Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: The Golden Twilight Knight Commander
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A few days had passed since I dealt with the lord. In that time, the atmosphere in the knights' order had flipped 180 degrees compared to before.
First off, all the headaches that had been plaguing the Silver Dawn Knights were finally resolved.
We'd gotten word directly from the Mage Tower not to worry about the restoration magic on the castle, the former lord who had relentlessly tormented the Silver Dawn Knights was dead, and the business with the demon and the empress had gone off without a hitch.
There was no way the mood could sink in a situation like this.
Lize, in particular, was so thrilled that the bastard former lord was gone that she threw her arms around me and rubbed up against me. Erika immediately pried her off, telling her to show some restraint.
It was only for a moment, but the feel of her body against mine was no joke.
'And that... better to just keep my mouth shut about it.'
I decided to keep the proposal the former lord had made to me a secret to the end. The one about turning the knight commanders into castle slaves. The guy was dead anyway, and spilling it now would just sour everyone's mood.
They'd already been through enough filth without me piling on more shit.
With nothing much else to do, the Silver Dawn Knights spent our peaceful days occasionally patrolling the city and lightly sparring with each other in the castle's training grounds.
"Wow, how much work did that asshole put off? It's endless no matter how much we do. I'm going insane, seriously."
"That's why we're helping as much as we can. It doesn't show much since there's way more we can't touch."
"You five helping all day wouldn't even cover a tenth of what I handle, you know? I'm the final decision-maker here. No matter what you process, I have to review it at least once."
Everyone except Aurora, who had inherited both the patriarch's seat and the lord's position.
Aurora was pulling a deathly grimace as she tackled the mountain of work the former lord had postponed and postponed. No way a guy with that trash personality had done his job properly.
In her own words, it was on the level of "stuff from the first day we arrived here still sitting undone."
Unexpected issues kept popping up out of nowhere—one solved, and two more appeared. She muttered in an utterly drained voice.
Even after processing paperwork all day, without exaggeration, the next day brought just as much piling up again. She wasn't grimacing and complaining for nothing.
On top of that, this was only possible because Aurora was insanely competent. If she were just averagely smart, she probably couldn't have touched it.
That was also why the celebration party we'd planned to hold just among ourselves at the mansion to mark the lord's death kept getting delayed indefinitely.
'It's awkward celebrating just us anyway.'
Aurora issued an order for us to clear out, saying our presence distracted her and made it hard to focus. In the end, we ended up with way too much time on our hands.
And having time on our hands meant I could catch up on my overdue leveling.
I said I'd go hunt some monsters alone, and Iris cheerfully gave her permission, telling me to do as I pleased.
Since I'd handled so many major incidents solo even before joining the order—from start to finish—I'd built up some solid trust. The way she looked at me held no worry at all.
It was like her eyes were saying, "If you want to do something, don't ask permission every time—just handle it."
Lize came trailing after me timidly instead. I'd never traveled with an NPC at Break 4's difficulty 4, so it felt a bit unfamiliar, but there was no real problem with her tagging along, so I let it be.
"......"
There was one problem, though.
Lize watched me hunt monsters with a pleased smile, not even drawing her weapon. Her gaze never left me for a second—it was annoyingly burdensome.
"Hey, what's with the staring since earlier?"
"Why? Can't I watch? I like watching."
No clue why she liked it.
But since she wanted to watch because she enjoyed it, it felt awkward for me to complain, and honestly, I didn't hate it that much. Her coming right out and saying it so boldly left me with nothing to say.
I wasn't the type to screw up killing trash mobs just because her gaze was distracting.
I ignored Lize's gaze, which grew stickier by the minute, and silently smashed monsters. Before long, I'd hit a two-digit level.
[Stats]
[Level] 10
[Vitality] 1
[Mana] 1
[Faith] 1
[Endurance] 1
[Proficiency] 1
[Strength] 1
[Magic Power] 1
[Holy Power] 10
[Durability] 1
'Good.'
After dumping all my stat points into Holy Power so far, I finally felt like I'd taken my first real step. I double-checked that no one was around, then carefully examined my stats.
Touch nothing else, pump Holy Power to 10. At a glance, it looked like a freakish distribution, but in Nakla Mode, this was the most efficient build.
For newbies just starting Brenark 4, sure, spreading points appropriately into Vitality, Endurance, Strength, and Durability made sense.
In fact, the classic newbie-recommended "Knight" origin had exactly that kind of spread.
