Chapter 178: I Shall Fall for You
"Really, anytime, anytime you want to come, no, you are welcome to come. No, please come. Are you perhaps married? That's good, too, very good. Yes, come anytime, anytime, and you are welcome to put down roots here. My daughter is quite pretty, so living together, hmm, that would be good. Right?"
The drunk village chief repeated the same words for the nineteenth time and asked the person next to him. A similarly drunk resident nodded his head repeatedly.
With his nods, food scraps scattered from his bushy beard.
"It's good, yes, very good indeed."
Anyone could see they were drunk.
Anyway, this chief seems to be losing his mind now that he's drunk.
Enkrid had seen the chief's daughter in passing. He knew she wasn't even fifteen yet. She was a child.
Though there was a custom of early marriage in the West, there was none in the central region. So that was truly just drunken nonsense.
"Hahahaha!"
The chief and the man with a lunchbox in his beard left their seats, arm in arm.
Enkrid stared at them blankly.
A festival always comes to a village that has overcome a crisis.
When he had been about to cut down and kill the Cultist, regardless of whether the Border Guard's blacksmith was a magician or not, Luagarne had shaken her head.
Is there a reason to keep him alive? As he looked at her with that question, Luagarne had said.
"He's already dead. It has stopped."
The Cultist's end was a heart attack.
Afterward, the monsters that had come to their senses had fled.
A few remaining ones did charge, but there was no need for Enkrid to step up.
An arrow had flown with a swish and embedded itself in the head of the remaining monster.
"We won!"
"We protected it!"
Shouts and cheers, cries of joy after having survived, and amidst them, his own name.
"Enkriiiiid!"
Already, all the village residents knew his name and were crying it out. The voices of the people he had protected, the voices of those who had seen his back.
Feeling not so bad, Enkrid flicked his sword clean and turned around.
Amidst the cheers.
Amidst the people.
It was time to return to the village that was just beginning to stretch its limbs.
"All hail the Enkrid Wall!"
He also heard some strange words.
The master builder had strongly insisted, the chief had nodded, and even Deutsch Pullman, the captain of the guard who would one day aim to be a key figure of power in this city, had said the name was a matter of course.
'A name for a wall.'
Well, honestly, it wasn't bad. He had also figured it was half a joke.
And so, it was the night they had defeated the monsters and beasts.
The chief brought out all the remaining food in the village, and everyone ate and drank together.
Enkrid did so as well. He ate, drank, and enjoyed himself.
"A glass?"
He accepted the liquor that Finn brought and took a sip. It tasted good.
It was an apple wine, and the sweetness and moderate acidity blended with the unique aroma of the alcohol, filling his mouth with flavor.
"Isn't it delicious?"
It was a man with a shabby beard, as if it had been gnawed by a mouse.
Enkrid nodded as the man, whose face and name he did not know, smiled cleanly and asked him again how it was.
"It's delicious."
"It's my pride and joy."
The man with the mouse-eaten beard puffed out his chest. He seemed to be a brewer.
"This is something I had saved, but I will give it to you."
His speech was coarse, but the emotion contained within was not. He expressed his gratitude.
"Thanks to you."
He handed over the apple wine, his words an abbreviation of 'we survived.' He said it was a bit different from what the others were drinking.
He popped the cork and took a sip.
'Hm.'
It was different.
The flavor, the taste, the aroma, everything was different. The scent of apple that brushed the tip of his nose, a certain savory taste that deepened the more he savored it, and a sweet taste that wrapped around his tongue and dug in, made him continuously move his glass.
Enkrid had never tasted such a liquor in his life.
"This seems like a precious liquor."
"I was planning to open it when my daughter gets married."
It was a liquor with its own history.
He asked if it was okay to give him something like this.
"I still have one more bottle left."
He said, smiling brightly. Mouse-like beard or not, that smile was truly bright. A pure joy, something like that, could be glimpsed.
"Here, you too, come and greet him."
The brewer quickly brought his wife. She was a beautiful woman.
As they say, the talented one gets the beauty; those words were quite true.
"Enjoy the drink."
Enkrid gave a glance and savored the apple wine.
Around him, the chief, Deutsch Pullman, and many others sat by Enkrid's side for a moment before getting up.
It was as if a large banquet had been set up in the center of the village.
"Let's commemorate this day every year. Shall we call it Enkrid's Day?"
