“That body of yours is finally starting to look decent, brother.”
“With this, your fundamentals aren't bad anymore.”
“You probably won't die to some stray blade. Your reactions aren't bad. I'd say you're about at that level.”
“Hehe, seeing as sparring with you is finally getting fun, has the sword become an extension of your hand? Has your Heart of the Beast ripened as well?”
Those were the words of each squad member. Without needing to dwell on it, they were all saying his skills had improved. For Enkrid, this improvement in skill held a very special meaning in his life.
It was the thread that would weave his dream, the moonlight that illuminated the dark night, and the dawn that brought the morning. A ray of light had seeped into his faded and torn dream. This single ray of light became the foundation to raise that dream once more.
A knight is a title built on honor and perfected through skill. Enkrid didn't want to become a Knight-level mercenary or warrior; he wanted to become a knight. If asked why, he'd be at a loss for words.
There was something that tickled his heart, but it just wouldn't readily come out of his mouth. He could probably force out a lie, but he didn't want to do that. In matters like this, the man named Enkrid was rather rigid.
The injustices he witnessed during his mercenary days also became a reason not to give up on his dream. But that alone wasn't the entire reason. Why is a dream a dream?
‘Because one simply yearns for it.’
He wanted to be cheered by someone. He enjoyed the time spent training his swordsmanship. He also liked the time spent chatting with those around him.
He also wanted to meet those who had ignored and cast him aside in the past and show them how much he had changed. It was a complex, tangled mix of desires. The human heart is not so simple.
For Enkrid, the sum of those desires boiled down to two words.
‘Knight.’
A dream.
Even if his skills were still lacking and the road was long. If a path toward that dream had opened, he wanted to walk it. Therefore, building honor was also something he had to do.
He also wanted to test himself.
‘My sword, how far will it take me?’
His sparring was only ever with his squad members, all day long. On the battlefield, he had fought and won against that fellow Mitch Hurrier, he had gone through the promotion battle, and he had survived the half-elf's assassination, but the man he was then was different from the man he was today. Enkrid clenched and unclenched his fist.
‘I want to fight.’
He wanted time to prove himself by purely swinging his sword. He had become a high-rank soldier in the soldier ranking system. However, even within the high-rank, there were disparities.
It was a competitive spirit and boldness born from his improved skills. A desire to confirm his skills through real combat. It was then that a request came in.
Moreover, the company commander was coming along. It wouldn't be an easy task.
‘But why is the company commander coming in person?’
This was Enkrid's question. Would others not have the same question he did? The company commander's entire intention was to stop by on her way, but to the other platoon leaders, it seemed strange.
Especially to the Fourth Platoon Leader, Enkrid's direct superior who should have been the one to deliver the news, it was a truly peculiar matter. It was just a coincidence, but some people are incapable of seeing a coincidence as just that.
The Border Guard’s standing armies would often lend their military strength to the city's citizens and merchant guilds. This stemmed from one of the two major policies established by Naurilia. One was the soldier ranking system.
The other was the soldier-mercenary system. It had soldiers, instead of mercenaries, carry out requests, and along with the ranking system, it was one of the kingdom's successful policies.
“You can trust the Border Guard's standing armies.”
That's how often such words were heard. The soldier-mercenary system, where soldiers carried out requests instead of mercenaries, naturally won the favor of the citizens and merchant guilds. Mercenaries are rough and coarse, but soldiers are less so.
Like any well-disciplined unit, they were loyal to their orders. On top of that, the cost was cheaper compared to the large mercenary guilds.
“Isn't providing escorts a given for maintaining security within the city? Don't you think demanding krona for every little thing like this is a bit much?”
Occasionally, a complaining guild head like this would appear. But once they used the escort soldiers, those words would vanish. The Border Guard's standing armies were people who fought in local skirmishes twice a year.
They were a unit from a military city close to the battlefield. When you live a life of killing and being killed, the riffraff naturally get weeded out, so it was only natural for the skill level of the standing army soldiers to rise across the board. Cost, skill, safety.
With everyone highly satisfied for these three reasons, it was called a successful policy. The company commander taking on a request was one of those things.
‘But does she have to?’
However, everyone had this thought. It wasn't a job that required a company commander to step in. The platoon leaders also had eyes and ears.
