I Became a Mythical Knight King

Chapter 4 – Heir to the Light of the Holy King (4)

However, I didn’t have the luxury of immediately opening the status window and deciding which skill to learn.

I was excited by the unexpected arrival of Kate, an SSR-class (I don’t know if she’s really SSR) rider, but the situation wasn’t exactly relaxed.

‘They’ve been tracking us.’

The kobolds had ambushed them.

Most likely, they had followed Yoo-seong and Rene from where they had first fought, whether by trail or scent.

If so, it could happen again.

Furthermore, they’d made quite a bit of noise during the fight, so if there were other kobolds nearby, they might be attracted to them.

‘We need to move.’

There was no time to stay in one place.

With the exact number of enemies unknown, it was best to move.

“Rene, on my back.”

“What? Uh, what?”

Rene, still looking like she wanted to say something, didn’t immediately understand what Yoo-seong was saying.

So he spoke simply and clearly.

“We need to move quickly.”

Rene blinked once, then nodded in understanding.

As excited as Yoo-seong had been about Kate’s arrival, Rene had been excited about Yoo-seong’s chivalry, but she was a wizard first and foremost.

There could be more kobolds.

Understanding the situation immediately, she hesitated for a moment, but then jumped onto Yoo-seong’s back, and with her firmly in his arms, he began to run ahead.

“That way!”

Rene, hugging Yoo-seong tightly around the neck as they started running, pointed in a direction.

“It’s a directional magic.”

Slightly frightened by the speed of the Yoo-seong, Rene buried her face in the crook of his neck and whispered.

She’s a wizard, after all.

It seemed that she hadn’t just said that she could find the way if she left the forest without a plan.

‘Good, I’m quite used to this body.’

Despite the fact that he had suddenly switched from a normal human body to a superhuman body, Yoo-seong didn’t feel any difficulty dealing with his current body.

It was no different than when he was playing Fantasy Monarch, a full-dive virtual reality game.

Of course, there was a significant gap between the max level Black Knight 09 and my current body that was only level 3, but thanks to my experience, I was able to get used to it quickly.

‘I seem much stronger than an ordinary level 3 knight.’

Whether it was because of his vitrue or the fact that he was a knight in the body of the Heir to the Holy King, the Knight King, his current stats were comparable to a level 6 knight.

‘Probably both.’

It would be nice to have a clearer understanding of the mechanics of the enhancement effects of the feats, but that was out of the question for now.

So Yoo-seong focused on getting out of the forest.

And just then.

“Oh, they appeared. The kobolds are inspecting the place where we were.”

At Rene’s words, Yoo-seong stopped in his tracks and turned around slightly to face Rene, who spoke quickly.

“It’s a light bird spell, it creates disposable familiars, and they can share some senses, though the longer the distance, the shorter the duration.”

In other words, she’d been using the Light Bird spell to observe where she’d left off as soon as she left.

‘More capable than I thought?’

Rene wasn’t using offensive magic to annihilate the kobolds, but it was helping.

And if they could share their senses from a few hundred meters away, the light bird magic would be of great use.

“Are they planning to chase after us?”

“Uh……no, I think they’re giving up, there’s almost thirty of them, and I’m guessing they’ve realized we’re not nearby……and they’ve probably seen quite a few kobold carcasses on the way back.”

Yoo-seong had already taken down ten kobolds.

If they had seen all those corpses on the way back, it was no wonder they didn’t think to follow them.

“I’m glad we got out of there as soon as we did, Heir.”

If they stayed, they would have been stuck with them.

‘Thirty of them would have been dangerous.’

So far, Yoo-seong has won relatively easily for two reasons.

One is that every battle has been a de facto ambush, thanks to the chivalry that allows for ambushes at all times, and the other is numerical superiority.

Without both, they would have suffered considerable losses, even if they had somehow managed to win.

He breathed a small sigh of relief and slowed his pace.

He looked up and saw that the sun was already setting.

‘Should I really stay overnight?’

The forest must have been much larger than he had imagined, for he had run several hundred meters and it was still forest.