Are they going to attach a name to everything they do?
"What's so important about a name?"
Someone retorted, and others nodded, saying that was also true.
They decided to commemorate this day, the beginning of summer, every year.
Will they really? Enkrid watched them impassively, sipping his apple wine.
The chief, drunk, repeated the same words.
And the chief's wife said that in just two years, her daughter would become a beauty that would make the city weep, but.
'Not a chance.'
She was just an ordinary child. The child was shy and couldn't even talk to Enkrid.
Instead, perhaps, a cheeky little kid came up and asked to be taken under his wing.
"Go and take down five of Deutsch Pullman's vigilantes."
He told him.
The kid was resolute.
"I will!"
And then he charged at the drunk vigilantes, got a flick on the head, and burst into tears.
The way he tried to act like an adult and then ran away crying made him look like a little kid who still wet his bed.
He was cheeky, though. It was a harsh world to live in without even a dream like that, so Enkrid inwardly cheered for him.
"It is thanks to you."
Deutsch Pullman seemed to be a very strong drinker. It didn't look like he would get drunk easily.
His nose was a little red, but at least his tongue wasn't twisted.
He silently tilted his glass a few times.
"He said he didn't have anything like this for me."
He cursed the brewer.
"If you ever need a glaive, call for me anytime. A vow, dancing on the edge of a blade."
It was a mercenary's vow. A declaration of his will to answer the call no matter what.
A dance on the edge of a blade, it was a stylish greeting.
"A dance on the edge of a blade."
Enkrid returned the mercenary-style greeting for the first time in a long while.
"See you again."
Doichi got up with a simple farewell.
Another glass of apple wine.
Enkrid's mind did not become hazy just from a few glasses of liquor.
Nor did he want to pick up his sword and swing it around like a madman again.
The review of the battle was also more or less finished.
"Resting is important, brother."
For some reason, Audin's words came to mind.
Enkrid agreed with those words. Resting was always important.
In that respect, it seemed good if today was the one day of rest he might get in a year.
With that in mind, Enkrid drank and ate.
A skilled hunter-turned-vigilante had caught a deer from somewhere and had roasted it whole, and the friend who had prepared it had excellent skill.
The meat was tender, and there was almost no gamey smell.
The salt seasoning was also just right.
"Phew, if I go back and tell this story, is anyone going to believe me?"
A moderately drunk Finn also came over and said.
"What?"
"The Monster Slaughterer, the dance of the madman with two swords."
Limited to when she was drunk, Finn had the qualities of a bard.
Finn, who had been chuckling, moved on to another place.
Krais, also looking quite drunk, came over and poked Enkrid in the side.
He knew he was coming and knew he would poke him, but he let him.
"Let's go find some treasure."
"Alright."
"No, I mean let's go. Am I going to take it all for myself? No, I'm serious. You really don't trust people's words."
"Alright, let's go."
"Look, it's a place that takes less than half a day from here. I've already planned out how to get in. Traps? No problem."
"Sounds good."
"Don't you think it's time to decide?"
Krais's eyes blazed. Who had been pouring him so much liquor?
As Enkrid sipped his apple wine while looking at the moon, Krais blinked his large eyes a few times and then said.
"By the way, what did you say a moment ago?"
"When you're sober, ask the you of tomorrow."
"What?"
"It means get lost."
At first, only Enkrid's surroundings were full of people, but now they had cleared out one by one to mingle among themselves.
Watching that, Enkrid thought it was a good sight.
The moonlight descended.
The temperature was not hot.
It wasn't yet the time for night insects to run rampant.
The northern part of the continent was not a place with many night insects in the first place.
On top of that, there was delicious apple wine, deer barbecue, and the foodstuffs that each house brought out as their secret weapon.
Cheese and smoked meat and the like came out.
It seemed like they were using up all their food supplies, but what was the problem with that?
Since they had eliminated the threat of the colony.
The bodies of the cultist, the monsters, and so on had all been left strewn outside.
And the equipment the Gnolls had used was paid for in Krona by the village at an appropriate price.
From tomorrow, they would have to spend an even busier day.
Collecting the bodies, repairing the broken rampart, in the meantime they would bring stones from the quarry, and they would also recruit village residents to increase the size of the village.
Would it become a form of absorbing the surrounding small villages?
Usually, that was the case.
That was how a pioneer village grew in scale.
