Chapter 813: Bravado and Courage
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 813: Bravado and Courage
'I'm scared.'
The moment she faced the reality of stepping into the unknown, Dunbakel felt as though she might lose control of her bladder. That was the sheer scale of her terror.
'What if I go to the East and die?'
Memories of her childhood bubbled to the surface—the moment she was ostracized by beastman society and cast out like trash. She had been terrified back then, too. Her legs had turned to jelly, refusing to move.
'But it’s different now.'
Back then, she’d had no choice. Now, this was her own decision. That was the fundamental difference, and Dunbakel refused to forget it.
And so, she had pressed on. She headed to the East, leaving behind the first comfortable home she had ever known. In that distant land, she learned. She learned a truly staggering amount.
Anu, the King of the East, was a man of grand ambitions. He welcomed anyone with talent and led his followers based on a single, ironclad rule:
"Do not stab your comrades in the back."
True to his mercenary roots, he was a boisterous, larger-than-life man. He possessed a magnetic charisma so potent that some of his followers would gladly throw away their lives to shield him. At least, that was how it appeared to Dunbakel.
'Those who chase their dreams radiate a certain light.'
Encrid and Anu were cut from the same cloth. They were individuals who became stars, outshining even the twin moons to adorn the night sky. Perhaps the saying that people become stars when they die was born because of people like them.
"You're quite the coward, aren't you?"
Those were the first words she had heard upon her arrival in the East. There were many there with instincts as sharp as razors.
"Who is?" Dunbakel had played dumb, but no one was fooled.
Among those who followed Anu, there were more than ten who possessed the combat power of a Knight. If that group were to set foot on the continent as they were, it would herald the rise of a martial force capable of causing a tectonic shift in power.
But they had no such intentions. They risked their lives solely for the sake of exploration and adventure.
They said the Shepherd of the Wilderness guarded the land while tending to sheep, and the Black Leather Guild risked everything for the hunt.
"Hey, being fearful isn't a weakness."
One of them had approached her then. In terms of pure martial strength, she was someone who could hardly be called a Knight. Anu had paired Dunbakel with this woman from the Black Leather Guild—a warrior with curly red hair and a quick smile. In a simple head-on clash, many could defeat her. Yet, no one enjoyed fighting her. She was a type Dunbakel had never encountered before, making her impossible to read.
'Neither an Associate Knight nor a Knight.'
Her mastery of Will was lacking, but in actual combat, she was just as effective as any master.
'Though it was conditional.'
That was what made her so surprising. Her way of developing strength and her way of thinking were entirely different from the norm.
'Not everything is as clear-cut as drawing a line.'
That was simply how the world worked.
Because she had been abandoned by beastman society for possessing the Golden Mystic Eyes, Dunbakel had once whetted her blade for vengeance. But was that really what she wanted?
To live life properly meant deciding how to live. Dunbakel had never truly decided on a way of life. She had never clearly chosen a goal, a dream, or a purpose. Before, she’d had no opportunity to choose; afterward, her horizons simply hadn't expanded that far.
But what about now? Since she was in the East, she could organize those thoughts one by one, step by step.
"Fear isn't something to overcome; it's something to make your companion."
Dunbakel learned a great deal from that woman. In a way, she had learned things in the East that she should have learned in the place where she was born and raised.
"Have you become somewhat useful now?"
Anu, the King of the East and the Mercenary King, had repeatedly pushed Dunbakel into lethal battlefields. He forced her to fight giant monsters and enter dens teeming with hundreds of snake-like demonic beasts. Through those trials, she grasped a few fundamental truths.
'No one has ever tasted death and returned, so why is it the ultimate terror?'
She could still hear Anu's voice. It was a phrase he had repeated countless times.
"Your innate instinct makes it so. Handling that instinct properly is your first task. Acquiring martial power comes next, you smelly beast."
Every one of Anu's words was rooted in truth—even the "smelly beast" part. Dunbakel acknowledged it. Only when one knows themselves and can contemplate through insight is there a next step.
'I'm scared.'
They said terror or fear was not something to overcome, but to manage. She had done just that. Instead of trying to suppress it, she accepted it, pruned the branches of her thoughts, achieved what she wanted, and had finally returned.
'Though my scimitar broke the moment I got here.'
Honestly, that was nothing to worry about. In the East, it was common for artifacts to be crushed or shattered.
After her sparring match with Rem, Dunbakel clashed with Encrid. She was a beastman who had returned with skills distinctly different from before, utilizing highly unique methods of attack.
Encrid couldn't help but feel his interest piqued.
"A round with me, too."
It was only natural for a man like Encrid to rush in. The way he spoke, wetting his lips with his tongue, revealed his anticipation. He was itching for the fight.
Dunbakel nodded readily. "Hmm. I let my guard down before."
Encrid reacted to those words. Every fight begins before the sword is even drawn; that was the way he had learned.
