Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Even the Charismatic Knight Duke Has a Favorite
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Duke and Hana chatted about the past until their ordered meal arrived.
"Duke... do you really not remember me?"
Duke nodded calmly at her question.
No matter how hard he searched his memories, there was no trace of ever meeting her.
'There were so many battlefields I roamed back in my Opfir days.'
According to her, she had been on the same battlefield as Duke, as a high-ranking member of the resistance.
But back then, Duke had never mingled with the resistance fighters.
They had shared battlefields under the common goal of toppling the Empire, but they had never cooperated or even properly spoken.
So even knowing she was a resistance leader didn't make it easy for Duke to accept that she knew his true identity.
Reading his skepticism, she asked in a shy, creeping voice like a timid girl.
"Do you perhaps remember the battle at the Citadel in the Kazen Plains?"
Duke recalled the location without difficulty.
It was one of the top five most enjoyable battles from his Opfir days.
But even knowing the place, she still didn't come to mind.
She nodded at him as if it were only natural.
"I suppose you wouldn't. I only watched you from afar, after all."
Looking at the knight seated before her, she recalled that battlefield from back then.
*
The Empire's final years turned every corner of the nation into a warzone.
The Ain, oppressed under the Empire's ideology, rose up and formed liberation armies.
The common folk, exploited to the bone, took up farming tools and formed resistance groups.
Hana was one such resistance fighter.
Originally from what was now called the Eastern Allied Kingdoms, she had joined the resistance out of vengeance against the lord who killed her parents.
By secretly observing the training of other leaders, she broke through her first wall.
From a manual she self-studied from a knight she barely managed to fell on the battlefield, she shattered her second.
Having reached the third realm, she dominated battlefields by freely manipulating her shadow.
In knight terms, the third realm counted as upper-tier, making her a valuable asset to the resistance.
Shadow Princess.
That was the moniker given to her as a wanted resistance leader.
Having reached the third realm at an age incomparable to ordinary superhumans, her appearance fixed in her twenties, the superhumans called her "princess" due to her youth.
Perhaps it was jealousy toward a young upstart strutting around.
But she didn't care.
Her extended lifespan and eternally youthful beauty were outside her interests.
Her sole concern was that her dream was nearly within reach.
'Soon, I can create a territory where ordinary people can live without worry.'
Death held no fear for her since long ago.
She had a dream she was willing to die for.
Once that dream was fulfilled, she wouldn't care if her life ended then and there.
And to achieve the final step of that dream, she always headed to the battlefields.
But the first time she faced a fourth-realm knight on the battlefield, she realized she had been a frog in a well.
"Kuh!"
"Far too young to court death like this."
Said the knight who had forced her to her knees.
The siege of the Kazen Plains Fortress.
Before a fortress unbroken for 500 years since its creation, she met her first fourth-realm superhuman.
Emboldened by repeated victories in prior sieges, the resistance believed their leaders could unite to fell even a fourth-realm.
But it was a delusion.
The gap of a single realm was no small thing.
Not even several third-realm leaders combining forces could topple a seasoned fourth-realm.
Even more despairing was that this fourth-realm knight was merely the lord's subordinate.
In other words, to the lord who had reached the fifth realm, the resistance was little more than amusing entertainment.
As if to prove it, looking up revealed the lord and his retainers atop the walls, swirling wine glasses.
- "Bravo! Excellent!"
One retainer shouted toward the knight.
As if the resistance's stand against the knight was mere theater for their amusement.
She refused to accept this irrational reality.
Thus, using a spear conjured from shadow as a staff, she rose to her feet.
The knight, who had been saluting the spectators on the wall, turned his blade on her.
"What a pity for such a young life."
That was when it happened.
The moment she first encountered Opfir.
He appeared suddenly in the middle of the sunlit plain.
"A disadvantageous battlefield. A fine stage indeed. Mind if I join this war? No need to answer; it was rhetorical."
The serpent that devoured the land, Opfir.
Standing arrogantly with arms crossed atop a hill overlooking the field, he was truly the predator of that battlefield.
At his appearance, the fourth-realm knight who had been so smug moments ago fell into panic and shouted.
"It's the serpent! Everyone, retreat to the fortress!"
The knight didn't even finish her off before fleeing to the fortress.
The knight and his soldiers, who had embodied injustice itself until moments ago, now fled from a single man.
Opfir pursued the fleeing knights, remarking.
"Pathetic. To turn tail so easily just because the tables have turned."
Opfir's battle was pure domination.
With speed they couldn't react to, he overtook the knight's horse and dragged him down.
Seizing the knight's sword, he unleashed a one-sided massacre with swordsmanship too fast to follow.
With a single blade, Opfir dyed the plains red.
"Where— ack!"
Opfir, kicking up dust to serve as cover, continued slaughtering the soldiers.
The lord and retainers, who had watched the resistance die from the walls, paled and hid beyond them.
They barred the gates to save themselves, abandoning knight and soldiers to be hunted by Opfir.
