Silver Dawn Knights – 6

“……A woman, are you saying?”

“Yes, a woman.”

Though I was slightly flustered inwardly, I didn’t show it.

It was the same up to the point where the Lord subtly proposed a deal to the player, but the actual content of the deal was different from what I remembered. In the game, he had asked if I was interested in money or power.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“There’s no need to be pretentious. We’re both in the same boat. If you’re a human who committed a crime and was imprisoned there anyway, you’d know what I’m trying to say, wouldn’t you?”

I noticed that the Lord’s way of speaking had changed, even if only slightly, in that short moment. Perhaps it was because he was the one proposing cooperation to me, but his tone was a little more formal than before.

“…….”

As I didn’t answer rashly and maintained silence, the Lord wore a meaningful smile, as if he had taken it to mean something profound.

“Anyway, you just need to know that I have one thing I want to propose. Neither of us will ever lose anything. I guarantee it.”

“First, I will hear it and then decide.”

“No, the moment you hear this, you must be with me. And keep this in mind: I possess the power to cut you from the Knights with a single word. And I also have the authority to banish you so you can never set foot in this city again, or even imprison you completely. In that case, wouldn’t it be more advantageous to side with me?”

“Is that a threat?”

“No way. It’s just a proposal.”

“Then I will follow. Because there’s no need to think any further about which side I should stick to here.”

I intentionally answered without an inch of hesitation. Because this guy’s personality was to be strong against the weak and weak against the strong, he preferred humans with a vile personality just like his own.

“Good, good. You thought very well. As expected, people are comfortable when they are quick-witted. Especially guys like you.”

At my straightforward answer, the Lord wore a sly smile. His eyes, nose, and mouth were completely squashed, deeply buried in his cheek fat as if competing with each other.

It was a smile that made me want to punch him.

“Alright, then, shall we move on to the real story?”

After finishing the meeting with the Lord and even shaking hands as a sign of ‘I look forward to working with you,’ I left the reception room. His palm was disgustingly clammy and unpleasant, which certainly soured my mood, but I managed to endure it somehow.

I rubbed my palm vigorously against the wall to wipe it, and as I left the mansion, I mulled over the Lord’s proposal.

‘I had roughly expected it from the moment he asked if I liked women.’

It was the same that he ultimately wanted to completely destroy the Silver Dawn Knights, but the details were the exact opposite.

In the game, both the Lord and the Knight Commanders of the Silver Dawn Knights were men, so he would say he wanted to kill them by personally wielding a sword after greatly weakening their physical abilities by putting poison in their food.

The reward was a knight title in the Lord’s mansion.

But here, it was different. Putting poison in the Silver Dawn Knights’ food matched the game, but the purpose wasn’t to kill them directly, but to make the Knight Commanders sex slaves and possess them.

Since it was obvious they would suspect food he gave them, he told me to get close to the Knight Commanders, and if I came to the mansion, he would hand over the poison needed for the plan. And putting it in was something I had to do myself.

He even said that if the plan succeeded, he would give me a chance to ‘taste’ the Silver Dawn Knights.

‘He’s an incredibly arrogant guy.’

The fact that he didn’t put any restrictions on me while ordering such a thing, and that he thought I would naturally follow his words faithfully, unable to overcome my desires-it was utterly arrogant.

Even in the game, there was an option to immediately expose this proposal to the Knight Commander as soon as it was received, so that hopeless personality could be said to be official from the developers.

‘Well, I won’t do that, though.’

However, to kill the Lord, I had to keep it a secret from everyone for now. If I exposed the plan as is, it would simply end with that guy being banished to another region.

Furthermore, after being banished in that way, he would hold a grudge against the protagonist and persistently interfere in every quest related to the story.

You only know how awful it feels when you experience it yourself. Because a truly inexpressible fucking awfulness washes over you.

“Are you alright?!”

As I stepped out of the mansion door, Iris, who had been leaning against the wall with an anxious expression, waiting for me, immediately ran over. Judging by the urgency clearly visible on her face, it seemed she was quite worried about me.

“As you can see. I’m perfectly fine.”

“Really, are you certain?”

“Of course. He did ask questions in the middle, as if trying to dig something out, but I just answered to ask you. After repeating that a few times, he gave up.”

“You did well. Yes, you really did well. By any chance, were you threatened to leave the Knights?”

