Knight (3)
Knight (3)
"Go bring the Lord."
However, upon hearing Dojin's words, the knight tilted his head as if he had misheard.
"......What?"
"Are your ears clogged? I said go bring the Lord."
"You fucking bastard—looks like being a high-rank adventurer has made you all high and mighty. A real knight is on a whole different level from those candidates you took down."
"Ah—sure, sure."
Dojin picked at his ear, letting the knight's words go in one ear and out the other.
That gesture was obvious enough even for the knight, who immediately charged at Dojin.
Sure enough—was it true that all knights reached Level 2? He rushed in at a speed incomparable to the other candidates......
'This should be enough.'
Dojin had already achieved Level 3 superhuman status. He was on the verge of Level 4, one of the top powerhouses in the world.
Struggling against a mere Level 2 knight would be the real joke.
Peureok-! The knight, struck on the bridge of his nose, endured the shock of his head snapping back and pressed forward, swinging his sword at Dojin.
But Dojin easily sidestepped with footwork, then kept slamming fists into the knight's face.
Puk, peureok, peureok-!
Emilia, watching from the side, felt sorry for the knight as the one-sided beating continued—and soon enough, with all his teeth shattered and blood streaming, the knight clutched his nose and started yelling something incoherent.
"Muh—! Haho haera! Hugo hujja!"
Screaming that, the knight quickly turned and bolted from the scene at blinding speed. Emilia tried to chase after him, but Dojin stopped her.
"......You're not going after him?"
"It's fine. He'll come back anyway."
"No, the problem is him coming back?"
"Why?"
"The way he ran off, he's clearly gone to fetch someone to catch us, right?"
Emilia looked at Dojin with a worried expression. Dojin wasn't invincible or the absolute strongest.
There were plenty of powerhouses stronger than him in the world, and the weak had their own gear to take down the strong.
Unless Dojin reached Level 4—one of the rare few in the kingdom—he was at risk of losing his life.
"No matter how strong you are......."
"It's fine."
"......You can be trusted on this, right?"
"Hey now, doubting your master? Want another sparring match?"
"No—that's not what I......."
She had been full of worry, but as the saying goes, a fist right in front of you is scarier than some distant future threat.
She brushed off her concerns at Dojin's words and waited for the knight to return.
It didn't take long—before long, the knight reappeared, leading the Knights Order right in front of the two.
Seeing the candidates passed out in a group and Dojin sitting casually among them, they instantly formed an encirclement.
From amid the encircling knights, the one who had gotten his face smashed by Dojin earlier stepped forward, his face somehow already healed.
"Adventurer—we're arresting you on charges of knight assault and attempted murder, obstructing official duties, and more. Resisting arrest will result in penalties—."
"I told you to bring the Lord, and you brought your buddies?"
"Hah, the Lord isn't someone you can just meet because you want to......."
"So you think you can take me down with this crew?"
"......You're awfully full of yourself, but this ends here."
Saying that, the knight made way for the ultimate force they had brought. A Holy Knight burst from the Knights Order, staring at Dojin with a rigidly tense expression visible even through his helmet.
As the Holy Knight stood stiff, the knight began rattling off his credentials.
"This person here is a great warrior of the Holy Kingdom and a paladin, the Level 4 Holy Knight currently guarding the Saintess herself—Lady Charlotte!"
"......Stop."
"Adventurer trash like you can flail all you want, but you think you can beat this one?!"
"......Enough."
"Pardon? Ah, sorry, Holy Knight. I got carried away......."
Hearing Charlotte's mutter, the knight thought he had overstepped and offended her, so he quietly stepped back.
However, the reason Charlotte was so stiff wasn't the knight. Well, in a way, it was because of the knight......
Dojin flashed a bright smile at Charlotte, who was staring at him. Though hidden by her helmet, he could feel her expression souring.
"Charlotte. Long time no see. How's the Saintess?"
"......Don't call me so casually out in public."
"Come on, between you and me, what's the big deal."
"......?"
And around then, the knights started sensing something off. Dojin didn't sound scared of Charlotte—it was the reverse; Charlotte looked scared of Dojin.
"Um, if I may ask—are you two......acquainted......?"
One of the sharper knights cautiously asked Dojin.
Dojin smirked and glanced at the knight he had beaten earlier.
"Me? The guy who assaulted a knight and attempted murder."
With Dojin refusing to elaborate, they began to tremble. They realized things were going south fast.
But arresting him without Charlotte's help seemed tough. According to the freshly beaten knight, he was at least a Level 3 powerhouse.
Dojin grinned at the knights trembling in place.
"What're you waiting for? I told you to bring the Lord."
