"A banquet? Tell them to process another document instead of wasting time on that crap."

What sort of seat was a throne? What was a crown? Krang could now answer with certainty.

'The perfect position to work yourself to death.'

There was work. Far too much work. Enough to make his head burst if he tried to handle it alone. Still, it had to be done, so he did it. Krang cut back on sleep, then proceeded to make life difficult for the royal chef.

"Shouldn't you at least eat proper meals?" Marcus asked beside him.

Biting into his sandwich and chewing, Krang stared at Marcus with wide eyes. He spoke with those eyes rather than his mouth.

'With all this work piled up, you want me to leisurely light candles, take up a knife and fork, and waste time cutting meat and chatting with nobles?'

"... Never mind."

Marcus had discovered a new side to Krang. The man was a workaholic. Of course, he had a purpose driving him. Still, some things needed to be said.

"Several nobles are trying to approach Encrid."

Krang lifted his head from the paperwork again, sandwich still between his teeth. Marcus continued evenly.

"I imagine they want the kingdom's savior on their side."

They had purged as many as they could, but how many nobles still resided in the capital? More than a hundred, even by a rough estimate. And if they included the nobles based in other regions? Not all of them would be perceptive or clever. Some could be loyal and still want their share now that the civil war was over.

And what was the best way to secure the largest share? The king personally called this man his dear friend. He was the kingdom's savior, the man the king had allowed to speak before him at the coronation of remembrance. What if they could bring such a man to their territory? What if they could place him under their command? His affiliation was terribly ill-defined, too. He was merely a company commander in Border Guard.

So they would try every trick available, starting with beautiful women.

"People change," Marcus said.

Krang swallowed his mouthful of sandwich and met Marcus's gaze for a moment. The two men, both with dark circles beneath their eyes, stared at each other, then suddenly burst out laughing together.

"Hahaha."

"Pff, hahaha."

Some people did change. But not Encrid.

"Let them suffer a little. He'll handle it."

Krang paid no mind to the nobles pestering Encrid. There was something else he wanted to ask Marcus.

"But are you really all right with it?"

"Pardon? Oh, the title? Yes. I prefer it that way."

"Hmm." Krang nodded.

"It seems Marquis Vaisar has visited Enkie as well."

"He's lost a bit of his touch, too."

Krang truly wasn't concerned. Naturally so. Anyone who had been through hardship with Encrid would feel the same.

"Then, about the nobles wanting to hold a banquet..."

Krang cut Marcus off midsentence.

"Can I confiscate some of those bastards' wealth?"

"By force?"

"Yes."

"Was becoming a tyrant your most immediate goal?"

Would becoming a tyrant really be so bad? For a moment, Krang wavered before the temptation.

'Why is the royal family so damned poor?'

The moment he inherited the throne, the Queen had bid him farewell and lightly departed, taking the court mage with her. Krang had decided to think of her as someone who wasn't there to begin with.

Lately, his greatest concern was finding ways to earn Krona. Had he known Krais well, he would have wanted to appoint him finance minister on the spot.

Of course, this was a hole he had dug for himself. Krang had been rather bold in his policy changes. The most damaging of them concerned the king's protection. He had started by replacing the king's guard knight.

"I hear you retain a knight's standing on the condition that you never leave the palace for the rest of your life. Is that something you actually want to do?"

The guard knight, who maintained his knightly standing through several magical powers and the mysteries of Will, had to work out what the king really meant. What was this young man talking about? He was the third generation to guard the king. Both his grandfather and his father had walked the same path. The spell laid upon his bloodline was a shackle, a binding.

"Are you asking me in earnest?"

At the guard knight's question, Krang had released his shackles. He granted him freedom to do what he wished and go wherever he wanted.

For protection, he employed the existing Royal Guard. The man who had worn the gray helmet even knelt and shed tears.

"I shall protect you with my life. Even in death, I shall protect you."

Including Matthew and the others who had stood by Krang, he had effectively reestablished the king's personal guard. He increased their numbers and raised their pay. On top of that, he set about filling the gaps in the palace's defenses.

'No wonder I'm short of gold.'

Things were this bad even after he had emptied and sold off part of the royal treasury. Krang didn't look back. Even the time it took to regret things was precious. He, too, had learned something from watching Encrid.

