A Knight who Eternally Regresses - Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Fire
He endured today. The cycle of training and practice. Enkrid did just that. And for the first time in his repeated today, he had reached this point.
‘Will I die?’
That was his first thought in response to the company commander’s reaction. Enkrid quickly corrected himself.
‘If she intended to kill me, she would have done it earlier.’
When did Crang slip away? He hadn’t even noticed his presence.
‘Tsk.’
Despite this situation,
‘I’m still lacking.’
Enkrid felt the inadequacy of his trained hearing. It was in his nature. As a result, he missed the timing to respond. The newly appointed company commander, an elf woman, was staring at him intently.
Didn’t she ask, “You’re alive?”
What should he say?
Enkrid opened his mouth.
“…Should I have died?”
“Hm, no.”
The company commander replied, moving only her lips. She stared at Enkrid for a long time before turning away. Then she picked up the fallen poisoned darts, checked Vengeance and the guard she had brought along, rolling their eyes back to check their condition.
‘Is she checking to see if the soldiers are dead?’
Then she brought the poisoned dart to her lips and lightly touched it with her tongue.
‘Is she knowledgeable in herbal medicine too?’
He had seen mercenaries do such things occasionally. Elves were often close to nature, so it wasn’t surprising they were knowledgeable about poisons and medicines.
Enkrid just sat and watched. He wasn’t in the mood to get up. Of course, if someone aimed for his neck right now, he would roll or dodge, but it was still exhausting.
Although not as draining as the first repeated day, it was still tiring. If the first repetition was physically exhausting, this time it felt like he had used up all his mental energy. He had evaded numerous repeated attacks by sound alone. In the process, he hadn’t sustained a single scratch.
It wasn’t mere coincidence. How many times had he been attacked?
Sometimes without any signs, but he had narrowly dodged the first attack several times. Repeated patterns became learned behavior. Even assassins had patterns in their actions. Enkrid instinctively learned them.
‘Having experienced it once helps.’
Would the second time be easier?
No.
It was never easy.
If someone who had seen Enkrid’s repeated today had been there with him, they would never say such a thing.
But no one could. In the isolated today, he was always alone.
Enkrid pressed his temples with his fingers. His excitement hadn’t subsided, and his head throbbed. In time, it would turn into a headache. He instinctively sensed this.
Sss.
Someone was near, the presence of something close to his neck made Enkrid reflexively twist his body and extend his palm. There he saw Crang pretending to strike Enkrid’s neck with the edge of his hand.
“Do you really have eyes on the back of your head?”
Crang said, seemingly amazed.
“It’s not the time for jokes.”
What’s with this irresponsible guy?
Crang chuckled and spoke casually.
“Ah, sorry.”
Was it really an assassin targeting this guy?
‘Then why didn’t they just kill him, instead of coming after me first?’
Was it just bad luck? Could it be as simple as bad luck?
No way. The assassin must have targeted Crang.
It didn’t make sense for an assassin to come after Vengeance and him.
‘If it were Vengeance and me, it would be easier to frame us and kill us.’
Sending an assassin to handle two powerless soldiers? There’s no need.
Why send an assassin? To eliminate quietly and discreetly. Take care of it without causing a commotion.
What to do with the corpses after killing them? Burn the tent.
Who would care about the wounds on a body burned to death? Even if not that, there were many ways to dispose of bodies. Wipe the blood and traces, and dump them in a secluded place. People would think it was a desertion, not kidnapping and murder. Especially since this was an outlying medical tent. It was an improvised medical tent for soldiers, not officers. No one paid much attention to it.
Of course, this wasn’t a place one could just come to if they wanted to.
“They probably targeted me.”
It was when the company commander roughly surveyed the inside and peeked outside the tent. Crang, crouched next to him, spoke abruptly.
“Hm, why?”
“You don’t seem very surprised.”
“I am surprised, plenty.”
“You’re good at keeping a straight face.”
Is now the time to focus on that?
Enkrid was about to snap but held back. He knew from experience. Crang was easygoing.
‘Of course, he knows when to be serious.’
