Chapter 246

I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 246: A Knight’s Prayer

A Knight’s Prayer
Chapter 246. A Knight’s Prayer
A knight rode through the dead of night.
The man knew how dangerous it was to gallop down a road where not a single beam of light was visible, yet he snapped the reins and urged his horse forward to go faster.
In the arms of that knight were children.
No fewer than four of them were piled up, precariously seated upon the saddle.
The knight protected the children as best as he could, wrapping them in his embrace.
Neither speed nor safety could be abandoned.
Ppudeureok! Ppudeureok!
The horse’s snorting turned harsh.
It was the sound of its limit.
William halted the horse.
— We will have to walk from here.
William lowered the children one by one.
Upon placing a girl who had been in his arms onto the ground, her body staggered considerably.
— Are you all right?
— …..
The girl did not respond.
A relatively large boy answered in her stead.
— She is just a little dizzy, but she says she is fine.
— Shall I carry her?
— I will do it.
The boy briskly turned his back to the girl, and she carefully climbed onto his back.
One horse, one adult, and four children.
It was no easy journey.
William expressed his apologies to the horse.
— I’m sorry. Go a little further away, to an unfamiliar place.
William slapped the horse on the rump, and the excited animal began to run wildly.
This would delay the pursuit a little longer.
William decided to push forward through the bushes.
— You only have to follow in my footsteps. Understood?
— Yes.
William lit a torch and took the lead.
Not even the light cast by the moon and stars reached this place, so it was terribly dark.
Just like his own future.
“What do I do now?”
William knew what he had done.
It was an action on a completely different scale compared to when he became a refugee.
Back then, he was merely a cadet, so it was an act that could be excused to some degree.
However, the current William was a knight.
A knight defying the will of his lord and fleeing.
He had taken away death-row prisoners scheduled for execution tomorrow morning.
He had committed the gravest sin, one where dying on the spot without torture would be considered fortunate.
He would have to spend his entire life on the run.
William asked himself.
“Was this a mistake I made?”
He answered.
“Even if it was a mistake, I would have done it.”
“If ten thousand possibilities were open, I would have chosen the exact same option all ten thousand times.”
The children were victims.
He could not allow them to suffer so much only to simply die.
It did not align with William’s conviction.
“So what do I do now?”
The reality that the road ahead was blocked still loomed before him.
“There is a way to get money immediately.”
The ceremonial sword, the final keepsake he had received from Duke Urey.
He could sell the attached jewels and gold leaf to settle down in some quiet rural village.
He thought that would work.
At that moment, the boy’s footsteps stopped.
Following that boy, all the other children stopped in unison.
— What is wrong?
Holding the torch, he examined the boy’s face.
The boy was breaking into a cold sweat, fearing something.
— T-they are coming.
Pursuers?
He thought they would come fast, but not this fast.
It should have taken at least three more hours.
“Beside the Regent is a Dragon Spawn…”
He knew she was tremendously strong.
If they fought, the probability of winning was 0%.
It was certain he would be subdued without even putting up proper resistance.
— D-demons.
That Dragon Spawn would have been preferable.
The boy’s eyes turned bright red as he scanned the surroundings.
— They are surrounding us as if they knew we would come here.
— …..
He could not ask if he was certain.
William also began to feel it gradually.
An aura of death fitting this dark forest.
“Can we make it out alive?”
William had thought about it multiple times, and the conclusion was set.
— What is your name?
William asked the boy’s name.
— I am Rudelek.
— Rudelek, listen carefully to what I am about to tell you. Take your siblings and hide in that tall grass over there.
After double-checking that they were thoroughly hidden, William urged them again.
— Absolutely do not come out until I tell you to.
William extinguished the torch and drew his sword.
In the middle of a forest where not even a ray of moonlight entered properly, he faced them alone.
The red death drew closer and closer, encircling William.
Kihihihit……
Hahahahat……
Laughter echoing through the forest gave him chills.
William’s body shifted constantly, focusing on the voices in the darkness.
That was the moment.
Sixth sense.
William possessed the highly sharpened senses of a knight.
That sense caused his body to move first, beyond comprehension.
Clang!
An attack that struck precisely within the diagonal trajectory William’s sword had traced.