Rene had a general idea of the direction, but not the exact path, so it seemed like a good idea to find a good place to hide and set up camp.

“Rene, do you think you can use your light bird magic to find a place to camp?”

“I’ll try.”

Rene closed her eyes and muttered a small incantation, and a pure white bird, a little smaller than the palm of her hand, appeared above Yoo-seong’s head.

“I’ll watch from above.”

The bird of light flew high.

All the while, the glow of the sunset grew stronger, and a violet twilight was creeping in from the distance.

“I think I’ve found the right place.”

As Rene spoke, her eyes still closed, the bird of light that had flown high in the sky lowered its altitude and began to lead the way.

It was farther than I expected, as it was supposed to be a place to hide.

When we arrived, the sun had already set and night had fallen.

And Yoo-seong was struck by two things.

One was that the night in the forest was darker than he had expected, and the other was that the stars and moonlight were so clear, as if in contrast.

When night first fell, he was literally blinded by a darkness that made it difficult to discern anything in front of him, but once the moon and stars came out, he was able to make out his surroundings.

The spot Rene found for camp was a gap between a large rock and a large fallen tree.

It would be difficult to escape in an emergency, but it certainly seemed like a good place to hide.

Yoo-seong sat down next to Rene in the crevice and thought.

‘Let’s first learn the skills.’

There were many things he wanted to know about the surrounding terrain, Rene’s situation, the Era of the Ominous Star, and so on, but his first priority was to improve his skills to increase his chances of survival.

‘To survive, I have to get stronger, and to get stronger, I have to fight and win.’

With a renewed determination, Yoo-seong looked at the status window.

[Legion Management]

Kate’s Serfs (TLN: Kate took over Jimmy’s position)

Members: 10+1

[Promote Kate to Champion 3pts]

[Recruit 5 more Serfs 1pt]

[Add a Bugler to her serf army 1pt]

[Add Hans’ Serf Troop (5-man) 5 pts]

New Class.

[Add an Archer unit (3-man) for 5pts]

What he has now is 5pt.

There were many options for what to do, but once again, Yoo-seong made a quick decision.

‘Let’s go all-in on Kate’s troops.’

This wasn’t just a decision based on Kate’s potential as a rider.

As usual in Fantasy Monarch, it was the result of rational thinking.

Hans’s serf army has no riders.

This means that even if I recruit them, they would only run away.

If I had the extra points to give them a rider, I would have, but adding just another serf army was a waste of points.

Archer troops with ranged attacks are certainly attractive, but they are too few in number.

Given my immediate combat capabilities, I was better off focusing my points on Kate’s serf troops.

‘I’ve never used a champion in a serf army before.’

In Fantasy Monarchs, Champions are powerful warriors – so-called Hero characters – that can be attached to each troop.

Depending on the unit, they could act as commanders, or they could be purely warriors, but either way, they were a fairly advanced class, and it was common to not attach champions to lower troops like serf troops at all, or not to attach them even if they could.

‘Anyway, if she becomes a champion, she’ll be able to fight.’

Maybe she’ll become a powerful knight.

After imagining the champion version of Kate for a moment, Yoo-seong smiled slightly and spent his points.

‘Let’s make sure she’s going to be fine.’

-Add a bugler to the army.

Buglers were military musicians, with different effects depending on the unit.

‘Usually they boost morale or speed up movement.’

Anyway, the new serf troop is complete.

[Kate’s serf troops]

Champion: Kate

Rider: Kate

Bugler: Jimmy

Members: 15+1

Looking at the unit window, which had become much more abundant than before, I couldn’t help but feel happy.

Although the number of personnel increased by only five, the unit’s combat power felt like it had nearly doubled in strength.

‘Jimmy’s the bugler.’

Jimmy’s title had changed from captain to bugler because Kate had become commander.

‘Maybe he can grow up to be an elite knight.’

Remembering Jimmy’s giggling face as he handed over the loot to him, Yoo-seong couldn’t help but smile.

‘There really is a joy in growing quickly in the beginning.’

