Ch.184Knight (5)

For each demon, the core part varies greatly, but for demons with human-like appearances, that core was the heart. When the heart burst, demons would collapse, unable to maintain their form.

Thud, thud, thud…

Orgis’s body melted away.

Black sludge pooled on the floor with a splat. In a few minutes, even this sludge would evaporate, erasing all traces of the demon’s existence. This state was commonly referred to as “vanquishing a demon.”

But Najin knew.

In fact, others probably knew as well.

This wasn’t so much vanquishing as “suspending” a demon’s activities, and in time—a hundred years at most, a few decades at least—the demon would resurrect.

“Demons are inherently immortal beings. Conventional methods can’t give them eternal death.”

Merlin shrugged.

Then she glanced at Najin.

“Unless there are exceptions, of course.”

Najin silently drew up his sword energy.

With a faint sound, the tip of the sword energy turned platinum. Before Argo could notice the light, Najin thrust his sword into the sludge the demon had left behind.

The platinum sword energy touched the demon’s soul.

Platinum sword energy was like a natural enemy to demons. Najin’s sword energy, integrated with Excalibur, possessed properties partially similar to Excalibur itself.

The sword energy that made possible the contradiction of killing an immortal demon burned the demon’s soul.

Sssssssssss!

With a sound of evaporation, the sludge began to boil. The demon-turned-sludge had no mouth, no hands, no feet, but it looked as if it were screaming and struggling.

“Hmm? What are you doing?”

“Nothing much.”

“Well… As I expected, we can’t recover the masterpiece.”

“What do you mean it’s impossible to recover?”

“That’s how masterpieces are. They don’t break, but when they become too corrupted or malfunction, they disappear. Just like demons.”

They vanish without a trace, then suddenly appear somewhere on the continent. That’s what Argo said.

“Why do you think Bookmark was found in a rural village library? That’s how it works. Usually, they’re found near someone closely related to the previous owner, but in Bookmark’s case, who knows? Everything’s too mixed up now.”

Argo shook his head.

“……”

Najin silently looked down at the demon’s sludge. Indeed, there was nothing resembling the Bookmark to be seen.

Sssssss…

As the sludge completely evaporated, Najin withdrew his sword energy. Lightly dusting off his sword, Najin glanced at the blackened floor with contemptuous eyes.

Did you think you could escape like that?

The demon’s soul that tried to flee without paying the price burned to ashes. Najin exhaled deeply and rotated his stiff arms to loosen them.

‘That ended more easily than expected.’

An ancient demon, one that swallowed a masterpiece, composed of dozens of knights… Hearing those descriptions, Najin had anticipated a difficult battle. But contrary to his expectations, the fight ended smoothly and simply.

‘Was it perhaps weaker than rumored?’

-No? It was exactly as strong as you heard. Maybe even a bit stronger.

‘Really? It seemed rather weak for that.’

-You know.

Merlin looked at Najin in disbelief.

-After coming to the Outer Continent, you’ve fought fallen stars, undead monsters who’ve lived for centuries, transcendents… Your sense of scale has become warped.

She pressed her finger firmly against Najin’s forehead.

-A demon like that would be a nightmare for ordinary knights. It was actually much stronger than the Red Dragon you nearly died fighting.

‘That strong?’

-Yes, that strong. Your perception is skewed because you’ve grown too quickly.

Thinking about it, it made sense that his perception would be distorted. The opponents he’d faced since coming to the Outer Continent had been monstrously strong. Moreover, whenever he defeated a strong opponent, an even more monstrous one would appear, and after defeating that one, an even more terrifying opponent would emerge.

After repeatedly experiencing such encounters, it was natural that a gap would form between Najin’s perception of his own strength and the objective standard.

“Finally, it’s over.”

As the situation was resolved.

Argo exhaled deeply and looked up at the sky.

“Finally, I’ve had my revenge.”

Argo’s voice was light as he muttered those words, and a refreshed smile formed on his lips. Najin followed Argo’s gaze and looked up.

A new star was rising in the sky.

It was Argo’s second star. Not a star earned simply for defeating a strong enemy, but one obtained by resolving a long-held grudge.

