Surviving as a Knigh Chapter 137 : Chapter 137

Chapter 137

“He is a monster incarnate.”

The white-bearded old man looked at the young man who had clashed with him for a full 100 days without a single day of rest.

The young man had gained enlightennt after the ordeal of the past 100 days and was now lying face down on the floor, unconscious.

“Perhaps, I am facing a true legend, the likes of which this continent may never see again.”

He, who was once called the first Grand Master and the father of knights, had beco a Legendary Knight not only through his own efforts but also by a fate bestowed upon him by so unknown, great power.

Of course, looking back then, it was an unavoidable choice, and he still believed that moving according to fate was the best course of action.

However, he did harbor a slight regret for not being able to forge his own path by his own will.

But this friend nad Karl yer, standing before him, had been pioneering his own destiny from the very beginning.

And every path he took was becoming a legend.

“Well, then. Shall I also lend a hand in shattering this thing called fate that has wielded

as it pleased?”

The old man smiled faintly and placed his hand on the back of the sleeping Karl.

And at that mont, a white light began to flow into Karl’s body.

“Now, what do you intend to do? Will you take my soul as well?”

The first Sword Master smiled brightly.

And his body, which had been standing ramrod straight just monts before, slowly began to scatter into light.

“May you achieve what you desire.”

With those last words, he vanished from the plaza as if he had never been there from the beginning.

***

Training with the old man was truly arduous.

It was a continuous series of penances with no foreseeable end, enough to make Karl, who had endured years of grueling training and real combat, faint.

However, Karl knew well that this mont was an unparalleled opportunity for learning.

Unlike Karl, who had learned from various people without a proper master and grown, he was soone who had reached the supre state of Grand Master through orthodox ans.

The First Knight, Cain Bellatrix.

That was the na of the old man who was the master of this tomb and who had left everything to Karl and departed.

The concept of aura, the concept of Master, all could be said to have originated from Cain.

Karl recognized that he had obtained an enormous fortuitous encounter.

‘Co to think of it.’

From the mont he opened his eyes, he felt a refreshing energy circulating throughout his body.

An unidentifiable feeling.

However, Karl felt that this energy, which harmonized with him without any sense of incongruity, was similar to the old man’s power.

‘Did he leave a gift?’

It was a colossal power of a kind that could never have arisen on its own.

Karl recognized that the old man had bestowed so grace upon him.

Karl, who had risen, slowly bowed towards the place where the old man had been.

Once, twice, three tis, and after a total of nine bows, Karl substituted his gratitude with a final lowering of his head.

‘I will consider you my master.’

The mont Karl inwardly expressed his gratitude to Cain, the cave was engulfed in a brilliant light.

[Will you advance your class according to the system’s arrangent?]

These system bastards, in a way, had a rather consistent side to them.

Karl chuckled and shook his head.

“I will not.”

Previously, this one phrase would have brought down all sorts of harassnt from the system, from gravitational pressure to various other tornts, but this ti, no kind of pressure was imposed on him.

rely.

[User has refused the designated 2nd class advancent. Special class advancent conditions have been t. Advancing to Free Knight (Unique).]

A second class advancent to Free Knight (Unique) felt like a forced fit.

Rather, Karl thought that this seemingly clumsy second class advancent was better, as it made him feel that the system couldn't control his life as it pleased.

After this class advancent, there was no physical reconstruction like last ti.

Even without such external changes, much had already changed due to Cain’s teachings.

“Uhm!”

The brilliant light that had enveloped the cave disappeared, and just as he felt a very slight dizziness, Karl found himself standing on the tombstone he had first entered.

The place that had clearly been a giant steel tombstone when he entered had now turned into ordinary earth.

He didn’t know how much ti had passed, but looking at his comrades strewn about nearby, it seed that only a fleeting mont had passed here.

“Euheoeoeoam.”

Absurdly, what brought Karl, who had awakened from a very long dream spanning over half a year, back to reality was Diogo, yawning languidly with a sowhat foolish expression.

“No, Commander, why are you like that? By the way, why am I sleeping here? Are we resuming the search?”

“No, the job is done. We’re returning.”

Karl smiled at Diogo’s foolish expression and then turned around.

“Yes? What did we do to be returning? I don’t think I did anything other than take a nap…?”

Karl, leaving the foolish-looking Diogo behind, began to descend Mount Peto.

The others, who had also fallen asleep and awakened like him, hurriedly followed Karl.

“My lord, let’s go together!”

Diogo, who had been making a foolish face just monts before, also rushed breathlessly after Karl.

***

“There is an increasing number of people who voluntarily wish to beco servants of God.”

“That is a good phenonon.”

Patrick had shed his spider mask and grandly created an anti-imperialist alliance called Postasia, but their fundantal nature hadn’t changed.

They, who used to wear spider masks and use people as sacrifices for human offerings, were still continuing their work.

However, now they were officially gathering volunteers under the na of “servants of God” and preparing them as sacrifices.

Outwardly, they deceived people as if they were creating a utopia, while behind the scenes, they sought to obtain dark power by offering living sacrifices.

They selected those likely to beco sacrifices through a screening process, as if these servants of God were chosen ones, and outwardly made it seem as if they were being treated well.

They provided good clothes, good food, and good houses, making everyone wish to beco a servant of God.

And when they disappeared, they attached the absurd pretext that they were working separately in a sanctuary.

Nevertheless, those who were uneducated and driven to the brink were srized by the outward appearance and yearned to beco servants of God, as if ready to offer everything they had.

And in such a Postasia, a man wearing a robe was walking around.

