As far as Encrid knew, Krais was not a man to cling to a lost cause.

"I don't need you."

At the Mercenary King's words, Krais quickly abandoned his pleading.

"Yes, I see!"

He probably hadn't truly intended to follow him anyway. Otherwise, he couldn't have changed tack so quickly.

"You came as a guest. Didn't you bring any gifts?"

Instead of trying to win the king's favor, Krais went straight for his gold.

Encrid had also heard rumors during his travels across the continent of a storehouse in the East filled with gold. Equally widespread were stories of thieves' guilds forming an alliance to raid it, only for not a single thief to return alive.

Encrid had paid them little attention.

'Gold, huh.'

There must be plenty of it. That was as far as his thoughts went. What use was knowing the details when he had no need for that much gold?

Rem, Ragna, Audin, and Jaxon were much the same. None of the lunatics in the unit cared much for Krona.

Krais, however, was different.

A strange light gleamed in his eyes. He looked possessed by an evil spirit that had been betrayed by its sworn love and trapped in a ruined house for a hundred years, until obsession was all it had left.

His eyes blazed as he spoke of gold. There was madness in them.

Unfortunately, Encrid thought, he had picked the worst possible opponent.

"Gifts? What, you want some eastern gold?"

"I'd be delighted."

"No."

"They say the King of the East has a heart as vast as the ocean. How can you do this?"

"I'm not that generous."

"You're the King of the East. Does a meeting like this mean nothing to you?"

"Can't hear you."

Encrid didn't think the King of the East was much of a talker, but he had an extraordinary talent for making others play along on his terms.

Krais didn't get angry. He didn't even grit his teeth. He simply continued with the same smile and the same tone.

"Is that so? Then I'll ask again tomorrow."

From a distance, it could have passed for a friendly conversation. The king smiled and nodded.

For a moment, Encrid worried. If Krais took even one blow for this, they were unlikely to meet again in this life.

"Are you sure you'll be all right?"

He asked as Krais came away from the king. With his back to the king, Krais silently mouthed his answer.

"What a stingy bastard. Aren't you going to kick that fucker out?"

He wasn't the sort to leave just because someone kicked him out. Besides, Encrid still had much to learn from him. In short, he was a useful teacher.

"You do know who you're talking about, don't you?"

At the repeated question, Krais frowned and nodded.

"Yes."

"And you still want to ask him for gold?"

"Yes."

When Encrid gave him a questioning look, Krais jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

"He's the King of the East, no less. Would a man like that kill someone on a whim? Especially when he came here desperate to snatch up talent? He wants to make a good impression, not a bad one. Of course he won't lash out carelessly. More importantly, we're talking about eastern gold. I don't know if you're aware, but Lewis steel comes from the East, and so does Uber black gold. How could I let an opportunity like this slip away?"

He had begun by explaining why there was no need to worry. He'd spotted the concern in Encrid's eyes and addressed that first.

But the blazing look in his own eyes pointed to one conclusion.

Gold.

Blinded by gold, would he bow to a threat right in front of him?

No, Krais wasn't that stupid.

A knight would not kill someone making a reasonable request. This man was the King of the East; he wouldn't resort to violence lightly. Coming here with just one companion rather than an enormous escort hinted at his unpretentious nature. He had also repeatedly sparred with Krais's captain and tried to teach him.

Krais must have weighed all of that, judged the king's character, and then made his move. That was the sort of man he was.

"By the way, Captain."

The golden gleam in Krais's eyes faded as he called to Encrid.

"What is it?"

Having finished a hundred downward cuts, Encrid wiped the sweat from his chin with the back of his hand.

"You're not going, are you?"

The King of the East made no secret of his intentions. Yet he managed not to inspire resentment, proof of his abundant natural charm.

He wanted to take everyone, Encrid included, back to the East.

Encrid himself, though, had yet to receive such an offer from the king. Rem, Ragna, Dunbachel, Audin, and Teresa had all been approached, but not him.

More precisely, the king had said something similar when they first met, but hadn't brought it up once since.

Had his pride been hurt? Did he dislike repeating an offer?