They would bring in those with various skills, even if it meant giving them a bag of Krona.
And so, they would make this village into a castle.
How long would it take to properly build up the walls and create something like an inner castle?
Without the help of a magician, and only with the help of a craftsmen's guild.
'Still, it would probably take a few years.'
They also had to build a mansion, and considering various circumstances, it might take even longer.
However, since the chief was full of motivation, he would manage it somehow.
Since it was a land where monsters and beasts ran rampant, it would be difficult to receive trade goods.
'Everything has to be short and thick.'
Then it would work out.
Enkrid lifted his head with his idle thoughts.
In the center of the village square, it was noisy all around.
Someone was singing.
Someone had brought a lute and was strumming it.
That friend knows how to play a bit.
As he was listening intently to that, looking at the stars that adorned the sky, and just thinking, doesn't that look like a person swinging a sword.
"Aren't you curious how to obtain Will?"
It was Luagarne. Enkrid did not turn his head at the question of the Frog who had taken a seat next to him.
He didn't answer either.
Toward that Enkrid, Luagarne opened her mouth again.
"Why do you not ask?"
Only then did Enkrid slowly part his lips.
"I'll find out when the time comes."
Is he being carefree? That couldn't be it. The man he had seen until now was far from such carelessness.
Luagarne didn't know why she was feeling impatient, but the desire to tell him welled up. Today was not the first time. It had been like that all along.
She couldn't hold it back and had brought it up, but his nonchalant reaction made her want to tease him.
"Do you think you can become a knight?"
"I don't know."
Another dispirited answer.
A very unfitting answer.
Enkrid looked at the moon and opened his mouth again.
"A dream. Just a dream."
A short, but clear blade that pierced the heart.
Enkrid's words were like that. Luagarne placed her hand on her Heartguard armor.
Her left arm was still regenerating, so she was one-armed.
She felt her heart muscles clenching.
"This is how a Junior Knight uses Will. They can cause Will to sprout in one or two movements arbitrarily. Even that is not an easy task, but one must be able to do at least that to be called in the realm of a superhuman who has surpassed their limits. It is the land beyond that of a master."
Why was this Frog suddenly talking about this?
Was she drunk on the moonlight? Or on the apple wine?
"Do Frogs also get drunk?"
"Sometimes. Not now."
Luagarne was an honest type, so she continued with her inner thoughts.
"Right now, I think I am drunk on a man."
There was probably no need to ask who that was. Luagarne didn't particularly wait for an answer either.
"The Junior Knight Aishia was engrossed in the Will that creates presence."
A knight is one who properly uses the power called Will.
A Junior Knight is one who uses it, at least in part.
"Even among the Junior Knights who have realized Will, at least in part, there are those who end up never becoming a knight. No, there are many. And yet, you still want to become a knight?"
Was this explanation to ask this question? In any case, it was helpful.
Enkrid silently nodded.
"Yes. I will become one. A knight."
A dream torn to shreds. Enkrid had patched and sewn that dream. And so, it had once again come within reach.
Luagarne stared at that Enkrid.
On the outside, no passion was visible, but because she had watched the human named Enkrid until now, Luagarne could tell.
'A relentless human.'
This man was one who held a hot flame that he did not bring to the surface.
Therefore, he is beautiful. Therefore, he is good to look at.
"If you become a knight, I shall fall for you."
For a Frog, procreation and love of the heart were separate matters.
So they could also love humans.
More than anything, a Frog's love was different from the human concept. Not just different, but a completely separate concept.
For them, there was no concept of confinement, and no concept of physical love.
It was fine for the man she liked to meet other women.
Rather, she would even inform the other woman of her existence and ask for her understanding.
A human who was loved by a Frog was truly rare.
It was that special, an event that did not happen easily.
Enkrid wondered what this meant, looked at her, and then nodded.
"Do as you please."
A nonchalant answer, an attitude that showed his capacity. Luagarne found that quite to her liking as well.
As the two shared a glass with the moonlight as their backdrop, a panther interjected between them with a thump.
As if it too knew how to drink, it glared at them.
"Want some?"
Enkrid asked. Esther opened her mouth. The precious apple wine went into the panther's mouth.
The panther, which had swallowed a mouthful of liquor with a gulp, growled.
"Is it good?"
At Enkrid's question, the panther just opened its mouth again.