“So you intended to use Azpen’s name to cover up your crime?”
As Leona asked again, Torres cut her off.
“That’s enough. From here on, this is our business.”
“Is that so? In any case, the misunderstanding is cleared up.”
Leona beamed.
It was a smile that said, ‘I’m pure, I’m innocent, I know nothing.’ Of course, she knew everything, and she was far from innocent. Instead of replying, Torres grabbed the man’s shoulder and said, “Let’s go.”
He didn’t even offer a word of parting to Enkrid. He simply shoved the man with the ruined face forward and glared.
“P-p-please, sp-sp-spare me.”
“Shut it. You’re nothing but an enemy spy.”
“Everything I know, I’ll tell you everything. I’m not a spy. There’s been a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding.”
“Don’t you worry. We’ll cut out your tongue last.”
At Torres’s words, the man’s legs gave out, but he didn’t even have the freedom to fall. Two squad members on either side of him immediately hooked their arms under his and practically carried him away. Judging by Torres’s attitude, he seemed irritated that things hadn’t gone as he’d expected.
‘A battle of wits was taking place.’
Lost in my obsession with the sword, I failed to see the bigger picture. Only now were things becoming clear. Why didn’t Leona pin the crime on Polid?
What would happen if it were revealed that Polid had ordered it?
‘Would Polid be solely responsible, or would the Lockfreed Guild also bear some responsibility?’
If the guild were to be held accountable, would it be more advantageous for Leona to admit it or deny it? If the guild was securely hers, denying it would be the better choice. That is, if she didn't need this incident to get rid of a fool like Polid.
Enkrid had thought Leona would make a sacrifice for the sake of her succession and take Polid down. If that had happened, the Border Guard would have used the fact that a member of the Lockfreed Guild had ordered an assassination as leverage to demand compensation.
After all, the city’s honor had been tarnished by an incident instigated by the guild. The city’s honor was the troop’s honor, so they could have squeezed a hefty sum out of it.
‘Did she make this decision for the sake of the guild?’
Was it because she cherished her guild that much?
“What is it? Have you suddenly fallen for my beauty?”
Enkrid realized he had been staring blankly at her face. What in the world was this woman? Her face was twice as bright as when she had slapped Polid’s cheek.
An effortless confidence emanated from her. Yet even as she displayed such ease, there was no opening in her posture. It was the face of a merchant who had finished her calculations.
Her attitude suggested that no part of the guild needed to be sacrificed. Surely, she had something she was counting on. And it wasn't the Border Guard’s standing army.
She was a truly strange woman.
“No, milady.”
Enkrid gave the answer he was supposed to give. Regardless of her thoughts, attitude, or intentions, all he had to do was carry out his mission.
“What a shame.”
Leona smiled.
Did I think her beauty didn't suit a spider? I needed to correct that thought. Looking at her now, wasn't it a perfect match?
The smile she wore now, having shed the mask of innocence, was that of a spider with its prey in its jaws.
“Thank you for everything.”
The job was nearing its end. Leona spoke as she emerged from the inn with her luggage. Beside her, Polid was smirking.
In reality, he hadn't won the argument with Leona about the succession, nor had his planned assassination succeeded. Yet he wore a grin. That smile seemed to say that he was now the master of the guild.
“Hey, soldier! One day, you'll be clinging to my legs, begging me.”
‘At first, I think he was picking a fight with Jacksen.’
At some point, he had turned his aim toward Enkrid. Time and again, he tried to provoke Enkrid.
‘Should I have just ignored him?’
Was this a problem created by kindness? The thought crossed his mind. Polid’s face looked like a textbook example of a triumphant expression.
A smiling mouth, eyes full of conviction, and even flaring nostrils from his inner excitement.
“I can't let you cling to my legs, but I could cut off your ankles.”
Enkrid muttered to himself, not wanting to give the man an opening to reply. Only Jacksen, the company commander, and Leona, who was nearby, heard him.
“You might as well cut his throat. It’d be faster,” Jacksen advised.
“So popular with the men too, soldier,” the company commander teased.
“I feel strangely sorry,” Leona apologized.
“Huh? What did you just say?”
