I Became a Mythical Knight King

Chapter 14: Diana’s Shock (3)

“Uncle Hugo, this is Yoo-seong. Yoo-seong, this is Baron Hugo Latus.”

Rene stepped forward to introduce them, and Yoo-seong spoke first, bowing.

“I am Yoo-seong.”

“Baron Hugo Latus, forgive the rudeness of greeting you in my bedroom.”

He was about seventy.

With his long hair and beard all white, Baron Latus was tall and broad-shouldered, but very thin.

Aside from his sharp eyes, I could tell that he didn’t have any strength in his entire body, so I thought that there was a reason we were having this meeting in the bedroom.

“It’s okay.”

Yoo-seong answered, but suddenly thought of Diana and pursed his lips.

He felt like he should have said something more.

Luckily, Baron Latus spoke first.

“I have heard the whole story. Thank you for saving Lothian and our Rene.”

He seemed to be a very serious and polite man, as I had realized from the first time I met him.

Immediately liking him, Yoo-seong thought for a moment about what to say, but what he ended up saying was a bit of a cliché.

“I was just doing what I was supposed to do.”

It was a half-truth, no, mostly a truth.

Saving Rene, saving the villagers along the way, and saving Lothian’s soldiers were all done without much ceremony.

People save people from monsters.

What more could you ask for?

Of course, it boosted his goodwill.

“As expected, the Goddess had her reasons for choosing you as the heir!” While thinking this, Rene, who had been smiling faintly, soon spoke with a sorrowful expression.

“I wish I could make it up to you, but I can’t right now. I will make it up to you later.”

“I understand.”

Once again, Yoo-seong’s answer was as short as Diana’s, but it was unavoidable.

What else is there to say here?

And once again, Baron Latus was the first to speak, as if he understood the situation.

“I hear you have a remarkable chivalry, and at such a young age, you are already using the second stage of chivalry.”

Chivalry was divided into three stages.

Stage 1: Recognizing chivalry.

A knight in this world was not a mere warrior.

They were superhuman warriors with strength, will, and skill that transcended humanity.

Chivalry was proof that one had entered the realm of such superhumans, and one could not be recognized as a knight if one did not display chivalry.

The reason Robin was recognized as a full-fledged knight of the Count of Baltois despite her young age was because she was aware of chivalry.

The effects of first-level chivalry were generally simple.

Sword sharpening.

Flying through the air.

Shooting beams out of your eyes, and so on.

Chivalry was the very soul of a knight, so it tended to grow rather than stagnate, but even so, within the first stage, it was common for powers to get stronger as they became more powerful, but not to change much in effectiveness.

Stage 1 chivalry was the beginning of chivalry, but it was also often considered the end of realistic chivalry.

This is because many knights spent their entire lives in the first stage of chivalry.

Stage 2, the manifestation of chivalry.

Only a small percentage of knights were able to reach the second stage of chivalry.

The effects of Stage 2 chivalry were often much more powerful or complex than those of Stage 1.

Chivalry that creates an alter ego.

A knight who summons a giant of steel, and so on.

Most of the world’s most famous knights were those who reached this level, as their effects and power were often much stronger than those of the first level.

Stage 3, Embodying Chivalry.

Only a few knights could reach Stage 2, but those who reached Stage 3 were able to manifest their chivalry into reality.

In effect, it was the ultimate stage of reality manipulation, where the world itself was transformed, at least in part, to conform to the manifestor’s chivalry.

‘It’s really just a boundary or a realm shift.’

Those who reached the third stage of chivalry were like a kind of tactical nuclear weapon.

They were monsters that could stand alone against the Knight Orders, a group of superhumans, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that they could defeat an army of ten thousand of ordinary humans alone.

Even in the entire world, there were only ten users of the third-level chivalry who were known by name, and they were called the ultimate knights – ‘Master Knights’ – for having reached the pinnacle of chivalry.

‘It’s not for nothing that the Knights of the Round Table are the strongest knight order in humanity.’

All of them possess the third level of chivalry.

The most powerful fighting group in all of mankind.

Incidentally, in Fantasy Monarch, ordinary users could only reach the second level of chivalry.

This meant that even Yoo-seong, the undisputed number one in Fantasy Monarch, had never experienced the third level of chivalry.

Anyway, going back, Baron Latus’ thoughts were universally valid.

How can a Chivalry that summons an army be stage 1, it’s clearly stage 2.

A young man who looked to be in his early to mid-twenties was already using the second level of chivalry, so he was indeed a promising young man.

At Baron Latus’ praise, Rene beamed with excitement and smugness, as if she were the one who had heard the praise, and Yoo-seong thought to himself.

‘It’s only the first stage, but let’s call it that.’

And so it was.

Yoo-seong’s chivalry, Heir to the Light, was currently at Stage 1, according to the information in the status window.

Even though it was only Stage 1, it was comparable to Stage 2, the strongest chivalry, and it was indeed the chivalry of the Heir to the Holy King.

However, it was not a story that needed to be told again, so Yoo-seong simply thanked him for the undeserved praise and nodded again, and Baron Latus looked at him with satisfaction.

‘He has reached such a high level at such a young age that it would be natural for him to be arrogant, but he shows no such signs.’

According to Rene’s story, they had met by chance in the Lotho Forest.

“Huh huh.”

Baron Latus smiled a little at the sight of Rene, who still looked as proud as ever of her work.

