The frontier city guarding the Demonic Realm borderlands was called Thousand Brick. A city whose walls were built of stacked bricks. The name signified the thousands of bricks Naurilia had used to keep the Demonic Realm's incursions at bay.

Even here in the Demonic Realm borderlands, what was unfolding before them hardly seemed a common occurrence in that shelter of bricks.

"Hold them back!"

Right before the walls, soldiers were locked in fierce combat. Harpies flew overhead while pitch-black demonic hounds rampaged below. Encrid saw that Thousand Brick's gate was half destroyed. And all this chaos was at a gate that did not even face the Demonic Realm.

Among those holding their ground before it, he spotted a familiar face. Aesia. She was striking a charging hound across the head with the flat of her sword. It looked like a light swing, but it carried the strength of a proto knight.

THWACK! YELP!

The creature rolled sideways, its skull crushed. There were quite a few demonic beasts, but would that pose a problem? Aesia was a proto knight, too. Calmly bludgeoning and stabbing the black demonic hounds to death one by one, she kept glancing upward. Five harpies circled above her head.

She was in no danger. They were fighting in a proper formation, and anyone who died to that much could hardly be called a proto knight. Still, standing by and watching would be ridiculous. Encrid could not simply spectate, so he stepped forward. Killing all the monsters was only a matter of time. Surely finishing a little sooner would be better.

"Rem, Dunbachel."

"Time for a warm-up, eh?"

Rem was running forward before Encrid even called, with Dunbachel following behind. Encrid called to them and ran as well. He set down the pack he had been carrying because of the demonic beasts and took only his javelins.

He pushed off the ground with pressure spread evenly across his soles as he ran, practicing the footwork Luagarne had taught him. It was fundamental training that would let him shift his center of gravity in any direction at any moment.

Feeling the air strike his face, he looked up. Above Aesia, a harpy was swinging forward the wings it had in place of arms. His Sixth Sense warned him at the fluttering of those wings. Something he could not see, but could feel. Compressed wind rained down like blades. Aesia raised her shield to block them.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

The wind blades shattered against her shield with a sharp clatter. A spellcasting harpy? Encrid kept running as he considered it.

The harpy gained altitude. Beyond the reach of swords, it was high enough that even a crossbow could barely reach it. An archer would have trouble picking it off unless they were a renowned marksman.

Five harpies in total. They could use magic and knew how to secure an advantageous position. They could gauge their opponent's abilities, too. Otherwise, all five would have long since ended up as harpy skewers on the tip of Aesia's sword.

Over the course of a few breaths, Encrid sorted through what his eyes had told him. His senses sharpened like a blade. The optimal line, one that revealed itself only on a battlefield, formed in his mind. It was a sense he had awakened thanks to Abnaire, Aspen's brilliant strategist. Encrid followed it.

Still running, he drew the gladius hanging horizontally across the back of his waist and threw it. As he drew it in a reverse grip, he veered slightly left, opened his chest, then closed it as he extended his arm. A sword throw adapted from the Throwing blade technique.

WHOOOOSH!

The spinning sword looked like a disc in flight. The harpy normally used wind spells to stop crossbow bolts, but it must have realized that would not work this time. It twisted its wings to change the air resistance, banking sideways. The gladius passed through the spot it had occupied and thudded into the brick wall behind it.

THWACK!

Just when the harpy seemed to have escaped, a fresh, meaty impact rang from its head. With an axe embedded in its skull, it fell sideways in a long arc. It had evaded Encrid's gladius, but not Rem's throwing axe.

"One more," Encrid said. Rem coordinated with him without a word.

This time Rem threw his axe first. Encrid took up a short javelin, drawing from his lake of experience the lessons, practice, and training he had accumulated. He had not expected to use the javelins he had brought along for training here.

["You trained with all kinds of weapons, didn't you? Think of this as a continuation of that."]

Luagarne had carried on the training Rem began. Handling every sort of weapon hammered everything, from the game of moves and countermoves onward, into his mind until he absorbed it through his senses. Encrid had diligently practiced javelin throwing, too. His newly sharpened senses let him learn at a different pace than before. Those so-called geniuses would have found it lacking, of course, but he thought he was doing fairly well.

Now he could prove it. The harpy dodged the axe whizzing toward it like a disc, only for a forearm-length javelin to lodge in its chest.

THWACK!

