CH 103

Since when?

In one second, the countless days he had spent with Luisen passed through Ruger’s brain.

He couldn’t remember when it began. Spy. He clearly remembered feeling so ashamed when he took up a position outside of the knighthood . All he wanted was to do well and to be acknowledged by his father.

To find out more information, he ingratiated himself with Luisen and played the young lord’s faithful servant. Luisen never doubted Ruger–the young lord believed his act and relied on him.  There was no doubt nor ulterior motives in Luisen’s eyes.

Because of that, Ruger became more and more sincere. There had been no one else in his life who believed in him so purely. No one else had recognized his commitment. Luisen gave Ruger his life’s desire, and his love deepened day by day until it truly became something special.

However, Ruger was still a spy. He couldn’t resist the orders of his father who planted him next to Luisen’s side in the first place. He isolated the young lord from his retainers and vassals and led Luisen into further depravity. Every moment he spent with the young lord was tainted with betrayal and deceit. Even if the other learned of his love–even if Ruger acknowledged this love–it would only bring both of them nothing but pain.

So, Ruger kept running away from his feelings. His deceit became two-faced–he deceived himself as much as he deceived his target. Thus, Ruger worked hard to fulfill his true lord’s commands. He became more comfortable in his position. However, he could not deceive himself to the point where he could kill Luisen with his own hands.

Ruger was in love with Luisen.

However, it was a twisted love that would only make the other person unhappy and still selfishly tie him to Ruger. Nevertheless, the ex-attendant couldn’t bear to kill Luisen because of love.

‘Let’s spare him. I’ll save him and send him off.’

Ruger made up his mind. Though it felt like an eternity, it was, in fact, only a moment. No one had noticed Ruger’s pause nor did they notice the long-standing love that had swayed the man’s mind.

Only Luisen saw Ruger’s hesitation, but it was hard for him to parse the other’s situation when a huge blade was flying towards his neck. Instead, Luisen simply noticed that it was a very tiny gap–an opportunity for him to survive.

Luisen recalled the self-defense techniques that Carlton taught him. He took the pot of soil he had prepared, just in case, and threw the dirt onto Ruger’s face. Then, he kicked Ruger mercilessly before almost collapsing and rolling away, widening the distance between them.

To be frank, this could only buy the young lord a short amount of time. If Luisen was alone, he would have been caught again soon.

However, Luisen had Carlton. As soon as Luisen slipped away from Ruger’s blade, Carlton, without hesitation, drew his own sword across Ruger’s neck.

The mercenary’s movements were quick and neat; Ruger didn’t even notice that he died. His lips mouthed something, but no sounds came out.

Ruger died, looking at Luisen until the very end. Despite the brutal sight, Luisen did not avert his eyes. He looked at Ruger dying and collapsing, remembering the years they spent together.

Someone he had once trusted; he had felt terrible guilt and shuddering betrayal because of this man. Nevertheless, Ruger’s death–the second time he had seen the man die–disturbed Luisen greatly. In his previous life and now, the young lord couldn’t understand the ex-attendant’s behavior.

“Are you alright?” Carlton came running and helped the fallen young lord up. Only then did Luisen tear his eyes away from Ruger, feeling safe in Carlton’s arms.

He relied on the mercenary, nearly clinging to the man. “It’s almost over now.”

Ruger had died; all the monsters had fallen. The twelfth worshiper was completely unconscious. Though the ninth worshiper was in a relatively better condition, he was struggling as well. Morrison could handle that opponent on his own.

However, the ninth worshiper was strangely confident in himself. “Ahahahahahaha!”

He burst into laughter and shouted into the air in some unknown language. He seemed to be chanting a spell, but his shouts were laden with hunger and yearning. No one understood what he was saying, but the sound made goosebumps rise on his listeners’ arms.

They soon understood the purpose of those words though.

A haze of black smoke rose from Ruger’s neck. The black smoke spread in all directions. When the smoke touched Ruger’s body, his skin turned black as if he were stained by black paint-filled water.

An indescribably ominous premonition seized Luisen.

Soon afterwards, when Ruger’s body was completely stained black, Ruger stood up once again. Black smoke rose from where his head should be, and his skin retained the dark dye.

The thing that was once Ruger took a knight’s helmet that had fallen to the floor and placed it on his neck. It appeared as if it were wearing a helmet on his now-smoky head. It turned to look at Luisen.

The inside of its helmet was endlessly pitch black–a void. As if the young lord were looking into a deep well.

‘That’s…’

Luisen knew this figure well.

‘The Death Knight.’ Once upon a time, long ago, Luisen thought this was a cursed knight that appeared from the grudges that stacked up against him. Before then, he had imagined the knight to be Carlton.

However, as the young lord met the one-armed pilgrim and gained enlightenment, he realized that the knight was a delusion created by his immense guilt and fear. From then on, the black knight, who had been hounding his steps for three years, disappeared instantly.

