Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Knight Does Not Forget Gratitude
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Among the demon race, a single prophecy had taken root like a legend.
- When the earth has drunk its fill of the blood of demons abandoned by the heavens, the Demon King shall return from the pool formed by their tears.
That sentence left by the prophet was the driving force that allowed the demons to endure in this world that oppressed them.
They believed without a shred of doubt that the Demon King meant for them would return and lead them.
However...
'Why.'
Why was that Demon King pointing his sword at him?
The lizardman aimed his spear at the approaching Demon King and thought.
'Why is the Demon King attacking us!'
Of course, the being the lizardman saw had not declared himself the Demon King.
The knight who had smashed through the gates was simply reaping demon lives with disciplined swordsmanship, without proclaiming himself as such.
But that figure massacring demons as he advanced was unmistakably the image of a Demon King.
Puk.
The ogre warrior who had bravely led the charge was sucked toward the knight's extended left hand.
The knight pierced the ogre's heart with his sword, then swung it wide as if shaking off the corpse.
The chilling sword aura emanating from the blade passed through the demons' necks.
Those with sharp instincts ducked their heads to preserve their lives, but the heads of those who couldn't parted ways with their bodies.
Nearly a hundred heads that failed to close their eyes rolled across the ground.
As the lizardman stifled his urge to vomit at the sight of his comrades turned into silent corpses, the knight made a motion as if lifting something with his left hand.
Mages who had been chanting spells from the rear floated into the air, impaled on the trees or pillars sharply sliced by the previous slash.
Aggg...
The mages who didn't die instantly convulsed while skewered on the wood before going limp.
The knight continued walking forward between the blood-soaked pillars.
"Hiiik-!"
A panicked soldier loosed an arrow, but the greatsword seemed to know it was coming and waited right there.
Ting.
Blocking the projectiles with precise movements, the knight closed the distance, then pulled the remaining foes toward him and swung his greatsword.
The greatsword tracing a semicircle mass-produced more silent corpses.
'How is that not the Demon King!'
The lizardman made a tearful face as he pointed his trembling spear tip at the Demon King.
He wanted to run, but that brutal Demon King snapped the necks of fugitives with some unidentified force.
And it wasn't as if he showed mercy to those who didn't flee.
What awaited them was only a slow-approaching death.
In the end, it was just the difference between a quick, meaningless death or a drawn-out one.
'Does that guy really think dying in battle is an honor?!'
Otherwise, he wouldn't slowly toy with them to death while claiming to grant an honorable end.
At that moment, someone stepped in front of the knight.
"Haha! What an honorable battlefield!"
It was the cyclops chieftain from the Ten-Slayer cycle.
This cyclops, a retainer of the grand chieftain, was a famous warrior known for felling ten knights with a single axe swing.
His appearance stirred faint currents of hope among the demons.
Maybe, just maybe, he could...
"This is exactly the battle I've longed for! At last, a worthy opponent!"
The cyclops thundered toward the knight.
The knight was tall, but nothing compared to the half-giant cyclops.
The cyclops raised his axe high toward the knight who only reached his solar plexus,
"Try blocking this too!"
and gripped the axe haft with both hands, bringing it down with all his might.
But the strike carrying the demons' hopes was futilely blocked by the knight's greatsword.
Despite the resounding cjeeeeng! of metal, the knight blocking the axe looked utterly serene.
The cyclops strained with bloodshot eyes, pressing down with both hands, yet the knight casually held it at bay with one.
Soon, the knight clenched his free left hand into a tight fist and thrust it toward the cyclops's gut.
A dull thud of flesh striking flesh echoed, and the cyclops's body crumpled, spilling its contents from the belly. Only then did the demons realize.
"Haha... damn it..."
They let out bitter laughs and dropped their weapons.
Meanwhile, Rex watched Duke from afar.
In this battle, Rex hadn't shared his interface screen with Duke's view.
Before the fight began, Duke had warned him.
- "I recommend not watching my battle directly this time."
