Todays, walls, threats, crises, turning points, obstacles.
Just as there are many ways to call it, there isn't just one way to overcome it.
The easiest way.
Demons spawned by the temple, axe-wielders, sneaky assassins, sharp-tongued leopard mages, lazy swordsmen.
They are comrades, assets.
If asked to follow, some of them would gladly do so.
Even with just them, threats would no longer be threats.
There were many paths, even without their help.
In the end, it was a matter of not being cut.
There was also a way to fight until victory without being cut.
Due to the curse, Enkrid would die but live only for today again.
He could be called a soldier who only lives for today.
Repeat and repeat and repeat countless times. In the end, that repetition would open the door.
But none of that stayed in Enkrid's mind.
Some humans focus only on the goal once they find it, and move forward with only that in mind.
Enkrid stood at the extreme of such humans.
Above all.
The wall seemed to be provoking him to climb over it.
Even if there are hundreds of ways.
Even if there is an easier way.
Even if there is a faster way.
Enkrid had the stubbornness to move toward the destination he set.
That's why he heard the words that his head was broken.
'That's unpleasant.'
It wasn't something he hear from anyone, but from Rem.
And he definitely didn't want to hear it from the boatman either.
One of them enjoyed hitting subordinates or chopping with an axe.
The other enjoyed trapping people in "today" and watching them go mad.
Both of them shouldn't be the ones saying something about the state of his head.
Of course, it wasn't just those two; Enkrid would never admit to such a thing.
'My head's broken, huh?'
That's nonsense.
He was simply clear on his dreams, and was an ordinary person.
Anyway.
"What? You had it?"
"Did you already have it?"
"If you have it, you might not die. Ah, thank goodness!"
"Ah, you surprised me."
These were the reactions after Enkrid was cut by the shepherd's sword and spoke nonchalantly.
It was hard not to ask what he had to have. So he asked. That was the word he had heard.
"Will."
The shepherd spoke, and Enkrid felt the need.
Something blocked his path forward.
As Enkrid fumbled at the wall blocking his way, he saw a clue. He felt it.
Vague but certain.
After sorting out his thoughts during the technique of isolation, he had just entered the lodging.
The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and the clouds were white that day.
Behind the lodging door, there was a beautiful sky. With that as a background, Enkrid raised his left hand and spoke.
"Will, can anyone do it?"
At the question, everyone momentarily fell silent.
Leopard Esther, being a mage, naturally ignored it.
From the morning, this person was spouting nonsense again.
It was just a part of daily life.
"Meow."
Esther lightly purred to express her feelings, then rolled around on her soft fur.
It was the fur that Krais had brought when he saved her previously. He was also the one who was most shocked to see her transform into a human.
"Why? Why did you become a human? You were a leopard."
"Arrogant human."
Hearing that, Krais turned pale and started bringing various things.
Among them, it was one of those things.
It might have looked strange, sitting on beast fur in a beast's form, but Esther was satisfied.
Warm leather was nice, but the softness was the best, wasn't it?
There was an indifferent beast, and the others each had their own situations.
Rem, to put it coldly, couldn't deal with "Will."
"That's something the people of this continent use."
Instead, Rem could reach a similar destination in a different way.
Equipping oneself with the power of a knight and "Will" were entirely different things, but would they accept it if he told them?
Enkrid clearly said.
He wasn't asking how to reach the destination.
It was that he had clearly spoken the word "Will."
Rem thought for a moment before replying. One boot was on, and the other had stopped halfway, indicating that Enkrid's words had troubled him.
"I can't do it."
If it's another method besides "Will," it might be possible similarly.
In any case, what's not possible is not possible.
Rem answered like that and bent down to finish putting on his boots.
Jaxen had never wanted to be a knight, nor had he ever trained to awaken "Will."
However, when he saw knights who were about the same level, he instinctively felt something.
He vaguely felt something similar inside himself. But was this "Will"? The "willpower" they spoke of?
He didn't know.
He couldn't teach something he didn't fully understand.
Jaxen shook his head.
Audin had the divine power within him, and it was said that no evil could enter a body filled with divine power.
But evil didn't always just contain harmful or bad things.
