Eternally Regressing Knight Chapter 599

599. How far will you protect it?

“If you do something bad, even if you feel comfortable now, you will feel uncomfortable in bed, and if it happens repeatedly, you will feel uncomfortable all the time. Why should you do that? It’s better not to do it.”

These were the words of a foolish but wise friend, one of the five guarding the underground.

“What if the discomfort in your heart disappears as you become accustomed to it?”

Encred took those words at face value.

“I don’t want to get used to it.”

The guy answered right away. He didn’t seem to have any worries.

“okay.”

He came to me when I was training in the morning, drenched in sweat. I asked him why he came, and he said he just wanted to say thank you.

It was a conversation that came out while we were talking a few words.

Afterwards, Delma brought him water and asked if he was feeling any discomfort, and her uncle, although aware of the situation, did not push Encred away.

He always looked at me with eyes of respect and reverence, just like Lord Louis.

There were quite a few people who looked at Encred with such eyes. Does that mean that only eyes of respect remained in the city? That was not the case.

“There was a rumor that if you do something bad, he’ll come looking for you and kill you. So they say you have to hit him before he kills you.”

If you listen to Delma, it’s true. They are the ones who feel threatened. They talk like that among themselves, but of course, they haven’t even tried.

The lord formed a force and was patrolling the city with his eyes wide open.

Even if that wasn’t the case, there was no way he would have suffered.

As Delma tells us, there are still people in the city who are harmful or have malicious intent.

“The Lord will come down and purify everything!”

There were also women who were crazy enough to spit out such words. There were also those who hid knives in their sleeves and glared at Encred.

There were also those who watched from hiding in the dark.

Some were poor or drugged, while others observed Encrid with anxiety.

“Even if you save me, will I still be like that?”

Luagarne looked at them and said a word.

“Understand. They are fools.”

This is what a fool says.

“I don’t know. I know things are good now, but I also feel uneasy.”

Delma, who had never felt safe, added that she was afraid of change.

Yes, there will be people like that and people like that.

Encred thought back to the fencing instructor who had taught him at the beach in the past.

“I was the executioner.”

He had said something like that.

“I didn’t need to know whether the person standing before me was a criminal, a victim, a wronged person, or just a scapegoat. All I had to do was swing my sword and kill the person. The mask with the eye holes was my helmet and my best weapon.”

He looked very upset when he said that. It seemed as if he wanted to fix and erase the past if he could.

I asked him, who was a little drunk, if he could, he said he would, but of course it was impossible.

Now that I think about it, even if I could repeat today, I wouldn’t be able to go back to any point in the past.

I don’t want to repeat today either.

“Among the people I killed, there was a child. Yes, there was a child. The child’s mother said, ‘Why did my child have to die?’”

The instructor said that my past was not honorable.

“I swung the sword without thinking.”

Even in the midst of all this, he says his people skills have improved. He says he realized something while working as an executioner.

As I listened, I could tell that he had talent.

Then one day, a question from the child’s mother changed the instructor’s life.

“I regret it.”

He discussed regret.

What was his life like after that?

Encred only knew a few parts. After he quit his job, he didn’t kill people recklessly.

In particular, there was never any killing of an opponent who did not resist.

He started out as a mercenary, working as an executioner and learning how to use his sword, and managed to survive until he reached a self-sufficient city in a remote corner of the continent. In the meantime, he was more interested in saving people than killing them.

“Will the dead come back to me just because I say this? No. But this is how I will live.”

Did he kill more people or did he save more people?

It was something unknown.

Encred believed that one cannot judge good and evil in someone’s life.

It wasn’t like he was saying anything like “I forgive you.”

There was just something that came to mind before all of this.

It was the anchor that came down to his life, the moon that guided the stars, the signpost that laid out the path ahead.

“Your goal is to protect those within the line you have set, right? Then it’s easy. Take them all to the underground shelter, and you should be able to do that.”

The boatman intervened and spoke. It was a day of reflection. Encred looked at the boatman who had intervened with a hazy illusion.

