“Hidden behind a black mask and wielding a sword technique that seemed to embrace the moonlight, just as Grandpa Ruger described!”
Lupina spoke with a heated tone, and I couldn’t understand why she was making such a fuss. Isn’t this situation, this scene, supposed to be frightening? With that thought, I checked my reflection in her wide-open eyes. My appearance was far from a ‘Black Knight’, but the atmosphere I carried was strangely similar.
‘Maybe.’
There is no ‘Black Knight’ in this world right now. More precisely, the person who should be fulfilling the role of the ‘Black Knight’ has abandoned their duty.
‘By taking over the responsibilities that originally belonged to Hayden Reich…’
Has my name just filled a void that was left empty?
‘This is not good.’
I have no intention of becoming the ‘Black Knight’. I merely prevented the story from deviating from its original course.
“Um, um… I wanted to see you! When Grandpa Ruger told me, I thought it was just a wild tale…!”
Lupina rose from her seat, her face flushed as if she had seen her idol.
Caught in the midst of organizing my thoughts, I unintentionally spoke out.
“Don’t come closer.”
Oops. However, the words that slipped out were not my usual polite language.
“…What?”
“I said don’t come closer.”
It was still not in polite language. This change seemed related to the ‘Black Knight’ trait I had just acquired.
“Where is Ruger?”
“Ru, Grandpa Ruger left early.”
“So he’s not in this building?”
“Yes.”
Lupina nodded, and I vaguely understood why she was being chased.
“Then the remaining one is not Ruger… Kwajik─!”
Suddenly feeling a murderous intent, I turned my head just as something sharp flew towards me. Fortunately, ‘Sombras’ flowed out and blocked it.
“Impossible!”
The one who shot a mana blade at me was none other than Bishop Pintel of the Dawn Society. He looked at me in astonishment.
“The magic I just cast incorporates all the expertise I’ve accumulated reaching the fourth tier!”
The noise upstairs must have been Pintel. The mana blade, blocked by ‘Sombras’, fell to the ground and disappeared like smoke.
“I developed it to be fast, silent, and instant… How could you react to it!?”
“All the fuss you’re making indicates it wasn’t as great a magic as you thought.”
“What, what!?”
I looked at Pintel’s face. Although I tried not to show it, his face betrayed a nervous look.
“Damn it.”
With a short curse, Pintel scanned the fallen members of his order around him.
“To think… even a ridiculous man in a mask would hinder me.”
He muttered to himself. Suddenly, I felt unreasonably angry, though I shouldn’t have thought anything of it.
Was it the curse about the mask? While sporting a mustache resembling a Pringles logo, no less.
Shortly after, a faint light flickered from Pintel’s hand, and the mana blades I had seen earlier poured out.
This time, they weren’t as fast as before, but they were noticeably larger.
‘I can’t block this one.’
Realizing that I couldn’t counter with ‘Sombras’ this time, I took a big step back.
The decision was accurate.
The ‘mana blades’ that struck the ground were spinning like a chainsaw, digging deeply into the earth.
‘Seeing my Sombras, he changed his method of attack.’
As always, the first to act is a bishop, after all.
‘…What should I do?’
Honestly, I don’t want to fight.
Combat with ‘Bishop’ involves too much risk, and one wrong move could lead to fatal injuries.
‘Should I run away?’
It’s not a bad option.
Pintel’s target, ‘Ruger’, is not in this building, and so he might withdraw for today.
“So, you’re that guy.”
While I was contemplating, Pintel muttered quietly and raised his staff.
His eyes narrowed in displeasure.
“The one who attacked the carriage and stole the Soul Stone,”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play dumb, you bastard!”
Pintel shouted after hearing my response.
“It’s quite similar to what I heard from one of your apparent subordinates.”
Maybe I should have changed my outfit as well.
“What’s your purpose?”
Pintel’s voice became calmer.
“You hide your face, but you don’t seem to belong to the ‘Nameless Faction’, nor do you appear to be a follower of the Swordsman.”
Of course, I’m neither.
“Then what’s your purpose? Why are you targeting us?”
“World peace.”
My tone was mocking.
It seems even if ‘politeness’ isn’t required, Julian’s personality doesn’t completely disappear.
