I Became a Dark Knight in the Game

32 – Short Recollection, Long Recollection (1)

Kriel stepped back from the receptionist wizard. His vision went dark.

“How can this be happening in the world?”

[Is it because the master was mistaken for a debt collector? Because the master’s appearance is threatening. In that context, it can be said that they imagined the most threatening person to visit this building.]

Kriel ignored Tuon’s words. More precisely, he tried to ignore them.

Damn it. Kriel couldn’t stop his inner lament.

It was a character sculpture he had painstakingly crafted to create a dark knight-like appearance. If he had known he would become this character, he would have chosen a more universally handsome appearance rather than an overwhelmingly intimidating sharp look.

He wasn’t referring to a famous degenerate inheriting the throne or a chronic patient who stabs himself with his own cursed sword.

No. If he had known he would become a game character, he would have chosen a different profession from the start. After cursing the dark knight once, Kriel spoke to Orisin.

He didn’t bother to hide the spirit’s form. After all, it was a building rented by wizards for holding society meetings, so they wouldn’t find it strange if a horse-headed ghost was flying around.

“It doesn’t seem like the society is running properly.”

[…Let’s go and see. There’s no harm in trying, right?]

That was true. Kriel himself was thinking of getting another expert opinion saying, “This won’t work,” rather than coming with a solemn determination like “If I can’t solve Orisin’s contamination, I’ll die!”

Kriel headed to the basement. The third basement floor was, coincidentally, the lowest floor. The word “dead end” crossed Kriel’s mind.

Unlike the ground floor, which had several small rooms, the basement had only a couple of large conference rooms installed.

And on the third basement floor, there was only one gigantic room. Kriel strode forward and opened the door. According to the schedule, it was before the conference started, so it wouldn’t be rude to enter immediately.

As the door opened, several round tables came into view. At the end of the line of sight extending from the main entrance, there was a huge podium. People would sit at the tables and go up to the podium to present when called.

It looked more like a wedding banquet hall than a conference. It was easy to imagine the host making comments from the podium while people dined cheerfully. Kriel looked around.

‘Huh….’

There was no one.

[No way. This can’t be the conference, it’s too shabby….]

Orisin muttered absentmindedly.

“Calm down. There’s still time before the conference starts. A few more people might come in.”

It was something I couldn’t believe myself. But what could I do? I didn’t have the list of conference members. I just had to wait.

Time passed honestly, as it always does, as long as we waited.

But no one opened the door to the conference.

[We’re screwed.]

While Orisin let out a strange scream and started headbanging on the podium, Tuon whispered.

[Master. Doesn’t something seem strange?]

“Strange?”

[Even if the wizards who joined the conference couldn’t attend due to personal reasons, the host should be different, right?]

“Oh. So?”

[Actually, the conference might already be in progress. It might be taking place in a different layer of space that you can’t perceive.]

Kriel listened to Tuon’s opinion. If it was a different layer of space, it would naturally mean an alternate dimension unfolded through barrier magic. It was uncertain if the participants of the Abyss Prevention Conference possessed such high-level abilities, but it wasn’t theoretically impossible.

But one question arose.

“Why couldn’t I enter? Usually, the entry conditions for such alternate dimensions are special passwords or items, and I have an invitation delegated by Lwein, don’t I?”

[Master. Think about yourself.]

Know thyself. Was it Socrates? As Kriel pondered whether there was a scholar in Tirnanog who left a statement similar to Earth’s Socrates, he realized the true meaning of Tuon’s words.

Where does a dark knight think of attending the Abyss Prevention Conference?

It was indeed a sudden disparagement. Kriel felt suffocated for a moment, as if a fist had been lodged in his solar plexus. He had enough tolerance for self-contempt, but not yet for the contempt of others.

After the shock subsided and he thought calmly, it was a plausible story. But it was only a ‘possibility.’

