‘Heat.’
An explosion.
He replayed the final moment again and again. It had all happened in the blink of an eye. During the half-elf's assassination attempt, he had at least exchanged a few words before dying.
This time, there was nothing of the sort. All that remained was the searing pain from the intense heat, the agony of a fiery death. Being stabbed by a sword or spear felt like being pierced with a red-hot iron skewer.
This time, he had truly burned to death.
‘A trap? Seeing as it exploded, it must be a magic trap.’
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“About taking on a request.”
After finishing breakfast and retorting to Rem, he once again went to pick up a new request.
“Please, I’m begging you. Just do this one thing.”
As expected, it was the Sewing Squad Leader who made the plea. This bastard, was he sending him knowing the situation over there? But the dark circles under his eyes suggested otherwise; he showed no sign of playing a prank.
He just looked like a soldier worn down by fatigue.
“Seems like you’ve been busy lately?”
“The number of troublemakers at night has gone down, but recently, the number of external monsters has increased, so a lot of troops are being sent that way.”
He looked utterly dejected. His words felt sincere. Even if he was being deceived, Enkrid could just refuse the request.
And even if he accepted, as long as he didn’t step inside the shoe shop, the same thing wouldn’t happen. So, he could just ignore it.
‘It seems like a wall I can easily avoid.’
Thinking this, Enkrid asked.
“What if I don’t go?”
“Then it’ll just have to wait.”
There were mandatory requests that soldiers in the unit had to complete, but there were also those that were not. This was something he could ignore.
“Yeah, you don’t have to go. But that old man at the shoe shop isn’t the type to talk nonsense. I wish I could go myself, but the Platoon Leader keeps giving me the side-eye, so I can’t get away.”
This also seemed sincere. As he was lost in thought and his reply was delayed, the Sewing Squad Leader spoke again.
“Hey, you remember me, right? That bundle of leather back then, yeah?”
“I remember.”
After returning to the city, Enkrid had wondered if the man was living with a bottle glued to his lips, but here he was, working hard.
“I’m just worried, so please check it out. He’s an old man I’ve known since I was a kid.”
“Alright.”
Let’s just go. He would go and at least check what was going on. If it were a normal trap, a poisoned dart or something similar would have flown out, not a fire explosion.
There was no sound or sign of a trap activating. That meant it had to be magic.
‘If it’s magic.’
There was nothing he could do. It wasn't a problem he could solve just by thinking about it. Lost in thought as he walked, he arrived at the shoe shop a little later than before.
There was no answer when he knocked.
“Border Guard’s standing army. Please open up.”
He knocked harder than before and called out, and only then did the door open. Beyond the door, instead of the craftsman, stood a young woman. She had long, braided brown hair and a face full of freckles.
“The standing army?” the woman said, her eyes wide as a deer’s. “I’m here about a request.”
He spoke briefly and looked inside, but the craftsman was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was just an empty hole in the floor.
“Uh, well, my father said there was something under the shop and went in there.”
Damn it.
Enkrid muttered to himself.
“One moment.”
He half-pushed the startled shoemaker’s daughter aside and went inside.
Crumble.
He could see dirt crumbling into the opened hole.
‘So damn impatient.’
The craftsman couldn’t wait for the standing army and went in first. Or maybe he thought no one would come at all. He probably expected that a soldier wouldn't come so easily for something like this.
“It’s dangerous, right? I told him not to go in.”
The freckled woman had a distressed look on her face. Then, she clenched her jaw and said.
“I’ll have to go in and bring him out.”
“I’ll go, so please wait here.”
“No. I have to go too.”
She didn’t seem like she would listen to reason. More importantly, he had to get there quickly and stop that explosion. Instead of trying to persuade her, Enkrid leaped into the hole in one motion.
He placed a hand on the edge and slid his left foot in first, going down the tunnel’s slope. Every movement was natural. Controlling his entire body had become easier with the Technique of Isolation, so he could feel the improvement in his physical abilities even in simple movements.
Of course, now was not the time for such thoughts. As soon as he reached the bottom of the slope, Enkrid’s trained ears caught the sound of footsteps. Casting his gaze forward, he saw the craftsman fumbling his way into the first passage.
