Chapter 87
The difference in skill between the 50 knights of Maltia and the Yustia knights was not significant.
Their Vice-Commander Diogo was also at an ambiguous level between Expert Upper and Superior, and Yustia's Commander Definir possessed similar skill.
The level of the remaining knights was also comparable, so ultimately, the Maltia Knights, with nearly double the numbers, held an overwhelmingly advantageous position.
“Shield wall!
Protect each other!”
The Yustia Knights, having experienced many battles of few versus many, held their ground well, but ultimately, just enduring wasn't enough to win.
“Give up!
You cannot win!”
Diogo shouted, but the Yustia knights only swung their swords more fiercely than before.
Diogo couldn't understand it at all, but they had no intention of winning from the moment they first drew their swords.
“These crazy bastards!”
Seeing them grit their teeth and hold on as if intending to die together, Diogo's anger surged to the top of his head.
He couldn't comprehend their actions based on his common sense.
“Do you all want to die!
Drop your weapons!
I will spare your lives!”
No matter how frantically Diogo screamed, the Yustia knights simply raised their swords as if they hadn't heard.
And with their swords, several Maltia knights fell to the ground.
“I will definitely kill you!
Definitely!”
Unlike before, fury now colored Diogo’s eyes.
Simultaneously, the Maltia Knights' attacks also became fiercer than before.
Two or three knights clung relentlessly to a single Yustia knight, swinging their swords tenaciously.
As wounds accumulated one by one on the bodies of the Yustia knights who had held out well, they were steadily pushed back.
Just when they thought their staunch defense was finally coming to an end.
Something like an explosion was heard from somewhere, and several Maltia knights began to fly into the air.
Some tumbled several times with the blast and became incapacitated.
‘Ah…!’
Definir’s mouth fell open at the unbelievable sight unfolding before his eyes.
And the rest of the knights reacted the same way.
“What… is that…?”
Embraga, who had been watching the clash between the two knight groups unable to even draw his sword, stared blankly at the overwhelming display created by a single knight.
The knight Basko, whom he considered an enemy, had single-handedly entered the midst of the Maltia Knights and was neutralizing them in an instant.
He wasn't even killing them, literally just neutralizing them.
With each flash of the sword, several men fell to the ground.
Even when the Maltia knights, belatedly coming to their senses, charged him as a group, he didn't bat an eye.
Moving like a ghost, he slipped through the gaps in their attacks or, at times, closed in on the enemies, striking them with the flat of his sword or subduing them with shallow cuts.
“Ah…!”
Thanks to the single man, Karl, moving under an alias, the tide of battle turned in an instant, and the Yustia knights broke their shield wall and began moving to subdue them instead.
And shortly after, 50 Maltia knights were tumbling on the ground.
“Impossible… What… What on earth…”
Diogo could only stare blankly, utterly dumbfounded, at his members, all rendered incapable of fighting.
“You… You bastard…!
Who the hell are you to dare raise your sword against the Maltia Knights!
Do you know who you just messed with!”
“Who did I mess with?”
“You bastard!
You attacked the Maltia Knights, an important cooperating knight order of the great Alcantara Knights!”
“Hm, is that so.”
Karl merely smiled as Diogo roared, mentioning Alcantara.
“You… You bastard…!
Now…”
“Do you even know how to lift a spoon by yourself?
Why does everyone always whine about someone being behind them?”
Diogo’s face turned bright red hearing Karl’s lament, which sounded like a mutter to himself.
“You bastard…!”
“Right, why do you think the Alcantara Knights would help you?”
“Well… we are their cooperating…”
As he was saying that, Karl took out a badge from his tunic and showed it to him.
“Do you recognize this?”
“What is that again…!
Ugh!”
“Looks like you recognize it.”
Diogo knew what the badge was that came from the strange knight’s tunic.
“How… could a guy like you have that badge…”
“That’s not what’s important for you right now.
What matters is whether the Alcantara Knights also know what you people did.
I’ve summoned the Alcantara Knights.
When they arrive, everything will be revealed.”
“Lies… Don’t lie!
Who the hell are you to summon the Alcantara Knights or not…!”
Diogo shouted with a flushed, agitated face, but Karl just smiled without saying anything else.
Watching the silent Karl, Diogo found it even stranger.
Something was odd.
Who on earth was that man?
He understood he was a skilled knight.
But why would the Alcantara Knights listen to him?
Yet, there was no reason to lie to him, who was left alone after all his members were subdued.
Mulling over various thoughts, he recalled a story he had heard recently.
That someone had saved the Alcantara Knights from the brink of rebellion.
“The Knight… of the Lighthouse…?”
The name slipped out unconsciously and passed through the ears of everyone present.
“Impossible…”
Diogo finally began to understand the whole situation.
Why over 50 Expert-level knights were defeated without even putting up a fight, why he possessed an extraordinary token engraved with the Alcantara symbol, which looked anything but ordinary at first glance.
Why he was so confident Alcantara would come if called.
“This is absurd…”
It is said that when something utterly baffling happens, people tend to become quiet rather than agitated.
Diogo could only let out an absurd chuckle at the suddenly unfolded situation.
“Why would someone like you be staying in a place like this?”
“Coincidence.”
“…”
“Even if it wasn’t me, this would have happened eventually.
Moderation is necessary in everything, after all.”
“…Is that so.”
Diogo cleanly accepted the situation.
Even if all of them attacked together, they couldn't beat the man before them.
That man was a Master.
Not a novice, but a genuine Master.
“Take them and go back.”
“…Thank you.”
Diogo, staggering as he got up, bowed his head to Karl, then barely gathered his fallen subordinates and left.
Diogo was still someone capable of calmly assessing the situation.
