1010. Didn’t you say you didn’t have the capacity for that?
Prok is a race that possesses the ability to judge the beauty and ugliness of humans and pursues their aspirations; in Prok’s eyes, Encred passed the test in appearance and his actions were excellent.
Moreover, after fighting him briefly, he was a fellow who hadn’t even properly begun the transformation of Will’s purity contained within his body.
But you fight this well?
A fighting spirit, one step ahead of winning or losing, sent a tingling sensation through my skin. It was a will that made a species abhorrent even the mention of the word “heart” feel that very spot. Moreover, the intention was pure. ”
Let’s fight again”—I could see and hear it without words being spoken. He was a fellow like a blazing flame.
“Hey, change your mindset. Why the hell are you living like a minion of the devil?”
Prok was getting ready to fight, yet his tone was gentle and soothing. Only then did Trimache intervene and shout.
Allies!
She was so surprised that she let out a single scream.
“what?”
When Rem asked back, Trimache spoke in a slightly clearer tone.
“I am one of the Four Great Knights of the Empire.”
“This foul-mouthed Frog?”
Rem asked back without taking his eyes off him, and Trimache spoke, this time meeting Frock’s eyes.
“It is the King and the Knights’ party from the continent.”
“What? Who is coming?”
It was a story Prok knew absolutely nothing about. After all, wasn’t he chasing a mad witch named Malapais or whatever, under the Emperor’s special orders?
Trimache understood the overall situation. She didn’t know why Knight Prok had suddenly swung his sword, but since that was a matter of misunderstanding she was unaware of, she let it slide.
Why are you fighting?
She is a fairy. She was in such a hurry that she shouted the two words “ally” as if shooting a wind arrow, but in any case, she quickly regained her composure.
You probably didn’t know because you were in the middle of a special mission.
Prok still stood between the four, and the four Mad Knights did not let their guard down.
It was Prok who abruptly swung his sword. Encred remained silent. Prok stared intently at Trimache. Although he had swung his sword without warning, it was a face he certainly recognized. After all, she was one of the Emperor’s daughters.
“By the way, what are you doing here?”
So I asked. Though I suppose I should say I asked only now.
I was chasing the witch who creates the Malapais phenomenon.
Upon hearing the answer, Frock withdrew his fighting spirit. The momentum that had been subtly weighing down the surroundings vanished in an instant.
“Ah, I killed that.”
That was what he said.
Encred quietly watched him, gathering his thoughts, but well, there wasn’t much to think about.
They had been chasing them, but the Empire wasn’t a fool; they wouldn’t have just let things like the “Three Villains” go unpunished.
They were troublesome foes for the Knights to pursue, so they had to be hunted down and killed by a small number of knights, which is what they were doing.
The knight Prok standing before him was the sword meant to deal with the Three Villains named Malapais. That was the reason these two had met here.
And Prok wasn’t a fool either. He had been chasing the witch for over half a year already. He had been waiting for an opening, and this time it happened, so he had struck her down.
At the last minute, she had unleashed every curse imaginable, screaming at the top of her lungs that she had summoned a sword to kill him and that he should go and die by her blade, so he had taken action against those who approached her abruptly.
The witch had also devised her own plan. She wanted them to fight the guys chasing her and die together since they were going to die anyway. Of course, that failed.
Anyway, Prok accepted and understood the situation.
Because they chased.
So that is how it turned out. That is the conclusion.
Foul-mouthed Prok, his name is Kahal. His original title bestowed upon him by the Emperor was Kahal of the Tongue Thorn.
Considering his mannerisms, I believe it was an appropriate choice, but to someone who didn’t know him, the Emperor’s naming might have seemed half-hearted. And it still was.
“A guest? I am Kahal of the Tongue Thorn.”
It was a greeting that forgot the sudden swing of the sword and the curses spat out just moments ago. Encred listened to Prok’s words and replied with only his lips.
“A thorn in the tongue?”
“The Emperor said I have a thorn in my tongue.”
“And what are the Four Great Knights of the Empire?”
Rem asked, his eyes still fixed on Frock. To be honest, he was the best among the guys he had fought recently. Moreover, it was an intimidation he hadn’t even felt from the Knight Commander.
That bastard was devious.
Come to think of it now, even the Imperial Knight Commander was hiding his true power. One might have thought that the Floch in front of him was the real power behind the scenes and the Commander was just a figurehead, but that thought didn’t cross his mind at all.
Rem listened to the words his instincts told him to hear from within.
