Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Fate's Game
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Kang Geohan opened his eyes in bed.
The wind was blowing fiercely, making the tent flap wildly.
“Y-You’re awake?”
Davis was right there with the washbasin the moment he opened his eyes.
For some reason, he seemed extremely pleased that Kang Geohan had woken up.
He kept glancing nervously outside the tent, looking somewhat cowed.
“Uncle? What’s wrong?”
Kang Geohan blankly took the washbasin and looked at Davis.
“Well…… It’s about Kalts Black Knight over there.”
“Oh, we’re traveling together now, remember?”
“That’s the thing. He’s giving me such a hard time. A noble knight sleeping right next to me…… Getting up at dawn to stand guard outside the tent…….”
Kang Geohan smiled wryly. Getting up at dawn to stand guard? He was truly dedicated.
“You’ll have to get used to it from now on. Kalts Black…… No, Sir Black is my first knight now.”
As he said that, Kang Geohan recalled what had happened the night before.
* * *
Crackle, crackle.
The campfire burned in the Petal Forest.
Kalts Black was packing up his gear as if he were heading off on a long journey somewhere far away.
Kang Geohan had a slightly tipsy, languid expression,
While Kalts looked down at him with a mix of emotions crossing his face.
Then, out of nowhere, he asked,
“The offer still stands, right?”
Kang Geohan didn’t ask what offer. He simply nodded.
There was only one offer he’d made to Kalts: to become his squire.
Kalts Black took a deep breath and said,
“I am the First Sword.”
Kang Geohan wondered what that meant all of a sudden. But Kalts Black continued with unwavering seriousness.
“It means don’t forget that I’m your first retainer. Even if you take on others later, I, Kalts Black, am the first.”
Kalts’s voice was low and steady.
At that moment, Kang Geohan was mulling over the words Kalts had spoken.
‘Retainer…… Others.’
Then it hit him.
‘I see.’
He’d thought he’d made the offer in excitement, wanting a knight as a subordinate. But no.
In that instant, without realizing it, Kang Geohan had dreamed a dream. Taking on a knight had always meant that.
“If you take me on, you must become a noble. You must become a powerful noble with territory and Gigants under your command. That is your duty. I will fulfill my duty as a retainer, so you must fulfill your duty as the master.”
Kalts stared at Kang Geohan with eyes burning quietly.
Then he asked,
“Can you do that?”
Kang Geohan slowly rose to his feet. He met Kalts’s gaze head-on.
His heart pounded. Something was beginning. In his heart, under the sky.
“Yes.”
A short but sincere answer.
Kalts gazed at Kang Geohan as if peering into the heart behind those words.
“Understood. Then you…… No, you are now my master.”
Kalts slowly dropped to one knee. He drew his sword and planted it at his feet.
“As your sworn knight, advisor, and with my life, I will serve you. Even before the massive gears of fate, I will not retreat. With courage and loyalty like scorching steam, I will prove myself. I will always be there when my master needs me, and like a locomotive racing along its tracks, I have no doubt that my master’s guidance will clear the path ahead, no matter the circumstances.”
Kang Geohan simply looked down at him silently. He didn’t know what to say in a situation like this.
Kalts quietly advised him.
“Draw my sword, raise me up, and place it back in my hand. I will teach you the etiquette and refinement of nobility in time.”
Kang Geohan did as Kalts instructed.
Kalts sheathed his sword, lowered his eyes demurely, and said,
“From tonight, I will stay in the squire’s tent by my master’s quarters. It’s late, so I advise you to retire and rest.”
Just moments ago, they’d been instructor and trainee, yet Kalts humbled himself as if he’d served Kang Geohan his whole life.
His thoroughness was relentless.
Rather than feeling burdened, Kang Geohan’s chest swelled with emotion.
Would a seed dropped in the desert feel like this when it finally meets rain, takes root, and sprouts leaves?
In this barren, brutal world so alien to Earth, he now had someone of his own. The second, after Davis, who was like family.
It felt like his world had expanded just a little more—much more.
“Alright. I look forward to working with you, Sir Kalts Black.”
“It’s an honor.”
That was what had happened the night before.
Now, back in his tent after a deep sleep, he briefly wondered if it had all been a dream. But seeing Davis fidgeting made it all too real.
‘Kalts Black is really mine now.’
With that thought,
Whoosh!
Even the wind shaking the tent felt special this morning.
“You’re awake, sir? As I mentioned yesterday, this morning I’ll brief you on the state of affairs on the Laniakea Continent.”
Kalts lifted the tent flap slightly upon sensing Kang Geohan’s presence and spoke.
He was a loyal knight and a trustworthy advisor.
* * *
There are times like that.
A conversation lasting just one or two hours that upends your entire life.
