Eternally Regressing Knight Chapter 660

660. The Rag Saint

“People call me a rags saint. I’m late in greeting you. I was playing with this kid.”

It was just a joke, but in reality, it was to teach Seiki the process of handling divinity. Seiki’s body had a divinity that naturally developed without any separate training.
If he didn’t learn how to handle it right away, it might actually harm the child’s body, so Audin was worried about that and went to find his adoptive father, the rag-faced saint.
That was also the reason he came here only now. For him, saving the child Seiki right in front of him was more urgent.
Seiki raised his hand to greet the person who called himself the saint and spoke.

“It seems like you’ve become more of a monster.”

From the moment I first saw him, Seiki was a child with extraordinary talent. The starting point of that talent was his ability to see, and this time, Seiki noticed Encrid’s change.
Even if he didn’t notice it, he couldn’t help but hear stories about it from people around him.

“They say the Demon Squad Leader broke hundreds of women’s hearts and awakened?”
“That’s not it. It’s because the Fairy Tribe gathered their blood and drank it.”
“Can you become like that just by training like crazy?”

Although such ridiculous rumors were spreading like wildfire, Seiki was innocent but not stupid. He knew how to discern whether the rumors were true or not.

“Becoming a knight is a joke.”

Again, the saint, who was also Audin’s adoptive father, spoke. He spoke in a plain tone and a simple smile appeared on his face. He patted Audin’s thick arm, and his gesture showed a sense of friendliness.
Audin simply raised the corners of his lips and showed his usual gentle smile.
In Encred’s eyes, Seiki’s abilities seemed to have changed, but what caught his eye more was the saint’s appearance. His name was Ragged Saint, but his attire was completely different.

Tirrrrung.

As he extended his hand to shake hands, I saw a thick gold bracelet on his wrist and five fingers covered in ruby, emerald, and sapphire gemstone rings. At the end of his necklace was a large pendant with four gems, and the discs holding the gems seemed to be mixed with silver.
His clothes were also made of silk, which looked soft and smooth, and it seemed like a material that no noble would dare wear.

‘These are clothes that a poor nobleman wouldn’t even be able to wear.’

Andrew, a nobleman, still wore only coarse clothes. That was the case when Encred last saw him.
He said he had bought it only to wear it when he needed a sable coat.

“If you cut down on clothes and food, you’ll have to add one more piece of meat to the food that Yeongjimin eats. There’s no room for luxury.”

Andrew’s words were always on his lips. It was a hundred times true when he was trying to rebuild the Gardner family. In reality, it was difficult to live like that.
Of course, Andrew had learned self-discipline by watching Encred, so he was running towards his goal without difficulty.
The rag-and-rag saint blinked his cloudy pupils as he spoke. It seemed obvious that his vision would be uncomfortable because his focus was blurry.

“You have to believe in God, but even if you don’t become a knight, faith is still important.”

The day was really nice. It was a clear and bright spring day. Spring in full swing, the cold had gone, and the grass was peeking out between the trees that had been broken and shattered by Rem’s sparring.
Encred felt Rem and Ragna’s gazes looking this way through the warm air. They looked to
see what was going on, then confirmed the rag-and-tatter saint, but they didn’t seem particularly interested.
Sachsen had gone out early in the morning, saying he had something to do, and Esther was still a leopard today.
Encred had also planned to go down to the city in the morning, but the saint had blocked his way after finishing his early morning training.

“This child and you too, don’t you believe in God?”

That’s what they say.

“Not really.”

Encred blurted out. His tone was not rude. He just said what he had to say.
His words and attitude were not unpleasant, but they were not pleasant to listen to either.
His voice was rough and his face was covered in freckles. However, if you look at his appearance.

‘If I enter the temple like this, won’t I look like a bishop who sucks the blood of the saints?’

As I was thinking about this, the saint’s mouth opened.

“Audin.”
“Yes.”
“What would you do if I told you to kill this guy right now?”

The rag-faced saint spoke with a smiling face. Encrid did not intervene. It was not a question of whether Audyn would fall for the words of his adoptive father or not.

‘Christ.’

The saint’s author’s temperament seemed to be like that. Like Christ, Abnayer, and Ermen.
These people have multiple meanings in their words. Their intentions are also mixed.
They are so good at hiding their inner feelings that Encred had a hard time reading the other person’s intentions.

