There was something I had to do before pushing through the soldiers and heading to the lord’s castle.
I asked the man again.
“Is Priest Andrew at the relief shelter?”
“Ah, probably so.”
“Thanks for telling me.”
“No······! If it weren’t for you, Lord Successor, we would all be dead. And besides······.”
He was talking about the Warp that had burst open.
The man continued.
“What you said for the dead knights was a great comfort. If it weren’t for you, Lord Successor, this city would still be drowning in grief.”
Five hundred knights had joined the great expedition, and died.
But their deaths were buried quietly.
Some believed they were still alive, and some ground their teeth, saying it was a dog’s death that no one even knew about.
It meant that if I, who claimed to be the Knight King’s successor, hadn’t stepped forward to comfort them myself, the city would still be sunk in deep Darkness and sorrow.
“It was something I naturally had to do.”
“Because no one did even that natural thing for us. Anyway, don’t worry about the soldiers. I’ll move them somewhere out of sight.”
The man bowed deeply and dragged the unconscious soldiers away.
The commotion that had erupted in the city center.
The territory residents in the housing district who recognized me opened their windows, and silently lowered their heads.
It was an unspoken agreement that this incident would pass without anyone knowing.
At least, the territory residents were on my side.
‘First, I need to find Priest Andrew.’
But stopping by the lord’s castle was never part of the plan.
The only reason I’d returned to the Garden of Knights was to meet Priest Andrew.
Andasar was Andasar, but there was something even more important than that.
‘The Platinum Box.’
A reward given only to the 1st-ranked person among those who blocked the dimensional fissure!
I’d obtained it with effort, but it wasn’t something I could open.
‘Only an honorable priest who can recite the Prayer of Praise can open it.’
I didn’t know why, but it was designed so that only an ‘honorable high priest’ could open the Platinum Box.
And the only ‘honorable high priest’ I knew was, at least, Priest Andrew.
That was only natural, because all who were truly honorable had died during the great expedition, and only the dishonorable had survived.
***
On the way to the relief shelter.
Isaac wore a gaze as tangled as could be.
‘Successor? Successor to whom?’
I couldn’t make head nor tail of Randolph’s identity.
At first, I thought he was nothing but a corpse crow.
Beyond mere disguise or transformation, he was just a corpse crow itself.
A being who passed through the Mythic-grade Mystery Hall, drew the gaze of every monster in Kramdel, became one of the Four Great Masters, seized the stars and made even the star guardians covet him, how could that possibly be human?
‘···He was human.’
“Surely” nearly killed me.
He was really human.
I still couldn’t tell if this was a dream or reality.
He was clearly human, and Isabella Von Dersian beside him was human too, yet the shock from when he had been a corpse crow was just that intense.
And then, suddenly, he teleported to the city “Garden of Knights” and was being revered as a “successor.”
The way all the territory residents of this city looked at him was anything but ordinary.
‘Respect, reverence, trust.’
Those three were evenly present in their eyes.
‘Is he the successor of the noble who rules this city?’
No matter how I thought about it, nothing else came to mind.
It was driving me crazy with curiosity.
I barely held back my itching mouth.
The Garden of Knights.
What kind of place was this?
Wasn’t this the place once called the greatest “knights’ training ground” of the Balan Kingdom?
Among the thirteen great cities of the Balan Kingdom, it was considered the best.
To have that kind of presence in a place that produced countless powerful knights.
Even if he were the city’s ruler or successor, it felt hard for people to trust him that much.
Was he just that likable?
“······ Lord Successor. You’ve finally returned.”
When we arrived at the relief shelter, Priest Andrew came out to greet us.
He looked around, then guided us carefully.
“Please come inside first. There are many watching eyes.”
“Fine.”
After confirming our group, Priest Andrew led us into a secluded room deeper inside the shelter.
Then, lowering his voice, he spoke.
“One of the Eight Heroes, Maxim, is stirring the city into chaos. If you show yourself now, Lord Successor, it will cause trouble in many ways.”
Trouble.
If I openly claimed to be the Knight King’s successor, I’d inevitably clash with Maxim, who was called one of the Eight Heroes.
Maybe Maxim already knew that the Knight King’s successor had passed through this city.
Even if he didn’t know it was me.
“I know.”