It was a pleasure to see a young man so promising, a potential groom for Rene, whom he loved like a niece, but now was not the time for mere pleasantries.

The Prince of Kobolds is coming.

There are villages that have already been wiped out by the kobolds.

Some of them have come under Lothian’s nose.

No matter how far-fetched the idea of a ‘Prince of Kobolds’ sounded, he had to be prepared.

So Baron Latus looked at Rene and said.

“Rene, you must hurry back to Count Baltois.”

“Yes, sir. What?!”

Rene asked in surprise.

Then Baron Latus continued with a stern face.

“Lothian is dangerous. We don’t know how many kobolds will come, so we should leave quickly. Lord Yoo-seong.”

“Yes, Baron.”

“Will you stay in Lothian and help me defend the castle? I’ll be sure to repay you later.”

Rene is sent home, and Yoo-seong is asked for help.

It’s a reasonable request, but Rene doesn’t see it that way.

“Now, wait a minute. I’m leaving, but you’re staying? I’m your wizard, right, Yoo-seong?”

Seeing Rene’s eyes that seemed to be asking for help, Yoo-seong didn’t answer immediately, but instead looked towards Baron Latus.

Judging by the stern look on his face, it seemed that no matter what Yoo-seong said, he would send Rene to Count Baltois.

‘What am I supposed to say here?’

Rene is a mage, and mages are useful in war.

However she is Count Baltois’ second daughter and Baron Latus’ granddaughter-nay, niece- so wouldn’t be able to convince him to leave Rene behind to fight.

But then it happened.

“My lord! My lord!”

A young man burst through the door, panting.

It was Sir Simone’s squire, and Baron Latus, instead of criticizing the young man for his rudeness, waited for him to speak.

And so did Yoo-seong, Rene, and Robin.

The young man, who had the attention of everyone in the room, took a few breaths and shouted, his face white with fear.

“The kobolds have appeared!”

* * *

The sun had already set.

Even with the moon and stars bright, it was impossible to see very far so the discovery was delayed.

Hurrying up to the ramparts, Yoo-seong’s eyes caught sight of a group of kobolds slowly approaching from the distance.

“There are too many.”

Robin, standing beside me, said in a low voice.

She was right.

The number of kobolds in Yoo-seong’s eyes alone could easily number in the thousands.

Moreover, they were all kobolds, not humans.

They were weak compared to knights, but stronger than untrained conscripts.

And there was no guarantee that this was the end.

“Stand your ground!”

“To your posts!”

“Light the fires!”

Sir Simone and Lord Mont shouted at the top of their lungs as they paced the ramparts but it wasn’t easy.

I heard that they had prepared for it to some extent, but that was only half a day ago.

If they hadn’t prepared for a defensive battle, there was no way they would be able to properly defend themselves, even if they were to recruit troops through conscription.

No matter how much Baron Latus emphasized the martial spirit, surely he couldn’t have prepared for a defensive siege—could he?

‘-is it okay?’

It was.

The conscripts who came up the ramparts took up their positions on the ramparts according to the instructions of the existing soldiers, and although their movements were all clumsy, at least they didn’t feel like they were doing it for the first time.

In other words, it was clear that they had practiced.

Moreover, the walls were pockmarked with holes for dropping stones and oil, and stones for catapults were piled up at every corner.

Even the conscripts were armed, albeit only as serf troops.

“I knew this day would come someday…….”

Even while listening to the crazy old man’s words, they trained the citizens and maintained the walls, all for today.

Impressed in more ways than one by Baron Latus’ mutterings, Yoo-seong looked up at the walls again.

By his best estimate, there were no more than three hundred soldiers on the walls.

Far fewer than the kobolds, but there were walls on this side.

Of course, it was no impregnable fortress.

There was no moat, and it wasn’t very high, at just over seven meters.

But the mere existence of strong walls and gates was very encouraging.

Moreover, Baron Latus’ forces were not the only ones defending the castle.

Rene looked at Yoo-seong, who nodded and moved a little further forward.

Then Sir Simone and Sir Mont looked back at it with expectant faces, Robin and Edgar’s eyes shone, and Baron Latus looked at it with serious and eager eyes.

And it was the same with the conscripts on the ramparts.

For they had not only witnessed the daytime battle, but had heard rumors of the Yoo-seong from the refugees who had come in with him.

The armies of the sky.

A dark knight who sliced through kobolds like straw.

Yoo-seong made his way to the center of the ramparts, greeted by the expectant gazes of many.

He would be lying if he said he didn’t feel the pressure of all eyes on him.

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid of the kobold armies closing in from the distance.

But Yoo-seong did not turn back or retreat.

He stood on the ramparts just above the gates and spoke in a low whisper.

“Serf troops, archer troops, rally.”

A flash pushes back the darkness of the night and the forces of the heavens emerge from it.

“Ooooh.”

“Oooooh!”

The knights and everyone else on the ramparts exclaimed.

For a moment, the conscripts completely forgot their fear of the kobolds pushing forward.

Of course, it was a force to be reckoned with.

The serf troops were exactly what they sounded like, serfs, and the archer troops were plainly armed.

But among them was a golden saint on a steed, and an elf archer of tales.

“Glory to Camelot.”

“Glory to Camelot.”

Raising a fist to his chest in acknowledgment, Yoo-seong returned the salute as he faced the kobold army.