They kept their mouths shut to stay out of trouble, but they knew their company commander's skills were far from average.
‘Wouldn't she be able to hold her own against the Frontier Garrison Commander?’
The Frontier Garrison Commander is the strongest in the Border Guard. Even excluding the battalion commander, who was just passing through.
‘She could probably take down the Heavy Infantry Company Commander.’
The Elf Company Commander had already proven her combat prowess on the battlefield.
“I will take this request.”
Such an Elf Company Commander was said to be taking one of the request forms. When a superior steps up to do something, what could anyone say? They had no choice but to agree.
“Why are you stepping up personally?” the Fourth Platoon Leader asked.
“I'm taking the troublemaker squad leader.”
That was the answer. One request, what's the big deal? The problem was the person she was taking.
Spellbreaker, the newly promoted high-rank soldier, Enkrid. The Fourth Platoon Leader had risen to his position purely through his perceptiveness. As the Elf Company Commander abruptly left, the Fourth Platoon Leader racked his brain, recalling the past.
Perceptiveness is based on information. A delay in grasping the situation negatively affects promotion. For the sake of his future, he faithfully dredged up his memories.
‘Didn't she go see him at the medical tent, too?’
The Elf Company Commander had personally gone to see Enkrid. Right after she was appointed, no less. She went out of her way to visit the medical tent.
And after that, she met with Enkrid privately several times. What's more, she almost never had private meetings with the other platoon leaders. It was a relief if she even gave them a proper answer.
The company commander had also intervened in Enkrid's promotion battle. The Fourth Platoon Leader had seen that scene as well.
‘It was when he was fighting the member of the frontier garrison.’
At that time, to the Fourth Platoon Leader's eyes, it had looked like she stepped in to protect Enkrid, who was in danger. Also, on a day when it was snowing heavily, the company commander had given orders only to the troublemaker squad, sending them outside. They only returned in the morning after clearing all the snow.
‘And she even gave them heated leather.’
Where did they go and what did they do? They only said it was a classified mission. It was reported directly to the company commander, so he didn't know the details either.
He had also heard that the two of them sparred in her Private Training Yard. Why would she do that? The medical tent, the private meetings, the promotion battle, the mission orders on a snowy day, the sparring, and now this request.
All this information mixed together in his head, forming a conclusion. The Fourth Platoon Leader got goosebumps from his own deduction. Of course, it was a complete misjudgment, a misunderstanding, and a series of foolish thoughts, but he smelled the strong scent of conviction in his guess.
Therefore, a thought naturally came to mind.
‘Could it be that the two of them...?’
The platoon leader pictured the elf and the troublemaker squad leader standing side by side. They seemed to make a better picture than he'd expected.
“Nah, it can't be, right?”
He was certain enough to get goosebumps all over, but he threw out the words to himself just in case.
“What is it, sir?”
A subordinate next to him asked. He was in the middle of a tedious guard duty. The Fourth Platoon Leader carefully shared his guess.
If the man had said it was nonsense, it would have ended there.
“... Wow, damn.”
The subordinate's reaction was peculiar. His pupils were shaking. He, too, seemed to be shocked.
The Border Guard was not a small city, but rumors spread quickly. Especially certain kinds of rumors, which have a way of being faster than a winged horse. The idle people within the barracks, especially the women who managed the baths and prepared the meals, tended to go crazy for these kinds of rumors.
Through them, the rumor grew wings of light and quickly began to spread throughout the barracks. It didn't even take a full day before there was no one in the barracks who hadn't heard it.
“Squad Leader! I heard you're going to be a father soon? Is that true?”
Krais asked, having returned to the barracks after three days. Where did it all go wrong? Enkrid thought about it, but there was nothing he could know.
The rumor had already spread. At Krais's words, Rem, who was beside him, clutched his stomach and cackled. He was laughing so hard that his heated leather shifted, and his bare foot popped out.
“Kee-hee-hee, that's right. It's true. He's a dad. Big Eyes, did you hear about the mother too?”
“Uh, yes, I was wondering what kind of rumor this was. I had my doubts. I figured the part about the child was an exaggeration, but when did you seduce the company commander? As expected of our Squad Leader.”
As Krais gave a thumbs-up, Enkrid grabbed that thumb and pushed it back down.
“It's a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“Someone started a weird rumor.”