“But it seems your party has grown.”
“Mm.”
When I first came to the city, it was only Isabella and me.
Two of us, but now it was four.
Strictly speaking it was five including Ahram, but Ahram was currently trapped inside the leather bag Isaac was carrying.
So the added members were three.
Isaac and Ahram, and—
I slowly removed the Dullahan’s helm from the one following behind.
“Wait. Don’t tell me?”
Priest Andrew’s eyes shook like mad.
“A, Andasar?”
Because the face of the one following in armor was familiar.
Priest Andrew’s hands trembled as he brought them to Andasar’s face.
“My, my God······! Andasar······!”
Tears streamed down.
Her pale skin was cold like a corpse.
But she was certainly Andasar, the daughter he had searched for so desperately.
I hadn’t even expected much, yet I had really kept my promise.
Priest Andrew bowed deeply.
“Successor of the Knight King, thank you. Thank you. How could I ever repay this grace······!”
“Cough! Kehuk!”
At the same time, Isaac let out a hacking cough.
It was the kind of reaction that said “unbelievable.”
He had just heard something he couldn’t possibly accept.
‘Knight King? Don’t tell me he’s the successor of that Knight King Wilhelm?’
There was only one being called the Knight King, Wilhelm.
How could a Four Great Masters acknowledged by the northern White King be the successor of Knight King Wilhelm?
······What kind of nonsense is that?
***
After a long while clutching Andasar’s hands and face, Priest Andrew finally turned his gaze with emotion still flooding his expression.
The Knight King’s successor.
He had doubted, but if he had brought her back personally from Kramdel, there was no way not to believe it.
But there was still something he couldn’t believe.
【Fame 724】
【Evil karma 27】
Priests could see a target’s honor and evil karma.
And yet, while the successor had been in Kramdel, his honor had risen to an absurd level.
Seven hundred twenty-four!
‘Isn’t that higher than most honorable knights?’
Let alone knights, even in the Goddess Church such a number was rare.
Maybe even among cardinals there were only a few, if any.
What in the world could someone do to build this much honor in such a short time?
Evil karma had risen a little too, but compared to his honor it was negligible.
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
He set aside every doubt.
Andasar. Because he had brought back his daughter.
Even if her head had been severed and she had become a Dullahan, and even if her memory seemed incomplete······ from now on, he would never let her go again.
“Open this for me.”
If he was ready, there was no need to waste time.
I immediately took out the Platinum Box.
The moment he saw it, Priest Andrew’s eyes trembled.
“Th, this is······ isn’t it a holy relic?”
“A holy relic?”
“Holy relics can look different to each person. B, but this is clearly a holy relic of the Goddess Church. And for some reason, it’s sealed.”
“Then can you break the seal?”
“Normally, that’s something the Holy Emperor must do personally, but······ yes, I think I can.”
Priest Andrew nodded with a hardened face.
If he was being entrusted with it, even if he couldn’t, he had to make it happen.
Not only because I kept my promise.
He was an honorable man, and deserved proper respect.
“Good.”
I had worried what if it couldn’t be done.
But a sealed holy relic, huh.
As I handed the Platinum Box to Priest Andrew, I added one more thing.
“And I’d like an indulgence as well.”
“······ Another indulgence?”
Already the third one.
At the request for even the last indulgence he could use, Priest Andrew looked at me in confusion.
“I used one for you, and one for Andasar.”
“Ah······ then the remaining one?”
“I plan to use it on myself.”
“But your evil karma isn’t high. Compared to your honor, there’s no real need to use an indulgence······.”
I shook my head.
Priest Andrew wasn’t wrong.
But, looking past the wall toward the lord’s castle, I said quietly,
“I think I’ll need it soon.”
***
A young man with red bobbed hair.
Maxim, called one of the Eight Heroes, sat on the lord’s seat with his legs stretched up onto the desk.
“Hey, Marquis Weiser. How long do you plan to hold out?”
“······ I will speak directly with Duke Cyan and settle this.”
And on the chair for receiving visitors sat Marquis Weiser.
It was humiliation. But there was no choice.
Maxim was an envoy sent by Duke Cyan, and a successor officially recognized by Duke Cyan himself.
And since it was Weiser who hadn’t kept the promise, he had to endure the humiliation.
