Eternally Regressing Knight
Chapter 268 - 268 - Imitating Krais
"You're going to leave me behind? If you're going to do that, step on me as you leave first!"
At Rem's words, Enkrid moved quickly. He pushed his body forward with his left foot, smoothly extending it.
For a moment, his body seemed to vanish.
Of course, no one missed Enkrid's movements inside the quarters.
However,
'My step?'
Jaxen was a bit surprised when he saw Enkrid's step.
'Snake step?'
Audin felt the same.
Enkrid had combined both of their steps and absorbed them into his own.
What is the sword, and what is swordsmanship?
Through a continuous process of enlightenment, Enkrid created a swordsmanship that utilized his whole body, which of course included using his feet.
In fact, in any art involving the body, like dance or martial arts, the feet are crucial.
The use of the feet accounts for more than half of the whole technique.
Naturally, Enkrid paid as much attention to his steps as to his swordsmanship.
And now, that was clearly evident.
The left knee that pushed forward bent and straightened, pushing with consistent force. This step was similar to Jaxen's silent step, and the following smooth bend of his right leg was the snake step that Audin had taught him.
In reality, he blended the two quite well.
To an untrained eye, it might have looked completely different.
As he tried to step on Rem, the barbarian huffed and blew air through his nose, rolling his body.
Whatever trick he was playing, he spun sideways to dodge.
With a thud, Enkrid's right foot struck the ground as he asked.
"Isn't it normal not to dodge in a situation like this?"
"Who said I'd let myself be stepped on? Want to learn something new? It's a vision technique, called the 'Indestructible Dung Beetle.'"
It was obvious he had made that up on the spot.
"No."
Enkrid declined, and after a few more outbursts from Rem, they couldn't take him with them.
Just because it was the village where the potion came from didn't mean they could immediately lead a battalion to strike.
"We're still under the kingdom's jurisdiction. You know that, right? The people here have been looking at us suspiciously lately."
Of course.
If things went wrong, Count Molsan could cause trouble.
Was it only Count Molsan?
Enkrid knew that other nobles were eyeing this place with greed.
He'd also heard that while he was away from Martai, some noble had fled.
"He probably went to rely on another noble. He's likely planning to sell the information about this place and make a profit. What a fool."
Marcus spat as he cursed, but when Krais overheard the rumors, he said,
"Seems like it was a real mess. If you can't do your job properly, whether you're a noble or not, you're going to get beaten."
If you half-ass it, you'll get hit. If you do it properly, the workload piles up. Some nobles had escaped, having used their wits to flee.
For someone to leave everything behind and run, they must have been tormented severely.
Of course, Marcus' words made sense, so I believed the reasons overlapped.
And Krais said,
"Marcus would probably prefer it if all the nobles ran away. He might have been harassing them under the excuse of lacking manpower, but he may also want to replace the entire workforce in the domain with his own people. But I'm not sure if that's a good idea."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, just a thought."
Krais was a worried guy. Enkrid didn't ask more. The task at hand was more pressing.
To put it simply, even though there were suspicions, they couldn't just charge in with swords drawn.
The other side sent assassins and swordsmen, but the Border Guard standing army couldn't act the same way. Well, they could do things secretly, but this wasn't the time for that.
They needed to gather evidence first to determine if the village was guilty.
At least they needed to have fabricateevidence, and more importantly,
"There could be innocent people in the village, right?"
Marcus' words made sense. Just because some people caused trouble didn't mean they should round up all the innocent villagers.
There could be people in the village who had no idea and were simply making potions.
That was why,
"Only me, Shinar, Finn, and Jaxen will go."
Enkrid decided it was best to infiltrate and investigate first.
The fairy commander had also been looking into this for quite a while.
She'd been chasing it for almost a year, she said.
"For all that, not knowing the location of a village... Well, it's strange. Do you often go out to gamble or something?"
Krais tilted his head when he heard that.
A fairy at a gambling den? It didn't seem likely. But Rem did have a point.
It seemed like they hadn't been doing their job properly.
Of course, Meelun, the Frog, might have some special talents, but if the place was so poorly guarded that travelers were talking about it, they should have noticed it much earlier.
"She's good at fighting, but maybe she's not so great at tracking. That's why she took Finn with her."
