Eternally Regressing Knight-Chapter 481 - Dreams, Flowers, Dreams

Chapter 481 - Dreams, Flowers, Dreams

"You always have people around you, don't you?"

The ferryman appeared again after a long time.

Rippling water, a purple lamp, and a blurred face.

Today, the ferryman had one eye shut, with the other open.

Enkrid reflected on the ferryman's recent words.

People?

Of course, there are people.

What else would there be?

Or is this some kind of clue?

Then another thought struck him.

Has anything this ferryman said ever been helpful?

It didn't seem so.

Most of the advice was along the lines of run away or give up.

Enkrid let the words go in one ear and out the other.

He stopped himself from asking whether the ferryman was just lonely, rowing endlessly on the water.

It wasn't worth saying.

Not everything needed to be spoken aloud—being tactful wasn't dishonest; it was just being considerate.

"You are never truly alone," the ferryman repeated.

Enkrid cast his gaze into the distance, beyond the ferryman and across the river.

There was nothing to see.

The only things discernible were within the range of the lamp's light: the ferryman, the small boat, the oar, and Enkrid himself.

The scenery wasn't picturesque, like the vast landscapes of the west.

The river was just endless, dark water.

Bringing his eyes back to the ferryman, Enkrid wondered if another soliloquy was about to begin.

"Loneliness will consume you."

That sounded familiar.

The ferryman had said something like it before.

Still keeping one eye closed, the ferryman met Enkrid's gaze.

His own gray eyes stared into Enkrid's blue ones.

After a moment of silence, Enkrid spoke.

"Is this the companion to the foreboding you mentioned earlier?"

There comes a point where even the most patient person cannot remain silent.

This wasn't about tact; it was instinctual.

Hearing such words had made his tongue move on its own.

It was like a swordsman instinctively deflecting a poorly aimed strike.

The ferryman shut his mouth. He looked irritated but said nothing more.

The dream ended.

Enkrid opened his eyes. The familiar ceiling of the tent greeted him.

"Awake?"

Two eyes stared at him.

Though there were violet veins in the whites, the irises were a warm, deep brown.

The gaze felt fresh, untouched by hardship. Above those eyes was a smooth forehead, and below, a harmonious blend of features made for a pleasant face.

The owner of those eyes, Jiba, would grow into someone truly stunning.

"You're up early," Enkrid muttered.

Jiba beamed. "I woke up a while ago."

Whether as a human totem or a protective charm, Enkrid wasn't sure what his role was.

But he knew that his presence weakened the curse afflicting these people.

Geonnara was moving again, and Jiba was now playful with the other children.

Hira said they needed a few more days to recover fully, but Geonnara was already saying she was fit to fight. Not perfect, but functional.

The eldest shaman, however, remained unconscious. That was a problem Enkrid couldn't solve.

Still, the ferryman wasn't entirely wrong—there were many people around him now.

Initially, it had just been Rem, Dunbakel, and Luagarne.

"You're surprisingly diligent," Geonnara commented, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

Nearby, Hira was packing tobacco into a pipe.

Luagarne, a long-time companion, stretched with a yawn, while Dunbakel woke sluggishly.

"What are you doing?"

At that moment, Rem entered the tent.

He was covered in leaves and thorns, evidence of whatever he'd been up to since dawn.

"What were you doing outside?" Enkrid asked, nudging Jiba's forehead as he spoke.

Rem held up his left hand.

The faint light of dawn made it easy to discern the object he carried.

"Flowers?"

White and red blooms, arranged neatly into a bouquet, tied at the base with what seemed like stems.

"These flowers only bloom at this time of year," Rem explained.

"Flowers?"

"Ayul likes them."

Rem was unashamed, confident as always.

Enkrid realized why Rem hadn't found the giant after days of searching—he'd been busy picking flowers.

"So, instead of going straight to her, you came here first?" Ayul's voice called from outside the tent.

"I stopped by on the way," Rem replied.

"Sure you did," Ayul said, entering.

Though her tone was sharp, the murderous edge of the past was absent.

Her eyes softened as they landed on the flowers in Rem's hands.

"See you later," Rem said, turning to leave.

Ayul grabbed his arm firmly. She wasn't letting him go.

Enkrid watched the scene and thought of the ferryman's warnings. Wasn't there supposed to be a crisis?

Ayul and Rem seemed perfectly fine now.

"That guy is so carefree," Geonnara remarked, voicing Enkrid's thoughts.

Still, it was a pleasant sight. It seemed likely that Rem would stay.

Ayul appeared intent on making that happen, and Rem didn't seem to mind.

Starting a family meant settling down, after all.

"Dunbakel, let's go," Enkrid said, rising to his feet.

The morning sun cast light over the camp.

Enkrid couldn't pinpoint the change he felt. But something had shifted within him.

I can win.

Even if there were three giants, he was ready.

Luagarne sat, reflecting on a dream from the night before. It had been unsettling.

It had been a while.

A familiar face had appeared, but in the last moment, Luagarne failed to recall it.

What could matter as much as desire and yearning to a Frog?

Spiritual love was their ideal, sometimes leading them to choose humans as partners.

It wasn't common; few possessed both the beauty and inner grace to captivate a Frog.

Luagarne's first lover had been a mistake.

But the second? A remarkable person.

"Laga, what do you think lies beyond that?"

Looking at a map of the continent, the lover had asked.

Being a Frog, Luagarne had responded like one.