It came with light armor that was basically medium armor in defense and a longsword with no rough edges, which was why everyone said newbies should shut up and pick Knight.
Even though it was a brutally tough game for first-timers.
'Yeah, what good does thinking about that do? Useless here anyway.'
That was just up to vanilla, of course. With Nakla Mode applied, things changed. You had to rebuild from the initial setup.
Vanilla starter builds worked okay, but they were inefficient as hell.
To tank even one hit from a roadside trash mob, you needed 10+ Vitality and mandatory medium armor. But to roll penalty-free in medium armor, you needed 30+ Durability.
For the Abandoned origin, nearly 40 stat points got wasted just to survive one trash mob hit. And even then, bosses one-shot you.
Light armor and tanking with Vitality wasn't even worth considering. Even the best light armor set, Knight's, demanded well over 60 total stat points.
The key mindset in Nakla Mode wasn't "this won't land" but "dodge or die." Anyone thinking otherwise didn't have the skill to touch Nakla Mode.
Endurance wasn't much different.
Combat fatigue debuffs could be nulled with runes, so pumping the max was pointless. One point in Endurance gave enough stamina for three rolls in a row—that was plenty.
As long as I had my bloodied sword, Strength was meaningless until I swapped weapons.
'Obviously, prioritize extending attack buff duration first.'
Buffs were something I'd be glued to nonstop while progressing the story.
Considering that, pumping Holy Power for longer duration or Magic Power for higher output was no losing trade.
'Magic Power... 5 should do. Or wait, maybe one spell in mid-to-late game would be better.'
I pulled my hand from the Ability Check Orb. The floating stat window vanished, the blue glow faded, and the surroundings dimmed slightly.
As I climbed the stairs, pondering where to put my next stats and what build to go for, a noisy commotion came from outside.
'Is there any reason the knights' order should be this rowdy right now?'
I tilted my head and finished climbing. Lize stood right in front of me.
"Sounds rowdy outside. What's going on?"
Lize turned at my words. She seemed to greet me as usual at first glance, but I didn't miss the faint unease on her face.
What could make her like that?
"Why the face? Did something happen?"
"Something... yeah, something. Not entirely wrong."
I racked my brain at Lize's response.
'Any events worth calling an incident for the Silver Dawn Knights at this point? The empress is gone, I haven't hit 20 yet. No triggers for anything.'
After the Headless Ironclad Cavalry, until level 20 unlocked rune slots, it was basically free roam. Bosses, subquests, trash mobs—player's choice.
'Something's off.'
I walked a bit further. At the castle entrance, Claudia—in her signature white sleeveless top and pink dolphin pants—was arguing with some man.
Voices raised to full volume drifted over.
"So I'm telling you, I have zero intention of handing over command to you! How many times do I have to say it before you get it?!"
Claudia slammed her massive sword—tall as herself—into the ground with a thud and snarled menacingly. But the man in front of her replied with utter nonchalance.
"Your opinion means nothing. What matters is that His Imperial Majesty commanded me, so you must obey me unconditionally. Don't you get that?"
"Oh, so you just barge in like this, saying 'His Majesty commanded, so shut up and follow'? You messing with me right now?"
"Messing? You think His Majesty's command is a joke?"
"That's what I want to ask you. If he issued that order, he'd have given proof along with the words. You feel like someone important? Showing up empty-handed and acting like this? Huh?"
'...What the hell. Why's that guy here?'
I spotted the golden knight arguing with Claudia and froze in place, dumbfounded.
Gold, gold, and more gold. Armor covering him head to toe in gold, golden cape on his back, golden helm at his waist, even his sword golden.
Plenty of NPCs looked similar, but only one in the game had that exact appearance.
The Golden Twilight Knights' Knight Commander.
'Why the hell... is he supposed to be here right now?'
I blinked in disbelief. No idea where the story had derailed. The process changed a lot midway, but the empress had still left properly in the end, right?
As I stood there blankly, the Golden Twilight Knights' Knight Commander spotted me, shouldered Claudia aside, and strode over.
Claudia glared at his back with a demonic scowl, seriously debating whether to smack his head.
The knight commander stopped right in front of me and spoke with haughty arrogance.
"You're the new knight who joined the Silver Dawn Knights, right?"
"...Yes. What's this about?"
"From now on, for the next two weeks, Her Imperial Majesty commands me to monitor you. You have no right to refuse—bear that in mind."
'Monitor? Her Imperial Majesty's command?'
What the hell was this?