Chapter 71 - Rumors on Wings of Light
"That body is finally somewhat worth looking at, Brother."
"At this level, your fundamentals aren't bad now."
"You won't die to any stray blind blades. Your responses aren't bad. I think that's exactly where you stand."
"Hehe, seeing as sparring with you is actually getting fun now, I guess the sword is sticking to your hand a bit? And your Heart of a Beast has ripened, too?"
These were the words of each squadmate.
Without even needing to mull it over, it all meant that his skills had improved.
To Encrid, an improvement in skill held a very special meaning in his life.
It was the thread that would connect his dreams, the moonlight illuminating the dark night, and the dawn that brought the morning.
Because a ray of light had seeped into a faded and torn dream.
Because this single ray of light became the foundation to raise that bastard called a dream back up again.
A knight was a title built upon honor and completed through skill.
Encrid didn't want to become a knight-level mercenary or warrior; he wanted to become a knight.
If asked why, he was hard-pressed for an answer.
There was something tickling his heart. It just didn't readily come out of his mouth.
If asked to say it with false words, he could do so, but he hated that too.
In these areas, the man known as Encrid was inflexibly honest.
The unreasonable things he had seen during his mercenary days also served as a reason to not give up on his dream.
But that alone couldn't be called the entire reason.
Why is a dream a dream?
'Because you simply wish for it.'
He wanted to receive someone's cheers.
He also liked the time spent training his swordsmanship.
And he liked the time spent chatting with those around him.
He also wanted to meet those who had ignored and cast him aside in the past and show them how he had changed.
It was a complexly tangled and mixed desire.
Since a person's heart was not simple.
To Encrid, that culmination of desires boiled down to a single word.
'Knight.'
It was his dream.
Even if he still had a long way to go due to his lack of skill.
If a path leading to his dream had opened, he wanted to walk down it.
Therefore, building honor was also something he had to do.
He also wanted to test it out.
'Just how far will my sword work?'
His sparring only ever happened with his squadmates all day.
On the battlefield, he had fought and defeated a guy named Mitch Hurrier, he had undergone a promotion match, and he had survived an assassination attempt by a Half Fairy, but the him from back then was different from the him today.
Encrid clenched and unclenched his hands.
'I want to fight.'
He wanted to have the time to prove himself solely by swinging his sword.
He had become an upper-grade soldier in the soldier grading system.
However, even within the upper-grade, there were deviations.
It was the competitive spirit and bravado born from his improved skills.
It was a desire to confirm his skills through real combat.
The request came right at that moment.
Furthermore, a Company Commander was going along. It wouldn't be an easy task.
'But why is the Company Commander personally doing it?'
That was Encrid's question.
Would others not have the same question he did?
The Company Commander's only intention had been to drop by on her way, but to the other Platoon Commanders, it was certainly a strange matter.
Especially to the 4th Platoon Commander, Encrid's direct superior who originally should have conveyed this matter, it was truly bizarre.
It was just a coincidence, but there were always those who couldn't see a coincidence as a coincidence.
* * *
The Border Guard regular forces would often lend out their martial power to the citizens and merchant associations within the city.
It stemmed from one of the two major policies created by Naurilia.
One was the soldier grading system.
The other was the soldier mercenary system.
It involved soldiers stepping up to carry out requests instead of mercenaries, and along with the grading system, it was one of the kingdom's most successful policies.
"If it's the regular forces of the Border Guard, they're trustworthy."
It was to the extent that words like this were frequently said.
The soldier mercenary system, where soldiers undertook requests instead of mercenaries.
It was perhaps natural that it had gained favorable responses from the citizens and merchant associations.
Mercenaries were rough and rowdy, but soldiers were less so. Like any disciplined unit, they were faithful to orders.
Moreover, compared to large mercenary guilds, the costs were cheaper.
"Isn't escorting natural for the sake of public order within the city? Don't you think demanding crona for every little thing like this is taking it too far?"
Occasionally.
A grumbling merchant association head like that would appear.
But using the escort forces even once would make those words vanish instantly.
The regular forces of the Border Guard were people who engaged in local skirmishes twice a year.
They were a military city's unit located close to the battlefield.
Since the constant killing naturally weeded out the riffraff, it was only a matter of course that the skill level of the soldiers belonging to the regular forces would be standardized upward.
Cost, skill, and safety.
With high satisfaction across these three reasons, it was called a successful policy.
The Company Commander taking on a request was also one of those things.
'Did she really have to?'
However, everyone definitely had this thought.
Because at this level, it wasn't something a Company Commander needed to step forward for.
