Eternally Regressing Knight Chapter 735

735. Brunhild, you are a genius.

A ceiling made of woven branches, dry leaves, and leather blocks the waist-high cave. Only half the sunlight comes in.

‘It would be dark even during the day in places with thick ceilings.’

Humans cannot live without light. So they won’t be inside all the time.
The structure of the house itself is not a typical form. There was a separate space inside to hide like an ant hole.
Of course, the man named Harkbent didn’t kindly go around and explain everything, but these are the things you see when you look around. The Luagarne-style tactical sword automatically recognizes the surrounding environment.
Even if a fight breaks out with the man in front of you, you can kill him with a single gesture regardless of the environment, but that doesn’t mean you should be lazy about understanding the surrounding environment.
The proverb that the most powerful sword to kill a knight is carelessness came to mind.

‘A good hiding place.’

It was not a form for fighting, but one for living.
Inside the hollowed-out cave, several kinds of grass were visible drying on the flat ground, but they were dried and twisted from being left for too long.
On one side, dishes made of clay were neatly arranged, but the dust had not been wiped off, and in the corner there was a table made of cut wood.
There was also a bed, but you could have bet Chrys’s daily wage that it was not filled with good straw.

“There’s not much to give. It’s a poor place.”

Encred saw the anxiety and suspicion in Harkbent’s eyes. Yet, he did not immediately tell him to leave.
Harkbent filled a clay cup with water and placed it on the wooden table. The water was clear and tasted good.

‘It hasn’t been a short time since I’ve been settled in this area.’

You can tell by the shape of the house. It is not a place to stay for a short time, but a place to stay for a long time, even for several years. The wisdom of life can be seen everywhere.
It is like the use of nightmare grass, and the traps that were left unmade here and there.
The dried leather and the herbs, and the spicy scent that I smelled for the first time tickled my nose.
For a person to live, three things must be taken care of.
Food, clothing, and sleep.

‘We eat by hunting and gathering.’

In the meantime, you can see that the clothes are in good condition even though there is no trace of weaving.

‘There are merchants and peddlers who only do business with this town.’

There are also peddlers who only go around the hermit villages and make a profit. I’ve seen Encrid a few times.
Harkvent took short breaths in succession, and his breaths seemed to be filled with a lot of worry. His nervousness was evident.
He asked, clenching his fists.

“Are you from the South by any chance?”

Encred read his opponent’s expression but pretended not to notice and answered.

“I just happened to stop by while passing by.”

Even though it was summer, we had entered the mountains, so there was a cool breeze in the morning and evening.
Of course, it was still daytime, so it was a bit warm inside this semi-detached house.
Sweat was running down Harkbent’s forehead. The duet of heat and tension must have been bothering him. Then he exhaled deeply again. This time, it was long. It was a breath of relaxation.

“Right. If you were from the South, there wouldn’t be anything to talk about.”

In conclusion, they were fugitives from the south, and Harkbent was the representative of this village and something like a village chief.
Originally, the hermit village was mostly a place where those who had committed crimes or fugitives who moved against the lord’s exploitation gathered.
If they ran away to another city and lived, it seemed like the guys who had been chasing them would not give up, but they did not have the talent to hide cleverly within the city.
For one reason or another, it was better to have demons and beasts as neighbors than thieves.
Harkbent said as he grabbed his golden beard with his hand and swept it to the right several times, as if it were an old habit.

“Life was fine until the devil started getting on my nerves recently.”

The face of the man speaking showed a deep fatigue.
Of the fifty or so people, half were women, children, and the elderly. They had not used force to survive in the first place.

‘Traps and Herbs.’

From what Harkvent said, he originally planned to lure the demons in and kill them by dropping them into a few holes.
The trap was crude, though.

‘If it were normal, it would have worked on the devil.’

Encred thought so too. Of course, his thoughts are different now that he has fought against a group of demons.
They are a group of demons that engage in a delaying war. Even if you lure them into a hole made to resemble a house, how many of them would be fooled?
The number of people who follow them and get buried alive won’t be that many.
They also use traps and poisonous plants, though.

‘If we leave them alone, they will all die.’

There is no need to discuss intuition or sixth sense. Just think of the leopard demons watching this place from afar.
It is far from certain that they will survive.
Originally, they lived along the border between the realms of demons and demons, but at some point, the demons completely crossed that realm.

‘A group of demons defeated a group of beasts.’

If you look at the situation, that’s true. It’s really not a common thing.

“I think it would be okay to send back the guys with clubs outside. I don’t think I’ll die even if this place collapses.”
“……I’m sorry. Everyone is just anxious.”

The place that Harkvent had invited them to as his home had traces of human habitation, but there was also a moderate amount of dust.
He had invited them as a trap in the first place. However, he did not intend to blame them.
How much would those who live in hiding welcome guests?
Encred asked a few questions out of pure curiosity in between conversations. For example,
when asked if they had settled in too dangerous a place,
he said that there were some herbs growing behind them and that they were quite valuable.
As expected, a talented peddler had made a deal with this place, and with the gold he had saved, he dreamed of going down to the plains, buying mercenaries, and creating a pioneer city.
It was a grand dream. That was why I wanted to cheer him on.

“How many days will you be staying?”