"Does it matter?"

At the time, her goal wasn't exploration but mastering combat techniques.

And she'd fallen for someone dazzling, a man who shone just by being.

"Haha," he laughed loudly.

"It doesn't matter," he said.

He never forced anyone into anything.

"I'm going to make a map. A map that covers the whole continent."

It was his job to go to places where no one had set foot and study and investigate.

His swordsmanship wasn't particularly impressive, but he had those who shared his vision.

Mercenaries, former thieves, and discharged soldiers, including Frogs.

There were more than ten of them in total.

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All, including Luagarne, wandered for their own goals and gains. They dug up ruins, took on commissions, and moved as needed.

These tasks continued.

However, was it easy to explore the unknown?

There were those who left.

"You need krona to do anything. What can you do in a beggar's situation?"

There were sharp criticisms.

The nobles who promised to support often withdrew their words.

"People all think differently, and their values vary. I can't force anyone."

He could have resented them, but he didn't.

He never treated people that way.

And then it happened.

Before they reached the eastern frontier of the continent, a plague spread nearby.

Luagarne then remembered her first lover, someone about the age of a ghoul's son.

It was when she was still immature.

She had chosen him just by his looks, but the man was one who would roam the gambling halls using Luagarne's name. The Frog backed him up, so who would dare treat him poorly?

He lied whenever he opened his mouth.

To sum it up, he was a crazy fool.

Luagarne broke all ten of his fingers to knock some sense into him.

He cried, snot running down his face, and promised to quit gambling, but three days later, he was hanging around the gambling hall again.

His fingers hadn't even fully healed. Luagarne didn't kill him.

He wasn't worth it.

He was just a man with a decent face.

His second lover was a man of good character and big dreams.

He couldn't just pass by a place where the plague was spreading.

"Not good."

He tried to find the source of the disease, only to discover that someone was behind it.

"If we leave it be, people will die."

He had a somewhat naive sense of justice, and Luagarne had confidence.

The kind of arrogant confidence that made her think she could protect at least his man in almost any situation.

She should have stopped him.

"Lua, I'm sorry."

His dying lover spoke. Luagarne, who had lost her arm trying to protect him, had no time for tears.

The opponent was a heretic.

It was a tragedy.

"Have you heard of the dog of Huarin?"

He summoned dozens of black hunting dogs with thick soot. In the place where the plague had devoured a whole city, Luagarne tasted despair.

"Chase the heretics!"

The army of the holy city came and swept through the area.

Luagarne barely survived because of them. After surviving, she spent a long time hunting heretics.

'I will eradicate all the cultists from this continent.'

But that couldn't become her goal.

The Frog's desire didn't revolve around revenge.

A new goal arose.

'The unknown stirs the heart of man.'

Experience changed her goals.

Desire followed suit.

The gift his second lover gave her had shifted the direction of her desires.

The death of his lover repeated endlessly in her mind.

Even after waking from dreams, it continued.

It ached.

It hurt terribly.

She placed her hand over that aching spot.

Even though the hardened breastplate that she never removed at night protected it well, still...

'I feel like I'm going to break and tear apart.'

Suddenly, negative thoughts kept coming.

In the end, it felt like everything would burn and disappear.

Frogs were mentally strong, but that didn't mean they were perfect.

There were days like this.

Days when everything just felt off.

The image in Luagarne's head became a disjointed montage of past scenes, leading up to the present.

"Ha!"

A yell brought her back to the present.

The focus returned to the Frog's eyes, now back in the moment.

In front of her, a person, drenched in sweat, with black hair, was seen.

A human who had exceeded the rank of Semi Knight. That was an inexplicable mystery.

'Exceeding even the will of a Semi Knight? How?'

She couldn't understand the process.

She could only think of luck or some divine prank.

But when she saw the man in front of her, even those thoughts vanished.

Enkrid simply swung his sword.

Repeatedly practiced everything he had learned.

It never seemed boring.

It was always the same.

The Enkrid of yesterday and the Enkrid of today were different, yet he didn't live differently.

He proved himself through action, through life.

He simply swung his sword.

Watching him, Luagarne's random thoughts began to fade.

After a few days, for some reason, she felt strangely uneasy and looked around.

She saw traces of soot but couldn't be sure if they belonged to heretics.

However, keeping silent about it felt unsettling, so she spoke up.

"I think I saw traces of the heretics, but I'm not sure."

Enkrid stopped swinging his sword and turned his head.

Lowering Aker, he spoke while turning his back to the sun.

"Is that so."

He didn't seem to care at all.

In fact, whether it was heretics, their parents, or grandparents, what did it matter?

If they were enemies, he'd just kill them.

That was why he was swinging his sword now.

The next day, Luagarne's mood had improved considerably.

***

Two days later, a group of warriors, led by the sword-wielder, gathered.

"It's a fight."

When he spoke, one of the tribal warriors raised his axe high.

"For the soul of the west!"

"For the soul of the west!"

They all shouted as they raised their weapons.

It was battle.

The number of warriors gathered barely exceeded two hundred.

It was probably just over a hundred and fifty.

Among them were Rem, Enkrid, Dunbakel, and Luagarne. Everyone was going to fight, so they couldn't just sit back.

Enkrid, however, thought he didn't need to drag the fight out.

Even though the chief had told him he could stay behind and wait for the main force to arrive, Enkrid ignored that and charged ahead.

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