The First Knight

The system message appeared, but I didn't activate Reign right away. If Baek-rim had gone so far as to say all that, then I intended to answer in kind, holding nothing back.

So I explained Reign's effects to him. As for the mana, I glossed over that part with a vague "you'll receive a portion of my power."

"Please use it."

"You're sure? Once this skill is used, there's no betraying me. You'll be bound to me completely."

"It doesn't matter. I would never betray you, my lord, in the first place."

A halo seemed to glow behind Baek-rim as he said it.

Too dazzling!

Frowning, I activated Reign.

The moment Reign activated, system messages came flooding out.

What made it even better was that a remark I'd made half in jest had turned out to be true.

I can actually appoint him as a knight?

Originally, I'd planned to skip the system mechanics entirely—just grant him the title of "my knight" and give him a position to match.

And the system was lending a hand with that...

An absolutely delightful turn of events. Without hesitation, I appointed Baek-rim as a knight.

Appointing Baek-rim as a knight had granted me a genuinely useful skill. If I wished, I could summon him whenever I liked and send him back afterward.

This is completely broken.

No mana cost. No cooldown. How did a skill this overpowered even exist!

Which meant that when we raided a boss, I could call Baek-rim in to deal damage, then send him home the moment things turned dangerous...

As if it had read my dangerous little scheme, a system message popped up.

"Tch. A live patch, huh?"

Petty system. I kept that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠last remark to myself.

And just as I had, Baek-rim was staring intently at something.

Looks like a lot of messages came through for him.

If even I, the one doing the appointing, had seen this many, the recipient must have gotten far more.

"So? What do you think?"

"What do I think? It's incredible!"

Baek-rim shouted, beside himself with excitement. Apparently he'd received something far beyond what I'd expected.

"I got a new trait, and three whole skills!"

"Th-that's great."

This was the first time I'd seen him work himself up like this. When we'd first met, he'd seemed like an old man who had seen it all, and now he acted like a kid. He really was twenty—younger than me.

No matter how I look at it, he just looks old for his age.

Going by appearance alone, Baek-rim could pass for his mid-thirties. At first, I'd honestly taken him for an older brother figure. Once I learned how young he actually was, I'd started calling him casually by name, and he in turn had begun calling me Master.

This side of him suits his age just fine.

Until now, he had simply lived hard in order to survive. Wasn't this naive streak exactly what you'd expect from someone barely into his twenties?

"Master, take a look at these skills."

"Hold on..."

This part of him, though, I could do without. Before I could stop him, that guileless Baek-rim had already laid his skill information bare before me.

Having read every skill description, I couldn't hold the words in.

"That's straight-up broken..."

I'd had no idea the system would shower someone with skills just for being appointed a knight. I had zero intention of serving under anyone, but with a package like that, even I was tempted to become a knight.

Seriously, four skills...

I gazed at Baek-rim with envy, then tore my eyes away. Looking at him beaming back at me, I couldn't let my jealousy show.

"Anything else besides this?"

"Yes, I also got an achievement and a trait."

Unbelievable! Just handing out the whole store!

Outwardly composed, I cursed the system inside my head. At this point it was practically giving away everything but the kitchen sink.

"Good. World Rankers would kill for a mastery skill, and the rest are all excellent too."

An A-rank skill was never going to be bad. And the mastery skill, though F-rank for now, could grow to S-rank or beyond in time.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

He hit the jackpot.

Envy stirred in me, but so did a thrill of excitement. I was dying to know what kind of monster Baek-rim would become once I trained him up with all those monstrous skills.

"Well then, now that you've got your skills, shall we have a spar right away?"

"Yes!"

Baek-rim shouted energetically and swung his spear toward me.

"Hm?"

Poison Baron, who had been sitting at his ease awaiting a report, suddenly knitted his brow.

My connection to Rasbei has been severed.

The link to the poison he had planted inside Rasbei's body before sending him out—planted precisely so that he would know life or death at once—had gone dead.

"So they've killed even an intermediate demon..."

An intermediate demon—and not just any, but one of the demon race, hailed as the strongest of all demonkind. And a human had put that Rasbei to death.

