Chapter 139 - Morning of the Eighth Day

Balaf Style Massage Technique.

That was the true name of blood, sweat, and tears.

“May I ask what else that man Balaf created besides combat techniques and massage?”

“He also developed blunt weapon techniques, but those were actually so poor that they are said to have died out now. Aside from that, he compiled many documents, including interpretations of scripture.”

Balaf was a fairly famous great man in the temple Audin believed in.

He belonged to the realm of legend, so most people did not know his name unless they studied separately.

In other words, to those connected to the god he served, it was a fairly familiar name.

Of course, it was now a familiar name to Encrid as well.

Audin’s hands pressed down again and again.

At first, he had nearly gone boating with the Boatswain of the Black River.

But after taking one deep breath and enduring it, it became bearable.

“Originally, you press the area with the greatest pain first.”

As he said that, Audin smiled brightly once again.

“Then you gradually move to places that cause less pain. If you do that.”

“Mm.”

“The knotted muscles loosen.”

His body grew languid. Each time those thick bear-like hands touched his body, his muscles loosened strand by strand.

Would this be useful if he learned it properly?

His muscles, trembling from the Heart of Monstrous Strength and burdened under the strain, had felt as if they were cramping, but now they began to loosen.

At the same time, the pain also subsided.

“You must rest well for today.”

It seemed he would have to.

The Heart of Monstrous Strength—he had learned it properly, but.

If he used it recklessly, it placed a burden on his body.

Encrid once again glimpsed how incredible knights were.

They were people who had surpassed human limits even without such techniques.

Their shell was human, but they wielded the strength of giants, showed the athletic ability of Frogs, and possessed the sensitivity of Fairies as well.

Such people were knights.

And into Encrid’s faded dream, a ray of dawn was now quietly slipping in.

“Why is no one stopping me from using two swords?”

Once he grew languid, the words suddenly came out.

Was this the right path, or the wrong one?

It seemed like someone could have said a word about it, yet everyone was silent.

Even Ragna had gone so far as to suggest that he use a sword and shield.

“Why do you think that is, Brother?”

Perhaps it was a habit from when he had been a priest, but Audin often threw questions back like that.

“I’m asking because I don’t know.”

Because he was lying facedown, Encrid’s voice rang out dully.

Audin answered with a smile from above him.

“From what I have observed, it is because Brother Platoon Leader is stubborn. You should go to sleep now.”

Stubborn? Me?

To Encrid, that was utterly impossible to accept.

Where else was there someone as flexible and gentle as himself?

Wasn’t that obvious just from the way he mixed in with the lunatic platoon and controlled them without exactly controlling them?

If he were also crazy, what would happen to this unit?

But when Audin’s hand pressed near his neck, Encrid felt his mind slowly growing distant.

It was not anything like fainting or death, but a feeling of slowly falling asleep, led by languor.

There was no need to resist it.

He also thought resting was more important than opening his mouth and talking.

And so Encrid fell asleep.

Audin saw that his Platoon Commander had fallen asleep and rose from his seat.

As they said, people who were stubborn by nature did not know they were being stubborn.

He truly showed no sign of acknowledging it.

“You are an interesting person, Brother.”

Audin murmured, then spoke toward the outside of the tent.

“How long will you watch?”

Right in front of the tent, Jaxon’s voice answered Audin.

“I was watching the Platoon Commander. Not you.”

Audin nodded as if it were nothing and went out.

Jaxon, left behind, stared intently at Encrid.

At any rate, he truly was a fascinating person.

He naturally made one wonder what that man needed.

He made one want to help. He made one want to teach.

Even if it was a kind of secret art one possessed.

“He probably won’t need mine.”

Jaxon muttered and left his spot.

MEOW.

The small black panther, left alone, slipped neatly into Encrid’s arms.

Encrid embraced Esther in his sleep and fell into a deep sleep just like that.

And as he did, he dreamed.

People whose faces he could not even see appeared and repeatedly asked Encrid.

“Is that right?”

“You think the path you’re taking is right?”

“You’re crazy, aren’t you?”

“Stubborn bastard. You know it won’t work, so what are you doing?”

It was a stupid dream. Encrid dismissed all those questions with a single answer.

“If I want to do it, I do it. What business is it of yours?”

Instead of doubting, he would ponder.

And at the end of that pondering, he would take what he wanted.

That was the path he walked. And now, there was even a signpost visible on that path.

So this was the time to have certainty more than ever before.

Encrid woke from sleep and muttered with his eyes open.

“I should at least tell them why I use two.”

He was not stubborn. Therefore, he would give a valid reason.

He got up and tried moving his body.

He had slept well for a day, so he should be able to use his body again.

He went outside and began loosening up.

Isolation Technique, swordsmanship training, heart of the beast, Sense of the Blade, Concentrate on a Single Point.

To these, he added the Heart of Monstrous Strength he had recently learned.

If he kept it activated continuously, his body would be ruined, so only to an appropriate degree.

When he began training again, Audin came out.

“Good morning, Brother.”

It was the moment when the sun was quietly rising, changing the color of the surroundings from blue to yellow.

The cold air of dawn slowly turned warm. And before the temperature changed, Encrid was already standing alone on the gravel in front of the barracks, steam rising from his whole body.

A few night guards passed by nearby, but no one particularly spoke to him.

They treated him as a hero of the battle, but.

If they spoke to him while he was training, none of them would be received kindly.

Of course, that was the same even usually.

They were not called the lunatic platoon for nothing.

