A moment of silence flowed.
Klad, feeling awkward for no reason, averted his gaze and added words while pretending to be calm.
“Only until we drive out the Duke. Bringing down the House of Duke West is my wish too. It’s regrettable that we can’t completely destroy it, but if it’s a West like you, it might not be bad for you to take that position. Anyway, so…”
“I understand.”
Jake nodded his head vigorously.
“Klad, you value loyalty quite a bit.”
“That’s not it… No, never mind.”
“I value your abilities highly, but the opponent is formidable. Just because you say you’ll protect me doesn’t mean it’s right not to prepare for the worst situation.”
“Of all things, I’m being compared to that Duke bastard.”
Klad sat crookedly and started grumbling about whatever he was dissatisfied with.
“That descendant guy might not want to become Duke. Don’t torment someone who’s living well and just leave him alone.”
In fact, Jake had met the person presumed to be the previous hero’s descendant exactly once. As Klad said, he didn’t seem particularly interested in wealth and honor. He treated Jake as if he would be indifferent even if offered the entire ducal family. Thinking about it, it seemed better to focus on correcting the ducal family himself rather than setting out to find the descendant.
Of course, all on the premise that he survived to the end.
“Hmm.”
Jake examined Klad’s expression again as if analyzing him.
It was the first time he’d heard someone say they would protect him.
‘Have I gained my own knight too?’
He thought he’d never envied Father for commanding many knights, but thinking about it again now, it seemed he had been envious after all.
“What.”
Klad, who had been looking out the window with a sullen expression, picked a fight with Jake with a blunt expression that had no courtesy as a knight whatsoever.
Still, he felt good.
“I shall forget the several crimes you’ve committed against me so far, Klad.”
“What are you saying now.”
Whether Klad grumbled or not, Jake forgave him for touching his body many times.
***
Jake and Klad settled in a large inn on the city outskirts and prepared for the demon tribe’s attack. Since they didn’t know when or where demon tribe members might appear, they couldn’t let their guard down for a moment. Klad sat in the inn room concentrating on sensing demonic energy, and Jake paced beside him.
“I’ve lost God’s power and can no longer sense demonic energy, so I can’t be of help. I’m sorry for making you bear my burden instead.”
“Forget it. I’m putting it on your tab.”
Jake was upset thinking he’d lost the only power with which he could help the party. Of course, Klad reacted as if it didn’t matter at all.
“Go swing your sword.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Klad had searched the entire city to find an inn with a training ground for Jake, who loved swinging his sword, so he couldn’t let that effort go to waste.
Jake immediately took his sword and headed to the training ground.
*Hic, hic,*
If he opened the window and stuck his head out, he could see the training ground clearly even from the room. Klad watched Jake flailing about swinging his sword.
It was the second day since they noticed the Duke’s scheme and moved residences to stay at this inn. Perhaps because this place had a training ground, many mercenaries came despite it being on the outskirts. He considered slipping money to the innkeeper to block other mercenaries’ access to the training ground when Jake was there, but there was a big difference between briefly restricting bathroom access and blocking access to the training ground. If rumors spread that there was a duo throwing their weight around with money at the inn, their location might be revealed to the Duke, so he had to be careful with his actions.
So he didn’t touch the mercenaries, but they didn’t leave Jake alone. They seemed to find Jake, who swung his sword making *hic-hic* strange sounds, funny, so they hovered around him sneering and mocking. However, Jake paid no attention at all. The mercenaries, whose pride was hurt from being ignored by someone so pathetic he was laughable to call a swordsman, openly picked fights with Jake, and Klad chased them away by radiating bloodlust. The guys who had tried to touch Jake back then were probably suffering from nightmares by now.
After that, the number of mercenaries visiting the training ground drastically decreased. Though they occasionally glanced at Jake, no one picked fights. Jake swung his sword peacefully, unaware that all this had even happened.
*Hic, hic,*
Klad didn’t take his eyes off Jake for a moment.
Of course, for protection purposes.
*Hic, hic,*
Klad organized his thoughts while concentrating on the mana flow throughout the city.
The past two days had been very peaceful, but actually the situation wasn’t so good. Because the lord’s castle had exploded spectacularly, the territory’s residents guessed that something bad was happening here.
