The Holy Knight's Eternal Pledge
Kim Hwang-je didn’t hesitate for a second.
“What’s there to overthink? It’s oil.”
He immediately issued the order to construct the Mysterious Animal Exchange.
Mysterious Animal Exchange: Tent Exchange (Lv.1)
Construction cost: 2,000 gold coins consumed.
Estimated construction time: 24 hours
Construction time may be reduced by consuming 30 Grim.
“Huh? Grim?”
Kim Hwang-je rubbed his eyes and read the message again. After a moment’s thought, he remembered killing the Evil Spirit Class serpent Manta and digging the strange substance out of the ground. The ironworks produced one per day, but it seemed that having more of them could speed up construction.
Grim (Grim):9
“Ugh, still way too short.”
This must be what real pay-to-win felt like. Fortunately, no obnoxious “Buy Grim now!” prompt appeared. That was a relief.
In any case, something this valuable should be saved for when it truly mattered.
“Right… then…”
Kim Hwang-je was now certain he was ready to awaken the Holy Knight Benedict.
“How exactly do I feed him the holy relic?”
The response came immediately.
Your Majesty.
Please bring the holy relic into contact with the necklace. Benedict will absorb its power!
Kim Hwang-je lifted the Emperor’s Talisman hanging around his neck. From the trading window he took out the holy relic bracelet, ring, and flail, then pressed them against the talisman.
“Whoa…!”
The relics’ radiance was rapidly sucked into the talisman. The ring and bracelet glowed with a bluish light before crumbling into dust. The flail put up more resistance, as if aware of its higher value, but eventually lost all its light as well. It did not, however, turn to powder.
Holy Relic Flail → Legendary Flail
* Incompatible with user’s class. Skill usage restricted.
Kim Hwang-je checked the status window. Legendary grade? The only problem was that it didn’t suit an Emperor’s profession. A flail meant for threshing grain and an emperor simply didn’t match.
He placed the flail back into the trading window and hid it. It might prove useful if given to someone else later.
Benedict’s seal has been partially released!
Benedict can now manifest in pure spirit form.
The necklace emitted a gentle glow, and soon a human silhouette took shape in the empty air.
It was a handsome man with white hair and golden eyes.
Huh? He looks familiar…
The moment he saw Kim Hwang-je, he bowed his head.
Instead of the frail voice Kim Hwang-je had heard before, this one was deep and filled with quiet dignity.
“Ah…”
Suddenly the shabby, cluttered room felt bathed in solemn dawn light. Benedict, shimmering with holy radiance, appeared as a paladin clad in white armor, wielding a silver sword and shield. Though he was only a spirit, the image was so vivid it seemed as if a real person stood before him.
“No need to thank me. If anything, I should be the one thanking you.”
Kim Hwang-je truly felt grateful toward Benedict. The foul-mouthed grandmother who had, even briefly, let him feel the warmth of family. The way he had helped the tormented wraiths find peaceful rest. And how he had transformed those who wished to help into light fairies that now worked diligently inside the palace. Thanks to him, the factory that rose as grandly as the palace itself within the World Observation continued to pour out molten iron to the sound of vigorous work songs.
Kim Hwang-je blinked as he studied Benedict.
Wait a minute…
The white hair, golden eyes, and facial structure were exactly like those twins.
“Do you by any chance know people named Katima and Catiyu?”
“…Those two are my children. I witnessed all of your battles from within the necklace.”
“Excuse me?”
Where the hell did the babysitter go?!
Kim Hwang-je was startled by his own voice. The man looked like he was in his early twenties at most. Was having kids at that age normal in a fantasy world? But more importantly—how was this okay? He had electrocuted the man’s daughter and decapitated his son right in front of him…!
Wait. They were homunculi, weren’t they? So was this guy also a doll?
Questions multiplied like rabbits, and Kim Hwang-je’s expressions shifted dramatically with each new realization. Eventually, Benedict gave a small nod.
“Oh… is it?”
“What the hell does that even mean?”
“…Aren’t you their father?”
“Please explain properly.”
Benedict’s golden eyes grew distant as he began to speak.
Kim Hwang-je’s jaw dropped. So Benedict wasn’t human either. He was the same kind of artificial being as the twins. And not just any weapon—a tactical one. An empire’s secret ultimate weapon.
It was the first time Kim Hwang-je had heard the name. He quickly pulled out his phone and jotted it down. Why are all these names so long?
“So you were a high noble.”
Kim Hwang-je hurriedly fetched the least broken chair and offered it.
“Ah, my thanks.”
Benedict sat down somewhat awkwardly on the small chair.
“Those two…?”
He raised his silver-steel gauntlet. Between his fingers, a small illusion bloomed.
Two tiny infants wrapped in swaddling clothes were crying. It was Katima and Catiyu.
The illusion vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Benedict clenched his silver-steel gauntlet tightly, as if swallowing down his surging emotions.
When he opened his hand again, a new illusion appeared behind him. It showed him and the other dolls traveling across the world—snowy mountains, seas of lava, deep caves teeming with corruption, and even nameless abysses filled with black seawater at the bottom of the ocean.
Benedict’s eyes followed the visions of his past.
“But you failed,” Kim Hwang-je said. He knew all too well what the rift had done to that continent. After all, he had been forced to punch his own stomach with the Emperor’s Iron Fist not long ago.
He looked directly at Kim Hwang-je.
A horrific battlefield unfolded. Red mist formed from evaporated blood and sweat blanketed the earth. Giant soldiers charged toward a dark crimson granite fortress. They tore at the walls and smashed the gates with hammers like anvils.
In the distance, a knight order appeared wielding burning spears, their blue eyes flashing. With a horn blast that shook heaven and earth, cavalry mounted on steel warhorses charged.
A colossal demon wreathed in black flames rose beyond the horizon. Knights collapsed and died at its mere approach. When it raised its enormous sword and brought it down, the fortress gate crumbled like paper.
The illusion shifted again. The demon now held two grown children between its fingers. Before it, Benedict lay collapsed, a terrible wound across his stomach. The demon let out a roar of laughter, hurled Benedict through the rift, then spread its wings and vanished.
“I’m… sorry for your loss.”
Kim Hwang-je didn’t know what to say. Before he realized it, transparent tears were sliding down his own cheeks. Though the circumstances differed, his own family had met a similarly horrific end.
Kim Hwang-je wiped the tears away without thinking. Why was he crying? It wasn’t simply because the story was sad. It was the sight of a man who, despite such pain, still chose to raise his sword against evil. That resolve had struck something deep inside him.
“So even when you were thrown into the rift, the empire still existed?”
“Then the ‘Corruption Lord’ that Howling mentioned… it might be the Demon King of your world.”
Kim Hwang-je scanned the illusion that still carried traces of red energy, then asked through gritted teeth.
“What’s that bastard’s name?”
His voice trembled. Benedict quietly closed his eyes.
Golden light flowed from Benedict’s eyes as he spoke the name. Kim Hwang-je was moved by the rage and sorrow contained within them.
Perhaps trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere, Benedict dispersed the power in his eyes and continued.
Three of Seoul’s four barriers were functioning normally. That was a blessing.
Kim Hwang-je swallowed hard.
“…This really won’t be easy.”
“Tell me anything. I’ll help as much as I can.”