Chapter 91 - Special Platoon

Human-faced dogs.

They were creatures that fell somewhere between monsters and beasts.

Four-legged monsters with faces resembling old men.

Or canine beasts with faces resembling those of humans.

In truth, what did that matter?

Monsters and beasts preyed on humans.

They were simply targets to be killed.

No one knew where monsters and beasts came from.

But ever since Encrid was born—no, ever since this world existed—the threat of monsters and beasts had always been there.

Ghouls, harpies, skeletons—their kinds were many.

The difference between monsters and beasts was simple.

If beasts resembled animals, monsters showed individual traits.

Among them, human-faced dogs were creatures somewhere between beasts and monsters, ones that lost all fear once they formed a pack.

"Advance."

Even at a rough glance, it was a pack of more than fifty.

It was a pack of human-faced dogs scattered every which way, growling low in their throats.

The moment he discovered them, the commander of the heavy armored infantry unit spoke.

Heavy armored infantry was the branch that cost the most in both equipment and training.

Their armaments were heavy, which lowered their mobility, and for the same reason they could not carry javelins or become archers.

The weight of their armor restricted dynamic movement, so they could not make nimble charges either.

But armaments that covered the whole body, square shields, and longspears jutting sharply between them.

With that alone, the heavy armored infantry showed overwhelming efficiency in open-field battles.

It was the same now.

The steps of the heavy armored infantry crossing the wasteland were slow.

They did not even raise much yellow dust.

They simply advanced calmly, one step at a time, without stopping.

Even so, there was nothing the pack of human-faced dogs could do.

The human-faced dogs' main means of attack was their claws.

Because those claws had no use at all.

'An overwhelming victory.'

Even harpies that played in the sky could not deal damage to the heavy armored infantry, so there was no way a mere pack of human-faced dogs could be a match for them.

THUNK!

Even when they swung their claws, they were only blocked by shields.

Even if, on occasion, they managed to shove their claws into the gaps between shields.

CLANG.

They only scratched armor plated in iron.

Moreover, not even one in ten human-faced dogs managed that.

Most were simply stopped by the advance of the shields held by the heavy armored infantry.

"SCREECH!"

The grating scream of a human-faced dog burst out.

One that had struck a square shield with its foreleg had its flank pierced by a longspear that shot straight out from between the shields, skewering its body.

When the human-faced dog's body dangled from the spearhead, the soldier standing in the front line pushed the human-faced dog's body away with the shield he held and smoothly pulled the spearhead free.

The monster with a hole in its side rolled across the ground.

Its yelping scream soon became its death cry.

Because the heavy armored infantry stepped over it and crushed it to death.

THUD, THUD.

Considering their weight, merely stepping on it would make for an excellent finishing blow.

Block with shields and stab with longspears.

It was a simple but efficient strategy.

Their opponents were not even people, but monsters.

There was nothing they could do.

While the heavy armored infantry dealt with the pack of human-faced dogs like that.

The special task force, the Border Guard, occupying the hill on the left, poured ranged attacks on them.

It was a unit of longbows and crossbows.

Five longbowmen and fifteen crossbowmen.

They blocked off one side and poured arrows and bolts down, forcing the human-faced dogs to one side to avoid them.

And the side they were driven toward was blocked by the heavy armored infantry.

Encrid and Rem did not just watch either.

Behind the pack of fifty human-faced dogs, more of them kept crawling out from somewhere and joining the rest.

"Looks like those are ours to take!"

Rem said in a voice more excited than ever before.

Instead of answering, Encrid pushed off.

In fact, he had darted out even faster than Rem.

The excitement in his chest had not yet subsided.

A time to swing his sword, again and again, and prove what had settled into his body.

He was in the middle of realizing how precious that time was.

He was fighting with his life on the line, but it did not feel like he would die.

When had he ever experienced something like this?

That put Encrid in a strange mood.

Among a mere dozen or so human-faced dogs, it did not feel like he would die, so there seemed to be no crisis of death.

Why did he feel so certain?

Because Rem was with him?

That did not seem to be it.

Thinking could come later.

He ran.

It was speed and dynamism that heavy armored infantry could not show.

With boldness and focus.

Mid-run, he lowered his waist and swung his sword.

The sword flew parallel to the ground.

SLASH! THUD!

Then the snout of the first human-faced dog that came to meet him was cut off, and another human-faced dog's head was caught by the sword as it split through the snout and continued its swing.

The second one, the one struck in the head, also had its eyes and forehead torn open and burst apart.

He had dealt with two at the same time he drew and swung his sword.

Encrid stamped the ground with his left foot to brake his body and stepped.

Using his left foot as the axis, he pulled his right foot back behind it and turned his body sideways in an instant.

At the same time he turned, he raised his sword vertically, then brought it down.

It was a vertical slash of the Heavy Sword Technique so textbook that no one could complain if it appeared in a manual.