How interesting.

Not long ago, the worms from above had come calling as envoys; he had killed every last one and sent back only their heads. That was how weak humans were—a race as insignificant as insects. And yet those insects had slain a demon. For a bored Poison, it was impossible not to take an interest.

"I suppose I'll go see for myself."

Since ascending to the baron's seat, the last time he had moved personally was when he claimed this castle. Poison rose from his place and took up the weapon that stood beside him.

Vwoom!

The moment its master grasped it, the weapon hummed with joy. Poison Baron's weapon of choice was the spear—a spear forged from the venom fang of a Hydra, a monster of the highest grade.

"Let us dance again, after so long."

Woo!

The weapon hummed once more, as if delighted by its master's words.

Thud. Thud.

Poison, holder of the baron's seat, began his descent southward—alone.

"Gah!"

CRASH!

Unable to contain his fury, Rim Hak-jin brought his fist down hard on the desk. The desk, taking the full force of his strength, split clean in two.

"Strategist... what did you just say?"

"...Every member of the delegation has returned—as heads alone."

"RAAAGH!"

CRASH!

His fist cracked the building's wall and nearly brought it down. Had the structure not been specially built, it would have collapsed outright. And no wonder—Rim Hak-jin was a powerhouse of over level 200.

"Then what about Hak-sung? What happened to my Hak-sung...?"

"......"

"Say something! Say something, damn it!"

The strategist, who had always answered his every demand, could not bring himself to speak now.

I did tell you not to send him...

The man Rim Hak-jin called Hak-sung was, in full, Rim Hak-sung—Rim Hak-jin's one and only younger brother. The strategist had opposed sending him, but that arrogant Rim Hak-jin had insisted all would be well and forced his brother along with the delegation regardless. And this was the result.

That man is not fit to be king.

There was only one reason the strategist remained at his side: he was the strongest of the humans who had survived. He could have fled if he'd wished, but he had stayed, meaning to set the man straight and make a king of him.

And now I'm tired.

Propping up a man with no gift for kingship as a king—that was no longer something he could bring himself to do.

"Didn't I tell you not to send him in the first place?"

"Huh? So you're saying this is my fault now?"

It was always like this. Even when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠told he was wrong, he would never admit it—he was too busy blaming others. It was no different now.

"The ones at fault here aren't me. It's those demon bastards."

"Ha..."

Demanding that demons act as we do, feel as we do, had been absurd from the start. They were invaders. Invaders do not pause to understand the hearts of the natives.

What have I even been doing all this time...?

Disillusionment crashed over the strategist all at once. He no longer knew why he had striven so hard. And even in the midst of it, that arrogant Rim Hak-jin was spouting his nonsense.

"Prepare the army! I'll go to Pyongyang myself and cut off that damned demon's head!"

"......!"

"Strategist? Why are you dawdling? Move, now!?"

"Ha... you actually believe you can do it, you blockhead?"

And then the fury he had suppressed all this time burst out of him.

"You arrogant fool! March on Pyongyang and behead a demon? You think the likes of you could manage that!"

"......"

"The only reason you became leader is that you were the strongest! Because we needed someone to rally around!"

"......"

"And now—what? Behead a demon? You idiot, you have to know the difference between arrogance and confidence!"

He had finally said it. Every frustration he had never been able to voice felt like it was washing away at once.

"The leader's seat does not suit you."

"...So what, you think you could do better as leader?!"

"No. I'm no more suited to lead than you are. My place is what it has always been—supporting the leader from beside him."

Perhaps because he had already said the worst of it, the words that had been dammed up now poured out freely.

"We can no longer follow your tyranny."

"Ha, and what could the likes of you, a mere strategist, possibly do to—"

Srrk!

Mid-sentence, Rim Hak-jin's head slid from his neck. The arrogant Rim Hak-jin had slacked on his hunts because he was the leader, and he was no longer the strongest—so much so that the strategist, far weaker than he, had been able to kill him.

"Hah..."

The strategist who had felled Rim Hak-jin let out a long sigh. The tyrant's end was, in the end, a rather hollow one.