He didn't need to say it three times. That day, the Lord's knights ran until their feet blistered.
The Lord, in the middle of reviewing work in his office, was on the verge of losing his mind at the absurd report from his retainer who had come to see him.
"......What?"
"W-well......someone is summoning you."
"Who?"
"Uh, um—that's......we don't really know......."
"You expect me to go because some knight doesn't even know who it is?"
The Lord glared furiously at his knight, who started sweating bullets, not knowing what to do.
Fortunately, he had an excuse left.
"B-but! He seems to be an acquaintance of the Saintess!"
"......The Saintess's?"
Only then did the Lord deem it worth hearing out, setting aside his anger and slowly listening to the knight's story.
He barely contained his rage at the part about picking a fight with an adventurer and getting thoroughly thrashed in return—.
But when he heard that the adventurer was actually the Saintess's acquaintance, and even her guard Charlotte couldn't intervene properly, he finally exploded.
"These idiots! You should've been more careful!"
Peureok-!
The knight, hit by whatever the Lord hurled, felt his forehead split slightly and bowed his head deeply.
No, how were they supposed to know Dojin was such a big shot and handle it? He wasn't walking around with a sign on his forehead saying 'Saintess's friend.'
As the knight stayed silent, the Lord sighed heavily and sat back down, calming his excitement.
"......Anyway, you brought that person to the castle, right?"
"W-well......he's at the dungeon entrance."
"What? Why!"
"He said he won't leave unless you come personally......."
"You madman—why didn't you say that first!"
This was the Saintess's acquaintance. Even Charlotte, rumored to be like sisters with the Saintess, was at a loss against him.
A connection like that—impossible as it sounded—might even mean he was the Saintess's lover.
'Impossible......but if it's true.......'
He was talent to secure and protect at all costs. Having him would be as good as having the Saintess.
The Lord immediately hopped into a carriage and raced to the dungeon entrance, where he spotted Dojin sitting on a crate and the candidates kneeling in a group with hands raised—and froze.
"......What's going on here?"
"W-we don't really know either......."
"This is driving me insane. No wonder, hiring trash like this as retainers."
Lamenting his past negligence, the Lord approached Dojin, who was lecturing the Knight Candidates.
He cleared his throat slowly.
"Ahem—excuse me."
"Hm? Ah, you're finally here."
"Yes, I am Thunderbolt, Lord of Dungeon City. Might I ask for your name, sir?"
"What for?"
"Haha, then what should I call you......."
"How about just lowly adventurer trash?"
"Lowly......adventurer trash......."
The Lord mulled the words in his mouth and locked eyes with the Knight Candidates raising their hands behind Dojin.
Maybe they were the ones who pissed him off......
The candidates, thinking everything was resolved now that the Lord was here, realized things had gotten even worse seeing the Lord groveling to Dojin.
"Ahaha, how could we call someone as impressive as you that......."
"Impressive? Why?"
"—Well, aren't you the adventurer leading our city?"
He began subtly scratching Dojin's itch with his decades-honed rhetoric. In politics, the key was spotting and filling the other's gaps.
Dojin was clearly dissatisfied with something. He didn't know what, but knowing there was dissatisfaction was enough.
"Perhaps the knight trash upset you, sir?"
"Knight trash? They're still your men."
"I owe my livelihood entirely to taxes, and 90% of those taxes come from the magic stones you adventurers bring in. In truth, you adventurers are the ones feeding me."
"......Even so."
'Jackpot.'
Having instantly found Dojin's weak spot, the Lord began slowly buttering him up.
"With your skills, sir, you could become a knight anytime. Knights are impressive, sure—but that's just talk for the talentless."
"—Enough, I'm sick of the flattery."
But somehow crossing a line, Dojin suddenly cut off the Lord.
Propping his chin on his knee, Dojin eyed the Lord. Gulp—the Lord realized Dojin was getting to the point.
"Nothing big—these guys were leveling up in my dungeon without permission, acting like they owned the place."
"......Pardon? What do you mean."
But Dojin's words were incomprehensible—utterly absurd.
Acting like they owned the dungeon? Dungeons didn't have owners.
But his next words shattered the Lord's common sense entirely.
"So, this dungeon. It's mine."
"......You mean figuratively?"
"Nope, literally."
Dojin stretched his hand toward the dungeon again.
The entrance protruded like a cave mouth, connected straight to the 1st floor.
By tradition, floors 1 through 30 were all under Dojin's dominion.
The entrance was no exception.
Kuuuwoong.......
The dungeon entrance, unchanged for ages, began to transform.
"This dungeon is mine."
At those words, the Lord gaped and stared behind him.