Humans, based on willpower, awakened their own strength, and from the gods' perspective, that too could be considered evil.
It wasn't necessarily wrong, but those who first acquired divine power would not choose the path of awakening "Will."
Audin was the same.
For him, divine power was enough.
"Are you in a hurry, brother?"
It was a gentle question. He had seemed lost in thought while training with the technique of isolation.
But even then, he had diligently applied the technique.
Enkrid was a self-disciplined ascetic who faced and challenged his limits every day.
At least, that's how it seemed to Audin.
He effortlessly broke through the limits of his natural abilities and kept moving forward.
That was what he wished for. He wanted to give, but since he hadn't gained it himself, there was nothing to give.
'Taking divine power might be faster, though.'
Without sincere faith, it would only be an obstacle.
Audin also shook his head.
"I'm not in a hurry."
Enkrid spoke in a clear voice. His hand, which had been raised, was now lowered. His relaxed posture, with no tension in his shoulders, showed that he wasn't anxious or in a hurry.
The only remaining person was Ragna.
Ragna woke up to Enkrid's voice.
His late sleep was a kind of symbol for him.
The blonde man shook his head with sleep in his eyes.
"Dandruff is falling. Lazy bastard."
Rem grumbled, but Ragna, unfazed, spoke.
"I could teach you if you want, but it'll be a waste of time."
"Why?"
Enkrid asked while standing.
Ragna calmly continued.
"Explaining it is like saying the captain's hair is black, and mine is blonde."
Ragna nodded slightly after saying that, as if he was impressed by his own words. He seemed to think it was a very wise thing to say.
This was something like...
It felt like explaining with a big dog.
"Is that really an explanation?"
Rem, the second authority on bad explanations, interrupted with a sneer.
Jaxen snickered, and Audin turned away, pretending not to notice.
At Jaxen's little chuckle, sparks flew between Rem and Jaxen.
"If you're going to fight, go out and fight."
In the past, Enkrid, clueless, would have gotten in between them and stopped them with his body. He was in that naive stage.
Now, he could tell by looking whether they were actually going to fight or just showing off their bad moods.
This time, it was just showing off.
Ragna's straightforward words continued.
"Even if you dye your hair blonde, your original hair will still grow back. And even if it's the same blonde, the shades are subtly different. In the end, you have to live with your original hair."
If this guy really didn't know how to use a sword, he'd probably have been thrown out somewhere.
He can't find his way, his explanations are terrible, he's lazy, and he's not quick-witted either.
But give him a sword, and he'd be a swan flying alone among a flock of chickens.
No, not a swan—maybe a golden pheasant?
Since he kept emphasizing the blonde hair.
"Don't talk, act, huh?"
Enkrid's sweat hadn't dried yet. Seeing that, Ragna slowly stood up.
"Right."
They both went outside.
Rem and Jaxen also stopped their display of aggression, exchanging blessings instead.
"You'll die from a venereal disease, you bastard."
This was Rem's blessing for Jaxen, who frequented the red-light districts.
"I hope you die by the end of the year."
This was Jaxen's blessing.
Audin watched the two of them cheer each other up with a smile.
"What are you looking at, bear?"
Naturally, Rem's anger was aimed at him as well, but Audin ignored it.
The muttering Rem was more dangerous than a horny dog.
"Let's go. Sister Dunbakel should also watch. Sister Finn has been away quite often recently."
"She's been busy, they say."
Krais answered, and everyone went outside.
Just as Enkrid and Ragna were about to clash their training swords.
"I don't know how to intimidate people."
That was Ragna's remark, while their swords met.
The suggestion to explain with a sword instead of words was, after all, the most fitting.
Enkrid was just thinking that. Why wouldn't he? After all, this was happening right in front of him.
"Instead, I can do this."
Hmph.
The wooden sword in Ragna's hand disappeared. That's how it seemed to Enkrid. It was that fast. Like lightning leaving a trail of light, there was a lingering afterimage, but it was impossible to track in real time.
Chik.
All Enkrid heard was that sound.
The result of the invisible wooden sword left a deep crack in Enkrid's hand.
