Episode 424: How to live as a wandering knight (3)

Episode 424: How to live as a wandering knight (3)

… Pow!

The hard bone broke and all the hot stuff inside poured out onto the floor.

The poison gnoll lay on the floor, spraying poisonous brain fluid, and after shaking its body for a while, it cooled down.

The hordes of gnolls that followed the poison gnolls into human territory were also left dead.

In the beginning, the corpses of the gnolls had only clean holes in their heads or hearts, but as they piled up, their internal organs and heads exploded, turning them into miserable, dirty figures, showing the fierceness of the battle.

knight of the night. Tudor, a wandering knight wearing black plate armor, sat on the corpses of the gnolls, panting.

"… … "It's very difficult to get used to having only one arm."

Due to extremely little sleep, continuous forced marches, and constant exhaustion and tiredness, the expression on the face gradually wears out and disappears.

Tudor, who was muttering in a dry voice, suddenly remembered that his tone and way of speaking closely resembled someone in his memory, and smiled.

"is it. Has that guy always lived a life like this? Maybe that's why his personality was so cold and dull... … ."

Bikir. Hounds of the night.

A lot of time had already passed, but his face and voice still remained clearly in my memory.

Tudor reminisced about his old classmate, who had been expelled from the Academy a long time ago and was now imprisoned in a remote prison far away.

Throbbing-

And every time that happens, I feel pain in my severed left arm.

Tudor, the eldest son of the Don Quixote family, the next head of the family, and the legitimate heir, abandoned his family name and turned his back on the family.

I left my severed left arm at my parents' home.

"… … ."

Tudor recalled a story he heard in a tavern before fighting a horde of gnolls.

'Also, speaking of rumors, I heard there is a lot of talk about the Don Quixote family and the Usher family within the family right now. There is a rumor that the head of the family is currently sick. From what I heard, he was very seriously ill. 'See you today and tomorrow.'

'They are superhuman! Master! 'They are not the kind of people who will succumb to disease or something like that!'

'It's already been a few years since those two people stopped serving in office. From what I heard, it seems that the younger brother of the head of the Don Quixote family is the regent, and the younger sister of the head of the Usher family is the regent.'

'Hmm, I heard that too. Well, I heard that the Don Quixote family and the Usher family didn't have many members of the main family, so the collateral people also had a hard time. Is that why?'

The sound of teeth grinding came out of Tudor's mouth as he recalled the memory of that time.

Puzzle-

Anger rises. My left arm, which was cut off and missing, was throbbing.

Tudor clearly remembered that night, the night he left the family home.

… … His uncle Passa Monte, who was involved in the task of escorting Bikir to the Nouvelle Vague.

He is also the person who vehemently advocated for Bikir to be sentenced to death at the Imperial Nakajaniye Tribunal.

After the trial, Tudor visited Passamonte several times to discuss the Main controversy and the issue of Bikir's punishment.

Even then, he had some doubts.

Is my uncle, who has always been kind to me since I was young, really related to Mine?

The uncle who taught me what chivalry, romance, and broad aspirations and ambitions are?

Es la misión del verdadero caballero. Su deber his. ¡No! Su deber his no. Su privilegio his.

-It is the duty and duty of a true knight. no! It's not an obligation, it's a privilege.

Soñar lo impossible soñar.

-Dream the impossible dream.

Vencer al invicto rival,

-Defeating an invincible opponent,

Sufrir el dolor insufrible,

-Enduring unbearable pain,

Morir por un noble ideal.

-Dying for noble ideals.

Saber enmendar el error,

-Knows how to correct mistakes,

Amar con pureza y bondad.

-To love with purity and good intentions.

Querer, en un sueño impossible,

-Falling in love in an impossible dream,

Con fe, una estrella alcanzar.

-Have faith and reach for the stars.

When I closed my eyes, I could still hear my uncle's voice singing and reciting a verse from an epic poem.

… … But that didn't mean I was suspicious of Bikir.

The Vikir that Tudor knew had never said a single nonsense.

He was that kind of person.

Although he was the same age, he was a strong and trustworthy friend, like an older brother or, at times, an older adult.

I could never have thought that Bikir would have made a false claim.

And didn't Professor Morgue Banshee, whom I had always seen at the Colosseo Academy, make the same argument?

Although he has an unlucky personality and is a bit of a brat, he is a thorough principled person and never speaks up about things he is not sure about.

Tudor, who had studied at the Academy for a long time, knew this well.

So, the idea was to meet Passamonte face to face and investigate the facts.

… … However, Tudor has not been able to even see Passamonte's face properly in recent years.

Passamonte, who began serving as regent following his father's sudden illness, completely ruled out Tudor's position.

A secret struggle for power is quite common in high-ranking families with complicated family history.

It is a common and banal material that always appears in fairy tales and legends.

But if it's my family's story, it's a different story.