The javelin smashed through its breastbone and drove it backward into the wall. It struck with a thud, bounced forward, and fell to the ground. Another thud sent dust rising.

"Enkie?"

Aesia recognized him.

"Let's finish this first," Encrid replied.

Dunbachel ignored the harpies entirely and charged the demonic hounds attacking below. Running on two feet, she lowered her stance, drew her two curved swords, and swung them outward to either side. It looked as though two bladed whips were slicing through the demonic beasts.

Closer now, Encrid could see why Aesia had hesitated to attack. He had wondered why she held back when five harpies would have been nothing if she committed herself. She and her companions were protecting several people behind them who looked like merchants. If she left her position, the harpies would clearly target them. That was why she had only defended.

With two of their number dead, the spellcasting harpies began flapping away. The three flew off into the distance. Sunlight, dimmed by clouds and as dreary as the damp air, shone where they had been.

Now that the monsters were dealt with, Encrid intended to take his time talking. Aesia had other ideas.

"So you're the reinforcements."

"And you?"

"Reinforcements as well. This is where I belong, after all."

True. She belonged to the Scarlet Cloak Knight Order.

"Let's go inside."

Aesia took a cloth from inside her clothes, gave her sword a cursory wipe, and put it away as she spoke. Her manner suggested that this was nothing out of the ordinary.

Several of the ashen-faced merchants sank to the ground, their legs giving out.

"No one said there were harpies that could use magic."

One merchant sounded accusatory, but that seemed to be the shock talking. No merchant would dare confront a knight order's proto knight in that tone. Fists and swords were always closer at hand than Krona. Fortunately for him, Aesia understood his condition.

"It's my first time seeing them, too. In any case, you've come here to work. Shouldn't you get on with it?"

Encrid was reminded that Aesia belonged to a knight order. People who concerned themselves with trifles could not become its proto knights. Listening to her stiff reply, did it not sound as though she was accusing the merchant of making a fuss?

"Pull yourselves together. Stay sprawled there, and those harpies will come back thinking we've left them a packed lunch."

So Encrid stepped in to coax them with gentle words.

Everyone sprang to their feet. Some gritted their teeth and helped up those whose legs had failed them.

"Hey, don't threaten them."

Aesia turned away from Encrid and went inside first.

"When did I do that?"

Rem laughed and patted his shoulder at the question.

"You called them a harpy's packed lunch. What is that if not a threat?"

Chuckling, he followed Aesia.

Encrid had been half joking, so he decided the merchants had no sense of humor. With a proto knight escorting them, were they really going to die to some harpies?

"You should practice throwing on the run a little more."

Luagarne had gathered the remaining packs and retrieved his gladius. Taking it from her, Encrid nodded and entered.

The half-destroyed gate did not seem to be any great concern. The people inside were unperturbed. The soldiers accompanying Aesia walked along talking as though there was no reason to whisper.

"We need to wipe those fucking harpies out."

"We need to kill every last fucking monster."

This was Thousand Brick. The gateway to the Demonic Realm borderlands, held shut by a thousand bricks. It was so dangerous that most people would never want to live here. Only those who hated monsters remained. Thousand Brick was twice as rough as even the old Border Guard, known as a fortress city.

Two helmetless soldiers who could have been guards or robbers approached. They looked past the arriving merchants to Encrid. One, sporting a long scar above his right eyebrow, looked like a cross between a guard and a robber.

TAP, THUNK. TAP, THUNK.

Tapping the ground with the spear in his right hand as he walked, the soldier stopped before Encrid. He ignored the Frog, the Beastman, and Rem alike.

"General Encrid, the Demon Killer?" he asked.

Encrid nodded, feeling a subtle pressure. The man moved his free hand. Encrid did not react. He transferred the spear to his left hand, bent his right arm slightly, and held it against his waist.

"It's an honor!"

A military salute.

The man's name was Milio. He said he had heard the rumors about Encrid and had been eager to meet him.

"Good to meet you."

At Encrid's greeting, Milio's hands trembled with emotion.

"Could you perhaps spar with me sometime..."

"Have you lost your fucking mind? How dare you ask him to spar?"

The other soldier beside him erupted.

"The atmosphere's a bit different, isn't it? You'll need time to adjust."

Aesia, who had gone ahead, was leaning against the wall. She looked utterly exhausted. Now that he looked, there were dark circles beneath her eyes. She seemed to have slept poorly for several days.

"Adjust? He's going to love it here," Rem said beside him.

