Eternally Regressing Knight Chapter 726

726. Clever Hascal

“Hey, when you die, it’s over. Don’t you know that?”

In the hazy afterimage, a man with a bushy beard spoke in a scolding tone.
His name was Ryan, and he was the author who mainly protected merchants and others with three or four men who knew how to fight.
Unusually, he called the group he led, Jeonwoohoe.
There were some mercenary groups that had unique names, so everyone thought it was like that, but Encred later heard that Ryan was named that because he was a soldier from a southern country.
All of the people he led were from Ryan’s unit. That’s why it was called Jeonwoohoe.
It’s a name that you can’t easily forget. He protected the weak within his power, and when Encred first came out and wandered the continent without knowing anything, he looked after him.

“What good is it after I’m dead?”

That was Ryan’s motto. It’s
impossible to say that everyone in the veterans’ association is a good person even if you beat them to death, but Ryan was still a man of loyalty.

“You only have one life. One.”

If you die, it’s over. If you want to live, don’t do such things.
That’s what it was like. Encred listened to his story, but lived as he had always lived.
He’ll listen to most things with his ears open, but there are some things he absolutely cannot give in to.
A hazy afterimage, like a lake at dawn covered in fog. Ryan’s hazy form distorted and changed, becoming a form where his face could not be seen.

“If you have nothing and no power, just sit there and be miserable.”

There were so many people who had said disparaging things to me that it was hard to remember their names.
As the fog cleared again and disappeared, the owner of the night sky scent appeared and shouted.

“How do you stop the spells? Here, take them. The spring spell and the summer spell.”

But why are you swinging your sword?
Behind Esther, who was swinging her sword, Sinar, holding a flower and a tree, danced, waving both hands toward the sky.
Then Rem fell from the sky. A huge, huge Rem.
It was a nightmare.
After that, Audin became thin and flew through the sky, and Saxon set up a salon with dozens of women.
I tried to ask if he was in business with Kreis, but my mouth wouldn’t open.
I also saw Luagarne swinging Roford like a whip while holding Fel in her right hand. I also saw
Dunbakel laughing as he turned into a manticore, saying that he had returned from the East as a real beast.
Teresa swung her sword at Dunbakel, saying that he was a monster.
I also hear auditory hallucinations along with the illusions.

“If you lose your mind, you die.”

Who is talking about this?

Land-! Land-!

Then, when I turned around at the sound of my ears ringing, I saw Aitri beating the body of a person who had entered the furnace.

‘me : yes.’

When I look closely, it is. Eitri is hitting my body with a hammer.
The moment I realized that, I realized that the hot heat was still burning my whole body.
I thought that I might breathe fire from my mouth, but even Yongin can’t breathe fire.
Maybe Esther can.
Should I ask if she can show me when I return to the Border Guard?

‘I’ll show you well.’

If you really say it, you will immediately look at me with contempt in your eyes. As
the hot heat spreads through your body, flowers appear, and those flowers turn into butterflies and fly around, and then turn into flames and pierce your heart.

“If you die there, this will become your prison.”

Another auditory hallucination.
Then I saw another bunch of illusions, but I didn’t need to recall them.
The surroundings were spinning and suddenly I felt cold. Someone was cutting open my stomach and poking around my intestines, and when I looked, I saw the child I had failed to protect and who had died, smiling innocently with his eyes black.

It’s fun to stir the intestines.

It seemed to say this.
Then, along with the swaying river, all the pain disappeared. When
Encred opened his eyes, he was in the same boat. My body was leaning against the railing, and in front of me, the boatman was standing in the same posture.
He was standing on the boat like a tree with roots, holding a lamp.
Even the figure of the boatman looked like it was covered in a hazy sand fog, which was definitely proof that my body was not normal.
Every time the purple lamp shook, the light raced across the black river and then disappeared.
As he watched, it seemed as if the river was devouring the light.

“If I die here, I will just keep fighting illness, dying, and coming back to life. Then I will no longer be able to enjoy the pleasure of swordsmanship.”

Encred blinked five times upon hearing that.
Very slowly at that.
Then he opened his mouth and chose his words.

“I think you have hearing loss. Say it again.”
“My words are formed by will and sent straight to your mind. They have nothing to do with hearing.”

Encred knew that too. He just didn’t expect to hear such encouraging words from the boatman.

“Is this a hallucination?”

When asked again, the boatman said only what he wanted to say.

