Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Just the Four of Us?
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‘Why…… are there only four of us?’
No matter how much I looked around, it was the same.
At the table sat Iris, silently continuing her meal; Lize, beaming at Iris while chattering away; and Erika, nagging Lize to cut the nonsense.
And me, scanning the surroundings.
In this massive dining hall, large enough to double as a training ground, there were only these four people.
“Hey, Lize.”
“Yeah? What’s up?”
“Why are we the only ones here? Where’s everyone else?”
In the game, true to the name ‘Knights Order,’ there had been plenty of regular knight NPCs—mob-tier ones—beyond boss-level characters like Iris, Lize, and Erika.
Sure, it was tiny compared to the late-game Imperial Palace field, but if you cleared it without letting enemies respawn, you’d face around twenty knights.
If you took the human-hostile route, this very spot turned into a stage, so they needed those mobs placed around. The regular knights filled that role.
But right now, aside from us four, there wasn’t a soul in sight.
“Everyone else? There isn’t any.”
“There isn’t?”
“Yeah. The Silver Dawn Knights only has us four. Ah, now five with you joining. Anyway.”
“……Why?”
“Hmm…… It’s kind of a long story. Iris, is it okay to tell the newbie?”
“No issue. We’re all knights of the order now anyway, so no real reason to hide it. Just warn him not to blab about it everywhere.”
Iris gave a nonchalant okay.
“Well, there you go. Let’s get some food first, then I’ll explain.”
Lize said that and headed to the hearth. On it sat a large pot steaming away and fresh white bread still radiating heat.
That part was fine. In the lore, white bread made from milled flour was somewhat valuable in Brunhild 4’s world, but not so rare that even knights couldn’t have it.
The pot held meat stew, which wasn’t exactly off-limits for knights either. It even showed up as background props in the game, along with the bread.
The truly bizarre thing came next. Lize scooped her plate full of stew and grabbed five or six loaves of bread, yet the amounts didn’t diminish at all.
‘What the hell, a miracle?’
Her plate was piled high with the bread she’d claimed as hers, but the tray by the hearth still brimmed with loaves just as before. For a second, I thought my eyes were playing tricks.
“Ah, the newbie must find this amazing since it’s your first time.”
Erika sidled up beside me, still gaping in shock.
Unlike Lize, who’d loaded up on stew and snatched five or six breads, Erika’s plate had a moderate portion of stew and just one loaf.
“Of course it’s amazing. What’s going on here?”
“I totally get it. It’s natural to be surprised.”
Erika picked up a loaf as she spoke. The empty spot instantly swelled, a new bread appearing in its place. So I hadn’t been seeing things.
She gently placed the bread she’d just taken onto my plate, right in front of my stunned face.
“No need to overthink it, newbie. Just think of it like the rooms reverting to their original state. This bread and stew are the same category. The difference is that we consider ‘full of bread and stew’ as the original state, and it reverts even while we’re watching.”
“This is the same kind of magic?”
I picked up the bread from my plate and examined it. Nothing special about the food itself. Lize and Iris were eating theirs fine, and Erika showed no aversion.
Catching on to my thoughts, Erika gave a small laugh.
“Honestly, we don’t even know if it’s safe to eat. We’re just used to it, so we shrug it off.”
“Then why……?”
“Better to explain that along with ‘why there’s only five of us in the knights order.’ Here’s your stew. Sit somewhere comfy. I’ll explain.”
I took the stew bowl and set it on my plate. Lize, mid-tear into her bread, patted the seat beside her invitingly. Its meaning was obvious, so I sat there.
A satisfied smile lit her face. She gulped down some bread and turned to me.
“You asked earlier why it’s just us here, right?”
“Yeah. Seemed like there was a reason.”
“Of course there is. It’s all that pig bastard’s fault.”
Her face twisted like she hated even uttering the lord’s name. First time I’d seen sweet-natured Lize react like that.
“Where to start…… Right. Originally, we—the Silver Dawn Knights—guarded the Imperial Palace. Alongside the Golden Twilight Knights, these two orders protected it.”
‘Doesn’t differ much from what I know. The big picture’s the same.’
I nodded along to Lize’s explanation. Sure, all the mods had tweaked the details a lot, but the overall story and setup flowed the same.
The Silver Dawn Knights were the empire’s elite Imperial Palace guardians. That’s why their boss fight in the early fields was such a nightmare.
In lore, they’d fit perfectly as late-game palace bosses.
So why were these elites stuck out here in the boonies, practically exiled? All because of the lord they kept cursing.
Surprisingly, this city’s lord was royalty. A collateral branch, but still sharing blood with the emperor who ruled two-thirds of the continent.
His siblings had all been purged when the current emperor ascended, but this lord had survived by abandoning ambitions early and groveling at the bottom.
Afterward, to emphasize he didn’t suit the throne, he pulled all sorts of insane stunts without fully crossing the line. Until he clashed head-on with the Silver Dawn Knights.
‘All his fault, of course.’
He’d gotten caught red-handed with empire-banned drugs. Sure, he claimed disinterest in the throne, but really, he was just a rotten scum doing whatever trash he wanted.
Luckily for him, he pulled every connection to survive, but he could no longer reside in the palace.
That’s why a royal blood lived out here as a mere lord.
‘And he dragged the Silver Dawn Knights down with him.’
To get revenge for his humiliation, the lord shredded the order’s roster, absorbing most regular knights into the Golden Twilight Knights and only allowing a few including the captains to follow.
Officially, for ‘protection.’
‘That’s how it was in the game, but not here.’
Here, he’d brought only the four captain-level members, not the regulars.
The corrupt Golden Twilight Knights had welcomed the chance to dismantle the upright Silver Dawn, cooperating eagerly.
Normally impossible, but the ‘royal guard’ pretext held weight, and above all, the emperor stayed silent.
From the captains’ view, the lord who’d effectively disbanded their order wasn’t someone to look kindly on. Nor did he view fondly the captains who’d gotten him booted from the palace.
Handing them this enchanted castle amid all that? Naturally suspicious. No way he meant well for the Silver Dawn.
The food safety doubt tied into that too. What magic might lurk in it to eat so casually?
But with no funds or supplies for the order, they had no choice but to risk it for meals.
……Or so Lize explained.
‘But he kinda did them a solid?’
Realizing the ‘restoration magic’s’ true nature, I blinked.
The lord seemed to have slapped this ‘restoration curse’ on them as a middle finger, but it wasn’t a curse at all—nor meant as one.
The castle’s magic harmed humans not one bit.
Figuring that out required meeting the continent’s top mage, the Magic Tower Lord, in endgame spots like the Arkana Grand Library or Arkana Magic Tower. No wonder they didn’t know yet.
‘Gotta deal with that bastard ASAP.’
In the game, you could off the lord anytime post-prologue.
Claudia, off subjugating magical beasts, would return soon. Progress the event, beat her boss, then kill the lord to lighten the load.
“So, newbie, you’ll have to come with me.”
“Me too? Why?”
Iris, who’d mentioned reporting the jail incident to him soon, chimed in.
“Because he made it a condition. To induct anyone into our order, we must inform him first.”
“Sounds like he’s saying no inductions, period.”
“Accepting it isn’t a problem. It’s not asking permission—just notifying. He just confirms who it is.”
“Then why not expand the order however we want?”
Iris shook her head.
“The problem comes after.”