This made Pintel’s face turn even redder.
“Idiotic.”
As Pintel lifted his staff to prepare another spell, I quickly kicked off the ground to close the distance between us.
‘Moonlight Sword’… I shouldn’t use it.
Not if I need to keep my identity hidden.
Thanks to my tremendous agility, I closed the distance in an instant.
Normally, an average magician might have been flustered, but Pintel’s actions were calm.
‘Was it a trap?’
Suddenly, I felt the flow of mana from behind.
The ‘mana saw blade’ Pintel had planted in the ground had not disappeared after burrowing but was instead circling back to me.
“Behind, behind you!”
At Lupina’s urgent cry, I felt the ‘mana saw blade’ approaching from behind.
I barely managed to change my position in mid-air, dodging the blade coming at my back.
Then I saw Pintel chanting a spell.
“You can’t dodge in the air.”
True to his word, it was impossible to evade in mid-air.
Therefore, I used ‘Sombras’ to bind Pintel’s hand and pulled him towards me.
“Ugh!”
After pulling him in, I kicked him squarely in the solar plexus.
“Ugh.”
However, during the process, a ‘mana saw blade’ embedded itself in my side. I bit my lip hard from the sharp pain, but dealing with Pintel was the priority.
The kick seemed to work, as blood streamed from the kneeling Pintel’s mouth. Even so, a hostile glint remained in his eyes.
‘I need to finish this quickly.’
Without my trump card, the ‘Moonlight Sword’, a prolonged fight could introduce unforeseen complications.
“Cough, you bastard!”
As I approached, Pintel, with a murderous expression, tried to lift his staff. Or rather, he attempted to.
“What, what!?”
Pintel’s staff, stuck to the ground. There, the ‘Sombras’ I had attached when pulling him showcased its presence.
“I can’t detach it…”
Thump!
I delivered a powerful uppercut to the bewildered Pintel’s chin, and the impact seemed to rattle his brain, causing him to convulse and then go silent.
‘Phew.’
Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked at my side. The pain was minimal due to the adrenaline, but I could feel the blood flowing.
After defeating Pintel, his words about the ‘Nameless Faction’ came back to me. Like ‘Six Fingers’ and ‘Blood Fiends’, it was one of the organizations dividing the slums.
Although it was associated with one of the bishops of the Dawn Society, it wasn’t so exposed that Pintel should have known about it.
“Are you okay?”
Seizing a moment of quiet after I had subdued Pintel and fallen into thought, Lupina, who had stepped outside, asked.
“Yeah.”
“Still, you need to treat that wound.”
“No need. Besides…”
After adjusting my mask, I turned my gaze to Lupina.
“Don’t talk about me to anyone.”
“Why?”
Because, the ‘Black Knight’ is not me but Hayden Reich. If rumors spread needlessly, it could lead to troublesome situations.
“There’s no need for you to know.”
“I don’t like that.”
Lupina, whom I assumed was terrified, surprisingly responded.
“If you are really the ‘Black Knight’ from the stories, you shouldn’t hide like in the old days!”
Her voice carried a distant, forceful tone.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“It means you shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.”
What past? I feel like a newborn in this world.
“Anyway! I don’t plan to hide!”
Her voice and expression carried a strong resolve.
It seemed convincing her otherwise would be difficult.
***
The next day, after all the commotion, Linne visited ‘Dusk Flame’ again to pick up a sword she had custom ordered and was puzzled by the noisy situation.
“It’s true!”
At the center of the commotion was Lupina. Speaking in her usual compelling voice, she was discussing with Ruger, the owner of ‘Dusk Flame’.
Unlike usual, Lupina’s face was flushed red.
“Don’t lie. That story was just a popular fiction from the old days!”
“But it’s true, Grandpa Ruger!”
Listening to Lupina’s appeal, Linne slowly approached her.
As Linne came closer, Lupina’s already flushed face deepened in color. Ruger surely noticed this. He clicked his tongue and crossed his arms.
“Looks like even you vaguely know it’s just a preposterous story.”
“No, it’s not!”
“Enough! Just hand over the sword to Linne and rest.”
After laying down his ultimatum, Ruger turned and walked towards the back of his personal workshop. Lupina watched his retreating figure and sighed.