No. The king diligently repeated himself all the time. Encrid alone was the exception. Instead, he sparred with him and offered brief advice.

What if he did ask Encrid to come? Instinctively, Encrid knew the answer.

"I'm not going."

He said it because his answer was already settled.

Krais inwardly sighed with relief, yet a faint uneasiness remained.

'If the captain left right now, could the five walled cities on this frontier even hold together?'

He had encouraged wall expansions in every city entrusted to "General" Encrid, quietly enlarging their urban districts. He had also discreetly spread rumors through traveling merchants afterward.

Naturally, he had several aims in mind.

By having the five cities perceived as a single whole, he made their new ruler and lord unmistakable to everyone, while drawing each city's lord and mayor into the project to secure trade routes.

'The amount of Krona changing hands is on an entirely different scale now.'

None of it would have been possible without Encrid at the center.

Krais understood what his captain wanted better than almost anyone. He wanted to become a knight, the kind who belonged in an epic poem.

What he sought was chivalry. Honor and steadfast principle. He moved forward while upholding those ideals.

'Would the East appeal to him, then?'

To Krais, the King of the East didn't merely overflow with charisma; it spouted from him like a fountain. Though his attention remained entirely on this unit, several people had taken an interest in him simply from watching his manner at a distance.

Among them was a once-renowned mercenary now serving Border Guard. Several swordsmen who guarded nobles had also shown an interest in the king.

Krais had also seen the urgent personal letter from the king that had arrived a couple of days earlier.

What did it say?

It was sealed for Encrid's eyes alone. Krais hadn't bothered to ask about its contents. If Krang knew the current situation, the letter would surely have arrived laden with promises.

Indulging his habitual tendency to imagine the worst, Krais left the training ground with all manner of thoughts running through his head.

* * *

Rem studied the table he had carved while spinning an axe in his hand. The unusually light weapon rolled over his fingers, tracing strange paths through the air.

"Do you do that for fun?"

The King of the East approached from the side and asked. His guard trailed close behind.

"Getting my hand used to the axe."

Spinning it and making the table served the same purpose.

Even though the question came from a monster over a hundred years old, Rem didn't bother turning his head to answer. King of the East or not, it was no concern of his. That was simply the kind of man he was.

"You're a man without desire."

"What are you talking about?"

"That's how you seem."

"I've got plenty of desires."

Rem was being honest.

The king shook his head and replied,

"Then why won't you follow me?"

If he needed gold, there would be gold. If he wanted beautiful women, he could win them over himself. If he needed a worthy opponent, there would be one to match him.

Yet Rem wanted nothing. That was how the King of the East saw it.

"Care to go hunting with me?"

The king made an offer whose intent was difficult to guess.

"Sure, why not?"

Rem nodded without reading much into it.

He was itching for action anyway. While Encrid poured his time into sparring with this crazy old man, Rem had been revisiting a few techniques himself.

It had begun with a small realization.

Using a few implements he had acquired after killing the Ageless Madman, Rem had wielded someone else's spells.

'Normally, I expected the strain on my body to bring down some terrible curse on me.'

Nothing of the sort had happened. Only a tiny fraction of the harm he had anticipated had manifested as side effects. A difference in capacity alone couldn't account for it.

'Has my body changed?'

Going west was one thing. Taking proper stock of what he possessed was only natural.

That was why he had been carving chairs and tables with his axes. Now it was time to find some monsters or demonic beasts and give the weapons a proper, satisfying swing. He had been refining his delicate control until now; it was time to let his power out.

"Good! Let's go!"

At the king's hearty shout, Dunbachel looked up from where she had been watching. She saw the mad axeman getting along splendidly with him.

'Is that bastard going to follow him?'

Judging by how well he got on with this King of the East, he might.

Then there would be no one left to beat her up.

'And improving would be that much harder.'

She didn't welcome Rem's torment, but one thing was undeniable: the more he tormented her, the stronger she grew.

Her gaze turned toward Encrid. He seemed wholly untroubled, behaving just as he always did.

* * *

The King of the East's idea of a hunt was nothing like an ordinary noble's. Especially with Rem as his hunting partner.