At some point, people, air, wind, and sunlight all stopped. When everything stopped, the surroundings turned gray.

That was the end of the memories I recalled.

The boatman is right. This is the right way.

As he said, Encred was able to save Delmarna, the fool, her friends, Delmar’s uncle, Luagarne, the lord, and several others.

A walking fire burns a city. If it doesn’t find something to burn around it, it will disappear.

If we can protect them to that point, that’s the end of it. There’s no need to risk your life, and there’s no reason to climb over a wall that you can’t see the way through.

In the gray world, Encred stared blankly at Delma.

“What do you think that child will be when he grows up?”

He asks the boatman without looking at him. The boatman cannot answer. He is not a fortune teller who can see the future.

Encred asked, but he didn’t know the answer. No one else would know.

Delma could have been an innkeeper.

You could have been a hunter. Wandering the turbulent continent, you could have great ambitions and founded a kingdom. Isn’t that possible?

“No one knows. No one.”

Encred continued. The boatman looked at the man who was to live forever because of the curse with his grey eyes.

The author is alone in his color-filled world of gray.

“so?”

The boatman asked, and Encred suddenly brought up the words the boatman had thrown out, which had caused a stir in his mind.

“How far should we protect it?”

The boatman followed the rhythm of the words.

“Okay, how far will you protect it?”

People, life, back.

In other words, it is the life of the people who live behind his back. That is what he was determined to protect. But was that all he had to protect?

Well then, if that were all, there would be no reason to live so noisily.

Why should I save the saintess of the sacred country far away? None.

Why would I bother with a child I don’t know? He’s someone who doesn’t stand behind me. So there’s no reason to save him.

Encred knew that he had been shaken. The boatman’s words had touched his heart for the first time.

I want to save only those who are within my reach and who are for my good.

This city is only a four-day relationship.

That’s right. It’s absolutely right.

match.

In the gray world, Encred hit my cheeks with both hands.

The world becomes blurred and returns to the original dream, the world of the black river. The boatman looks at himself while holding a lamp on the rippling river.

Encred doesn’t keep a bond that lasts only four days. What he keeps is something else.

“They will have a chance too. I will protect that possibility.”

There is a man hiding his dagger in the crossguard, fearing that he might be killed by his own sword. There is also an assassin. There is someone who is intoxicated with socializing.

There will be unforgivable evildoers. There will be husbands who beat their wives, and mothers who beat their children.

There may be children who stab their parents, and there may be people who live by stealing from others.

and.

There was a boy who decided to become an innkeeper.

There was an adult who took care of the child so that he would not starve to death.

There are some idiots who joined the thieves’ guild and ended up losing their fingers while protecting the citizens.

If he ran away, it would be over, but there are also lords who remain, saying they love everyone in the castle.

Even though nothing comes out of the castle lord, there are those who remain by his side.

Some are right. Some are wrong. And they all live in the now, the present, the moment.

Encred wanted to protect that moment. He didn’t know how those in the future would change, but the fire that was poured now, and the forbidden magic that was spread to kill him, would erase the tomorrows of everyone in the city.

How can this be tolerated?

I hope the war ends.

why?

Because we need to plant the seed of tomorrow’s possibility in everyone.

I hope the war ends.

why?

Because I don’t know how the me of today will change tomorrow.

I don’t want to eliminate that possibility.

I want to erase the magic.

Demons and evil spirits are always there to erase and kill tomorrow.

The boatman asked again.

“How far will you protect it?”

“My tomorrow, and their tomorrow.”

Encred raised his hand from the boat floating on the black river. There was nothing in his hand, but the boatman saw a sword.

The formless blade speaks for itself. Its words speak for themselves. Encred has answered.

Hehehe.

Puhhhhh.

Hahahahaha.

Kkieeeeee.

That’s a ridiculous answer.

Are you disabled?

If that’s what you want.

Respect.

The boatman didn’t say anything, but words were heard. To be exact, they were the words of an innumerable and unfathomable being disguised as a boatman.