"Did you also learn how to be as thick-skinned as Rem?"
Dunbakel chuckled at the light provocation. "That's not something you can do just by learning, is it?"
And then, the moment they entered their stance:
"You're dead meat when this is over."
From behind, Rem spoke with a smile dripping with murderous intent. It was directed at Dunbakel, undoubtedly regarding the comment about his thick skin. Despite the considerable pressure, Dunbakel paid him no mind.
Encrid looked at the beastman with golden eyes and thought:
'Overcoming fear is mere bravado.'
It was something he had heard back when he was drifting from one mercenary group to another. Just because someone lacked skill didn't mean they didn't understand the truth of things. The senior member of that mercenary group had been someone who understood the way of the world.
'Courage, you see, isn't about forgetting fear. It's about moving forward even when fear is walking right beside you.'
What was the conclusion back then? Ah, he had been told to train like a madman so that he could fight as usual even while terrified. Since it was something he already did regularly, he hadn't paid much attention to it. But in the end, it was only after awakening the Beast's Heart that he truly put those words into practice.
'It's not easy.'
Knowing and executing were two different matters. Encrid grasped a portion of Dunbakel's state through his insight.
'To be able to fight as usual, even when gripped by terror.'
She had not forgotten her fear. instead, she had trained to fight while embracing it. Anu must have thrown Dunbakel into countless real battles for this very purpose. He had forced her to experience combat where one wrong move meant certain death.
The impression of the Mercenary King Anu was intense. He was not someone easily forgotten, remaining clearly engraved in Encrid's mind. He felt as if he could hear the man's voice even now.
"Foolish beast, try and survive."
He must have driven Dunbakel like that. The result of her survival was what stood before him now.
As Encrid unleashed his Intimidation to press down on the beastman, her golden eyes curved. It was a smile. Her courage manifested in the form of bravado. Well, even if one's actions couldn't always back it up, one could always talk big.
"Light as a feather, Boss."
Even though the pressure crushing her entire body was by no means light, a trace of arrogance lingered in her tone. Furthermore, contrary to her words, her body reacted honestly. Her fine hairs stood on end, and she immediately underwent beastification.
White fur sprouted rapidly across her body as her appearance transformed. Her eyes grew deeper, and fur covered every inch of her skin. Tufts of white peeked out from between her gauntlets and greaves. Her dark brown armor swelled and expanded.
'Her physical size is increasing, too.'
This was a change that hadn't existed before. As if she had become a true wild beast, Dunbakel bared her fangs.
Grrr—
It was a low growl that fell outside the auditory range of ordinary humans, stimulating primal fear. Her growl carried its own Intimidation. Though the method of manifestation differed, the realized outcome was similar to his own.
'A path reached by walking, running, and crawling outside of ordinary methods.'
Just because it was unusual didn't mean it was wrong. Dunbakel had simply forged her own path.
"Hey, you quietly took a beating when you fought me, but now you're doing this?" Rem's angry voice echoed from the sidelines. He was demanding to know why she hadn't used beastification when fighting him. He had every right to be disgruntled.
Tuning out Rem's voice as a final distraction, Encrid drew Duskforge. His concentration flared like a wildfire, filling his entire body with Will.
Dunbakel clenched her fists instead of holding a weapon. Once this spar was over, it would be nice to gift her a scimitar—one made by Eitri, at that.
And then, the spar began.
It wasn't long. Encrid identified Dunbakel's unique traits and countered them.
'Extinguishing the Embers.'
The combat technique that identified the starting point of all attacks served as his foundation. It was at a level capable of blocking a Balrog's strikes. Even if Dunbakel's skills had improved, and even if she displayed absurd athletic capabilities through beastification, there was no way he would crumble under her attacks.
However, Dunbakel's fists and feet did cross the boundary established by Encrid's sword a few times. That much was unavoidable. Dunbakel's fighting style was exceptionally unique, after all.
Right after parrying eighteen attacks and striking Dunbakel's head with the flat of his blade as his nineteenth counterattack, she spoke while sprawled on the ground.
"Isn't this cheating?" Her chest heaved with heavy, ragged breaths.
"What do you mean, cheating?" Rem, who was watching, chuckled.
Encrid spoke calmly. "Again?"
Dunbakel's way of fighting was different from before. It had changed immensely. That made it stimulating.
"Hmph. Fine." Dunbakel snorted a clot of blood from her nose and stood back up. Her body, transformed by beastification, had become as solid as a giant's.
'An iron armor achieved at an unconscious level.'
It was different from Holy Light Armor, but the effect was similar. In the terms of the beastman world, vitality had infused the fur across her entire body, turning it as hard as steel.
Encrid raised his sword once more, and Dunbakel lunged again.
* * *
After a good round of sparring had passed.
"Aren't we having a banquet? I want to eat some well-cooked mutton," Dunbakel suggested, wanting to celebrate her return.