CRACK!

The head of the human-faced dog caught in it split apart.

His heart pounded like mad.

He cut with his sword and swung it.

Facing forward again, he slammed his fist into the head of an approaching human-faced dog, and in the meantime, for the one trying to bite his shin, he drove the tip of his sword vertically down and punched a hole through its skull.

The sensation of crushing bone remained fully in his hand.

The creature tried not to give him time to pull his sword free, but from the side, an axe flashed and drew a trajectory.

It was Rem.

It was a hearty charge and a hearty slash.

The ones caught by that axe had their bodies or heads cut off without mercy.

Encrid turned his eyes and looked at the group of monsters charging in.

It was a sight that would have frightened him first in the past, but not anymore.

Because the Heart of Boldness was beating, he could fight calmly.

His head was colder than ever.

Even while he was busy repeatedly imagining the best path to cut down the monsters rushing in, he calculated where he had to move to gain the advantage.

His head was cold, but in contrast, his heart was hotter than ever.

Exhilaration.

Because the burning sensation heightened his body and senses.

'I can do this.'

The things he had learned while facing the magician in the sewer were settling into his body.

The things he had trained for with his squadmates, racking his brain, were being accumulated one by one through real battle.

Rem, watching from the side, thought of the process of building a wall as he looked at Encrid.

There had once been a time when he had disguised himself as a laborer and been put to work building a wall.

The process of somehow carrying heavy stones over and stacking them one by one.

A boring and arduous process with no telling when it would end.

Ultimately, a process that demanded patience.

'It really is strange.'

When he watched Encrid's growth, all he could think was that it was strange.

In truth, because he watched him from closer than anyone, it was a series of incomprehensible events.

A man who could not even stack one stone each day.

Then one day, he suddenly stacked dozens of stones.

How was such a thing possible?

He did not know.

Nor did he want to know.

It only made things more interesting.

'This is fun. It really is.'

"SQUEAL!"

A bolt lodged in the head of the last remaining human-faced dog.

It was Torres, who had approached after herding the monster pack to one side and killing them before anyone noticed.

Torres smacked his lips and said,

"What a shame. You should have come over to our unit. Why are you still playing Squad Leader?"

That was something the 1st Company Platoon Commander was curious about too.

With that much skill, why?

When several soldiers with ties to Rem glared at him, Encrid quietly blocked them with his body.

Rem was the man who had beaten up his superior in the 1st Company and come here.

He was always on bad terms with them.

Especially since Rem had a tendency to provoke them even more.

Only after preventing that accident did Encrid open his mouth.

"There is still no one who can take responsibility for my squad."

Encrid pointed out a realistic problem.

If he became a Platoon Commander, who would take charge of Squad 444 right away?

"Anyway, good work."

The exhilaration that had filled him to the brim now slowly settled.

Encrid had answered the question, but he had neither listened nor replied all that seriously.

There was only one thought in Encrid's head.

'I need to organize things.'

After fighting, he understood.

He needed to neatly organize what he had at least once.

Until now, he had linked several techniques together and created synergy.

He had also applied them to his swordsmanship.

Until now, he had used them however he could according to the situation, so instead he felt the need to establish them properly.

And because this experience, too, was a first, Encrid felt fresh delight all over again.

Finding what he needed on his own.

That itself was not a common thing.

The way ahead had always been pitch-black darkness, and no path had been visible.

But what about now?

Signposts kept appearing on that path he had never been able to see.

He was so happy he could not hold it in.

That was why Encrid smiled without realizing it.

Even Rem could not guess what was going on inside him.

Naturally, Torres and the heavy armored infantry Platoon Commander were the same.

It was the moment after the fight had ended.

Was this something to be happy about, drunk on victory?

It was not that kind of fight.

It was a subjugation where winning was natural, and killing was natural.

And yet one soldier, covered in blood and rampaging, suddenly smiled as if he were happier than anything.

Watching that, the heavy armored infantry Platoon Commander thought it was the kind of smile one might make only when sinking into hot water in the dead of winter.

"... Is there something a little wrong with him?"

The Platoon Commander from the 1st Company moved beside Torres and asked, lightly pointing at his own head with his hand.

Of course, his gaze was directed at Encrid.

"He is a man who's hard to call normal."

Torres trailed off.

More than the smile just now, he said it with Encrid's usual lifestyle in mind.

After all, no madman would swing a sword like crazy inside the unit the way the troublemaker Squad Leader did.

"What are you looking at?"

"... This son of a bitch."

While Encrid was off guard, a fight broke out between Rem and the 1st Company.

Encrid hurriedly went back to stop Rem, and Torres and the others also began settling the scene.

* * *

Two requests.

One of them had been buried at the Company Commander level, so no one knew he had killed a magician.

But everyone knew about the monster subjugation.

From cutting down wolf beasts with Rem.

