Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Sparring with the Golden Knight
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‘The emperor ordered you to monitor me? I can’t wrap my head around this.’
That was my first thought.
‘For starters, that guy’s definitely an idiot.’
That was my next one.
I had no idea what the emperor wanted from me or what he’d ordered this guy to do, but I could easily conclude it wasn’t meant to be this blatant. Who announces they’re going to watch someone and then actually does it? Unless the whole point was to make the target act all restrained, that is.
But from what this fool was saying, it didn’t even seem like that was his goal. No, he’d straight-up declared he was seriously going to monitor me.
‘Nothing’s changed from the game at all.’
In the game, the captain of the Golden Twilight Knights was an NPC who strutted around full of self-importance and overestimation—basically a gag character. On top of that, his personality was rotten to the core.
Sure, unlike this city’s lord—who was equally awful and caused trouble for everyone else—this guy’s awfulness was mostly self-directed, so the flavor was a bit different.
As usual in stories, when there are two rival factions in the palace, one’s made up of the pure and noble types who end up as the protagonist’s allies, while the other’s corrupt or relatively villainous and constantly gets in the protagonist’s way. The palace’s two knight orders were no different.
The Silver Dawn Knights could become full allies depending on your story progress and route choices, even joining as companions. The Golden Twilight Knights? Not a chance.
‘And their skills suck even more.’
Every captain in the Silver Dawn Knights was a named boss complete with boss battle OSTs. Even the regular members who got absorbed into the Golden Twilight Knights had the special title “elite” as trash mobs.
Meanwhile, the Golden Twilight Knights’ members were just called “palace knights.” And that one and only captain right in front of me? He wasn’t even a full boss—just a mid-boss.
The devs’ message was crystal clear.
“Who exactly are you supposed to be monitoring?”
“Hey, cut the crap and explain already. I’m about to lose it for real. What’d you do to our newbie?”
Lize’s eyes turned icy the moment she heard about the monitoring, and Claudia—who’d snuck up behind her—grabbed her shoulder hard. Claudia’s glare was just as murderous.
The golden knight shot back irritably, showing no sign of backing down.
“I’ve been saying it from the start. It’s His Majesty the Emperor’s command. Starting today, for the next two weeks, I’m to monitor the new recruit who joined your Silver Dawn Knights.”
“Newbie, did you mess up or something back then?”
“Nothing comes to mind.”
“Then why would His Majesty the Emperor...?”
“No clue. That’s why I’m in this mess.”
The three of us exchanged baffled glances and traded words in confused tones.
It was true.
I’d greeted the arriving emperor just like in the game. I had to answer when he asked questions, and I blocked that mid-conversation attack because I’d have died otherwise.
After that, nothing special happened. Aurora had handled all the close attendance to the emperor from the start—I’d just quietly trailed behind with my mouth shut.
He hadn’t even bothered talking to me while I meekly followed.
‘...Where the hell did I go wrong?’
This was uncharted territory for me, so once the absurdity faded, worry started creeping in. I thought I’d stuck to the game’s main story beats.
No matter the detours, I’d ended up joining the Silver Dawn Knights, subjugated the headless ironclad cavalry, dealt with the lord using a demon, and safely gotten through the emperor encounter.
Sure, the details differed a lot from the game, but that was unavoidable since the mod changed appearances and personalities along with them.
And yet, some unheard-of event had happened as a result.
The emperor sending the Golden Twilight Knights’ captain to monitor the player? Never heard of it. Not even rumors from other players.
A hidden event maybe? I considered it briefly but dismissed it.
Brenalk 4 had been fully data-mined by players ages ago. If there was a secret route like this, the community would’ve dissected it and posted full guides by now.
‘Wait. Personalities changed too?’
That thought hit me, and suddenly I felt like I knew the cause of all this.
NPCs’ genders and looks had flipped, and naturally, so had their personalities. Hell, it’d be faster to count the ones that hadn’t changed.
So of course, their reactions to the player’s actions would shift too.
‘...Tch.’
Realizing I hadn’t clocked this simple fact until now left a bitter taste in my mouth.
If the emperor’s personality had changed like the others? Instead of just praising the player for blocking his attack and moving on, what if he’d taken an interest in me?
‘I need to think this over.’
I might’ve been approaching this all wrong from the start. This called for some serious pondering.
“......”
I needed to, but I had no time.
‘God, this guy’s seriously getting on my nerves.’
I inwardly seethed at the sound of the golden knight’s footsteps trailing me at a distance of a few meters even now.
Lize watching me during the monster subjugation? That was fine. Hell, I could’ve enjoyed it. She was a busty beauty gazing at me with warm eyes, after all.
