“Want to switch companies?”
He hadn't taken five steps from the barracks. It wasn't common to poach a soldier from within the unit.
‘Is this because I became a high-rank soldier?’
That could be it. After all, there weren't many high-rank or top-rank soldiers in the unit. Or maybe there was another reason.
Spellbreaker.
It was the name most talked about within the unit right now. Receiving attention and interest. It was a first for him.
But it wasn't something to get excited about and run wild like a fifteen-year-old. It was pleasant, but because it was pleasant, there were things he had to just let pass. Enkrid was experienced.
His career of surviving by the sword until the age of thirty hadn't gone anywhere.
“To the First Company, you mean?”
“Did you think I came to put you in a moronic company like Palto's or Rayon's?”
Palto and Rayon were the names of the commanders of the 2nd and 3rd Companies.
“Come to my unit.”
Enkrid's promotion spar was strongly etched into everyone's memory. Among them, Graham, the First Company Commander in charge of the heavy infantry, particularly liked Enkrid. He was a man known within the army for cherishing talent.
He was also someone mentioned as the next battalion commander. Such was his offer. It wasn't to be taken lightly.
The First Company, famous for its heavy infantry, was a core branch of the Cyprus Division and also considered an elite path within the army. But Enkrid shook his head.
“I'm sorry.”
It was a gentle refusal, one that required no thought.
“A refusal? Why? If you're worried about your relationship with your company commander, I'll take care of it.”
“That's not it.”
Enkrid's attitude as he answered was overly plain. There wasn't even a hint of hesitation. Graham frowned and then relaxed his brow.
“You don't seem to have any lingering attachment.”
“Is that so?”
Graham stared at Enkrid blankly. Enkrid, wondering if he should say more, met his gaze.
“You do.”
This wasn't a problem to be solved with force or coercion. Graham thought so.
“Well then.”
Enkrid placed his left hand on his left hip and bowed his head in a military salute. To receive a military salute, one should at least nod their head, but Graham mirrored Enkrid's movement like a reflection. He placed his left hand on his hip and offered a military salute.
Then he opened his mouth.
“Thanks to you.”
Thanks to me? As Enkrid stared blankly, Graham continued.
“We survived. I had to say thank you.”
Spellbreaker.
That fog was truly terrible. The more capable a commander, the more its power was felt on their skin. The Elf Company Commander had cursed the battalion commander endlessly during the battle.
Graham had cursed the battalion commander just as much as she had.
“That moron, that damn idiot!”
He had shouted this in the middle of the battlefield. When nothing was happening, it was fine to just look after one's own rice bowl. But in a crisis, a commander's true skill was bound to be revealed.
The battalion commander was an idiot. At least, that's what Graham thought. The most idiotic thing he did was subtly take credit for this battle.
In the end, everyone in the unit who needed to know, knew. The one with the highest merit in the previous battle was not the battalion commander. The two men, who had been staring blankly while saluting, relaxed their posture.
Graham offered his hand first, and Enkrid took it and shook it. It was a greeting mixed with several emotions like gratitude, lingering attachment, and regret.
“Go on, and don't forget that I'm very disappointed.”
“Then should I send Rem in my place?”
Enkrid joked.
“Not that bastard!”
Graham pretended to be angry and glared. The two soon smiled and parted ways.
‘He seems like a good person.’
It was the first time he had spoken so much with the heavy infantry company commander. Enkrid felt a sense of favorability from the man. The barracks was right behind him, but he felt like walking a bit more.
As he walked, he looked around the city for the first time in a while. Walking like that, he soon found himself at the edge of the market in the center of the city. Even if it was a military city, it was natural for merchants and farmers to come and go.
In truth, there were far more itinerant merchants than people engaged in agriculture. Border Guard was known as a military city on the frontier. The number of stationed troops alone was well over 1,000. If the ratio of soldiers to the population was one to ten, the number of citizens would have to be over ten thousand.
