He chose Jacksen because the choice required no deliberation. When it came to a request, it was right to go with the one with the highest mission capability. Within the troublemaker squad, Jacksen had handled the most requests.
That meant he had a lot of experience. And that many people sought him out. It would be stating the obvious to say his sensitive senses would be helpful for an escort mission.
Compared to the other Squad Members, the probability of him causing friction with the client was also low.
“I’ll do it.”
Jacksen nodded as if it were a matter of course, and seeing this, Rem threw a fit, saying he couldn’t accept it. Then Ragna said he also thought it was a bit strange. And Audin asked if it wasn’t against the will of God.
As if it were natural, Ragna and Rem started bickering. When Jacksen got on Rem’s nerves from the side, Ragna dropped out, and Rem and Jacksen started fighting. Enkrid tried to stop them again and again, and in the end, told them not to even look at each other.
“If you want to spar, do it with me.”
Enkrid added the final words, ending the day by sparring with his Squad Members in turns. He should have felt mentally exhausted, but that wasn’t the case. This was the daily life of the troublemaker squad.
Above all, for Enkrid, who had endured long years swinging a sword while moping about having no talent, this much was nothing. If this was enough to deal a mental blow, he would have dropped his sword and picked up a plow long ago.
“The Squad Leader, as expected.”
Seeing this, Krais once again gave him a thumbs-up. It was a thumb praising the Squad Leader’s mental fortitude anew. Enkrid gave a rough nod.
The escort request was for the next day. It was a succession issue for a mid-sized merchant guild, and the mission was an escort within the city. Three people were assigned.
The Elf Company Commander, Enkrid, and Jacksen. There was no need to move from the crack of dawn. The client was said to be entering the city around noon.
The next morning, after a good night’s sleep, he awoke to find Aster already in his arms.
“Why were you like that yesterday?”
He asked with sleep still in his eyes, and Aster tapped his chest with her paw. He didn’t know what she was angry about, but it seemed to be a sign of reconciliation.
“Alright, have a good day rolling around.”
What was there for Aster to do? At night, she’d come into his arms to sleep. In the morning, she’d wake up rubbing against him and roll around as her daily routine.
Seeing that she sometimes went outside, it seemed she was catching mice near the city. He wasn’t one to prepare separate meals for her, but he often gave her beef jerky as a snack. Surprisingly, all the Squad Members took good care of Aster.
Krais, in particular, was very attentive.
“Lake Panthers sharpen their claws when the time comes. If I take them then, they won’t say anything, right?”
Like shedding fur, they shed their claws. So Krais was being nice for a rational reason.
“You little rascal.”
“Myah.”
It was cute and fascinating how she turned her head away coyly, so he scratched the top of her head a few times with his fingernails before getting up. It was time for breakfast.
“Let’s see how well you do after abandoning me.”
Rem was on breakfast duty this morning. The man glared at him, and seeing it, Enkrid unknowingly threw a punch.
Thwack.
Rem blocked the punch with his palm.
“Would it have been fine if you went with a broken arm? A challenge first thing in the morning.”
“No, I saw your face and it came out reflexively.”
“That feels even worse, you know?”
That was possible. Even though he said that, Rem didn’t attack. It was the day of a mission, after all.
If he went out injured, even a task that could be done might not be. For breakfast, there was a dish of flattened and grilled pork tenderloin mixed with boiled potatoes, and it tasted awful.
“It’s good for the body. Meat makes the muscles strong, brother.”
Hadn’t Audin said that the Technique of Isolation was about building the body, and the completion of building the body was eating? At Audin’s words, Enkrid also forced himself to eat. Even without Audin’s words, he knew well that eating well was important.
After warming up his body with the Technique of Isolation in his spare time, it was time to leave. Enkrid washed himself at the well and packed his gear. He put on the leather armor he had obtained from raiding the Gilfin Guild.