The moment the knights who had slain their families and comrades for sport became the prey, the resistance erupted in fervent cheers toward Opfir.
Opfir ignored them, methodically dispatching the knights.
His demeanor seemed to say he sought no fame or glory.
Watching his silent back as he fought, the resistance felt admiration. Hana was no exception.
- "Open the gates! Let us in...!!"
Slash.
Amid agonized screams, Opfir beheaded the last knight left outside the fortress.
He nudged the fallen knight with his boot and said,
"Isn't camaraderie a knightly virtue? So much for the chivalry you boasted of."
Despite Opfir's taunt, the fortress gates remained shut in silence.
Opfir quietly gazed at the fortress gates.
Seeing her chance, Hana, who had watched his back, couldn't hold back and shouted.
"Let us hel—"
But before she could finish, Opfir cut her off.
"I need no followers. If you truly wish to aid me, take up arms."
With that, Opfir hurled spears stuck in the field at the walls.
Boom!
The spear embedded in the wall, shaking it as if struck by a trebuchet.
Completing a staircase of spear shafts, Opfir climbed them to vault over the wall.
Naturally, no resistance fighter possessed the skill to scale the walls that way.
In the end, they could only dumbfoundedly stare as Opfir breached the fortress alone.
Hana couldn't tear her eyes from the spot where he had stood.
And that day, as the 500-year unbeaten history of the fortress ended and its gates opened,
Admiration for Opfir bloomed in Yu Hana's heart.
As Hana reminisced, Duke had a similar recollection.
But his memory differed slightly from hers.
Up to slaying the knights on the Kazen Plains was the same.
The issue began just before Opfir scaled the fortress walls.
Opfir, standing atop the knights' corpses, gazing at the fortress gates.
'How should I breach it to stay in character?'
Flying over was easy, but lacked flair.
Opfir's character was the final boss: overwhelming speed, power, magic, and supreme technique.
If Duke was slow-strangling despair, Opfir was instant, crushing hopelessness.
Simply flying over with a spell snap felt undignified.
He needed something speedy, despair-inducing for the foe, awe-inspiring for the watching resistance.
As he pondered a cool performance, a resistance fighter shouted from behind.
"Let us hel..."
Opfir reflexively replied.
"I need no followers. If you truly wish to aid me, take up arms. And create more battlefields."
The latter part felt cut by wind, but Opfir ignored it, preparing to leap.
He hurled spears to form stairs and climbed over.
Thus showcasing not just brute strength but skill, he plunged into the fortress alone.
What followed inside was black history for Duke.
- "Come! An intruder! Lord! Show me your duty!"
- "Oh? You blocked that? Then how about this? Teach me a new tactic!"
- "More! Entertain me more!"
*
'Agh...'
Back to reality.
I squeezed my eyes shut as forgotten black history was thrust before me.
Back when I was gleefully rampaging under a throwaway identity.
Those words from then pierced my heart like daggers.
- "Hmph. The fun's spoiled."
Opfir always said this upon withdrawing from battle.
I thought it fit the war maniac Opfir.
'I never thought she'd recognize me!!'
I had my excuses.
To hide I was Opfir, I avoided Duke's signature psychokinesis.
Swordsmanship was swift, crushing strikes instead of Duke's restrained pressure.
Magic was only what I'd learned from my master or stolen from dragons.
No chance of detection; even fooled fellow 13 Reverse Heavenly Stars perfectly.
'But how did Hana...?'
After agonizing, I asked her.
"How did you uncover my identity? Is there anyone else who knows besides you?"
Having already slipped into Opfir's casual speech, I kept it up.
Taking my superior's attitude as natural, she shyly replied, unoffended.
"In my homeland, we observe a three-year mourning when a revered master passes. Surely you know of the Three-Year Mourning..."
I nodded, anxiously awaiting the rest.
'No way...'
"Then it's simple. It was three months after Opfir's official death. On my way back from gathering wood for dinner, I happened to see you emerge from his grave."
'Oh, Jesus.'
As she said, I'd officially killed off Opfir and secretly arranged a stone tomb burial.
The plan went smoothly; I waited three months inside to be sure.
(I'd considered three days but feared sparking a new cult if spotted, so generously three months.)
No one would hold Opfir's rites anyway, and no reason to wait three months out front.
The problem: Hana waiting three years at the grave.
'No wonder I saw a shack near the tomb.'
Thought it a beggar or wanderer; seeing it empty, I hurried away.
But the shack's owner was Hana.
And she spotted me returning from wood-gathering.
The rest unfolded predictably.
The Empire fell, replaced by hundreds of kingdoms.
Her resistance contributions could have made her a small kingdom's queen, but
- "I lack such ability."
She refused, taking only the modest Sneria territory.
(Though Sneria's size rivaled my past life's South Korea.)
Even as lord, Hana collected tales of the wandering knight Duke Awik over a century.
Sometimes newspapers, bards, informants.
Comparing Duke Awik's actions to Opfir's, she realized.
