Encroachment

Winston is the captain of the Bradon Village guard.

Winston has a lithe, muscular body of 185cm, covered in scars.

Winston has short black hair, and his face exudes the air of a seasoned soldier.

Winston could devour someone with just a glance.

In the past, Winston was obsessed with the sword, mastering Aura Blade at the age of 20 and becoming a knight of a noble from the Hamel Empire.

Winston served the noble diligently, but by the age of 28, he felt a deep sense of disillusionment.

Winston felt he was nothing more than a tool for the noble.

Winston beat or killed commoners who defied his lord due to poverty and hunger.

He also had to duel and kill knights of other nobles simply because his lord was in a bad mood.

And when the power struggle between his lord’s two sons erupted, Winston was caught in the middle, suffering from stress.

When Winston first took up the sword, it was to become a knight with noble chivalry, protecting people, but in reality, chivalry was unnecessary once he became a knight.

His lord told a struggling Winston:

“Chivalry doesn’t feed a knight.”

Winston pondered for several weeks and finally conveyed his answer to his lord.

“Please allow me to leave.”

His lord said he would consider it if he felt the same way after a week.

Winston gave the same answer a week later.

Winston’s lord said the following:

“Since you have done much for me, I will not kill you. If I cut off your head now, other lords will criticize me for killing a loyal knight. I will let you leave if you swear to one condition.”

“Tell me, please.”

“Serve no one but me.”

“I, Winston, swear that I will serve no one but my lord from now on.”

“Keep your oath. If I hear rumors that you are serving someone other than me, I will bet everything my family has to destroy you and everything around you.”

“Understood. Thank you for letting me go.”

Thus, Winston left his lord and became an adventurer, wandering the Hamel Empire.

After a year of wandering, Winston heard of a place called Bradon Village and went there.

Bradon Village was in harmony with nature and was a bright and vibrant village.

Bradon Village had no lord, and the people seemed happy.

Bradon Village was the ideal village that Winston had imagined.

Winston applied to the village guard and was accepted.

Winston’s martial prowess was overwhelming even in Bradon Village.

Once, five village boys went deep into the Bohark Forest and were captured alive by Orcs, imprisoned in an Orc settlement.

The guard raided the Orc settlement, and Winston single-handedly slaughtered dozens of Orcs, including the Orc chieftain.

Mayor Edgar of the village took note of Winston’s martial prowess, gave him his daughter, and appointed him as the captain of the guard.

Winston, who was looking for a place to settle down around that time, readily accepted.

As time passed, Winston became a 44-year-old 아저씨, and he had an 11-year-old daughter, Jazlyn, and a 12-year-old daughter, Iriya.

———————-

This morning, Winston was eating with his wife and two daughters at home.

His wife asked Winston:

“Honey, are you working late again today?”

“Yeah. There’s something important at the guard today….”

Winston’s two daughters began to nag.

“Daddy! Please come home early today.”

“That’s right. Daddy, do you even know what day it is today?”

Winston was momentarily stunned, thinking.

“?!”

Winston racked his brain.

Jazlyn burst into tears and went into her room.

Iriya glared at her dad and went into the room to comfort her sister.

His wife scolded Winston with a heartbroken face.

“Honey, you can’t remember it again this year?”

“Ah. It was Jazlyn’s birthday today. I’m really sorry. Sigh… I’ve been so busy lately that I forgot.”

“You only remember when I tell you, just like last year, so the kids get angry.”

“I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to the kids.”

“Okay.”

Winston got up from his seat and went to the room where the children were.

The door was locked, so Winston knocked on the door.

Knock knock

Jazlyn shouted in an angry voice.

“I hate Daddy!”

“My darling Jazlyn! Daddy’s here!”

The door opened slightly, and Winston said to the children with a relieved expression.

“Jazlyn! Daddy will definitely buy you a present today.”

“I’ll only forgive you if you buy me everything I want.”

“What do you want to buy?”

“Buy me horned rabbit bread and Bokdori cake from Minji’s bakery.”

“Okay. Daddy will definitely buy them today.”

Behind Jazlyn, Iriya smiled and gave a thumbs up.

Winston happily finished his breakfast again.

It was when he was putting on his plate armor with Mithril embedded here and there and carrying a sword with magic circles engraved on the blade, about to leave the door.