It only covered his torso, but it was thin and flexible, so it wasn’t uncomfortable. As he slung the sheath for his Whistle Dagger over the armor, Jacksen asked from the side.
“What’s that?”
“Got it after killing an assassin before.”
“You’re quite thrifty.”
Was that how it was? In any case, he had kept it because he thought it was a pretty useful tool. With these kinds of weapons, the more you had, the better.
After completing his armament by putting on a thick padded armor, he stepped outside. He walked side-by-side with Jacksen to an inn within the city. Throughout the walk, Jacksen explained things like the proper way to listen and the proper way to see.
And while doing so.
“You’re dull.”
He didn’t forget to add this one phrase. Enkrid still didn’t mind. He had always known that he was dull.
When they arrived at the crossroads centered around four inns, the company commander was already there.
“Has the client arrived?”
Enkrid asked after giving a simplified military salute.
“Not yet. They should be here soon.”
There was a rumor that the client had quite a personality. That’s what Krais had told him. Since taking over the guild, his hearing seemed to have become twice as sharp as before.
‘He said they came to decide on a successor.’
He was curious just how difficult their personality was, but he wasn’t very worried. A ruffian on Rem’s level was not common. Spend just one month in the troublemaker squad.
Any ruffian would start to look cute. Enkrid was unconcerned. Jacksen had no particular thoughts.
To him, a request was just a request. Protect them for three days. Once the succession meeting within the guild was over, the request would end.
All he had to do was guarantee their safety within the city. The information was already logged in his head, so there wasn’t much to think about. The company commander looked at the back of Enkrid’s head and recalled the reason she had brought him along.
The troublemaker squad leader, this man, was an assassination target of Azpen. That was proof that his background was clean. Above all, she liked the way he had dealt with the Thieves' Guild and his response afterward.
He maintained the bribes. He turned the criminal gang into an information guild. Thanks to that, there was no friction with the battalion commander.
She had let him do it, knowing that getting rid of the criminal gang would cause problems. If the bribes had stopped and the higher-ups had made an issue of it, she had been thinking of pulling some strings. But that Squad Leader didn’t even create such a situation.
‘It’s flowing differently than I thought.’
But this wasn’t bad either. While waiting for the client, the company commander opened her mouth.
“Were we in a physical relationship?”
It was Enkrid, who had his hand resting diagonally on his sword grip. His entire body seemed to freeze for a moment. He became like a well-made statue and slowly turned his head to the side to ask.
“What do you mean?”
“If it was loud enough for me to hear, I thought you would already know?”
“It’s a misunderstanding. A groundless rumor. Since things have been so uneventful and quiet lately, some guys are passing the time with nonsense.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“So there’s nothing between us?”
“It is a relationship between a superior and a subordinate.”
“I see.”
He had to pass it off as nonsense. The rumor had certainly spread far and wide.
“Ahem.”
Jacksen cleared his throat beside him. A quick glance showed the corners of his mouth twitching. A sign of holding back laughter.
‘Is this funny?’
He asked with only his lips.
‘I did not laugh.’
Jacksen also replied with his lips. The company commander was an Elf. She read the conversation between the two just by shifting her eyes to the side.
Lip-reading was not a difficult skill for an Elf.
“You seem to be in a predicament.”
“I am not.”
Enkrid’s immediate reply came back.
“You seem to be.”
“I am not.”
“Then did you enjoy it?”
Why was she doing this?
“I did noooot.”
His pronunciation of the answer was strangely drawn out. It would be nice if she would laugh after saying such things, but her face was expressionless. Moreover, she wasn’t even making eye contact, but casting her gaze toward the other side of the city.
‘An Elf’s joke.’
It was hard to get used to.
“They’re coming.”
Enkrid escaped his predicament with Jacksen’s single phrase. He could see the client approaching.
Thump, thump.
As the two-horse carriage approached, the ground shook. Enkrid thought that dealing with the client would be several times more comfortable than dealing with the company commander.