“The Empire has many knights. Compared to the Continent, that is. Among them, there are four whose skills are recognized—these are the Empire’s Four Great Knights. One of them is the foul-mouthed Sir Prok Cahal.”
Trimache spoke while maintaining a calm demeanor. There was no falsehood in her words. She simply spoke the facts with composure. In this light, she was certainly a fairy. She had gone through many things that would have been alarming, yet she remained composed.
Encred also understood why she was so composed.
I’ve seen guys like this around often.
The Mad Knights’ military power was surprising, but not to the point of being terrifying.
That’s surprising.
In that respect, the same goes for Sinar. She was surprised to see the peculiar individual known as the Frog Knight, but she spoke calmly.
Just by looking at him, wasn’t he an opponent whom even the Indulus, the change of the Four Seasons, couldn’t guarantee a victory against?
“Did I perhaps get overconfident?”
Sinar asked himself. The answer came immediately. No, he had never done so.
If asked why, he would answer that it was because of his fiancée.
Encred had never been arrogant. He had never gauged the level of the Imperial Knights, nor did he dwell much on winning or losing.
Once he determined whether they were enemies or not, he simply identified who was an interesting opponent and who was a boring fellow, and fought as if it were a game.
So he was no different. It was the same for the others. Even by his own cold and objective self-assessment, the Prok before him was more than a disaster—he was a monster.
Whoosh.
Rem whistled and said.
“He’s pretty good.”
“He seems to like fighting, and you have the face of someone who likes fighting, too.”
Kahal looked at Rem and spoke. “Encred, it’s obvious since you suddenly asked, ‘You like fighting, don’t you?'” “Physiognomy? Appearance?” Rem met Frock’s eyes with a questioning look.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard that I look like I like to fight.”
“Don’t you look in the mirror?”
Prok sees the beauty and ugliness of humans. For the first time in a long while, Rem spoke, pouring all the sincerity and genuine emotion welling up from deep within his heart.
“It seems like your eyes are broken, Prok. I’m the best-looking one, you know. I don’t have the look of someone who likes to fight.”
“I really believe that.”
Temares notarized those words. Encred was unfazed. Amusingly, it was Trimache who reacted to them.
So, you’re the one who hurts your eye.
Enkrid possesses a rare appearance, even for a fairy. Moreover, it is the unwavering will within him that makes him shine even brighter than his looks.
When it comes to the ability to read the intensity of one’s will, she surpassed Sinar.
“Count Coty said I am the Knight of the Year.”
Encred spoke to Kahal as if nothing were wrong.
“So what?”
“Why did they choose me over you?”
“Simply put, I’m like a rising star. I can’t even remember how many years it’s been since I was called one of the Empire’s Four Great Knights. It means that bastard Coty couldn’t have chosen me.”
Kahal spoke with an indifferent attitude and sheathed his sword. His loop sword slipped into a uniquely shaped leather scabbard. It was not a snug fit, but rather designed to be gently pushed into a wide opening and tightened by pulling a strap.
There was a thudding sound as the sword went into the scabbard.
Encred’s gaze shifted from the frock to the weapon he held for the first time. It was a sword that had already caught his eye before it had been scabbard.
With a rough, wide cross-section, yet thin and sharp, it was his loop sword and his imprinted weapon.
Mine is ‘today’.
It was said abruptly, but no one failed to understand.
“That’s peculiar. I’m calling it ‘abusive language.’”
It was a name that suited him perfectly. He is a knight who never hides himself, whether in his name or his aura.
To use the Order of the Mad Knights as an example, should I say he is similar to Ragnar?
“Aren’t prog knights rare?”
“Yeah, they are rare. But they aren’t non-existent.”
“Besides you?”
“I have about two more under me. But their skills are nowhere near your level. They aren’t on your level, but they’re about the same as the Emperor’s daughter over there.”
“Is it purity?”
Even to the abrupt question, Cahal and Prok answered without hesitation. It was like a conversation between old friends, or as if they had met specifically for this conversation.
“That’s right. I haven’t been able to change everything; it’s still a work in progress. What swirls inside the body doesn’t change completely all at once. You, hmm, are just at the beginning, and it seems you’ve developed in a different way. Are you Indules? It might be a bit old-fashioned, but since there is no wrong path in the world, that’s fine in its own way.”
“Sparring?”
“Not here. I think you paid the price for that sword swing earlier with the words you just told me.”
I wondered why he was answering so readily, but Kahal was talking about the price for the insults and knife attacks from earlier.
“Everyone makes mistakes. It’s okay.”