The craftsman’s daughter followed behind Enkrid and tried to pass him.
“Dad!”
Enkrid grabbed the daughter by the waist and, as if tossing her, set her down behind him, shouting.
“Stop!”
The craftsman turned around. His face was a mixture of tension and confusion. His foot had already left the ground.
He took the step. Enkrid felt the air compress, crushing his body, accompanied by a deafening roar. It was all over in an instant.
Flames, fire, explosion.
Fwoosh.
“Gah!”
Along with the craftsman’s barely uttered final scream, the flames that erupted incinerated Enkrid’s body. The craftsman, and his daughter behind him.
Boom!
As he died, Enkrid thought that the blast's shockwave would surge upward. A futile death. As he endured and overcame the pain, darkness passed.
He traversed the dream-like black river and opened his eyes once more to greet the morning.
“Did you have a bad dream or something?”
Rem asked from beside him. He couldn’t exactly call it a good dream. In the dream, the Ferryman of the Black River had been grinning from ear to ear.
In the past, when he repeated the day, it felt like he had started and ended everything with his own hands. This time, there was a sense of injustice. He couldn't shake the feeling that it was beyond his control.
‘Does this mean he’s going to his death if I leave him be?’
The father first, then the daughter. How far would the aftermath reach? That wasn’t his concern.
The moment they died, it would be a failure.
‘I could just turn a blind eye.’
If Enkrid looked away, those two would die. They would certainly die. So, was that a problem?
It was a world of killing and being killed. These were such times. Having made a living by fighting on the battlefield, Enkrid himself had killed countless people.
However.
‘Those people didn’t step onto a battlefield of killing and being killed.’
They were just people trying to run their shop. Enkrid knew that the knight of his dreams was not some great figure endowed with the chivalry sung by bards. He had to follow reality.
As much as the world had changed.
Even so.
‘I don’t want to lose.’
He could just turn away and walk away from this. What’s the big deal? It would only be the death of a craftsman and his daughter.
It just so happened that it was happening right in front of Enkrid's eyes. And the only one who knew they would die was Enkrid alone. If this was war, if it was something he couldn't stop with his own hands.
Yes, then maybe he should let it be.
However.
‘I can stop it.’
Then he couldn't just leave it alone. Because he could stop it. He wouldn't call this chivalry.
He'd just call it stubbornness. But that didn't mean the chivalry Enkrid knew was tarnished. Even if no one knew, if there was something he had to protect, he would protect it.
That was the knight Enkrid knew. Because a dreamer cannot betray his dream. Enkrid had to go there, to see the craftsman and his daughter.
“Damn it.”
Enkrid began the day, showing rare annoyance. He was displeased with his own slow steps from yesterday that had led to the deaths of the craftsman and his daughter.
“Must’ve had a seriously unlucky dream.”
Rem muttered from behind him. Starting the day anew, Enkrid agonized all the way from finishing his meal to going to get the request.
‘Do I have to go into the passages one by one?’
There could be nothing more tedious. He didn't even know how many traps were in the passages. But it was also true that no other method came to mind.
And it wasn't like he could take any of his squad members with him.
‘If I told them a shoemaker thinks there’s an undead monster under his shop and asked them to come along, what would they think?’
Setting aside the teasing, it was unlikely anyone would come. He could force them to, but. Enkrid didn't feel like it.
Would he cling to his squad members every time something happened? Or would he overcome it alone? Was the dream he so longed for really about standing behind someone and running his mouth?
Or was it about standing at the forefront, swinging a sword? He didn't know if this job would involve using a sword, but.
‘I’ll do it alone. I’ll protect them.’
This was not a matter to lean on his squad for.
“I’m worried about that old man from the shoe shop, you know me, right?”
“I know. Was the snake wine good?”
“It was delicious.”
After receiving the request again from the lip-smacking Sewing Squad Leader, he immediately walked at a running pace.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?”
Jacksen asked from behind just as he was leaving.
“To a shoe shop to save some unlucky commoner.”
“... Are shoes and boots tormenting a commoner?”
