A Knight Who Eternally Regresses

A white blade, falling from top to bottom, instantly multiplies into fifty.

His stretched thoughts and Will-imbued eyes counted the number of blades.

’Should I block?’

Should I dodge?

It was a process of choosing one side at a crossroads.

It didn’t take long.

All of this—the movement, the judgment—was so instantaneous that an ordinary person or even a junior-knight would find it difficult to see with their eyes.

However, what if one were to see it within the domain of silence, where thought accelerates and time feels stretched?

Themares wedged Baek-a into a gap that only his eyes could see.

The sword, which had been falling with fifty afterimages, transformed into a thrust.To put the process into words, he had stopped his slash, shifted his center of gravity to his right foot, and changed his posture by extending his elbow for a thrust.

It would be fair to say that he had twisted the direction with brute force.

However, looking at the direction of the force and the movement of the sword swing, it was not a great departure from the fundamentals.

Enkrid saw a point growing larger in front of him.

He pulled back the sword he had extended to block and held it up like a shield, leaving only his two blue eyes exposed above the blade.

Ting.

Compared to the high-speed movement, the sound was small.

It was because they weren’t fighting with all their strength in the first place.

The moment the tip of Baek-a touched the body of Dawnforged, it retreated.

It was a cutting blow that would have become a weapon-breaking technique if it had been filled with Will, but now, he had instead completely drained its power.

”See. The problem I mentioned.”

Themares said, withdrawing his sword, Baek-a.

Enkrid saw the white dot marked on the blue blade of Dawnforged.

’I blocked it, but…’

If they had continued to fight, he would have been pushed into a defensive position.

Both Enkrid and Themares were knights.

It was easy to predict the direction of the fight that would follow.

’To regain the upper hand…’

Or to escape the defensive position, he would have had to push himself.

That in itself was a loss.

Accumulated damage brings one closer to defeat than to victory.

Of course, it was difficult to say that the match was decided by this alone.

’There is definitely a gap.’

The words spoken by Themares’s sword were clear.

A short deliberation and a quick judgment.

This was a part Enkrid had to polish.

Should it be called the moment he recognized his own shortcomings?

’I thought I had learned instantaneous judgment by watching Rem, but…’

There were still parts to be polished.

”Ah, really,” Enkrid muttered.

Themares reads his opponent’s mind.

He looked into the madman’s inner thoughts.

’He’s thrilled to death.’

That was exactly the feeling.

Enkrid didn’t finish his words, but his feelings were conveyed.

Themares was, in a way, a jeweler.

A jeweler who cuts and polishes people instead of gems.

His insight was specialized in finding the opponent’s gaps.

Enkrid had hoped that Themares would find his gaps with that specialized ability.

And the result of that wish was now.

His shortcomings were revealed.

So what should he do?

Now he just had to diligently fill that gap again.

Was it an easy task?

It was not.

But it was an enjoyable one.

That is why he was smiling.

”To your instantaneous judgment, the judgment by intuition, you should add the ingenuity to turn everything to your advantage.”

The Dragonkin even offered advice.

Enkrid was a man in a posture of learning.

He listened, understood, and reviewed.

Looking back on all his past time, Themares had never seen such a talent.

No, was it a bit awkward to call him a talent?

For a knight, his learning speed is slow.

He has to be shown the same thing over and over again.

The difference with the others beside him was clear.

”Anyway, that goofy smile.”

The man who could be mistaken for a gray-haired bandit was one.

”You are like water, brother lizard.”

The bear-beastkin who enjoys provoking his opponent without a second thought was another.

”This is fun.”

And even the man who spoke while lying on his side, eating an apple, and the red-haired man who silently watched the spar.

Their talents were extraordinary.

They grasp and supplement their own shortcomings just by watching.

They show a clear difference from the man named Enkrid.

That didn’t mean he felt disappointed or frustrated.

The Dragonkin was impassive.

His specialty was to indifferently repeat his task.

His impassivity was a strength of his race.

In a way, it was fair to say that he and Enkrid were a good match.

’If it’s necessary, I just have to repeat it.’

The thoughts of the Dragonkin and Enkrid were in agreement.

As always, they could not fight with all their heart.

The Wave Breaker Sword, or the Dying Ember Strike and Orthodox Swordsmanship, the Flash and the Sword of Coincidence, and on top of that, the Vortex.