“How long can we postpone death? How long will a lucky death be by our side?”

That was the end of my conversation with the boatman.
I opened my eyes, which I hadn’t even closed, once more.
It was now reality.
My eyes were half-open, but they were so stiff that I couldn’t open them straight. With my limited field of vision, I could see a pattern that was both unfamiliar and familiar.
It was the ceiling of a stone house of the type I had seen for the past few days. Gravel was laid in irregular shapes next to the thick wooden pillars.

“Are you awake?”

Anne was right next to her. Encred blinked a few times because his vision was still blurry.
The eye boogers stuck to his eyes fell off. They were still sticky, but the foreign matter blocking his vision disappeared, clearing his vision.
Anne had dark circles under her eyes and her cheeks were sagging. It was obvious that she had suffered.

“Well, you survived.”
“Is that the kind of impression that comes from someone who has come back from the dead?”
“Was it Remed Omnia?”
“I remember.”
“I knew you could fix it.”

The boatman wanted to save Anne, but Demuil, for some unknown reason, wanted to kill Anne first.

‘It must have been because he was a threatening enemy.’

It’s easy to guess the cause by looking at the result.
Encred also saw some of what Anne did when she came here. Encred believed Anne after seeing all of it.
Even if Anne had failed and died, she would have repeated the same day, but she didn’t actually think about that and did it.
Even if she were to repeat the same day, she would have made the same choice again.

“I was in bed for three days.”

Encred was silent for a moment at Anne’s words, then answered.

“You missed three days of training.”
“……You bastard.”

Encred knows that he has been called by many nicknames within the Border Guard, one of which is Sword Crazy.

“I’m joking.”

“I know you’re being sincere, so stop pretending to be an ordinary person,” Anne replied with a look in her eyes.

“Oh, yes.”

I woke up, but I didn’t have any strength in my arms and legs.
If I fought now, wouldn’t I be confident that I could win against Pel or Lawford?

“Rest for the time being. Stay in bed for at least four more days. Eat what they give you and sleep when you feel sleepy.”

Anne said and left.
Next, Ragnar came in, looking relatively fine. Seeing him walking around, he must be better than me.

“You’ve rested a lot after resting for three days.”
“Is that so?”

Even though I died and woke up, it was still raining outside. There was also thunder.
I closed my eyes for a moment and when I woke up, Ragnar was gone. Did I just fall asleep for a moment? And when I looked around, I saw the hallucination again.
No matter how great Anne is, she can’t bring the dead back to life.
Encred saw that the head of the household poured out his life force over Will in his last swing of the sword.
It wasn’t something he would do while sick, so he must have done it with the determination to die.
Why is he sitting in front of my bed?

“You have eyes that can see even ghosts.”

Even though Gaju didn’t show his own emotions, he was used to reading the emotions and gazes of others.
Tempest Zawn sat there, alive, with one arm bandaged and one of his two eyes covered with a cloth.

“I have a lot to say, but I haven’t forgotten the first thing I wanted to say. Thank you, Encred of the Border Guard.”
“I just happened to have some free time on my hands, so I stopped by.”
“Are you trying to be humble? Or are you just trying to show off your accomplishments and show off your pride?”

Yes, if I were to speak modestly here, it would sound like that.
This was really a mistake that came about because my body hadn’t fully recovered yet. So it might have been better to just keep my mouth shut.

“They say Mileschia didn’t just die. Anne said that she had already studied the cure for all the diseases we had. She said that it wasn’t a big deal to inherit it and make medicine, but she also thanked Anne over and over again. In short, Mileschia’s legacy and Anne’s dedication saved us all. I even got to live a few more years as a bonus.”

Did you come here to tell me that it’s good to be alive?

“I came here because I have something to tell you, but I’m telling you this only. Other people will probably never know.”

The story that Gaju brought out was about Hescal.
Hescal, he proved that he wasn’t called the clever Hescal for nothing.
As I listened to Gaju’s story, it seemed like Hescal appeared and spoke through hallucination.

“If I win, Jawoon will be reborn. They will survive and become the inhabitants of the new Demon Realm.”

Hescal wanted the survival of Zaun.
To do so, he had to become a usurper of divinity.
Only by possessing even a small divinity could he protect Zaun, who had become a resident of the Demon Realm.
The illusion continues.

“If I fail, does that mean Tempest won in the end? Then Zaun would have survived, even if he was injured?”