His wife wiped off the dark substance that had splattered on his armor and said:

“Honey, something splattered on the neck part of your armor.”

His wife always checked her husband’s armor when Winston went out.

And it was also his wife’s job to clean the armor when Winston came home from work.

Winston’s wife was such a good woman that it was hard to believe she was the daughter of the despicable village mayor, Edgar.

“Thank you.”

Winston thought about his family as he walked to the guard office.

He certainly loved his wife and two daughters.

However, he was so busy working as the captain of the guard and occasionally handling Edgar’s secret affairs that he had no time to see his family.

When Winston first got married, he still tried to come home early.

At some point, he just found working late easier, and he often had drinking parties with the guards without his family knowing.

When Winston drank and came home late in the evening or the next day, his wife would not even talk to him with a cold face.

Every time, Winston had to apologize and promise to be careful.

Chivalry, in the end, is about becoming someone’s husband and father.

“I used to be a successful knight. Heh heh.”

Winston had forgotten that today was his daughter Jazlyn’s birthday, and he often forgot not only birthdays but also various important family events.

The day his daughter had a really important soccer match with the village children,

The day he was supposed to go out with Bokdori to buy snacks,

He also forgot his two daughters’ birthdays last year.

Every time, the children would get furious.

Iriya, who was a year older than Jazlyn, matured faster and understood him, but Jazlyn only complained that her dad hated her.

Winston also wanted to take care of his two daughters, but he kept forgetting and didn’t have time because he was busy with his duties as the captain of the guard.

Especially when he was investigating the recent disappearance of Elvin, he couldn’t even go home for a week.

Winston resolved to cheer up Jazlyn and Iriya today and headed to Minji’s bakery to buy bread and cake in advance.

But there was a long line in front of the bakery.

The captain of the guard couldn’t cut in line, and if he waited, he would be late for the guard, and the captain of the guard’s face would be ruined.

“Damn it. I gave Mark a hard time for being late yesterday.”

He punished his subordinate for being late, but it would be a mess if the captain was late the next day.

In the end, Winston turned his feet and returned to the guard office.

“I’ll definitely buy it at lunch.”

Even at lunchtime, the guard subordinates kept not letting him go, so he couldn’t buy it.

That’s how it became evening.

After reading and approving reports such as the guard’s financial status, requests for financial use, and trends in the movement of specific monsters and changes in monster groups in the Bohark Forest, it was 6 p.m. again.

Winston was reading the last document of the day in his one-person office.

Winston resolved to finish what he was doing now and run to Minji’s bakery with Aura on his legs.

The guard building was a two-story building, and his office was in one place on the second-floor hallway.

Guard Jacob opened the office door and placed coffee for Winston.

“Captain. Here, I brought you coffee mixed with coffee powder and sugar in the golden ratio.”

“Good job.”

It was the moment Winston picked up the coffee cup and took a sip.

Winston’s keen senses felt poison entering through his gums.

‘There’s poison in this coffee!’

Strong knights or magicians can resist poison with Mana.

Winston burned the small amount of poison that had entered his body with Mana.

Winston put down the coffee cup and questioned him.

“Why did you put poison in the coffee?”

“What are you talking about? There’s nothing but coffee powder and sugar.”

“Don’t play games with me. Confess everything before I throw you in jail.”

Jacob’s hand suddenly reached towards Winston’s neck, but it dropped limply before moving 1cm.

This was because Winston had already drawn his sword and cut off his subordinate’s neck.

The subordinate’s hand held a small needle, the tip of which gleamed as if it had been smeared with poison.

A fountain of blood spurted from Jacob’s neck in time with his heartbeat.

“Damn it. What’s going on? I have to call the guards right away.”

Winston opened the office door, came out into the hallway, and shouted.

“Everyone who can hear me, gather in Winston’s office! Jacob has betrayed us! Gather quickly!”

The guard’s second floor had a central staircase and emergency staircases on both sides of the building.

Guards with weapons came up from the two staircases, with Winston’s office in between.

Soon, both sides of the hallway were blocked by guards with weapons, with Winston in between.

Winston’s senses rang alarm bells.

‘These guys are trying to capture me.’

Winston held the magic sword he had used since he was a knight and questioned them.

“What is the meaning of this? Are you rebelling against me?”

One of the guards spoke on behalf of the others.