“You’ve gained a star. Congratulations.”

“Thank you. And you? Did you gain a star too?”

Najin shook his head and pointed to the sky. There, four stars were shining. The faint outline of a fifth star beside them showed no change.

“Ah… I see. Well, the more stars you have, the harder it is to gain new ones, so that’s natural. But four stars at your age? It feels unreal every time I see it.”

Unreal. Unreal indeed.

Argo chuckled as he muttered this. Then, pointing to a corner of the city, he said:

“Let’s walk a bit. I think we have things to discuss.”

What things?

To Najin’s question, Argo briefly replied:

“About Ivan.”

2.

At first, he hadn’t realized, but by now, Najin couldn’t help but notice. Argo seemed to know about Ivan and that Najin was Ivan’s disciple.

‘Well, my initial alias was Ivan after all.’

Perhaps he had noticed from the beginning.

And though he hadn’t known it then, during the process of vanquishing the knight demon, Najin could confirm it. The demon Ivan had talked about while drinking was indeed “Knight Demon Orgis,” and the companion skilled at parrying was none other than Argo.

“I had a colleague named Ivan.”

Argo said as they walked through the city.

“He was promising. The strongest among our peers, and not inferior even compared to our seniors. Not only was he talented, but his character wasn’t bad either. People always surrounded him.”

Argo walked, retracing his memories.

“He was our focal point. My colleagues and I used to say, half-jokingly, half-seriously: if any of us were to gain a star first, it would be him.”

“By star, you mean…”

“Yes, not a metaphor or a position, but a real star in the sky.”

Looking up, stars could be seen.

Then, as now, stars shone in the sky, seemingly within reach.

“Embrace honor. Maintain pride. Chase the stars.”

Words Ivan used to mutter habitually.

“The Knight Who Chases Stars. That was his nickname. Half of it was mockery, implying he ‘dreamed of the impossible’… The other half was reverence for his constant pursuit of challenges.”

Argo recounted Ivan’s achievements and what kind of knight he was. Listening to the story, Najin couldn’t help but smile. So the boasts at the drinking table weren’t just empty talk.

“As such incidents repeated, the mockery in the name ‘The Knight Who Chases Stars’ disappeared. It no longer seemed like an absurd dream; it felt like he might actually grab a star if given the chance.”

But, Argo smiled bitterly.

“In the end, it became mockery again.”

“……”

“He became a criminal and fell to a place where stars couldn’t be seen.”

Underground city Attman.

The place where the star-chasing knight had fallen.

“What was his crime?”

“I’d like to tell you, but I can’t. The Order has forbidden it, making it taboo to even mention the incident. However…”

However, Argo said:

“Ivan challenged. He didn’t settle for his place but challenged and failed. As a result of that failure, he became a criminal.”

Argo smiled bitterly.

“Some knights talk about it as they please.”

“……”

“He acted foolishly. He crossed the line. He reached for the unreachable. He should have known his limits. Why such a foolish act? With a golden future ahead, why did he do such a thing…”

Argo’s expression crumpled as he muttered.

“They say such bullshit.”

For the first time, Argo used profanity.

“Isn’t that what knights are supposed to do? Dream high. Reach for the unreachable. If someone mocks you as foolish, charge forward declaring it romance. Isn’t that the privilege of knights?”

He spoke as if singing.

“Even if you fall after failure, even if you kneel in defeat, those cowards who don’t even dare to challenge have no right to mock that failure and defeat. None at all.”

“……”

“Even if that story ends there…”

“No.”

Najin interrupted Argo.

“It didn’t end.”

“If it didn’t end, then what?”

“That story. The tale of the Knight Who Chases Stars has never ended.”

Argo’s gaze turned to Najin.

Najin could meet the expectation in that gaze.

“A single human life, not being a transcendent, is too short to contain one story. Even for transcendents, it’s the same. Didn’t even the great hero King Arthur fail to conclude his own story?”

If so, Najin said:

“If one life is impossible, then two; if two are impossible, then the next… Humans have continued stories this way. Countless histories prove this. Ivan merely did the same.”