The group of nearby soldiers merely watched.

Since these men deserved respect, they respected them as well.

“Yeah.”

Of course, rather than caring about such things, Encrid focused on his own work.

After Audin, Rem came out.

“Platoon Commander, Platoon Commander. I have arrived.”

“Is that so.”

He was training right in front of the barracks, so what was the point of saying he had arrived?

At any rate, Rem squatted beside him and watched.

Jaxon began moving without anyone knowing when he had woken.

Next was Krais.

“Yaaawn, looks like there’s still no word about us heading back today either. This isn’t good.”

It was Big-eyes, stretching and yawning as he muttered to himself.

The platoon member who came out after that was Ragna.

“Platoon Commander.”

He approached. Now that everyone had gathered, Encrid also stopped his hands.

He had to say what needed to be said.

Because he was not stubborn.

“Must you use two swords?”

Ragna, who had approached just then, asked.

Encrid nodded and opened his mouth.

“That’s what I intend to do.”

Now, if he asked why, he would answer.

He was ready.

Encrid stared intently at Ragna.

Now, ask.

Ragna did not ask. Silence settled, and since there was no helping it, Encrid spoke first on his own.

“Dual-wielding, holding two swords, felt better.”

The reason he wanted to become a knight was because he admired them.

The reason he liked the sword was because the moment he held it, he simply liked it.

It was the same as that.

The moment he held two swords, he realized something.

The moment he happened to train his left hand, the moment he realized he could hold swords in both hands, Encrid was struck by a small bolt of lightning.

It was a moment of realization.

‘If I can use two swords.’

That feeling fit his body perfectly.

“I didn’t ask.”

Right, he had not asked.

“No, who asked?”

Beside him, Rem chuckled.

Recently, that barbarian bastard had kept looking like he was in a good mood.

Yes, no one had asked.

“I see.”

Big-eyes nodded belatedly, as if his soul had gone off somewhere on a brief business trip.

This bastard, I don’t think he knows what I just said.

Audin answered, “Yes, Brother.”

Jaxon did not even listen with half an ear.

Who knew where he had gotten it, but he had taken out a whetstone and was sharpening his dagger.

SHHNK, TING.

Only that sound greeted the morning sunlight.

“Hah!”

“Haa!”

Perhaps because of a certain lunatic Platoon Commander, once there was spare time, the number of people repeatedly training nearby gradually increased.

Between the shouts and the sound of a dagger being sharpened, Encrid muttered again.

“Because using two feels better.”

“I said I didn’t ask.”

He wanted to say it was not stubbornness, but the moment he said that, he felt as though he would somehow be admitting that he was stubborn.

Then what should he do?

“How to keep two swords on your body. That seems more urgent, correct?”

Ragna asked.

Encrid fully organized his thoughts.

He decided to simply be stubborn.

For now, keeping two swords on his body—that was urgent.

“Yeah.”

“From now on, Platoon Commander, you have two lovers.”

Ragna said.

He felt it again, but his platoon members’ ability to explain things was the worst.

He could not say they had no way with words, but they had difficulty explaining what they knew.

Even these words had come after he had slept on them for a day.

Encrid recalled Ragna, who had been absorbed in thought in the barracks last night.

Had he thought that hard just to say this?

Encrid answered.

“Fine.”

Two lovers were nothing.

“You sleep while holding them both. When you eat, when you sleep, even when you shit, whatever you do, you hold the swords and keep them in your arms as you move.”

He did not ask what kind of training this was.

A method a genius had pondered for a day before producing.

Encrid trusted it and followed it.

“Fine.”

The same answer came out twice.

Ragna’s face was slightly flushed.

The thought came to him that those flushed cheeks were like those of a boy.

“Good.”

That was the end of what he had to say.

After that, Encrid faithfully followed Ragna’s words.

He polished and refined the Isolation Technique.

He endured and learned Balaf Style Massage Technique.

He trained in combat techniques and trained with the sword.

He added ceaseless effort to increase the usable time of the Heart of Monstrous Strength.

And he held the swords in his arms.

He did it as though he had met two lovers he could never part from.

When he ate, when he slept, when he shit, whatever he did.

MRROW.

Perhaps that was quite bothersome, because Esther sometimes whined when he slept.

But Encrid did as he was told.

Seven days passed like that.

There was no battle, but news from the main force only came and went occasionally.

Around the fifth day, Krais spoke with a grave face.

“This isn’t good.”

“Why?”

“The main force’s battle is dragging on.”

“Why is that bad?”

Aspen’s strength was never easy to deal with in the first place.

Even if Naurilia could not properly commit its forces due to internal problems.

Enduring the offensive of Naurilia, which had risen to the ranks of strong nations, was not something easily done.

Because Krais had experience from being taught before, instead of speaking at length, he explained simply.

“Even though we put our palm on the back of the enemy’s head as soon as it began, we still can’t push through. And on the surface, our side is more favorable.”

“So?”

Krais’s eyes stretched sideways.

Are you really planning to keep asking like that without thinking at all? His eyes seemed to say.

No, why does it feel like I can hear him talking with his eyes?

Even so, shamelessly, because he was stubborn.

Encrid calmly brushed off Krais’s gaze.

“Then what should our allies do? From what I can see, there’s only one method.”

“One?”

Is this man serious?

Krais said that with his eyes, while his mouth faithfully carried out its duty.

“We really try smacking the enemy in the back of the head. And I think it’ll be something like smacking them quick and pulling out.”

This, he understood.