The Platoon Commanders all had eyes and ears as well. Although they kept their mouths shut for the sake of their conduct, they too knew that their Company Commander's skills were not at an ambiguous level.
'She could probably hold her own against the Captain of the Border Guard, couldn't she?'
The Captain of the Border Guard was the strongest in the Border Guard. Even excluding the Battalion Commander, who was essentially a passerby, that was the case.
'She seems like she could take down the Heavy Armored Company Commander.'
Since the Fairy Company Commander had already proven her combat power on the battlefield.
"I'll take this request."
And that Fairy Company Commander was saying she would take one of the request forms.
When a superior stepped forward to do it, what could they say?
They had no choice but to agree.
"Why are you personally stepping forward to do it?"
The 4th Platoon Commander asked, but.
"I'm taking the troublemaker Squad Leader with me."
That was her answer.
A single request, how could that be a big deal?
If there was a problem, it was because of the person she was taking.
The Spellbreaker, Encrid, who had become an upper-grade soldier.
The 4th Platoon Commander had risen to this position purely through tact.
When the Fairy Company Commander abruptly left, the 4th Platoon Commander racked his brain and traced back the past.
The foundation of tact was information. Being slow to grasp the surrounding situation would negatively affect one's promotion.
He faithfully recalled his memories for the sake of his future.
'Didn't they say she went to see him at the Medical Barracks too?'
The Fairy Company Commander had gone to see Encrid personally.
And right after taking her post, at that.
Going out of her way to see him at the Medical Barracks.
And there were several times they had met privately since then.
Furthermore, this was a situation where she almost never had private meetings with the other Platoon Commanders.
They were lucky if they even got a proper answer out of her.
The Company Commander had even interfered in Encrid's promotion match.
The 4th Platoon Commander had seen that scene too.
'It was when he fought the Border Guard member.'
To the 4th Platoon Commander's eyes back then, it looked as though she had stepped in to protect Encrid when he was in danger.
Also, on a day when snow was pouring down, the Company Commander had issued orders solely to the troublemaker squad and even sent them outside.
They had only returned in the morning after all the snow had been cleared.
'Even bringing thermal leathers.'
Where had they been, and what had they been doing?
It was only called a classified operation. Since it was reported directly to the Company Commander, he didn't know either.
He also heard that the two of them had sparred together in a private training ground.
Why had she done all that?
The Medical Barracks, private meetings, the promotion match, the operation orders on a snowy day, the sparring, and now this request.
All the information became one and mixed together, forming a conclusion in his head.
The 4th Platoon Commander got goosebumps from his own deduction. Of course, he was barking up the wrong tree, it was a misunderstanding, and a series of idiotic thoughts, but he caught the scent of deep certainty in his guess.
Therefore, the thought came naturally.
'Could the two of them possibly be...?'
The Platoon Commander tried picturing the Fairy and the troublemaker Squad Leader standing side by side.
It looked like a better-matched picture than he thought.
"Nah, it couldn't be, right?"
He felt certain enough to get goosebumps all over his body, but he just tossed out the soliloquy anyway.
"What couldn't be, sir?"
The subordinate next to him asked. They were in the middle of a boring guard duty.
The 4th Platoon Commander carefully voiced his guess.
If the subordinate had just called it bullshit, the matter would have ended there.
"... Whoa, damn."
The subordinate's reaction was peculiar. His pupils shook.
He seemed to have received a shock as well.
The Border Guard wasn't a small city, but rumors spread fast.
Especially since some rumors were faster than winged horses.
Those with nothing to do within the base, particularly the women who managed the baths and prepared the meals, were absolutely crazy about these kinds of rumors.
Through them, the rumors gained wings of light and quickly began to spread throughout the base.
It didn't even take a full day before there was hardly anyone in the base who didn't know.
* * *
"Squad Leader! I heard you're going to be a father soon? Is it true?"
Krais, who had returned to the base after three days, asked.
Where exactly did things go wrong?
Encrid thought about it, but there was nothing he could figure out.
The rumor had already spread.
At Krais's words, Rem, next to him, clutched his stomach and giggled.
He laughed so enthusiastically that the thermal leather slipped, exposing his bare foot.
"Keeheehee, that's right. That's right. He's a father. Big-eyes, did you hear the story about the mom too?"
"Uh, yeah, I was wondering what kind of rumor this was. I had my suspicions. I figured the part about the kid was an exaggeration, but when did you seduce the Company Commander? As expected of our Squad Leader."
When Krais gave a thumbs-up, Encrid grabbed that thumb and pushed it back down.
"It's a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?"
"Someone started a weird rumor."