"Are you defending your fiancé?"
Enkrid had learned many techniques from Audin, but naturally, the core of his martial arts was Valah-style combat.
Among these techniques were joint locks that caused pain without breaking the opponent's body.
As part of his training, Enkrid demonstrated a joint lock on Krais.
The key was to stand side by side with the opponent, clasping hands as if interlocking fingers, ensuring that the opponent's elbow touched Enkrid's bicep, entangling the arms.
Once locked, pulling back would end the move.
It wasn't torture, but if he exerted force, he could break the wrist here.
When Krais carelessly offered his hand, Enkrid immediately pulled the interlocked hands.
Crack.
"Does it hurt?"
"Arghhhhh!"
Krais screamed in pain.
Enkrid casually released the lock and let go.
"My arm nearly became useless!"
"Should I have just cut it off?"
Krais hurriedly ran away. Enkrid didn't chase him. It was just a joke.
And then Enkrid regretted it.
'I just acted like Rem.'
It was a bad thing. It wasn't worth thinking twice about.
Shaking off the bad thought, Enkrid felt a presence behind him. When he turned slightly, Ragna appeared.
"Why can't I go with you?"
Ragna asked, munching on an apple he must have gotten from somewhere.
Then Audin and Teresa appeared.
For obvious reasons, the two large figures couldn't come along.
Even Dunbakel, who outwardly acted like a beast-woman, was in the same position.
And then Enkrid added,
"If things go wrong, we might have to scatter. In that case, we'll need to regroup at the agreed-upon place."
"Is that a problem?"
An unaware lost person is a frightening thing.
"You don't need to use your sword."
Instead of a long explanation, Enkrid patted Ragna's shoulder.
Ragna accepted it. He wasn't the type to volunteer for such tasks. Although he had become a bit more motivated recently, it wasn't to the extent of getting involved in matters like this.
Enkrid's absence would be close to a week, which was why Ragna had reacted like that.
Thinking about it, these people seemed to only act actively when it was something they had to do.
Then, what would happen if Enkrid wasn't around?
It was just an unnecessary thought flickering in the back of his mind.
"I'm going to go rogue from today! Waaaahhh!"
Rem shouted, wearing heated fur and hugging a heated stone.
Despite it seeming like he would be hot in all that, Rem stubbornly endured it. It was strange that someone who hated the cold so much would ask to go.
Of course, Enkrid ignored him. Reacting to him would only lead to more complaints.
Leaving behind the shouting Rem, Enkrid got to work.
He located the village and checked his equipment.
Two swords, six daggers recovered from assassins, and several vials of poison powder and poison liquid.
He couldn't use the poisons properly, and they would harm him too, so he was about to discard them when Jaxen took them all.
Having finished his personal preparations and tasks, they gathered in the fairy commander's room for a strategy meeting.
The fairy commander had decided to station part of her unit near the village.
It would be about two platoons, and to avoid being caught, they needed to stay a bit farther apart.
However, they couldn't wait too long.
Because of the wild beasts and magical creatures roaming in the winter, they couldn't fight indefinitely.
Staying outside the village without any defenses would be feasible at most a week.
If things got too noisy, the village would notice.
"If we go in, won't two days be enough to gather information?"
The fairy commander, Shinar, unfolded a military map. Seeing the serious look on the fairy's face, Enkrid nodded.
"If we're not making progress fast enough, we can send them back. Otherwise, we can just surround the village."
Finn, who was originally a ranger and very skilled, was also present.
Enkrid greeted her, as they hadn't seen each other in a while.
"Yo, you're still talking to horses?"
Enkrid casually waved it off.
"We'll leave tomorrow morning."
The strategy was led by Shinar. Enkrid nodded in agreement.
After the meeting was over, as he was leaving the room, Shinar called after him.
"My fiancé can stay and sleep here."
Enkrid simply left the room. He could hear Finn's giggles behind him.
"Is this really funny?"
Enkrid thought, but even he couldn't help but chuckle at it. When Jaxen noticed, he spoke up.
"That fairy..."
"Hmm?"
"That one. At this point, you might as well just say yes."
Was this a joke? Or was he serious?
Enkrid didn't feel the need to seek an answer.