As Baron Nolson didn’t show his face for days, voices suspecting something had happened to him grew louder. Of course, they didn’t think the lord had gone missing or died. They thought he’d abandoned them and run away. After all, nobles generally would take the lead in running away to preserve their own lives when trouble struck.
Outsiders who had visited the city for the festival news had all left, and the festival that should have continued for several more days ended anticlimactically. People were anxious not knowing when demon tribe members might invade as rumored.
The bustling city was quiet like a world of corpses. Many people were escaping the city but no one was coming in. At most, mercenaries who hoped some crumbs might fall if demon tribe members appeared had sneaked into the city, and that was all.
It would be better if all the territory’s residents emptied the city completely so he could ignore whether demon tribe members rampaged or not, but that would be difficult. They weren’t staying because they didn’t want to run away, but because they had nowhere to go. So as soon as he sensed demonic energy, he had no choice but to rush there and minimize damage as much as possible…
*Hic…* *Thud.*
Jake, who had been diligently swinging his sword, suddenly stopped moving. This was the first time for something like this.
Klad, who had been watching Jake all along, sprang up from his seat.
‘Did something happen?’
If he’d been attacked by demon tribe members or fallen into a trap without Klad noticing…
“Klad!”
However, contrary to Klad’s worry, Jake came running to the room with a beaming smile all over his face.
“Klad, Klad!”
“What is it!”
“Look at this.”
Excited, Jake stood in front of Klad and swung his sword widely.
*Hic—*
“…?”
He didn’t know what he was supposed to see.
“You don’t know, Klad!”
“I don’t know.”
“My skills have improved!”
“…Really?”
“Just a tiny bit compared to yesterday, but my sword has gained speed.”
*Hic—*
Hearing that and looking again, the speed had certainly gotten faster. However, it wasn’t a significant speed.
“You still don’t know, Klad?”
“What exactly?”
“Ha, this can’t be.”
Jake walked around the room once, feeling sorry that he couldn’t share this joy with Klad. Unable to contain his excitement at that sight, Klad finally grabbed both of Jake’s arms and stopped him.
“What is it that I don’t know?”
“Klad. I can now… improve…!”
Jake exclaimed in ecstasy and grabbed back the arms of Klad who was holding him.
“Improve?”
“When I swing my sword, the speed gets faster, and when I run and walk, my stamina improves.”
“Isn’t that natural?”
“That was never natural for me!”
Jake gripped so hard that Klad’s clothes wrinkled.
Klad could finally understand what Jake was saying now.
“Until now, my limits were set to match the Demon King. The amount of mana, basic stamina, and sword speed could never increase. Because it was ‘fixed’ that way.”
“But now the Demon King has disappeared, and you’ve ceased being the hero, so the limits have vanished.”
“Right! I… I can now grow as much as I work hard.”
More than ten years of swinging the sword while knowing it was useless effort. Now the time had come to receive those experiences and knowledge back as results. The time had come when he could be rewarded for every moment of effort.
“That’s worth celebrating. You’ve worked hard all this time.”
“Now even if demon tribe members appear, I won’t be a burden to you.”
“That doesn’t mean you should run off to fight demon tribe members. You’d still have a hard time dealing with even one baby demon tribe member.”
“I know that much.”
Jake showed a smile full of joy.
And he realized. Right now, he and Klad were standing in a strange position holding each other’s arms.
At a distance so close that they’d stick together with just a little movement, Jake was flustered. He should tell Klad to let go of his arms. If they stayed grabbed like this, Klad’s sins would pile up. He’d just forgiven the crime of all the contact so far, but if it piled up again like this… So, the punishment…
“Tha—”
“Demonic energy.”
Before Jake could say anything, Klad hardened his face and turned his head. His gaze was directed toward the distant sky outside the window.
“I sense demonic energy.”
Ah, so it was because he sensed demonic energy.
Jake was secretly relieved. He’d been so flustered thinking Klad frowned because Jake spoke to him. To think he’d stiffened because he sensed demonic energy, what a relief… No, it’s not a relief!
“Which way, Klad! We must go at once.”
“It’s not this city.”
“Mm?”
“Breakwater Village.”
Klad concentrated with a frown to grasp the exact situation. Because the distance was far, he couldn’t confirm what was happening how, but one thing was certain: the direction where he sensed demonic energy was where the village was located.
“Duke, that bastard… He plans to eliminate Breakwater Village’s safe zone.”