“…”

Indifferent eyes.

Tightly closed lips.

Handso features.

Dark brown hair.

The man with a sturdy physique was walking the streets, scanning people’s faces.

‘What’s so good about it?’

To the man, this place was strange.

It felt like, what should he call it, a whirlwind of madness.

Perhaps because it was a place where desperate people from all over the continent ca, the longing in their hearts felt like it was raging in this small city.

Marco, the man who was observing his surroundings with his mouth shut, was trying to understand the existence of humans while wandering the world.

‘I don’t want to understand.’

He, a half-human, half-elf born when his elven father raped his human mother in his childhood, had been abandoned by both his mother and father and had grown up wandering the world.

Kkoreureuk.

He was hungry.

It had been quite so ti since he had eaten, as the travel money earned from occasional rcenary work and various odd jobs had run out.

“Uhm.”

He felt his head spin from the extre hunger that washed over him.

‘I should sit down for a bit.’

He sat down on the street and slowly caught his breath.

“Mister, are you hungry? A servant of God must help people.”

Next to him, who was sitting and soothing his tired body and hunger, a small girl squatted down and looked at him.

“This.”

The child handed him a warm piece of bread she held in her hand.

Gulp.

To beg from a small child, Marco shook his head.

“You eat it.”

“No, I’m a servant of God, so I have lots to eat. This is for the hungry mister to eat.”

The girl’s bright eyes were truly pure.

At the child’s kindness, Marco found himself smiling, sothing he rarely did.

He had been abandoned and had no affection for either humans or elves, but he didn’t dislike the pure kindness of a child.

“Thank you, I’ll eat it well.”

Marco took the bread the child gave him and took a large bite.

The bread was truly delicious, as if it had been baked not long ago.

It was good quality food for the first ti in a long while.

“Cheer up, mister.”

The child patted Marco’s shoulder with her tiny hand.

Marco found her actions quite cute and chuckled, nodding his head.

“Only chosen people can beco servants of God. The Arthur Domain, where the Knight of the Lighthouse is, is a place where people aren’t hungry and are happy, so try going there.”

The child, with a worldly innocent expression, said sothing uncharacteristic of a child and left.

Marco laughed, finding it a bit absurd.

He had heard stories about the Knight of the Lighthouse, Count Karl the Savior, on his way here.

‘Rumors are just rumors, though.’

He was soone who had experienced countless tis how ugly the truth behind rumors could be.

By the way.

The child just now said she was a servant of God.

Coincidentally, the request he had received from the Order this ti was an investigation into the servants of God.

Umul umul.

He popped the remaining piece of bread into his mouth and cautiously walked in the direction the child had gone.

***

“To beco a servant of God is to be granted the honor of dedicating everything one has to Lord Decarabia. Lord Decarabia has eyes that see all things and will provide you with eternal blessings.”

The figure, dressed in a white robe and speaking majestically like a true ssenger of God, distributed warm food to those gathered, known as servants of God, and conducted a kind of spiritual education for them.

People were initially lured by the food, and later by the continuous education, and soon transford into believers with a blind faith in Postasia.

“Who will go to serve as a faithful servant today?”

“I will do it!”

“No! Please let

do it!”

Having beco fanatics, they clamored to be chosen, unaware of their predetermined fate.

“ too, oop…?”

Just as a girl, who looked to be about eight years old, was about to raise her hand high, her parents, who were beside her, covered her mouth.

“Be quiet…!”

The child’s parents knew well that no one who had left to serve as a faithful servant had ever returned.

By the ti the child’s parents noticed sothing strange and tried to leave this place, they realized that they were already surrounded by watchful eyes everywhere.

“Oh…! It is comndable that a young child has the heart to serve as a faithful servant.”

The man in the white robe had already witnessed the brief mont when the child first raised her hand and then had it lowered by her parents.

“Ah, the child is young.”

“I know, I know very well. There is nothing a child cannot do in the service of a faithful servant. You have nothing to worry about and just need to believe in Lord Decarabia.”

The mont the man in the white robe smiled as he spoke, his eyes turned yellow, and his pupils disappeared and then returned.

In that fleeting mont, the child’s parents felt a chill and unknowingly hugged their child.

“No… we… we cannot live without our child.”

“Didn’t I tell you not to worry? You will be able to see the child again soon. What are you doing, not taking her away.”

“No… not our child! No!”

Even though the parents scread, a group of more than 10 people had already separated the parents from the child, and the parents began to be dragged away sowhere.

“Mommy, Daddy, why can’t you be faithful servants?”

“That, my dear, is because Lord Decarabia has specially chosen you.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

At the words of the man in the white robe, the girl forgot about being separated from her parents and smiled brightly for a mont.

And that day, the girl, with all her blood drained, beca a pale corpse and was discarded in an incinerator.

As they had said a little while ago, they also killed the parents so that they could et their child, and threw them next to the girl.

“…”

Marco was looking at the girl who had given him warm bread about two weeks ago.

The girl, who had a worldly pure smile, had all her blood drained and was discarded on top of a secret incinerator.

“…”

He thought that for the first ti in a long while, an emotion called anger was boiling up from within him.

Even though he hadn't ford much connection with people for many long years, he was feeling a forgotten emotion in the face of the death of the girl who had approached him with pure goodwill, without any malice.

“Arthur Domain, she said.”

It seed he would be going to the place he had thought of visiting soday a little sooner.

After all, the branch of the Order that had requested him to investigate Postasia was there.

And that day, Marco, who was secretly leaving this place, departed for the Arthur Domain with two families whose escape coincidentally overlapped on the sa day.