It was a repeated today, so Crang wouldn’t remember, but Enkrid had a vivid image of Crang speaking as if he was absorbing everything around him.
“You don’t intend to reveal who you are, do you?”
The company commander, who had approached silently, spoke. Crang nodded slightly and spoke again.
“Anyway, I’m sorry.”
Is this supposed to be an apology?
Crang stood up and looked around, making eye contact with the company commander.
“I’m not in a position to order anyone, so I’m asking for a favor.”
Crang addressed not only Vengeance but also the company commander casually. Unless he was a high-ranking noble, this was impossible. Otherwise, he’d be risking death by the sword. He wasn’t just speaking casually.
He took a step.
Just one step forward.
It was like that time. When he asked who he was, it was a similar atmosphere. Crang quietly accepted the gaze.
Two spectators, one actor.
But the actor was like a vortex. An entity that absorbed and swallowed everything around it.
“Can I ask for a favor? Consider it a debt I will repay.”
“Please.”
The company commander answered humbly. Crang spoke with a gentle smile.
“I hope no one dies today.”
Small but firm, calm but storm-like.
If a voice had magic, it would be like this.
It made one want to fulfill his request. The tone and manner induced that thought.
How could one make someone feel this way?
Enkrid felt a strange sense of déjà vu. It was because he had experienced it once. The vortex that absorbed everything around it soon subsided. Crang spoke and extended his hand to Enkrid.
“Are your legs weak?”
“No, it’s not that bad.”
Enkrid took his hand with a complicated feeling.
“…Is this the reason you changed your mind?”
Seeing them, the company commander asked.
“Let’s say it is.”
Crang replied. Enkrid couldn’t understand their conversation at all, nor did he want to ask.
‘Not like they would tell me.’
The company commander let out a small sigh and spoke to Enkrid.
“Can you keep today’s events a secret?”
“Yes, of course.”
There was no other answer to give when she asked, seemingly ready to put a hole in his neck if he refused. He had seen the new company commander’s skill earlier.
Just one move, but,
‘Could she really deflect it like that?’
One move to push away with the back of her hand.
With one gesture, Enkrid had lost his balance and fallen. He wanted to see that again.
If not, he would just die and repeat the day again.
If he refused to keep quiet?
Would she kill him?
No. That wouldn’t work.
There were many ways to make him silent without killing him. It was useless to resist. He had no desire to commit suicide either.
“I ask you.”
More than anything, Crang spoke like this. Though only for a few days, just a few conversations, Enkrid felt a strong bond with Crang. Their relationship was peculiarly intimate despite the short time.
“Keeping secrets is my specialty.”
It wasn’t an empty statement. How many secrets did he know within the squad? Some were important, some were not. He had never spoken of any of them.
“Then, we just need to resolve this situation.”
The company commander said, looking at the torn tent and the two fallen soldiers.
“That wish of no more deaths includes those two.”
Crang said, and the company commander nodded nonchalantly. No one knew what had happened here.
But if they found out?
Judging by the look, revealing Crang’s identity seemed difficult. The company commander was deep in thought.
“If the guard wakes up, will he realize he was attacked?”
Enkrid asked, brushing dirt off his bottom.
“I guess not. Even if he did, he wouldn’t have seen anything.”
The company commander spoke with half confidence. Enkrid thought so too.
How many times had he been attacked without knowing anything? That freckled guard would have passed out without knowing anything.
So,
“Could you carry one outside?”
Enkrid’s words made the company commander look at him.
“There’s a simple and convenient solution. I might take some flak for it, but you can cover for me, right?”
He explained the plan. Crang laughed, and the company commander nodded without a smile.
Whoosh!
“Uh?”
The guard, dozing off in front of the tent, felt a sudden sting on his cheek and opened his eyes. Half asleep, he turned and froze for a moment.
‘Fire?’
It was a fire. Flames were climbing up the front of the tent.
Thud.
The sound of the spear he was holding dropping to the ground woke him up completely.
“F-Fire! Fire! Fire!”
The guard who dropped his spear shouted. His tongue was tied in surprise.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!”
