Chapter 752 - A Potato That Didn't Even Sprout
After closing the distance, Rem struck Roman's jaw. His axe-wielding hand left an afterimage as it hit and withdrew. The jaw is a weak point. If struck cleanly, the impact should rattle the brain and drop the opponent, but Roman held his ground. He completely shrugged off the blow.
And it didn't end with just enduring it. Roman twisted his body halfway and swung his elbow, the one holding the greatsword.
Thud.
Rem didn't need to be flustered, so he wasn't. He simply raised his arm to block and then swept Roman's legs out from under him. Roman toppled to the side, losing his balance.
"Tough guy, huh? Are you sure you don't want me to take one of his legs?"
Rem asked again.
"If you're going to sew it back on yourself, go ahead."
Enkrid's answer was firm.
As he said it, he thought,
'But why is Roman even here?'
And by himself, too?
Is there a problem in the City of Oara?
No, there isn't.
He'd been getting regular updates about the situation there.
If the City of Oara found it difficult to deal with the remnants of the Gray Forest Demonic Domain, Enkrid had been ready to step in himself.
He'd made Krais investigate so many things, that Krais had started to complain about it.
"My body can only be in one place at a time, you know."
In conclusion, the City of Oara isn't what it used to be. It's not quite as secure as a city fully surrounded by the Safe Road, but—
'It's surpassed the level of a typical pioneer city.'
Because it's also the legacy of Knight Oara, even Krang personally kept an eye on it.
'So why, then?'
He could guess, at least vaguely, but with the answer right in front of him, there was no need to dig further.
"He won't even pass out."
Rem's flat voice rang out. Enkrid didn't know about the monster called the Parasitic Beast. But he could at least make an educated guess about the situation based on what he saw.
'That brown lump stuck to the top of his head.'
That was probably the main body. Judging by Roman's glassy, unfocused eyes, he seemed to be unconscious and simply being controlled.
"Will he come back to himself if we remove that thing?"
Enkrid muttered as if speaking to himself. Ropord responded to his words.
"About fifty-fifty, I'd say."
Would it have been easier to accept if he'd simply heard of Roman's death another way?
Or would it have left a bitter taste?
The one thing that was certain was that something like this wouldn't shake Enkrid.
'If I can save him, I will.'
Doing everything possible.
It was also the answer he'd found from what the Ferryman had shown and put him through.
The Ferryman had forced him to imagine cruel scenarios, had pushed him to stay—not in a future where the worst had already happened, but in the present, in the now.
He was a conductor orchestrating anxiety.
He composed the melody of loss as a prelude, passing through resentment in the middle, and driving it toward the climax of despair.
"Will you only regret it after everyone around you is dead? Will you beg to be sent back to the past when that time comes?"
All the way here, the Ferryman had shown a tenacity he'd never seen before. And Enkrid—
"It's called Vortex. What do you think?"
He focused on swordsmanship more than ever before. He was so dedicated to his training that he even pushed himself in his dreams. That's why he wasn't shaken in the slightest. If anything, what the Ferryman had shown him only made him stronger.
If anyone had truly understood these relationships, they might have wondered aloud: "It's almost like the Ferryman is testing you, isn't it?"
Of course, Enkrid had sensed this too, but that was all there was to it. It wasn't something to argue over just because you knew, nor was there anything extra to be done. He simply arrived at his own conclusion while training.
'Do the best I can.'
It was just a feeling, but Enkrid felt as if he'd learned this lesson from the Ferryman. Or perhaps, that the Ferryman had nudged him onto this path. Naturally, he never put these thoughts into words either. His reflection was brief. Enkrid immediately spoke up.
"Jaxen, Audin."
At its core, Enkrid-style Traditional Swordsmanship—reborn through the tactical sword of Luagarne—meant always taking the best possible path given the circumstances.
This time was no different.
'Remove the Parasite.'
Jaxen wielded his blade with such precision, it was as if he was filleting skin.
And Audin was the only one in the Order of Knights who possessed divine power.
"Rem, hold him."
Just moments ago, the barbarian's axe swings, which had been ferociously targeting vital points enough to render Roman incapable of fighting, suddenly changed. The wild attacks softened and flowed smoothly. Like the snap of a whip, Rem snatched Roman's greatsword and drove it into the ground.
Thunk.
With Roman's greatsword pinned to the ground, Rem placed his foot on top of it. After that, the rest was easy. Jaxen approached without a sound and sliced off the Parasitic Beast, separating it cleanly.