Following his advice, Rex saw Duke's battlefield as a single green dot herding multiple red ones.
Had he seen Duke torturing demons firsthand, Rex probably wouldn't have held back his vomit.
Rex marveled at Duke's rampage in the assault team.
'Wasn't the plan to draw aggro? Why is Duke chasing the demons?'
The textbook diversion was supposed to be hit-and-run, but Duke was pushing deeper instead.
'No matter how I look, this seems like encirclement and annihilation, not diversion... Am I imagining it...'
The red dots surging toward the green one looked almost like mopping the floor.
Still, Rex didn't particularly stop Duke's actions.
From the aggro perspective, all the city's forces were converging on him, fulfilling his role perfectly.
The rescue team was smoothly evacuating citizens, and the assassination team was steadily progressing on the grand chieftain raid.
Everything was going smoothly.
Undoubtedly, everything was going smoothly.
But Rex kept dwelling on what Duke had said before the operation began.
- "Lord Rex. Commanders often fail to grasp the hearts of soldiers. Please take care not to make such mistakes."
That pre-operation remark nagged at him.
So he closely monitored Ari and Duke's statuses, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't fathom why Duke had said that.
Soon, as the grand chieftain was nearly defeated, Rex dismissed it as nerves and declared the operation a success.
It didn't take long for Rex to regret that judgment.
Declaring the operation a success, Rex tended to the rescued citizens' wounds.
Duke, having finished exterminating the demons while he was at it, joined the camp.
The group awaited the return of the assassination team, the final stars of this operation.
A while later, the assassination team appeared last.
But their condition was dire.
The party members who had fought with Ari were all badly injured.
Some looked fine outwardly but had ruptured organs inside, while warriors had muscles melted from overusing their abilities.
Rex's face paled upon hearing their conditions from the healers.
But Ari's state was even worse.
One arm hung limp with shattered bones, and the other dangled from blocking the grand chieftain's final blow.
A little deeper, and she would have lost it like some red-haired pirate.
Only then did Rex understand Duke's warning.
'I shouldn't... see people as mere numbers.'
Rex had commanded like he was playing a game.
Unlike Ari, the other adventurers without contracts appeared only as dots to him.
So he issued orders based on their red health bars on the interface.
Pull back when health drops to a certain point, heal up, then reengage—that sort.
That was the price: these injuries.
And it wasn't the only thing to reflect on.
Rex wondered if he'd treated Ari like an NPC.
Her status window put her at 4.5th hierarchy, sure.
But that was only for martial prowess and skill.
Her actual hierarchy was still 3rd, and so were her other stats.
She could nip at 4th hierarchy's heels, but not match it evenly.
As a result, she'd pushed both arms to the breaking point to fight the grand chieftain.
All because Rex judged people by numbers.
No one died, but bad luck could have changed that.
'Am I...'
even qualified as a commander?
But contrary to Rex's worries, the successful adventurers expressed their gratitude to him.
And Ari sent him thanks along with respect.
"Thanks to Lord Rex's command, we were able to take him down."
Ari had reached 4th hierarchy by defeating the grand chieftain, and her party members had each ascended in rank too.
Though they'd teetered on the brink of death, they'd achieved the best possible outcome.
"No need to push yourself so hard, my lord."
Beneath Ari's warm comfort, Rex leaned on her, tears flowing.
Though imperfect, his second command could be called a success.
That night, after liberating the city.
Considering the late hour and the difficulty of moving rescued citizens, the expedition stayed overnight.
- Cheers!
The adventurers gathered in the plaza around bonfires, tilting their cups,
as prisoners shed tears mixing genuine joy at reclaimed freedom with sorrow for their losses.
Even Rex finally drifted off in the bed provided him.
In the dead of that night, Duke alone left his quarters unslept.
Ari called out to him as he headed somewhere in his daytime attire.
"Sir. I have something to say."
She spoke, her arm in a sling of bandages wrapped like a triangle, draped in a blanket.
Duke, back turned, gave only a slight nod without looking.
"Speak."
