I Became a Dark Knight in the Game

34 – Short Recollection, Long Recollection (3)

Seeing Armed, who was constantly grumbling as if something was bothering him, Kriel tilted his head. They didn’t part on bad terms, so why was he like this?

Kriel decided to get to the point. It was time to get an expert’s opinion.

“This is what I need to ask you about.”

“This?”

Kriel took out the horned sword and handed it to Armed, turning the handle towards him.

The red-tinted curved sword felt quite ominous, but Armed was already used to Kriel. This level of ominousness was nothing.

‘Besides…’

Upon closer inspection, he felt a divine power that was not ordinary. It was absurd for something with such an appearance to be a holy relic, but he decided to understand it.

Kriel, too, looked like a dark knight crawling up from the abyss, but in reality, he was a human figure like the protagonist of a chivalric novel.

“You carry a sword just like you.”

It was a compliment twisted and turned out of embarrassment. Though the outward majesty might be fearsome and fierce, its true nature was more noble than anyone else.

Kriel recalled the origin of his messy speech. He had tried so hard to become a ‘noble knight’ in appearance at least.

“No. How could you say that.”

Orisin, too, could not agree with Armed’s assessment.

[What! Just because she’s the daughter of a count! How could you say she resembles the one who cut off my head!]

“What?”

At the spirit’s absurd words, Armed’s brain momentarily froze. Kriel responded calmly as if nothing was wrong.

“Deserved to be beheaded.”

[That’s true.]

It was a truly bizarre conversation. Orishin, perhaps having spoken half-jokingly from the start, readily accepted Criel’s reply and launched into a lengthy tirade about how ‘the sword looked pretty cool though.’

Criel let Orishin’s words go in one ear and out the other. That horse-headed b*stard must have been awfully bored waiting.

“That thing’s core is currently contaminated by the Abyss.”

Surprised, Ahmed cast a detection spell. A structure hermetically sealed with layers of divine power. There was no trace of the Abyss to be felt.

However, the ‘seal’ felt strangely peculiar. The divine power was intertwined in a needlessly complex and robust manner.

“It’s some kind of curse, I hear. A sort of automatic purification function has been temporarily installed in the sword, so it’s periodically cleansed. But fundamentally, it remains the same.”

Ahmed said, “Wait a minute,” and observed the horned sword for a long while. Beyond the tightly woven barrier of divine power, something that was definitely not divine power seemed to be creeping and growing.

Even from a glance, the source of the contamination seemed to be of a considerably high order and extremely tenacious. Even as the divine power constantly reduced the influence of the curse, it continued to proliferate endlessly, making the core of the curse untouchable.

“This won’t be done in a day or two….”

“Is that so? Then it can’t be helped.”

Criel muttered softly. Her indifferent words brought on phantom pains from Ahmed’s past. The same nonchalant, open-ended farewell as then. That was something she wanted to avoid.

“Wait!”

She stood up, gripping the table. The force of her movement rattled the utensils on top. Ahmed, with a sudden burst of confidence, declared:

“O-One or two days might not be enough, but three days will do! I can identify the source of the curse in that time!”

Her stammered first words betrayed the anxiety she couldn’t quite conceal. Criel, with her usual impassive expression, replied:

“There’s no need for that.”

Both now and then. It felt like a declaration that she was of no help to her. Ahmed felt a suffocating sensation, as if someone was clutching her heart with a cold hand.

However, Criel hadn’t finished speaking.

“I meant, since we have plenty of time, take your time investigating. I have no other appointments at the moment.”

“…Really?”

“Or is your schedule the problem? If so, tell me the location of your next academic conference, and I’ll visit you then.”

Ahmed felt the tension that had stiffened her entire body suddenly dissipate. Almost melting back into her chair, Ahmed said weakly:

“No. I’m free. I’ll tell you the inn I’m staying at, so come around noon tomorrow. I’ll be in the Duchy for about a week.”

“You’re not taking the sword right away?”

“I originally came here simply for the academic exchange. I haven’t prepared any reagents or anything. You should at least give a mage time to prepare, shouldn’t you?”

Criel readily nodded. It was common knowledge that preparing conversation magic required a long time and expensive reagents. It wasn’t a combat situation, but complex research would likely consume similar resources.