"The Lord watches over us," said Audin, placing his bare hand on Roman's head. The blood pouring from the dozen or so holes left by the Parasitic Beast was driven back by a white light and stopped.
That was the end of it.
Roman's body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Audin grabbed his neck with one hand.
It was meant as support, but he looked ready to snap Roman's neck if he acted up.
"Did you keep him alive just so you could kill him yourself?" Rem remarked.
Audin smiled as he replied, "It's a secret technique that lets you support and restrain someone at the same time."
"Secret technique, my ass," Rem shot back.
Rem shot back, and Ragna, next to him, opened his mouth so wide for a yawn it looked like his jaw might split.
There was no sense of danger.
"So, what should we do about those?"
Fel asked, glancing sideways.
Slithering toward them from inside the Brown Forest were monsters similar to the one that had possessed Roman. Everything that had seemed like part of the Brown Forest turned out to be their writhing bodies. Brown lumps lurched across the ground, inching closer, looking as if a mud puddle had sprouted a will and started moving.
"Why bother asking?"
Ropord scolded Fel.
The point was to wipe out the monsters.
Wasn't that why they were moving right now?
"Fiancé. This is turning my stomach."
Shinar feigned weakness, hiding behind Enkrid.
Rem seemed about to curse, but held back.
Enkrid, who'd noticed his hesitation, spoke up.
"You've grown, Rem."
He said it admiringly, and Rem shot him a glare.
"Tch, just shut up for once, will you? You never give that mouth a rest."
Rem might not have been the one to say it, but Enkrid was the leader of this group.
He offered Rem a gentle touch in his own way.
When told to shut up, Rem did, communicating his feelings through his eyes instead.
Are you really one to say that?
Rem ignored him.
While eyeing the approaching horde of monsters that could well be called an army, Ropord and Fel moved to stand side by side, ready to confront them.
If you let your guard down for even a moment, you could end up as a host for a Parasitic Beast.
That's how dangerous these monsters were.
"Think they'll try to ride those?"
"Or set fire to them?"
"Yeah."
But to this group, none of this was truly a threat.
"We have to be careful with fire."
Shinar responded, her voice cautious. It's hard to shake off the effects of an incident that messes with your mind. For her, fire was still a dangerous tool.
Of course, she wasn't an ordinary Fairy, so she was steadily working to overcome her past.
"Use it carefully."
That's why Rem added those words. As the Parasitic Beasts, now reduced to something like muddy sludge, scattered and charged at them, Fel and Ropord cut them down one by one and then set the forest—now the brown lump's base—ablaze.
Though it was called a forest, it wasn't that big.
Once part of it was set ablaze, the rest simply toppled over in a heap.
At one point, the head of the Colony that ruled the Demonic Domain appeared—it took the form of an earthworm.
Fel swung his sword in an arc similar to Enkrid's Vortex to take it on.
Delivering a decisive blow with his full strength had always been Fel's specialty.
Of course, it wasn't quite at the level of what Enkrid had shown before.
Even when its head was split open, the earthworm creature survived.
In the end, burning it turned out to be the only solution.
"I'll take care of this."
Luagarne stepped forward and finished it off with her Whip of Flame.
They cleared out that Demonic Domain, yet the actual fighting hadn't even lasted half a day.
The domain hadn't been particularly large, and, of course, their overwhelming strength played a part as well.
Afterwards, Audin hoisted Roman onto his shoulders.
The group immediately set off for their next destination—the hunt for another Demonic Domain.
Heading south, there were several places known as "small Demonic Domains."
Burning and destroying them all would no doubt serve as a signal flare meant for Beelrog.
Later, after settling down at a makeshift camp, Roman regained consciousness.
He blinked a few times and then spoke.
"Are you dead too?"
He was speaking to Enkrid.
There was a moment to explain the current situation.
"Ah."
Roman hesitated a bit before recounting his own foolishness.
It was a common kind of derailment—a desperate struggle to find his path as a knight.
"My skills stopped improving. Time kept passing while I was stuck in place. I couldn't wait any longer."
It had been a drastic choice.
After Roman had almost finished off the remaining monsters and beasts in the Gray Forest, he hit a wall.
How could he move past it?
He knew he needed a change.
So, in order to go further, he set out alone.
That's when he discovered there were people living even in lands that belonged to no nation.
He'd reached that place almost by luck—after all, he would have been hard-pressed had he stumbled uppon the Cyclops Enkrid cut down.
So, had he fought for them?
