Surviving as a Knight in a Trash Game

Chapter 192

One day, a demon suddenly appeared in Karl's room. The demon that appeared sat down on the sofa in the bedroom, poured water into the teacup in front of him, and spoke to Karl and Anne.

“About this Gray Demon thing.”

“Hmm. Sister, this is our bedroom, you know.”

“I know.”

“Then, you’re supposed to knock on the front door and come in, you know.”

“Ah, really? Humans live in such a difficult way.”

“Phew… fine, continue your story.”

Dressed roughly, she continued her story excitedly to Karl and Anne, who sat facing her.

“The demons don’t know, and the dragons don’t know either. I can’t tell where they came from, and I don’t know where the source of their life is.”

“Isn’t that something we already knew?”

“I just found out that no one really knows.”

“Is something different?”

“Yeah, it’s different. Even the one who was an angel didn’t know this.”

Gremory's words, while seemingly trivial at first glance, were extremely important. A monster that neither angels nor demons knew of. In other words.

“Does that mean it’s not of this world?”

A strange light flickered in Gremory's eyes. Her gaze was directed at me. The human with indifferent eyes and a blank face.

“Right, they’re as strange as you are. Though you are definitely human.”

She gave me a strange look, then turned her head and continued her story about the Gray Demon.

“The interesting thing is that they also stop functioning when their heads are cut off. It doesn't seem like some physical composition is connected, but it seems like something is connected. And stronger individuals are beginning to appear.”

Following the third stage with tentacles, a fourth stage with an appearance almost close to a human had appeared. And Gremory had met an individual stronger than the fourth stage.

“They had something like armor all over their bodies, and something like a long horn on their heads. I’ve designated it as stage five. Looking at its combat power, I don’t think the Pope or Bastien here would be a match. Only you might be able to.”

She believed that Bastien or the Pope could handle up to stage four. From stage five, it would be difficult.

The Gray Demon, after appearing, had settled in the mountains as if building a nest and had not yet gone out into the world. However, it was a situation where it was unknown when they would burst out into the world.

Through Gremory, the locations of the newly appeared creatures were being organized. And this information was being shared with Ellenhower.

“I just don’t know what these things want.”

When her story ended, I opened the system window.

[Progress 99%]

It was the final progress rate seen after stopping the monster wave. And I had a premonition that catching this Gray Demon would be his final mission.

If I couldn’t stop those Gray Demon bastards here, then probably, the final ending of this game would be a defeat. The result would probably be the destruction of the continent.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“Well, the thought that this might be the end.”

“The end?” Thɪs chapter is updated by Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

At the strange word, Gremory's expression also became strange. Anne, who was listening next to them, also seemed to have sensed something strange, and the expression she looked at me with was strange.

“You’re being a little strange, aren’t you?”

Anne was the person who had watched me more closely than anyone else. She was also the one who had watched his heart from the side for a very long time.

“You are, certainly strange.”

Gremory made a strange expression as she looked at me and then handed me a red jewel from her subspace.

“Take this.”

I could feel that the jewel she handed me was no ordinary jewel.

“It will help you in a moment of crisis. Keep it well.”

When she snapped her fingers, the red jewel entered my chest. Even though the jewel had entered my chest, there was no feeling of a jewel having entered. It was a strange and peculiar feeling.

“It will be difficult to stop them with just humans. There are more things living on this continent than you think, so it would be good to get their help.”

Paradoxically, the advice of the demon who had lived for a long time was more helpful to me than I thought. Because there were beings that suddenly came to mind with her story.

“Dragons.”

“Even with just a little advice, you find it well on your own.”

As it happened, there was a being I had seen once, a dragon. He had even told me where to come to meet him when he left. It was worth a visit.

“I’ll have to leave tomorrow.”

“…So suddenly?”

“Whatever it is, the sooner the better. Right now, there is something in front of my eyes that could explode at any moment.”

Anne sighed and nodded her head. He was the man she had chosen. In the end, it was her share to bear. Karl had never been an ordinary person from the beginning.

‘Still, this is a bit too much… He’s saying he’ll save all of humanity himself. Every time….’

It was always like that.

My man was always running around here and there, saving people, as if he were someone who couldn’t die and was restless.

And then he would always add that it was something he had to do. As if it were a sense of duty or something he really had to do.

‘As if it were something he had to do?’

Suddenly, a shiver ran down Anne’s spine. Come to think of it, Karl had always acted as if he had to do things he had to do. Why. It wouldn’t have been something he had to do to that extent.

Anne’s thought process expanded. Since Karl had always been called by names like Knight of Salvation, Knight of the Lighthouse, and Saint, she had taken it for granted. She had thought that was the kind of person he was.

But, what if it wasn’t? What if it was really something Karl had to do, not a sense of duty?

Anne’s gaze turned to me.

Indifferent and expressionless, but somehow a little tired, it was an expression only she could know.

“You… it was really something you had to do, wasn't it?”

The very first question she had asked since meeting him. And at her first question, Karl’s eyes wavered for a very brief moment before returning.

And Anne was convinced.

That it was something he really had to do. Something he had no choice but to do, even if he didn’t want to. That was what Karl was doing now. But, why? Why? Why did saving humanity have to be something he had to do?