But ten thousand was of course impossible, and it was not even five thousand. Still, the city ran just fine. This was a territory directly under the king's rule.
The military city of Border Guard could be maintained because of the kingdom's support. But since they couldn't rely on the kingdom for everything, they also farmed, and merchants came and went. He had heard that the business of attracting merchant caravans was going quite well.
Moreover, he had heard that several caravans had recently entered the city by the king's order, and perhaps because of that, the market was more crowded than ever. Big Eyes had been chattering on about how the innkeeper's smile was reaching the ceiling because of it.
‘He has reason to be happy.’
It was that crowded. When the number of caravans in the city increased, the innkeeper's joy was bound to increase as well. After all, one of Border Guard's main businesses was lodging.
‘A major trading place for caravans.’
One of the advantages of having an overwhelmingly large number of professional soldiers in the city was that security was tight. There were more than enough troops for patrols and guard duty. So it often became a major trading place for various caravans.
A city with few residents, but many people coming and going. A military city, but also one with the characteristics of a trade city. That was likely the true face of Border Guard.
Enkrid glanced at the entrance to an alley at the edge of the market, where buildings were jumbled together, creating a complex structure, then turned away. He felt like someone was watching him, but when he looked closely, there was nothing there. Enkrid turned and went back to the front of the barracks.
After he left, a beggar with a dirty blanket pulled over his head crawled out from inside the alley. The beggar plopped down on the ground and began to beg. The gaze from under the blanket was sharp.
So sharp that if anyone saw it, they wouldn't think he was just a beggar.
Before he even entered the quarters, Rem's voice hit Enkrid's ears.
“Our squad leader is preparing to abandon us. Everyone, be ready.”
That crazy bastard.
“Is it true?”
As soon as he entered, Big Eyes, who was in the quarters, scurried over.
“No.” He flatly denied it and was about to explain, but everyone's gazes were fierce.
Ragna, with his eyes half-open, said, “If you're going, take me with you.” His tone was completely nonchalant. It would be one thing if he said that while following his superior's orders well, but Ragna was lazy by nature.
He was a man who never easily listened to anyone's commands. Would any unit welcome such a Ragna?
“Hmm. Unit transfers are common, after all.”
Jacksen agreed, glancing at his own luggage. He looked ready to pack up and follow if things went wrong. Jacksen was a bit better, but still.
‘This one too...’
He wasn't in the troublemaker squad for no reason. He kept to his duty hours well, but this one also skipped training all the time. He often just disappeared, so there were many times they had to look for him.
He was said to treat people affably, but...
‘That has its limits, he's picky about people.’
He openly showed his preference for people. No matter how you looked at it, he wasn't the type to blend in well as a unit member. Naturally, there were unlikely to be many commanders who would welcome Jacksen.
“You crazy bastards, where do you think you're following? They might accept the squad leader, but would they accept you? You're poison to the squad leader's future. So don't come. Only I need to follow. Trust me. I'll get rid of all those bastards and go.”
Rem blocked Enkrid's path, puffed out his chest, and shouted.
‘No, you're the biggest problem.’
Enkrid let out a hollow laugh looking at Rem's broad back. The heavy infantry company commander would never accept Rem, even if he accepted others. He was the one who beat up a superior in the 1st Battalion.
There were many in the unit who went beyond disliking Rem to hating him for assaulting a superior. It didn't seem likely they'd accept Ragna or Jacksen either, but if he had to pick, Rem was the biggest poison.
“You've definitely got something wrong in your head. I've seen many guys like you in my life, and they all died before they reached thirty.”
Ragna said, lying on his side. Judging by the way he was scratching his head, it looked like he hadn't washed his hair in days.
“Then I guess his time to die has come.”
Jacksen picked up on the remark. Why those two achieved such fantastic harmony at times like these was a real mystery. But was Rem thirty?
Enkrid subtly stepped aside to look at Rem and saw the corners of the mouth of the man from the western tribes twitching upwards. His face was full of anger.
“Squad Leader, is it okay if we kill those two and go, just us?”