"Didn't you bring any rare liquor from the East? If you have some, hand it over," Rem quickly chimed in, essentially asking if she had come back empty-handed.
"How could there be such a thing? It's hard enough to even get a proper meal there. You have to go to the central camp just to eat field rations. Otherwise, it's a place where you have to tear into demonic beast meat just to survive. Why do you think people sell artifacts recovered from the East?"
The meaning behind her remark was clear: the Eastern expedition was structured around selling artifacts just to purchase daily necessities. In other words, it was nearly impossible to secure enough food in the East through hunting and gathering alone.
Though he had never been there, those words alone made it clear how barren the place was. Rem didn't even get angry; he merely blinked a couple of times. It was an expression that only appeared when he was genuinely surprised.
"You..." Rem began, and Krais, who had approached unnoticed, nodded beside him with an impressed look.
However, it was Sachsen who actually delivered the punchline. "Are you actually capable of thinking now?"
Even Audin stepped forward. "The Lord's grace has watched over you, sister."
Only then did Dunbakel realize they were teasing her. After scanning their faces, she locked her gaze onto Encrid.
Encrid, not wanting to be left out, added his own comment. "So, cultivating wisdom can also be achieved through training, huh?"
"Are you fucking kidding me? I've always used my brain at least this much!"
It meant that instead of relying on reckless bravado to overcome fear, she had learned to manage it, allowing her to think without panicking. Even if they understood the mechanism, everyone was completely sincere in their teasing.
At any rate, the banquet was held.
"Will well-cooked mutton be enough? I'll also bring out veal tenderloin and a whole chicken deep-fried in oil, developed by our chef!" Krais shouted.
It was an impromptu banquet. The moon was bright, and stars adorned the night sky. Sinar was nowhere to be seen, but Esther had approached unnoticed and sat down next to Encrid.
"If my legs hurt, will you carry me too?" she asked, cracking an uncharacteristic joke.
"You must have seen Sinar."
"Just passing by."
Esther's movements were hard to predict. She frequented the Elven City and wandered the Pen-Hanil Mountains. Lately, she spent most of her day training the members of the magic unit under her command.
"You killed what? A Balrog?"
Upon hearing what the Mad Knights had done recently—the events that had transpired before her arrival—Dunbakel was so shocked she nearly spat out her food.
Gulp.
A piece of mutton started to slip out of her mouth, only to be sucked back in with a wet slurping sound. It was not a particularly pleasant sight.
"Do you actually wash yourself these days?" Rem asked, clicking his tongue.
"Is that the first thing you say to me?"
"Tell us how you've been," Krais asked, steering the conversation back.
Dunbakel had intended to tell a grand tale about the monsters she encountered in the East—specifically, monsters as massive as giants. But after hearing stories of cutting down castle walls and slaying a Balrog, her own tales somehow lost their luster. Moreover, she wasn't particularly gifted at storytelling. She knew this fact all too well.
"Well, I fought."
Encrid, who loved stories, had been secretly looking forward to it, but her response was far too brief. "Did Anu not teach you how to speak eloquently?"
"Ah, well, I just kept fighting and fighting. Monsters appear in the East in numbers incomparable to this place."
Still, that was all Dunbakel had to say. But then, she added a bit about the people staying in the East.
"There's someone who used to be a shepherd?" Pel interrupted. What caught his interest was the existence of a shepherd in the Eastern expedition.
"We didn't see each other often. I mostly hung out with people from the Black Leather Guild."
The Shepherd of the Wilderness, the Black Leather Guild, and the Glacier Rangers. In a way, these three groups were like legends, having remained in the same region under the same name for at least a century.
Luagarne was also a Frok who wouldn't lose to anyone when it came to curiosity. "Does the Eastern expedition just keep forging ahead along the path?"
"Well, they fought among themselves at times, and there was a lot going on."
Ropode also chimed in. "You said there were many unusual monsters?"
Dunbakel replied casually. "There's something that looks like a giant. It's massive, and ordinary blades can't even scratch it. There's this guy, an armed brawler equipped with artifacts from the East, and he caught it. As for how he caught it..."
They chatted so much that the night felt too short. Dunbakel, who had worried she might have made a mistake returning, quickly blended back in.
"The Mad Knights? Then does the position of vice-commander belong to me, the sole beastman?"
Midway through, she spouted some nonsense after a few drinks and almost got beaten to death.
"It's a joke, a joke! Take your hand off your axe. Wait, when did you get here and draw your sword? What even is that sword? It looks more precious than most artifacts."
Ragna sheathed Sunrise, which he had drawn halfway.
Perhaps excited, Dunbakel had become much more talkative than before she left. At any rate, the beastman had returned, and everyone welcomed her.
It was a night where starlight patted their shoulders and wrapped around their backs like a warm blanket.