“Sister Lupina.”
“Yes, our Linne is here. You came to pick up the sword, right? Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
When Lupina gestured for her to follow, Linne did just that. Soon, the familiar sight of the workshop appeared.
“But Sister, what happened? The forge seems a bit noisy?”
At Linne’s question, Lupina sharply turned her head. It seemed as if she had been waiting for this question, a smile on her lips.
“Yesterday, some intruders broke into our building.”
“…Intruders?”
“I’m not sure what they wanted, but they were dangerous people who entered illegally.”
“Did they catch those people safely?”
“Yes, the gendarmes took them away.”
Linne, relieved to hear no one was harmed, remarked, “That’s good.”
“That’s not the issue, Linne!”
“…Yes?”
“The Black Knight appeared.”
“…The Black Knight?”
“Yes!”
Lupina nodded vigorously.
“The very Black Knight who saved me from those intruders!”
Linne almost joked in response, but facing the sincere look in Lupina’s eyes, she found it hard to dismiss her claims lightly.
“Is that so?”
“Yes! You should have seen his elegant swordsmanship… it was like dancing under the moonlight!”
“Ha ha….”
Linne forced a laugh, finding it hard to believe.
The Black Knight.
Surely a folktale that has been circulating around the empire for ages. Now only known to those who care to remember, but as a daughter of the ‘Londebell Family’, seeking to understand the public’s sentiments, Linne knew this tale as a traditional story passed down.
That meant the ‘Black Knight’ was thought to be purely fictional.
“Linne, you don’t believe it either, do you?”
It seemed her disbelief was apparent on her face.
“Is that why you raised your voice in front of Mr. Ruger earlier?”
“Yes, I actually saw him! But they don’t seem to believe me even when I tell them the Black Knight is real!”
“…I, I might be a bit skeptical too.”
Watching her reaction, Lupina sighed deeply.
“Well, I figured as much… Hic.”
Lupina turned away with a pouting face, and Linne couldn’t help but smile slightly at her reaction.
‘…But swordsmanship that looks like dancing under the moonlight?’
There was only one person Linne could think of who might fit that description.
‘Could it be…? No, surely not.’
That guess soon faded from her mind. As Lupina had described, a man possessing a beautiful swordplay reminiscent of ‘moonlight.’
But without a specific ‘purpose,’ he was someone terrifyingly indifferent to others, unlikely to help someone without reason.
‘No, it definitely can’t be Julian.’
Linne was certain of that.
***
After inadvertently acquiring the persona of the ‘Black Knight,’ I went to work as usual and began reading the newspaper.
‘I told her not to talk about me.’
[The city’s finest forge, ‘Dusk Flame’, targeted by malcontents.]
[Was it the Black Knight who saved the ‘Dusk Flame’ from crisis!?]
They’ve blabbed everything, true or not.
In most of the articles about the ‘Black Knight,’ the name ‘Lupina Orland’ was mentioned.
Despite my insistence on discretion, she ended up spreading it all around.
I carefully folded the newspaper and threw it toward the far table, where ‘Sombras’ safely carried it over.
‘Ugh’
I felt a pain in my side. The wound from Pintel’s magic hadn’t fully healed yet.
‘Indeed… a bishop is still a bishop.’
In the story, they are often the first to be defeated, but it seems the title of bishop is not just for show.
‘Meanwhile, the buzz about the Black Knight is pretty low.’
The story of the ‘Black Knight’ only occupied a small part of page three, not the headlines or front page.
It seems the public still considers the ‘Black Knight’ to be a figure of imagination, hence not treated as significant news.
‘Well, it’s not exactly a hot topic… The problem is, since I’ve taken over Hayden Reich’s role, it’s unclear what actions he might take next.’
In a ‘DLC trailer’ I had seen before, the identity of the ‘Black Knight’ was revealed to be Hayden Reich, ending with Julian cutting off Hayden Reich and Linne’s air supply.
‘Now that Hayden Reich isn’t playing the role of the Black Knight, that scenario won’t happen.’
As a result, the future actions of our ‘protagonist’ have become unpredictable.
‘Maybe I should keep an eye on Hayden Reich.’
Cliche Novel 