Thump-thump.
The organ that had quietly been pumping blood throughout his body suddenly made its presence known.
His heart was racing. It thumped as if to declare, "I’m here."
In fact, there was something Krais valued more than dreams, life, or even survival.
It was, well, a form of preparation for the future, a tangible symbol of value that could be seen and touched.
In short, it was Krona (money).
For him, it represented the future, value, dreams, and life—all of it culminated in Krona.
What would he do after earning heaps of gold by running his salons?
He didn’t know. He figured he’d just do whatever he wanted.
When you don’t know what you want to do, having your pockets full of gold is all that matters.
That was how Krais envisioned his future. Right now, Encrid was whispering dreams and the future to him.
“If that happens, you’ll make a massive amount of Krona.”
For a brief moment, Krais saw a mountain of gold coins before him. It was a hallucination. He hadn’t taken any drugs, but he was seeing things.
“Building that city of pleasure you mentioned, right at the border between the Empire and the Great Kingdom, wouldn’t be a bad idea either.”
Krais’s eyes grew hazy. His mind had already reached far into the future.
Recently, he had heard that Ann failed to develop a cure but ended up creating a substance that glowed in the dark.
They were using that glowing liquid to create a lighthouse for the Border Guard at night, and if they could refine it further…
Since a few more alchemists had joined Ann’s team, it wasn’t an impossible feat.
What if they built a large sphere in the center of the city and filled it with the glowing liquid?
What if they made it the central monument of the pleasure city, towering in its center?
With the skilled construction guild, it was certainly possible.
In his fantasy, Krais climbed up a high wall built along the southern border.
“Behold, that’s the City of Pleasure.”
He gestured widely, introducing the city to a group of nobles.
At his motion, they all turned to see a glowing city, shining even though it was night. It was, quite literally, a city of pleasure.
The city itself emitted light.
Just imagining it sent shivers down his spine, from his toes to the tips of his hair.
‘No, I can’t stop there. I need to take it further. Let’s make a rotating structure. Could I create a mechanism that turns automatically? Maybe using a magical power source?’
“Behold, the shining city, Salon de City!”
The city didn’t just glow; it scattered light all around.
He had come up with the name on the spot, and it rolled off the tongue nicely.
Without realizing it, Krais had stopped thinking deeply the moment he decided to give up.
In other words, he had stopped using his brain.
That’s why everything felt overwhelming. He had come to view problems as insurmountable walls because he lacked motivation and his heart wasn’t in it.
Now, his once rigid mind, like stale bread, had softened and begun to turn smoothly, like bread melting into hot soup.
Encrid noticed the sudden change in Krais’s gaze.
His eyes, which had been clouded, now shone with clarity once more.
‘What was going on with him?’
He didn’t know. Honestly, he wasn’t particularly interested either, so he just kept encouraging him as usual.
This was, after all, what Krais had always wanted to do.
Krais had briefly forgotten, but Encrid had not.
A large-scale city of salons, the heaps of Krona he would earn, the mountain of gold coins he would amass.
Krais had said he liked the idea of a city of salons and piles of gold, so that’s why Encrid had mentioned it.
Now that he’d said it, Encrid found himself curious about the goals of his companions, or rather, his Knights.
What was everyone here for, anyway?
He had some guesses, but he had never asked. Until now, there hadn’t been a need.
But things were a bit different now. He had formed a Knightly order and inducted them into it.
Was it right for them all to blindly follow him just because Rem and the others wanted to?
Although the Knightly order had been officially named, Encrid had never explicitly referred to them as his Knights.
Rem, at least, had joined to use his axe to eliminate the Demon Realm, but what about the others?
It was a thought that came to mind as Krais had come to talk about various matters.
He would need to go and ask them one by one. And he would also need to clarify the structure and size of the Knightly order.
Until now, Krais had handled most of the Knightly order’s affairs, but now, while Krais was momentarily distracted, it was Encrid who thought of it first.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
Seeing Krais’s eyes spinning around, Encrid asked, wondering if he might have a fever.
“No.”
Krais’s pale, fish-like eyes had regained their vibrant glow, so it didn’t seem like he was ill.
And perhaps having noticed Encrid deep in thought, Krais’s mouth started moving smoothly.
“Though we’ve barely held the border with Aspen, the air is still tense, isn’t it? And then there are the internal factions and all the other problems in the city—it must have been a headache for you.”
Actually, it wasn’t all that much of a headache.
