He endures the day. A repetition of tempering and training. That was what Enkrid did.
And in this repeated day, it was the first time he had reached this point.
‘Am I going to die?’
That was his first thought at the company commander's reaction. Enkrid quickly corrected himself.
‘If she wanted to kill me, she would have done it earlier.’
When on earth did Krang slip away? He hadn't felt his presence at all.
‘Tsk.’
Even in a situation like this.
‘Still not enough.’
Enkrid felt the inadequacy of his trained hearing. That was his nature. Because of it, he missed the timing to answer.
The newly appointed company commander, the Elf woman, was staring right at him. So you're alive? Was that what she said?
Then how should he reply? Enkrid opened his mouth.
“... Was I supposed to die?”
“Hmm, no, not that.”
The company commander answered, moving only her lips. She stared at Enkrid like that for a long while before turning around. Then, she retrieved the poisoned dart that had fallen to the floor and checked the conditions of Benzens and the night watch she had brought, rolling their eyes back.
‘In the middle of all this, she’s checking if any soldiers died.’
Then, she brought the poisoned dart to her mouth and lightly touched it with her tongue.
‘She must be well-versed in herbology.’
He had sometimes seen mercenaries do things like that. Many elves were friendly with nature, so it was entirely possible for her to be deeply knowledgeable about poisons and medicines. Enkrid just watched while sitting on the ground.
He really didn't feel like getting up. Of course, if someone were to aim for his neck right now, he would roll or flip to dodge, but what was tiring was tiring. It wasn't as bad as the first time he repeated the day, but this was just as exhausting.
If the first time was physical strength. This time, it felt like he'd used up all his mental energy. He had dodged numerous repeated attacks just by listening to the sound.
And he hadn't gotten a single scratch in the process. Naturally, it wasn't a coincidence. How many times had he been attacked before?
There were times he was taken down without sensing any presence, but there were also many times he had barely dodged the first attack. Repeated patterns are bound to be learned. The assassin's actions also had a pattern.
Enkrid reflexively learned it.
‘Having done this once before.’
Was it a little easier the second time? No. It was by no means easy. If someone had seen the day Enkrid repeated, if they had been there with him, they would never be able to say such a thing.
But no such person existed. In this isolated day, he was always alone. Enkrid sat and pressed his temples firmly with his fingers.
The excitement hadn't subsided, so his head was just throbbing. A headache would come with time. He instinctively had that feeling.
Shhk.
At the sense of someone thrusting something at his neck from the side, Enkrid reflexively twisted his body and held out his palm. There, he saw Krang pretending to strike his neck with the side of his hand.
“Do you really have eyes in the back of your head?”
Krang said, as if fascinated.
“I don't think this is the time for jokes.”
Look at this immature friend. Krang spoke with a carefree tone, smiling.
“Ah, sorry.”
Was the assassin really after this bastard?
‘Then why me first, not just him?’
Was he just that unlucky? Was it really just a matter of bad luck?
No way.
It was likely that Krang was the target. No matter how he thought about it, it didn't make sense for an assassin to come after him and Benzens.
‘If it were me and Benzens, it would be easier to just frame us and kill us.’
Why go to the trouble of using an assassin to dispose of two powerless soldiers? There was no need for that. What would be the reason for sending an assassin?
It meant they wanted to get rid of someone quietly. Finish the job without anyone making a fuss. The body left after the kill?
They could just set the tent on fire. Who would care about a stab wound left on a burned corpse? Even if not, there were many ways to dispose of a body.
They could erase the blood and traces and just dump it in a remote place. People would think it was desertion, not weigh it as kidnapping and murder. Moreover, this was a medical tent on the outskirts.
It wasn't a place where officers stayed, but a temporary medical tent where enlisted men stayed. A place no one paid much attention to. Of course, it wasn't a place you could come to just because you wanted to.
“It was probably me they were after.”
It was when the company commander had roughly sorted out the situation inside and was peeking outside the tent. Krang, who was squatting beside him, blurted out.
“Hmm, why?”
“You don't seem very surprised?”
“I am surprised. Plenty.”
“You have a good poker face.”
Is this the time to focus on something like that? Enkrid was about to rebuke him but stopped. He knew from having watched him.
This one had a carefree personality.
‘Of course, he gets serious when he needs to.’
It was a day that had already passed, so it wouldn't be in Krang's memory, but. The image of him giving a speech, as if absorbing everything around him, remained imprinted in Enkrid's mind.
“I assume you have no intention of telling me who you are?”
