I Became a Dark Knight in the Game

0 – Words Without Feet and a Knight Without Words (1)

The knight was moving in the direction of the sunset.

A suit of plate armor with a dull color as if scorched by fire, and a gigantic sword almost as tall as himself. The armor could be considered clean if not for the scorch marks resembling burn scars, but the sword he carried was dripping with bright red blood.

However, the blood that fell never stained the ground.

This was because the black shadow gathered beneath the knight’s feet was slowly, yet greedily, devouring the blood.

Suddenly, the knight stopped and lifted his head. His gaze was directed towards the setting sun.

In the forest darkened by the backlight of the sunset, only his red eyes shone brightly.

The knight looked at the sun and thought.

‘I should have been a wizard.’

His name was Kriel.

Despite being a knight who rides a horse and is a warrior, he was a former modern man who hated the system that didn’t even give him a single penny or a mount as a basic item at the start of the game.

*

At the foot of the mountain range, in a small church in a small village, the head priest Jakabil was comforting the frightened villagers.

“Everyone, please wait a little longer. I have sent a message to the commander. Soldiers will come soon to resolve this issue.”

“But, Father! It’s already been two weeks since Ivan left to deliver the message!”

“Stay calm. News will come soon. Soon….”

It was hard to tell whether Jakabil’s repeated words were for the confused villagers or for herself.

In the pioneer village of Lorang near the western front, strange and ominous events had been occurring for several days.

The first was the youngest daughter of the potato farm. She was a bold child who loved wandering around the foot of the mountain and had been scolded by the village elders many times but never corrected her habit.

When she didn’t return home until late in the evening, her parents went out to look for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

The second was a girl who was helping her mother weave. One day, she disappeared without a trace.

The repeated disappearances were enough to spawn terrifying rumors. Since it was natural for monsters to lurk in the deep mountains, it couldn’t be dismissed as mere nonsense.

The story of a mountain ghost that devours maidens spread.

One day, someone really witnessed a dark monster that seemed to lure and take away a maiden.

No one knew the fate of the captured maidens. All the villagers of Lorang could do was to plead with the priest, who had deep connections with the highest authorities, to send a knight to exterminate the dreadful monster.

However, even the whereabouts of Ivan, who was tasked with delivering the message, became unknown, spreading the fear that the mountain ghost had realized the humans’ plot and devoured him.

Thud.

It was then that a heavy sound echoed as the church door was knocked. The church fell silent in an instant.

Thud─.

A second sound echoed, urging. Louder than before. Priest Jakabil opened the door, receiving the mixed gazes of fear and expectation from the villagers.

There was a knight.

To be precise, the closest word to describe him with the priest’s knowledge was a knight. Priest Jakabil, who once served as a military chaplain on the western front, clearly remembered what knights looked like.

They wore surcoats embroidered with glorious patterns over their shining silver armor, their eyes gleaming with anticipation of glory and pride in honor.

However, the ‘knight’ before him was different.

The plate armor, which symbolized a knight, was not silver but blackened, and the eyes glimpsed under the deeply pressed helmet seemed to contain greed rather than honor.

The most alien thing was the greatsword slung over his shoulder.

The blade, dyed black, exuded an ominous aura that seemed to bring curses rather than honor or glory.

“Wh-who are you?”

“I was dispatched from the western front.”

The knight showed an order stamped with the seal of the front-line commander. The order, written in concise military language far from noble speech, instructed to ‘resolve the disturbance in Lorange.’

Though he was the awaited savior, Jakabil felt uneasy about letting him into the cathedral.

Shaking off his foolish thoughts, Priest Jakabil guided the knight inside the cathedral.

*

They all say the same thing.

Kriel muttered to himself. It had been a long time since he measured his career as a solemn knight in years rather than months. He had grown accustomed to the suspicious looks from everyone he met, wondering, ‘What kind of knight is this?’

To be more precise, their suspicion would be, ‘Isn’t this guy a demon’s minion?’

Kriel knew their doubts were somewhat justified. The position assigned to the body he was currently using was not just a knight but a dark knight.

There was no end to the complaints he could list about this job, but there were more important matters at hand.

The disturbance in Lorange village.

In the grand scheme of the western front, it was not a significant issue. Compared to the ongoing night raids by the ancient dwarven kingdom’s automatons on the front lines, the disturbance in Lorange was just a minor commotion.

