"Busy or not, some things have to be done."

Encrid wondered whether seeing him off really qualified, but with Krang putting it that way, he could hardly tell him not to bother and send him back. Besides...

'It is good to see him.'

Naturally, Krang was not alone. However regularly they cleared out the monsters and demonic beasts around the kingdom, danger still existed. Encrid saw Matthew, the squire Roford, and the trident-wielding guard he had met before. There were also five warriors drawn from the Royal Guard.

They bowed their heads slightly at the sight of him, paying their respects to the hero who had saved the kingdom. Encrid returned their greetings with a casual nod.

It was a small escort, but surely this was not all of it. Standard practice would be to station a unit nearby, ready to rush out if anything went wrong.

'That's what Marcus would do.'

As he was thinking this, Matthew approached and asked, "Leaving now?"

Matthew's opinion had changed considerably since their first meeting. At first, he had considered Encrid an unbearably insolent bastard. Now, if anyone asked who had saved this kingdom, he would name the man before him without hesitation.

'My apologies to my lord, but...'

It was not Krang who had won the civil war, but the Demon Slayer named Encrid. In fact, Krang himself would probably nod in agreement.

"Ah. Didn't get enough?"

Encrid gripped his sword hilt. Matthew had been about to ask whether he might be better off staying, whether there wasn't more he could do for Matthew's lord here. Instead, Encrid suddenly looked ready to attack.

"Come at me. Can't leave you wanting more."

'Ah, the lunatic.'

Encrid genuinely thought Matthew had come because he wanted another bout. Behind him, Pell shook his head.

'Sword-crazed sparring fanatic. There isn't a single normal thing about him.'

Well, that was precisely what made him worth following and observing. Ordinary was, after all, the opposite of extraordinary. Pell was here because he did not want his own path to be an ordinary one.

"I haven't fully healed yet," Matthew said. His earlier wounds had bordered on severe.

Encrid and his companions were the strange ones. After fighting their way through those wraiths, it would have been perfectly understandable for all of them to spend a month bedridden.

'And they're back on their feet sparring in a matter of days?'

That was abnormal. Matthew was normal.

"I wish to accompany you, sir. I have taken the liberty of coming here to seek your permission."

It was the squire Roford, speaking with the utmost courtesy. Encrid knew he was a squire of the Scarlet Cloak Knight Order.

"Weren't you with the knight order?"

"My senior, Aesia, has arranged for this to count as an extended assignment. Though I wouldn't have minded leaving the order."

Roford looked resolute as he gazed at the man who had changed his outlook on life. He had reached his decision after long deliberation.

'I'll stay beside this man and learn swordsmanship. No, learn how to live.'

Having overcome his indecisiveness, Roford now tended toward the opposite extreme: excessive boldness. It made no difference to Encrid.

"Take him along. He wants it so badly."

"Sure, why not."

Krang had interjected, and Encrid nodded. Overcome with emotion, Roford bowed deeply. Left to himself, he looked liable to swear an oath of allegiance.

That would have been troublesome enough, but swearing allegiance to someone else in front of Krang? What could be more absurd? For a knight's squire to swear loyalty to a provincial Company Commander who wasn't even a Knight verged on treason. Not that Krang would have minded even if he witnessed it.

"I heard Sinar left ahead of you?" Krang asked. They had a history of their own, but he had been too busy to find time to see her.

"She said there was somewhere she needed to stop."

She had said she needed to deliver news of the Fairy she had killed. Encrid answered based on what he had heard and seen: less than a day after the battle, she had applied salve to her thigh wound, wrapped it in bandages, and left.

Becoming king had not changed Krang. Encrid had not changed either. The two traveled together for three days. Their baggage was loaded on the carriage, leaving them little else to do.

For those three days, Krang watched Encrid spar. An uninformed observer would have thought they were desperate to kill one another, but apparently, this was sparring. Watching them, Matthew flinched again and again. Their techniques were that dangerous, the close calls that hair-raising.

Even outside his bouts, Encrid invariably practiced his sword swings whenever they stopped to rest. Seated in the carriage, he sparred using the edges of his hands. Asked what he was doing, he called it a simplified form of sparring. Krang nodded with a faint smile.