‘It seems more difficult than Christ.’

It seemed like he was hiding more than Ermen. Anyway, Audin answered without losing his smile.

“Are you feeling senile?”

The saint laughed heartily at those words.

“Not yet.”
“If you’re sick, there’s a healer right next door who can use divine spells, and an alchemist who can make potions.”

Encred said. The saint laughed again and shook his head.

“I said no.”
“This old man writes better than me. Holy.”

Seiki also chimed in from the side. Audyn ignored the saint’s words.

“You have always enjoyed talking nonsense. You must think it is a Shinsungshik joke, brother.”

In addition to the fairy jokes, there are also sacred jokes.
Encred passed it off as nothing serious, but the Ragged Saint approached him and said.

“You’re going to the blacksmith shop? Can I come with you? Seiki, you have to do what I told you every morning and evening.”
“Prayer? That’s boring.”

Seiki answered, sticking out his lips.

“You have to learn that boredom and learn patience. Then you will be able to write properly.”

The rag-faced saint raised his hand and patted Seiki on the shoulder, saying, “
If the saint had looked like a blood-sucking bishop earlier, he now looked like a wise man. The precious metals on his body seemed to shine like a halo.

“Then I’ll be off, Audin.”
“I don’t think I’ve given permission yet.”

Encred spoke without being swayed by the other person’s breathing. Then, words poured out of the old man’s mouth immediately.

“If you don’t give me permission, I’ll follow you from afar, but will you treat a blind old man so badly? Am I mistaken? Or is this young man just anxious to tease this old man?”

Now he seemed like a stubborn old man who was being unreasonable rather than a wise man.

“You’re good with words.”

Encred answered.

“What talent do you think the poor wanderer has had in his life so far?”
“The talent of conjuring up divine powers?”
“That was my stroke of genius. And I used it well.”

He said this with a face that didn’t look like he had ever been hit.

“You said you were pretending not to see?”
“Audin, you said all sorts of things.”

The rag-faced saint scolded Audín.

“Was that a secret?”
“No, it wasn’t.”

It wasn’t a joke, and the story was long. Encrid had no reason to say anything, and he also wanted to watch the saint closely, so he concluded.

“Let’s go together.”
“Please don’t be mean to me. If you have any concerns, I will help you, brother.”

Audin bowed his head in gratitude. Rem, who had been watching from behind for a while, spoke up.

“Are you going to order a shield from the author named Atri? Then make it a sturdy one.”
“Oh, okay.”

Encred took the blow casually and turned around.

“If you see anyone trying to assassinate me, take care of them.”

The rag-faced saint next to me said:

“Where and what have you done to deserve an assassin?”
“That’s because my activities have been discovered recently. Officially, I’m a dead member of the Legion, but they’re reporting me alive and well. There must be more than one or two people who want to kill me.”
“I guess I’ve built up a lot of grudges.”
“Not much. No more than ten at most.”
“Is that a small number?”
“Not a small number.”

Since everyone has different perspectives, Encrid didn’t question them further.
Audin watched the two leave. He knew what kind of person his adoptive father was. He wouldn’t harm anyone. So there would be no problem in sending them away alone.
He’d just play a prank or something.
Audin thought back to the first time his adoptive father had come to the Border Guard and seen him.

“The restrictions have been lifted and the divinity has been brought back. Let’s see, it seems like you’ve found a place to stay. So are you feeling better now?”
“It’s getting better.”
“Are you still welcome?”
“They come by sometimes to chat.”

He already knew about the vision of the boy who was dragged to the saint and died, because he had done something similar to a confession.
At Audin’s words, his father laughed and touched his shoulder once. The question he had asked the captain earlier was similar to what he had said to himself.
There was no way he would listen to someone telling him to kill Encred. His father probably wanted to tell the captain that.
He was not affiliated with the temple right now, but with the Mad Knights.

‘I know without you saying it. You should know.’

There was no need to emphasize that to Encred.

* * *

“I know that Audyn belongs to the Mad Knights.”

Encred left the barracks, saluted the guards, and said:

“You’re being an old woman.”