The reason the Lorange incident was important to Kriel was that his discharge depended on it.

It had been a long time since he was dragged to the western front. Kriel no longer wanted to be in the army.

Because of his desperate wish, Kriel listened intently to the villagers’ testimonies. However, his silent listening only felt like a meaningful silence to the people.

In their fear, the mountain ghost was becoming a more superficial image. The only useful testimony was that the monster’s form was black and it probably had four legs.

It was not much different from what Ivan had told him before he set out. He was searching his mind for a ‘black quadrupedal monster.’ Although the information from the game did not apply directly to this world, it was enough to serve as a clue.

“Sir knight…”

A farmer who had been waiting until the end approached Kriel, who was deep in thought. He was particularly hesitant, probably having suffered at the hands of knights or nobles before.

“Speak.”

The old man blinked in surprise at the knight’s use of honorifics, but soon he began to stammer out his words.

I also witnessed the scene of the mountain spirit kidnapping the maiden. As it ran on all fours, something like smoke wrapped around its body. It disappeared in an instant, like the wind.

It was nothing special. Kriel thought of sending the old man away with a polite nod.

“But you know, didn’t that thing have horns like a goat on its head?”

“Like a goat?”

Two large, curved horns. It was an extremely important clue.

“Thank you, old man.”

A four-legged beast. Fast speed, and two large, beautiful horns.

It must be a Bicorn.

In the game, the monster usually ate men, so why it kidnapped a maiden this time was unknown. But didn’t the unicorn, a cousin of the Bicorn, like maidens?

Kriel, thinking that there could be mutations among monsters, quietly called the priest Jakabil.

“I will catch the mountain spirit tomorrow.”

The priest Jakabil could not help but be bewildered by the declaration, thrown out in a casual voice as if saying the sun rises in the east.

*

Kriel attached strange conditions for catching the mountain spirit.

First. One of the women who had not yet been captured was needed. It was obvious that bait was needed to lure the mountain spirit. The villagers, worried about another missing person, still considered it a reasonable condition.

Second. A husband from a happily married couple among the villagers should accompany them. This was truly an inexplicable request.

Kriel hinted to the priest Jakabil, “If the mountain spirit is the monster I know, it originally eats husbands, not maidens.” But the old priest, having experienced something completely different until now, nodded while still harboring doubts.

But what could they do? The knight needed bait to hunt the monster.

Most of the women who had not yet been captured were children, and most of the faithful husbands were also good fathers.

The two people who accompanied Kriel were a father and daughter for that reason.

The priest looked up at the knight with a haggard face.

“…Please, let no one die. The wife left alone is already crying.”

“It will stop tomorrow.”

*

Usually, noble hunts took place in broad daylight. However, the knight who introduced himself as Kriel headed into the forest at dusk.

The forest after sunset was originally a place people were reluctant to enter due to its danger. Especially after the mountain spirit had made its nest there.

Hiding his trembling daughter behind him, the farmer asked the knight.

“…What happens now?”

“Soon the mountain spirit will appear. Once we catch it, you will return to Lorange.”

Kriel headed to the clearing he had noted while crossing the forest yesterday. The wild forest surrounding Lorange had trees so closely spaced that it was not suitable for Kriel to swing his greatsword.

Therefore, he had scouted a location in the forest yesterday, while dealing with the monsters, where he could have a showdown with the mountain spirit.

It wasn’t very spacious, but it was better than fighting in the dense forest. Kriel placed the father and daughter in the center of the clearing and drew a circle around them with the tip of his blade.

“Do not step outside the circle.”

The farmer nodded earnestly. Feeling that his warning was somewhat insufficient, Kriel added another word.

“Under no circumstances should you step outside. Strange voices and illusions will try to deceive you, but never.”

Kriel lit an incense stick between the father and daughter. It was a monster-attracting incense he had brought from the western front.

Normally, doing such a thing would attract all the starving beasts in the forest, but all the beasts that would have come had lost their heads yesterday.

The only beast that would come running was the Baikon, which hadn’t even shown its fur yesterday.

A loyal husband, who was originally the Baikon’s prey, and a pure maiden, the target of the mutant Baikon that appeared in the village of Lorange. Lastly, the attracting incense.

The conditions were set for the mountain spirit to come charging.