'A lunatic through and through.'

At one point, a band of bandits attacked them. It was appalling luck. Surely the bandits must have spat on a statue of the goddess of luck to have this happen to them.

"Hey, hand over everything you've got and piss off, and we'll let you live."

The bandit had blocked their way despite the swords several of them wore, Rem's murderous appearance, and Audin's enormous bulk. At this point, perhaps the problem was not the goddess of luck but the bandit's intelligence. Or perhaps he had tremendous faith in the crossbows behind him.

Law and order had been a mess even before the civil war. Now it had gone completely to shit. Even seeing this, Krang did not sigh. He had experienced the same thing countless times while wandering the continent.

"Hey, you need to prove you're useful too. Think we take in anyone who tags along?"

Seeing the bandits, Rem goaded Pell. Listening to him, Encrid wondered since when Border Guard had considered such things when recruiting soldiers.

There were more than thirty bandits. Fairly notorious in the area, they called themselves the White Hood Bandits.

"We're the White Hoo—"

Pell was a Shepherd, and Shepherds did not forgive uninvited guests who crossed their fences. He responded as a Shepherd would. Before the bandit finished speaking, he struck the man's head with his sheathed sword. It was a precise cut to the crown, accompanied by remarkably nimble footwork.

THWACK!

"Gurk!"

Among the thirty were five crossbowmen, and some displayed a knack for throwing daggers, but the disparity in skill was simply too great. Even the squire Roford could have handled them alone, though he would have had to work at it.

Pell stood above Roford in skill. That had been true even back on the night he met Encrid and made him repeat today.

'No, even more than back then.'

Encrid assessed Pell's skill with his own eyes. Awakening the Eyes That See One Step Ahead had broadened his vision, developing his discernment along with it.

'He's improved.'

Not by a modest amount, either. He had improved considerably. Luagarne would have had something to say if she saw him.

Pell did not hold back. Although he kept his sword sheathed, few survived his blows. Broken bones were the least of the injuries he inflicted.

'Luagarne would find this interesting.'

Encrid had gone looking for her before leaving, hoping to see her, only to hear that she had departed with the Queen. It was probably because of the Frog's covenant. Still, he was a little disappointed that he hadn't even seen her.

"Will that do?"

Pell had displayed a ruthlessness at odds with his youthful face. Rem nodded.

"You pass."

"... I wasn't trying to pass some test of yours. What do you mean, I pass?"

For all his grumbling, Pell looked quietly pleased. Why wouldn't he be? Among the Shepherds, he was usually scolded for being the only one to use a sword. Here, everyone paid attention to him and nodded in approval. And they were all exceptionally skilled.

"I'll need to deal with scum like that first. Any bright ideas?"

Krang asked as he watched the bandits, half dead and half fleeing. Law and order were giving him a headache. Though the question was vague, Encrid understood perfectly.

"Do you really expect an answer out of me?"

Count Molsen was partly to blame, but Naurilia had many other reasons for the gaps in its internal security. That was why bastards like these kept cropping up after the Black Blade Bandits. Some were even groups of spies deliberately sent by foreign nations to operate as bandit gangs.

Nor were bandits the only problem. There were Cultists, demonic beasts, and monsters too. Krang had a mountain of headaches. Even so, he smiled. This was the moment he had wanted, the thing he had sought. What else could he do but smile?

And so the three-day send-off ended. The king had not come because Encrid was the Savior of the Kingdom. Krang had come because they were friends.

"See you again."

"Yeah."

They parted with that simple farewell. Once again, Encrid thought the escort looked small, but those were not the only guards. Jaxon had told him on the very first day that a military unit was following behind them. Plenty of the king's guards were trailing along.

As they followed the main road, they saw signs of a military encampment, traces of Krais's troop movements. That was not all. Closer to Border Guard, a large guard post stood along the road.

It was equipped for both attack and defense: a watchtower from which archers could fire in every direction, stone walls, and even an iron-banded gate. Nor was it small. There was room for at least twenty soldiers. Rather than a hastily thrown-together hut, it was a brick building, clearly the work of someone with a talent for construction.

"What's this?"