“That was fun.”
The company commander’s whispered muttering from behind sent a chill down Enkrid’s spine. He felt a sudden chill despite wearing a cloak lined with heated leather. Soon the carriage stopped and a person alighted.
It was a little different from Enkrid’s expectation.
‘Not a greedy toad with puffy cheeks.’
It was a woman with a beautiful appearance. Long blonde hair and reddish-brown eyes. A beauty that stood out.
‘Click,’ went the sound of her boot heels hitting the ground.
The woman who stepped down from the carriage looked straight at the Elf Company Commander and said.
“I’ll be in your care.”
There was no need for a separate introduction stating that the escort was from the standing army. From that point on, she only spoke with her own party. A middle-aged woman by her side, a governess, was the only one to convey the client’s intentions.
The blonde woman was said to be just twenty, and it was impossible to tell if her personality was peculiar.
‘I’ll know once we talk.’
They hadn’t even made eye contact once, so what could he say?
“The job should be easy.”
Jacksen said.
Enkrid nodded as well. He had wondered if she would come all alone to request an escort, but she came with five swordsmen as the guild’s escort. Among them, three had shields, and two had thin rapiers.
Enkrid utilized what he had learned.
“Age, posture, positioning, gaze, everything is information, brother.”
Just as Audin had said, he was to draw and speculate on the body’s form based on their posture.
‘Is this right?’
There was no certainty. A Frokk could instinctively gauge an opponent’s skill, but humans couldn’t, which was why knowledge and experience were necessary.
“You’ll get it if you keep doing it, brother.”
Audin had said so, but it didn’t seem like something that could be achieved overnight. There was no impatience. Enkrid was busy calmly observing his opponents.
Among the five, there was one left-hander, and when he sat down at a table, the chair creaked and screamed, so it seemed he was wearing heavy gear. But that didn’t mean anyone was wearing chain mail. It was winter.
In the harsh cold called the end of the four seasons, the final season, wearing armor made of steel? There would be no reason to do so. Moreover, on a path where one had to walk following a carriage for an escort, a thick padded armor would be perfect.
And so they were. His experiences and common sense up to now meshed with what he learned from Audin. He was gauging their skill by looking at the state of their equipment and their posture.
It might not be ten for ten, not all correct, but.
‘All five of them.’
They looked weaker than a frontier garrison soldier. In terms of the soldier ranking system, it meant they were below special-grade. Enkrid reflected on what he had realized.
‘Not bad.’
Gauging skill just by looking at posture and equipment was one of the things he wouldn’t have even dared to do normally. Because he felt this change in himself, Enkrid once again savored the joy of growth today. This kind of joy never got old.
It was always new and thrilling. His swordsmanship, combat techniques, and martial arts were improving, and his skills were getting better. The ecstasy continues.
It is enjoyable. Truly, incomparably enjoyable. Even if there would be no occasion to draw his sword and go on a rampage during this mission.
He felt joy in being able to utilize what he had newly learned and mastered while sitting down.
“Would you like to play a fun game?”
Jacksen’s suggestion landed on top of that. A fun idea, no, a training method.
“It’s a game called sound matching.”
“Let’s do it.”
Just as much as Rem, Ragna, and Audin, Jacksen’s passion for teaching was fierce. A passion like a cold flame that was not visible on the surface. But there was no way not to know it.
As he was the beneficiary of that heat. So this time too, it surely wasn’t a suggestion to just play a game. Enkrid’s guess was correct.
What Jacksen had suggested was one of the training methods to hone the Sense of the Blade. Of course, it was not an easy method.
“The sound of a tongue clicking.”
Jacksen spoke, and Enkrid furrowed his brow.
“Too slow.”
Escort missions were generally tedious. Moreover, this was the Border Guard. The reason they had called for three people, even when the merchant guild had its own personal escort, was obvious.
