"Why do I feel so bad?"
Rem muttered as he watched the departing group. Audin, who was chuckling beside him, said,
"He must have had some sort of epiphany."
He was referring to Ragna's state.
"Isn't he just crazy?"
"That could be it."
Rem said, glancing at Audin. Last night, before Enkrid left, Rem had seen him spar with Audin. To be precise, Enkrid had suddenly come and requested it.
"I'd like to have one match before I go."
Leaving tomorrow but asking for a spar today? It was nothing out of the ordinary for Enkrid.
Rem watched with a relaxed mind, but Enkrid lost. He didn't just lose; he got beaten up soundly.
Partway through, Audin, understanding the purpose of the spar, asked.
"Did you learn a lot?"
"A little."
In Rem's eyes, the man named Enkrid was the type who, even on his deathbed, would learn one more sword technique if he could before dying.
It was a spontaneous thought, but it was correct. Enkrid had repeated today by dying, and it was through such struggles that he had reached the present.
"Did you say you block with waves and strike with light?"
"Yeah."
"In that process, you'll be revealing your specialty without restraint, won't you?"
"I suppose so."
"From a strategic standpoint, that's a foolish thing to do. But you're not unaware that this doesn't mean it's wrong, are you?"
Rem agreed with those words. Still, he didn't join the conversation. The fanatical bear-man had said all that was necessary.
Enkrid nodded, the area around his eyes bruised blue. If he had been hit just a little differently, his eyeball might have burst, but his body was also like iron armor.
When swinging a sword, Enkrid hadn't reached the advanced level within the system he had established, but when taking a hit, he had.
He had reached a level where he could instinctively raise his Will and protect his body.
How is it that only that part works?
'Because he's been beaten countless times.'
That was Rem's conclusion. He had been hit so often that when he was about to be hit, he used Will unconsciously. Therefore, he just needed to do the same when swinging his sword.
To Rem, Audin, Jaxen, and Ragna, it was strange that he couldn't.
If you can open a door with your left hand, you should be able to open it with your right.
But he couldn't.
It would be frustrating to see someone who had become a knight and had, at certain moments, surpassed him, grow so slowly, but honestly, it didn't make him that angry.
It was because he had long since acknowledged that he was a man of a different caliber.
"He'll come back stronger."
Rem said, pushing his thoughts aside. Slow, but steady. Enkrid was that kind of man.
"Yes, I know."
Audin nodded.
"And that directionally challenged bastard might be preparing to die, so we might have to prepare a funeral prayer."
Rem spoke half in jest and half with malice, but his intuition was frighteningly sharp.
Ragna had changed after recognizing he had an illness.
"Surely not."
Audin knew of Ragna's talent. He himself was praised as having the greatest talent as an Apostle of War, but even compared to himself, Ragna had a special sense.
His method of understanding principles and advancing through a moment's concentration was difficult to imitate. Not that there was any reason to be jealous.
Audin knew himself well, and he knew well that he must cherish what he had.
He only knew how to move forward steadily, so today he would just do that.
And the Commander, who had accepted his teachings, would do the same.
Enkrid and his party left the city and moved on, roughly setting a direction.
The weather was very good from the first day. This was to be expected.
From the Border Guard northwards, precipitation drops sharply in the spring. In other words, it didn't rain often. When summer came, storms would rage, but for now, it was a succession of wonderfully warm and peaceful days.
Even if a spring drizzle sometimes fell, it was rare for it to pour down.
There was a saying that the longer the spring drought, the stronger the summer storms, but that was something they would only know when the time came.
"We'll ride for a bit, and around the right wing of the Pen-Hanil Mountains—ah, you guys don't call it that. We call that area the wing. We should be able to cross over there."
The only commotion at the start was stopping Ragna, who insisted on taking the lead.
"If you take the lead, we'll have to circumnavigate the continent starting now."
Enkrid made Ragna face reality.
"Hey, was it Sena? Stop him."
Beside them, Grida urged Anne.
"It's Anne. I'm tired of telling you my name. It's been more than five times already."
"Ah, sorry, I'll call you Freckles."
