A Knight Who Eternally Regresses

"It's bad."

That was the answer he gave when asked if he was alright.

Graham, lying in bed, barely lifted his head to look at Enkrid.@@novelbin@@

He had been stabbed deep in the back and could hardly move.

In other words, the Border Guard's standing army had lost its commander.

They now had to fight without a lord, a battalion commander, or a supreme commander…

"You’ll manage without me, won’t you?"

Graham muttered.

One of his two lieutenants nearly nodded in agreement. No—one of them did nod.

"That bastard is nodding."

"A-ah, no, sir!"

At Graham’s words, the lieutenant who had been nodding quickly changed it into a frantic shake of his head.

Watching the ridiculous exchange, Enkrid asked, "So, am I doing it?"

"Who else would?"

Graham had come to a realization.

‘I'm just a lord in name.’

Wasn’t the real hero of the city someone else entirely?

Sure, he himself had cut down the enemy commander in this battle and led the madmen under his command, making him no less insane than them. But the man standing before him was the kind of person who would throw himself into danger to save a child.

‘A useless act.’

And yet, it was that kind of person people could trust.

And it was that kind of person he had no complaints about.

If, right now, Enkrid were to say—

"Hand over the lordship."

Graham would do it without hesitation.

Of course, that wasn’t what the man before him was saying. Just a hallucination of his own mind.

Even if he was only a lord in name, it wasn’t something he resented. It was a strange thing.

Looking at this man, he felt no jealousy.

Maybe it was because he had seen him rise from the very bottom.

Or maybe it was because he knew how hard Enkrid swung his sword, to the point his palms split open.

Even now, despite being vastly stronger than before, the man still wore out his hands the same way.