In truth, Encrid hadn’t been that interested.
If problems arose, he would solve them, but for now, he figured it was best to leave things alone since he couldn’t just cut down or knock out everyone.
Encrid was sharp enough to recognize the problems, but he had already resolved internally that if things festered, he’d deal with it then by cutting out the abscess.
But the reality was that his territory was too large to govern effectively using such methods, and while there weren’t exactly complaints, many people felt frustrated.
The city itself was running well, there was surplus food, and plenty of Krona was being earned, yet this was still the case.
It was inevitable. No matter how good things were, not everything could be perfect.
So, how to deal with such a situation?
Up until a moment ago, Krais had no answer, but now, he had one.
“I have an idea.”
By now, Krais’s mind was filled with rotating machines.
And those machines were endlessly spewing out gold coins.
Give up? Risk? Weren’t such things necessary to reap rewards?
Hadn’t the Captain before him also done so?
Krais shook off his wavering heart. Rather than simply regaining control, he decided to forget about it altogether.
“There’s a lot of stored grain this year. I’ll use it.”
Starting with the development of Green Pearl, they had built safe roads and expanded the surrounding farmland. Pastoral farming and hunting had also been promoted.
Even during Ranger training, there were hunts specifically for monsters and beasts.
On top of that, the Border Guard’s role as a trade city had grown even larger.
Recently, the Enri Merchant Company had arrived from the west, opening up potential trade routes with the West as well.
The profit derived from that was mainly food.
Saying this made it seem like the Border Guard was already wealthy, but the issue was that this wasn’t Krais’s personal wealth.
He couldn’t just take it all and run, and he didn’t have such intentions.
Krais had learned to walk a straight and righteous path by watching Encrid.
He was determined to build his shining city by forging ahead righteously.
“Right, got it.”
“Yes, then.”
With that, Krais turned and left.
“What’s that all about? Why was he here?”
Rem, who had just finished washing and was drying his hair with a towel, asked.
“No idea.”
Encrid answered honestly.
“Thought he was busy?”
“Apparently.”
Encrid shrugged it off as just one of those things and moved on. The next morning, he heard that Krais had convinced Avnair, the half-prisoner he had brought back.
When asked later why he did it, Krais had this to say:
“I’m going to put him to work.”
And when asked how he could trust him, he said:
“I don’t. In fact, I don’t trust anyone. But I make sure that no one knows what they’re really doing.”
Moreover, Krais explained that Avnair’s responsibilities were limited to matters related to Aspen.
“There’s no need to involve him in military affairs or the army. He’ll be too busy dealing with trade and stabilizing relations.”
That’s how Krais put it. And as he had predicted, Avnair threw himself into his work.
Even though Encrid had summoned him, he had never once visited, so when Encrid finally dropped by, Avnair had his head buried in paperwork, not even lifting it.
“Who’s there? Just leave the documents on the table.”
Thinking that he had come for no reason, Encrid quietly closed the door and left.
In any case, with Avnair handling Aspen’s trade and miscellaneous tasks, Krais was able to take a breather, and he used his spare time to create a new holiday for the city.
It might have seemed random, but it was exactly what the city needed at that moment.
Why? Because people needed an outlet.
The Border Guard had defeated Aspen and won, but now they were neighbors, sharing a border.
Many weren’t happy about it.
Some had lost family or relatives to Aspen.
Granted, it wasn’t a huge number, as large-scale battles had been rare during the war with Aspen.
Still, there were those harboring discontent, so a tense atmosphere lingered.
And conversely, Aspen felt the same way.
They had suffered more.
Aspen was now trying to resolve this by relocating people who hadn’t lived near the border to the area.
This, of course, was Avnair’s doing.
It was the reason for the mass migration within the Duchy.
In such circumstances, they needed something to unify everyone.
That was the purpose of the holiday and festival.
Krais added a few extra touches.
“Should we call it the founding day of the Knightly order? Or maybe the Day of the Border Guard’s Defense?”
Encrid didn’t particularly care either way, but he thought the latter would be better since not everyone had agreed on the Knightly order yet.
Thus, the Day of the Border Guard’s Defense was established, and the festival began.
It was a three-day festival of eating and drinking, with a martial arts tournament on the final day.
Preliminary matches were held in each unit, and the finals took place in Green Pearl city.
Anyone could participate, even if they weren’t part of a unit, and people were excited.
The Knights themselves just watched, but their soldiers participated.
The winner would receive a pouch full of gold coins and, if they wished, honorable discharge.
