NOTICE: Many of the novels have been removed because they might cause violations, which we were not aware of earlier.
827. Refusal to stop
The body stopped moving for a moment. But there was still an awkwardness. In a tense fight, there would have been an opening for a decapitation.
As Encred moved, his opponent, the one with the pure white skin and vertically slit pupils, spoke again.
“Stay where you are, you can’t get off. Feet.”
It’s still a contradictory statement, but it has a deterrent effect.
‘refusal.’
Encred ignored his opponent’s words with a deep sigh. Will trembled, transforming into a solid wall. A wall built to withstand anything. He
then pushed the ground with his feet and brought his sword forward. In a split second, his accelerated thoughts assessed the situation.
‘When the person in front of you opens his mouth, a force is applied to his body.’
‘It’s similar to coercion, but different.’
‘To put it simply, it’s like water.’
A boulder can roll against a wall but not over it, but water can seep in and have an impact. It seeps through the cracks between the stones and soaks the ground.
‘Is that possible with just one word?’
Such questions didn’t even cross his mind.
Entering the fray, Encred focused completely. His concentration was concentrated on a single point, immersed in it.
Just before his opponent could open his mouth again, his left hand, instead of the dawn in his right, swept across his chest.
The horn dagger, now much thinner than before thanks to Eitri’s skill, sliced through the air.
There was no sound. No, the sound was slow. Something faster than that would have pierced his head first.
The opponent, suddenly thrusting out, moved to the side. It was a fluid, natural movement, but in reality, it was a swift evasion, too swift for even the most casual observer to discern.
Phew!
A belated, trailing sound echoed.
The throwing knife Saxon detested ripped through the air, stealing the gap between his opponent’s mouth and his lips.
In the meantime, Encred closed the space. He detonated his Will, doubling his speed with a burst of dots. One point of thrust landed squarely on his opponent’s side. To be precise, the tip of the blade pierced the spot where his lungs were.
As if sinking into a swamp, if you overcome the pressure pressing down on your shoulders, you enter a world of silence.
A realm of silence. Your ears are deafened, and the pressure feels like a giant’s hands are pressing down on your head.
The opponent’s yellow eyes are fixed on Encred’s face. At the same time, he too has stepped into the realm of silence.
It seems to be protesting, asking what’s so difficult about it.
Bboo-bboo!
A brief, explosive leap and charge ripped through the air, creating a piercing sound. The noise of the horn and the explosion of the sword swung mingled with it.
The blade of the strange-eyed man blocked Encred’s sword’s tip with a cotton ball, trying to deflect it. Encred twisted the blade away and tried to thrust it back, but failed.
The blade twisted like a snake, blocking it once more, and finally, the power stored in the blade dissipated into the air.
Ting, chirrrung.
There was a noise as the blade brushed against it.
“I haven’t written. Properly, it’s been a while.”
The tone was still awkward. Then the bastard’s mouth opened again. This time, there was no stopping it. It was nothing more than a simple mumble of words.
“stop.”
Something contained in just one word restrained and compelled my entire being. It felt as if someone was whispering in my ear, telling me to stay still, clutching my limbs tightly.
If there was a god, it seemed to be descending here for a moment, urging me to do just that.
Encred felt an intangible pressure suppressing his own freedom. And despite all the pressure, oppression, and coercion he faced, his unwavering will prevailed.
I don’t know if there truly was a god of destiny, but that was his life. A life of climbing steeply with limited talent.
Everything that represented the principles of the world, the truth, and the divine, urged and forced me to give up, but I overcame all those days, building each day to reach the present. So, this was possible.
“refusal.”
The force of the answer faded and vanished. The man was surprised, but instead of expressing confusion, he spoke again.
“stop.”
Encred answered the same way.
“refusal.”
Even if the gods of heaven descended to test human will, Encred would be shocked to see him.
Therefore, whatever those words held, Encred could reject them.
His will wavered. The convictions, will, faith, and convictions he had cultivated throughout his life became a shield, repelling the magic wielded by his opponent.
What is chivalry?
It’s a code and a moral code. And within that, what is the most powerful?
‘Protecting what I say with my own mouth.’
Not all who become knights do so, but Encred did. Honest and sometimes ignorantly,
he walked his own path, not seeking the understanding of others. He had lived this way even before becoming a knight.
His will was drained away as soon as someone spoke. It didn’t matter. Encred’s will was like Usuke, a spring, a well that never ran dry.
“Stop.”
“Reject.”
“Stop.”
“Reject.”
“Stop.”
“Reject.”
That created this scene of a verbal altercation.
Then, my adjutant, Rem, who had been searching for Encred, stood there dumbfounded.
He looked at Encred’s back and saw the man who had suddenly emerged. More precisely, he couldn’t help but ask, watching the two of them fighting, swords in hand and mouths open.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
From the outside, it might have seemed comical.
Rem appeared, but the person blocking Encred’s path paid no attention. He simply asked.
“Can you overcome the spell?”