Where the Maltia knights had left, the Yustia knights stood, looking at Karl with awkward expressions.
Among them was Embraga, staring at Karl with trembling eyes.
His pupils shook relentlessly.
It was impossible to tell if it was because of the divine prowess Karl had shown or because of himself for making the wrong choice.
However, it was clearly a shock unlike any other in his life.
“Someone from Alcantara will come soon, so they won’t retaliate or anything.”
“…I never dreamed.
That Sir Basko could possibly be the protagonist of those rumors.”
“Just a Free Knight.”
“We have received too great a favor.”
“Same here.”
Karl smiled and nodded.
Then he walked with large strides and stood before Embraga.
“Do you still think you should give them whatever they demand?”
“…”
He remained silent.
Shame colored Embraga’s entire being.
“My thoughts might not be the right answer either.
But I think I know one thing for sure.
Your father, Knight Sir Definir, is an excellent knight.”
Karl spoke briefly like that and turned away.
“…What… should I do?”
“You keep saying frustrating things.
Isn't the very model of what to do right beside you?”
Having said that, Karl glanced briefly towards Definir, bowed his head in a nod, and began to leave the manor.
And the Yustia knights watched Karl’s receding back for a long time.
“…Father…”
“Stand tall.
That is the beginning.”
Definir spoke sternly to his son calling him.
But he couldn't completely hide his smile.
***
It doesn't feel bad.
This seems to be the first time I've helped someone without a mission and offered unconditional kindness.
On the East Continent, there was no room for kindness, and since coming to the West Continent, all kindness had included missions.
Karl felt he had changed a little again.
And he thought this change was by no means bad.
And that small beginning was a catalyst that would greatly change the path Karl would walk in the future.
Thus, Karl urged his horse and resumed his journey northward.
***
“Commander… that man was unusual.
This doesn't seem like a good choice.”
“Are you telling me to believe that story about the Knight of the Lighthouse suddenly appearing and helping the Yustia scum?”
Kusta, the commander of the Maltia Knights, saw red upon seeing Vice-Commander Diogo return utterly defeated.
Although Diogo diligently explained the situation, his words didn't register with Kusta, who had already lost his reason.
A sudden bolt from the blue.
For Kusta Mejenes, who had built and led the Maltia Knights, this event was nothing but a bolt from the blue.
“He’ll summon Alcantara?
Don’t make me laugh!
I can't believe it unless I see it with my own eyes.”
“But… Commander, if you had seen how he handled our 50 knights, you would have acknowledged it too.”
“Weren't the Yustia scum there too, not just him alone!”
“…Even before they stepped forward-.”
“Silence!
Even if that man is the Knight of the Lighthouse, if we attack while he’s alone, there’s plenty of chance for victory.”
“Commander…”
Diogo sensed something was going terribly wrong.
No matter how much he tried to dissuade him, Kusta wouldn't listen.
Ultimately, 70 knights who had never seen Karl departed towards the Yustia Knights.
The distance between the Yustia Knights' manor and the Maltia Knights' manor was only about a three-hour ride by horse, so they could reach it instantly.
As the Maltia knights rode rapidly along the main road, a single horseman appeared before them.
Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
The horse moved leisurely at a human walking pace, and atop the horse, a single person looked up at the sky with an indifferent expression.
The chainmail, visibly extraordinary at first glance, the surcoat worn over it, and the large dark brown horse created a peculiar atmosphere around the man.
The man’s surcoat was embroidered in black with the diagonal cross, the symbol of Essus.
Although it was a commonly seen attire due to the surcoat pattern becoming popular recently because of the Knight of the Lighthouse, combined with the man’s aura, it exuded a strange feeling.
“…”
Unlike the others whose expressions turned curious, Diogo stared at the knight before him with a deathly pale face.
“Vice-Commander, why is your complexion like that?”
“…It’s him.”
“What?”
“That man is Karl, the Knight of the Lighthouse I told you about.”
At his words, Kusta’s eyes narrowed, and he carefully observed Karl slowly approaching them.
The atmosphere was peculiar, but he couldn't find anything particularly unusual.
The surcoat the man wore wasn't uncommon these days, so there was nothing special about it.
The only slightly bothersome point was the extremely strange aura he exuded, but that alone was too flimsy a reason for Kusta, leading 70 knights, to worry.
“Is that all?”
Diogo remained silent at Kusta’s words.
Kusta was a Superior-level expert, and among the remaining 70 Maltia knights, quite a few were Expert Upper-grade.
So, a picture of them winning easily should have been drawn.
But no matter how much he thought.
‘No.
Absolutely, absolutely do not attack him.’
Diogo’s instincts warned him desperately.
“Commander… No.
Not him.”
“Our Vice-Commander has become quite the coward while we weren't looking.”
Several knights behind Kusta sneered at the thoroughly intimidated Diogo.
“Then the Vice-Commander can watch from behind.
We will go teach that man the terror of the Maltia Knights.
And when I return, you’ll have to give me the Vice-Commander position.
Who would accept a Vice-Commander who’s a frightened little mouse?”
One of the squad leader-level knights sneered at Diogo and urged his horse forward.
Thus, 70 knights tightened their reins towards a single knight.
He must have surely felt their killing intent, yet the knight before them merely continued to slowly ride his horse towards them.
Shliing!
The sound of weapons being drawn filled the air from all around.
Just then, Kusta, raising his sword high into the sky, pointed it in Karl’s direction.
“In the name of Maltia!”
A staggering 70 knights on horseback began their charge towards Karl.
The surroundings were covered in a cloud of dust, and even in the tense situation with dozens of knights charging, Karl simply sat on his saddle, raised his sword, and took no other action.