Chapter 84: Once I Resolved to Save a Life, a Gap Appeared
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 84: Once I Resolved to Save a Life, a Gap Appeared
'Heat.'
An explosion. He replayed his final moments over and over in his mind.
It had happened completely without warning.
During his previous assassination at the hands of the Half-Elf, he had at least been able to exchange words before dying. This time, there was nothing of the sort. There was only the searing agony of intense heat—the excruciating sensation of being burned alive.
Being stabbed by a sword or spear usually felt like being skewered by a red-hot iron poker. This time, he had literally turned to ash.
'A trap? Given the scale of the explosion, it must be a magic trap.'
"What's got you so deep in thought?"
"Thinking about taking a request."
After finishing breakfast and giving Rem a brief reply, Encrid headed back to the recruitment hub.
"Please, I beg of you. Just do this one for me."
Naturally, the Sewing Squad Leader was the one pleading.
Had this bastard sent him there knowing the danger? But looking at the dark circles hollowed out under the man's eyes, there wasn't a trace of mischief or any intent to play a prank. He just looked like a soldier thoroughly worn down by fatigue.
"You must be busy lately."
"The troublemakers at night have decreased, but lately, there's been an increase in external monsters and demonic beasts, so a lot of our forces are being deployed to the perimeter."
The man looked practically on the verge of tears. His words carried genuine sincerity.
In truth, even if he was being tricked, Encrid could simply refuse the request. Even if he accepted it, as long as he didn't step inside the shoemaker's shop, the same thing wouldn't happen. In other words, it was a disaster he could easily avoid.
'It seems like a wall I can simply walk around.'
Thinking this, Encrid asked, "What if I don't go?"
"Then it'll just have to sit there."
While there were mandatory requests that the soldiers of the unit had to complete, there were also those that weren't. This was indeed one of those ignorable tasks.
"Yeah, you don't absolutely have to go. But that old man at the shoemaker's isn't the type to talk nonsense. I wish I could go myself, but the platoon leader keeps breathing down my neck, so I can't slip away at all."
This, too, seemed genuine. When Encrid fell into thought and delayed his reply, the Sewing Squad Leader spoke up again.
"Hey, you remember me, right? From back then, with that bundle of leather, huh?"
"I remember."
Encrid had wondered if the man lived with a bottle glued to his mouth after returning to the territory, but here he was, working diligently.
"I'm just worried about him. Please, do me this favor. He's an uncle I've known since I was a kid."
"Fine."
He decided to go for now. He wanted to at least check out what was going on.
If it were a conventional trap, it would have fired poison darts or something similar, not a fiery explosion. There hadn't been the slightest sound or sign of a mechanism triggering. Which meant it was magic.
'If it's magic...'
He had absolutely no way to deal with it. It wasn't a problem he could solve just by thinking.
Lost in thought as he walked, he arrived at the shoemaker's shop slightly later than before. There was no answer when he knocked on the door.
"Border Guard Standing Army. Open up."
He knocked harder than last time and called out. Only then did the door open. Instead of the craftsman, a young woman appeared. She had long, braided brown hair and cheeks dusted with freckles.
"The Standing Army?" the woman asked, her eyes widening like a doe's.
"I'm here about the request."
Encrid spoke briefly and peered inside, but the craftsman was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was only a gaping hole in the floor.
"U-Um, my father said there was something beneath the shop and went down there..."
'Damn it.'
Encrid cursed inwardly.
"One moment."
He pushed past the startled daughter and stepped inside.
Rustle.
He saw crumbs of dirt trickling down into the excavated hole.
'He's terribly impatient.'
The craftsman, unable to wait for the Standing Army, had gone in first. Or perhaps he had assumed no one would come at all. Normally, one would expect that soldiers wouldn't bother showing up for a minor civilian matter like this.
"It's dangerous, isn't it? I told him not to go in."
The freckled woman looked on the verge of tears. Then, she clenched her teeth and said, "I have to go in and bring him back."
"I'll go, so wait here."
"No. I'm going too."
She clearly had no intention of listening. Above all, he had to get down there quickly and prevent that explosion. Instead of trying to persuade her, Encrid threw himself into the hole in a single bound.
