Arrival of the Knights of the Round Table
Though there had been no command to activate it.
Ziiing!
“W-What’s going on?”
“Who activated it?!”
The warp opened.
The holy knights guarding the area widened their eyes in shock. It was a warp that had not been activated in well over a decade. Why was it suddenly being forced open?
But the surprises did not end there.
“Th-They’re coming out!”
“That’s…!”
…Because someone had appeared through the warp. And not just one person—many.
“What did they ride through on?”
“Dragons?”
“N-No. Those are Fairy Dragons…!”
“Fairy Dragons…?!”
Every single one of them was mounted on a Fairy Dragon. Not ordinary dragonkin, but a higher species—mythical dragons long believed to be extinct. And there were well over ten of them. Just the sight was enough to send shivers down one’s spine, leaving even the holy knights at a loss for what to do.
Then it happened. The man standing at the center of the group spoke in a heavy voice.
“We are the Knights of the Round Table. I am Abeloff, vice commander of the order. We have come to meet your Pope.”
I am the master of the Round Table.
The Knights of the Round Table! The undisputed strongest knight order, led by Wilhelm. Yet aside from their commander Wilhelm and the Pure White Knight Serengeti, the names of the other members were virtually unknown. Like ghosts. They were the “Ghost Knight Order” that swept across countless battlefields.
A miracle born from the once-weak Balan Kingdom! It was fair to say that the Balan Kingdom had taken its current form largely thanks to the Knights of the Round Table, but they had not always belonged to Balan Kingdom.
—They are mercenaries.
—Monsters who appear wherever war breaks out!
—Nameless ghosts of the battlefield, whose origins no one knows.
The place they grew was the battlefield. A mercenary knight order that accepted payment from kingdoms at war to fight in their stead. They were called a knight order, but they were no different from a mercenary band. Yet no one thought of them as mere mercenaries. Because they did not simply fight for money—they valued cause and honor.
However, the moment they stepped onto the battlefield, they became demons of malice. Weapons of evil that could no longer be treated as fellow humans. Vicious ghosts obsessed solely with fighting, killing, and seeing blood!
—If not for Wilhelm, the Knights of the Round Table would have been remembered as a den of malevolent spirits.
Such remarks were common enough. Because nothing about them was known, they had merely been beautifully packaged under Wilhelm’s name. Soldiers who faced them on the battlefield all lost their will to fight. It was a wonder where they had gathered such monsters from.
“The Knights of the Round Table?”
“Vice Commander Abeloff…?”
Those who heard the name naturally tilted their heads. The Knights of the Round Table had vanished. Most of them must have perished along with the Great Expedition. Moreover, this was the first time anyone had heard the vice commander’s name. In the first place, aside from Wilhelm and Serengeti, even the vice commander’s name had never been revealed.
And yet. They claimed to be the Knights of the Round Table, and he Abeloff the vice commander? But it could not simply be dismissed as a lie. First, this situation. How could they force open a sealed warp and enter? Above all, the presence of the man who called himself Abeloff—its intensity seemed to devour the entire Holy City.
“Wait. Isn’t that female knight Serengeti?”
“The Pure White Knight Serengeti?”
“Y-Yeah, it is!”
Then it happened. Everyone looked behind Vice Commander Abeloff. Buried for a moment under Abeloff’s presence, standing behind him was clearly the Pure White Knight Serengeti. Even wearing a helmet and armor, her radiant bearing could not be hidden. The citizens’ murmurs swelled in an instant upon confirming Serengeti.
“That’s right. The one who recently forced King Friedrich of the Iron Kingdom to back down in Balan Kingdom…!”
“If the Pure White Knight is with them… that means they really are the Knights of the Round Table.”
“Could the Knights of the Round Table have been revived?”
“But why have they come to Holy City Adrium?”
Serengeti was currently the hottest potato in all of Pangenia. King Friedrich of the Iron Kingdom, who had been conquering neighboring nations like a storm—the tale of how he had dueled Serengeti and then taken a step back was being recounted like legend.
“So those occasional sightings of Wilhelm were…”
“…The rumors were true?”
“No way. They’re all actually alive?”
“That can’t be. A mercenary I know said he personally saw several of them die!”
“Ghosts that don’t die even when killed…!”
Gulp!
Every throat in the crowd bobbed as one. The demons of the Round Table do not die even when killed. That rumor might not have been mere rumor after all. They truly did not die. But what was puzzling was why they had appeared here—in Holy City Adrium of the Goddess Sect, of all places.
“……So the ones who dared trespass into the sacred Holy City without permission were you.”
At that moment, a figure appeared, making the air itself vibrate as if resonating in every direction.
“It’s Lord Marlon!”
“The strongest holy knight!”
“Waaah…!”
The onlookers roared. Marlon, the Pope’s direct subordinate and renowned as the strongest holy knight, had appeared leading the holy knights. Absolute invincibility. An undefeated monster. Seeing him, whom one was lucky to glimpse even once a year, they could not help but cheer.
But Marlon himself found it absurd.
“I clearly heard they died in the Great Expedition?”
He knew. He did not know their names, but he knew they were truly Knights of the Round Table. But it was impossible. They had died in the Great Expedition. Not mere sightings—Marlon had personally investigated and confirmed it with considerable reliability. And yet they had returned alive and well?