"No, it was because of my own greed. I had this foolish hope that battling within the Demonic Domain would show me a way forward."
Roman's decision was also influenced by the belief that his experiences in the Gray Forest had driven his growth to some extent.
But if you walk too long in the wrong direction without watching your step, you can easily fall over a cliff.
The path to becoming a knight isn't a well-paved road.
Fortunately, when Roman fell off that cliff, someone else reached down and pulled him back up.
It was a foolish mistake, but no one here would fault him for it.
Especially Enkrid—he understood that feeling all too well, so he couldn't bring himself to criticize Roman.
Very few people could speak harshly at a time like this.
"That was pretty foolish," Rem said from among the group.
"Yeah, it really was," Ragna agreed.
Jaxen, on the other hand, didn't pay attention at all.
He was off to the side, gathering a few pebbles and stuffing them into his pocket.
"Do you have faith in the Lord? If you had trusted Him, He would have shown you the way," Audin added.
Hmm.
Roman's foolishness had been called out—not by Enkrid, but by the entire Order of Knights.
"It sounds like you just need more training," someone remarked.
Fel displayed his trademark obsession with training.
"Being bold is fine, but was there really any need for you to enter the Demonic Domain alone?"
Ropord pointed out the harsh reality.
Roman glanced around at them.
"And who are these guys?"
"They're the Order of Knights."
With Enkrid's answer, Roman realized who they were.
There were some familiar faces, so it wasn't hard to figure out.
The Madmen Knights.
Roman knew he'd made a fool of himself, and he knew these people had come to save him.
He tried to close his mouth and take the verbal beating, but the words just kept coming out of these people's mouths.
"My fiancée, even if I were left alone in the Demonic Domain, you'd come rescue me, right?"
"Why are you so insistent on going into the Demonic Domain by yourself?"
"To relive an old thrill, of course. When the Demon captured me, I kept imagining the day you'd come for me."
"Didn't you tell me to turn back the moment we met back then?"
"You have to know to take a woman's words in reverse. And come on, I was joking. Do I look like a potato that can't even sprout?"
That "potato that can't even sprout" was a fairy expression which, in terms of the Continent's language, could mean idiot, fool, or simpleton.
Roman didn't understand, but the ever-helpful Ropord offered an explanation.
"Not that I really wanted to know."
"Oh, is that so?"
Then Rem joined in, and soon everyone was talking too much.
Listening to them discuss him, something hot began to boil up from deep inside his chest.
"The only reason the Parasitic Beast got to him was because he's got such a soft core."
"Weak in both body and mind."
"For someone that size, he clearly lacks proper training in the finer points."
"A fool is just a fool."
Rem with his gray dome of a head, the Blond Swordsman, the burly guy always preaching about believing in gods, even the silent man rubbing a pebble in his hand—they all chimed in.
Then the Half-blood Giant approached.
If he recalled correctly, her name was Teresa, and she asked,
"Did you have a plan?"
It was probably just innocent curiosity, but still—
"These bastards, seriously."
Anger flared up inside him.
He knew he'd acted foolishly, but was it too much to ask for them to consider how he must've felt?
Huh?
Didn't they get how frustrated he was to go out training like this and end up in this mess?
Come on.
And besides, there were people living nearby—even if you could only call them half-human, they were still people, right?
But did nobody bother to listen to that?
Yet, given his current situation, he didn't have the standing to make a big deal out of it.
In the end, all he could do was let out a heavy sigh and say,
"How could a bunch of prodigies ever understand how I feel."
As he looked up, he saw Enkrid.
A man who had been given the innate talent of the Human-faced Dogs and reached this point through sheer will and effort alone.
He was a Knight now.
Roman had already heard as much through rumors.
Roman might not realize it, but Enkrid wasn't just any regular Knight.
Whatever the case, as he watched Roman thrashing about, Enkrid thought that perhaps this, too, was something one had to experience to become a real Knight.
'Just because they're Imperial Knights doesn't mean you can teach and raise just anyone to that level.'
In reality, only if someone's personality and various other conditions matched could you guide them forward.
But Enkrid was different.
He could guide Roman along his path.
He could see the way forward.
It wouldn't happen instantly, but at the very least, he could set up signposts and open a road.
'It's possible.'
Enkrid was simply unique.
The road he had walked was clearly unlike anyone else's.
He had built a staircase where there was no path, climbing up cliffs by sheer determination.
Noticing the strange glint in Enkrid's eyes, Roman spoke awkwardly.
"People live in the Demonic Domains too. You didn't know that, did you?"
***
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