The company commander, who had approached without a sound, said. Krang gave a rough nod and spoke again.
“So anyway, I'm sorry.”
Is this what he calls an apology? Krang stood up from his spot. He glanced around once, then met the company commander’s eyes.
“I don't think I'm in a position to command anyone, so I will ask this as a favor.”
Krang spoke informally not only to Benzens but also to the company commander. You couldn't do that unless you were a high-ranking noble. Otherwise, you wouldn't have a word to say even if you were stabbed and died.
He didn't just open his mouth.
One step.
He had only taken a single step forward. It was the same as that time. The air grew heavy, similar to when he had asked him what his identity was.
Krang quietly accepted the gazes. Two in the audience, one actor. But that actor was like a vortex.
A greedy one that sucks in and swallows everything around it.
“May I ask this of you? I will consider this a debt and repay it.”
“Please do.”
The company commander replied with a respectful gesture. Krang spoke with a gentle smile.
“I'd like it if no one else died today.”
It was small but firm, quiet yet like a storm. If a voice could have magic, it would be just like this. A tone and intonation that made one want to grant his words.
How did he create this feeling? Enkrid felt a strange sense of deja vu. It was because he had experienced it once before.
The vortex that had sucked in its surroundings quickly subsided. After speaking, Krang extended his hand to Enkrid.
“Your legs gave out, didn't they?”
“No, it's not that bad.”
Enkrid took his hand with a complicated heart.
“... Is that the reason you changed your mind?”
Seeing the two of them, the company commander asked.
“Let's just say it is.”
Krang replied.
Enkrid couldn't understand a single thing about the conversation they were having. Not that he had any mind to ask.
‘It’s not like they’d tell me anyway.’
The company commander let out a small sigh, then spoke to Enkrid.
“Can you keep today's events a secret?”
“Yes, of course.”
She asked with an intensity that suggested she would put a hole in his neck if he didn't, so what other answer could there be? He had gotten a glimpse of the newly appointed company commander's skill earlier. Just one move.
‘Was it possible to deflect it like that?’
A single move that pushed it away with the back of her hand. With a single gesture, Enkrid had lost his balance and fallen. He wanted to see it again, repeatedly if possible.
If so, he just had to die. He just had to repeat the day. What if he insisted here that he wouldn't keep quiet?
Would she not kill him? No. That wouldn't work. There were many ways to make someone shut up without killing them.
It was a useless act. Moreover, he didn't want to deliberately commit suicide.
“I'm asking you.”
Above all, Krang said this. It had only been a few days, a few conversations, but Enkrid felt that the bond he had formed with his friend Krang was not insignificant. The closeness between the two was strangely intimate, regardless of the time they had spent together.
“Keeping my mouth shut is my specialty.”
It wasn't an empty boast. How many secrets did he know within the squad? Some were important, some were not.
But he had never spoken of any of them anywhere.
“Then we just have to solve this situation.”
The company commander said, then looked at the torn tent and the two fallen soldiers.
“Those two are also included in 'no one else dying'.”
Krang said, and the company commander nodded nonchalantly. No one yet knew what had happened here. But what if they found out?
Judging by the situation, it seemed Krang's identity was difficult to reveal. The company commander was pondering.
“When that night watch wakes up, will he know he was attacked?”
Enkrid said, brushing the dirt from his rear.
“I assume he won't. Even if he does, he wouldn't have seen anything.”
The company commander said with partial conviction. Enkrid thought so too. How many times had he been struck without knowing a thing?
That freckled guard would have also been knocked out without knowing anything.
Well then.
“Could one of you carry one person outside?”
At Enkrid's words, the company commander turned to look at him.
“There is a simple and convenient solution. But I might get chewed out a bit. I think you, Company Commander, could block that for me.”
He explained the plan. Hearing it, Krang laughed, and the company commander nodded without a trace of a smile.
Fwoosh!
“Huh?”
The night watch in front of the tent, who had been dozing off on duty, suddenly felt a sting on his cheek and opened his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he also felt a warm heat from somewhere. Looking to his side, still half-asleep, his body instantly stiffened.
‘Fire?’
It was fire. Flames clinging to the front of the tent shot upwards, scattering embers.
Clack.
The spear he was holding fell to the ground, and the sound woke him up completely.
“F-fire! Fire! Fire!”
The soldier who had dropped his spear shouted. He was so surprised his tongue got twisted.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!”
He just kept shouting 'fire' instead of 'there's a fire'. But his words were so urgent that they stuck in the ears of those nearby.