Because he was a person chosen by God, as someone had said? Or? Why on earth? She asked countless questions, but there was no way to know the answer unless he said it himself.

That evening, in the room where no one else was and only the two of them remained, Anne quietly embraced Karl.

The man before her eyes, whom she knew, still had many secrets even after spending such a long time together, and there were still many things she couldn't know.

“I don’t know why you have to do those things. I’m curious, but I’ll bear it. Because you’ll tell me someday. So. I don’t need anything else. You just have to be by my side like now, alive. Got it?”

Feeling the warm body heat of Karl, whom she was holding tightly, Anne prayed to God. She sincerely wished that her man would always be by her side.

***

“Are you really going alone?”

“It’s the land of dragons. It won’t be of any help if someone else goes.”

“…”

Rogério’s right hand was clenched tightly. So much force was put into it that his right arm was slightly trembling.

“Just doing your role in your position is enough. Don’t blame yourself. I do my work, and you do yours.”

I, who had patted Rogério’s shoulder, turned my body indifferently. There were quite a lot of knights looking at his back. All of them looked as if they were dissatisfied with something.

“A knight who cannot follow his liege’s back. What is this… sigh….”

A voice that seemed somewhat light and contained all the annoyance in the world rang in the knights’ ears. The moment Karl’s back was no longer visible, Kelvin kicked off his spot and walked to the training ground.

And following Kelvin, all the knights moved their bodies to the training ground. The reason why the Lighthouse Knights had no choice but to become stronger was that they could never protect their liege’s back.

The fact that they couldn’t even just follow him always broke their hearts. And yet, they gritted their teeth and stood up again.

With the promise that they would definitely, someday, become the knights who would protect their liege’s back.

And this phenomenon was not something that only occurred to the Lighthouse Knights. Everyone in the Arthur Domain had the same thought.

“Why on earth does His Lordship always….”

Dexter, as if frustrated, threw the pen he was holding onto the desk and let out an annoyed remark. His lord was a strange person. The time he spent outside was longer than the time he spent in the domain.

He always moved for the continent. He always looked precarious and precarious. And yet, he cherished the domain more than anyone else, and the policies the lord created and framed were so overwhelmingly innovative that even Dexter, who was called a genius-level talent in this world, couldn’t even imagine them.

After all, the entire framework of the numerous development plans and educational plans applied to the domain had come from Karl.

And then he would move like that, as if sacrificing everything. Dexter, feeling as if he wasn't of much help to Karl, felt frustrated and then picked up the pen he had thrown.

“Phew… fine. I’ll really get recognized someday.”

After that, the artisans and dwarves, the newly arrived elves, and the druids who had been saved by Karl, watched the departing Karl and moved to their respective places.

There were no particular words, but they all knew well that they had to do what they could for the one person who was shouldering this heavy reality alone, leading the way without rest.

The man who walked tirelessly at the forefront, those who stood behind him could never stop.

***

Whether everyone in the domain was serious or not, Karl himself was not thinking so seriously.

He just, for once, thought that the sky he was looking at while lying on Silver’s saddle was truly beautiful.

It had been a long time since he had looked at the sky so leisurely. Come to think of it, before the domain was established, when he had been wandering the world as a Free Knight, he had always lived looking at a sky like this.

He liked that freedom. The blue sky and the gently blowing wind, everything suited Karl. The terribly tasteless stew he ate while wandering, and the taste of the meat, he was even starting to miss it a little now.

Because he had become a lord and had people, Karl had come to like this world and think that he wanted to protect them. Everything was good, but the freedom of the past was gone.

Sometimes, really sometimes, he missed the way things were now.

“How funny.”

In the past, he had said that he couldn't find a reason to live his life living like this, but humans were truly cunning. And so, while slowly moving as Silver led him, a strange feeling caught Karl’s senses.

The feeling that someone was watching him.

Karl got up from Silver’s saddle, got down on the ground, and unsummoned Silver. A feeling that grated on his nerves. Karl knew this feeling all too well.

Swoosh.

The moment his figure disappeared like a mirage, Karl’s body had already passed through the forest and moved to a completely different place.

“Guuuuoooorrr.”

A not-so-loud sound. A grating sound like metal scraping, and there was a stage 5 Gray Demon.

“Guuuuoooorrr.”

The Gray Demon, as if it wanted to say something, made a strange gesture towards Karl.

“What kind of trick is this?”

“Guuuuoooorrr.”

The creature was making a beckoning gesture to Karl, telling him to come closer. Karl slowly walked to the place the creature was beckoning. After finishing his preparations to smash the creature at any time.

And so, when he arrived at the place the creature had beckoned, something like a giant stone slab appeared.

[This is not something you can stop. Give up.]

Seeing the words on the stone slab the creature had beckoned to, Karl let out a chuckle.

“When was there ever anything I could do.”

Karl, without even looking at the stone slab writing the next letters, just slashed the stone slab with his sword.

“Guuuuuoooork!”

The Gray Demon that had shown him the stone slab shouted in excitement.

“If you want to fight now, then let’s.”

Karl’s momentum rose. The Gray Demon, seeing such a Karl, turned its body with a whoosh. As if to say that now was not the time.

Wooooooooo!

“!!!!!”

Karl, not liking that appearance, just showered the golden aura towards the Gray Demon that had turned its back.