Chapter 62 - For a knight must harbor not a single speck of shame in his heart.

"Stand by for a moment. I will send someone."

Just because they received permission didn't mean they could depart immediately.

Upon returning to the quarters, he saw the squadmates waiting like baby birds for their mother.

"Get ready."

As he conveyed the situation with a single word.

"Aw, I believed in you. I knew the Squad Leader would pull it off!"

"Excellent."

Rem and Jaxon chimed in with a word each, and the rest started to move.

They had to at least pack some equipment, didn't they.

"Stand by for now, the orders will come down soon."

"Let's do that."

Right now, whatever was said would feel heartwarming. It was a rare sight of all the squadmates uniting together.

Bump.

Even when Ragna and Rem bumped into each other while moving, both casually brushed past it. Not a single snide remark was exchanged.

"You sneaky stray cat, do you have a spare cloak? It's freezing out there."

Rem particularly hated the cold.

At his words, Jaxon shook his head.

In any normal situation, a fight could have broken out immediately, but it passed by smoothly.

'Look at them getting along so well.'

How great would it be if they could live like this every day, yielding to each other appropriately.

Of course, it was just wishful thinking.

Watching the busily moving squadmates, Encrid sat on the edge of the bed.

Soon, the person sent by the Company Commander arrived.

"What did you do to have the entire squad drafted for an operation?"

It was the 4th Platoon Commander. He was the messenger sent by the Company Commander.

"I'm planning to chase the assassin's trail. The Thieves Guild."

"... Take care of yourself. Even the grandfather of a knight can't dodge a dagger stabbing them in the back. Thieves are dangerous bastards."

The Platoon Commander said with concern, adding an old idiom.

A dagger in the back.

A General who once commanded the continent died by the dagger of a subordinate he firmly trusted.

It was a tale from the very distant past, perhaps not a legend, but one that couldn't quite be called history either.

The kind of story where you couldn't be sure if it really happened.

Just as Encrid was about to nod in understanding.

"No, a knight could dodge it."

Ragna said.

"You dodge it even if you're not a knight."

Jaxon agreed.

"You're a dumbass if you just helplessly get stabbed by an attack from behind."

Rem concluded.

As soon as the Platoon Commander finished speaking, the three of them bombarded him.

"Let's just drop it."

The Platoon Commander shook his head and walked out.

Anyway, since permission had been granted.

"Let's go."

Encrid said as he stood up. The weather had grown colder than yesterday, making the inside of the quarters feel like an icebox.

In terms of equipment, a single hand axe was all Rem had.

Ragna just had the arming sword he had previously traded with Encrid.

Jaxon, too, had only a single sword that looked like a shortsword.

Audin took two short clubs that had been soaked in oil and dried, shoved them into his waistband, and stepped out.

"Stealing is a bad thing. Let's go teach them a lesson."

Audin said as he stepped forward. Hearing that, Rem chuckled.

"Right. It's a bad thing."

Everyone's equipment was simple, but Jaxon wore a thick fur coat that made him look sluggish.

Ragna wore a hole-ridden cloak made of layers of patched-up fabric that not even a passing beggar would covet.

The worst of them all was, as expected, Rem.

"You're going like that?"

Jaxon was naturally within acceptable limits, and if one looked generously, Ragna's outfit could also be nodded at.

But what was this?

He had completely wrapped a blanket tightly around his body. Should he be called a walking bed?

He didn't even look like he intended to stick his arms out. Only the tips of his toes were peeking out.

"I hate being cold."

Would he listen if I tried to stop him?

Encrid chose the efficient method. He ignored Rem.

"Let's go."

The troublemaker squad departed straight for the market grounds.

"It seems dangerous."

Krais muttered to himself before following along. Between shoveling snow until his forearms swelled up and taking a risk, he had chosen the risk.

He really must have hated shoveling snow.

* * *

No matter what kind of fight it was, endlessly reflecting on and reviewing it after it ended was Encrid's old habit and his means of survival.

This time was no different.

The Half Fairy drew his attention with the Whistle Daggers and Rotten.

'A trick.'

A simple yet powerful smokescreen.

What he aimed for next was close-quarters combat.

He tried to end the fight with just one move, a strike that could be called a sure-kill.

For some unknown reason, the Half Fairy was a heart enthusiast.

With that, predicting the targeted area was possible, and through the repeated todays, he had already experienced the form of the guy's weapon.

It meant he was able to fight while calculating everything.

'What if I failed?'

Encrid thought.

'Did I rely on luck?'

