Rem threw the axe held in his left hand.
In the instant his left arm traced a circle, the axe in his hand approached faster than an arrow.
To Encrid's eyes, it seemed like a vertical streak of light had flashed.
His Sense of Evasion reacted, and his body moved accordingly.
He raised his sword's blade forward, blocking the trajectory of the spinning axe.
From the side, it appeared to happen the very moment Rem's arm moved.
Clang!
With a sharp sound, the axe bounced off to the side.
His grip felt heavy.
The force behind the thrown axe was by no means insignificant.
Encrid had blocked the axe thrown by Rem.
As Rem's left hand brushed his waist, a small stone shot into the air.
It seemed like a meaningless action.
Wasn't it just tossing a stone upward?
Thanks to the act of throwing the stone, an opening was created, and Encrid didn't miss it.
He narrowed his steps and activated the 'Will of the Moment', thrusting Ember forward.
It was a sword technique called Lightning Thrust.
It began with the muscles in his thighs, utilizing the full tension of his body to leap forward.
He had wandered through the battlefield countless times before today.
After seeing a Knight's sword, he had trained over and over again, perfecting his thrust into an incredibly smooth technique.
The streak of light flying towards Rem could not be ignored.
Clang!
Rem twisted the remaining axe to the side.
When he blocked Ember with the axe blade, the sword pierced through half a span deep into the axe head.
At the same time it pierced.
The blade of Ember began to twist as it pierced through the axe.
As Ember punctured the axe head, Rem twisted his wrist, letting the force flow through.
If he hadn't done that, a dot would have been marked on Rem's head beyond the axe head.
Rem also knew how to use the Fluid Sword Technique.
He was extremely skilled at it, too.
In terms of weapon handling, he was the most skilled among the company members.
That much was acknowledged.
Encrid pulled Ember sideways as it slid off.
Crack!
The blade that had pierced through the steel was withdrawn.
Since he had infused the thrust with the power of the Middle Sword Technique, this level of force was expected.
Encrid attempted to strike again, but in the meantime, Rem took out a sling from his pocket, swung it around his head in a swift circle, and the stone he had thrown earlier snapped perfectly into the leather sling.
Immediately, a loud whizzing noise echoed in the air.
It was a sequence of movements as if they were showing a pre-rehearsed play.
Rem had anticipated everything up to this point.
Anticipation, prediction, calculation, and quick thinking—this was the direction of a fight driven by the Correct Sword Technique.
'I've been outmaneuvered.'
Encrid, who had also trained in an unnamed Correct Sword Technique, realized here that his calculations had fallen one step behind.
Bang!
The sound rang as the stone flew toward him.
It moved faster than any dagger Jaxon had ever thrown.
It was several times faster than the axe that had flown earlier.
The Sense of Evasion rang out in alarm.
Encrid felt a burning heat in his eyes and head.
His concentration flared up like never before.
Activating his Sense of Evasion to the fullest, relying on his sixth sense, he dodged the stone.
Pivoting on his left foot, he threw his body sideways as if flying.
The stone whizzed past, grazing his hair, and flew behind him.
A loud bang erupted from behind, as if a boulder had fallen from the sky.
Encrid had no time to catch his breath.
He had avoided the stone, but in doing so, he had exposed an opening to the incoming axe blade.
His stance was broken.
"Huff."
Encrid cut his breath short, swallowing it, as he swung his silver longsword vertically from bottom to top.
He reversed the Middle Sword Technique's vertical slash.
As a result, Rem's axe, which had been flying toward him, suddenly pulled back.
'Crazy.'
It was a trick.
If even the Sense of Evasion was deceived, it meant Rem had been serious until just before the attack.
Then, a second stone flew toward Encrid, and while dodging it, he nearly had his neck grazed by the axe blade.
If it had connected, his neck would have been sliced halfway through, and he would have been dead.
Why was he still alive?
Instinctively, he had tilted his head back, and in the last moment, Rem had also pulled back his strength.
"You could die if you keep this up."
Rem said, catching his breath after a few moments.
"Then I'd at least enjoy it properly before going."
Encrid replied, getting up from the ground where he had fallen.
"Dying during a sparring match?"
Is that what you call fun? Rem asked with a look of genuine disbelief.
Without any change in his expression, Encrid answered.
"Yeah. It's exhilarating."
"You mad bastard."
Rem couldn't help but voice his true feelings, yet the sparring continued after that.
Encrid especially kept learning new things.
He learned many things from Rem, particularly how to handle a variety of weapons.
"Do you know what the best training method is for dealing with axes, spears, maces, flails, and such?"
Encrid didn't respond because he didn't know.
Rem didn't wait for an answer either.
This was said after nearly two weeks of training, where it felt like they'd dipped their toes halfway into the river of death.
"Try using them yourself."
And so Encrid did just that.
For the remaining two weeks, he used maces, axes, spears, and halberds.