For just an instant, the flying sparks revealed its form.
Black skin fitting this dark night, sharp teeth.
And red eyes.
The form of a demon clear enough to be straight out of a textbook.
Had he not blocked that sword strike, his head would have been split in two.
William immediately followed up with a counterattack.
Even against his swift counterattack, they evaded lightly like child’s play and created distance.
In that single exchange, the red light completely surrounded William.
— You blocked that?
— To receive the grace of that one and still be unable to finish off a human in a single blow. Is it not shameful?
— Shut up!
Demons chattering and laughing.
Approximately six in number.
Just as he grasped that, a sharp pain flared in William’s thigh.
He felt warm blood.
As if blocking that blow just now had been sheer luck.
— See? It was pure luck after all.
The demons circled William, mocking him.
Like a beast trapped in a cage, surrounded by men holding spears.
They could stab and retreat at any moment, while William could only be toyed with in their grasp.
The wounds on William’s body multiplied.
Nevertheless, he deflected every fatal attack, thus managing to stay alive until the end.
— Persistent bastard.
The demons were growing bored.
They pounced all at once to cut off his breath.
— Stop.
A deep voice halted the demons’ actions.
William also paused reflexively at that voice.
An entity capable of making his body halt reflexively with just a voice was rare.
That was why William internally denied it.
“There is no way that person is mixed in with that horde of demons.”
— I will handle this place.
And he stood before William.
William could not believe it.
— …Your Grace.
Perry Urey.
The man called Duke Urey stood there as their leader.
The face that had once been middle-aged had regained youth, and his skin was dyed jet black, but William clearly remembered Urey’s features.
That was, without a doubt, Urey.
— Duke Urey, Your Grace… is it really you?
— Yes, Perry Urey. That was my name.
— How… did you become a demon?
— Sigmund showed me.
The emotion contained in his eyes,
— How meaningless this life is.
Emptiness.
Urey’s face was empty.
— And you accepted it?
— At first I resisted. It was a foolish time when I believed there was even a shred of meaning.
A sigh escaped his mouth.
— I should have let go of everything and become a demon much sooner.
— …..
Urey would never say such things.
He had marched into the Kingdom of Heinckel to lay down his life for the future.
Such a man would never spout nonsense about life being meaningless.
Yet at the same time, it was Urey.
William asked.
— So did you come… to punish me?
— I have no intention of punishing you. The past is meaningless.
— Then…
— Merely to retrieve those things you concealed. The objects Linne made.
Urey’s finger pointed accurately toward the bushes where the children were hidden.
— Those children will be used for that.
— You already know where they are.
— Yes.
— Even so, what is the reason you are trying to speak with me? If you have no intention of punishing me, why hold this conversation?
— To give you a chance.
Urey threw something at William’s feet.
It was a syringe.
— You took the condemned prisoners, William. Once you lose the children, there will be nothing left for you to do. You will only be hunted further.
— …..
— What reason would there be to survive such suffering? I will give you a chance to wash away your sins. Inject that into your body. And become one of us.
William looked down at the syringe.
What lay inside would be the drug that turns one into a demon.
William picked up the syringe.
— This is not washing away sins.
The fighting spirit in his eyes had not died out.
— Sin is not something that can be forgotten so easily!
William hurled it to the ground.
— Fool.
Yet the sound of the syringe shattering was not heard.
Instead, a piercing sensation drove into William’s neck.
— Ugh!
The syringe he thought he had thrown was lodged in his neck.
A demon had lunged with lightning speed and plunged it into William.
— You never had a choice to begin with.
A scalding solution flowed through William’s body.
The moment it touched his heart, it spread across his entire frame in an instant.
— Ugh…… Eugeueueuk!
— Just accept it, William. Become our comrade.
The black drug erupted from his body and attempted to consume him.
William knew.
The moment he lost consciousness here, everything would end.
Just as gravity cannot be defied, he would be plunged into that infinitely distant place.
He endured and endured.
— My, is his resistance quite fierce?
— Other humans would have ended within 10 seconds.
Even after 5 minutes, William did not turn into a demon.
Rather, the creeping black blood began to be repelled by William’s will.