This time, I spoke normally. I didn’t know that short sentences could be like that.
A verbal command is something that adds power to the words themselves. If oppression through will suppresses the opponent through movement or momentum, a verbal command is structurally different.
It strikes the opponent’s will through waves. It’s not simply expressing one’s own will.
Moreover, the verbal command I just wrote alternated between two forms.
The first was an overwriting will.
It was overlaying one’s own will on top of the opponent’s.
The second was an overwarm.
It was crushing and overwhelming the opponent’s will.
That was the intention, but the person before me overcame it all. Is this common?
No. Even in my entire life, this is a first.
“Was the salamander human-like? Its eyes were exactly like a lizard’s.”
Rem’s powers of observation were remarkable. He suspected the identity of the creature who appeared, observing its eyes, posture, and demeanor. It had already climbed a tree and was crouching.
To an outsider, it might seem leisurely, but Encred knew Rem was ready to intervene at any moment.
The soles of his feet, crushing the thick branches, must have already gathered enough strength, and even without that, Rem possessed a knack for handling “projectiles.” Encred shifted his left foot to the side, turning his back to him and responding.
“I don’t know.”
Rem frowned. It was because Encred’s back was so perfectly concealed. His
current positioning was a display of will. Isn’t it a natural instinct for a possessive human to claim something they covet as their own?
Encred did just that.
The creature before him was using a strange technique. But there was something more stimulating than that.
‘I can’t gauge your capabilities.’
That stirred his heart.
And, separate from that, he wasn’t simply intoxicated by the thrill of battle. Could a Salamander be as threatening as a Balrog?
Why had it suddenly awakened?
Putting aside such trivial reasons, Encred’s task was clear. He knew his place and his duty:
to cut through whatever stood in his way and protect those behind him.
Behind Encred now stood the Border Guard. Among them was a woman selling marmalade, and another who ran an inn and used the cronas he’d accumulated to buy books.
The marmalade woman was about to get married.
Vengeance’s family, now a police captain, also lived within the city. His unrequited love had borne fruit. He
smiled while holding his child, and smiled at his wife. There were many people like that.
And…
Vanessa’s Library.
This is the name of the public library being built in the city of Lockfried.
“I’ve wanted to build something like this since I was little.”
After hearing Vanessa speak, Encred asked back:
“Even if I have to pour out all the Cronas I’ve saved?”
Vanessa was the owner of the largest building among the inns at the Crossroads, now a Border Guard landmark.
Her pumpkin soup made her inn famous.
Encred knew Allen, the innkeeper across from Vanessa’s pumpkin soup, and so he knew Vanessa well.
Actually, it was Vanessa who had known her first.
She was a woman with dark skin, dark spots on her hands, a plump body, and a charming smile.
She was a strong mother, capable of raising four children on her own, despite the death of her husband at a young age.
Of those four, only one was her own, but seeing how diligently and uprightly all four grew up, showed her determination rivaling that of a person with a will.
There’s a saying that raising a child is as difficult as destroying a colony. Even
without experience raising a child, everyone knows that a mother who has faithfully fulfilled her role as a mother deserves respect.
Vanessa was one of those long-standing connections. And Encred had found it easy to make friends with these people since childhood.
She brought up Encred’s past as a knight.
“Building a library won’t empty my pockets, soldier.”
Her pumpkin soup, which I had when I first came to this city, was unforgettable.
“If you’re not going into the military to die, then put on some face.”
It was my first day in the city. I’d heard those words. Did
my expression turn sour then? Those were the days I lived, never giving up, but without hope.
Swinging my sword until my palms split, biting my molars until my gums bled, yet the swordplay never improved.
It was a time when all of that weighed heavily on my shoulders.
Though I doubt it showed on the outside.
Mother Vanessa had seen right through the young man, much younger than herself.
Even if I spent my time differently from others by repeating today, there were things I couldn’t forget.
‘Come to the Border Guard.’
He couldn’t forget the journey from insisting on joining the army to being assigned to the Madman Squad.
Conviction and resolve. Faith and conviction
.
Anticipation and joy weave in between.
The thrill of battle is also part of who he is. As long as he doesn’t get drunk on it, that’s all.
With a passion greater than the demon of battle, the fighting instinct of Balrog’s armor was meaningless.
The blade of dawn glowed blue. The engraved weapon reacted to Will’s flow.
His opponent raised his sword too. The long, black blade, like a staff, was pure white. He held it at an angle and waited. It
wasn’t even pointed straight ahead, but the tip pointed to the left of Encred’s head. It was an unusual stance.
Encred knew how to give up and take it easy. Even without personally doing it, he had seen it countless times.
Encred knew how to retreat.
He had the brain to calculate what was advantageous without having to think about it.
And yet, he didn’t retreat. His heart was filled with a fervor that could be called a daring spirit.
And so, facing an opponent whose abilities were beyond measure, Encred smiled as always. He
charged forward with a smile. Like waves that wouldn’t stop even if the sky split in two, like a storm that raged on without stopping.