Jaxen, realizing what he had said, turned away and assured him it was nothing to worry about.
By the way, what was going on with him?
Normally, Jaxen wouldn't have said something like that so easily.
Enkrid noticed that Jaxen's expression seemed heavier than usual, which gave him pause.
It was something that could only be felt by those who had spent time together.
Part of it was due to the extraordinary sensitivity honed by his sensory techniques.
To anyone else, Jaxen's expression would have seemed the same as ever, but to Enkrid himself, he felt that something was different.
'His focus seems a little off.'
It didn't seem like he would neglect the task at hand, but it felt as though his attention was directed elsewhere.
Even so, there was an energy about him that felt sharp, almost like someone preparing for something.
'Why?'
It was just a mission. Did he dislike using drugs?
That didn't seem to be the case. Jaxen was often involved with various types of medicine.
He didn't consume the drugs himself and didn't even burn incense, but whenever Krais brought something back, Jaxen was the one who sorted it out.
So there must have been some other reason.
Enkrid didn't ask, though.
Even if he did, there wouldn't be an answer, and even if he heard one, nothing would change.
When they returned, Esther was in sight.
Alongside her was the wild horse, and for some reason, they were together.
The wild horse looked at Enkrid and let out a neigh as though asking where he had been.
Enkrid thought the horse was asking about him.
It was the same wild horse that, as soon as it arrived at Border Guard, had run around the area madly.
"I've got something to say. Cross-eyed."
In the end, they hadn't come up with a proper name, so Enkrid was calling it that.
Grrrr.
Hearing that, Esther let out a small cry.
"Ah, I'm going on a mission."
Enkrid mentioned he'd be gone for about a week, and Esther pretended to go along with him.
She raised her front paw to point at Enkrid, then pointed at herself and slapped the ground.
"Alright."
This leopard was naturally skilled at hiding, so as he had been away for so long, it seemed her mood had soured a little, and it wasn't surprising that she wanted to follow him.
Enkrid occasionally found it odd that this leopard would transform into a woman with long black hair and blue eyes.
Even though he had seen it happen right before his eyes, it was hard to think of her as a woman when she turned back to a leopard.
Neigh!
"Cross-eyed, take a break."
The wild horse was very curious and could understand some human words, though not all of them.
The horse was particularly upset by the name.
The horse stomped the ground, and Enkrid asked if the name bothered it. The horse nodded.
After a moment of looking at the wild horse, Enkrid came up with a new name on the spot.
"Let's call you Unyielding."
Unyielding could be interpreted as having a will of steel in the language of the eastern continent.
Unyielding was a word from the eastern continent, and it was surprising that Enkrid knew it, so Esther stared at him intently.
She had thought of him only as someone who lived for his swords and didn't think he had much knowledge beyond that.
But it seemed there was more to him than expected.
Enkrid liked ancient stories. If there was a storyteller who knew about chivalry and tales related to it, he wouldn't hesitate to hand over a few silver coins to listen.
That's how he knew so many things.
The wild horse neighed roughly. To be honest, Enkrid wasn't too concerned about the name.
The next morning, Enkrid and his group departed from the estate.
"I'll guide the way."
Finn led the group. Following the instructions from Meellun, they walked for two full days.
After walking for two days, they arrived at the village that the frog had mentioned.
They decided to pose as wandering merchants near the village.
Enkrid would play the role of a guard, and Jaxen would pretend to be a merchant.
Shinar, the fairy, would also act as a guard, and Finn would be the merchant's subordinate.
"Do you think it'll work?"
After deciding on the plan, Finn asked with concern. It was unnecessary worry.
As soon as Jaxen set foot in the village, he changed.
"Is this a nice village? Can we buy and sell goods here? This is a good village!"
Enkrid was taken aback by the sudden change in Jaxen.
Turning around, Jaxen continued.
"Can't you tell? Look at the faces of the people. You rarely see thin people, so this must be a village where it's easy to survive. That means there should be plenty of things to sell, and the people here must be generous, right?"
As he spoke, Jaxen slapped Enkrid on the shoulder. It was an unguarded gesture, without care.
Enkrid recognized the familiar speech style. It was the chatter of a skilled talker, always going on without pause.
Jaxen was imitating Krais.
TL here! Thank you for reading!
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