"Ho ho. Brother Big-eyes has been busy since you left."

That was Audin. Krais?

As Encrid approached the post, the archer on watch gave a short blast on a whistle. A group of soldiers emerged.

"Lunatic Company Commander?"

It was Bell, the soldier whose life Encrid had saved during his first today. He was now a Squad Leader.

"Are you heading back, sir?"

"Yeah."

Bell nodded at the companions crowding up behind him.

"The Independent Combat Company is returning!"

At his shout, the soldier atop the watchtower lowered his bow. Standing at attention, he rested a hand on the shortsword at his waist and bowed his head in a military salute.

"Good."

Encrid saw three more identical posts after that.

'The spacing...'

It was consistent. What did that achieve? Control over the bandits and monsters in the area. Was that all? No. Border Guard was a city that had suffered every kind of attack, one after another.

The posts even had rooftop signal beacons ready to be lit at any time. They had roofs over them, with room for smoke to rise, and would serve perfectly well for communication as long as it wasn't raining.

The beacons also meant that these soldiers effectively served as their foremost scouts. Rather than roaming on foot, they manned fixed posts, keeping bandits, demonic beasts, and monsters from setting foot in a designated area at all. Given time, even demonic beasts and monsters would stop encroaching here. Once they recognized it as dangerous territory, they would not attack.

'And why would the soldiers agree to this?'

First would be the relatively generous, reliable supplies. Next, knowing that large-scale extermination campaigns were being conducted to minimize the danger, they would realize the posting was not all that hazardous.

Normally, every step would have been a headache, starting with the construction itself.

'But Border Guard is raking in gold.'

It would also have been an ideal time to build. The surrounding monsters and bandits had been wiped out. So many had thrown themselves at Border Guard that, for the time being, there was no one left to attack it. Krais had taken advantage of that.

The high pay was merely an added incentive. Seizing the right moment was what mattered most in all of this.

'So there was an answer after all.'

Encrid remembered Krang's question. Here was a way to deal with bandit gangs and monster hordes, though it would require a large-scale extermination campaign first.

'Most of the count's soldiers have joined the royal army now.'

They could fight monsters as both training and a way to instill discipline, wiping out the bandit gangs along the way. If the king then pardoned their rebellion for that service and won praise in the bargain, it would be like bursting two Ghouls' heads with one stone.

They continued home, accepting greetings at each post. The final post lit its beacon. Smoke rose high into the air, announcing Encrid's return.

"That Big-eyes bastard's thought of everything."

Even Rem sounded almost impressed. He recalled Krais asking him how his tribe communicated. He had explained the "heated stone" method, and Krais had built beacons like those.

Was it an idea anyone could have had? Perhaps. But an idea meant nothing unless someone put it into practice. Krais had the ability to coordinate all of this and make it happen.

"You're back?"

They were before Border Guard's gates. Krais waved. Beside him stood...

"You're late, my betrothed."

The Fairy Company Commander, who had raced in like the wind to fight, then left the battlefield immediately afterward.

"You're late."

Even Luagarne the Frog was there. Hadn't she left with the Queen? What was she doing here?

Finally, the Battalion Commander and lord of the city emerged. He came right up to Encrid, dropped to one knee, and spoke.

"Greetings, General."

Encrid blinked.

"What general?"

Rem asked the question too. Ragna looked at Encrid, and Audin also appeared curious. Only Jaxon remained expressionless, lost in thought.

"Hm. You haven't been informed?"

The Battalion Commander, who used to speak to him casually, now asked with great courtesy. Encrid nodded.

This was Krang's doing. A medal or not, simply send him away without a proper reward? The Savior of the Kingdom? His one dear friend? Krang would do no such thing.

He had sent a messenger ahead of Encrid's arrival at Border Guard.

["I hereby place five cities and their surrounding territories, from Count Molsen's domain to Border Guard and Martai, under direct royal rule, and send a general to govern this region. His name is Encrid."]

While everyone else was dumbfounded, only Krais understood. Without granting him a noble title, Krang had placed all those revenue-producing lands in Encrid's hands. Knowing Encrid would be indifferent if asked to accept them, he had simply tossed them to him.