Polid asked, not having heard Enkrid's mutter. Enkrid cleanly ignored him. He should never have shown him any kindness from the start.
Being ignored, Polid threw a small tantrum but quickly calmed down. A man with plain features behind him tugged on his collar. He immediately reigned in his temper.
Afterward, Polid once again expressed his confidence by glaring at them.
‘Anyone can see he’s prepared something.’
It was obvious what that preparation was, even without him saying it. No more disturbances would be tolerated within the Border Guard.
‘He’ll probably try to kill me as soon as we leave.’
Looking at the faces of Leona’s party gathered in front of the inn, Enkrid wondered if they could really handle their opponents. As he was lost in thought for a moment, Leona came up beside him and said, “I feel like I’m being escorted.”
It wasn’t a feeling of being escorted; it was something they actually had to do as part of their guard duty. While Polid foolishly revealed his intentions, Leona was the opposite. What was she counting on?
He was beginning to grow curious. Not a hint of worry could be seen in Leona’s demeanor.
“I will not forget the grace of you saving my life. In the future, if the opportunity arises, I will surely repay you.”
The female guard, whose life had been barely saved from the retired soldier assassin on the second floor, also approached and spoke.
“Yes.”
Enkrid didn't pay it much mind. In this vast continent, how likely was it that they would ever meet again? However, the thoughts of those watching were different.
The two squads that had been guarding the entire inn were still nearby. They had joined the escort mission while they were at it. It was their responsibility for the incident that occurred within the Border Guard.
“Sowing rumors of love with every passing woman.”
“Casting the poison of your charm on every woman you brush past.”
“Your name shall be known as the Enchanting Squad Leader.”
But were they doing their jobs? No, they were just sitting around, composing verses.
“... What are they doing?” the female guard asked, her face turning red.
“They’re practicing because they all want to become bards after they retire. Just leave them be,” Enkrid said, just spouting whatever came to mind.
In the meantime, the company commander sidled up to Leona and whispered. His sensitive hearing caught her words.
“You’d best be careful. That soldier has a tendency to knock every woman he lays his eyes on flat on her back.”
What was he knocking flat? Enkrid hadn't even caught a whiff of a woman’s powder recently. A whirlwind of frantic events had been sweeping over him.
“Are you not leaving? I believe it’s time for you to get lost.”
Enkrid politely saw off the soldiers from the two squads. As if they really planned to become bards after retirement, they instantly created and sang a song about the Enchanting Squad Leader. They were madmen.
While Torres’s side, the frontier garrison, left with headaches from this incident, this group of soldiers was carefree. It was understandable. They were just doing what they were told.
Thinking of the frontier garrison, he was once again struck by Leona’s skill.
‘Did she put the Border Guard in her debt with this?’
She had overturned the situation with just a few words. Though it was uncertain if the Border Guard would acknowledge it within their ranks. She had framed the attack as a matter of the city's internal security.
If the attack had been born from the guild's succession issue, it would be the Lockfreed Guild's responsibility. If they attacked for the krona, it became a problem of the city's security management.
‘This is unbelievable.’
Everyone knew Polid had ordered it, but the intended target herself denied it. Should this be called a natural-born merchant? It was only because the conclusion was known that he could see it; otherwise, it was a story he would have missed completely.
Well, after Torres left, Krais, who had remained at the inn, had filled him in.
“In the end, the Border Guard will probably deny it too. But the situation is advantageous for them. Aren’t they Azpen’s spy unit?”
When Enkrid asked why that was a disadvantage, Krais had explained smoothly.
“If we were to assign responsibility for a problem caused by an Azpen spy, who would that favor? An Azpen spy targeting the guild’s krona, or an Azpen spy trying to cause discord within the city—which story would you want to give more weight to?”
Krais’s words made sense. The moment the name Azpen came up, the situation had turned in the guild's favor. In the end, it was all thanks to the spy who died screaming for the glory of his motherland.
Listening to the story, Enkrid realized that Krais’s mind worked just as sharply as Leona’s. He already knew he was smart, but still.
‘He seems to be on par with the heir of a major guild.’
It was just a fleeting thought. What good was a sharp mind? Krais’s dream was to open a salon to swindle noblewomen.