The Fourth Platoon Leader had started it, but Enkrid didn't know that. Even Krais, who had grown skilled at handling information due to various recent events, didn't know. It wasn't impossible to find the source of the rumor if he really tried, but it wasn't that kind of issue.
It's not like his life was in danger.
“Hmm, not bad. You could take her as a partner and have her as a swordsmanship instructor.”
Ragna also chimed in. What the hell is inside that bastard's head? Sometimes, it seems like there's something even worse in there than in Rem's. Is he telling me to use marriage as an opportunity to improve my swordsmanship?
“Hoo-ee, keeeee.”
Rem, who had been laughing nonstop beside him, now started to let out sounds resembling a monster's cry.
“Don't give her your heart too much. You'll suffer when you get dumped later.” said Jacksen, who was folding his clothes off to one side.
‘Is it a foregone conclusion that I'm the one who gets dumped?’
Isn't the premise severely flawed?
“Brother, my blessings.”
They were all teasing him, and they knew it. Didn't they all know Enkrid's daily routine? It was a continuous, tight schedule, leaving no room to get intimate with someone and... do things.
“Let's not even talk about it.”
It was just a useless rumor. Thinking that, he reached out his hand to Aster.
Hiss!
For some reason, Aster rejected his touch today.
“I'm not Krais.”
Enkrid said, feeling wronged, but Aster just gave him a sharp glare and lay down stretched out on the heated leather. She'd been buried in his arms all day, so why was she suddenly acting like this?
“Looks like she's jealous. Comfort her a little.”
Rem said from the side, then clutched his stomach and started laughing like a madman again. Rem really was a crazy bastard.
“Haa, thanks for the laugh. So, when are we leaving?”
“Leaving for where?”
“The escort mission. You said you could only take one person.”
“And?”
“Obviously, you have to go with me.”
He said this while flapping his leather and half-rising to his feet. Then he confidently pointed to himself with his thumb. As Rem stood, the heated leather unfurled wide with a flap and then settled on his shoulders, draping down like a cape.
“Are you doing this because I teased you? Let's think rationally, Squad Leader. That ice-cold bastard Jacksen over there? He'll throw a fit if the client complains even once. Do you want to see a sly wildcat clawing the person you're supposed to be protecting?”
Are those words that should be coming out of your mouth? Enkrid was dumbfounded, but his expression didn't change. His attitude was one of letting him say whatever he wanted.
“The lazybones won't be interested anyway.”
Ragna doesn't usually step up for things like requests. Not unless he's forced to.
“You're not going to take Big Eyes, are you? It's not like you want to increase the number of people you have to protect.”
This was true. Krais was never an option in the first place.
“As for Big Guy, okay, let's say he's useful. But what if he starts muttering prayers next to the client? All day long? I don't think the client would be too pleased about that.”
Big Guy referred to Audin. That bastard Rem, for a foreigner from the Western Frontier, his silver tongue was ridiculously smooth. His way with words made it sound like Rem was the only option left.
However.
‘You're the biggest problem.’
Why did he assault a superior officer? Because of his temper. If it were a situation where he had to protect the client even if it meant beating them up, then yes, Rem would be fine.
He might be fine. But what if he couldn't beat them up? What if the client had even a slightly shitty personality?
You couldn't put the client and Rem together. Catastrophe was predicted in less than a full day, no, less than half a day. Unless he wanted to rack up a huge cancellation fee instead of earning merits from the request, Rem was the number one person to avoid.
“Not you. Absolutely not.”
Without needing to catch his breath, he spat out the words resolutely.
“... Wow, I'm hurt now. Especially when you said 'absolutely'. What are you going to do about this? Leaving such a scar on a grown man's heart?”
“Still no.” “I'm going to go crooked.”
He ignored him. As if his head were filled with gravel, Rem was naturally good at spouting strange nonsense. He looked around the barracks.
“If you insist.”
Ragna said, their eyes meeting briefly. He had to be kidding. If he took that guy, he'd be lucky if he didn't just sleep around instead of escorting anyone.
And it would be a pain waking that bastard up, who loved to sleep in.
‘I can't send him anywhere alone, either.’
He'd get lost. Ragna had an unbelievably bad sense of direction. The remaining options were two: Audin and Jacksen.
There was no need to think about it, so I said.
“Alright, I choose you.”