Enkrid was still polishing five sword styles, and if he were to use them all, the spar would inevitably become violent.

To these five sword styles, ten combat techniques.

This was what Enkrid was most focused on right now.

The existence of the Dragonkin helped him further refine what he had polished.

And he was immensely happy about that.

”Did you see that properly?” Rem said from the side.

For one who had reached the level of a junior-knight, it was a series of movements that were too fast.

They could see the result, but it was difficult to see the process.

That is why the three who had come from Aspen could not nod their heads.

”What? You’d rather I kill you than ask an enemy knight for teaching?”

Rem continued, and one of the three from Azpen hastily said,

”When did we ever say such a thing…”

Of course, they had not.

He was just saying it because he was Rem.

”You did. I heard you. I read minds, you see,” Rem said, one corner of his lip rising in a sneer.

He was picking on one of them.

A toy had come while he had been resting for a few days after the fight.

It was only polite to play with it, considering the sincerity of the one who had given it.

In the west, it was a great rudeness to receive a gift and not use it.

Rem was a man who was born and raised in such a place.

”Now, then, shall we die?”

A killing intent mixed with sincerity tightened around the hearts of the three from Aspen.

Among the three, only one gritted his teeth and drew his sword.

Sreung.

”Is this why you called us? Because you’re afraid of the future? Are you scared of us growing stronger?”

”Yeah, yeah, I’m so scared I can’t sleep at night. Right, what was your name again?”

Rem’s taunt was a ripe fruit.

There is no such thing as being unable to sleep because you are afraid of an opponent whose name you don’t even know.

His sneering look was no different from a blow that turns one’s stomach inside out.

”My name is Greenhorn. I started as a Grey Dog and rose to be a junior-knight.”

Rem liked such soft greenhorns.

Because they were fun to beat up.

That feeling was revealed on his face.

He raised his axe with a uhihi laugh.

Seeing this, Greenhorn’s complexion turned pale.

This crazy bastard seems like he just wants to kill people.

They told me to go to the Border Guard and learn swordsmanship?

Did my country abandon me?

All sorts of thoughts ran through his head.

Greenhorn momentarily shook off his stray thoughts.

’Ah, whatever.’

When it’s time to fight, you fight.

Using his head wasn’t his specialty in the first place.

Then all he had to do was swing his sword in front of that axe-murderer.

Greenhorn’s resolve was revealed in his sword.

Unlike the other two, he had risen to the level of a junior-knight by learning here and there over the shoulder.

So he was full of a rough and fierce disposition.

Greenhorn swung his sword.

It was the best he could do.

The fastest and most powerful.

”Oh,” Rem pursed his lips.

At least one of them is decent.

Of course, his skill was still far from enough.

The moment the axe touched the blade, he applied appropriate force control to stick the blade of the sword and the axe together and then pulled.

Greenhorn’s sword stuck fast to the axe.

’Why is it stuck?’

Surprising.

And bewildering.

But if he stopped, he would just be beaten.

If the opponent pulls, he just has to push.

Greenhorn gripped his hilt with both hands and pushed with all his might.

Naturally, it didn’t work.

K-r-r-rang! THWACK!

Rem, with the axe in his right hand, came in along the blade and struck Greenhorn’s chin with his left fist in a cutting motion.

An unavoidable timing and speed.

Greenhorn’s body crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

Rem caught his head with his instep and lowered it to the ground, saying, ”The two of you will have to just go.”

Among the three, the one he had just knocked down had the weakest skill.

He could tell at a glance.

But his disposition?

This was the only one worth raising.

”Only this bastard stays.”

No one had much interest in what Rem did.

Especially the Dragonkin, who didn’t even give him a glance.

Because he had no interest, he doesn’t listen to what they are talking about.

His interests were two.

One was towards the interferer of his duty, and the other was…

”Where are you going today?” the Dragonkin asked.

Naturally, it was directed at Enkrid.

”To the city.”

He wasn’t curious if it was an inspection or a patrol.

He would just follow.

The Dragonkin sheathed Baek-a and stared at him.

The presence of this Dragonkin who followed him wherever he went was not burdensome.

Even if it were, considering the help he was to Enkrid now…

’It’s more than worth enduring.’

In the past, he had poured out the krona he had earned by risking his life to learn a single sword strike.

