Surviving as a Knight in a Trash Game

Chapter 183

Since becoming one of the 72 demons, said to be strong even among demons, Murr had never imagined his armor would be broken by a human.

Looking at his now shattered armor and his wounded soul, Murr looked at the human standing before him once again.

“What are you doing all this for?”

The existence known as human was strange. Sometimes they were slaves to desire, and other times they acted as if they were the source of sacrifice. Murr could not guess at all what the human named Karl Meyer wanted.

Murr became curious as to what he sought to achieve, even to the point of becoming a Transcendent.

He could only vaguely guess that it was that reason which had moved Decarabia.

“I will meet the one who brought me here.” Official source ıs novel-fire.ɴet

In that single sentence, everything was felt. He also felt what he intended to say next.

“It’s a ridiculous thing, but, human. I like you. Thousands of times more than that dog-like god, Essus. So. When you meet him, please stab him properly just once.”

In that moment, Murr’s body shone with a pure black darkness.

And at some point, Murr became a collection of black light and then immediately extended towards me.

-Human, your light is still sufficient, so it won’t be dangerous for you to receive my darkness. When you meet him, be sure to achieve what you desire.

In that instant, my consciousness was sucked into a vast darkness. And within it, I faced another world.

The power of the demons, including Murr, far surpassed me, who had become a Transcendent.

Nevertheless, the only reason I could cut them was because this was the continent where humans lived. As I received power from the demon, I was feeling that fact more clearly.

After receiving power from Murr, I was naturally coming to understand how to utilize his power. Murr’s power guided me, and energies formed around my body, enveloping it.

‘Armor, is it?’

Similar to how I created the Iron Wall, which could be called an armor of aura, to envelop my body, Murr’s power enveloped my entire body and formed a barrier of qi.

The difference was the density and the degree of freedom the armor of aura possessed. If the Iron Wall I traditionally used was a power that required me to move the qi myself, the armor of qi that Murr used protected the caster as if it were a living creature with its own will.

And the density of the qi was much higher, and the external and internal energies naturally linked and moved, allowing for the formation of a strong defensive barrier that could not be pierced by an ordinary attack.

Only after I had fully assimilated all of Murr’s pure energy in the deep world of my mind did my consciousness rise to the surface.

When I opened my eyes from the world of my mind, the state of the war was the same as before. That deep and long flow of time was but a fleeting moment in reality.

The body of Duke Jacques, which had been worn by Murr, was turning to dust and scattering now that Murr had left.

The loyal retainers and knights of Duke Jacques were staring at their liege, who was suddenly scattering like dust, with blank expressions.

From the moment he began to draw out streams of black energy, they had already felt that something was amiss.

Moreover, right now, anyone could see that I was an agent of God. The master of the evil energy that the agent of God had cut down. They may have already known the answer.

“Was His Excellency Marin… a demon…?”

Skoshi asked me with a trembling voice.

Nod.

I answered by nodding my head. And then I immediately threw myself towards the blood-stained golem.

The five Masters had eliminated 10 golems through a difficult fight.

The time it took for me to eliminate the remaining golems was incomparably shorter than the time the five of them had struggled.

When all the golems had thus disappeared, the soldiers of Marin Castle, having lost their head, had already raised a white flag and expressed their intention to surrender. They were in a state of collective panic over the fact that their liege had been a demon.

“What will happen to us?”

“Live as you have been. We’ll think about the rest later.”

I had not thought about what to do with them either. There was also a need to coordinate opinions with Ellenhower. And so, the battle in the Marin Duchy came to an end.

The Arthur Domain army and the Ellenhower army stayed in Marin Castle for about another month after that before beginning their return to their original domains.

***

“Is it alright to just leave like this?”

“Is there any other way?”

“I suppose not….”

Ellenhower and I appointed Skoshi as the representative until the future master of the Marin Duchy was decided and granted him the rank of Count.

The vassal families of Marin Castle agreed to Skoshi, who was from the same Marin Domain and had served Duke Jacques most closely, becoming the representative.

I and Ellenhower only received a certain level of taxes from them and made no further unreasonable demands, and those aspects were factors that suppressed their opposition.

“Now that Duke Jacques Marin is gone, the remaining powers will start to keep the north in check.”

“Isn’t that a problem you have to handle on your own?”

“…Didn’t you say you would help me?”

“I am neutral, as far as it goes. I am only cheering for you. In fact, didn’t I give the command of the western army to the Duke? Wanting more from here is just greed.”

It might have been just for show, but in any case, I had officially transferred the military command over them to Ellenhower.

Capturing the hearts of the western army and working with them was a task that Duke Ellenhower had to solve.

The task to be handled to become emperor was not to fight the entire continent. It was to make the entire continent his ally.

I had no intention of doing such a thing. I only resolved to take good care of and protect my own people.

“Phew… I think I know why you have no interest in the throne.”

“So, are you planning to stop walking the path to becoming emperor, even now?”

“Well… I can’t do that.”

Ellenhower was a man with a clear goal. He wasn't a man who would become emperor because he was mad with power, but at least his desire to become emperor himself was certain.

It was for that reason that I was also backing him. There were not many people in this world who would walk the path of an emperor while fulfilling the minimum basics and duties.

“When I return, I have no intention of coming out for a while. That means you’re on your own.”

“…I will do so.”

The Arthur Domain army, including me, turned their horses’ heads and departed for their domain.