The 4th Platoon Commander had started it, but Encrid didn't know that fact.
Krais, who had become an expert at handling information due to various recent events, didn't know either.
If they were determined to dig into it, it wouldn't be impossible to find the source of the rumor, but it wasn't a matter worth going that far for, was it?
It wasn't as if his life was being threatened.
"Hmm, it's not bad. Taking her as your partner and using her as a swordsmanship teacher."
Ragna chimed in with a word as well.
What the hell was inside that bastard's head?
Sometimes, it seemed like he had something even worse than Rem inside there.
Was he suggesting he use marriage as an opportunity to improve his swordsmanship?
"Hoo, kiiiiik."
Rem, who had been laughing non-stop beside him, was now beginning to spit out noises similar to a beast's cry.
"Don't give her too much of your heart. You'll suffer if you get dumped later."
It was Jaxon, folding his clothes off to the side.
'Is it a foregone conclusion that I'll be the one getting dumped?'
Wasn't the premise severely flawed?
"Brother, you have my blessing."
It was a prank they were throwing out even though they all knew the truth.
Didn't they all know Encrid's daily schedule?
It was a continuous string of tight schedules, leaving no room to develop romance and do things with someone.
"Forget it."
It was just a useless rumor. Thinking that, he reached his hand out to Esther.
HSSSSS!
Unlike usual, Esther rejected his touch today.
"I'm not Krais, you know."
Encrid spoke feeling wronged, but Esther only glared fiercely and stretched out long on the thermal leather.
She had been buried in his arms all day, so what was the reason for her sudden behavior?
"Looks like she's jealous. Comfort her a bit, will you."
Rem threw in a word from the side, then grabbed his stomach again and laughed like a maniac.
Rem truly was a crazy bastard.
"Hah, that was fun thanks to you. So, when are you leaving?"
"Where?"
"The escort mission. You said you had to take one person with you."
"And?"
"Obviously you should go with me."
He said this while fluttering the leather and half-raising his body.
Then, he confidently pointed at himself with his thumb.
The thermal leather fluttered and spread wide once over the standing Rem's shoulders, then dropped with a *thud* to drape over his shoulders like a cloak.
"Are you acting like this because I teased you? Let's think about this rationally, Squad Leader. That icy bastard Jaxon over there? If the escort target says even one load of bullshit, all hell will break loose. Do you want to see that insidious alley cat scratch the escort target?"
Is that really something that should come out of your mouth?
Encrid was dumbfounded, but his expression remained unchanged.
It was an attitude of telling him to go ahead and say his piece.
"The lazybones probably doesn't even have any interest."
Ragna originally didn't step forward for things like requests. Not unless it was something he was forced into.
"Are you going to take Big-eyes then? It's not like you're trying to add to the number of targets you have to escort."
This was true.
Krais hadn't been an option to begin with.
"I guess the big lump is, well, let's say he's useful. But what if he mutters next to the escort target while praying? What if he does it all day? I don't think the escort target would exactly welcome that, you know?"
The big lump was referring to Audin. For a foreigner from the western pioneers, this bastard Rem had an incredibly smooth gift for gab.
His eloquence made it sound like Rem was the only option left.
However.
'You're the biggest problem.'
Why had he assaulted his superior?
Because of his temper.
If the escort target had to be protected even if it meant beating them up, then sure, Rem was fine. He might be fine.
But what if they couldn't beat them up?
What if the escort target's personality was even a little bit shitty?
There was no way they could put the escort target and Rem together.
Catastrophe was expected in less than a full day, no, less than half a day.
Unless he was planning to pay a massive penalty fee instead of building merit by taking the request, it meant Rem was the number one person to avoid.
"Not you. Absolutely not."
Since there was no need to even catch his breath, he spat the words out firmly.
"... Wow, I'm hurt right now. Especially when you said 'absolutely.' What are you going to do about this? Leaving such a scar on a fully grown man's heart?"
"Still no."
"I'm going to act out."
He ignored him. Whether he had gravel stuck inside his skull, Rem was originally good at spouting weird nonsense anyway.
He looked around the quarters.
"If you're begging me that much."
Ragna, who had briefly met his eyes, said. What a joke. If he took that guy, he'd be lucky if he didn't just sprawl out and sleep instead of escorting.
It would also be exhausting trying to wake up that bastard who slept in every morning.
'I couldn't send him anywhere on his own, either.'
Because he would get lost.
Ragna had an unbelievably terrible sense of direction.
The remaining choices were two: Audin and Jaxon.
With nothing to even ponder over, I spoke.
"Alright, I've decided on you."
