Chapter 304

C304. …Knight Order? (4)

Alon, who was heading to the garden with Yutia, who seemed to be in a better mood than usual, was able to hear the reason why she had stopped by the Marquis’s house.

“A meeting?”

“Yes. As you know, lately the troublemakers and bandits are out of control.”

Alon recalled what Siyan had told him days ago and nodded.

“…It seems the situation is more serious than I thought.”

“Did you not know, Master?”

“No. I had a general idea.”

What was happening lately was something impossible to ignore, even for Alon.

‘…Although it’s not intentional, it is benefiting me.’

Unlike other territories that were in chaos because of the bandits…

The Palatio territory, strangely, did not suffer from turmoil and, in fact, merchants were arriving more frequently than before.

“So, you stopped by here on your way to that meeting?”

“That is correct. And from what I heard, something is also happening on the Empire’s side.”

“The Empire?”

“Yes. They say a war has broken out within the Empire.”

The Empire.

A country that had long maintained a hostile relationship with the United Kingdom.

And furthermore, the setting of another game by the same developer of Psychedelia, Calipsophobia.

‘At this point in the story, was there a war in the Empire?’

Alon reflected for a moment, but then shrugged.

In reality, the internal wars of Calipsophobia were not something that directly affected Alon.

After all, as far as he knew, as long as one or two countries of the United Kingdom didn’t collapse, the Empire would never declare war against them.

Besides, the most important thing was that Calipsophobia also had a protagonist.

‘I think their name was… Ner, right?’

Ner.

The protagonist—who could be chosen as male or female, just like in Psychedelia—saved the Empire from collapse amidst the chaos.

That is to say: regardless of what was happening in the Empire right now, it wasn’t something Alon needed to worry about.

The protagonist of Calipsophobia would take care of it sooner or later.

‘Besides, unlike here, that protagonist was a munchkin from the start… Couldn’t they defeat at least one of the four princely factions of the Empire single-handedly?’

That thought was short-lived.

“And also, I had something to communicate to you, Master.”

At Yutia’s words, he put aside his reflection and continued the conversation.

“Something to communicate to me?”

“Yes. Nothing complicated, I was just thinking… how about we build a church in the Marquis’s house?”

“A church?”

“Yes, if it doesn’t bother you.”

“Hmm…”

Alon thought about it briefly.

Being someone who had to create a Shinto / Divine Land, building a church in the Marquis Palatio’s house could make the situation somewhat awkward.

But he didn’t want to reject it either and, after meditating a bit, he nodded.

“If you wish, do it.”

“Thank you for allowing me, Master.”

“But, why suddenly build a church in the Marquis’s house?”

“The reason?”

Yutia brought a finger to her cheek, thought for an instant, and then smiled before asking:

“Mm, do you want to try to guess, Master?”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Yutia continued smiling sweetly.

Alon thought for a moment and replied:

“…Expansion?”

“No.”

“Then… what?”

It was impossible for him to deduce the reason.

When Alon asked again, Yutia held up two fingers.

“There are two reasons. The first is that there are more cats than I thought.”

“…Cats?”

Alon instinctively looked at Blackie.

Blackie, who until a while ago was sleeping comfortably on the back of the Sea God, now had trembling pupils.

As if saying: “Me…?”

“And the second reason…”

Without looking at Blackie, Yutia took a step closer to Alon’s side and then whispered softly in his ear:

“…Now I want to start acting a little more actively.”

“Acting… actively?”

“Of course, I speak of evangelizing.”

Yutia smiled.

At that…

“…I see.”

Alon didn’t fully understand, but he still nodded in silence.

Yutia left after asking him to stop by Rosario when he finished his business.

A few days later—

‘Now that I think about it, I wanted to ask her how she knew about the sin, but I couldn’t.’

Feeling a certain frustration, Alon called Evan, who was walking ahead of him.

“Ready to depart for the Shinto / Divine Land?”

“Yes, everything is prepared. We can leave whenever you wish.”

“How long will it take us to arrive?”

“According to what we calculated last time, about twenty-four hours.”

The two advanced while conversing calmly.

When Alon finally exited the outer wall…

“What do you think?”

“…There are more of them than I thought.”

Seeing the multitude of knights and soldiers crowding the entrance, he let out an involuntary sigh.

Fifty knights and six hundred soldiers ready to depart for the Shinto. Seeing them with his own eyes made the number seem even larger.

‘And also… How is it that in just a few days they seem so well trained?’

Knights and soldiers formed with great discipline. And Deus observing them with satisfaction.

Alon scanned their faces.