“Captain. Let’s go nicely. We don’t want to hurt you, so if you just take this pill, you’ll take a short nap and wake up.”

“Ha. You’re crazy. I want to believe I’m not the one who’s gone mad.”

“This is reality now.”

“Do you even know that I was a knight?”

“There are a total of 10 people here, and we are all strong. There are also guards guarding outside. Please accept it willingly.”

“You know that insubordination means death, right?”

When Winston refused, the guards took a fighting stance.

One archer, two swordsmen, and two shield warriors blocked Winston’s left.

Two shield warriors, one battleaxe warrior, one archer, and one magician blocked Winston’s right.

Winston charged to the right at a rapid speed.

The soldiers shouted.

“Block him!”

The two shield warriors on the right held up their kite shields and braced themselves to resist the impact.

Winston collided directly with the shields.

Kwaang

The shield warriors held their ground without being pushed back.

From the left, an archer shot an arrow at Winston’s ankle.

The magician on the right shot a fireball at Winston’s head.

The swordsmen and shield warriors on the left sprinted towards Winston.

The battleaxe warrior on the right swung his battleaxe to try to sever Winston’s arm.

Winston jumped high to the left with tremendous leg strength.

Buuuwoong

Thanks to Winston’s quick agility, Winston had already evaded all attacks and flew to the left while staying in the air.

The arrow hit the right shield warrior’s foot.

“Kuaaaak! My foot!”

The fireball collided with the shields of the shield warriors coming from the left.

Kuaaang

“Hit that guy!”

“How is he so fast!”

The archer on the right shot a scatter shot, where the arrow splits into multiple arrows, at Winston.

One arrow split into 10 arrows and flew towards the jumping Winston.

Winston cast a War Cry, where shockwaves occur around him, with Aura imbued in it.

“Uwoooooooo!”

Winston’s strong Aura energy combined to create an intangible shockwave that blew the arrows away.

All the soldiers fell due to the shockwave.

“Ugh!”

“Hold on!”

The moment Winston landed behind the left archer, the archer took out a dagger and aimed for the gaps in Winston’s armor, but Winston’s sword was faster.

Chyaak!

The archer’s upper body was separated diagonally from his lower body and fell.

One shield warrior quickly got up and shouted.

“Damn it! Get up, you bastards!”

The fallen soldiers got up.

Winston charged at the magician.

The magician froze the floor with ice magic.

Jjeojeojeojeok

Winston ran towards the magician without slipping, even while stepping on the ice, thanks to his excellent athletic ability.

Pabababa

The soldiers shouted.

“Don’t waste magic, get a grip!”

“Damn it!”

Suddenly, a 3m-long Aura shot out from Winston’s magic sword.

Buuuk

Winston struck down the Aura from above.

The Aura passed through the soldiers in front like tofu.

Sseueueuk

The two swordsmen, one shield warrior, the battleaxe warrior, and the archer who were in the path of the Aura made a cracking sound and split in half.

The remaining ones were three shield warriors and one magician.

“He’s too strong!”

“Shit! Shit!”

Winston said while still in his stance.

“Do you feel like surrendering now? I’m going to kill you all if you resist anyway.”

Then, the magician at the very back smiled strangely and said.

“We are not afraid of death. We are only afraid of not solving this matter.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll find out someday. Let’s go down for now. We can’t stop him with just us!”

As the remaining guys ran away to the stairs, Winston threatened.

“I warned you that you would die if you resisted.”

Winston quickly chased after them and split two more shield warriors.

The two he had just split grabbed Winston’s ankles, allowing the other two to escape out of the building.

Winston cracked his neck from side to side and went out of the building.

“Once you’re out, you’re a rat in a trap.”

The two who escaped would not be able to avoid Winston’s beast-like pursuit.

When Winston went out of the building through the main gate, it was already dark night.

Armed villagers surrounded Winston at a distance of 10m from him.

The armaments ranged from farming tools and clubs to weapons such as swords and spears.

Winston was dumbfounded.

“Ha. Am I really crazy today?”

Winston shouted in anger.

“What are you doing in front of the sacred guard building!”

The people in front of Winston split apart, creating a path.

At the end of that path, Winston’s father-in-law and village mayor, Edgar, walked over, chuckling.

“Look here, son-in-law. You should give up now. Heh heh.”