Harkbent lived a life in which the act of asking for favors was awkward.
Slavery was still active in the South, and this man was born a slave and ran away after losing his parents.
Some of the members of this village almost became slaves when their lands were taken away by several southern lords. They
really came here and settled down.
If we were to examine their past lives one by one, it would be a life that would not be enough to fill several books.
How many crises did they face before they settled down?
I could tell without having to hear them all.
No one cheered even when they immediately chased away the wild dogs. Some sighed in relief, but most were wary. It
was natural.
They must have fought desperately to survive all this time.
It would be rare for them to entrust their lives to favors during that time.

“Let’s do that.”

Encrid nodded without hesitation.

“It is not a place of abundance.”

Harkbent added again. Encrid knew that well.
The form and the people were different, but somehow it felt like home.
The place where he was born and raised was similar, so it really wasn’t unfamiliar.

* * *

The place that was a trap became Encred’s quarters.
Also, the sight of the wild dog beast being defeated was impressive, as several children rolled their glassy eyes and showed curiosity.
Among them, one girl with soot on her face approached him right away.

“How good are you at fighting, sir?”

The child’s name was Brunhild, and when the soot was removed, her skin looked very white, her eyes were large, and her arms and legs were long.
If she grew up like this, she would become quite a beauty.
Encred came over to me and said this while sitting on a stump chair made near the border of the village and basking in the sun.
On the outside, she was enjoying the sunlight, and on the inside, she was reminiscing about the swordsmanship she had learned so far, but she didn’t think it was a bother.

“many.”

It is difficult to answer a question without a standard. Naturally, the answer that comes out is ambiguous.

“Beat your father?”

This child calls Harkbent his father. If you see that this child is over six years old and has no wife, it is easy to infer that this child is not Harkbent’s biological daughter.
Harkbent is quite large and muscular.

‘It’s worth living on the continent.’

But he stayed here. Was it because of a sense of responsibility or duty?
It is something that cannot be known without looking into the other person’s mind.
In any case, to answer the child’s question, the answer was short, saying that even if a thousand Harkbents came, they would not lose.

“You won.”
“You fought well.”

The world of a child is small. It would be even more so for a child who grew up in a village with less than thirty houses.
Encred looked into the child’s eyes.
He didn’t expect anything great, nor did he plan on doing anything for him.
So, this was a kind of whim, a way to pass the time because the tangled thread in his head wouldn’t come off.

“Are you using a window?”

A spear could be anything from a piece of unedged iron wrapped around the end of a crude wooden stick with tendons or something similar.

“huh!”

The child’s eyes shine.
Perhaps because he felt friendly, his tone of voice became less guarded.
Encred’s original plan was to find traces of the demons and kill them all before leaving, but there had been no traces of the demons for half a day.
In terms of time, it was the morning after he had spent the day since he had come yesterday.
He was thinking about expanding the search area while internally organizing his sword skills.
It would be okay to do something to pass the time in the meantime.

“Did you learn how to write?”
“No one taught me how to write well. But I can do it well on my own.”

The child’s confidence may bring a smile to the face of an adult. However, in this village, there are few people who have the leisure to smile at this child.
This child is at an age where the words love and acceptance do not feel different.
If I can soothe the child’s heart by being kind, would it be meaningful to me?
I don’t know. I just do it because I feel like it.

“Okay, look.”

Brunhild held the crude spear with both hands.
What was unusual was that when one normally holds the spear, one would hold it with a wide gap between the two hands, but the child held the spear with a narrow gap between the two hands.
Since she held the bottom part, not the middle, it would have been difficult to lift it, so the spear tip naturally dragged on the ground.

“Can you stop it?”
“Go ahead and try.”

You can give the child courage and praise, and tell her to rest after using her strength.
She is a child who cannot handle even one wild dog attacking her.
Brunhild turned her body to the side while holding the spear tip. Encred’s pupils dilated slightly when she saw that.
The child put the spear tip on her waist and moved it like a whip, and before she finished the movement, she could see the result.
Brunhild would swing the spear tip properly. The tip would point straight at her abdomen.
After waiting for a moment, it actually happened.
She needed enough strength to bend it, so she turned her body once to gain centrifugal force, and with that strength, the spear tip flew in properly.
It was the best attack that could be seen with a body lacking muscle and a crude weapon.
The spear tip bent awkwardly because she had not eaten enough and was not trained. In other words, she lacked strength, but it was a technique that utilized even that lack of strength.

widely.

Encred reached out and grabbed the spear just below its blade. No matter how much he flew or crawled, he couldn’t threaten himself right now.

“Wow. You caught it with one hand.”

The child’s eyes sparkled even brighter than before.
I also saw Harkbent holding a spear. But in terms of skill alone, this child was above him.

‘It’s innate.’

He learned how to use a spear on his own, even though no one taught him how to do so.
He had the ability to adjust his distance without any actual combat experience or sparring experience. He
also had the knack for moving the spear and using his own body.

“Brunhild, you are a genius.”

Encred spouted out the words he had heard when he was young.
He felt a sense of awkwardness and strangeness as the words came out naturally.
As he recalled the hardships that had begun with those words, he continued to say these words.

“Oh, um. But listen and move on.”

All of this was also a reflexive statement.
The shock that Brunhild gave was that great.

“Huh? This is the first time I’ve heard of something like that.”
“Really?”
“Huh.”

There is no one around him who can say such things.
Who in this small town would listen to this child, watch over his life, and take care of him?
That would be impossible.
And then I thought to myself.

‘The ones who use swordsmanship are people.’

The key to weapon handling skills is in the technique.
In other words, even if it was a spear rather than a sword, it wouldn’t be difficult to teach how to use it.
Should I teach it a little? That’s what I thought.