“If that had been the case, I wouldn’t be standing here so calmly.”

“That’s a relief…… a relief.”

Iris let out a sigh of relief, “Haa.” It seemed she had truly suffered quite a lot from that Lord until now.

“First, let’s return to the Knights.”

“Okay, I understand.”

Iris constantly worried about me even while riding back to the dormitory. All the hardships she had suffered from that guy until now were revealed on her face.

Now, in about two weeks at most, it would be a worry she wouldn’t have to deal with anymore.

‘Is this the ability confirmation orb?’

The day after meeting the Lord, I followed Iris and stood in front of the ability confirmation orb. Next to it, Rije and Erica were making excited expressions.

Just like in the game, it was a sky-blue orb the size of a human head, placed on a red cushion. It was set as a magical artifact that, if you put your hand on its surface, would convert the target’s physical abilities into objective numerical values.

Even in the game, there was no explanation of who made this. It was merely said that a renowned archmage of the past created it, and all the ones circulating now were merely replicas that faithfully copied it.

Since I already knew how to use the orb, I placed my hand on its surface without hesitation. The orb flickered, and a blue light source scanned my body. Soon after, numbers appeared on the orb.

[Level] 4(+3)

[Health] 1

[Mana] 1

[Faith] 1

[Endurance] 1

[Proficiency] 1

[Strength] 1

[Magic Power] 1

[Divine Power] 1

[Durability] 1

“…….”

I had expected it to some extent, but as I confirmed with my own eyes the splendid stats, where everything was listed as only 1 except for the level that rose by 3 with the experience gained from catching the human butcher, my heart became heavy.

If it were other past actions, I would have started at least from Level 10.

This reaction was no different for the other three. Not only Rije, who was naturally lively, but even Erica and Iris were staring at the orb with wide eyes.

“Rookie, you…… how did you endure my attack?”

The first person to snap out of the shock was Rije.

“The fact that all your stats are 1, it’s even more shocking to see it in person, isn’t it? If the stat difference was this severe, no matter how good your skill was, you should have just lost. When our swords first clashed, your side should have been unilaterally repelled.”

“That’s right.”

“What do you mean ‘that’s right’? You didn’t do that, did you? How on earth did you do it?”

Even if you ask how I did it, I don’t know either. It was just possible in the game, so it’s just possible here too, but how on earth would I explain something like that?

‘It worked in the game,’ you say? That would be the perfect thing to say to be called a crazy person.

In BD4, no matter how severe the stat difference is, as long as you don’t fail a parry, the combat fatigue gauge never breaks. And I just never failed a parry.

Naturally, it was only possible to exchange blows with Rije regardless of the stat difference.

‘I’m not sure. Can I teach those three parrying combat?’

In the first place, something like perfectly timed parrying is a concept that doesn’t exist for NPCs. That was purely the exclusive property of players. Even if it was me, I couldn’t explain it theoretically.

Of course, if it’s a situation where I can teach, I would like to, but being able to use something and being able to teach something were distinctly separate.

‘Now that I think about it, I need to allocate stats.’

As I was looking at the splendid feast of 1s, it suddenly dawned on me. The number displayed as +3 next to the level. That was the number of times I could raise my stats.

But in reality, I couldn’t allocate stats because I was conscious of the gazes around me. If it was immediately revealed that I had raised my stats by just wiggling my fingers a few times, this place would be turned upside down.

In the game, of course, I could press Esc anytime to check and raise the character’s stats and skills, but not now. Just in case, I secretly tried calling out the status window, but nothing came out.

That meant that to allocate stats, this ability confirmation orb was absolutely necessary. It felt like re-experiencing the sensibility of BD1.

Experiencing such an uncomfortable sensibility again was something I wanted to refuse.

“……!”

At that moment, Iris flinched as if sensing something, then sharply turned her head.

“Claudia has returned.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yes. She has almost arrived at the castle’s main gate now. It seems I should go out and see.”

Before I could even ask how on earth she knew Claudia had returned, Iris hastily headed outside, and Erica followed her.

Rije tried to grab my hand and pull me out, as if trying to stick by my side until the end, but I forcibly sent her ahead, saying I would follow soon.

And after confirming that no one was around, I dumped all my stats into ‘Divine Power’ and quickly chased after the three of them.