Chapter 853 - Wings
When anxiety surged, some people would pull the covers over their heads in bed and suffer, but Krais was the opposite.
When he was anxious, he moved more.
He would wake up a few hours earlier and take on more work.
"The water and sewage construction is almost finished. The number of wells in the city has increased to six," Nurat, dressed in her armor, said from his side.
It was a dawn that had not yet broken.
At a time when most of the city's residents would still be asleep, Krais was dressed and sitting at his desk.
"Yeah, tell them to entrust the finishing touches of that work to Edin, no, his younger sister. What was his sister's name again?"
"Rosalind."
Rosalind was a name from continental history.
A female scholar who had studied the ecology of the demon realm.
"Did her father cherish his daughter? He probably didn't name her himself."
It had once been a trend to bless a child's life by naming them after a great person.
"I don't know."
It was idle talk.
An talent who can take responsibility for administration is always right.
Krais thought so and rummaged through a book.
Some say that books are dead knowledge, and some say that everything is in books.
Krais was right in the middle.
'There are necessary things, and there are useless things.'
The book itself is not what's important, but the attitude of the reader.
'For example, like learning what is necessary by taking a posture of listening, like the commander.'
He boldly learns what needs to be learned and mercilessly throws away what needs to be discarded.
This was Krais's attitude towards books.
Krais had changed his attitude towards life a lot after watching Enkrid.
His dreams had also grown bigger, and he had slightly changed his direction.
From a salon for simply playing with noblewomen to creating a space for enjoying culture.
'To do that, war has to disappear, doesn't it?'
Krais asked inwardly and rummaged through the book.
It was a book about the ecological research of the demon realm.
Coincidentally, it was a book written by the deceased Rosalind.
And with it was a book that the living Rosalind, the daughter of the traitor, had organized from what she had seen, felt, and learned so far.
"It's a gift. For accepting my older brother."
She was different from the high-nosed noblewomen, and she was also different from the energetic women of the marketplace.
She had dignity, but she was not intoxicated with being a noble.
She just did what she had to do and carefully reached out for what she wanted.
Her attitude was careful, but her actions were bold.
Her thoughts were deep, and she knew what her job was.
"She was an attractive woman, wasn't she?" Nurat asked.
Krais, intoxicated with anxiety, made a grave mistake.
"Yeah, very much so."
He had seen several men and women around her stealing glances.
Her appearance and the atmosphere she gave off were no ordinary.
It was a wonder she hadn't been married off in a political marriage long ago.
Was she too young?
Age wouldn't be an excuse in noble society, would it?
At her lover's words, Nurat placed her hand on her hip.
The grip of her sword caught on her hand.
"Her skin was white, too?"
"It was white."
Krais said, recalling Rosalind Molsan.
She had suffered a lot, but her skin was fine.
Compared to Nurat, she was wh… wait.
Krais reined in his thoughts.
Ting.
The sound of the scabbard's clasp being undone reached his ears.
"She was pretty?"
Nuraht asked again.
If he made a mistake here, he would die.
Not by the blade of a monster, a beast, a demon, or an enemy knight, but by his lover's.
Krais's brilliant mind spun.
He did not let his guard down at the final moment.
"...Not as much as you."
He was late, but he had barely saved his neck.
The back of his neck felt cool.
Nurat lowered the hand she had placed on her hip.
The clasp that held the sword locked with a click.
'I'm alive.'
He wouldn't actually have died.
This was his lover's prank.
This trivial prank had loosened the tightly pulled anxiety, even if just a little.
Krais replied with a grateful heart.
"That's the right answer, isn't it?"
"If it were wrong, you'd already be dead."
Hearing the usual joke, Krais examined the book and accumulated the necessary knowledge.
'The monsters in the demon realm often defy the common sense we know.'
Even when studying their ecology, every few years, a new monster would appear from the demon realm.
'It's hard to specify anything.'
That's how much of an unknown territory the demon realm is to the intelligent beings living on the continent.
There was no corner to be found by rummaging through past knowledge that could help.
Krais gently pressed his temples with his thumbs.
This made his heavy-feeling head a little lighter.
By now, Edin would have met the head of the trade cities, and Abnaier would be reviewing the formation of the standing army.
"Everything will be fine, right? We've paved the road to the south well."
Recently, the civil engineering project that the Border Guard had been putting the most effort into was paving roads.
This work takes a lot of time.
It is difficult to proceed on rainy days, and it requires a considerable amount of manpower.
'When the Stone Road is completed not just in name, but in reality.'