Those were all Luisen’s fantasies, and the knight should not exist in reality.

However, that knight–borne from Ruger’s body, of all people–appeared before Luisen once again.

‘Un-unbelievable… W-Why is he suddenly appearing before me again? Did Ruger die back then as well? Didn’t he fake his death?’ Luisen’s heart beat like crazy; his breaths turned into quick pants. The young lord’s hands trembled enough that Carlton noticed. Luisen felt as if he was transported back to his painful, nomadic days. The fear that he thought he had overcome with the one-armed pilgrim’s help returned and overwhelmed him.

The dead Ruger was resurrected and became the Death Knight–the dark vision that had been haunting him constantly…

At this point, Luisen couldn’t help but doubt his mind. “A-Am I… seeing things correctly right now?”

Were his eyes…his brain… functioning properly? Had he fallen into delusion as he had in the past? Luisen had turned back time…he thought he had fixed everything, but…

Then, perhaps, had he dreamed that he returned to the past…?

Carlton’s voice saved Luisen from falling into complete panic. “You’re sane. I know the scene before you is a bit crazy, but… it’s all real.”

“Do you see him as well?”

“Yes.”

Luisen leaned on the mercenary while heaving a long sigh. Carlton supported the young lord’s body and patted him with a soothing hand before wrapping it around the young lord’s shoulders. That small reassurance greatly restored Luisen’s mental stability.

Meanwhile, the Death Knight picked up a sword. When the knight touched the sword, as expected it turned from silver to black. The death-like being definitely wasn’t anything of this world.

“Hahaha! I knew it! I said he had potential! I’m glad I pushed him here and there in advance! I was thinking ‘he’ should have a knight or two!” The ninth worshiper laughed merrily. One of his long-term projects was inducing the birth of a Death Knight.

There was a story that featured a cursed knight. The knight had been cursed and decapitated for betraying his lord, and he spent his entire afterlife searching for his head. He was often called the Death Knight because he murdered all of those who saw him and his shame.

Once a knight, more honorable than anyone else, and now a cursed being.

Most folks believed the myth to be fiction, but the ninth worshiper discovered, after much research, that the Death Knight was a ghoul-like monster.

He also wanted to create a being like a Death Knight, but it was hard to find someone that fit the bill. Loyalty, betrayal, and death were all necessary ingredients for a Death Knight’s birth.

When he first met Ruger, his eyes opened wide. Although Ruger was loyal to his lord, as befitting a proper knight, the ex-attendant always kept Luisen in mind. The ninth worshiper believed that Ruger would one day betray his master because of Luisen. At that moment, the man could be made into a Death Knight.

Today, the ninth worshiper felt that it was time for his plans to come into fruition and ordered Ruger to kill the young lord. Of course, he expected Ruger to be unable to deal the killing blow. Although it was okay if Ruger did kill, it was better for Ruger to betray this order.

As he expected, Ruger betrayed his master at the last minute and decided to save Luisen. Carlton then killed Ruger…and the exact conditions were met.

A perfect death.

The ninth worshiper resurrected Ruger and transformed into a Death Knight. Though the Death Knight still retained some memories and emotions he had during life, he was still a monster, so the ninth worshiper could completely control him. Furthermore, the Death Knight was several times stronger than Ruger was when he was still alive.

“Go! Go and kill them all! First things first, slaughter that zealot!” The ninth worshiper shouted in a high-spirited voice.

The Death Knight turned away from Luisen and Carlton and rushed at Morrison. Morrison defended against the black blade with a gauntlet; the inquisitor’s body shook violently.

‘What in the world is this guy,’ he thought.

The monster’s power was a given, but the evil energy wafting from the monster was so intense Morrison couldn’t endure. Inversely, Morrison’s powers had weakened, and his fire had greatly diminished. ‘Nngh, we have to maintain the front line…’

The Death Knight, unperturbed, struck with his sword again. This time, Carlton blocked the blow with a thrown dagger, allowing Morrison to narrowly avoid the attack.

However, the inquisitor failed to maintain his trap–the blue flames that kept the demon worshippers locked away disappeared.

“Good! Enough! Now, return!” The ninth worshiper summoned the Death Knight. He quickly got on the monster’s back and pointed to the window.

If this were Ruger, he would not accept such an undignified action upon his body, but the Death Knight silently ran towards the window, carrying the worshiper on his back.

He opened the large window, and a strong wind blew inside. Just as the wind blew away the smoke and fog, the Death Knight and the worshiper disappeared.

Morrison quickly followed, but they were nowhere to be found. “Haah… They escaped. But outside… I think the situation has stabilized.”

When the demon worshiper left the area, the ghouls lost all their fighting power and returned to their original slow and harmless state. As Luisen had advised, the Eastern Great Lord’s troops, who were focusing on defense, didn’t miss the turning tides and pushed the monsters away.

And, as if to declare the battle’s end, the night trickled away and dawn broke in the sky, brightening the world from afar.