Walking along, lost in various thoughts, they soon arrived at the city gate. A soldier on guard duty saw Enkrid and his party approaching and turned around.
“Your name was Enkrid, right?”
As he was watching them, the swordsman from Polid’s side, who had approached at some point, spoke to him.
“I didn’t catch your name.”
“My apologies for that. I’m not in a position to reveal my name here.”
“...”
Seeing him approach so suddenly and start talking, the swordsman spoke toward Enkrid’s back.
“I just want to say a few words. Sheathe your killing intent.”
To Enkrid’s right, Jacksen had sidled up close at some point.
“You’re quite sensitive. Killing intent, you say,” Jacksen replied.
The same man who had so thoroughly ignored Polid was now quick to respond.
“Don't worry. It’s easy to cut a man’s throat even without killing intent.”
The company commander, who had appeared out of nowhere, stood behind Polid’s swordsman. The swordsman glanced at them both once, then neatly ignored them and looked at Enkrid.
“Put down your sword.”
The words came out of the blue.
“There are things in this world that cannot be achieved by passion alone.”
It was something Enkrid hadn't heard in a very long time.
Give up.
You have no talent. It's a waste of time. It's like walking a path that leads nowhere.
Do you have to be hit to know it hurts? Don’t you know by now that being cut by a blade is painful? The more time you pour into training, the more you should realize how meager your talent is, so why can't you feel it?
Couldn't feel it? No, he knew. Words he had heard countless times.
Even if a few words didn't plunge him into a swamp of frustration and despair, Enkrid knew. That he could never become a knight. Yes, there was a time like that.
Still, he swung his sword. Still, he did not give up. He had lived simply holding onto the tattered fragments of a torn dream.
He couldn't even see what the wall blocking his way looked like. His surroundings were pitch black. Even in those times, he had lived, swinging his sword until his palms burst.
Would hearing such words now change anything? Heart of the Beast, Sense of the Blade, Single Point Focus, Technique of Isolation. The fundamentals of swordsmanship, including the Heavy Sword Style.
The applications of the Vallen-style mercenary swordsmanship. Today repeats, training continues, skill grows. What might seem like a half-step slower than a tortoise in someone else's eyes was, to Enkrid, a more meaningful half-step than any in his past.
And so, without realizing it, he smiled.
“Are you smiling?” the swordsman murmured upon seeing it.
“Unnecessary worry,” Jacksen added.
The company commander watched Enkrid in silence. The swordsman wanted an answer, and Enkrid gave him the one he yearned for.
“Next time we meet, I might win.”
It is arrogant to predict another’s future.
Enkrid said.
“I see.”
The swordsman didn't bother forcing his opinion on someone who had closed his ears and turned away. It was a small commotion that had occurred before the city gate.
“You’ve all worked very hard.”
It was when they reached the city wall. Leona turned around and spoke to Enkrid and the others. It was the moment he thought they were leaving for good.
Enkrid saw a guard turning his head back and forth, looking between their group and the outside. He looked troubled. Wondering why, Enkrid saw the armed group arrayed outside the city wall.
The moment he saw them, he knew. If the other side had brought force, what should this side present? This was the card Leona was counting on.
They were outside the walls.
“Matthis of the Lockfreed Guild escort force is here.”
He was the only one who had come inside the walls. He was a man with a neatly trimmed mustache. His steps seemed light, and dust had settled on the shoulders of his coat.
Without force to back it up, a guild cannot establish its name on the continent. Unless you wanted to be picked clean by bandits, mountain rogues, monsters, and beasts, left to trade with nothing but bones, force was essential. The man who had stepped forward was responsible for the Lockfreed Guild’s military power.
He approached, and by his mere presence, drew everyone’s gaze. Enkrid felt a strange sensation. His vision was filled with only the man named Matthis.
He couldn't see anything else. His presence was different. He pulled everyone’s attention with his presence alone.
“Some interesting friends are with you.”
He said as much, then knelt on one knee before Leona.
“The escort force has arrived, Guild Master,” the man said to Leona.
Only then was Enkrid able to cast his gaze behind him. The Lockfreed Guild’s escort force. He could see an armed force of more than thirty men lined up outside the city gate.