Chapter 436 - That I Won't Stand For

Rem watched Encrid struggle, but rarely stepped in. He seldom joined the discussions of swordsmanship between bouts, either.

"If you're sick, get some rest."

He was so uninvolved that even Encrid said that to him.

"Mind your own business."

Even then, Rem kept his distance without sounding overly touchy. Since Luagarne had stepped in, he rarely put the same effort into sparring with Encrid as before. They only traded blows occasionally.

"Want a fight? Come on out."

At those times, he still taught him. As ever, his teaching put action before words.

To Rem, Encrid was much the same as ever. His improvement was frustratingly slow. But he wasn't regressing. He was moving forward.

Rem left it at that. He did no more than watch. There were plenty of others to keep Encrid company without him. There was no need to elbow his way in for a spar. He only helped Encrid get Handful of Breath into his body, and even that he stopped once it had more or less taken root.

Lately, then, almost all he did was swing his axes alone and occasionally torment Dunbachel. Or visit the Penn-Hanil Mountains—a sort of stroll he took whenever he felt stiff. Though a single stroll left the mountain soil thoroughly soaked with monster blood.

He was setting out on just such a stroll.

"Since you're going anyway, could you deal with some human-faced hounds?"

Krais approached the ambling Rem. He was wearing a feathered hat he had acquired somewhere. On anyone else it would have looked utterly idiotic, but on Krais's head it was a perfect fit.

"All right."

Rem gave a casual nod.

Watching him leave, Krais spoke to Nurat, his adjutant and lover, who had just come to stand beside him.

"Has something happened lately? Why is he so quiet? It's unsettling. Very unsettling."

"Isn't it good if he's quiet?"

His dark-skinned lover tilted her head. Wasn't Rem making a racket the real problem?

["Hey, I'm bored. Let's fight."]

He constantly pestered the soldiers and commanders of neighboring units.

["You call that swordplay? Get over here. I'll teach you everything from the beginning. What an honor, eh? You're looking at Rem the Undying. Now, shout 'Undying' on the first swing and 'Lord Rem' on the second. Hahahaha!"]

He also raised the intensity of their training to insane levels.

["You call this cooking? That chicken's so raw it'll start laying eggs any moment. Get out here. I'll show you what cooking is."]

Then he tormented the soldiers' taste buds with a western-style mishmash stew. According to Encrid, Rem could actually make quite edible food, so that was pure spite.

Encrid, of course, ate even that with gusto.

["Very nutritious. It's health food."]

That was his verdict.

Ragna overturned the pot the moment he smelled it. Audin said, ["Is this, too, a trial?"] and prayed, ate a few spoonfuls, then clamped his mouth shut. Jaxon simply slipped outside whenever Rem pulled that shit, and Krais did the same.

Having witnessed all of that, Nurat naturally wondered: wasn't this at least better than those days? She hadn't said quiet was good for no reason. She'd asked with Rem's antics in mind.

Krais gave a brief, thoughtful hum.

"True, but watching him, I can't help wondering if the next trouble he causes will be something really big."

The human-faced hounds had increased sharply in number lately, but they wouldn't be too much for Rem. They wouldn't even be a threat.

Regardless of Krais's worries, Rem simply went about his business. Even as he lost himself in thought while performing the trick of balancing an axe handle on his forehead. It was no different when the human-faced hounds of the Penn-Hanil Mountains formed a colony and attacked him.

GRAAAH!

With a grating metallic roar, the human-faced hound that had become the colony leader spewed fire from its mouth. It looked as though it had swallowed a flint by mistake somewhere.

Rem read the direction of the flames and dodged. It wasn't difficult. This was just a monster too blind to judge its opponent's strength.

'I miss the West.'

Plenty of the monsters and beasts there used their cunning as a weapon. Creatures like these were barely a warm-up.

With that thought, Rem moved to the hound's flank and swung his axe. It dropped swiftly, severing the monster's neck. The Lewis steel blade sliced through hide, muscle, and bone.

SPLURT!

Black blood sprayed in every direction, and the severed head rolled down the slope.

GRAAAH!

Of the remaining hounds, he hacked to death only those that attacked, with a few swings of his axes. It wasn't difficult.

Rem headed back to the barracks, idly swinging the axes in his hands a few times. Encrid had just received a letter in the guise of a commission and was deciding who would accompany him.

"I'll come along."

As it happened, the commission would take them near the West. Rem had decided long ago to go, but hadn't quite been able to bring himself to simply leave. Now he was sure. At this rate, he'd stay behind that bastard Ragna.