He was right. If someone asked to spar, Encrid could simply oblige.

"And you two. Sparring, with things the way they are? Have you got it too easy?"

"No, ma'am!"

"It won't happen again!"

The soldiers straightened up at Aesia's words. They were so thoroughly disciplined that he wondered whether she routinely cracked them over the head whenever she was bored.

"Let's go. You should meet Sir Oara first."

The knight Oara. The reason Encrid had come here.

Meanwhile, several more soldiers besides the guards had arrived. Every one of them looked vicious.

"Rem, it looks like you have plenty of friends here."

Rem glanced around at Encrid's remark. There were no westerners in sight. He quickly caught on and smiled. It was the smile he usually wore when killing someone or burying an axe in a monster's head. He realized his captain was so excited he was teasing him.

"What are you so excited about?"

Even as he spoke, Rem worked out the reason.

"Fucking hell. You're excited to see a knight."

"Correct."

Encrid followed Aesia farther inside. The city was large, but sparsely populated. Most people carried weapons. There were no maidens selling flowers. General stores and grocers did exist, but they looked very quiet.

One shop was full of people shaving long horns. There seemed to be almost nothing else for sale there. There was also a bakery selling arrow-shaped bread. It was called arrow bread.

The tavern next door was not merely quiet, but silent. Though the city was full of people who looked as though they would normally be eating and drinking in broad daylight, everyone avoided it. The owner stood outside, bellowing with a thoroughly disgruntled expression.

"How am I supposed to make a living like this? Being a knight doesn't mean you can do whatever you want!"

Knights were admired. For they could face a thousand foes alone.

Knights were respected. For none could fathom the power in their hands.

Knights were revered. For they demonstrated their determination in service of their convictions.

"Oara! Please!"

The thick-armed man who appeared to own the tavern shouted similar pleas several times, but no one answered. Aesia passed by without concern.

"You'll have to understand. Things are bad right now, so there's a ban on drinking."

"A ban on drinking?"

Encrid repeated the words, but Aesia offered only, "Ask Sir Oara."

As they walked along the ill-kept dirt road, he looked down an alley and saw several women selling their bodies. Business seemed rather better there. He heard a man who looked like a soldier speaking to one of them.

"Give me a discount."

"Cut the crap. Trying to save your Krona on fucking?"

"Why, I'll tear your fucking legs..."

The soldier raised his hand, apparently angered. He looked ready to strike her. Encrid's steps naturally slowed. The woman was the weaker party. He could not stand by and watch her be hit. On that simple logic, he intended to stop it, even if he had to use his fists to persuade the man.

But the man did not touch a hair on her head.

"Hit me if you want to die."

The prostitute stood her ground. The soldier hesitated, then lowered his hand.

"Sorry. I've been in a foul mood all morning over what I lost at cards yesterday."

He apologized. The woman snorted, then took his arm and led him through a side door. Despite the argument, they appeared to know each other.

"Unusual," Rem remarked with interest.

Encrid agreed. What had he just witnessed? Something about it was far too different to call ordinary daily life.

"I'm going to have a look around town."

More intrigued by the city than the knight, Rem promptly strode off to take a tour.

In the center of the city stood a house that would be embarrassing to call a mansion. A log house. The city might be called Thousand Brick, but not every building could be made of bricks. How long would it take to haul them all here, mortar them, and stack them? For most purposes, felling trees in the nearby forest was the sensible solution. This was such a house. A house made of logs.

CREEEAK.

Aesia opened the door without knocking, producing a grotesque noise. The hinges were rusty.

"Aren't you going to fix the door?"

"You do it, then. Swordplay's the only thing I'm good at."

The voice from inside was female, curiously drained and listless.

"Exactly. You could do it yourself."

Another voice joined it, deep and male.

Dunbachel waited outside while Luagarne and Encrid entered. Candles and lamps lit the interior. Three people sat around a round table, with a liquor bottle containing brown liquid before them.

"Got the merchants here safely?"

The woman seated in the middle had languid eyes. The candlelight made her hair look red, though it would probably be closer to brown outside. Her eyes were a similar color. Brown as well, without the candlelight, he supposed. The smell of liquor was strong enough to sting his nose.

"The reinforcements have arrived. The Demon Killer."

At Aesia's words, the brown-haired woman looked at Encrid with hazy eyes.

"... You're..."

She fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Handsome."

The knight's bleary eyes abruptly came into focus.