“The Duke has already paid the price. Do you really not know that if you don’t keep the promise, this territory’s peace will go down the drain too?”
“Just a little more time······!”
“Hey. That Casino Hudson bastard, and your suddenly changed attitude, do you think I don’t know?”
“······.”
“If this reaches the Duke’s ears, everyone here gets massacred. You should keep in mind that I’ve been going easy on you.”
Marquis Weiser shut his mouth.
‘As expected, he can’t say a word.’
It had been a week since Maxim arrived in this territory.
Maxim had already grasped everything about it.
‘That Hudson guy, he definitely has a deep connection with the Pure White Knight.’
At first he looked like a merchant with a bit of money, but when Maxim saw the way the man looked at the Pure White Knight Serengeti, he became certain.
There was something between them.
And if that fact reached Duke Cyan, this city would vanish.
‘Too much of a waste to let it vanish, I should take it for myself.’
So Maxim changed his thinking.
He would exploit this weakness and swallow the territory himself.
While receiving successor training from the Duke he had already inherited a city, but that wasn’t enough.
Maxim intended to surpass the Duke and become king of the Balan Kingdom itself.
Until recently he had been nothing more than a mercenary captain, but no one knew how the world would turn.
‘Before the Round Table Conference begins, I’ll eat this city too. Then no one will be able to look down on me.’
Maxim had been subtly mocked by other heroes.
But if he became the ruler of two cities, they couldn’t ignore him.
At the coming Round Table Conference, he planned to secure his position, and then wield huge influence even on Earth.
Just thinking about it sent a shiver through him.
Because the scene of crushing the arrogance of those who had mocked him was already vivid in his mind.
“My single day of waiting is worth a million Gold. It looks like your prepared money runs out today, so what will you do, Marquis?”
With an easygoing air, Maxim stabbed the dagger he’d been twirling into the lord’s desk.
For someone called a hero, his behavior was like a street punk, a thug.
It was hard to understand how someone like this was called one of the Eight Heroes.
But Marquis Weiser could do nothing except bite his lip and clench his fist until it nearly broke.
Serengeti had only just started recovering.
Once he woke fully, he wouldn’t have to suffer humiliation from someone like this.
‘I never should’ve borrowed money from Duke Cyan.’
Marquis Weiser was deeply regretting his choice.
But it was already too late.
Someone more vicious than Duke Cyan had entered the territory.
He saw no path except to give up the territory, or give up Serengeti.
Then it happened.
“Guaaagh!”
“Kehuk!”
“S, spare me······!”
The outside grew noisy.
The sound of soldiers falling like autumn leaves.
Their screams filled the lord’s castle.
Maxim frowned.
“How dare······ what bastard is it?”
Whoever it was,
Who dared to barge into the very place where he, the great one called an Eight Hero, was present.
Some insolent fool had charged in without fear.
The crime of provoking him. The price would be paid in life.
Whooosh!
As Maxim pulled the dagger from the desk, ominous black flames rippled over his entire body.
‘Perfect timing, I was bored anyway.’
But he soon changed his mind.
Life here was unbearably dull.
Bullying Marquis Weiser had been going on for a week now.
This was perfect. If someone could cause this much chaos, they’d be stronger than the knights here.
‘I’ll show them the power of the Demon Heart clearly.’
A body far stronger than before.
He would carve it into Marquis Weiser’s bones.
Maxim rose slowly from his seat, eyes overflowing with murderous intent.
Randolph vs Eight Heroes Maxim
-Ignore him, and avoid him. If Maxim finds out you’re here, Lord Successor, he won’t stay still.
Priest Andrew told me.
To avoid him. Maxim was like a typhoon that only passed through briefly.
-However······ tell me just one thing. Are they heroes?
In other cities, who knew, but in this place “Garden of Knights,” many people held doubts about the Eight Heroes.
Especially about Maxim.
Because if Maxim truly were one of the Eight Heroes who had gone to the Demon Realm’s great expedition and produced results, he wouldn’t show hostility to the successor of a fellow hero in this city.
The first thing Maxim did after arriving in this city was smash a monument.
A monument engraved with the names of five hundred knights who had entered eternal rest.
He smashed it, and ground it down.
And in its place, he left the names of the Eight Heroes.