The Half Fairy might not have moved as he intended.

Him moving according to calculation meant that luck had to play a part to some extent.

Encrid asked himself.

During the first today, when he killed that Stabbing Pervert bastard.

Encrid used a full-power stab as his weapon.

It was an act of literally placing his life on the gambling table, without keeping the aftermath in mind.

Reviewing that moment, he reflected on his mistake.

Did he make the same mistake as back then?

Not this time.

'Even if he had used a different move.'

In the end, he would have been the one to win.

He overwhelmed him in terms of individual tactics, but even before that, he was confident he could overwhelm him in raw skill.

Even if the Half Fairy had fully committed to picking a fight and Rotten was left behind him.

'My odds of winning are higher.'

Of course, it would have been hard to win this cleanly without any significant injuries like now.

Review, reflect. He repeated that countless times.

As he walked, he manifested the image and applied it to different situations.

The patrolmen who discovered Encrid were surprised twice.

First, they were surprised upon seeing the corpses, and then they were surprised once more looking at the troublemaker Squad Leader who had reached the level of an upper-grade soldier.

Sure, they called it an upper-grade soldier.

But in reality, how many regular soldiers showed this much skill?

Not to mention, he was someone whose skills were terrible up until this recent battle.

To cut to the conclusion, recognized by himself and others, his swordsmanship was no longer at a level scraping rock bottom like before.

And yet, Encrid pondered.

'There might have been an easier way.'

It was an attitude hard to believe from someone who had repeating todays.

But on the other hand, perhaps he was able to welcome tomorrow every time precisely because he adhered to this attitude.

As his thoughts bit their tails and continued on, Encrid even recalled last night's dream.

'I wonder if he has nothing better to do.'

No matter how you looked at him, he was an incomprehensible entity.

He was referring to the Boatswain of the Black River.

The Boatswain who appeared in the dream did not sneer like before. He just stared blankly and spat out a single phrase.

"What are you?"

It was the voice of a person without a mouth. For that reason, the emotion imbued in the voice was conveyed clearly.

No, it was conveyed because the Boatswain wanted it to be. Encrid felt that instinctively.

The emotion contained in that single phrase was bewilderment.

Pure curiosity, unmixed with even a fragment of any other emotion, including disappointment or anger.

He couldn't give him an answer.

Because it was a dream.

Although it surely wasn't an ordinary dream.

"Squad Leader."

Perhaps he was too zoned out, for it was only after someone grabbed his arm from behind and called out to him that Encrid stopped walking.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

He had let whatever was said to him just a moment ago go in one ear and out the other.

"I said, charging in with that state of mind is a good way to get stabbed by a thief."

Rem said. It didn't seem like it had been that long of a sentence.

More than anything, the bastard Rem who actually said it looked like he would get stabbed and die wrapped up in a blanket if he charged in like this.

Jaxon ignored that Rem and spoke.

"I asked if you have a plan."

A plan? What plan?

The same emotion as the Boatswain he met in his dream appeared in Encrid's eyes. Bewilderment.

"Are you planning to just blindly ask around for the Thieves Guild and storm them? Do you even know the location of their guild headquarters?"

Jaxon asked, crossing his arms. Thanks to his thick clothing, his elbows lifted up in a comical manner, but Jaxon himself remained nonchalant.

The opponents were bastards who committed all sorts of crimes, from pickpocketing to human trafficking.

The name of the guild was Gilfin.

It literally meant an organization led by Gilfin.

By convention, it was called a Thieves Guild, but in reality, it was just a criminal syndicate.

Would such bastards reveal their headquarters and operate openly?

No. Like insects parasitizing the darkness and back alleys of the city, they hid themselves.

"I don't know."

"I think we need to establish a plan first."

"Did you really have no thoughts whatsoever?"

Rem also chimed in and asked.

Ragna didn't intervene, just continually blowing out his breath while looking at the sky.

Audin just smiled beamingly.

"You seriously didn't have a thought?"

Krais looked at Encrid with those big eyes and asked.

"I figured you'd know their headquarters, at least."

"Even I wouldn't know the location of this guild. If I approach them trying to find that out, I'd get my throat slashed."

Saying so, Krais mimicked getting his throat slit with the blade of his hand.

A criminal guild kills the standing army? Were they in such a position? They shouldn't be at a level to do something like that.

Honestly, he had no interest. He had neither the time nor the energy to pay attention to such things.

"Have you never carried out a small-scale squad operation?"

Jaxon asked again. It felt like he was reprimanding him for moving so haphazardly when the entire squad was mobilizing. Encrid was increasingly finding himself at a loss for words.