“Hey, I’m not okay yet.”
Rem chimed in from the side, and Encred interpreted the words.
“This friend says he’s fine, too.”
“Me? You mean my ear is hurt?”
“He says you don’t need to worry about it.”
“Am I the one who’s weird? Did someone cast a hallucination spell? Huh?”
Kahal puffed out his cheeks and laughed. They were amusing people. They had said he had the face of a fighter, but even the guy swinging the axe was quite good-looking.
Frock had a weakness for things that were handsome, imposing, or beautiful, but he was exceptionally weak against humans with outstanding beauty.
It was a standard that did not apply to elves or other races.
If asked why, he would answer that elves are all beautiful on average, so their beauty does not stand out.
But humans are different. There are few pretty ones among them. That is why they are so valuable.
If gold nuggets were common, they would just become rocks. True silver, dark gold, and blue iron are precious because they are rare.
To Frock, a human’s beautiful appearance was like precious metals.
“Even knights make mistakes. That’s just how people are. It’s a simple truth, but the vast majority don’t understand it.”
Kahal replied, feeling naturally pleased. He had finished the work that had tied him down for half a year, and he liked the guy who had appeared before him.
“I know.”
Becoming a knight intoxicates one with a sense of omnipotence. Even if one feels a sense of despondency and breaks free, one still perceives oneself as someone who never makes mistakes; however, that is a shortcut to arrogance and conceit. One must break free from that to move forward.
“Who are the other three of the Four Great Knights?”
“Right, even I, in my hallucination, am curious. Besides, I asked earlier. You remember, right? You’re not talking about it without me, are you?”
Rem interrupted again. Kahal puffed out his cheeks even more as he answered. Both of them spoke lightly, but weren’t their eyes truly sparkling?
It was a question mixed with a competitive spirit, not just simple curiosity.
To be precise, it is three and one. That one is by the Emperor’s side.
It is easy to tell who is being referred to just by listening to the speech.
“Barley harvester?”
Sinar muttered. She, too, was a knight, and was full of interest in the conversation currently taking place.
“Bram Ritzer, he’s a monster.”
Prok is Prok. Judging by the way the commander of my knight order is called that.
One of the remaining three is me, one of the two is called Gale, and the other is called Little Giant.
Kahal answered everything obediently. Trimache found that sight quite refreshing. What Kahal was saying right now wasn’t a secret, but it wasn’t exactly something to answer obediently either.
Kahal was a fellow that every trainee in the Knights Order found difficult to deal with. If asked why, the answer would be that his tongue was so vicious. Yet ,
that tongue-thorn Kahal looked kind right now.
His softened demeanor wasn’t solely due to his appearance or a sense of relief.
Enkrid possessed a knack for reminding one of one’s past self, even after facing him only briefly. His will and attitude were like that. Kahal was no different.
Watching the actions of that fellow Enkrid, he was inexplicably reminded of the moment he first held a sword.
That stimulated a specific part of his body. The part hidden by his breastplate throbbed.
“But did the Emperor order you to do this? The Emperor’s training grounds are nice. Let’s play there.”
Kahal spoke again, and Enkrid nodded in response.
I didn’t do it because I was told to; I just ended up doing it while chasing after it.
The more I hear the story, the more I like it. I mean, he went berserk after seeing the dead and chased them away.
The Three Villains of the Empire, one of the three ominous incidents has been concluded.
* * *
Didn’t you say you didn’t have the capacity for that?
The news spread in an instant. Guided by Trimache, the Emperor learned of the death of the witch, who had been a minion of the devil, and asked the King of the Continent, whom he faced again today, a
question with a smile in his eyes while resting one hand on his chin.
Hadn’t he surely said before that he didn’t have the time or leeway to deal with those Three Villains or whatever they were?
As if he hadn’t heard the Emperor, Krang simply spat out the words he had prepared.
“Now, I told you I’d do it, didn’t I? How is it, my skill in eliminating one of the Three Villains?”
At the words spoken with such confidence and puffed-out chest, the Knight Commander, Britt, muttered.
“When it comes to shamelessness, I think I’m even more shameless than Your Majesty.”
“Indeed. I’d concede to shamelessness.”
Although he could clearly hear their conversation, Krang did not change his expression at all. Only the head of the Royal Guard escorting him quietly bowed his head for no reason.
“Didn’t I say my driver would take care of it? Huh? Hahaha.”
Krang put on a black gold mask. The Emperor smiled. A truly amusing person became the King of the Continent.
