Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Side Story 2: Steel Knight Order and Meaning
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All the people on the plains noticed that the black dragon had awakened.
Oshel didn't panic. It was one of the situations they'd anticipated.
He flung open the barracks door and bellowed.
"Steel Knight Order---!!! All hands, assemble---!!!"
His voice echoed thunderously, serving as the signal. The knights assembled, and the mercenaries who grasped the situation's gravity leaped to their feet, moving alongside the order.
The gathered mercenaries and knights.
Oshel quickly explained the plan.
The purpose of subjugating the black dragon was to defend the granary region.
Fighting the black dragon over the fields—if those fields burned, it was all over.
Conveniently, just beyond the plains lay a cliff.
A natural fortress safeguarding the south. Thanks to it, the region remained relatively safe from monsters.
Though it was defenseless against a flying dragon, the crag—composed of all manner of rock—wouldn't matter even if it crumbled or burned.
The plan went like this.
"Split into a team to handle the dragonbone soldiers and a team to subjugate the black dragon."
Divide the personnel into two groups, each tackling their assigned role with utmost diligence.
"Once the dragonbone team clears the path, the subjugation team lures the black dragon to the cliff and finishes it there."
With the simple, swift briefing complete, Oshel—fully armed—took the first step at the vanguard.
In the rye field, monsters stirred to life.
Rattling noisily, bodies forged of bone lurched into motion. Dragonbone soldiers. Monsters that were undead, yet not quite undead.
Dragonbone soldiers lacked any will of their own. They existed solely to obey the commands of their creator, the dragon.
Possessing physical resilience and strength incomparable to mere lesser skeleton monsters, they trampled the rye fields with overwhelming force.
The knights swallowed hard, staring at the horde of advancing dragonbone soldiers.
Dragonbone soldiers were manageable.
But the presence lurking behind that horde filled them with dread.
The dragon fear was gnawing at their minds.
'Can... we win?'
Ripples of doubt stirred in the knights' hearts. Could they defeat the black dragon Karzeros? Did this battle truly hold any meaning? Questions arose.
It was just one dragon.
A single colossal beast dubbed the black dragon had entrenched itself in the granary region, drawing countless souls to subjugate it.
And yet... success wasn't guaranteed. The knights harbored deep skepticism about victory.
To claim they feared no death would be a lie.
However.
Dying without lifting a finger terrified them more.
And above all.
'Does our death even matter?'
A death that left nothing behind—that was the true horror.
The knights yearned for their deaths to carry weight.
Not some meaningless end at a dragon's claws, a dog's death without achievement, but a noble passing that forged a legend.
Even dying here, victory mattered more. Yet the dragon barred even the road to triumph.
Unlike their name, the Steel Knight Order, their resolve wasn't forged of steel. Still, not one fled that spot. All clenched their jaws, gripping swords with quivering hands.
Oshel, sensing their unrest, cleared his throat.
"Steel Knight Order!!!!! What are we!!!!"
Thud!
Oshel stomped the earth with resounding force.
"We are the Steel Knight Order!!!!"
Thud!
The knights stomped in unison. Reflexively, they roared at the tops of their lungs. It was a signal—a rallying cry to steel their spirits.
"Even if we bend!!!!"
Every knight bellowed as one heart, one mind. A few mercenaries joined unbidden.
"We do not break!!!"
Their roars now burned with madness. With this, they steeled themselves for death.
"For the assault team."
Oshel swept his sword down from on high.
"Open the path."
They called it a subjugation operation, but Oshel and the knights all knew the truth: their forces fell short. Yet they pressed on. Even if subjugation failed, they would drive black dragon Karzeros from the plains.
For that purpose alone, the knights burned their lives.
Hoping the meaning they sought lay there.
Territorial soldiers arrived, evacuating the farmers.
The child who'd given him bread spotted Fen and asked,
"Knight sir... will I see you again?"
"Kid! The knight sir's got work! Get over here!"
Even amid the parents' anxious calls, the child gazed up at Fen. He ruffled the boy's hair.
"Someday. If the chance comes."
Fen saw them off, then took up sword and shield.
Apprentice knight or not, Fen was a knight.
Squire though he be, he joined the fray.
Fen raised his shield.
