Chapter 617: Knight Selection Ceremony (3)

[It will be a dream sword that millions of knights would wish to possess.]

[You are the only one in hundreds of years to have been bestowed such an exceptional sword.]

Even NPCs sometimes heard notifications.

Users knew them as the system.

NPCs knew them as the voice of the gods.

Kal trembled as he looked at the sword being held out to him.

I’ve never seen a Transcendent item before...

Transcendent.

In a small frontier territory, the word was reserved for kings, heroes, Transcendents, and legends.

It was not something meant for an old knight like him.

But—

“Rom told me what you and Lord Kern were thinking when you gave me that much money.”

Even Hyunsoo, praised as Karsel Territory’s benefactor, had benefactors of his own.

One of them was the knight named Kal.

As proof of that—

—To my knight, Kal...

A line of lettering in golden inlay had been engraved on the simple longsword.

Kal’s heart pounded wildly when he accepted it.

This sword is mine...?

The moment he gripped it, the longsword settled smoothly into his hand, fitting him as though it had always belonged to him.

And the moment a knight took hold of a sword, they naturally understood its functions and abilities.

Kal looked at Hyunsoo, who stood with his arms folded and a smile on his face.

“What is this sword called?”

“For My Knight.”

Kal repeated the name to himself several times, then rose to his feet.

The eighteen knights watched Kal stand, then looked toward Merchant Allen.

Who was that man?

A lord?

A merchant?

They did not know.

Perhaps he was merely someone who had delivered a sword.

What was certain was that Kal had no intention of giving up. He had taken up a new sword and chosen to face them again.

At Allen’s signal, all eighteen knights moved at once.

Kal kicked off the ground with For My Knight in hand.

At that moment—

Fast!

What the hell!?

The knights could not hide their shock.

Had Kal’s speed suddenly become several times greater than before?

No.

It was not their imagination.

[For My Knight is special.]

[Upon gripping it, Agility increases by 36%, Health by 31%, and Strength by 22%.]

Through the sword’s effects, Kal had regained the body he possessed in the prime of his youth.

CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG—!

Kal plunged into their midst, his sword colliding against theirs.

He was seasoned.

Just as he had been when he was young.

The strength he had regained combined perfectly with the real-battle experience of an old knight.

And from the beginning, Hyunsoo had worked to compensate for the weaknesses of Kal, a knight who had grown old.

First—

BOOOOM—!

[Magical power explodes.]

“...???”

The instant one knight’s sword collided with Kal’s, the magical power Kal possessed erupted from the tip of his blade.

Was it Kal’s own skill?

No.

It was one of the sword’s functions.

A power with a 21% chance of activation.

[Knight’s Tenacity activates.]

It was Knight’s Tenacity.

And with that magical explosion, the knight whose sword had collided with Kal’s was hurled backward.

BOOOOM—!

“GAAAAAH!”

Another knight, who had swung at Kal, froze in shock.

“What is this...?”

[The sword’s durability drops sharply.]

For My Knight looked like an ordinary longsword.

Yet in a single clash, it had ruined the other sword’s edge.

Realizing something was wrong, more than a dozen knights surged forward at once.

CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG—!

The merchants and lords inside the hall could not hide their astonishment as blades collided.

That’s an old knight?

He’s fighting more than a dozen knights by himself?

But as they marveled at Kal holding off so many opponents, they were puzzled by the words of the man who had appeared out of nowhere.

“Sir Kal. You haven’t changed. You still care for your fellow knights.”

What did that mean?

The lords, merchants, and nobles were confused.

But Lord Poxo and the knights, who knew a fair bit about swordsmanship, gradually realized the truth.

Kal’s breathing remained calm.

“Hoooo...”

By contrast, the other knights’ breaths had become ragged.

“Huff... Huff...”

“Urgh...”

“Hah... Hah...”

And the sharpness of Kal’s blade had been deliberately restrained.

He’s holding back!?

Those who realized it late were horrified.

Meanwhile, Kal did not want the young knights to be hurt.