"I hate that even more."
Anne smoothly received Grida's words and pulled Ragna back.
"Just match my horse's pace. I'm not used to this."
Watching her ride, it seemed she was past familiarity and into proficiency, but Ragna didn't insist.
"This is not the time to be concerned with trivial matters."
This was the story just after leaving the city. Following that, Magrun spurred his horse on.
"Hiyah, hyah! Hyaat!"
Odinkar and Grida matched his speed, and Enkrid did the same. It was only natural that Ragna and Anne followed suit.
They weren't particularly busy or on urgent business, but they began a forced march.
"Why waste time on the road? We can't ride for even ten days anyway. Until then, it's right to run and run."
That was Magrun's explanation. These people inherently loathed wasting time on the road.
They were the type to rather run hard during the day and swing their swords one more time at night.
For Enkrid, it was an extremely satisfying schedule, and for Anne, it was nothing short of hell.
"Are you all crazy?"
Yet, Anne followed well. It was because she wanted to confirm the identity of the disease as quickly as she had said.
To be more precise, it was as if she was going to kill the disease.
Anne had that kind of momentum. She looked as if she had made up her mind to fight this disease and win.
"I just made that kind of resolution. If this damn disease is still tormenting or killing someone, I will definitely be there."
She had said this to Ragna along with a short reflection. Enkrid had heard it clearly too.
Anyway, as time passed while they rode during the day and rested at night, Enkrid would often sink into himself and organize his thoughts.
He sometimes felt his mind spinning at full speed when he moved like this without a care in the world.
Ragna was left to Anne, Magrun took charge as the guide, and Grida handled the camping on her own.
With all such trivial thoughts cleared away, what now occupied his mind were the things Audin had shown him.
He hadn't spent time sparring before leaving for no reason.
Enkrid felt his shortcomings in the realm of instinct, and he confirmed them through Audin.
'Everyone comes up with a way to block my specialty too easily.'
Though limited to sparring, if this repeated, it would affect real combat.
It meant he could lose a fight he should win.
Rem, Ragna, Audin, and Jaxen had all broken his Wave-Blocking Sword, and Grida had deciphered his calculations.
Odinkar's sword was also showing such a tendency, and he felt it while talking with Magrun as well.
"You're just a bit predictable."
Grida had said something like this. Her powers of observation were special.
Would Luagarne have said something similar if she were here?
Regardless of skill, that Frog's insight was extraordinary.
He hadn't seen Luagarne, who had left with Teresa and Shinar for some special training, even on the day he departed.
He thought and thought again.
Enkrid replayed the moment of his final spar with Audin over several thoughts.
Audin favored a tactic of intentionally showing and patching up openings in his offense and defense with his Divine Armor, but that wasn't because he lacked skill.
'Deception.'
He intentionally shows an opening and deliberately leaves a weak point.
He uses that deception as one of his techniques. The moment anyone thought Audin was dull, they would not be able to defeat him.
He was stronger, more skilled in calculation, and more technically gifted than anyone in the unit, yet he did not hesitate to deceive.
Just because one's specialty is outstanding, should one fight with that alone?
What about Jamal from the Aspen Royal Guard?
'He showed his true methods later.'
It doesn't mean he had to master a deceptive sword first. It means he had to know how to use everything he had.
Once, Oara had looked at him and called his style cluttered. She had told him to discard things.
Was it greed to combine them without discarding them back then? Had he taken the wrong path?
Enkrid was human too.
Sometimes, a certain anxiety would envelop him.
A tingling sensation ran over his skin. An unpleasant premonition made his heart pound. Of course, it was only for a moment.
If he had stopped, pushed back by such anxiety, he would have long since settled for the 'best possible today.'
When anxious, what should one do?
Swing the sword. A fact he knew from countless experiences.
There was nothing else he could do anyway.
This was why he organized his thoughts in his head during the day and swung his sword alone at night.
To someone watching from the side, it was a steadfast routine to the point of being tiresome.
"Today's effort will save your life tomorrow."
These were the words of Ragna, who had gone from a slacker to diligence itself. Of course, everyone who heard this just looked at him with bewildered eyes.