And then.
"Second row! Charge!"
At the signal, he surged forward.
Not just knights flanked Fen—mercenaries too.
"First time fighting side by side, eh?"
"Sir Dale."
"Watch the rear."
Dale and Isabella overtook Fen, pressing ahead.
Red cloaks billowed.
Fen watched their retreating figures.
He yearned to follow.
A sudden urge—to star in the black dragon subjugation, to claim glory.
But.
Boom!Thud!Rumble---!!!
"Ngh!"
His place was here.
The shield bucked wildly under the dragonbone soldier's strike. Senior knights rushed to Fen's aid.
Their duty: bar the dragonbone soldiers from hindering the subjugation team.
Spears gripped in bony hands. Humanoid forms crowned with draconic heads—swifter than goblins, stronger than orcs—they bore down on the knights.
Boom!
The initial charge ended. Chaos followed.
Knights and mercenaries tangled in a melee of disorder.
They were bit players, never leads. Yet some knights found fulfillment there. Their deaths aiding the vanguard's triumphs? Honor enough.
Others could not.
They clawed for survival, dreaming of history's pages.
And...
Fen.
"Dragonbone soldiers---!!! You fucking morons----!! Dragonbone soldiers slipping past the shields to those bastards----!!!"
No grand knightly ambitions yet. Dragon-slaying, chivalric oaths, orc warlord duels unto victory—too remote for Fen.
He'd joined the Steel Knight Order for one reason: to spare others his fate. No more monster-swept villages. No more lost families.
A handful of dragonbone soldiers broke from the front.
Their path veered oddly. Not toward the black dragon.
In the bedlam, few spotted them.
'That way.'
Fen felt his body surge instinctively. Civilians lay ahead. Lord's guards or not, territory troops sat this subjugation out for good reason. The south's skilled had all marched to war.
Fen knew: the locals couldn't handle those dragonbone soldiers.
He brandished his sword. Still no lofty goals. Just a boy's fancy: dying to protect? Knightly enough.
Each knight chased unique dreams, sword in hand.
Fen too.
"Huu..."
Fen hefted his sword. Shield dipped just below his philtrum—his benefactor's taught stance.
Fen paled beside Dale's swordplay. Shields too. He knew he'd never touch Dale's heels.
Self-aware, Fen drew a slow breath, eyes locked on four dragonbone soldiers.
Too many alone.
Nearby knights battled their own foes.
He'd handle them solo.
A dragonbone soldier lunged. Fen crouched low, smashing its shin with his sword hilt. Clang! Wrist-jarring shock. Teeth gnashed on lip, pain swallowed.
-Endure. Strike the monster once more. Even facing death, one more hit. Then you claim it.
Dale's lesson echoed in Fen's mind.
Sword plunged into the toppling neck—yanked down savagely. Head severed from torso.
One.
Bone-made. No slicing. Shatter them.
This time, Fen charged first. Shield bashed, then he mounted and snapped the neck bone.
Two.
Spears rained as he crouched. Head ducked, momentum rolled him across dirt. Sword speared the pelvis. Crunch! It reeled.
Fen seized the opening.
Three.
Pfshk.
An unnatural sound.
Battlefield staple: flesh rending, sinew snapping.
Impossible against dragonbone.
Not just Fen exploited gaps.
The fourth drove its spear into Fen's gut. Agony exploded. He clutched the haft, surged close—severed neck from torso.
He crumpled to his knees in the rye.
"The promise... I can't keep it."
Organs skewered clean through.
No high priest could mend this.
Death.
Vision fading, the journey's vow resurfaced.
Couldn't die yet...
Dale entrusted the rear.
And if the kid sought the Steel Knights... a meeting.
Another dragonbone soldier loomed over fallen Fen.
One task remained.
Crunch.
Steel Knight Order affiliate.
Apprentice knight, Fen.
Deceased.
Such was the battle.
Countless lives spared, claimed.
A clash where survivors sought purpose in the fallen.
The forward path was pristine.
Straight dash, no cares.
Knowing the sacrifices paving it.
Dale and Isabella.
Oshel and the knights—they dared not halt.
A colossal, surging shadow loomed afar.
At their steps' end.
The black dragon, gazing disdainfully upon the world.