It was that he knew the true meaning of what he had said to Audyn in the conversation earlier. It was something that even the rag-faced saint knew and said.
As the saint walked, tapping his cane, Encred was reminded of two people he had seen before.
One was the blind old man who had called himself an apostle. Although his appearance was different, his attitude of hiding his true feelings, or rather his sinisterness, was similar.

‘But it’s different.’

The aura is different, but it is too different. The old man who left the letter saying he was an apostle before had a fierceness, but the old man now has none of that.
If he could hide his fierceness from his intuition now, this old man would be a better stray cat than Saxon, but he didn’t. It was what his intuition said.
And one more.

‘Why is that?’

The old man’s appearance now reminds me of King Anu of the East. They are completely different people and live completely different lives.

“Go do your business.”

The saint said. Encrid had intended to do so even without being told.
The two walked slowly past the market and headed toward Eitri’s forge.

Land! Phew, phew!

The heat from stepping on the bellows, along with the sound of the hammer striking iron, warmed my face.

“I’m here.”

Aitri was seen standing to one side. His assistant was doing the work.

“Do you have a story to tell?”

Eitri said. He waited for Encrid for several days without even holding his hammer.

“I was thankful for luck. Thanks to it, I survived.”

Luck changed the trajectory of the sword the devil threw at the end. That didn’t kill Shinar.
What if Shinar had died there? Should he have committed suicide and returned?
Encred wouldn’t have done that.
Even if his heart would have been torn and he would have shed tears, he would have walked toward tomorrow.
That was the path Encred had chosen.
He would not repeat today. He was determined to somehow move toward tomorrow.
So Shinar might have died. Although I thought it would most likely not happen.
What the devil had been trying to do all his life was temptation. He would probably become a completely different person, possessed by the devil.
If Shinar had fallen for that and lost his senses, he would have beaten him a few times to make him unconscious, and he would have tried everything to turn him around.
Even if today didn’t repeat, he wouldn’t give up. To be exact, this was the path Encred had walked.
So he was just grateful. The sword called Luck had blocked all the possibilities of misfortune.

“I was lucky. Really.”
“I’m glad you liked it. I also received the item you sent.”

Encred sent all the weapons and armor he had obtained from the cult to Eitri.
Encred had come only now to hone his swordsmanship, but Eitri also needed time to study and experiment with metals.
It was time that both of them needed.

“then.”

Eitri said and brought a table and two teacups.
After taking a sip of tea, Encred looked outside the forge for a moment. There was no separate door, and outside the open entrance, he saw a rag-and-butter saint loitering.
On the other side of the road, flower buds were showing their faces on a tree standing alone. A spring breeze blew, but the heat of the forge pushed the wind out.
Looking outside, Encred briefly told what he knew. It seemed like a long story, but when he actually told it out loud, it wasn’t that long. After hearing the story, Eitri became deeply troubled and said.

“Come back in a month.”
“Okay.”

There was nothing more to say. He wasn’t even surprised by the story of Jin-eun being broken. Eitri’s assistant swung his hammer without stopping for a moment.
Encred liked to see that. The assistant seemed to be going his own way.

“What about that prok?”
“He’s out. He went out to get supplies.”
“Yeah.”

“You can see it next time,” said the rag-faced saint as he stepped outside.

“Aren’t you hungry? I heard they sell some amazing seasoned jerky here?”
“Yes, they do.”
“I’ll buy it for you.”
“Okay.”

The two headed straight to the street where restaurants selling seasoned jerky were lined up.
Since Krais had changed the city structure, there was a street lined with restaurants and inns, and this street was lined with blacksmiths and craftsmen.
A carriage also ran around the four central inns of the city.
Anyone could ride the carriage for just a krona, and instead of horses, sturdy donkeys carried people.
The carriage had no roof and was large enough to fit ten people. There was no need for the two to ride the carriage. The rag-faced saint walked well, and Encred was no exception.

“Are you looking forward to the craftsman’s skills?”

As they walked, the rag-faced saint asked. He asked about meeting Aitri.

“Yes, very much.”

After a short conversation, the two walked diligently until they arrived in front of a store that grilled beef jerky. Next to it, they could also see a store that sold marmalade.

“The smell alone makes my mouth water.”

The two ate well and drank drinks right next to each other. Then, as they walked around the city, there were a few people who recognized Encrid.
And the saint watched all of it.