"The incident today was by your design, wasn't it?"
Duke immediately knew what incident she meant.
"I apologize for that. It was a necessary lesson for our liege."
"As I thought..."
When Duke warned Rex, Ari had been nearby.
And after it all ended, she suspected the assassination team's injuries were Duke's doing.
Duke affirmed her guess.
'It's an event from the original story, after all.'
Rex overlooking some adventurers' internal injuries by seeing them as numbers led to deaths.
That became a lesson, spurring his growth into a finer commander, so Duke couldn't disrupt the original flow.
Avoiding Ari's eyes, Duke stared elsewhere and continued.
"You have every right to condemn me."
But Ari neither blamed nor scolded him.
"No. I'm grateful, actually."
"?"
"It was for Lord Rex, right? Then I'd gladly offer my arms. If both he and I can learn under your protection, you're welcome anytime."
At her words, Duke slightly raised his head.
"You knew?"
"Yes. The grand chieftain's movements felt a bit off."
As she said, Duke had deliberately let their injuries happen.
But he delicately intervened where it could cause permanent harm.
He stopped organ ruptures at severe bruising levels before they worsened.
The blow that severed Ari's arm in the original was delayed just enough to spare her limb.
Above all...
"When the grand chieftain faked death and aimed for our backs, you finished him, didn't you, Sir Duke?"
"A correction there. The grand chieftain was fated to die anyway. I merely kept him pinned until the end."
In the original, the grand chieftain played dead, then took an adventurer down with him.
Not a pleasant scene, so Duke intervened, but it was Ari who truly ended him.
"So claim this merit as yours. Praise for inaction is a corruption knights must shun."
"Understood, Sir."
With that, their talk ended; Duke resumed walking.
Ari bowed to his receding back.
Perhaps imagination, but under the moonlight, Ari felt Duke's helmet nod.
Parting from Ari, Duke headed straight to where the grand chieftain's corpse lay.
The body was neatly left in the former mayor's mansion lobby.
But someone was already there.
"You all...?"
"Ah, it's Duke. You might not know us, but we're among those freed thanks to you."
They introduced themselves as prisoners.
Surrounding the grand chieftain's corpse, they welcomed Duke gladly.
"We were guarding it in case someone took it. It's our hero's trophy, so we must protect it, right?"
Duke nodded contentedly at their heartwarming words.
"Even beasts know the grace of salvation. Yet that doesn't dim the goodwill of repayment. Isn't this cycle of goodwill the salt that beautifies the world?"
"Haha. Thank you."
"But aren't you tired?"
"We're fine. We can endure a day for our benefactors."
"Very well. Ignoring your goodwill would be rude. I'll take my leave."
Duke turned to go, seemingly convinced, leaving the lobby with the corpse.
Then, those who called themselves prisoners nodded at each other.
They exchanged glances and quietly drew weapons.
The archer aimed at Duke's still-turned back, oblivious.
The closer one drew his sword silently.
He thrust at Duke's neck without even cutting the air.
Yet the blade stopped a handspan from Duke's throat, frozen.
The fake citizen stared in panic at his trembling tip.
Then Duke turned his head back toward them.
"A knight does not forget the faces of those he saved."
Of course, Duke remembered none.
But if he never remembered to begin with, then "forgetting" was technically true.
Ignoring the faint voice of conscience, Duke gripped the empty air.
In response, the grand chieftain's heart in one fake citizen's pouch burst.
Duke recited his prepared line, recalling the original.
"Even beasts know duty and grace..."
In the original, the lord doesn't get the heart.
Ari grinds the grand chieftain—who faked death and mutual-killed an adventurer—into mince in rage.
But this world's corpse was relatively intact, letting Duke predict the lord's next move.
"It seems the lord's dogs are worth less than that beast."
With those words, Duke, who had lowered his hierarchy before entering the mansion, raised it again.
This time, to 7th.
One fake citizen collapsed gasping for breath.
Ignoring it, Duke finished his line.
"I won't grant you the honor of holding swords."
He clenched the empty air.