127 – Knights Who Swallowed Monsters (11)
The corpse commotion is over.
An absurd incident passed like the wind, and we gathered in the tent again.
The hero exchanged a few words with the other party members, and remained silent after that. As if nothing had happened just a moment ago, we sat in a circle like people who had fought and didn’t say anything.
The hero was staring at me, and I felt the silence and gaze of such a hero uneasy. For some reason, I didn’t have a good feeling. The gaze the hero is giving me now and this heavy atmosphere gave me an ominous feeling.
So I opened my mouth.
I tried hard to disguise a bright tone, and I tried to create a pleasant atmosphere like when I seduced the widow.
“Why are you so quiet? How about we talk about something?”
Lena and Millet nodded their heads nonchalantly. Ashuria glanced at the hero, and the hero closed his eyes. It felt like I was a sinner. I said again.
“Why are you so quiet? Earlier, the hero was talking to the others first. Were you planning a party for my birthday?”
Lena shook her head. Millet seemed to be about to say something, but Ashuria’s hand held her mouth shut. The hero covered his head, exhaled, and looked straight at me.
“Who is the uncle?”
Lena and Millet, who were laughing, hardened their faces. Ashuria was nodding her head, and the warrior’s gaze was still looking at me.
I pretended not to understand and tried to speak back.
“What do you mean? I am a porter. Didn’t you always treat the hero without lies?”
“And he was also a Knight of the Empire. But we don’t know anything beyond that. What kind of person he was before, and why he left the empire. And why do you come now and fight against the Demon King’s army?”
“…Do I really need to know?”
The warrior nodded. Looking to the side, Lena, Millet, and Ashria were all looking straight at me. It meant that if you didn’t intend to run away from here, open your mouth. said the warrior.
“Until now, I hadn’t made much of an issue about your history, because the fact that you were a Templar had little to do with our fight. It was common knowledge that the empire was destroyed and that all the people of the empire were dead. Even when I met that runaway knight in imperial armor, I could have thought he had brainwashed the people of the empire to make him that way.”
It was.
The imperial knights we met for the first time lost their reason and went berserk. Those who indulged in power and lost themselves because they fell too deeply into demons, the interpretation of their situation was bound to change depending on the viewer.
I was the main character of a trivial tragedy, a pitiful knight suffering from a sense of guilt and fragmentary vengeance toward the demon lord.
“However, the knights I met this time were different. He had reason, and he was fighting with his own will. Now that I’ve faced such people, as the leader of this party, I have no choice but to ask about your past once again. Who are we fighting for now? Who are you, and why are the knights of the Empire fighting for the demon army?”
However, from the moment I met those knights, this meager camouflage was broken. Why are the Imperial Knights fighting against the demon army? And why is that porter from the Imperial Knights here without betraying?
What is the true nature of his sense of guilt?
said Lena.
“…If it’s too painful, you don’t have to.”
Ashria nodded and reached out to me. Like a priest giving a confession, he carefully brushed the back of my hand, and Millet held Ashuria’s hand tightly.
“However, I think you should know the story about the Knights.”
The warrior nodded. She looked at me again and said.
“mister.”
The voice was more stern and unfamiliar than usual, and somehow sounded sad. It wasn’t until I heard her determined tone that I realized that I liked these party members more than I thought.
“Who are you? What the hell happened in the Empire?”
Probably, if you want to catch it here, you will be able to hold out until the end. As a party member, you won’t be able to torture me, and you won’t be able to push me away. But at that moment, I knew very well that the bonds we had been together would be severed, and some awkward barriers and sorrows would take their place.
I looked at the warrior. I’ll get angry if you take it as a joke. Even laughing will make you angry. Come to think of it, when it was all over, it would be nice if anyone knew a little more about me.
Even when Ashuria was praying for her, even when Lena was enjoying her daily life, if I could think of people a little better, it wouldn’t be too bad.
I glanced up at the ceiling to get my breathing in order. Then he smiled and opened his mouth.
“It’s a story that goes back in time.”
*****
Have you ever heard of someone who wants eternal life?
Have you ever heard of people who want to live a very long time, if not forever?
You’ve probably heard it.
As the hero knows, the desire to live forever is universal. When asked in the Kingdom, many will say that they would like to live a long life in this happiness. Happiness ends too soon, and death comes too soon.
In fact, templars and eternal life don’t quite go together. What do you use it for when people who risk their lives are making a wish to live a long life? Like other knights, we too had a desire to give our lives for our country and for your Majesty, and to gain honor and glory.
To this end, even when I went to the battlefield with the captain, I went around the border and wiped out bandits, and I always acted honorably in front of people.
The leader was a commoner. He joined the knight test just like me, and was recognized for his skills despite all kinds of hardships. There were nobles who looked down on them for being commoners, but everyone who belonged to the Order paid homage to the leader.
He was a man of great character and skill, and implied the honor of the Knights.
Muspel, who was my best friend, and those who were my juniors, all came from aristocrats, but I respected and followed the leader.
Yeah? Is Muspel a woman? no. It was a man. It was hard to see female knights in the Imperial Knights. It’s hard to see a commoner woman who is interested in anything, but what about a noble lady? The only women in the Imperial Knights were maids or noble ladies interested in knights.
….The story has leaked the other way.
Because there was such a respected leader,
We seem to have believed that more honor would elevate us to a higher level. I believed that if I practice hard like the director and act honorably like the director, I can become a person like the director even when I’m old.
Everyone thought and acted that way.
It’s okay to be old.
Because honor is by my side.
By the way, do you know what happened to the captain? I ended up becoming a dementia patient. Suffering from severe dementia, he used to go into pig pens and steal food, or go into drains and get dung over himself. He used to mess around on the street, and he often spilled or drool while eating, so he always wore a tablecloth.
There was no honor or anything.
Everyone was shocked as the captain fell to the floor. Especially since everyone respected you. It was believed that honor and glory remain with us even when we grow old, but that was all an illusion.
I was dispatched several times after receiving a report that a person who was more serious and cool than anyone was causing a disturbance in the village.
They almost killed people with swordsmanship, or stabbed a guard in the eye to demand compensation from the house.
From the new knights who came in around that time to the middle-aged knights, it seems that everyone had similar thoughts from that time on.
I don’t want to be like that.
I don’t want to get old.
One day, Muspel told me that.
[Have you ever thought that you want to live forever? Or, have you ever thought that you would like to live longer than now, enjoying the same glory as now?]
I answered no.
Muspel was a friend who was particularly shocked after the leader’s death, so I thought it might be. You might have the wrong idea and mumble strange things.
However, it wasn’t just Muspel. From the new knights, Muspel and my classmates. And even knights in a higher position than us. He seemed to be seriously exploring and thinking about his long life.
Everyone did it except me.
Read from noble mtl dot com
Now that I think about it, I should have thought something was weird.
By the time I realized the truth, it was too late.
