's approach was to filter out the ones who could fight well and had strong resolve.

If they weren't fit, they would break down and wouldn't be able to fight properly.

The human mind isn't strong enough to withstand the edge of death for long.

Living constantly on the brink of death, with a new comrade sitting next to you every day, was exhausting. To survive that, proper rest was necessary.

The Border Guard hadn't rotated two battalions for nothing when they fought against Azpen.

They had to avoid sustained battles. Combat fatigue doesn't just affect the body—it consumes the mind first.

The second problem, the monster colonies, was something Asia was already grumbling about.

"The worst ones among the deserters are two, and the worst is this guy, the swordsman named Jack. He attacked a supply caravan from the capital."

Thousand Stones was a barren land. It was hard to find food through hunting or other means, so they had to rely entirely on supplies. But the deserter had attacked the caravan from the capital.

Some deserters just ran away quietly, but this kind of madness was rare.

They were the type to steal anything they could and run.

It turned out that more than half of the conscripted soldiers were criminals, and the worst of them had quickly gathered a group and raided the caravan before fleeing.

"It'd be good to deal with that guy first."

Aishia spoke about the swordsman Jack, and Enkrid replied.

"I think I killed him on the way here."

------------------------------

In order to get more chapters in advance head over to my ko-fi!

www.ko-fi.com/samowek

Please support my work!