No, the underground passage is. Enkrid answered only in his mind and went straight to the shoe shop. Even before he reached the door, the sound of the craftsman swinging a hammer at the floor, a loud banging, greeted him first.
Thump, thump!
Enkrid pounded on the door to announce his arrival, and the craftsman came out, sweat beading on his forehead.
“Here, look. The hole is there!”
“I see it. A hole. Let’s have a look.”
He went and helped with the work of opening the hole completely. They struck it with a hammer and used a thick iron bar as a lever to lift the plank. That was the hole they made.
“I’ll go take a look, so you wait here.”
“Uh, well, what if a monster comes out?”
“I’ll handle it.”
Before going down, he lit a torch with a flint.
Fwoosh.
It felt like he would have a fit just by looking at fire. Twice was enough for the experience of being burned to death. The moment he stepped down, Enkrid felt a strange sensation.
It was an instinctive revulsion brought on by the fear of death. Enkrid did not want to enter that passage. But he didn't turn back.
He easily overcame it and moved forward. If he turned away because he didn't like it. He would live a life of running away forever.
He had run away many times to survive. And he regretted it every time. He didn't want to experience that regret again.
Therefore, Enkrid does not turn back. He heads forward. Taking a large step, the first passage was more unpleasant the more he looked at it.
Five more passages remained out of the six.
‘Where is it.’
It was unlikely that someone would create a proper passage and then fill all of them with traps. Would the second one be alright? Enkrid cautiously raised the torch and meticulously inspected the floor, walls, and even the ceiling.
Nothing particularly stood out. There were only crossroads that looked no different from each other. The size of the passages was also similar.
The insides were dark, and he couldn't see the end. Who was the madman who created such a space under the city? It seemed like it could even connect to the sewers.
Thud.
Dust and dirt fell from above. It didn't seem like a hastily made passage. Would it suddenly collapse and crush him to death?
In any case, now was the time to inspect the inside. He couldn't help but wonder about the face of the person who made this.
‘Here I go.’
The second passage at the crossroads.
‘If I enter the first one, flames will engulf me.’
What about this one? The moment he stood before the second passage, Enkrid wanted to turn back due to the unpleasant feeling that rose up again, but he ignored it and took another step. The first step, taken with tension, brought no abnormalities.
No explosion, no flames, nothing else. Enkrid cautiously surveyed his surroundings. He raised the torch and once again meticulously observed all sides.
This was the conclusion he reached.
‘It’s not like I can tell just by looking.’
His time was already packed with just focusing on the sword. He had seen dungeon exploration over the shoulders of others while working as a mercenary, but he lacked the knowledge to inspect traps. That was something only those who were properly trained could do.
Therefore.
‘There’s no answer to this.’
He had no choice but to move forward. A sense of foreboding pressed down on his entire body. It felt as if a monster was waiting for him with its mouth wide open.
It felt like sticking his head into a monster's mouth, completely defenseless. He was about to overcome it and move forward when.
“What are you doing now?”
The craftsman, who had followed him down at some point, asked from behind. At that one phrase, his sixth sense, which had been sharply honed to feel the sense of foreboding, dulled, and taking one more step forward no longer felt like such a big deal. The things he had felt just a moment ago became faint and blurry.
“Don’t come any closer.”
Being burned to death with the craftsman once was enough. As he took another step, he felt a strange sensation again. He couldn't pinpoint it, but it was still a similar feeling.
Stemming from a sense of foreboding, as if he had made a mistake.
‘A step I shouldn't have taken.’
The thought that suddenly came to him was the answer.
Whump.
It was the same as the first passage. Explosion, pressure, flames. He didn't know what was hidden at the end of this passage.
But it was clear that a vicious trap had been prepared.
Booooom.
He burned to death with the noise and flames. Of course, he didn't just die.
‘Ah.’
As he was dying, Enkrid let out a short, internal gasp. Regardless of the pain, the beast’s boldness became the foundation that allowed him to clearly judge the sensations he was currently feeling. As he concluded his third today, Enkrid unexpectedly felt something.
And so, he greeted his fourth today.