'Do what needs doing now.'

Encrid was the sort to practice his swordsmanship even if the continent were going to fall tomorrow. If emptying the treasury a little allowed people to eat well and live well, what was wrong with that? It was a radical approach, pursued with considerable drive. And there was no one to stop him.

As a result, the ceremony to honor their achievements and bestow rewards was being delayed. That was why Encrid was still in the capital.

Rem knew exactly how he differed from the man he had been when he first joined the troublemaker squad.

'How did this happen?'

His skills, which had stagnated as he roamed the continent, had improved. There were several reasons for that, but three of them were Ragna, Jaxon, and Audin. Fighting those bastards again and again, he had improved because he refused to lose.

'What a shitty turn of events.'

As he watched, thinking this, his eyes met Ragna's as the man swung his sword shirtless.

"What are you looking at, you crippled barbarian who can't even walk on his own?"

Rem rebuked his own brain for briefly thinking those bastards deserved any credit. In truth, it was more accurate to say that Encrid was the biggest reason. Rem learned as he taught, and watching Encrid grow left no room for dawdling.

"Keep that up and you're dead."

After tossing that remark at Ragna, Rem began warming up himself. He had expected to spend a month bedridden after pushing the spells so hard, but he had recovered quickly. His improvement had increased his capacity. Spells, after all, were cast with the body as their foundation.

Listening to their affectionate exchange, Encrid was reviewing and practicing what he knew. Rem watched, then approached.

"You said you had a new Will? Let's see it."

They could now move about to a reasonable extent without harm, so sparring was possible. Thinking that today was finally the day, Encrid raised his sword.

The moment he had taken the broken Silver to the smithy and asked to have it repaired, he had been told it was impossible. Its core was completely ruined. So he had asked them to melt it down and taken up an ordinary longsword. He didn't want to blame his weapon, but he did wish he had a sword as good as Silver.

"Do it properly," Rem said. Encrid did.

He imbued his eyes with Will and sustained it. Eyes That See One Step Ahead. A manifestation of Will perfectly suited to the Captivating Sword.

Encrid glimpsed the future. He took in Rem's breathing, shoulders, hands, and feet. Rem would swing the hammer in his left hand as though throwing it, then bring his axe across diagonally. The first hammer blow would come at his usual speed, the next axe blow fifty percent faster. It was a feat made possible by his perfect control of the weapons in both hands.

The future he had briefly glimpsed unfolded exactly as foreseen. Rem's hammer came flying in. Despite his sword's longer reach, Encrid stepped forward, raising his sword-gripping wrists in a cross.

He intended to lock down Rem's hammer wrist while stepping on his foot and driving a knee into his groin. Closing in like this would make the axe in Rem's other hand a threat, but at best, Rem would be forced to punch with it still in his grip. Encrid would get close enough to leave him no other option.

'I can withstand that punch.'

He would give up flesh to take bone.

Before there was even time to exhale, their weapons, hands, and feet crossed.

THUD! TAP! CRACK!

After that single exchange, Encrid stepped back and stared at Rem.

"How did you do that?"

"Hmph. You thought that made you invincible?"

Those instincts, that response, were truly beastlike. Encrid realized anew that this bastard was insane, but remarkable.

The Captivating Sword was a Righteous Sword Technique. It steered the game of moves and countermoves in the direction he desired, and now worked in harmony with Eyes That See One Step Ahead.

But Rem had stopped moving as predicted and changed his action. Instead of swinging the axe, he had let it go, blocked the knee with his palm, and thrust his forehead forward. Encrid had no choice but to improvise a counter himself. That final crack had been their foreheads colliding.

The middle of both their foreheads was red. It looked as though lumps would form. If someone improvised a movement before his eyes could read and interpret it, how could he predict it? From that point on, he could only respond with the techniques ingrained in his body.

Rem privately admired Encrid's response, thrusting his own head forward to turn it into a headbutt, but said nothing. He had spent the past several days finding a way to counter Encrid's newly awakened Will. He didn't want to show that he had put any thought into it.

Besides, Encrid might lose his drive to improve if Rem praised him too readily. Of course, that would never happen, but after justifying himself this way, Rem spoke.