This was not their fault.

It was Allen’s.

Then one young knight smiled at him.

“Is your chivalry nothing more than holding back!?”

“...”

Why was he smiling?

Before Kal held this sword, the knights attacking him had worn sad expressions.

But not now.

They were all smiling in relief.

Some even looked at him with admiration.

That was right.

They had been forced into this battle.

And the other knights standing alongside their lords and merchant patrons were smiling at Kal as well.

Then a knight swinging his sword at Kal spoke.

“I became a knight after hearing stories about the Knight Commander of Karsel.”

A knight who had once been too insignificant to approach Kal and greet him revealed his true feelings.

“The story of the knight who defended Karsel Territory was my dream!”

Another knight, clashing swords with Kal, put strength into his blade as he shouted.

“We grew up in this frontier listening to your story!”

Kal was in his mid-to-late forties.

They were in their early twenties.

He had never become a knight idol to the entire world.

But he had become their idol.

“My idol!”

“Our hero!”

“The man who made me become a knight!”

The cries of knights throughout the hall seemed to say it.

Show us that our hero has not faded yet.

“Please teach us!”

Then the other knights watching from around the grand hall responded.

They too had grown up hearing stories of Karsel Territory’s hero.

“May I fight as well?”

“May I join them?”

“My lord, I beg you.”

“Master, please.”

The bewildered lords and merchants nodded almost without thinking at the requests of mere young knights.

One by one, more knights joined in until there were around forty.

Then a notification sounded.

[The knights near Karsel Territory seek new instruction.]

[They know that the aged knight before them is their future.]

Their future.

Would they be discarded once they grew old?

Or would they not?

That hope.

The hope that they might not have to retire.

Like old tools that had rusted, begun to creak, lost their old sharpness, and been left in a warehouse.

They did not want to become like that.

[Kal teaches them.]

Kal decided he would give them one gift before he left.

This was the power that came from the sword.

[Knight’s Fighting Spirit activates.]

[The power you already possessed is maximized, surpassing its limits.]

[The power of activated skills increases.]

[The power of activated skills increases.]

He was old.

But there was one technique that a knight who had lived that long could execute with absolute perfection.

This.

“Your future.”

Some forty knights rushed Kal, each unleashing their own aura and strands of sword energy.

Their future.

The experience that would be forged through hundreds of brushes with death and countless battles.

Only someone who had already crossed that road could teach it to them.

Kal, who had struggled to survive on battlefields for decades, unleashed it.

“Life and Death.”

The swordsmanship he had perfected through desperate battles—

SHRRAAAAAK—!

—devoured every strand of sword energy and every trace of aura they had unleashed in a single instant.

[All magical power in use is dispelled.]

Hyunsoo was shaken even more as he watched.

This much...?

The power of a battle-hardened knight wielding the finest sword.

All magical flames were extinguished, and Kal passed through more than forty knights at once with a single thunderous slash.

SHRRAAAK—!

CRASHCRASHCRASHCRASH—!

Massive cuts tore across their armor, and they all collapsed at once.

Then Hyunsoo, who had made it possible for Kal to display such strength, received another notification.

[You have succeeded in Exceptional Talent Discovery!]

[Based on the experience of surviving hundreds of brushes with death, this is an exceptional talent who possesses a battlefield perspective, strategy, and tactics superior to those of any knight.]

[Age had reduced all of his stats and skill abilities, but through you, he has obtained a Transcendent sword and greatly surpassed his prime!]

[Through the power contained within For My Knight—“My knight, rise.”—he will grow without end!]

[His stagnant growth begins anew, and it is impossible to know how far he will rise!]

[A knight skilled in strategy and tactics may sometimes display the resourcefulness to hold back even a million soldiers with ten thousand!]

Growing old meant having lived longer.

It meant having experienced things others had never encountered.

And Hyunsoo realized something else.

Doing one thing for decades carried far greater power than he had expected.

Kal hurriedly sheathed his sword as he looked at the fallen knights.