Along with them, the Ellenhower army also returned to their domain. The collapse of the western army and the victory of the northern army. The continent turned all its attention to the Ellenhower-Arthur alliance.

And they were busy setting up and discussing their own assumptions about whether the person named Karl Reitz Arthur Meyer had risen as a new candidate for the emperor.

Of course, the protagonist of that story, me, had my mind filled only with the thought of returning to the Lord’s castle and resting.

***

The Arthur Domain, which I returned to after a long time, had developed even more in that short period. The domain was filled with the vitality of people, to the point where one couldn't think it was a domain experiencing war.

In the midst of that, with newly trained troops every day, newly developed weapons every day, and even the training process using Saraban Island, everything was running smoothly, and the military strength of the Arthur Domain was becoming stronger than ever before.

“What is all this?”

As soon as I returned to my office, Dexter, who was in charge of the domain’s administration, began to pile up a mountain of documents in the office using something like a giant cart.

“These are the documents that have piled up while you were away, my lord.”

“Wasn’t the acting lord, Anne, here?”

“Even though the acting lord handled most of the work, this much still came out.”

“…Are you telling me not to participate in the war?”

“In fact, there are not many domains where the lord personally participates in battle.”

Dexter continued to speak in a very business-like tone despite my words.

“Are you doing this on purpose?”

“Didn’t you promise to add more administrative personnel?”

He was making a silent protest.

“Wasn't it a sudden situation?”

“I mentioned it to you starting three months before the deployment, and every single day at that.”

“So I did.”

“Thanks to that, the documents couldn’t help but pile up like this. If there had been a few administrative volunteers, this wouldn’t have happened.”

At his words, I began to write a document, and soon, a stamped document was completed in my hand.

“I have granted you, the head of administration, the authority to select. From all the people in the domain, including the academy, select 30 people you can trust and report to me.”

“…!”

Dexter’s eyes suddenly widened. Then, with trembling hands, he accepted the document I handed him.

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Ah! Thank you! Thank you! My liege!”

He repeatedly expressed his gratitude and cleared away all the documents, leaving only a tenth of what he had brought in.

“…It really was for blackmail.”

After my sighed complaint towards Dexter, who had already left, I began to review the remaining documents one by one.

While reviewing documents in the castle for a long time, I felt a strange sensation at some point.

It was a strangely grating feeling that a human could not have. Not long after feeling that, I felt a strange gaze from outside the window.

Swoosh.

Putting the document I was approving aside, I rose from my chair and moved past the window in one direction.

My body, which had become capable of flight after far surpassing the realm of mortals, floated up into the sky.

“What business brings you here?”

The empty sky split open, and where my gaze landed, a green-haired human walked out. He gave off a strange feeling, as if he could be a man or a woman.

“Truly, a Transcendent. My first time seeing one.”

The green-haired person was looking me over, finding something so fascinating.

“You seem to have no sense of propriety.”

“Isn’t it funny for a dragon to be polite to a human?”

“Arrogant. And vulgar. So different from the Agnitus I met last time.”

“You know Lord Agnitus? A mere human?”

I thought the green-haired dragon standing before me had no sense of propriety. Like a pure, young child, you could say. I could tell just by the way he spoke.

“Yes, young dragon. I ask again. What business has brought you to my domain?”

Here, I was no longer a stranger.

I was the head responsible for my people, and the Arthur Domain was my land and my territory.

He did not want his domain to be threatened in the slightest.

As I spoke, Laevateinn was already summoned in my hand.

“Why is the Dragon King’s Sword in your hands?”

The young dragon seemed to recognize Laevateinn.

“Just answer. Why did you come here?”

The dragon did not like the way the human was speaking.

That condescending tone was especially so.

Moreover, the fact that a mere human possessed the Dragon King’s Sword was particularly nonsensical.

An object that was like a part of the one he had idolized since childhood was in the hands of a human.

“Why should I answer that? To a mere human?”

He was a dragon, and the being before his eyes was nothing more than a tiny creature, infinitely small before a dragon. The young dragon thought that was natural.

Ssssssk.

In that moment, the human disappeared from before his eyes. And without knowing when, the human appeared in front of him and swung his fist.

What is this? A human attacking a dragon?

By the time he perceived that, the human’s fist had already accurately struck his face.

The young dragon, who had been floating in the sky, fell to the ground and rolled over a few times.

The young dragon needed time to understand this whole situation that had suddenly occurred.

“A human, to me?”

The dragon was angry and raised his head to shout at the human. In that moment.

Slaaaaaap!

The human’s palm struck the face of the dragon in its human form.

The dragon was slammed to the ground once again by the terrifying slap that came flying out of nowhere. He tasted blood in his mouth, and his head was dizzy.

Even in human form, being a dragonkin, his body was completely different from a normal human’s, yet my fist and palm had pierced through the dragonkin’s qi barrier and inflicted damage.

“How dare a mere human….”

Pooooow!

This time, a foot struck him squarely in the abdomen. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe, and as the sky turned yellow, the young dragon was about to transform into his true form when my fists and kicks flew in like mad.

The impacts were so strong and continuous that the dragon couldn’t even transform into his true form and had to be beaten continuously.

“St, op… please… stop….”

The dragon managed to open his mouth with difficulty amidst the severe beating, but it seemed I couldn’t hear him at all. I continued to beat the dragon without stopping.

After a long, severe beating, my movements finally stopped only after the dragon had completely lost consciousness.