Placing his hand on the edge, he slid his left foot in first and glided down the sloped cave passage. Every movement was fluid and natural. Controlling his entire body had become much easier thanks to the Isolation Technique, allowing him to feel the improvement in his physical capabilities even in simple movements.
Of course, now was not the time for self-reflection.
The moment he reached the bottom of the slope, Encrid's trained ears caught the sound of footsteps. Casting his gaze forward, he saw the craftsman groping his way into the first passage. The daughter chased after Encrid from behind, attempting to push past him.
"Dad!"
Encrid grabbed her by the waist, tossing her behind him as he shouted, "Stop!"
The craftsman turned around. His face was a mix of tension and confusion. But his foot had already left the ground. He took the step anyway.
With a deafening roar, Encrid felt the air compress and crush down on his body. Everything happened in an instant.
Flames. Fire. Explosion.
Whoosh!
"Ugh!"
Along with the craftsman's choked-off death rattle, the erupting flames consumed Encrid's body. The craftsman and his daughter were engulfed as well.
Bang!
As he died, Encrid realized the aftermath of the explosion would shoot upward, likely destroying the shop above. It was a hollow death. Enduring and overcoming the pain, the darkness swept past. Wading through the dreamlike Black River, he opened his eyes once more to greet the morning.
*
"Did you have a bad dream or something?" Rem asked from beside him.
He couldn't exactly call it a good dream. In his dream, the Ferryman of the Black River had been grinning mockingly at him.
In the past, when he repeated a day, he felt like he had at least started and ended things by his own hand. This time, however, he felt a sense of injustice. He had come to think of this death as unavoidable.
'If I leave them be, they'll just go and die.'
The father first, then the daughter. How far would the aftermath reach?
That was none of his business. The moment they died, it would already be a failure anyway.
'I could just look away.'
If Encrid turned a blind eye, the two of them would die. They would surely die. And would that be a problem? It was a world of kill or be killed. That was the era they lived in. Since his profession was fighting on the battlefield, Encrid had also killed countless people.
However.
'Those people hadn't stepped onto a battlefield.'
They were just ordinary people trying to run their shop. Encrid knew that the knight he dreamed of becoming was not some grand hero possessing the chivalry sung by bards. He had to follow reality. Just as the world had changed.
Even so.
'I don't want to lose.'
He could turn a blind eye and walk away. What was the big deal? It was just one more craftsman and his daughter dying. Except, it was happening right before Encrid's eyes. And he was the only one who knew they were going to die.
If this were war, if it were something he couldn't stop with his own hands... yes, then perhaps he should leave it be.
However.
'I can stop it.'
Then he couldn't just leave them. Because he had the power to change the outcome. He wouldn't call this chivalry. He would just call it stubbornness.
But that didn't mean the chivalry Encrid knew had faded. Even if no one else knew, protecting what needed to be protected simply because it was there—that was the kind of knight Encrid knew.
A dreamer could not betray his own dream.
Encrid had to go there. He had to see the craftsman and his daughter.
"Fucking hell."
Encrid started his day with a rare display of irritation. He was displeased with his own slow footsteps that had caused their deaths yesterday.
"Must've had a seriously unlucky dream," Rem muttered from behind.
Starting his day once more, Encrid pondered the issue the entire time he filled his stomach and walked to receive the request.
'Do I have to go down the passages one by one?'
There could be no task more miserable than that. Especially when he had no idea how many traps lay hidden in those tunnels. Yet, it was also true that no other way came to mind. And it wasn't as if he could drag any of his squad members along.
'If I tell them the shoemaker thinks there's an undead-type monster under his shop and ask them to come with me, what would they think?'
Setting aside the teasing, he doubted anyone would even show up. He could force them to come, but Encrid didn't feel like doing that. Would he cling to his squad members every time something happened? Or would he overcome it alone?
Was the dream he so desperately desired to stand behind someone else and run his mouth? Or was it to stand at the forefront and swing his sword? Though he didn't know if this matter would even involve using a blade.
'I'll do it alone. I will protect them.'
This wasn't something to rely on his squad for.
"I'm just worried about that shoemaker uncle. You know me, right?"
"I know. Was the snake wine tasty?"
"It was delicious."
Receiving the request again from the lip-smacking Sewing Squad Leader, Encrid walked away at a near-running pace.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Sachsen asked from behind just as he was leaving.
