I Became a Dark Knight in the Game

55 – A Very Ordinary Journey (1)

Kriel was soothing Tuon. Tuon, who had transformed into the appearance of a girl in a gray dress, was fuming.

“How dare you put me in such a vulgar scabbard!”

[What the heck?! Hey, that scabbard is quite cozy!]

“Well…”

After defeating the followers of the Abyss, if he said something like ‘If you join me, we can conquer the world together,’ wouldn’t this look like a territorial dispute among demons?

Kriel himself was a dark knight dispatched to kill Grikenkos’ minion, Tushkin, to expand another demon’s territory. He would be considered the vanguard of some demon, or its incarnation.

“Tuon. I have no intention of conquering the world as you were about to say.”

“That’s not what I was going to say! You didn’t even let me finish!”

“That’s true. I’m sorry. What were you going to say?”

“If you join me, you can become the king of the abyss!”

“No!”

Kriel grabbed Tuon and launched into a long sermon. The duty of a knight lies in honor, and true honor is not in rising to a higher position and achieving glory, but in maintaining one’s own nobility.

Orisin, who was listening to the sermon from the side, thought.

‘No matter how I look at it, this guy seems to be sincere about chivalry…’

“Therefore, throwing oneself into the abyss for the sake of a title like Demon King is far from my goal. Sacrificing others for desire is not noble.”

“But the Demon King… isn’t it cool?”

It was an absurd question. Orisin expected Kriel to brush off Tuon’s question lightly.

But Kriel couldn’t answer. From his expression, it was clear he was thinking, ‘It is cool, though…’

“If you don’t like the king of the abyss, how about the king of knights?”

Orisin shook his head. There was no vacant land right now. To claim the title of king, one would have to build a power base, but Kriel was a wandering knight by nature.

Kriel’s expression also became subtly indifferent, as if he had a similar thought. Tuon hastily added.

“No. You can do both!”

[Ing.]

“Combine the Demon King and the King of Knights. With both light and darkness, you’ll look the strongest!”

Orisin heard Kriel murmur ‘Oh’ in admiration. It was hard to understand what this guy thought was ‘cool.’

[Oh, children of darkness. Get a grip!]

It was when Orisin lightly tapped both of their heads with the flat of his curved sword.

“Just a moment─”

Armed opened the door and came in. The scene of a gray-haired girl holding Kriel and tearing up came into view.

She froze.

[Haha, we’re screwed.]

Orisin muttered.

*

Armed did not grab a stone and shout, ‘This scoundrel! But he’s still my fiancé!’ Her mind went completely blank, and she couldn’t say anything.

Kriel thought about making an excuse for how he ended up with the cursed sword but gave up. It was unlikely that Armed would immediately recognize Tuon’s true identity. He intended to push through by claiming it was just an ordinary ego sword, not the spirit of a cursed sword.

Tuon returned to the form of a sword. A gray straight sword with a cross-shaped crossguard.

“There was a brief disagreement with the sword spirit. What brings you here?”

“Oh, right. The sword spirit….”

Armed barely managed to hold onto his creaking mind and nodded blankly, then stopped. His curiosity as a wizard had kicked in.

“Sword spirit? Has it achieved a level of self-completion that allows for materialization?”

A strange excitement flickered in Armed’s eyes. Criel nodded reluctantly.

“A weapon with such a high level of self-awareness. It’s top-tier among ego weapons. I suspected as much when it shattered Tushkin.”

Armed raised his hand. There was a strong will to touch it just once. Although the cult leader of Eve Kaha had guaranteed that the connection with the abyss was severed, Tuon was still a cursed sword.

Cursed swords that corrupt people are shunned everywhere in Tirnanog.

Even if Tuon had escaped the shadow of the abyss, its origin lay with the Seven Great Demon Weapons, Gratuon. Its identity had to remain hidden if possible.

Criel looked at Orishin. Orishin could read Criel’s intentions from his urgent gaze.

‘It’s time for me to act heroically!’

Orishin, who found it hard to understand Criel and Tuon, did not realize that he was already quite immersed in the chivalric romance by thinking of adjectives like ‘heroic’ in this situation.

[When you think about it, I’m that kind of weapon too!]

The horse head blocked Armed’s path. Armed frowned. In theory, Orishin and Hornblade also fell into the category of ego weapons.

Ego, a weapon with self-awareness.