In comparison, now, just tacitly allowing him to follow was a much easier task.

He didn’t particularly mind either.

”Have you gotten another ornament besides me?”

Luagarne said.

If she had no business, she doesn’t leave Enkrid’s side.

”A metamorphic species,” Shinar said.

And the blond elf was with them.

She was called the golden flower in the city.

”Light me up,” Braum, who had come to play as he had nothing to do today, said, holding out his cigarette.

Shinar, next to him, snapped her fingers.

Tak.

With a single finger snap, the end of the cigarette was lit.

Shinar had made some sort of contract with the Salamander.

Because of that, she now handles fire.

The elf who used to be terrified at the sight of fire due to a demon’s trickery is no more.

”Now I can put out fires if they start.”

Though she wasn’t terrified, it seemed she still had a slight aversion to the flames themselves.

”I’ll go with you,” Jaxen also joined the party.

He also had business in the city today.

”Alright.”

Enkrid is calm about all these situations.

It was just a normal daily life.

It was the same for Rem, Ragna, and Jaxen.

But to the ones who had come from Aspen and were seeing this for the first time, it was different.

Greenhorn was unconscious, but the remaining two were constantly shaking.

Wasn’t ’madmen’ just a name?

Are they just really crazy bastards?

Is that a Dragonkin?

The legendary Dragonkin race?

Why is an elf starting a fire by snapping her fingers?

It was a world completely separate from the one they knew, a world with a clear gap.

The two met each other’s eyes and made a decision.

Let’s go back.

This is not the place.

Greenhorn, being unconscious, had no chance to go back.

”Don’t kill him.”

Enkrid said, recalling Abnaier’s request.

Rem tilted his head.

”Do I look like the kind of guy that goes around killing people for fun?”

That remark was received by Ragna.

”Were you not?”

Rem replied with a smirk.

”Instead of the lizard, I’ll tell you your weak point. Your head is your weak point. You could fight better without it.”

When the two talked so affectionately, the end was obvious.

KWANG!

The explosive sound of Ragna’s Sunrise and Rem’s descending weapon, the axe, meeting.

A gust of wind rose around them, and a shockwave spread out in a concentric circle from the two.

It was a weapon swung by a knight in earnest.

Just by being near, flesh would be torn and burst.

”Emergency. Move. No one can come here for a while.”

The guards protecting the Madmen Knight Order’s training ground shouted and moved.

The main job of these men, who belonged to the standing army, was not to block external forces, but to prevent the tragedy of anyone entering and getting hurt or killed when a ruckus broke out inside.

”Take care.”

Enkrid patted such a soldier’s shoulder.

The soldier was moved.

It was an encouragement from the Knight Commander himself.

***

Astrail, or whatever that half-baked magician group was called, had charged, and the people living in the city had once again confirmed who it was that protected the city.

Because many had seen Audin and Ragna fight.

Among them, a few bards had made a song and sung it.

The Madmen of the Border Guard.

That song was now spreading beyond the city, far across the continent.

”Astrail seems to have a lot to say. There are a few groups that have shown favor since we took care of them,” Jaxen said.

The things that happen in the shadows go through his hands.

Georg’s Daggers was a group with that much underlying strength.

”Oh yeah?” Enkrid had little interest.

As he left the barracks and passed through the city, a few familiar faces passed by.

”Have you seen my library?”

At the innkeeper Vanessa’s words, Enkrid shook his head.

”You should go see it.”

A greeting with a smile.

”She built a library?”

Alek, the owner of the inn across the street, heard Vanessa’s words.

He had considered her a competitor his entire life.

So when she had adopted three children, he had sponsored a place called the Angel’s House, which took care of war orphans.

Alek’s competitive desire flared up again.

She built a library?

I’ll build something even greater.

A psychology that could be seen just by looking at his face.

Enkrid showed a smile.

”Are you pleased?” the Dragonkin, who had been observing Enkrid, asks.

”Yes.”

”About what?”

”The warmth of those who stand behind me.”

It was a concept the Dragonkin could not understand.

Enkrid, as he passed by those he knew, was organizing in his head what he had learned and mastered thanks to Themares.

’The Ferryman and the Dragonkin.’

The things he had learned from those two were tangled in his head.

Especially the things the Ferryman had told him in his dream last night, weren’t they impressive?