SHWIIING—!

He had not injured them badly enough to kill or permanently disable them.

Still, he was worried.

He was afraid they might resent him.

But then Kal saw them.

They had fallen. They were in pain.

Yet they were smiling faintly.

“Well, if he’s the legend of Karsel Territory, he ought to be this good.”

“Argh!”

“Ugh...”

“Still, I’m fine!”

The knights forced themselves back to their feet.

Covered in blood, they stood together and looked at Kal.

They said nothing aloud.

But their eyes spoke for them.

Go into a new world.

Become the knight of a greater world, not Karsel Territory, which failed to embrace you.

Go to the one who chose you, not this territory that discarded you.

Kal smiled.

He wanted to stand before Hyunsoo and swear loyalty.

Yet he knew that the only reason he could appear so impressive was because of that extraordinary sword.

Therefore—

He turned to the blacksmith with whom he shared an old bond.

“I am old.”

Hyunsoo answered.

“That means you have more experience.”

Kal shook his head.

“I’ll become an even older knight, still holding a sword with more liver spots appearing on my face every day.”

“Then you’ll lead even more allies wisely.”

“...Sometimes, I may go before you.”

“Then we’ll cry our eyes out at your grave.”

“There are plenty of knights more talented and braver than me.”

“Because there’s only one knight named Kal.”

“Why go this far?”

“...”

Hyunsoo looked at Kal for a moment and thought carefully.

If he had been Karsel Territory’s Kal back then, he would have run away.

But Kal had not left.

“Because you are my hero.”

“...”

The claim that Hyunsoo had protected Karsel Territory was false.

If Kal had not held the territory together, it would not exist.

Kal had kept making excuses, telling himself he was too inadequate to follow the man who had become so great.

Now, he made his vow.

Though he was no young knight pledging loyalty in the prime of his life—

“I, Knight Kal, born a knight, swear that I shall raise my sword for only one person.”

No knight in this hall had more experience or more responsibility than the knight who knelt on one knee and recited the Knight’s Oath—his chivalry.

[You have successfully recruited Knight Kal!]

[He swears to give even his life for you!]

Hyunsoo smiled.

He was about to leave together with Kal.

But then—

“Hold it.”

Merchant Allen’s eyes flashed.

The moment he saw Kal’s martial prowess, greed had risen inside him.

“Kal, did we not have an agreement? You would defeat my knights and become one of my knights.”

That was not what had happened.

Kal had never agreed to such a thing.

Allen was merely dressing up words he himself had spoken.

“Didn’t everyone hear it?”

Defying Allen’s words in this region was no different from death.

If he cut off their contracts, several territories would collapse.

Dozens of merchant groups would be ruined.

Hundreds of knights would die.

“That is enough...!”

Lord Poxo tried to object.

He had been the first to want Kal gone.

But this had gone too far.

However—

Allen shot him a look.

Poxo could not say another word.

In this region, Allen was the tallest mountain.

“See? Didn’t everyone hear it?”

Merchant Allen pressed his claim, but no one in the hall spoke.

Then something else caught Allen’s interest.

He must be some young lord from the backwater.

He took two steps forward.

He decided to teach this absurdly young lord, who still knew nothing of the world, exactly what the world was like.

Allen leaned close and whispered into the young lord’s ear.

“I do not know what hole you crawled out of, but I am the mountain around here. Too high to climb. That is what power and influence are.”

He stepped back and wrapped his threat in polite words.

“What territory do you rule, my lord? And what is your name? I would like to pay your territory a visit.”

Allen’s question had only one meaning.

If Hyunsoo revealed who he was and where he came from, Allen would not leave that territory alone.

In other words, Allen assumed the young lord would quietly give up Kal, hide his identity, and flee.

Then the man before the leering Allen opened his mouth.

“My name is Hyunsoo.”

Hyunsoo?

It sounded strangely familiar.

“I am the king of the nation of Hyun.”

The moment he heard those words, Allen realized that something had gone terribly wrong.