Dozens of overlapping intentions entered Encred’s mind and attempted to corrupt his will, but to no avail.

The will to reject had already taken root deep within Encred.

No matter what the other person says, even if it means becoming the enemy of everyone on the continent, if it doesn’t feel right, I will reject it.

“He is crazy.”

The gray-faced boatman spoke, holding the lamp. Encred knew that it was the moment when everything around him became distant and he was waking up from his dream.

But at that moment of departure, the boatman’s face appeared to smile.

‘I guess I’m mistaken?’

The boatman’s smile, that’s unimaginable.

Isn’t this different from the smile of Cinnar or Esther?

Encrid was thus driven out of the black river.

The boatman who remained on the ship chuckled even after pushing Encred away. There was no falseness in that laughter. It was a genuine laughter.

Teaching. How long has it been since you’ve done this?

Swordsmanship? That’s not something I can teach you. You can learn techniques for handling your body on your own.

The true teaching is that which awakens the spirit that takes root in the mind and is cherished in the heart.

If this isn’t fun, what in the world is fun?

They say it’s eternal life, but in reality, he’s trapped in a prison called today, screaming and struggling to become one with himself.

The boatman soon found himself enjoying watching it.

Of course, not all sailors had the same thoughts.

“The real problem remains, you prisoner who dreams of being mortal.”

The boatman spoke to the empty space left behind. Somehow, his words seemed to reach the awakened Encred as well.

* * *

“The real problem remains, you prisoner who dreams of being mortal.”

Encred heard those words as soon as he woke up. It was the beginning of a short day that he repeated over and over again. His thoughts sped up and continued one after another.

There is also a reply to the boatman’s words.

‘I know, too.’

The practical problem remains, the walking fire.

It is a spell that has made me watch those who have burned to death and are dying without finding any clues for over a hundred todays.

But strangely enough, Encred felt that some of the sense of helplessness he had felt up until just today had disappeared.

In fact, it’s not like you’ve ever really felt lost during that time.

‘It’s a matter of the heart.’

Since we hadn’t decided on a path, it was obvious that we wouldn’t be able to reach our destination even if we kept going.

Now I have decided on a path. I have erased the faint soot that was lingering in my mind and made it clear by speaking it out loud.

There was only one thing left: to cut down the walking fire.

How to cut what can’t be cut?

If the answer had come to me right away, I wouldn’t have felt lost.

Then what should I do?

“I’m going to die.”

A groan escaped Encred’s lips. This was a very rare occurrence.

But it was understandable.

There is only one way to do something, so that’s how it is. You just have to keep doing it until it works.

However, I decided to change my method a bit from the previous one.

“Lua, tell me everything you know about walking fire.”

There is no time to spare. He asks and listens with accelerating thoughts. And then he rushes in. He slashes his sword at the walking fire, literally swinging his sword with all his might. He even raises his omnipotence and carries his will.

Phew!

Encred literally threw himself. Of course, one swing of his sword was all he could do, but because he threw himself, the firepower of the walking fire reached his body and burned him.

Bubbling.

The scale armor burns with heat and sticks to your skin. It hurts so bad. Your eyes burn and the world turns red, leaving only the painful heat.

Encrid died again.

After that, he died twenty-five more times.

“You can call me a fool.”

Encred spoke as soon as he woke up. It was a monologue that came out because he couldn’t bear it any longer.

“what?”

Luagarne came over, puffed out her cheeks, and rolled her eyes. What were you talking about all of a sudden?

“I’m serious.”

Encred spoke again and took out the secret weapon he had kept in his bosom. It was a mirror. Esther’s mirror that she had taken out and used to look at her face when things were going badly.

Who knows magic best?

A wizard or a witch.

Among them, there was one person who was exceptionally skilled, even in Encred’s eyes. It was a witch named Esther. She was a black-haired beauty who was blinking her eyes on the other side of the mirror.

“Walking fire, Ana?”

Encred asked. The black-haired beauty on the other side of the mirror nodded as if it was natural.