“Fire!”
A patrol guard who happened to be nearby shouted loudly, clarifying the situation.
“The medical tent is on fire!”
The quick-witted patrolman's voice rang out loudly.
“Bring water!”
Only then did other groups of soldiers begin to stick their heads out and grasp the situation.
“Damn it, what about inside the tent?”
“Was anyone in there?”
“There was, that damn soldier!”
The fire, which had only been at the front of the tent, quickly spread upwards to the entire structure. A commotion broke out in the middle of the night. Black soot and smoke rose into the air.
It was not a situation where even a reasonably brave soldier would go inside.
“I said bring water!”
Among them, the supply company commander screamed. Those who had been moving their feet quickly brought water in buckets and such.
Chwaaak!
They threw the water from the buckets onto the fire. Smoke billowed for a moment.
“Line up and pass it down!”
The supply company commander shouted. He was putting his experience from carrying luggage to good use. Passing it down was a method of moving things by forming a long line.
A group of soldiers formed a long line and began passing water buckets to the front in the same manner.
Thud!
One of the idiots dropped a bucket on the ground.
“Are you kidding me? Pick it up, quick!”
“Will correct immediately!”
A clamor arose. The flames illuminated the soldiers' faces. The supply company commander stomped his feet in frustration.
The fire on the tent wasn't the important thing. If it spread to the side, it would be a disaster beyond disasters. For him, the problem of the fire spreading was greater than a few guys inside dying.
As the flames began to subside a little thanks to the bucket chain, the supply company commander let out a sigh of relief internally.
‘But why a fire all of a sudden.’
Was this a season when fires break out easily? The weather wasn't that dry. Fortunately, the fire didn't spread sideways.
The flames, as if on cue, burned down just one tent and then died out.
“There are people over there!”
In the midst of it all, a soldier with sharp eyes shouted.
“Bring them over, it’s a relief if they’re alive.”
The supply company commander uttered words he didn't mean. It was a hundred times more fortunate that the fire hadn't spread than that they were alive.
Enkrid laid the freckled soldier down next to Platoon Leader Benzens, whom the company commander had moved outside. “Here!” He shouted, and people flocked over. “Are you okay?” “A fire all of a sudden.” “What happened?” Enkrid, with soot smeared on his face, coughed. Anyone could see he was a person who had just escaped from a burning tent. “I also, cough, hack, don't really know.” Enkrid continued speaking between coughs. The fire in the middle of the night ended up being treated as an accident.
Hooooot.
The cry of an owl or something similar could be heard from far away. It was probably from the direction of the forest. The Elf company commander listened to the sound, matched the map in her head with her current location, determined the direction, and walked.
It was a place not too far from the base, a stream bed littered with gravel. Reaching her destination, the company commander opened her mouth.
“If it weren't for that Squad Leader, it would have been dangerous.”
Just by looking around the tent, the company commander had figured out the assassin's intention.
‘Eliminate the one at the entrance, then immediately eliminate the target.’
The one at the entrance was Enkrid. Thanks to him, they were saved. If he had held out for even a little less time, they would have died.
He would have died, and so would the person he was protecting.
“Is that so.”
Krang said, then took a deep breath in and out. The company commander looked at him and turned her body.
“Well then.”
A simple farewell. The light footsteps unique to the Elf race made not even a small sound. Her current post was commander of the 4th company, fourth battalion, Cyprus Division.
It was time to return to the base. The Elf's figure, which had entered the darkness, quickly disappeared from view. Watching her go, Krang recalled Enkrid's dream.
‘A knight.’
“Seeing you, I think I'm starting to get a sense of how I should live my life as well.”
That's what Krang had replied after hearing Enkrid's dream. It wasn't an empty platitude. Krang might deceive others, but he never spoke empty words to those who approached him with sincerity.
Krang had a secret of his birth. But he liked neither his birth nor his secret. So it was something he had avoided until now.
‘I will try to face it too.’
He had recognized Enkrid's skill at a glance. And yet, he dreamed of being a knight. Five out of ten passersby would say that dream was preposterous.
The other five would be busy laughing at him. Still, he dreams. He will not give up.
It had only been a few days, but from the sight of him silently clenching and unclenching his fists, he intuited that he would not change. Such people do not change easily.
“He was a truly interesting friend.”
A strange sense of intimacy lingered. The clouds above Krang's head parted. The moonlight began to peek out again.
He walked.
A life a little different from before would be waiting for him.