Rem was as proficient with all of those weapons as he was with axes.
By now, Encrid's experience level had far surpassed what could be called 'decent'.
He quickly picked up a few tricks and put them into practice.
With the right know-how, mastering the basics wasn't that difficult.
"Wow, seriously? Is it always this slow?"
Rem expressed his frustration, to say the least.
After that, it was nothing but repeated sparring, training, and more drilling.
Still, Encrid found the time to be incredibly valuable.
In fact, he felt grateful for it.
And soon, the time to put that valuable training to use arrived.
It was something that had already been decided.
"So, there's this thing called the Gray Ghoul. It's dangerous."
It was Krais, who had been running around busily.
He had brought the issue to their attention.
To be precise, it was a task connected to the central command that would earn them some merit, but the process itself didn't concern Encrid.
He was simply pleased that a real fight, something that sparring couldn't offer, had finally come.
That didn't mean they were leaving right away. First, they had to finish what they were doing.
The sparring hadn't ended yet, and today was the day to face Audin.
"Hold on, wait a bit. I'll finish up and be right there."
It was a day in early spring, just after winter had ended.
Krais couldn't stop his Commander.
Then again, he didn't need to.
Dealing with the ghoul wasn't an urgent matter.
He stood by the brazier, waiting for Encrid and his group.
Though it was spring, the wind was still chilly.
The warm heat from the brazier warmed his body.
He felt drowsy.
As he waited, Krais thought that this would be the first step toward the Border Guard's own advancement.
There were plenty of reasons to believe so.
Krais's eyes slowly closed.
Even as he dozed off, the words he wanted to say were organizing themselves neatly in his mind.
* * *
The ferryman gazed beyond the ordinary, observing the human now bound and intertwined with him.
He saw death.
Again and again.
It was a desperate struggle, a determination to die alone, even though there was no wall to fight against.
In other words, it was simply madness, driven by training to the point where he no longer cared for his own life.
Was it because he believed in the repetition of today's events?
No, that wasn't it.
You could tell just by looking.
He was just a madman.
But did he die?
No, even at moments when he should have died, he barely survived.
Was it skill or luck?
The ferryman judged it to be skill.
The combination of the opponent's skill and his own twisted what should have been certain death.
"Who could ever imagine a guy like this?"
Today's ferryman spoke in a light tone.
He continued to observe his target.
There would be no more praise now.
He was the type to take praise and use it as motivation to push further.
So from now on, he would just watch.
"Crazy bastard."
Saying it again, today's ferryman showed a capricious side.
Unable to hold back, he left his words in Encrid's mind while he was temporarily unconscious.
It was praise.
Encrid, who had briefly entered the mental realm, opened his eyes and tilted his head in confusion.
The ferryman had lived for a long time, and those who had lived long tended to develop sharp instincts over time.
With just a glance, he could read what was on Encrid's mind.
He understood what the look meant.
Encrid's eyes asked, "Aren't you busy?"
"I'm busy!"
The ferryman shouted.
The mental world blurred.
In truth, there was nothing to be busy with.
Watching was his life and his entire purpose.
* * *
Encrid opened his eyes and recalled the last moment.
Audin's fist had curved, striking his head.
The flow, the process, and the trajectory were all vividly clear in his memory.
'I stepped.'
He had made an evasive maneuver, but Audin had moved his feet in sync with him.
Despite his large frame, his movements were incredibly nimble.
Usually, a hit like that would cause one's memory of the moment to break, but whether it was due to The Heart of the Beast or his efforts to absorb every trace, skill, movement, and force of his opponent until the last moment, his memory didn't fail him.
'I dodged just before it hit.'
He had let the impact flow through his body.
It was a technique he had learned from Audin and now had ingrained in him.
"I was inspired by the Commander's Snake Sword."
Audin had said, applying it to create a new technique.
Encrid felt it all over again.
Audin was a genius too.
To see someone's sword and create something new from it.
Rem, Jaxon, and Ragna all did something similar.
They were all geniuses.
But Encrid didn't feel a sense of loss because of it.
When the sparring ended and he entered the barracks, Krais was there, leaning against the table and the brazier.
He was sitting in a chair, nodding off as if sleep-deprived.
Esther was also in one corner of the room.
She looked at Encrid indifferently.
"You're here?"
That was her way of greeting.
"Yeah."
She shifted between the appearance of a panther and a human, and today she was in human form.
She still wore her black robe, but unlike before, underneath it, she now wore a dark red, soft shirt.
After being told to cover herself under the robe, she had done so.
It suited her well.
"Oh, you're back?"
Krais woke up to the sound of movement.
After mentioning the Gray Ghoul and rushing off for sparring, he ended up taking an unplanned nap.
It was brief, but he felt refreshed.
"Ugh, I've been overdoing it lately. I need to find some good medicine. Hasn't Jaxon come back yet?"
Jaxon was the one who supplied Krais with various medicines.