“But there’s a difference between transplanting a spirit that originally had a physical form into a sword and a sword spirit born from the sword itself.”

Armed’s story shifted to an academic discussion about ego weapons. Having successfully diverted attention from Tuon, Criel signaled his thanks to Orishin with a glance and waited for the right moment to speak.

“So, what brings you here?”

“…You were planning to leave without having dinner, weren’t you?”

“Uh.”

Criel smiled sheepishly. He was about to leave, having already received a coin, and didn’t want to receive more money for unnecessary compliments.

“Still, have a meal before you go. I heard from the attendants that they are preparing a welcome ceremony for the noble knight who defeated Tushkin and saved him from the abyss.”

“It’s burdensome.”

“What?”

Criel shrugged. He originally liked to play alone in his room. Being in the spotlight in front of people was something he didn’t dislike, but it was burdensome.

“I’m a bit timid by nature.”

Armed chuckled at the clumsy joke.

“You really have a strange personality. You know that, right?”

“If you need my name to attract more support from the Gabi merchant group, feel free to use it. After all, I’m your fiancé in name. I have to repay what I’ve received.”

Armed’s lips twitched slightly. She struggled to suppress a laugh. But the next moment, she no longer needed to hold back her laughter.

“However, it would be necessary to consult with Morigina as well.”

“…Hey. Why is her name coming up here?”

Kriel calmly explained. He had two official positions: one as the Grand Warrior of Eve Kaha and the other as the fiancé of Armed Ket.

Orisin interrupted, “Isn’t the first one a soldier?” but Kriel cheerfully ignored him.

“There could be religious issues. To avoid unnecessary complications, it’s better to consult at least once.”

Armed nodded with a disgruntled expression. Kriel, who had packed all his belongings, including the greatsword he had retrieved from the shattered corridor, was about to set off.

“Kriel. You know the winter solstice is coming up, right?”

The winter solstice. The longest night of the year. Originally, the night did not have an ominous image, but after the Demon King War, that image changed somewhat.

The abyss nests in the darkness to avoid the light.

“About a month left. Why?”

“Around the time of the winter solstice festival, come to the Ket County. To officially settle the engagement, it’s convenient to do it in front of the family, and such an event is necessary to gather everyone.”

The winter solstice festival. Originally, it was an event to burn the grudges of the past year and pray for good fortune in the coming year on the longest night. After the Demon King War, it changed to mean gathering people’s vitality on the darkest day to prevent the misfortune of the abyss.

To put it more bluntly, it meant gathering everyone to monitor them, as you never know when or how an abyss spy might infiltrate. It was closer to surveillance than a festival.

Now that the Demon King had fallen, the original meaning was gradually being revived, and the festive atmosphere was returning.

Kriel nodded. He probably planned to dissolve the engagement around that time and return to his free self.

*

Avoiding the crowded main gate, he went to the back gate. Suddenly, he saw a figure perched on the wall.

The hair color was quite familiar to Kriel. Hair that started black and ended red.

“As expected, I thought you’d leave right away after getting paid. You’re later than I expected.”

“Armed said the same thing when she came to my room.”

“Did that pink-haired one realize you were leaving without taking money? Tsk. A formidable opponent…”

Morigina said, placing her hand on her mouth. Under the moonlight, she looked like a priest in agony. It was like a painting, but Kriel knew that Morigina was far from the typical priest depicted in holy paintings.

Specifically, starting from her shoes. When she went on long journeys, she would create and wear shoes close to military boots through blood manipulation instead of ordinary shoes.

Now, Morigina was wearing leather shoes instead of red combat boots.

“Do you have anything to do here?”

“Yes. My grandmother said something was happening in the empire, so I came here. Since traces of the abyss were found here, I plan to start investigating this area first.”

The warning from the leader of Eve Kaha about the stirring of the abyss. As a knight, it was not something he could ignore.

“Do you need help?”

“It’s okay. Nothing has been revealed properly yet. You have to go take care of that horse-headed job, right? If it seems like something you can’t handle alone, I’ll come find you.”

“How will you know where I am?”

Morina jumped down from the wall and walked towards Kriel. She approached until they could feel each other’s breath, then raised her index finger to touch his shoulder. Her finger slid lightly from his shoulder down to his solar plexus.

The crow necklace, the mark of the great warrior, swayed.

“Because of this. If I send the crow, it will find you on its own.”