"Thinking back, Opfir was odd. He clamored for war but never sided with the Empire or attacked the weak."
"..."
"Always fighting for the weak, seeking no reward, even embracing infamy."
In her mind, Opfir was
"You haven't changed much since then, Duke."
'Cough!'
Her admiring gaze stabbed guilt into my heart.
'Ugh...'
No.
Not at all.
I fought for the weak because battling the mighty Empire looked fun.
Plus, since it was doomed anyway, no holds barred.
But facing her sparkling eyes...
'How can I tell her the truth to this face!'
Her eyes shone like a girl meeting her idol; I couldn't blurt the truth.
More so, I wanted to seem cooler before my ultimate fan.
Desperately racking my brain, I leaned into the misunderstanding.
"A shameful past."
I began packaging my Opfir days.
"An arrogant era when I thought I alone could forge peace."
Consciously lowering my voice, I bowed my head.
Hana couldn't look away from my helm.
"Sir..."
"I believed flesh would regrow over wounds carved by the blade. Foolish. I lacked the skill to heal or the responsibility."
"Then come to our Sneria territory now and..."
"Forgive me. I already swore loyalty to a liege."
Shocked, her shoulders trembled faintly.
"What manner of person is the one you serve...?"
"Khan. One who will claim titles beyond that."
Not a lie.
Rex would bask in glory surpassing the Conqueror Khan.
To salvage the darkening mood, I changed topics.
"Anyway, you're fourth-realm now. Must have trained hard."
The Hana I knew broke the fourth-realm wall without fortune or shortcuts.
No human sacrifices, no brewing people into elixirs, no exploiting or killing for insight.
No master, manual, or special blood.
Pure meditation and training over a century, while managing her territory!
'Other lords neglect governance for training and hobbies.'
Comparing her fourth-realm to others was an insult.
"A sage indeed. Your knights must feel honored."
She beamed at my words.
"Thank you, sir."
"No, thank you."
"Pardon?"
I gazed at her wide-eyed surprise.
I knew her struggles well.
While other lords reached fifth or seventh realms, her fourth-realm bred anxiety.
Was her path right? She constantly pondered.
Others ignored their territories, crushing dissent with overwhelming force.
She tended welfare, heeding even weak subjects' voices.
Proof: zealots silenced elsewhere grew bold in Sneria.
Yet she clung to her beliefs.
Rising realms through training and insight, not exploitation or murder.
I admired her immensely.
"Your conviction gave me confidence too. I salute you."
She waved it off.
"No! I merely followed in your footsteps!"
"?"
"You avoided needless killing, upholding justice to reach that realm. Thanks to you, I stayed certain of my path."
Then I realized my mistake.
This world's her differed slightly from the original.
The original walked alone, doubting her way.
And ultimately touched taboo.
But not this one.
Following my back, she never doubted.
Seeing confidence in her obsidian eyes,
"Hahaha!"
I burst into genuine laughter after so long.
Her puzzled gaze fixed on my sudden outburst, but I couldn't stop.
'Perfect!'
Knowing original Rex and his subordinates, I walked this path unhesitatingly.
That Rex followed Hana's traces unhesitatingly.
And this world's Hana followed my back.
'I wasn't wrong!'
Wasn't this true virtue's cycle?
Impulsively, I removed my helm, revealing my face.
"Sir?!"
She gasped.
The wandering knight Duke, veiled a century, baring his face was no small thing.
I offered my glass to her shock.
"You trusted me with your secret; it's only right I show my sincerity."
Her composure shattered too.
Once from knowing her culture,
Again from my infinite trust.
But surprise turned to joy,
"An honor, sir."
She raised her glass.
"I declare: you're finer than any lord I've met. Had I no liege, I'd serve you without hesitation."
"An honor for me too. Such praise from the greatest knight like you leaves me at a loss."
Clink.
Their glasses met, filling the room with a clear chime.
Everything sounded beautiful in my good mood.
'Best day ever.'
I savored the wine.
...Forgot something? Nah, not important. Enjoy the moment.
Glasses clinked; she sipped her wine.
'Hm.'
Not even polite to call it good.
This territory was far poorer than hers.
The wine quality showed it plainly.
Comparing this exploited land to her nurtured one was unfair.
Yet this cheap wine tasted sweeter than any nectar now.
She looked up at Duke's face.
'Couldn't understand why women squealed at knights' training ends...'
Now she did.
The face emerging from the helm struck fatally at the heart.
In pleasant chest pains, she sipped more.
'Didn't want to come here, but who knew such a meeting awaited.'
She felt slight gratitude to fate.
Right then, their steaks arrived.
She cut into the steak unworthy of comparison and tasted it.
'Delicious.'
Meeting Duke's eyes,
They shared subtle smiles and enjoyed lunch.
Meanwhile, Rex.
"Grooo...'
Pausing shopping at the slave market, melting in the parlor, he pondered.
'How did Cinderella's prince address the whole country...'
Awe at royals not being for just anyone. Rex indeed.