There were so many that he couldn’t examine them one by one, but among them, he distinguished Seamus and others who had made a memorable impression during the interviews.

However, he soon felt something strange.

The expressions of the knights were… too determined.

Of course, Seamus looked better than before, and since his liege was present, it was normal.

But several knights looked almost on the verge of a fatal resolution.

Just as that doubt was growing…

“My lord, we should depart.”

“Right.”

Alon advanced towards the carriage at Evan’s words.

“What do you think of them?”

“They look extremely determined.”

As they walked, Evan added:

“Well, isn’t that a good thing? It seems Deus is doing a great job.”

Evan nodded with satisfaction.

“…Although it’s only a defense force for the Shinto, I don’t think they need that level of determination.”

“Well, the better trained they are, the better, right?”

“That is true…”

It was like observing an order of knights marching to war.

He couldn’t help but feel unease.

Then Evan, as if remembering something, commented:

“Now that I think about it, Deus was conducting individual interviews with the knights after training them. And after that, they always returned more serious.”

“…After an interview?”

“Yes.”

…What on earth was he telling them?

Before dwelling on it further, Alon put the matter aside.

As Evan said, having such firm discipline wasn’t a bad thing in itself.

Once inside the carriage, Alon began to mentally organize what he had to do.

‘First, create the Shinto. Then I must go talk to Silly about the matter of the believers… In fact, there was something I wanted to ask her. Although before that, I must pass by Laksas.’

Remembering Rine’s words about the Shinto, he finished organizing his thoughts. Then he recalled the recent events in the East.

‘…Meet the Observer?’

He caressed the magatama on his chest and reminisced about that being.

The one whose mere gaze had made him bleed from his eyes.

The mysterious being who seemed to possess knowledge about everything Alon did not know.

‘Maybe this time I can actually get answers.’

Observing the landscape from the carriage, he remained lost in his thoughts.

The afternoon was like any other.

When Seamus first arrived at the Marquis Palatio’s house, he was a ball of low self-esteem. But in the last few days, that lost confidence had begun to resurface.

Contrary to what his master had told him, the Marquis Palatio’s house was full of Master Knights.

The captains of the five divisions of the Order were all Master Knights, and Seamus was the sub-captain of the Fifth Division.

Even so, the reason Seamus was able to recover his self-esteem…

Was the recognition from the Captains and Sub-captains, who were also Master Knights.

In other words: it wasn’t that his understanding was wrong, but that the Order of Marquis Palatio was abnormally strong.

Furthermore, Deus, who trained the knights with fervor, recognized Seamus’s talent, which helped his recovery even more.

However, that old arrogance that characterized him had almost disappeared.

Barely a week had passed, but thanks to countless duels—especially the confrontations with Deus—Seamus had learned humility.

Or rather, it was imposed upon him.

No matter how much talent everyone recognized in him…

The gap between him and Deus was simply abysmal.

So much so that he couldn’t even feel jealousy or inferiority.

Thanks to that, Seamus was growing with humility and flourishing as a knight.

And, at the same time, he firmly believed he was approaching his dream… that dream he had when descending from the mountain:

To become a knight admired by all and return triumphant wrapped in glory.

…At least, that was what he believed until a moment ago.

Seamus looked at Deus with a stunned expression.

But Deus simply observed him without blinking, with absolute seriousness.

“Uh…”

Seamus, confused, mentally reviewed how he had reached this moment.

He had gotten up in the morning, departed for the Shinto (Divine Land) with the Marquis.

They had stopped the journey a bit early, established a camp, and started immediate training.

And then…

Instructor Deus had announced he would conduct individual interviews, so Seamus visited him upon finishing his practice.

He had been curious, as every knight who came out of those interviews returned with an extremely serious air.

“…I apologize, instructor. Could you repeat what you said?”

And then he heard it.

Deus’s phrase.

“I told you already.”

Deus repeated:

“You will become the King’s Sword. A sword that destroys any enemy.”

“That means…”

“I don’t need to say it. You already understood, right?”

Seamus looked up into Deus’s eyes.

There was not an ounce of falsehood. Only absolute truth.

Seamus understood that what Deus was saying… was real.

Without realizing it, he remembered his dream.

To become a knight respected by all. To return triumphant, proud, admired.

That had been his dream, warm and noble.

But now…

‘…Why?’

Before he could realize it, he was already aboard a ship…

A ship where if they failed, it would be treason; if they succeeded, it would be a revolution.

And furthermore…

“That is why I will train you so that you never lose against anyone.”

A ship from which there was no way to get off.

‘I… just wanted to become an admired knight…’

Seamus’s thoughts dissipated into the air.