Chapter 300

Aron took the lead in tracking the White Knight Order.

The other members of the Extermination Squad followed its traces at a distance, watching all four directions.

“What is Damian’s level?”

Killian asked Serena, who walked beside him.

“I understand that he is an unstable 7-Star.”

“Already? He is a monster.”

“That is not something Your Highness should say.”

Serena shook her head as she watched Killian let out a hollow laugh.

“I should not compare him to myself.”

They had achieved remarkable growth through relentless effort.

He should not belittle them by comparing them to himself, who had lived for thousands of years.

In any case.

“The current Damian should be able to face a 7-Star monster alone.”

He was not a complete Superhuman, but Killian was certain Damian could contend even with ordinary Superhumans.

It made him understand why Lucy Eurasia had entrusted Damian with the mountain-range subjugation.

‘She must have thought that, if I joined him to subjugate the Monster Lord, he could grow into a complete Superhuman.’

Once the war ended in the future, Fian and Julian would no longer be qualified to claim the throne.

Killian was admiring Lucy Eurasia’s strategy, which planned for the time after a Great War that had not even ended yet, when Serena asked in an even voice.

“What do you think of Prince Damian?”

“He is an excellent knight.”

“What about as a king?”

“Hmm.”

It seemed that she had been concerned about the successor.

Now that she too had become a pillar of the kingdom, he thought it was only natural for her to worry about it and gave her a serious answer.

“Among the princes, he is the best suited for it.”

More than suited, the word most fitting would be qualified.

‘Fian has good talent, responsibility, and leadership, but he falls somewhat short of inheriting Eurasia after Simon in an age of turmoil.’

And Julian did not even possess the qualities to govern a lesser kingdom.

‘If luck favored him and he inherited the throne, there would be no greater disaster for Eurasia.’

In contrast.

‘Damian possesses perfect qualities.’

He possessed the ability to govern well enough to survive even if he inherited the throne in an age of turmoil, and at his present rate of growth, he could aim for 8-Star as a knight as well.

The Empire, the Monster Lord, and the Anomaly.

If every ill-fated tie could be severed in Simon Eurasia’s era.

‘He may become the king who establishes an age of peace.’

Thinking of the future that his friend had been unable to conclude, a smile appeared on Killian’s face without his realizing it.

Serena seemed to take that expression in a different sense.

“Your Highness is a prince as well.”

“Hm?”

“You are a direct member of the royal bloodline, just like Prince Damian.”

She continued, emphasizing the words blood and direct.

“And you are not currently holding the post of commander of the Extermination Squad either.”

As before, he did not need to overexert himself on missions or risk his life cutting down enemies.

From the kingdom’s position, every Superhuman was precious.

Since two years had passed, he could now demand that Simon Eurasia give him a position.

He could demand an important post no less significant than commander of the Extermination Squad.

Anyone else would not wander through such dangerous mountain ranges.

“Yet you are risking your life for Eurasia once again.”

A fool who knew nothing but Eurasia.

A strange Superhuman who placed the kingdom’s safety ahead of his own life.

Serena did not speak those words aloud.

She knew that the man who had once been her superior would give a vague answer and avoid responding.

“Serena. Did I not say that all of you would die in the Monster Wave if I did not come?”

Killian emphasized once again the excuse he had given: that he had seen the future through the Pope’s Authority.

“Did I not say as well that you should think of the Extermination Squad not as something you must protect, but as something you must use?”

“And I told you that I refuse to let the people who used to be my subordinates die pointless deaths.”

“If Eurasia remains sound, is that not enough?”

“Eurasia is Eurasia, but surviving comes first.”

“That is exactly what I am trying to say.”

“....”

Killian was left speechless by Serena’s firm words.

“Eurasia is Eurasia, and Your Highness is Your Highness.”

“No....”

“I know that you are strong. I cannot even presume to guess how much stronger you have become over the past two years.”

Even so.

“Do not stake your life as well if something happens to Prince Damian. If someone has to stake a life, I will do it.”

Killian furrowed his brow.

He was trying to infer why she would say such things in this situation.

There was only one conclusion he reached.

“Are you telling me to aim for the throne?”

“Why not?”

Serena revealed her thoughts openly.

It was such frank counsel that, if another heard it, it could easily be construed as rebellion.

“How strange. The Serena I knew was not the kind of person who would push me to desire the throne.”

“It is frustrating to watch from beside you. With Your Highness’s ability, the competition for Eurasia’s throne would have been over long ago. His Majesty would have had no grounds to refuse you either.”

Killian thought of Simon Eurasia’s character.

Perhaps Serena’s words might be right.

‘A king....’

It was something he had never considered even once.

Since his reincarnation, he had focused only on raising fallen Eurasia and honing his swordsmanship.

He had thought it would be enough to put Julian forward.

But it seemed those around him did not think so.

“Ha ha ha.”

At that moment, the dwarf walking a little ahead of them boomed with laughter and joined in.

“I would like Brother to become king as well. Then I will tell Father to give you an even greater treasured sword than the one you carry now....”

“Almadin.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Focus on your watch duty.”

There was a chill in Serena’s cold voice.

A trace of Haki was mixed into it as well.

“Hrk.... Understood.”

At the quiet warning, Almadin flinched and turned his head away.