“We have come to meet the Pope.”
“His Holiness is busy. He has even less time to meet unauthorized intruders.”
“Then we will have no choice but to force our way in.”
“……Do you think you can surpass me?”
Marlon let out a snort of laughter. Vice Commander Abeloff. Even if he was hearing the name for the first time, this was not the first time he had met the man. He had clashed with Abeloff once on the battlefield. And—
“Didn’t you already lose to me long ago?”
Abeloff had been defeated by Marlon. He had been a monster as the rumors said, but he had been no match for Marlon. Overwhelmed by the sheer difference in power, he had been on the verge of helplessly offering up his neck. If Saintess Seia had not intervened, the man would already have died by Marlon’s hand. And now, when even Commander Wilhelm himself showing up would be laughable, it was Abeloff. Fighting again would be pointless. The result was obvious.
In that instant.
Shing!
Vice Commander Abeloff drew his sword and spoke.
“We of the Round Table have come in person to hold the Pope accountable for concealing the Goddess’s death and joining hands with the Outer Gods. If you stand in our way, we will regard you as accomplices and cut you all down.”
Firmly. In a voice that did not tremble in the slightest. Those words spread throughout the entire Holy City.
“W-What is he talking about?”
“The Goddess has died…?”
“Hey, don’t say such blasphemous things!”
“There’s no way His Holiness would join hands with Outer Gods!”
…The people’s confusion only deepened. There was no way the Goddess had died. And the idea that the Pope would conceal that fact and join hands with another god was even more absurd.
In that moment, Marlon’s expression hardened completely.
“You are truly blasphemous. Abeloff… and every last one of you is sentenced to beheading.”
Shing!
The strongest holy knight, Marlon, raised his sword. He could no longer stand by and listen. He would hack them all to pieces. The duel between Marlon, strongest holy knight of the Goddess Sect, and Abeloff, vice commander of the Knights of the Round Table. Everyone held their breath at the sudden clash of the strongest.
Abeloff felt as though he had dreamed a long dream. Countless memories from the moment of his birth until his death flashed by in repetition.
—Child chosen by Lord Diablo.
—You have been chosen. You must accept death.
Originally, he had been born as a sacrifice to an evil god and was destined to end his life that way. He had been fated to be consumed by Diablo, one of the Four Great Evil Gods said to be the most powerful among them. Perhaps that was why. Abeloff did not know hope. He had not even known such a thing existed. Until he met the Knight King, Wilhelm.
—Abeloff. You have talent too precious to waste. Will you come with me?
Wilhelm, who had completely uprooted the cult of the evil god, made Abeloff an offer. Not only him—he said the same to every other member. Though they were never called disciples, they were no different from Wilhelm’s disciples. They had shared joys and sorrows while roaming countless battlefields together. He had taught them how to live by wielding the sword.
It did not matter if their names remained unknown. As long as they could swing their swords alongside Wilhelm. As long as they could watch the legend he wrote from the side! They would not mind offering up this one life.
I should have died.
Abeloff had died in the Great Expedition. He had burned his entire body so that Knight King Wilhelm could reach the Demon King. But…… he had come back to life. The World Tree had gifted them new bodies. Bodies of unmatched power. Far more complete and robust physiques incomparable to before!
“H-How is this possible…!”
Marlon’s eyes flew wide open. He who was praised as the strongest holy knight—his sword could not reach. On the contrary, Abeloff’s sword was overwhelming Marlon. Just what was going on? It was not simply that his body had been completed. He had grown technically as well. To a degree that comparison itself was impossible.
Because I was raised as a sacrifice, my body could never keep up with my talent.
Abeloff had always felt regret. His talent had been excellent enough to be selected as a sacrifice to an evil god. But because he had to be offered to the evil god, he had never been able to hone that talent from a young age. By the time Wilhelm discovered him, his entire body had already stiffened. The same was true of the other members. Now that he possessed a body completed by the World Tree, his talent was shining.
But there was another reason he was overwhelming Marlon.
Slash!
Marlon’s sword of light was severed. And in an instant, Abeloff’s blade touched Marlon’s neck.
“You’ve grown weaker after all.”
Abeloff spoke in a voice tinged with disappointment. It was true that he himself had grown stronger, but he could not deny that Marlon himself had also weakened. Holy knights were also those who received the power of a god. With the Goddess dead, the power of the holy knights would naturally weaken as well.
“If you don’t wish to see this fellow die, open the path.”
“……How dare you to Lord Marlon…!”
The holy knights all raised their swords as one. At the same time—
“Open the path.”
There was a being who appeared, blocking the space between them. Everyone who saw her gasped.
“S-Saintess Seia?”
“This is not a place for the Saintess to intervene.”
It was a matter of stopping the intruders. Not a place for the Saintess to step in. But Saintess Seia firmly shook her head.
“I am not intervening.”
Then she continued.
“His Holiness the Pope is waiting. Knights of the Round Table.”
The Papal Office. Together with the twelve cardinals, the Pope sat in the center. He slowly raised his head and looked at the Knights of the Round Table.
“……I have heard the story. You sought me out?”
A face aged and weary. Skin covered in age spots. An old man in a state that made it hard to believe he was the Pope.