"I know."
Only Enkrid answered calmly and just swung his sword again and again.
Magrun watched Enkrid and thought it was truly strange.
'Is he going to die tomorrow?'
He himself might. This curse was usually like that. It starts in childhood and you gradually die. He was one of those whose progression was a bit faster. That was why there were things he wanted to leave behind. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say his entire life was for that.
A life to leave his mark on Zaun.
That was the life of Magrun Zaun.
But even he didn't follow such a grueling schedule. Moreover, that man had been like this since the city.
He spends every day with the same intensity that he himself wouldn't attempt. He does what one wouldn't dare to dream of, as if it were nothing. There was no way it wouldn't be strange.
"Magrun, if you're not busy, how about a round?"
In the evening, he would even ask him for a spar. In terms of skill, it was difficult for him to win. He already knew. It was a wall he couldn't overcome even if he came at it prepared to die.
That Rem bastard is amazing, but when it comes to just sparring, this one is even more amazing.
Magrun, despite his harsh words, was quick to acknowledge others. That was his great strength.
Also, because of that, his eye for dissecting techniques had opened, and he could learn new techniques faster than others.
Thus, Magrun was known for his natural aptitude for learning.
'On the other hand, this guy is slow.'
He had seen countless geniuses. Growing up in Zaun, it was inevitable.
None of them possessed a talent as dull as the man before him. But despite that, this man was more amazing. Magrun thought so.
"Anytime."
Clang!
The swords clashed, starting the spar. At the end of a short exchange, he was the one who won. The first reason he found him amazing was this.
"I lost."
Enkrid knows how to lose.
"Right."
Magrun nodded. Then Enkrid asks.
"Anything to tell me?"
"There are a few things."
Magrun calmly recited a few things he had seen and felt. Enkrid asked back a few times, mulled it over, and nodded.
Yes, he could forget everything else. But he couldn't help but acknowledge his ability to lose and his current attitude, regardless of skill.
'He opens his heart and completely opens his eyes.'
He asks for help to learn even one thing. He doesn't grovel or act servile, nor does he try to flatter and curry favor.
There is only sincerity. He listens properly, asks, and requests.
Is such an exchange normally possible with an opponent weaker than oneself?
It's not easy. It really wasn't easy. He had never seen it in Zaun.
Normally, the one who is further ahead leads the one who has fallen behind.
In Zaun, where competition is fundamental, that is emphasized even more.
But Enkrid could do it. He knew how to lose, and he opened his ears to his shortcomings, acknowledged them, and accepted them.
How could this not be amazing?
Magrun wasn't the only one who felt that way. Odinkar was similar. Grida was a given.
Ragna even pushed Enkrid purposefully at times.
"If you act half-heartedly while trying to hide your specialty, it ends there. Don't you know? If you don't, you can just do it again. Again!"
Ragna, too, was burning with an unprecedented passion.
If Shinar had seen it, she would have called it the time of the burning Igniculus, the ember.
Enkrid did not waste a moment during the entire journey.
He did so throughout the entire ride. Also, since this area had no established safe roads or outposts, the occasional monsters and beasts were good sparring partners and sacrifices.
Watching others fight was a study, and it was also good to fight himself while reviewing what he had learned.
It was around the time the horse journey was reaching its end.
Technique, skill, physical ability, tactical thinking, strategic planning, cognitive ability and judgment, instantaneous responsiveness, decisiveness, and boldness.
Enkrid realized that everything had to be harmonized to have meaning.
'To harmonize.'
What must he do for that?
Dozens of images and memories flash through his mind. In the realm of thought, amidst review and contemplation, the scope of his thinking opens wide. The process of finding answers in past memories was abbreviated, and he reached a conclusion in an instant, arriving at his destination.
'The touch of a hand grilling jerky.'
It was something that had sprung up from a corner of his library of memories, shyly hidden away.
In that shy memory, Aetri's hammering, the touch of the Frog next to him, the giant who had become a skilled merchant, the master making marmalade, and the cobbler sewing shoes all came to mind.