“Tsk, tsk. That is what you get for sticking your neck out for no reason.”

Portran, beside him, patted his shoulder in consolation.

It seemed that since Serena took office as commander of the Extermination Squad, the hierarchy had been clearly established.

Serena continued.

“Many members of the Extermination Squad have risked their lives for Eurasia.”

Being king was a position that carried responsibility for all those who belonged to him, including his people.

Knights were no different.

They were people who received better treatment than ordinary farmers or soldiers in exchange for risking their lives to defend their country.

They were the first people whose lives would be endangered by an incompetent king.

“I have lived as a member of the Extermination Squad and lost countless comrades. I hope that their sacrifices will not be meaningless.”

Serena revealed her thoughts, believing that Killian, who had served as commander of the Extermination Squad, would understand that weight.

“Julian aside, Damian and Fian are both the sort who would value knights above all else.”

They, too, had held swords and lived as knights from childhood.

“Influence cannot be ignored either. Your Highness has built close relationships even with the Holy See.”

There was the medium-sized Warp Gate in the capital.

And he had the personal prestige to bring a temple that had lost its foundation into the capital.

“That is something Prince Damian cannot do.”

It was something that not only Damian, but even Lucy Eurasia, who had handled diplomacy for a long time, had been unable to accomplish.

Moreover, a knight who had formed both a Mana Heart and Hollyheart was unprecedented in the continent’s history.

“Now, Your Highness is practically a kingdom in yourself.”

When Killian moved, countless kingdoms moved with him.

On the surface, Simon Eurasia was the core of the Kingdom Alliance, but beneath that, every relationship rested upon Killian.

At present, the only one capable of wielding that degree of influence was the Emperor of the Empire.

‘Those who possess great strength are eventually discarded once they have fulfilled their use.’

No matter how strong one’s mind, one was ultimately human.

Even if one possessed swordsmanship said to belong to the greatest knight, one’s body was ultimately made of bone and flesh.

Bastian Constantine, who had been an incomplete 7-Star.

Yulian, who reached complete 7-Star only at the brink of death.

And Serena herself, who had stabilized 7-Star.

‘Even Superhumans die in the end.’

Had not even Edan Eurasia, who mastered 9-Star, ultimately lost the war and died?

She worried that the man before her would die before she did.

Unlike his smiling face, he was hurt more deeply than anyone by the deaths around him and always cared for others even at the cost of throwing away his own life.

Moreover, though he acted like an adult, he was in truth younger than she was.

Killian was misunderstanding her reaction.

‘It may look that way because she does not know that Killian’s connection to the Holy Nation comes from his bloodline as a Saintess.’

He could not begin to imagine her reaction if she learned that both his artificial hearts held power equal to 9-Star.

If he had enough vitality, he could use Hollyheart to demonstrate healing abilities at the level of a High Priest or higher.

He could say with certainty that not even the Pope or Lan possessed a greater total amount of divine power than he did.

‘I will not die.’

At least not until he freed Edan from the sword and reached the entrance to the Divine Realm again.

‘Someone who never revealed her thoughts has changed a great deal in two years.’

Having decided to hide the matter of his hearts for the time being, Killian said,

“Let us speak of that after we finish this matter first.”

Eurasia was at war.

They must not damage their cohesion with a needless dispute over the throne.

‘In any case, His Majesty should decide on a successor sooner....’

If he died in the war, Eurasia might collapse at once in a competition for the throne.

It was not as though he failed to know that. Yet he had not confirmed a successor, making it seem as though he did not consider his own death, and that made Killian smile.

It was Haki worthy of a 9-Star knight.

“Understood. Let us leave it there for today.”

“For today?”

“The White Knight Order has reinforced its numbers to around a hundred.”

Serena changed the subject.

“They have not merely increased their numbers. The White Knight Order is an elite unit composed solely of knights at 3-Star or higher. Of course, if the Monster Lord truly possesses the martial power of a 9-Star Superhuman as Your Highness says, there is no way we would have failed to notice it. An Existence Force of that degree cannot be hidden simply by trying.”

“Yes, which is why I am even more curious about what the White Knight Order found.”

“The families, including Vaskia, are conducting subjugation campaigns of their own. It was only a matter of time before it was found somewhere.”

Among the many knight orders subjugating the mountain ranges, Killian had chosen Damian’s White Knight Order because of the memory that Damian died early in the Monster Wave.

According to Serena’s explanation, there was also a high chance that Damian had learned Haki and Carpe Illusion.

He would have led the subjugation party for years and cut down no few Superhuman-level monsters.

For such a man to be annihilated with comrades who were virtually elites meant that their opponent was at least an 8-Star monster.

Either the ruler of the mountain ranges had been raised to that level by the Monster Lord’s appearance, or it was the Monster Lord itself.

‘Even so, it is strange.’

Even if Damian lost his entire knight order, he possessed the ability and judgment to escape alone.

He was not reckless enough to throw his life away out of responsibility, like Fian before him.

‘Yet someone like him died without being able to do anything.’

Killian wondered why.

And then.

Only after reaching the place where the White Knight Order’s trail vanished did Killian learn the reason.

Before a Dungeon in the form of a cave.

“Welcome.”

There stood Damian, emitting mana mixed with radiance.

“My brother.”