Go where, and kill who in the first place.
“No.” The best course of action was to stop them before it became a big fight.
“I'm not going anywhere.”
As he tried to resolve the situation with a brief statement, Big Eyes nodded, saying, “Really?” The others didn't calm down easily. He tried to use words, and if that didn't work, he was about to physically block his squad members when someone knocked on the door.
Only the preacher squad member was absent, but he wouldn't knock on the door of his own quarters. Therefore, it was a visitor. Enkrid gestured with his eyes, and Big Eyes opened the door.
“Who is it?”
At Krais's voice, Enkrid also turned around. Beyond the flimsy wooden door, a member of the frontier garrison was visible. It was Torres, wearing the eagle insignia.
“We meet again.”
He raised his hand in greeting, and Enkrid performed a military salute by placing his left hand on his hip.
“Can we talk for a moment?”
“With me?”
“Who else?”
Enkrid pointed to himself with a finger and blinked a few times. Then he soon nodded. Enkrid turned to tell everyone, including Rem, to calm down, but was startled.
Rem, Ragna, and Jacksen had risen from their spots and were standing behind him. Their movements were so agile and silent that he hadn't sensed them.
“It's that fellow with the bad hands from last time,” Rem said.
Ragna and Jacksen just stared silently. Torres raised both his hands.
“I didn't come to fight.”
Gazes were exchanged between the three and the one. The air in the quarters seemed to grow thick. Torres broke the silence.
“They call you the troublemaker squad, and you really do charge in without thinking.”
Torres showed a hint of displeasure. It looked like a sword fight would break out if anyone provoked them even slightly. At that moment, Enkrid pushed his way between them.
Blocking the gazes of his three squad members with his back, Enkrid said, “Let's go outside.” If an incident happened for no reason, cleaning it up would just be difficult. As he left the quarters, he heard Rem snort behind him.
Once outside and walking, Torres frowned and said, “What's wrong with them? Are they all sexually frustrated? Tell them to go to the red-light district if they're boiling over.
They shouldn't be thinking of shedding blood.” Torres saw what Enkrid didn't. The moment the door opened, the superior-assaulting criminal named Rem moved first. With a single step imbued with killing intent, he stood behind Enkrid.
After him was the one who had been lying on the bed. He seemed to be getting up, then he strode forward silently and also stood behind Enkrid. In that moment, he saw an illusion of an impenetrable shield being placed in front of Enkrid.
Torres missed the last one's movement. It was the man with reddish-brown hair, and suddenly he too was standing there, looking at him. Killing intent pierced, tore through, and mangled his entire body.
It was natural for Torres to become sensitive. His pride was hurt, but he knew that if he had moved a single fingertip wrong in that moment, he might have been the one to die.
‘To just three ordinary soldiers?’
The skills of the troublemaker squad members were famous. Still, he hadn't known they were this good. If Enkrid hadn't stepped in, would the situation have become ridiculous?
When he had faced Enkrid before, Torres had only shown half his skill. That had been enough. But could he have done the same against one of those three?
Within the army, aside from the Knights, the royal direct forces were considered to have the best training and talent. The frontier garrison, in particular, was a unit that had sufficiently proven its might until now. It was understandable that his pride was hurt.
Still, work was work, and what needed to be said had to be said. Torres composed himself by taking a few breaths.
“I'll be direct.”
He had received a mission and was carrying it out as ordered.
“Come to the frontier garrison.”
The royal direct army, the frontier garrison, was an offer greater than the Turtle Heavy Infantry. It was the royal direct army, after all. A unit that received orders directly from the king's army, not the Cyprus Division.
It was undoubtedly an attractive offer.
“What do you say?”
Torres's attitude was overflowing with confidence. One could also see the pride he took in being a member of the frontier garrison. Enkrid looked at Torres silently for a moment before opening his mouth.
“What does the frontier garrison strive for?”
What could he do if he became a member of the garrison. Where was he headed as a single soldier.
Enkrid asked.