He cut the wooden sword with another wooden sword.
Enkrid could do that, too. But not like this.
It wasn't a matter of breaking it, but of
cutting
it. All Enkrid heard was the sound, but the speed was such that there was no chance to respond.
He had said he couldn't use intimidation, but the pressure was similar.
Even though Ragna had only swung his wooden sword once, Enkrid felt a sudden burst of something explosive from him.
Looking at Ragna's eyes, they seemed like jewels shedding light.
"It's a cut."
This was what Ragna had said before, the thing he had mentioned when advising Enkrid to learn steel cutting and lion cutting.
"This is my Will, for now."
There were things that couldn't be understood through simple sparring.
Enkrid asked and heard.
Even if the speaker's words were poor, the truth within didn't change.
As long as the listener's ears and heart were open, it was difficult but possible to understand.
Above all, there was the advice of Rem, Audin, and Jaxen to consider.
What is "Will"?
It's willpower. That's the foundation. But if it's only willpower, how does "Will" allow humans to surpass their limits?
Why has it become a symbol of knights?
It's the intangible force forged through willpower.
That's what they call "Will."
"It's different for each person, just like how hair color differs."
Ragna seemed to really like the hair color metaphor, repeating it several times.
Now, Enkrid understood.
"Will" can't be taught.
It can be hinted at through baptism or help someone stuck in a wall, but you can't teach someone how to awaken their "Will."
Awakening and learning are separate.
Through baptism, you can learn, but you can't awaken it. But you can learn.
If you experience it over and over, you might start to feel it. That's what baptism is for.
"I practiced lion cutting and steel cutting more than a thousand times a month for at least a month, just to learn the cut."
Based on Ragna's overflowing talent, Enkrid deduced:
"Will is something you awaken, not something you're taught."
It might seem like a long path, but there was also the mention of baptism in the middle.
"Baptism."
It wasn't the original meaning used in the temple.
It's the intangible force forged from willpower.
Once that's the basis, you create techniques and expose yourself to them.
"Squires in the order will receive baptism once a month or, at most, once every three months."
"That seems too little."
"Even so, you'll get guys who feel like they're going crazy. That's why the intimidation from the guy with the rapier is so dangerous."
This was why Rem and the others had reacted so sensitively to the intimidation from the semi-knight, Asia.
"Forcing baptism, that's the way to learn 'Will' on your own."
Surprisingly, Ragna knew quite a lot. Enkrid thought,
What if he had told us all this from the beginning?
"Why did you use the hair color metaphor?"
"To make it easier to understand."
Enkrid inwardly sighed, wishing he'd just dropped that effort.
He couldn't dismiss the effort as worthless.
That effort would surely pay off, maybe not today, but sometime in the future.
Just as he learned the sword, Ragna could be learning something as well—how to speak, how to find his way, things like that.
"But why split it?"
Rem, who had been watching closely, asked. Enkrid touched his face.
Ah, I laughed without realizing it.
He couldn't help it. Even though he had been told that baptism wouldn't teach him how to awaken "Will," it was still hard to grasp even the smallest clue.
Enkrid laughed, because he felt like he had already seen something.
It wasn't an easy path. He knew that.
So what?
Was it ever easy?
For Enkrid, neither the sword nor his dreams had ever been an easy path.
The shepherd needed "Will" to resist the unknown power the sword gave him.
The answer wasn't far off.
In the repetitive today, the sword in the shepherd's hand—that's the baptism, the opportunity.
He had already experienced it more than eighty times.
It was inevitable when he didn't know. But now, through explanation, he had a vague understanding.
Intuition and instinct, too, were the same when they couldn't be seen.
When he trained his senses and opened the door to intuition, wasn't it similar when he broke through traps made by spells?
If that's the case, what if he did the same this time?
How do you resist an unseen force? He didn't know.
The path? He couldn't see it.
Was that the problem?
No, it wasn't a problem.
Enkrid laughed. Even if the path was harsh, he could still laugh until the end of his life, or even as he was dying.
Because that would raise him a step higher.
Rem, who had been closely watching Enkrid's smile, spoke with a serious expression.
"Aren't you really going to the temple?"

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