“Understood. Noon?”

“Yeah. Don’t eat lunch.”

*

Kriel entered the inn that advertised itself as the cheapest among the nearby inns. Normally, cheap inns were breeding grounds for filth and unsanitary conditions, but thanks to the wealth of the duchy, the facilities were reasonably average despite the low price.

Of course, that “low price” was by the standards of the duchy, so compared to a truly rural inn, it was not cheap at all.

Still, there was a roof and blankets, so there was no thought of complaining. As soon as he entered the room, Tuon transformed into a human form.

“Master, the knife.”

“Alright.”

Somehow, the words were getting shorter. Tuon claimed it was not rudeness but a compressed language for efficient communication.

Kriel handed the horn knife to Tuon. Orishin, too, had no particular complaints about his new body being cleaned, so he just watched as Tuon took out oil and cloth.

[By the way, you care quite a bit about money, don’t you?]

He must have been thinking about something else rather than watching the knife being tended to. Kriel lightly affirmed Orishin’s question.

“Who doesn’t like money?”

“Master. What truly matters is not money but honor. Wealth and glory should be honorably extracted from the abyss.”

“You sure do talk a lot at times like this.”

“And one more thing. The Dark Knight─”

“Be careful with your words in places where others might hear.”

An everyday conversation between Tuon and Kriel. Orishin, who had been listening to the trivial content, nodded his head.

[A guy who likes money stood alone in front of the Wild Hunt and only took a single coin?]

Kriel stroked his chin. There was a rather complicated story.

“It’s not like I always take just one coin as payment. When I work as a mercenary, I get paid properly.”

*

[What? So you weren’t in the count’s territory because of mercenary work, but just happened to be there by chance?]

“No. I visited the Ket estate because I accepted a monster subjugation request from the count’s family.”

[Oh… So?]

Orishin felt something strange from the beginning of the conversation. Didn’t he accept a monster subjugation request and fight a ferocious monster?

And yet, just one coin? He had often heard people call him a ‘knight crazy about chivalry’….

“But the situation at the time was a bit strange. The count of Ket, who was supposed to lead the monster subjugation, suddenly collapsed during the expedition. But the monsters around the estate were just goblins or wild animals turned into monsters. Even though the employer collapsed, the subjugation was successfully completed.”

The mercenaries were paid their commission, and those who received their life money began to spend it lavishly in the bustling city. Two days later in the evening. Kriel recalled that it was then that ominous things began to happen.

A banshee wailing in the cemetery. Withering vegetation despite it not being winter. Above all, the abnormally strong wind. A whirlwind that defied the laws of nature, occurring while the spirits were silent. All of this foretold the arrival of the Wild Hunt.

“The Ket family wanted to renew the contract, but the contract had already been terminated. The war supplies brought by the mercenary group would have been exhausted. Most of the mercenary groups took the monster subjugation commission and left. I did the same.”

Only the direction was different. Originally, the Wild Hunt approached from the west, beyond the horizon where the sun had set.

*

When the other mercenaries set off towards the rising sun, Kriel began walking towards the setting sun.

[Why on earth would you do that?]

“A knight can’t be seen as ‘running away’ in the eyes of others. I calculated that even if I head west, at my speed, I would be out of the count’s territory before midnight.”

Kriel sighed. What he said wasn’t entirely a lie. But there were some truths he hadn’t mentioned.

As Kriel was about to leave the count’s territory, he thought, ‘Considering the affinities in the Tirnanog RPG, maybe I could win?’ and stopped walking. The Wraith King was one of the rare boss monsters leading an army that could engage in a one-on-one duel.

“But it wasn’t the case.”

[…Are you an idiot?!]

“What could I do? There were no allies around. Breaking through the encirclement was impossible due to their numbers. The best chance of survival was to hold out until dawn.”

As a mercenary, he had already received his payment, and the battle with the Wild Hunt was something he had brought upon himself, not something he was ordered to do, so he had no right to demand compensation, Kriel added.

“Even though I said I didn’t need it, they insisted on giving it to me, so I took just one coin.”

Hearing this, Orisin thought. In summary, after fighting the Wild Hunt, he took just one coin purely out of his own conviction?

‘This guy. Isn’t the part about heading west to escape the territory a lie?’