That morning with Kalts Black was one such time.
“As you can see, human territory is completely surrounded by untamed wilderness zones.”
Kalts glanced out the window.
The Petal Forest, once a monster-infested woods, was visible, alongside the anti-gravity zone and the lightning zone where bolts rained down.
“On this land teeming with bizarre phenomena and swarming with monsters, humanity was scrambling just to survive day by day. That is, until Gigants appeared.”
The first Gigant had been created only 50 years ago.
Bolstered by the power of Gigants, humanity exterminated monsters, conquered the wilderness, and expanded safe territories where people could live.
Up to this point, it sounded like a hopeful, happy-ending tale.
But humans were never satisfied.
“These days, though, the atmosphere has shifted from the era of expansion for survival. Over the past 50 years of frontier wars, the kingdoms have grown immensely powerful. With survival secured, the mighty nations began measuring themselves against one another.”
Petty clashes between nations escalated into matters of pride, then into greed for what the other possessed.
Humanity’s pioneering strength began redirecting toward inter-nation conflicts.
“Right now, our Linekal Kingdom is in conflict with the neighboring Logot Kingdom. Skirmishes never cease over ownership of the frontier zones between Linekal and Logot. Whichever kingdom seizes that strategic chokepoint will have the other by the throat.”
The current situation Kalts described was like a thundering night. The point before a full storm hits, when thunder rumbles incessantly and ominous winds blow.
Whoooosh—
Just then, a gust lifted the tent flap and whistled out the window.
Kang Geohan smoothed his tousled hair and said to Kalts,
“A full-scale war will break out soon.”
“And that will be our opportunity.”
“Yes. Many nobles were born during the last frontier wars. But this one will be even fiercer than the pioneering era. Pioneering was about expansion or stagnation, but all-out war is life or death. Many nobles will vanish, and even more will rise.”
“Time…… isn’t on our side.”
“Exactly. To make our mark in this war…… we need to build strength as quickly as possible.”
That was the gist of it.
A once-in-a-lifetime crisis and opportunity loomed. Invest wisely, and you could be a wealthy powerhouse in the new era.
But right now, there was no capital to invest. They needed to accumulate capital—power—before that day came.
But Kalts’s words didn’t end there.
“However, Master, you must look beyond even that.”
“Beyond?”
“Yes. To humanity’s future.”
Kalts turned his gaze to the untamed zones.
“Do you know why we humans live on such barren land?”
“Well? Isn’t that just how the world is?”
“No. The ancient gods lived lives too, and their ruins are filled with vast resources, energy, and conveniences. Places where you don’t work but still have clothes and food, where you grow stronger just by existing. Why couldn’t we humans enjoy such a paradise…… the gods’ lands?”
“Well.”
“Because the Celestial Clan monopolizes it all. Ruins, relics, legacies—they claim everything left by divine beings and drove us humans to this wasteland.”
“Such…….”
“Until now, no one complained. The Celestials were mighty and great, while humans were lowly…… We believed it ourselves. But…… what happens after the wars between kingdoms end and humanity unites with strength and confidence?”
Only then did Kang Geohan grasp what Kalts meant.
“So, Master, if I may be so bold. History is changing. A game where fate itself is the stake is about to begin. You don’t yet qualify to play. So you must gain that qualification swiftly.”
After the human wars end, conflict with the Celestials will come.
Then, a massive battle for control of the continent.
Kang Geohan shuddered before this overwhelming vision.
A storm was approaching. Would he be swept away and vanish, or ride it to soar?
His heart raced too fiercely……
Kang Geohan’s answer was decided from the start.
“What must I do?”
Kalts answered immediately.
“Join a pioneering fleet. Excluding the front lines, it’s where the latest research converges. Assemble your own Gigant there and seize power. Only those who wield Gigants—the colossal gods—will qualify for this game.”
“Pioneering fleet…… Gigant…….”
Kang Geohan mulled over the words.
He felt a twinge of embarrassment.
Yesterday, during Kalts’s oath, he’d thought he was now the guide. But opening the lid revealed the opposite.
“Understood. But you’re impressive. Do all knights have such profound insight?”
Kalts smiled wryly at the question.
“Not at all. It’s just…… being unable to pilot a Gigant made it all too clear. The shift in history…… the game of fate that only Gigant Riders can join. That’s why I’ve been so despondent.”
But not anymore.
Kalts’s eyes sparkled like stars as he said it.
The pure ideals and passion of one man.
It spread to Kang Geohan like wildfire.
The conversation, lasting about an hour and a half, changed Kang Geohan’s fate.
Until now, he’d stumbled through fog, eyes on the ground. Now, from a high vantage, he clearly saw the path stretching to the horizon. Where it led, how to get there.
It was an especially windy day.