"To the shoemaker's, to save an unlucky civilian."
"...Are shoes or boots tormenting civilians now?"
'No, the underground passage is.'
Encrid only answered in his head and headed straight for the shop. Even before he reached the door, the loud clang-clang of the craftsman swinging a hammer at the floor greeted him.
Thud, thud!
When Encrid knocked forcefully on the door to announce his arrival, the craftsman emerged, sweat dripping from his forehead.
"Look, look here! There's a hole!"
"So there is. A hole. Let's take a look."
He went over and helped with the work of opening the hole completely. Striking with the hammer and using a thick iron bar as a lever, they pried up the floorboards. Thus, the hole was made.
"I'll go down and check, so wait here."
"Uh, well, what if a monster comes out...?"
"I'll handle it."
Before heading down, he struck a flint to light a torch.
Whoosh.
Somehow, just looking at the fire made him want to shudder. Burning to death twice was more than enough. The moment he stepped down, Encrid felt a strange sensation. It was an instinctive aversion brought on by the fear of death.
Encrid did not want to step into that passage. Even so, he did not turn back. He easily overcame the feeling and pressed forward. If he turned away because he disliked it, he would live his entire life running away.
He had fled to survive many times before. And every single time, he had regretted it. He did not want to experience that kind of regret ever again. Therefore, Encrid would not turn back. He moved forward.
Taking a large stride, he looked at the first passage, which felt more unpleasant the more he stared at it. There were five other passages besides this one—six in total.
'Which one is it?'
They wouldn't have built proper passages only to lay traps in every single one of them. Would the second one be safe? Encrid carefully raised his torch, thoroughly inspecting the floor, walls, and even the ceiling.
Nothing particularly stood out. There were only forks in the path that looked virtually identical. The sizes of the passages were also similar. The interiors were pitch-black, their ends invisible. He wondered who on earth had built such a crazy space beneath the territory. If he was lucky, it might even connect to the sewers.
Pitter-patter.
Dust and dirt fell from above. It didn't seem like a hastily made passage. He hoped it wouldn't suddenly collapse and bury him alive. Regardless, now was the time to investigate the interior.
'Here I go.'
It was the second passage of the fork.
'If I enter the first one, the flames engulf me.'
What about this one?
The moment he stood before the second passage, Encrid wanted to turn back due to the unpleasant sensation rising within him once more, but he ignored it and took another step forward.
Taking his first step in tense anticipation, nothing unusual happened. No explosion, no flames, nothing. Encrid cautiously surveyed his surroundings. He raised the torch, meticulously observing all directions once more.
The conclusion he reached afterward was simple:
'Even if I look, I wouldn't be able to tell.'
He was already too busy dedicating himself solely to the sword. While he had picked up a few things about dungeon exploration over his shoulder during his mercenary days, he lacked the knowledge to inspect traps. Such things were only possible for those who had been properly trained.
Therefore, there was no easy answer. A sense of foreboding weighed heavily on his entire body. It felt as if a demonic beast was waiting for him right ahead, its maw wide open. It felt like shoving his head into a beast's mouth completely bare-bodied.
He was about to overcome that feeling and move forward when—
"What are you doing?"
The craftsman, who had followed him down at some point, asked from behind. With that single question, his sixth sense—which had been sharply honed to detect danger—dulled, and taking another step forward no longer felt like such a monumental task. The sensations he had felt just moments ago faded into a faint blur.
"Do not come any closer."
Burning to death alongside the craftsman once was more than enough. As he took another step, that strange sensation washed over him again. It was an ominous premonition, as if he had made a mistake.
'A step I shouldn't have taken.'
The sudden thought was immediately followed by the answer.
Whoosh.
It was exactly the same as the first passage. Explosion, pressure, flames. He didn't know what was hidden at the end of this passage, but it was clear that a vicious trap had been prepared.
BOOM.
Along with the deafening noise, he burned to death in the flames. Naturally, he didn't just die.
'Ah.'
As he died, Encrid let out a short gasp in his mind. Regardless of the pain, the Beast's Boldness served as a foundation that allowed him to clearly judge the sensations he was currently feeling.
As he brought his third 'today' to a close, Encrid unexpectedly felt something.
And thus, he greeted his fourth 'today.'