Instead of shouting ‘Fire!’ out loud, he kept repeating just ‘fire’ but his urgent cries quickly alerted everyone nearby.
“Fire!”
A nearby patrol guard shouted, making the situation clear.
“The medical tent is on fire!”
The quick-witted patrol guard’s voice echoed loudly.
“Get water!”
Only then did the other soldiers start to poke their heads out and assess the situation.
“Damn it, is anyone inside?”
“Were there people in there?”
“Yes, those damn soldiers!”
The flames quickly spread from the front of the tent to the entire tent. It was chaos in the middle of the night. Black soot and smoke rose into the sky. Even the bravest soldiers couldn’t enter in such a situation.
“Get water!”
The supply company commander yelled. Those who were quick on their feet brought water in buckets.
Splash!
They poured water over the flames. For a moment, smoke rose.
“Line up and pass the buckets!”
The supply company commander shouted. His experience in carrying supplies paid off. Passing buckets was a method of handing objects along a line. The soldiers lined up and started passing the water buckets forward.
Splash!
One idiot dropped a bucket on the ground.
“Are you joking? Pick it up quickly!”
“Understood!”
The commotion continued. The flames reflected on the soldiers’ faces. The supply company commander stomped his feet. The important thing wasn’t the tent burning. If it spread to the next tent, it would be an unmanageable disaster. The problem of the fire spreading was bigger than a few soldiers inside dying. As the bucket passing calmed the flames bit by bit, the supply company commander let out a sigh of relief.
‘But why the sudden fire?’
Was it the season for fires?
The weather wasn’t dry enough for that. Fortunately, the fire didn’t spread. The flames seemed to have been waiting, as they only burned the one tent.
“There’s someone here!”
In the midst of this, a soldier with good night vision shouted.
“Bring them over, it’s fortunate they’re alive.”
The supply company commander spoke words he didn’t mean. More fortunate than their survival was the fact that the fire hadn’t spread.
Enkrid laid the freckled soldier next to Vengeance, whom the company commander had moved outside.
“Here!”
He shouted, and people gathered.
“Are you okay?”
“A sudden fire?”
“What happened?”
Enkrid, his face covered in soot, coughed. He looked like someone who had just escaped the burning tent.
“I… cough, cough, don’t know.”
Enkrid spoke between coughs. The midnight fire ended up being considered an accident.
Hoo-woo.
In the distance, the cry of an owl or something similar was heard. Probably from the direction of the forest. The elf company commander listened to the sound, matching the map in her head and her current location, and walked. Not far from the base, it was a pebbled stream.
Upon reaching her destination, the company commander spoke.
“If it weren’t for that squad leader, it would have been dangerous.”
Just by looking around the tent, she grasped the assassin’s intention.
‘Eliminate the one at the entrance and then the target.’
The one at the entrance was Enkrid. Thanks to him, he survived. Had he held out even a little less, he would have died. Both he and the guard would have died.
“Really.”
Crang spoke and took a deep breath in and out. The company commander turned to look at him.
“Then.”
A simple farewell. The unique light steps of the elves made no sound at all. She was currently the company commander of the 4th Battalion, 4th Company of the Cyprus Brigade. It was time to return to the base. The figure of the elf fading into the darkness soon disappeared from sight. Crang thought of Enkrid’s dream.
‘A knight.’
“Seeing you, I think I know how I should live too.”
Crang had responded this way after hearing Enkrid’s dream. It wasn’t an empty statement. Though he might deceive others, he had never said empty words to someone who approached him sincerely.
Crang had a secret about his birth. But he didn’t like his birth or his secret. So far, he had avoided facing it.
‘I’ll face it too.’
He recognized Enkrid’s skills at a glance. Such a person dreamed of becoming a knight. Out of ten passersby, five would say it was an unattainable dream. The remaining five would be busy laughing.
Still, he dreamed. He didn’t give up. Though it had only been a few days, seeing him repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists, Crang sensed he wouldn’t change.
Such people don’t change easily.
“You were an interesting friend.”
A strange intimacy remained. The clouds above Crang’s head parted. The moonlight began to peek through.
He walked.
A slightly different life awaited him ahead.