During the vacation just before Tudor graduated from the Academy, a secret civil war broke out within the Don Quixote family.

My uncle's rebellion to take control of the family.

Tudor had to flee from the family home to avoid the countless waves of assassins.

It was only after the knife was put to his throat that Tudor knew for sure.

The Don Quixote family has already been eaten by Passamonte.

There is a terrible evil plan hidden behind the fact that my father, who was called King Chang, suddenly fell seriously ill and was bedridden.

… … And in the end, Bikir, your old friend was right.

Tudor fled, shedding tears of sorrow. He suffered the pain and humiliation of having his arm cut off along the way.

I clearly remembered what Passamonte, who was at the forefront of the chase, said to Tudor, who was trying to escape by boat.

'Are you planning to abandon your father and run away? And you are still the son of the Lion King?'

Tudor was enraged by this and jumped into the final battle, ignoring his life.

… … It would have definitely been like that if it hadn't been for Bianca who appeared at the right time.

Bianca responded coolly to Tudor's insistence that he could not leave his father behind.

'Retreating is not running away, and it is not wise to simply wait when danger outweighs hope. A wise man knows how to take advantage of today for tomorrow, and he does not risk everything in one day.'

How can I forget these words? These were Bikir's last words at the Nakajaniye trial center in the center of the ecliptic.

Tudor left the family following Bianca, who turned her back on the family because she was in the same situation as him.

The heads of the Don Quixote family and the Usher family, who had tried to declare neutrality in the face of signs of civil war, have since disappeared from the world.

The actual head of the Don Quixote family became Don Quixote La Mancha Passamonte and Usher for Madeline.

They searched the entire continent under the pretext of finding the missing family members, and Tudor and Bianca had to go on an arduous escape.

A difficult and dangerous journey that requires breaking through several layers of vast siege nets and countless guard posts.

And the people who helped and accepted Tudor and Bianca are the 'Nightwalkers', a group of followers and vigilantes who continue the legacy of the 'Hounds of the Night'.

"… … ."

And now.

Tudor, who became the Knight of the Night after the Hound of the Night, was looking down on the village from the corpses of the gnolls.

The world has changed a lot.

A great famine, a long drought, massive forest fires flooding across the empire, and hordes of monsters.

As a result, people's lives became difficult, something that could not be learned from textbooks.

A large man pushes a slender girl and takes a piece of meat from the corpse.

The strong extorted and robbed the weak and did not treat them like human beings.

-The truly strong are strong to the strong and weak to the weak.

-Strong people do not bully others because they can afford it, but weak people bully others to hide the fact that they are weak.

A phrase that appears in the autobiography of 'Don Quixote La Mancha Alonso Quijano', a person from the distant past who can be said to be the true ancestor of the singer Don Quixote.

However, the romance and reality learned from chivalric literature were completely opposite.

The stronger you are, the more you bully others, and the weaker you are, the more unfair things you experience.

However, the weak were not always good and kind.

The reality was very different from what I learned at the academy or within the family.

It is not the strong who survive, but those who survive are strong.

It has become that kind of world.

Tudor had experienced these types of human groups countless times before entering the fierce battlefield, and as he did so, he could feel that his personality had become dull and cold.

It was a series of processes in which an aspiring hero with many dreams became a battlefield veteran.

And why?

The more Tudor's personality, manner of speaking, and voice become more and more similar to Bikir's.

"Hahaha, you shouldn't even resemble that guy's way of speaking. "It's too stiff."

Tudor smiled mischievously and then got up.

Right then.

"… … "Hey, over there."

Someone hesitantly approaches next to me.

There was a girl standing where Tudor turned his head.

This is the child who was able to survive the attack by a group of gnolls just moments ago.

"Eat this!"

What the girl handed out was a large cup of clear water and toasted bread sprinkled with herbs.

Water and herbs in these times. Tudor felt a lump in his throat for a moment.

"Can I accept something this precious?"

"… … Sure!"

The girl, who was worried that her gift might not be accepted, smiled brightly and answered.

Tudor ate water and bread.

In order to return to the hideout where night walkers gather, you have to travel a long way.

When Tudor got up after finishing his meal, he saw quite a number of people gathered around him.

"Bah, Knight of the Night! Please take us with you too!"

"I heard that if you follow the night walkers, you can go to a place with water, food, and God's blessings!"

"Please have mercy… … ."

The people gathered are people who no longer have a place to live due to gnoll attacks, famine, and forest fires.

At first glance, the crowd seemed to be about 10% of the village's population.

And Tudor nodded willingly.

"Please follow me."

This is why the Night Knight came this far in the first place.

A secret but not secret place where night walkers gather.

'Fire and water will only avoid this place, and only here will true salvation be achieved.'

That is where the land of salvation in the new Book of Revelation exists.

The mission was to move as many people as possible to the ark built by the 'Saint of the Night'.