Rem’s soldiers went wild, but in their excitement during the preliminaries, they went too hard, so the ones who made it to the finals limped onto the arena.
“Can you still fight, brother?”
Audin asked, seeing the state of the participants.
Their opponents were martial artists personally trained by Audin and Teresa.
“One leg is enough.”
Rem scoffed, but the victory went to one of Audin’s Holy Soldiers.
“Ugh! I am the bear!”
The victory cheer was a bit strange, though.
“Want me to teach you Frog’s combat technique?”
Luagarne offered after hearing this, but Audin politely declined.
“I’m actually pretty good at singing, Sister Frog.”
Since recovering fully, Luagarne had been roaming the mountains like a crazy Frog, but recently, she had stuck close to Encrid.
“Next up, oh, it’s Clemen the Fallen?”
Clemen had become a near-proper noun by this point.
She entered the arena holding a short wooden sword. Her opponent was from the Sword Infantry unit, led by Ragna and commanded by Lawford.
‘Everyone sure picked some random names.’
Encrid thought to himself as he watched the fight.
As always, there was something to learn, regardless of skill level.
For that reason, Encrid watched every match from the finals onward with great enjoyment.
The fight was one-sided. Clemen wasn’t skilled with a sword, but she was great at fighting.
She entangled her opponent’s sword, rushed in, tripped them, and struck their throat with the edge of her hand. The way she moved her feet and used her strength was flawless.
“She’s good.”
Luagarne nodded in approval as she watched.
Clemen had been following Luagarne around, learning a few techniques from her. She wasn’t picky about her teachers, asking anyone and everyone for instruction, and trained like a madwoman, bringing her to this point.
There was no need for further judgment. Encrid could sense the flow of will emanating from Clemen.
It was an instinct, a kind of insight.
As if seeing the future in battle, Encrid observed traces of the path forward in Clemen’s movements.
‘She’ll make a Junior-Knight.’
Like any Knightly order, there was a Squire stage before becoming a Junior-Knight. Clemen had reached the Squire level.
She had started as a regular soldier, but talent and hard work had brought her this far.
“I’ll add Knightly admission as a prize for winning the tournament.”
Krais, who had been listening from behind, added another prize to the martial arts tournament.
Encrid nodded.
That wasn’t a difficult thing to do.
Of course, no sane soldier would want to join the Knightly order.
From afar, Encrid looked like an impressive and awe-inspiring hero, but up close, he was just a crazy bastard, a training maniac.
It wasn’t called the Mad Knights for no reason.
In Aspen, even the Hurrier family participated in the martial arts tournament.
The atmosphere was intense, and the winner came from Encrid’s own unit.
“Raaaagh!”
The winner roared into the air. You’d think they were a half-giant.
The winner was a female soldier with her hair tied in a single braid down her back. Her name was Clemen the Fallen.
She wanted to become a Squire in the Knightly order, and so it was.
Thus, the three-day festival came to an end.
After the festival, the urban development projects in the Border Guard city progressed at a breakneck pace.
It was similar to the time when Encrid returned from a trip, only to find new walls erected.
Once the festival ended, the city layout was adjusted.
The outer walls of the city, which had previously expanded, were designated as the perimeter road, and the inner areas were divided into lodging and commercial districts.
Artisans were grouped together, and merchants were placed with merchants.
It was all Krais’s work.
It was around this time.
After training, meeting with Eitri, and handling various matters in the city, Encrid returned to the barracks.
“The festival was so enjoyable I couldn’t take my eyes off it.”
He overheard an old blind man muttering nonsense in front of the barracks.
What did he mean by not being able to take his eyes off the festival when he was blind?
It was a joke as nonsensical as a Fairy joke.
It was a bright autumn afternoon.
As Encrid glanced at the old man and, for some reason, placed his hand on his sword’s grip, Jaxon’s voice came from behind.
“Don’t fall.”
Jaxon approached, making his presence known subtly, so Encrid wasn’t startled.
It seemed they had returned at the same time by coincidence.
“Why?”
“That old man is strange.”
It was an odd thing for Jaxon to say.
If he was dangerous, he would have said so. If he was suspicious, he would have said that.
But ‘strange’? That was a new one from Jaxon.
Thanks for the Chapter Bro!!! :DD
Thanks for the Chapter.
Is it updated regularly? Also what is release schedule
Creo que he leído el manhwa, talvez lo esté confundiendo.. 🤔