It would be an innovation in trade and logistics.
For now, it was just connecting the four cities of Rockfreed, Martai, Green Pearl, and the Border Guard.
'When the war with the south is over.'
Krais now knew how not to be consumed by anxiety.
He painted a future.
A hopeful future.
'Let's connect with the south too.'
Viscount Harrison's territory produces a lot of good grain, and there are many master brewers in his land.
Good quality wine is a good trade item.
A road connecting the capital, the south, everything, is the next task.
For all of this…
"You have to come back victorious, Commander," Krais said, letting out his inner thoughts.
You have to beat the south senseless and come back.
Nurat placed her hand on her lover's shoulder.
"Don't change the subject."
"Ah, um, it's not like that."
***
Some of the monsters living in the demon realm think.
It was like a medal given to them for having overcome their submission to instinct.
The centaur leading the colony now was one such being.
He had learned to think by frequently fighting with humans on the border of the demon realm.
The demon realm is harsh.
Monsters are also wary of each other and kill each other.
Also, it is divided into places with clear territories and places with faint ones.
The leader of the current pack was a being who had lived by crossing such territories.
He had crossed the borders of the demon realm and had entered and exited the territory of those called demons several times.
It was because he had both fast feet and the ability to think.
The monster leader had lived that way.
Then, recently, beings who had established their territory in the demon realm had pressured him.
As if to say that leaving him alone until now had been a mercy, those with abilities superior to his had targeted him.
Just because he had realized reason did not mean he had turned his back on instinct.
He had recognized the danger with his instinct and had decided on a place to flee by following his reason.
He knew that there was a better land beyond the demon realm, the place where he had been born and raised, so he had set out.
In reality, a cunning trick was at play, but a mere monster could not have known that.
'A land where hunting is easier.'
Only that was in the colony leader's head. And that he had to subdue the prey in his sights.
'A dangerous enemy.'
The leader had entered the land of humans, and instead of the ones surrounded by walls, he had found other prey and had discovered Enkrid's party.
The biggest difference between the centaur leader and other monsters was that he had been hunting opponents stronger than himself.
'Slow prey is easy.'
No matter how strong they are, if you can't reach them, it's meaningless.
The monster knew that.
Therefore, if you don't give them the distance, you win.
The monster had done so until now, so it did so.
A monster that had formed a colony in the demon realm was on a different level from those on the continent.
Was it someone's intention that such a monster pack had encountered Enkrid's party here?
There was no such thing.
This was a coincidence.
A little bit of a demon's trick was mixed in, but that was due to the internal affairs of the demon realm, not specifically aimed at them.
Everything was a coincidence, but to a prepared being, some coincidences could become inevitable.
'A trigger and a stimulus.'
The day that had made him a knight, the tower he had built up until just before becoming a knight, came to mind.
He had seen the sunset, had been intoxicated, and all sorts of thoughts had come to his mind.
Enkrid knew that Weird Eyes had not been playing around when he was not there.
'His will is firm and his resolve is high.'
Even without the Dragonkin's help, he could hear Weird Eyes' heart.
He couldn't actually hear it.
It was just that his will was being conveyed.
Weird Eyes ran with Enkrid on its back, and Enkrid lowered his body and stuck to Weird Eyes' back.
A posture that would interfere as little as possible.
He naturally knew how to do it.
Tuk.
From the first step Weird Eyes took, the air rushed against his cheeks so roughly it felt like it would tear them.
As it took two, three more steps, it felt like he was fighting against a storm.
Kwoooosh—
He heard something like the sound of waves, but soon even that sound disappeared.
Weird Eyes ran with all its heart.
Its speed shook even a knight's senses.
'What have you been doing when I wasn't around?'
Enkrid thought to himself and lowered his posture even more.
Weird Eyes' mane pricked his head like thorns.
Because he wasn't wearing a helmet, it felt like it was poking into his scalp.
What would happen if he charged like this and performed a lance charge?
He would break through an ordinary castle wall.
His intuition told him so.
However, he himself, who had charged, would not be unscathed.
'After putting on full plate mail…'
Would he be fine if he wrapped himself in the Ironclad, one of the arts of Will?
He would have to try it to know.
Just because one is a knight does not mean their flesh and blood become steel or molten iron.
It just seems similar through training.
Weird Eyes' gallop was at such a speed.
The centaur pack, which had set up sentries like an army, quickly came into view.
The dot took shape and came into his eyes.
A blurry, shaking form.
