Chapter 220: Knight of Honor [4]

Chapter 219

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Episode 55 - Knight of Honor [4]

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Clank!

The door to the training hall burst open with a loud bang.

A man clad in full plate armor stepped inside, a sword hanging at his waist.

Clank! Clank!

His footsteps echoed heavily across the room. His expression was filled with concern as he looked at Williams.

He had hazel hair and brown eyes. The dark circles beneath his eyes and the look on his face reflected deep mental exhaustion.

He walked over to his squire, placed his right hand on Williams’s shoulder, and said,

"It has been almost three months since I left for the front lines. Have you been doing well, Williams?"

Williams raised his head and looked at him with eyes full of joy.

"Yes, Sir Raon. I’ve been well, and I’ve been training the entire time while you were away."

Raon smiled faintly as he looked into Williams’s eyes, but then his expression changed.

"Williams, we don’t have much time. The war has grown worse over the past few months, and..."

He pressed his lips together as he took a deep breath.

"And I’m afraid the kingdom will lose the war... Young Lady Vilenia and her parents could be executed if the enemy kingdom wins."

Raon knew that when a kingdom fell, the nobles who had remained loyal to it were executed, even if they surrendered or tried to swear allegiance to their enemies.

In time, the victorious kingdom would order the execution of every noble who had remained loyal for at least half of the war.

The viscount’s family that Raon now served had remained completely loyal to the kingdom, even during these final moments, when the war already seemed lost.

If we lose, every member of this family will be executed.

Raon could do nothing to prevent it.

He was a knight who had been granted the title of Guardian Knight, and his duty was to remain by Young Lady Vilenia’s side.

However, by royal decree, and because he was one of the kingdom’s strongest and most renowned knights, Raon had been sent to the front lines.

I’ve finally returned, but this war isn’t going to end well for us.

He had sent a letter informing Vilenia’s parents of everything; however, Raon had received no reply.

He began to suspect that something was wrong, so he decided to return and remain by Vilenia’s side.

"So, what should we do, Sir Raon?"

Williams asked after silently observing the many expressions that had crossed Raon’s face.

Raon then replied,

"We wait... Let’s wait for an order from the Viscount or his wife."

Williams nodded silently.

Seeing how calm Williams was, Raon let out a quiet sigh with a faint smile.

Whenever Raon looked at Williams, he was reminded of his younger self.

Several years had passed since Raon saved Williams during that massacre.

I’ll protect all of them.

However...

...Raon’s suspicions about the enemy kingdom’s victory were beginning to come true.

***

Raon waited, waiting for orders from the Viscount or his wife, but no message ever came.

Several days had passed since his return, and for some reason, no one had sent him any information about the war.

Something is happening... Something is definitely happening.

He felt deeply uneasy.

There was so much silence regarding the war that he could no longer sleep peacefully.

Not a single person he had left behind, trusting they would send him news, had contacted him.

He had not received a single letter, not even a message.

Could something have happened to them?

Raon suspected that something terrible had happened to them, but he could not go and find out.

He was a Guardian Knight and was not allowed to leave the person he had sworn to protect until the last day of his life.

Raon looked out the window.

The sky, as deeply black as ever, held a faint glow in one corner.

The moon hung in the dark sky, confirming that night had already fallen.

Everyone in the manor was asleep except for Raon.

He had a bad feeling and had been awake for quite some time.

"Am I being paranoid?"

Maybe he was, or maybe he wasn’t.

Raon didn’t know, but he preferred being paranoid.

Receiving no news from his Order of Knights and no reply to the letter he had sent to the Viscount only made him even more suspicious.

I also sent a letter informing them of my return, but I haven’t received a reply to that either.

That only made him frown even more.

In any case, he watched the outside for a few more seconds before sitting down at his desk.

He took out a book and began writing.

His sword rested heavily at his side, while his armor remained carefully placed nearby.

Time itself seemed to slow around him as he focused on writing in his book.

Outside, the only sound was the wind rustling the leaves of the few trees that still existed in the world.

But then, the sound of flapping wings echoed from outside.

At that moment, a bird appeared and tapped its beak against the window of Raon’s room.

"..."

Raon stopped writing and looked toward the window. Without wasting any time, he walked over and opened it.

The bird flew into the room, dropped an envelope, and then flew back out through the window.

Raon watched the bird before closing the window. He then looked at the envelope, picked it up, and opened it.

Inside was a letter. Raon unfolded it and began reading as his expression gradually turned completely grim.

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—Lord Raon, we have received news that the war has entered a sort of stalemate.

However, our entire Order of Knights has been ordered to remain on the front lines, while, for some reason, the high-ranking officers returned to the Royal Palace under the King’s command.

Meanwhile, our Order of Knights and several others will remain here until further orders arrive.

—Several days have passed since we were ordered to stay on the front lines and since the war entered this stalemate.

We do not know why, but no supplies have been sent to us, and we are simply wasting our time here, doing nothing except killing monsters.

Monsters have suddenly begun appearing in hordes, probably because of the amount of blood that has been spilled here.

—Lord, we are in trouble. A massive number of monsters have invaded the front lines, and this time, demons have appeared as well.

We managed to stop the first wave of monsters, but it seems the next one may be even more dangerous.

I do not know if I will be able to send this letter because there is no one who can deliver it safely, so I will look for another way to send it.

—Ten days have passed since you left, Lord Raon, and I fear we are going to die.

A few minutes ago, a letter arrived from the Royal Palace declaring that we are now deserters.

It stated that, under the Royal Decree issued by His Majesty the King, we are to be executed.

The King is probably the one who has somehow been sending these monsters during the past few days, so we will die in the next wave.

Hardly anyone is still alive. Even if we tried to flee, the Royal Decree said there would be countermeasures, so there is no escape for us.

Fortunately, we killed a messenger, and one of our members managed to tame the messenger’s bird, so we are sending this letter with it.

Lord Raon, none of us have any family, so the entire Order of Knights wishes to thank you.

We thank you for saving our lives back then.

—The Order of Knights of Lord Raon.

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.

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Raon finished reading the letter, gritting his teeth.

The letter slipped from his hands as he leaned back in his chair.

’The King really issued a Royal Decree.’

Why did it say that his Order of Knights and the other Orders of Knights were deserters?

Raon tried to make sense of it, but he could not understand why the King would say such a thing.

’What did we do wrong?’

However, he had also noticed something.

According to the Royal Decree, it never mentioned the leaders of the Orders of Knights.

That made no sense at all.

The responsibility always fell upon the leader of an Order of Knights, and Raon was one of those leaders.

So why were neither he nor the other leaders mentioned anywhere in the Royal Decree?

’What is happening? Could it be that it was never a decree from the King at all, but a scheme by the enemy kingdom?’

Yes, that was probably it.

Raon trusted the King.

The King had always been an admirable man, full of virtue, someone Raon sincerely respected.

So it was probably a forged decree.

’Yes, that has to be it... It’s impossible for His Majesty the King to do something like this...’

"....?!"

At that very moment, a strange sense of foreboding washed over Raon. He sprang to his feet and grabbed his sword.

His senses spread throughout the entire mansion, and then he realized what was happening.

’Assassins...’

He had barely managed to detect them. Had he not remained especially vigilant over the past few days, he never would have noticed them.

Raon tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword and stepped out of his room.

The instant he crossed the doorway, his senses warned him of danger, and he swung his sword.

Clang!

Sparks flew through the air as Raon deflected a dagger.

He looked toward the direction from which the dagger had come and asked,

"Who are you?"