That did not mean he had the upper hand.
The pain remained identical, and if he lowered his guard, he would be devoured.
— Foolish, William.
Urey asked him.
— Do you believe there is hope for you?
William replied as if it were obvious.
— If a knight abandons hope… what reason is there for a knight to exist?
Humans are weak.
Without support, they are easily swept away and collapse.
The existence that becomes that support was precisely a knight.
— Then I will teach you.
Yet that pillar was also, ultimately, merely human.
Humans are, ultimately, human and cannot transcend themselves.
— How futile that hope is.
Urey raised his sword and pointed it at him.
— Ten times.
His blade was a renowned sword among renowned swords, forged by a master artisan.
— Try blocking the ten strikes meant to kill you. If you block them, I will quietly withdraw from this place.
— …..
— But if you cannot block them, only death awaits you. What will you do?
The conclusion arrived easily.
William rose from his place and lifted his sword.
If anyone were to witness that scene, they would have said this:
That it was an error.
As reckless and foolish as leaping into an approaching storm.
William himself thought so inside.
He felt it upon receiving the first attack.
Clang!
Overwhelming power and aura.
He was not a Sword Master, but he was a famed swordsman, and among the knights who secured victories against any opponent in great battles, he was a knight among knights.
That knight, having surpassed his prime, now unleashed a sword strike upon William.
Blocking it was nearly a miracle.
The next exchange flew immediately.
Clang!
Second.
William had no room to think.
Paralyzed thought made him feel anxious, and anxiety brought a massive wave of fear crashing down upon him.
Clang!
Clang!
Third.
His muscles tore.
Clang!
Fourth.
Even so, William’s body stood firm.
Clang!
Fifth.
The demon blood that had attempted to settle drove into William’s heart.
Clang!
Sixth.
Still, William did not lose himself.
Clang!
Seventh.
The resonance of that sword blow relentlessly battered William’s blade, body, and soul.
Clang!
Eighth.
William’s aura scattered.
Crack!
Ninth.
The sword shattered.
The blade flew away, and only the hilt remained in William’s hand.
The demons mocked the scene.
— How will you survive, Lord William?
— Try drawing out your aura. Then you might stand a chance, no?
— They say humans display superhuman strength in desperate moments, perhaps you can as well?
Urey asked William solemnly and concisely.
— What will you do?
Tattered body.
Barely exhaled breath.
A perfect environment for the black blood to erode.
Even so, William did not break.
William discarded the broken sword just as it was.
And placed his hand on another scabbard.
He still had one sword left.
It was a sword far too ornate to be used in actual combat.
The moment they saw the sword’s shape, the demons burst into laughter again.
— Puhahaha! What is he going to do with a toy sword?!
— Does he think great power resides in it just because it is flashy? What a ridiculous bastard!
— Silence!
Urey’s shout silenced the demons’ mouths.
Though he had lost himself, Urey knew what that sword was.
— You had that sword.
— …Yes.
— It will break.
— …..
William did not answer.
Urey took his stance, preparing to deliver the final strike.
William held his sword straight up and closed his eyes.
In the instant death approached, he was praying.
There was a man.
That man was someone who could have become a promising knight, but instead of being a knight, he became the leader of refugees.
The man became the Security Captain again, and his merits were highly recognized, so he became a knight of the Far East.
Yet the man betrayed his lord once again.
The end of the betrayal arrived shortly, right away.
Faint breath and soul.
Flashing red lights rushing in.
The man senses death.
At the moment of standing at the edge of life, the man moved instinctively.
One might cling to life and beg for mercy,
One might break their fighting spirit, forget what they must protect, and turn around to flee.
Yet what the man chose was prayer.
— O God……
This man named William is a heinous sinner.
In the name of conviction, he betrayed two lords and treated the chivalric code with contempt.
Please cast this body into the deepest part of hell,
And impose a punishment heavier than death, making him an example.
— However……
Since saving humans must ultimately be the work of humans,
Please allow this humble soul to burn until the very end,
Grant the strength to oppose evil until the final moment,
Bestow mercy upon innocent souls,
And save the lost souls.
With the conclusion of the prayer, the man’s time moved.
Kaaang!
Tenth.
The sword did not break.