Najin raised his hand. At the tip of his finger were stars. Four stars shining brilliantly.

“I am here.”

I, who received that story, am here.

Pointing to his stars, Najin said:

“I was taught by Ivan, learned swordsmanship from Ivan, and made a promise with Ivan.”

“What did you promise?”

“To reach the highest place. To stand at the highest point and proclaim from there.”

Though not yet at the highest place. Using his upward-pointing stars as evidence, Najin declared:

“That Ivan was at the beginning of my story.”

That I am here today because of you.

“That there was a knight named Ivan who chased stars.”

To this answer, Argo was silent.

The silence didn’t last long.

He rubbed his face and burst into laughter.

“Yes.”

He said with laughter:

“That is indeed the privilege of knights.”

Argo rummaged through his belongings.

What he pulled out was a piece of paper.

“Now is the appropriate time.”

A paper bearing the imperial emblem and the Atanga emblem. Holding that paper, Argo proclaimed:

“I, Knight Argo of Atanga, on behalf of the Empire’s Sun and the Atanga Knights, ask you this.”

Najin knew what that question would be.

Knowing this, Najin’s eyes couldn’t help but widen.

“You, boy who dreams of knighthood.”

Argo asked Najin.

The first question of the knighting ceremony.

“What do you believe a knight to be?”

3.

What is a knight?

It’s an extension of a dialogue they once had. On the day they first met, Najin had answered the same question. Now, after time had passed, Najin answered:

“One who doesn’t lose pride.”

The same answer as before, yet slightly different.

“One who never yields, who fears loss but doesn’t stop out of fear. One who always looks up and steps forward.”

Najin raised his head.

“One who embraces honor, maintains pride, and chases stars.”

Najin said:

“That is the knight I aspire to be.”

To this answer, Argo smiled. A pleased smile. He lightly touched Najin’s shoulder with his raised sword.

“Easy to say, hard to keep. Words alone have no value. But you, through your actions, have given value to your words. The most precious value.”

Argo knows.

What Najin has done in the Outer Continent. He heard the stories behind those stars through the imperial court.

“I know that you have returned honor to those who lost it, pride to those who lost it, and given those who ceased to be knights a chance to be knights again.”

Referring to these achievements, the head of Atanga, Godif, said:

“He makes knights knightly. He helps them regain their lost honor and pride. If we don’t call such a person Atanga, who else would we call Atanga?”

Also, the Emperor said:

“You have admirably kept your promise.”

“Then I too must keep mine.”

Both the imperial court and the Atanga Knights agreed. Argo was the final supervisor, and he had essentially made his decision from the moment he first met Najin.

“You who make knights knightly.”

Argo proclaimed:

“You are indeed a knight.”

Collapsed buildings, a ruined city.

There are no cheers. No onlookers. But what do such things matter? Najin’s heart beat loudly.

“The Empire’s Sun and the guardian of knights, the Atanga Knights, guarantee that you are a knight. From today, you are a knight. A free knight bound by nothing. Protect what you believe is right. You have that right.”

Argo took a deep breath.

Up to here, he had merely conveyed words on behalf of the imperial court and the Atanga Knights. What follows comes from a knight named Argo.

“Rise, knight.”

Najin stood up.

Argo offered his hand for a handshake.

“I am Argo. Argo of the Atanga Knights.”

He introduced himself to Najin.

After the introduction, he asked a question:

“What is your name?”

A question whose answer had been postponed.

Even when the whole world chanted Najin’s name, Argo never uttered it. Because he had not yet heard that name from the boy’s own lips.

“Then I shall hear the answer to this question after you become a knight.”

“When you become a knight with honor and pride, will you then tell me your name?”

Since he hadn’t yet heard the answer to his question.

Remembering that day, Najin smiled. He also felt joy. Now he could reveal his name before this proud knight.

“My name is Najin.”

Najin revealed his name.

“Free Knight, Najin.”

“Pleased to meet you, Sir Najin.”

Najin and Argo shook hands.

Not as superior and subordinate, but as equals.

Free City Pavanne.

In the city once occupied by the knight demon, the demon is gone. What remains are two knights. The two knights burst into laughter.