In the fantasy, Hescal smiled brightly. It was a perfect smile that could only be described as pure, with the corners of his lips raised and no burden on his mind.
If he wins, Jawoon will be reborn. If he fails, Jawoon will be reborn. It would have been better if he had cleaned up while he was at it.

‘There would have been unscrupulous people in the hunter’s village, the broker’s village, or the retiree’s village.’

After spending a long time in a coiled state, there must have been some who felt a little irritated, and after spending time quietly there, there must have been some who accumulated dissatisfaction and wanted to shake up the system that Jawoon had created.
They would have wanted to use Jawoon, who was a powerful force, if they left him alone, but they would have been sorry to leave him alone.
Hescal gathered all of those unstable elements and formed a group with them for a long time, creating his own group.

“Originally, there were several flowers and fruits growing around here, but they were poisonous, so if you dug them up carelessly, you would get sick from various diseases. When that started to get worse, Hescal decided that he had to solve this problem.”

The words of the head of the household continued.
At some point, Hescal must have known of Demul’s existence and seen what he had prepared.
At that point, Hescal had to decide.
Should he return to his family and start a game of tag that would never end until his death?

‘If not, will you become the mastermind behind the scenes and become the director who puts the dark curtain on stage?’

Hescal chose the latter.
He died by Ragnar’s sword, but he was probably satisfied.
He had confirmed that the balance of the scales had changed, and everything he had prepared was ultimately a strategy to end the game of tag.
Hescal did not say anything to the head of the household when he came to see him in person. The
head of the household also said something in the realm of speculation.
He thought that Hescal had done his job as a guardian.
After hearing it, Encred could agree.
The guardian, the one who protects Zaun, Hescal had fulfilled the duty given to him.

“Why me?”
“I wanted to tell someone.”

After saying those words, Gaju left, and a little while later Alexandra came in and said similar things.

“Mileshchia studied the disease until she died, and Hescal, well. He must have had a hard time drawing all these pictures.”

He looked bitter and cool at the same time. Then Schmidt came in and said.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the Empire?”
“Do you think so?”
“No.”
“Why are you asking if you already know?”
“I was going to ask you to tell me if you change your mind.”

Four more days had passed since she woke up. Encred kicked out of bed, hearing Anne sleep soundly.
It had been raining on and off for several days, but by dawn it had completely stopped.
The moist morning air swept through her lungs.
Encred went outside and stood holding the trident.

‘I learned a lot.’

There really are too many.
But organizing them one by one wasn’t something I had to do right now. No, I was trying to recall at least one, but there were too many eyes watching.

“Are you awake?”

As if they were waiting for him to wake up, everyone in Zawoon, including Grida and Anahera, poked their heads out.
Magrun could also be seen among them.

“I survived thanks to you.”

When he came back, his condition had gotten so severe that Mileschia had taken him away to treat him.
Anne would have done the finishing treatment.
And then the one-armed Rhinox, standing in the middle, opened his mouth with a very serious expression.

“If you want to hold me accountable for my mistakes back then, then cut off my head. But show mercy to the others in Zawoon.”

The end of Demul left an indelible stain on them.
They would never be able to forgive themselves for forcing sacrifices on outsiders.
I know their feelings. I know them so well that I wanted to help them shake off that burden and pressure.

“Then this way.”

Encred spoke as he struck the spot in front of me with the tip of his sword. Since the scabbard had burst and he was just hanging it on a string, there was no need to draw the sword.

“Get on your knees and stretch out your neck.”

Rhinox was confused. He looked at the ground, Samcheol, and Encrid alternately without lifting his feet and asked.

“……really?”

Encrid answered with a smile.

“No.”
“……I was scared.”

Perhaps if Encred had wanted, Rhinox would have really stuck his neck out.
These are the people.
The people who take responsibility for my words.
That’s why.

Bam.

Starting with Rhinox, everyone kneels without exception.
Everyone bows their heads to the mud-swept floor where the typhoon passed. I didn’t expect this, but I don’t think anyone would dislike the moment when their work is honored.

“I express my gratitude for the grace of salvation.”

Gaju spoke as the representative.
Gaju, Alexandra, Odinkar, Grida, Magrun, and everyone else were there.
Among them, there were some who shed tears, and Riley who looked dazed.
And only one of them was standing there blankly.

“What? I told you not to do it.”

The one standing blankly, Ragnar said.
Encrid just shrugged his shoulders, meaning it was nothing.
Ragnar probably would never be able to read the atmosphere in his entire life.