First of all, there was the holy power emanating from the cloak and the necklace of the great warrior that still bestowed a heavy sense of weight on Kriel himself. The great warrior’s necklace had proven its utility by passing through the gates of the Holy City of Temris without any unusual incidents.

Above all.

‘If they sensed the abyss, the wizards of this building would have been all over me to hunt me down beyond the door.’

The vigilance against the abyss was a common sentiment across the continent, regardless of the country. Once there was suspicion of the abyss, the ordinary way of thinking was to trample and suppress it first and then think about it.

However, since he couldn’t sense the wizards who had chased him down, it was safe to say that Tuon’s hypothesis about being denied entry because he was a dark knight was wrong.

[Just one more hour, just one more hour… Even the founder should come, not just the members of the society.]

Orisin muttered miserably. It was a gloomy appearance, different from his usual crazy liveliness. It wasn’t that he had anything busy to do. Kriel waited with him, filled with compassion.

And then it was the end time of the society as guided in the pamphlet.

[…How could this be!]

Orisin was furious. At this point, Kriel also felt a sense of incongruity. As Tuon had already pointed out, they should have met the host of the society. But for no one to come like this?

“Normally, the equipment should be cleared and the next rental managers should come.”

He checked the list of renters at the front gate. The reservation for the hall on the third basement floor continued even after the Abyss Prevention Society. Feeling something suspicious, Kriel stayed in the room.

Again, about 30 minutes passed.

Crackle. A flash of light sparked in the air on the stage of the banquet hall. The light, which was initially a simple straight line, drew a smooth curve and connected into a circle.

And then people started popping out from beyond the glowing circle.

“Heh heh, by now the collectors would have thought everyone had already left and would be searching outside the building.”

“By renting the previous and subsequent times under different names, we ensure an entrance and exit free from the worry of being chased! I don’t know how the chairman came up with such a plan. Haha!”

The wizards, who were cheerfully exchanging compliments about how they had evaded the creditors again today, met Kriel’s bloodshot – actually just red irises – eyes.

“Eek!”

“Wait a moment! Which family are you from? If you tell us the debtor’s name, we will let you go immediately!”

“Vice-chairman! How can you sell out the members on the spot!”

Tuon’s guess was half right. These people were indeed holding the society event in a different dimension created using advanced magic skills.

It was truly pitiful that this was an effort to avoid the creditors.

Kriel felt the vibration of the sword stuck in his left waist. It was a wail filled with extreme anger.

[To see such a thing…!]

The wizards who witnessed the wailing Orisin were simultaneously astonished and impressed.

“No way! Damn it. Was there someone who owed a spirit too?!”

“Are you saying it’s possible to have financial transactions with a spirit?!”

Kriel massaged his stiffening neck.

“We have nothing to do with your debt relationships.”

[Person?]

It was Tuon’s sudden telepathic attack. However, by now Kriel had also become accustomed to such attacks. He responded to the mental attack with active sentence interpretation.

‘Strictly speaking, Orisin is a spirit. Tuon’s point is academically correct!’

Kriel, who erased the implication of Tuon’s true intention, that is, the racial definition of a dark knight, from his mind, opened his mouth.

“I have come to the society with questions about the practical examples of abyss prevention. May I meet the person in charge?”

“Ah, no! The chairman said that if you bother him one more time about financial matters, he will cut off all support!”

“So, we are not interested in your debt.”

“Who comes in saying they are a debt collector!”

Kriel felt a sense of lament towards the wizards of this era. How could they live so narrowly as wizards?

“What’s all the commotion?”

A clear voice was heard from behind the wizards. The wizards screamed at the voice. Chairman, this is not what we intended…

“Ah, damn it. The barrier maintenance time is almost up, right? Just go out slowly. I’ll handle the negotiations. Those who claim to be me, stand against the wall.”

The dejected wizards lined up in two orderly rows and walked out. It seemed that the chairman was at the very back of them.

Kriel thought that the voice sounded familiar for some reason.