I could see my troops growing with each battle.

Anyway, when Yoo-seong felt happy.

“Hey…….”

I turned to see Rene holding out a piece of jerky.

“Uh, thanks.”

Rene smiled pleasantly at Yoo-seong’s gratitude and chewed on her own piece of jerky.

‘You’re really good.’

When I first heard the story, I thought it was something about a young noblewoman running away from home, but it was nothing of the sort.

‘She’s a skilled mage and well-prepared for her journey, so it’s no wonder she came to me alone.’

I could see why the Goddess of the Lake had given her this revelation.

And what can I say, she’s mentally strong.

She’d been chased by kobolds, lost her horse, and was now sleeping outdoors, but she was still in good spirits.

‘She looks like she’s in a good mood.’

It wasn’t that Rene was a pervert who enjoyed suffering.

Rather, she seemed to take joy in the fact that she was in this situation, in the company of Yoo-seong himself, the heir to the throne.

And for once, Yoo-seong could empathize with Rene’s feelings.

For Rene, she was fulfilling a revelation that had come directly from her god and no one else.

It wasn’t hard for the non-religious Yoo-seong to imagine what Rene was feeling right now.

“Rene, do you have a rough idea of the terrain around here?”

“Ah, yes.”

Rene nodded immediately, swallowed a piece of jerky, and began drawing on the ground with a branch.

“This is the Lotho Forest, and there’s a village near here that I’ve passed through. It’s a fairly large village, with a proper wooden fence, and if we go straight up the road from here, we’ll come to a town called Lothian……and if we go past that, we’ll come to a village that belongs to the Count of Baltois, about a half-mile up the road again.”

It was a very rough map, but it was enough to get the idea.

‘So let’s say our destination is Count Baltois.’

The goddess of the lake hadn’t given Rene a revelation for nothing.

For now, it made sense to use Rene’s home county of Baltois as my base.

As Rene was adding details to her map with a branch, Yoo-seong asked her.

“Rene, is this the Era of the Ominous Star?”

An apocalyptic age where monsters are coming from all directions to end the age of man.

Rene bit her lip once and her face became a little darker as she answered Yoo-seong’s question.

“I don’t know, but maybe……is really the beginning of the Era of the Ominous Star.”

Yoo-seong seemed to know what Rene was thinking.

‘After all, the Goddess’s revelation and my very existence would be proof that the Era of the Ominous Star has arrived.’

Of course, it could be a symbol of faith in the ability to overcome the Era of the Ominous Star, but from Rene’s perspective, she had every reason to fear that the end was indeed near.

‘But when I think about it, I’m the problem, not Rene.’

The way things were going, Yoo-seong himself was supposed to stop the Era of the Ominous Star.

Whether it was possible or not, it was clear that the situation was dangerous.

But instead of bemoaning his lot or denying the reality of the situation, Yoo-seong once again made a rational decision to solve the situation at hand.

“Rene, let’s decide who will be on guard duty. Do you want to be in front or behind? Oh, and is there magic that will allow you to skip guard duty?”

At Yoo-seong’s expectant question, Rene grinned and nodded.

“I have an alarm spell, which is one of the reasons I was able to get here by myself.”

She couldn’t have done it alone.

“You’re good. Very good.”

Rene blushed shyly, her voice trembling slightly as she cast the alarm spell.

There was no noticeable change, but Rene’s smug expression told me that the spell had worked.

“Okay, Rene. I’m going to bed now.”

“What? Oh, yeah. I see.”

“Okay, good night then.”

It made sense to go to bed early because we would be up and active at dawn.

It also made sense to sleep quickly to restore and conserve energy.

Always repeat actions that increase your odds based on rationality.

This was one of the reasons why Yoo-seong was able to stay on top of Fantasy Monarch.

Of course, I thought it would be impossible for me to fall asleep right away in such a situation but……I was surprisingly able to fall into a deep sleep quickly, even though my body and mind were exhausted.

And how much time passed?

A woman’s voice came to Yoo-seong’s ears.