'That I won't stand for.'

* * *

Seated in the great hall, Krang watched his subjects talk about saving Krona and sank into thought.

'They said this happens once every few years, didn't they?'

Some things he had heard from Marcus; others he had gone and seen for himself. The borderlands of the Demonic Realm were dangerous in many ways and often short-handed. They were desperate for talent, desperate for people, and dangerous into the bargain. Who would want to go there?

'In a way, it's like a leaky jar that does nothing but swallow funds.'

An ordinary jar would have been a blessing. This was a magical jar that would spew poison the moment they stopped pouring water into it. Unless they held the line, the influx of monsters and demonic beasts would cost them part of their lands. It was also why they hadn't been able to play their trump card—the knights—in the civil war.

'And there's Rihinstetten to the south.'

In other words, the Demonic Realm's border wasn't the only place short of people. It was the same elsewhere. Naurilia's situation was worse than Krang had expected. One wrong turn and they risked being swallowed by the south or an incursion from the Demonic Realm. Aspen hadn't entirely tucked its tail between its legs, either, and remained a thorn in their side.

"So?"

Somehow, he could almost hear Encrid asking.

'Right. So what?'

He was already on the throne. Krang had to do his job.

Oara, the knight guarding the Demonic Realm's border, had sent the usual request: they were short-handed, so send people who knew how to fight.

"Five hundred or more troops if possible, or failing that, at least three or four fighters of proto knight caliber, accompanied by a trained ranger unit? We cannot readily grant such a request. Think of the work currently underway in the capital. Neither option is feasible. Sending Sir Aesia with ten soldiers should suffice."

Inspired by Border Guard's measures for maintaining security, they had begun improving the surrounding roads and building a chain of outposts along them. Simple work, but labor-intensive. Alongside it, they had to clear out nearby monsters and demonic beasts, and keep in check the bandit bastards who popped up from somewhere like freshly baked loaves. There were no troops to spare.

Was that all? Though the populace had accepted him, some idiots were beginning to entertain other ideas. Did a bastard son have any right to that seat? Most of them, of course, had fallen prey to foreign machinations. Every sensible noble and official was on Krang's side.

Krang cast aside the tangled thoughts and turned his mind to what was urgent, what needed doing. Unless he took great strides, he wouldn't get more than a few steps before he died.

'Whose dream is bigger, mine or yours?'

He wanted to ask Encrid that. Krang looked toward the stained-glass window. Dark clouds made the sky dreary.

"There is another option."

It was Marquis Vaisar.

"What option?"

Krang turned his gaze from the window to the marquis.

"Does Border Guard not have fighters who surpass proto knights?"

"Would they go just because we tell them to?"

"Surely they must, if the king commands it?"

"But we're talking about the Demon Killer, aren't we?"

"Are you saying he would defy a royal command?"

At the marquis's suggestion, the nobles clamored to have their say.

"Naurilia has a soldier-for-hire system, Your Majesty."

Marcus joined in.

"Make it a commission and offer payment."

The marquis followed up.

"The treasury is empty."

Krang spoke the instant the marquis finished. The three men's lines followed one another in quick succession, like a play.

"They have secured trade and are bringing in Krona, but breeding from fine stallions or sowing crops to produce their own food will still be difficult. Things may appear to be running smoothly, but they lack a great deal."

The marquis spoke again.

"As it happens, we have people here with considerable expertise in those areas..."

Marcus picked up the thread, and the marquis added a few words. Watching them, Krang thought how alike they were. They worked in perfect harmony. Of course, he was harmonizing with them himself.

One of the southern nobles, whose family had bred fine stallions for generations, was about to agree with the discussion when he noticed something odd.

'We're the ones paying for all of it?'

As nobles, they ought to serve their country, but recognition of a noble's private property was a long-established law. He had agreed to provide his stallions' stud services, while another noble would share water-management techniques for farmland. Yet no one had forced them. Somehow, in the course of talking, it had simply turned out that way.

"Well, then, we should send the commission. Count Vaisar?"

"Yes. I will send it."

That concluded the meeting.

Requests for support from the Demonic Realm's border were more a matter of insufficient hands than danger, so Krang thought this would be good for Encrid, too.

'Don't you want to meet a knight?'

He knew Encrid had already met the Mercenary King, but a knight from a knight order would be different. Krang didn't know that Encrid was already spending his days with Ragna and Sinar.