"See? This can break it, too. So don't go using it carelessly."

Audin was next.

"Hoho, brother. Every technique has its openings."

He broke Encrid's Will with an even simpler, more brutish method. He abruptly closed in and forced a fight at point-blank range. The great brute of a bear was stronger than Encrid even with the Heart of the Superhuman active.

Audin smoothly applied a joint lock, trying to dislocate his shoulder. Drawing on what he had learned, Encrid bent Audin's fingers and struck his palm upward to slip free. Their spar continued in much the same fashion. They ended up on the ground, covered in dust. In the end, Encrid lost.

"What will you do when someone gets this close?"

Audin spoke with one eye swollen from a blow to the cheekbone. Encrid's trapped knee was on the verge of breaking. Any more pressure would do it. So he had lost. In exchange, he had applied blue makeup to one of Audin's eyes and the cheekbone beneath it.

"Hmm." Encrid nodded. There was still much to learn.

Ragna stepped forward as well. He used an even simpler method. A slash that could not be blocked even when Encrid saw it and knew it was coming. Frankly, it was more vicious than Lierbart's sword strikes.

"Are you trying to send him to the Lord?" Audin asked in wonder.

"I'm telling you, that bastard's fucking insane."

Rem insulted him, declaring that his head was even more broken than his own.

"He's not dead. That's what matters."

Ragna spoke as calmly as ever. Encrid wiped a hand over his cold-sweat-slick neck. One wrong move and he would have repeated today.

He had raised his sword to block, only for it to be driven halfway into his own chest instead. Had he not worn his bandage armor as a precaution, he would have bled.

Not that he had any complaints. He thought he understood what they were trying to tell him.

'Whatever the technique, keep using it until it becomes part of you.'

In truth, the three were busy proving that he hadn't surpassed them yet, but that was how Encrid took it. When the interpretation was better than the dream itself, all was well.

As he immersed himself in training, a young boy came in, glancing about warily.

"Might you be Master Encrid, Demon Killer, Savior of the Kingdom, Guardian of Border Guard, the King's Dear Friend, and Aspiring Free Knight?"

For a moment, Encrid doubted his ears. Weren't there quite a few strange things mixed into those titles? He had heard that all sorts of praise for him had been circulating since the battle, but training was a better use of his time than worrying about every word, so that was what he'd been doing.

"They only call me the Undying Axe."

The epithet Noble Killer was also circulating for Rem. That was because of the vicious things he said to nobles who pestered him.

The Shadow-Treading Guard was Jaxon. There was also Dunbachel the White Lion Monster. Though she was a beastkin, she had been given the nickname because she looked like a lion. Surprisingly, she liked it.

Ragna was called the Merciless Sword. Of course, he didn't particularly care.

"Wouldn't Ragna the Guide suit me better?"

It was just that questions like that sometimes made him seem crazier than Rem.

Audin had received a nickname much like his old one. The Giant Bear, was it? Encrid had also heard people say that was what he looked like from a distance. Audin merely smiled without a word, but he didn't look pleased.

Encrid looked at the page who had addressed him.

"I think just Encrid or Lunatic Company Commander would be right."

Its official name was the Border Guard Independent Combat Company, but even Encrid now called his unit the Lunatic Company. Weren't all his subordinates lunatics? Being the only sane one himself wasn't enough to change that.

The boy who had approached spoke with extreme nervousness.

"My master wishes to see you, if you might have time... Ah, if it's inconvenient, I can come back when you have time. Ah, if you could perhaps tell me when you might be available..."

Encrid didn't want to make things difficult for the page. He gently placed a hand on the shoulder of the boy, who kept repeating "if" and "might," and asked,

"Who's your master?"

"Ah, Baron Somerset, sir."

It was a name he had never heard in his life. Wondering what this was about, Encrid nodded. He genuinely didn't want to make the boy any more uncomfortable.

With admiration in his eyes and legs trembling from nerves, the boy set off. Encrid followed him.

"Another damned noble?"

Rem spoke from behind him. Encrid waved him away. Better to gently talk the visitor around and send him off himself than watch Rem cause trouble. The man had come to see him, after all.