What had his life been like up until now?

He had been busy struggling desperately to survive.

It was days spent splitting his sleeping time just to swing his sword one more time.

In the meantime, he had no time to learn anything about strategy.

Of course, he had experience as a mercenary.

He also had experience serving as a Squad Leader.

He had even participated in minor operations several times.

But the flow of a battlefield and conducting a small-scale operation on the outside were completely different stories.

Small-scale operations on the battlefield, for example leading the previous recon squad, was a familiar field, but the situation was different now.

Moreover.

'That was.'

The result of pondering how to survive, not moving based on a meticulous plan.

It was all things he had found out while throwing his life away.

So, did he have to do that this time too?

Did he have to throw his life away and repeat today again?

Encrid stopped walking. A foully cold wind passed through his donned cloak and brushed past his flank.

It was an achingly cold wind.

'I don't want to do that.'

He did not want to use repeating today as one of his methods. The pain of death wasn't exactly pleasant.

Above all, his instincts spoke. That there was no need to do so.

Then what should he do?

He hadn't really come without any thoughts at all. He had thought of a generic method.

"Won't we find out everything if we ask around? No matter how well they hide, the city locals all know."

There were no secrets in the world. For a secret could only be perfected through death.

If the only person who knew the secret died, no one would be able to know it.

A criminal organization couldn't possibly hide itself like that.

Therefore, the conclusion was that there was someone who knew.

"It will be difficult using that method. The Gilfin guys are good at cutting their tails and are famously terrifying. Even if we catch the low-level grunts and grill them, they wouldn't know anything, and if they happen to know something and accidentally spill it, rumor has it that Gilfin would break all their limbs and cut off their tongues."

It meant they ruled the organization with fear through retaliation.

Then how?

No method immediately came to mind.

If it was a desperate struggle to survive and pondering that, he could do it all he wanted.

If this were a battlefield, he knew to some extent how to hold his position according to the strategy.

But this was not such a situation right now.

"Squad Leader, give us an order."

As he was lost in thought, Ragna, who had only been looking at the sky, spoke up.

Encrid's eyes turned to Ragna.

A genius of swordsmanship who, once he merely grasped a sword, had few opponents capable of matching him.

That was Ragna in Encrid's eyes.

The usual Ragna was a lazy and sloppy human being.

The kind of person who would get lost easily and drop things from his pockets as he walked around.

But sometimes, very rarely, Ragna knew how to grasp the core and dig into it.

Just like when he held a sword in his hand.

"The Captain just needs to give the order. You can leave the method for carrying out that order to the guys who know how to do it."

That single sentence.

Ragna's softly muttered words were extremely massive and heavy for Encrid.

He called him Captain.

That was originally his position.

A Squad Leader, the leader who guides the squad.

Then, had Encrid truly been the leader guiding the squad up until now?

'Was I a Squad Leader?'

No. A person with terrible skills who was merely desperate to survive was ill-suited to be the leader of a group.

Let alone when every single squadmate was incredibly capable.

But now, Ragna's single phrase changed the situation.

"He's right."

Rem agreed.

Jaxon gave a faint nod.

"That is how it is. It's true. Brother, that is what a Captain does."

Audin agreed.

"He said the right thing, so what?"

Only Krais was completely out of tune with the mood.

That was because he had always considered Encrid as his Squad Leader in his heart from the very beginning.

"Right. He's right. Jaxon, you have a method, don't you?"

Jaxon of Equivalent Exchange was also an information broker who traded information.

If Krais's information was shallow and broad, Jaxon's information was narrow and deep.

"I do."

"Tell us."

"If you secure an inn in the market and wait, I will return before the sun sets."

He asked for a method, but Jaxon was saying he would step away.

"If you leave it to me, I will find out."

"Alright. Let's go get an inn."

Once he made a decision, he didn't look back. That was what Encrid did.

On the way to the inn, on the well-trodden dirt path that hadn't yet reached the middle of the market and wasn't crowded, Encrid spoke the rest of his thoughts.

"We're going to find the guild's headquarters and wipe them out all at once."

The opponent was a criminal organization. Even if there were no charges, trampling them with force wouldn't cause any particular talk.

Of course, it would result in tearing a hole in the back pockets of the higher-up nobles or the Battalion Commander.

'What does that matter?'

For a knight must harbor not a single speck of shame in his heart.

Just as he had seen, heard, learned, and dreamed of when he was young.

Because Encrid had lived his life that way.

He intends to do the same now.