Neither had any intention of chasing nimble deer.

"The Penn-Hanil Mountains are just back here. Ever been?"

"They were my playground back when I roamed this continent."

"Sure they were."

"Indeed they were."

The two traded banter. Asalluhi thought the king was quite taken with this man. For his part, Rem made no particular effort to keep the king at a distance either. Watching them joke and laugh, one could have mistaken them for old friends.

The three headed into the Penn-Hanil Mountains.

At the entrance stood an outpost Krais had gone all out to build. Three times larger than the others, it was almost a small town in its own right. Its sole purpose was to stop monsters and demonic beasts descending from the mountains.

Securing a safe route here had always meant dealing with whatever emerged from the Penn-Hanil Mountains as it appeared. Left alone, threats like the Gray Ghouls, bloodsucking flies, and five troll brothers that Encrid and his unit had once swept away would establish themselves.

But building an outpost brought its own problems.

A glance at the lay of the mountains told Rem that blocking the monsters from coming out at all would cause trouble later. The terrain inside offered plenty of places for them to hide, gather, and hold out.

Creatures that would otherwise trickle out would become wary of the outpost. Once they banded together, a colony would naturally form. The horde that eventually poured out could easily number well beyond the hundreds.

"Well, look at this. An outpost alone won't solve the problem. This could lead to a massacre."

The King of the East had recognized it too.

He certainly wasn't some nobody, nor was fighting his only skill. He could read the terrain and assess a situation just as well as Rem.

"What are you staring at? Didn't I tell you this used to be my playground?"

Half of that was bluster.

Rem knew it too. Though not as mysterious as the East, the Penn-Hanil Mountains still held plenty of undiscovered secrets. Weren't these the first lands foolish ruin explorers turned to when hoping to strike it rich?

A place like that couldn't be anyone's playground.

Still...

"You know your stuff."

His ability deserved recognition.

"Of course."

For a king, he was utterly unpretentious. Rem liked that about him.

Soon, the two entered the mountains.

Restricting monster movements with an outpost made those inside warier and more likely to form colonies?

Krais hadn't overlooked that. He had decided it was better to do things this way and have the lunatics in the unit sweep them out. Securing a safe stretch of land took priority.

Monsters and demonic beasts could pop out at any moment, but you won't get hurt!

Saying that was very different from saying:

You won't see any monsters or demonic beasts, but we always have soldiers on watch, just in case!

Travelers would receive the two assurances very differently.

A route passing before the Penn-Hanil Mountains could provide a shortcut faster than any other trade route.

In any event, this was why the king and Rem encountered a group of monsters almost as soon as they entered.

It was a nest of over thirty trolls.

Tree stems tangled like a skein of thread, along with leaves and other growth, concealed the entrance. There was a whiff of crude spellwork.

Occasionally, monsters were born with spells, magic, or supernatural abilities. This group of trolls seemed to include one such creature.

"Here it is."

"This is the place."

They spoke and looked at one another. They seemed perfectly in sync.

GRRROAR.

A troll caught the scent of humans and poked its head out.

"How are you?"

With that greeting, Rem charged without warning and swung his axe.

The axe descended vertically. Its edge split the troll's head as though slicing tender meat.

Even with its skull cleaved down the middle, the troll took a broad swipe with its left hand. Rem severed that wrist with the axe in his other hand.

Another troll thrust its head out right beside it. The lumpy, dark-green monster towered over a human, and its gaping mouth exposed crooked, sharp teeth.

King Anu looked at it and spoke.

"This should be an enjoyable hunt."

Thirty trolls were a force even a proto knight couldn't dismiss. With a monster capable of something resembling spellwork among them, they could have posed a threat.

But not to these two.

The king brought out his weapon. Not his jambiya, but the long spear his adjutant Asalluhi had been carrying.

Catching the spear the adjutant tossed him, he unwrapped it and took his stance. The cloth fluttered away on the wind, and Asalluhi reached out to catch it.

The king had no intention of playing around. There was something he wanted to show the western warrior beside him.

Something beyond the martial prowess this fellow Encrid had displayed.

The King of the East got a little serious.

That was bad news for the trolls.