It was to the point where an afterimage could be seen even with a knight's dynamic visual acuity.
The centaur pack immediately kicked off the ground.
No, they were creatures that were always on the move in the first place.
They had just increased their speed as soon as they had perceived Weird Eyes.
Enkrid mustered his Will and focused it on his eyes.
His thoughts also accelerated.
Even with his accelerated thoughts, his train of thought did not connect easily.
It was a gallop of that speed.
The monster pack kicked off the ground and moved.
A dynamic movement that was hard to see in a space without sound came into his eyes.
Enkrid's gaze naturally examined their form.
'Their legs are thick.'
At the same time, their muscles were sharply defined, their upper bodies were relatively thin, and their hooves looked as hard as iron lumps.
It was a body thoroughly specialized for running.
That must be the reason why that body moves several times faster than an ordinary monster.
'They must have evolved that way.'
He was in a low posture with only the head peeking out.
As the monster pack began to run using their unique muscles, the distance was not easily closed.
On top of that, they shot bone arrows while running.
Just looking at that skill, it was fitting to call them monsters that performed tricks.
'They're even wearing armor.'
It was a sign that they had definitely learned something from humans.
They had woven and carved bones to cover their human-like bodies.
On top of that, a bone bow, a string made from the sinew of a beast or a monster, and bone arrows.
'Is this a fully armed colony?'
Enkrid gripped the hilt of Dawnforged.
It is not easy to swing a sword with his body lowered.
But if it is necessary, he has to do it.
Isn't Weird Eyes running?
The enemy pack holds their bone bows and turns their bodies back.
Half-human, half-horse, their legs run and their upper body shoots a bow.
A perfect division of labor.
'Weird Eyes is special.'
That's what Enkrid thought.
Horses are originally timid.
And yet, it was not startled by the arrows and did not run wild.
The horses the party had been riding were travel packhorses, not horses trained as warhorses or chargers, but they were calm.
It was all thanks to Weird Eyes.
And on top of that…
'It stomps on and bites ordinary monsters to death.'
Was that innate, or learned?
The centaurs let go of their bowstrings.
The arrows they shot while running flew, aiming for Weird Eyes.
Enkrid perceived all of those arrows.
With his posture lowered, he drew his sword, then hugged Weird Eyes' body with both legs and applied force.
His right hand gripped the hilt of Dawnforged, and with his left hand, he held the middle of the blade and swung it like a short blunt weapon.
'If I try to extend or swing it long, I'll get wind resistance.'
It was right to deflect the incoming arrows with minimal movement.
The accuracy of the arrows was not that high.
They were arrows shot while being chased.
It was just that their number was not small and they were coated with poison, making them threatening.
The blade of Dawnforged deflected all of the arrows.
"Run, Weird Eyes. I'll block what comes from above. You run. Run as you wish."
He almost bit his tongue while speaking as he ran, but he still said it.
It wasn't a situation where his words would be conveyed just by speaking, but he still said it.
By speaking, he conveys his will.
That was what Enkrid had done.
His words might have been a stimulus or a trigger for Weird Eyes.
Enkrid couldn't see it, but a light flowed from Weird Eyes' two eyes.
His will was fully charged.
P-d-deuk.
Blood burst from Weird Eyes' back.
Something shot out from between the bright red blood.
A red something mixed with the blue steam that was created by the evaporating sweat.
Wings.
A pair of wings sprouted from Weird Eyes' back and sides and spread out.
Blood flew backwards.
The wings, like blades laid on their sides, cut through the wind's resistance.
Swishhhh.
He heard an auditory hallucination as if something were being cut somewhere.
At the same time, Weird Eyes accelerated even more.
For a moment, Enkrid felt his internal organs being pushed all the way back.
A knight's body is different from an ordinary person's.
This sensation was something he hadn't felt in a long time.
The end of the sensation of moving forward, leaving his internal organs behind.
The centaur with its pitch-black eyes wide open was right in front of him.
A distance where he could reach by swinging his blade.
Instinct and intuition, training and discipline.
Everything was concentrated and moved Enkrid's arm.
The blade, combined with the acceleration of Patchy Eye's charge, flew horizontally.
BOOM!
The sound echoed belatedly.
Enkrid's Dawnforged had made the centaur's body explode.
Even though he had cut it precisely with the silver blade, the body exploded.
It was because the speed of the charge had been converted into destructive power.
A monster pack with its tail caught.
Enkrid felt a thrill from the sense of speed, and the centaur pack felt fear and terror.
***
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