But this guy? Different story. After openly declaring he’d monitor me, he watched without a single break.
Whether I wandered the castle grounds, ate in the mess hall, or went out to level up by hunting monsters—there was always that golden armor in the corner of my vision.
Because of him, I couldn’t even properly raise my stats after coming back from hunts. No way was I assigning points with him watching.
And the kicker? It’d only been two days of this. If two days were already driving me nuts, enduring two weeks felt soul-crushing.
Iris and Erika, back from city patrol a few days ago, heard the story and looked just as baffled, but they didn’t have any clever way to shake him off either.
Sure, he was slimy, arrogant as hell, and had an infuriatingly massive ego, but he was still a palace knight captain serving His Majesty the Emperor.
No way he’d lie about the emperor’s orders. So how were we supposed to stop him?
No real solutions, but apparently I wasn’t the only one annoyed by him—the other captains felt it too.
“Hey, newbie. What’s that guy’s deal?”
“Dunno. I can guess smart people’s thoughts, but idiots? Can’t keep up or predict ’em.”
“Fair point. He does look kinda dumb.”
“You think he heard that?”
“Meant for him to. I’m about ready to snap too.”
Lize and I whispered while facing off with wooden swords. That golden knight prick was diligently jotting it down in his notebook. Lize shuddered in disgust.
Curious, I peeked—it was a log of my actions.
So absurd I asked why he was even writing it down, and he noted that question too. What was this, Joseon-era annals?
‘Can’t focus on anything with him distracting me.’
I had mountains of stuff to mull over, but he was stealing all my attention. Lize and I sighed but reset our stances.
“So, this crap’s gonna drag on for a while?”
“Probably. Events don’t exactly send RSVPs, so it’s iffy, but we don’t have a set schedule. Unless something pops off elsewhere, we’re stuck with nothing to do.”
We swung our wooden swords, chatting as they clacked rhythmically across the training grounds.
Looks like the story wouldn’t advance until I hit level 20 and unlocked runes. Not that I could be sure anymore.
I parried Lize’s three-hit combo, and that’s when my body suddenly grew heavy. I pulled my leg back and corrected my stance. Combat fatigue was settling in, senses returning.
‘Need to level up quick to shake this debuff.’
Thinking about when I’d hit 20 made me sigh. That was the problem.
Unlike the game—where you could farm trash mobs in an area, rest at base once, and they’d respawn—this world required fixed wait times.
Clear the local monsters for a level up, and then your schedule floats while waiting for respawns.
Little by little, it was sinking in: this was a game world, but not a game.
“Pathetic.”
‘...Huh?’
I was mentally calculating that one or two more runs would get me to 20 and runes when a mocking voice sneered from somewhere.
Source: the golden knight monitoring me, naturally.
“Hey, what’d you just say?”
Lize whirled and growled. The golden knight didn’t flinch.
“Pathetic. I can tell the level just from watching.”
“You’re here to monitor the newbie? Then shut up and do your job. You’re already grating on my nerves just existing—why pick a fight? Wanna go?”
“Think you could even win?”
“You son of a—mmph!”
I clamped my hand over Lize’s mouth before things escalated. She protested with her eyes like “What the hell?”, but I gripped tighter and forced my friendliest smile.
“Captain Lize has to hold back to match my level, so it can’t be helped. She’s the only one I can spar with right now. We both pulled punches, so yeah, it might look that way.”
“Even accounting for holding back, it’s too pitiful. How would you survive fighting monsters like that?”
I’d already lopped off dozens of those monster heads. Planning on thousands more. What nonsense was this clown spouting, oblivious to his own place? But I kept my cool and smiled.
“Isn’t that something for you to worry about, Captain?”
“What?”
My light jab made the golden knight bristle and snap back. Guy had a hair-trigger temper.
All bark, no bite, but pride for days—must’ve been an unbearable insult for a fresh recruit to talk back like that.
Lize caught my smile, guessed what was coming, and stopped struggling.
“Right? Anyone can backseat from the sidelines. You yap without stepping up yourself—scared ’cause you lack the skills? Someone truly capable would demonstrate, not just talk.”
That did it. The golden knight spat a clichéd “How dare you!” and stormed off to grab a wooden sword from across the grounds.
I released Lize’s mouth. She touched her lips where my hand had been, then winked: Don’t beat him too bad, just enough.
Her smile brimmed with trust in me.
Sparring that guy here was a first for me, but then again, him showing up at the Silver Dawn Knights wasn’t in the game either.
So giving him a moderate thrashing shouldn’t matter.
‘He started it anyway.’
He’d always been a nerve-grater in the game too—might as well settle that score while I’m at it.
Someone quietly watched the scene unfold on the training grounds, unseen by all.