To facing harpies with a sword.

There were few people surprised by what Rem had done.

Those who did not know him might be surprised once or twice, but he was a being attached to the unit in the first place thanks to his outstanding skill.

"That bastard Rem? He was always good at fighting."

"If only he had a better personality, couldn't he have even made Battalion Commander?"

When the rumors spread through the unit, what shocked the groups of soldiers was Encrid.

An upper-grade soldier.

He was indeed on the higher end even in the soldier grading system.

But not every upper-grade soldier would be able to do such a thing.

Swordplay against harpies?

No, why would anyone do something that stupid?

But he killed harpies with that stupid act?

If he had barely killed just one, they could call it luck.

But it was three.

The rumors spread frighteningly fast.

"No, what the hell did he do?"

"I knew this day would come eventually."

"Encrid? That troublemaker Squad Leader?"

"Didn't they say he broke a Spell last time?"

"Huh. When I fought him before, I thought he was barely upper-grade."

There was plenty to talk about.

His dealing with the pack of human-faced dogs was also impressive, and more than one or two people had seen it.

"But why is he still a Squad Leader?"

Rumors and questions spread through the unit.

It was only natural that they reached the Battalion Commander's ears.

The Battalion Commander could not ignore it.

Thanks to that, the Fairy Company Commander was summoned and questioned.

"Is it right to leave him at the mere rank of Squad Leader?"

"The squad itself is rather special."

"We don't have the capacity to give him a reward, so I think it would be right to raise his position."

The system of the Naurilia Kingdom was clear.

If someone did well, they gave more according to that achievement.

That was the core of it.

It was not for nothing that they used policies like the soldier grading system or the mercenary soldier system.

Compensation was either reward money or honor.

For his own benefit, the Battalion Commander suggested giving a position instead of reward money.

The Company Commander knew well the peculiarity of the troublemaker squad.

If Encrid were raised to Platoon Commander, the squad would become uncontrollable.

Then they could allow a different method.

"Let's do that."

After giving a military salute, the Company Commander turned around.

She had thought of a stratagem that would both satisfy the Battalion Commander and maintain the current organization.

And so Encrid.

"The personnel under my command number only ten in total."

"Regardless of that, as of today, you hold a position equivalent to that of Platoon Commander. Any complaints?"

"None, sir."

It was his superior's word.

Encrid had no reason to argue.

Moreover, his opponent was the Fairy Company Commander.

Becoming the target of pointless jokes was even more bothersome.

"Go."

That was how he came to receive the status of a Platoon Commander.

"Should I call you Platoon Commander now?"

"Oh, Platoon Commander, does that mean your pay went up?"

"Then what about us?"

"Congratulations, Brother."

"The edge of my sword is all ruined."

He was not sure whether these were words of congratulations.

Though the last one from Ragna definitely was not a congratulation.

In reality, becoming a Platoon Commander did not change anything.

Ah, there had been talk of filling the vacant spots in the squad that had roughly been overlooked until now.

Originally, a squad had ten people as its full complement.

However, until now, there had been only six in total, including Encrid, not ten.

Its formal name was the Independent Platoon under the 4th Company.

It was no longer the 4th Squad.

They said that if he wanted to add more platoon members, he could.

'Why bother?'

It was called an Independent Platoon, but there would almost never be any occasion for them to go out on independent operations.

If there was one privilege among those granted to him.

It was that a Platoon Commander did not stand ordinary duty.

"That's a little unfair, isn't it?"

Rem did complain, but once he heard that this squad would be maintained as it was, he let most things pass.

That was the change that came after he became a Platoon Commander and rumors spread through the unit.

However, that did not mean Encrid's daily life changed.

"You wish to learn more, yes?"

It began with Audin.

Separate from organizing what he had.

He hated wasting time.

When he had time, he must not stop learning and practicing.

That was the core of how Encrid thought he should use this repeating today.

So he sought out Audin.

He wanted the next step beyond the techniques he had learned and brought to maturity in his body.

"Have you ever heard of bed combat?"

He did wonder what nonsense this was now.

"It is a training method created by the holy knight Balaf."

That was Audin's explanation.

Balaf-style martial arts.

It was a feast of techniques for grabbing and breaking, not striking and beating.

Being pinned and bent on a bed was added to his daily life.

Of course, Audin was not the only one he learned something new from.

Before he knew it, the bitter cold that symbolized winter was retreating.

And Encrid remained the same as ever.

It was such a repeating daily life that if the Boatswain appeared in his dream, he would outright ask, What the hell are you?

And rumors began to circulate.

Not a local battle like now, but an all-out war would break out.

It was only natural.

On the previous battlefield, the enemy had shown Spells, and the allies had shown a Squire, changing the state of the battlefield.

A battlefield fiercer than before.

Spring was approaching.

And before that spring arrived, Encrid spent days so busy he had no time to breathe as he organized what was his.