If they were attacked even after paying krona for an escort, it would be a declaration of picking a fight with the Border Guard’s standing armies. The Border Guard was in the royal direct territories. Touching the kingdom’s soldiers within the direct territories?
Even for the Rengadis Guild, the most prosperous on the continent, famous for its blank notes, it would be a burdensome affair, let alone the client’s mid-sized guild.
“It’s the third man at the table on the left.”
How could he know so accurately just by listening? Enkrid thought he had reached the level of having eyes in the back of his head, but. This was a simple yet difficult game.
Jacksen would say something, and Enkrid, who was focusing on the surrounding sounds, had to guess correctly.
“The sound of a blade being sharpened.”
The kitchen?
No. It’s higher than that. Enkrid even activated Single Point Focus. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.
Even though the warmth from the fireplace heated the interior, the place where Enkrid was had a chill in the air.
“Up.”
“The direction is correct. Which floor?”
The inn where they were had up to three floors. Should he guess? No, that wouldn’t be training.
“It must be room 102.” Jacksen said the correct answer.
The key to this game was time. You had to say it on time. After a few rounds, the company commander approached.
“I’ll join.”
The opponent was an Elf. A race whose five senses were twice as superior as humans. To Enkrid, she seemed even more skilled than Jacksen.
“The sound of a short blade being sheathed and unsheathed, repeatedly.”
Another question was presented. And Enkrid repeatedly missed. The Elf Company Commander answered without even breathing.
“In front of the inn’s entrance.”
“The sound of breathing while covering the mouth.”
No, how did she know something like that? Enkrid was flabbergasted, but the Elf Company Commander’s elegant voice continued to state the correct answers.
“Outside the window.”
“A guy holding his breath while seated.”
“Under the table to the right, facing the entrance.”
“A guy sneakily looking around.”
“Behind you.”
From the middle of it, Enkrid tilted his head. At some point, the questions were no longer about sounds. The client was the heir to a guild.
The guild had even brought its own escort. They had taken over one side of the inn’s main hall as if they had rented it out.
And.
“Attack expected.”
“I agree.”
The moment Enkrid understood the words exchanged between Jacksen and the Elf Company Commander. Jacksen stood up and pushed back the chair he was sitting on.
Scraape! Thud!
“Ugh.”
In Enkrid’s eyes, he saw a man who was hit in the thigh by the back of the chair Jacksen had pushed. He saw the panicked eyes and the knife held in the hand. It was a blackened dagger.
The sound listening training, he had kept his nerves on edge for it. Enkrid saw Jacksen and turned his body around as well. He saw a man with a dagger.
He was just about to stab. Seeing Enkrid suddenly turn, the opponent was startled, his eyes widened, and for a moment, his body froze. In that gap, Enkrid reached out and grabbed the opponent’s wrist.
Crack.
He grabbed it, twisted it outwards, and pulled, while raising his opposite elbow at a right angle.
“Guh.”
With his wrist twisted, the opponent was pulled along helplessly as Enkrid pulled. And so Enkrid struck the center of the opponent’s chest with his elbow.
Crunch.
The opponent’s sternum broke, and he let go of the dagger. Snatching the falling dagger, Enkrid ducked. A dagger flew past the spot where he had been with a whoosh.
The thrown dagger lodged itself in a wooden pillar with a thud. Anyone watching might say he barely dodged it. But Enkrid had expected it.
Meaning, he had dodged it easily.
‘Should I say that all sorts of things come in handy?’
During the assassin’s attack at the medical tent, the attack had been aimed at Krang, but it had to go through Enkrid. He had survived by clawing his way back every time. By repeating today.
Afterward, he had faced the half-elf assassin’s Whistle Dagger. Moreover, this was a recent event. This too, he had repeated today.
He had experienced through countless repetitions what others might experience once or twice in their lives. In other words, it was the sum of all the experiences he had gone through. Now, he had become able to handle this kind of attack with ease.