While Krais had sourced a few himself, Jaxon was more of an expert when it came to herbs and tonics for rejuvenation.
"He'll come back when he's ready."
Encrid truly believed that.
Krais didn't bother looking for him either.
"Well, shall we begin the explanation?"
Krais said, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
In all things, sequence and causality are important.
There's a difference between doing something with knowledge and doing it without.
That was how Krais saw it.
However, Rem and the rest of his company thought differently.
Ragna had been sleeping more often lately.
Rem, unconcerned, went off to either make slings or sharpen the weapons Encrid had brought back on a whetstone.
Maintaining one's weapon was a basic warrior's discipline.
Though, in the past, Rem seemed to have done it rather haphazardly.
But now the situation had changed.
The appearance of Knights had changed everything.
Rem knew about it too.
'If they show up, I can't just sit and watch.'
Where Rem grew up, there were no Knights.
Instead, they had what they called 'heroes'.
The word simply meant 'brave people'.
There were always reasons for such a title.
Now that he thought about it, didn't some of the beastfolk also call their outstanding members 'heroes'?
Not that it mattered to Rem.
But what would happen if a Knight appeared?
To not be overwhelmed, what was necessary?
The answer was the same as what Encrid was doing.
Training and discipline.
Rem did the same.
Behind the scenes, he pushed himself even harder.
Naturally, fatigue had built up.
The past few months had been like a relentless storm, barely catching his breath.
'Never thought I'd work this hard in my life.'
Except for when he first picked up a weapon, he had never worked this hard, maybe even more than back then.
Encrid had improved so much that sparring against him wasn't easy.
Every moment felt like walking on thin ice.
One misstep, and he'd either lose or kill his opponent.
At least teaching Encrid how to use unfamiliar weapons lowered the danger level, but to be satisfied with that would be insane.
'Crazy human.'
Rem arrived at the usual conclusion and lay down.
It was after he had finished sparring and had been to the bathhouse.
The warmth of the hot water made him drowsy.
Audin had left to pray, while Dunbachel and Teresa showed little interest.
Esther, of course, had no interest whatsoever from the start.
That left only Encrid, though Krais had expected as much.
Since when had these people ever been attentive listeners?
Krais opened his mouth, addressing only Encrid.
At least the Captain was listening, which was fortunate.
If even he didn't listen, that would be a real problem.
"You know that danger surrounds the Border Guard, right?"
Krais's speech was long, but Encrid was an excellent listener.
And though it was long, Krais also knew how to summarize and get to the point.
The gist was this:
There were three areas near the Border Guard that were threatening, like Demon Realms, and one of them needed to be dealt with.
It was a place called the 'Land of the Gray Ghoul', located southwest of the Border Guard, and its presence forced trade routes with the western territories to take a detour.
"That's the situation."
There were also political reasons—specifically, the internal reasons why this hadn't been dealt with until now.
But Krais wondered,
'Would they even listen if I explained it?'
Encrid already looked disinterested.
"Ghouls?"
See, Encrid was only interested in the monsters he could slay.
Every time someone came looking for Encrid, Krais gave them the same response:
"We're preparing for an important battle next spring. There will be changes in the region, and it would be wise to prepare for them."
"What kind of changes?"
Once, a noble under Count Molsen had asked this. It wasn't Viscount Bentra, who had clashed with them before.
After the previous conflict, Bentra hadn't extended a hand of friendship toward Encrid. Krais figured it was probably due to lingering hard feelings from that fight.
In contrast, Krais couldn't help but be impressed by the audacity of Count Molsen.
'After everything, how can he still ask Encrid to join him?'
There were numerous problems that arose because the Count had turned a blind eye to certain issues.
He had even secretly tried to undermine the Border Guard by sending his own people to threaten them.
Though there was no direct evidence, Krais was certain of it. And if they really wanted to, they could find proof. However, proving it wouldn't matter, since denial would render it meaningless.
"The Border Guard is going to expand."
Krais hinted that this was in preparation for extending their influence beyond the fortress and into the territories.
Encrid was the sword for that purpose.
But was the Border Guard acting on its own to do something like that?
They had already summoned Marcus, the former Lord, and discussed the idea of rebellion.
To expand their scale, they would need approval from the Central Government. In other words, the Royal Palace would be directly involved.
"Hah."
If one of the local nobles took Encrid away, it would be an insult to the Royal Court.
Since Krais had said so much, there was a need to back up his words with action.
That action began with the extermination of the Gray Ghouls.
Even though Krais had subtly mixed political dynamics into his explanation, Encrid showed no interest in such matters.
Krais finished speaking.
There wasn't much point in saying more.
Encrid was already consumed with thoughts of the fight ahead.
But, Krais wasn't worried that he would recklessly throw himself into danger.
Encrid wasn't that kind of person.
'He'll handle it.'
The Captain would do his job, and Krais would focus on his own.
He was already doing just that.