Chapter 227: Knight of Happiness [2]

Chapter 226

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Episode 57 - Knight of Happiness [2]

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I got out of bed after looking around the room I was in.

The décor and some of the furniture were typical of Elvenheim culture.

I stretched for a few seconds before walking over to the room’s window.

I pulled the curtains aside and looked outside.

"...."

A vast city unfolded before me. The architecture of every house and building had that nature-inspired style combined with the kind of architecture found in dark fantasy stories about vampires.

Perhaps because the Elvenheims were a mixture of vampires and elves, they had combined both cultures, including the architecture of their cities.

’Although, for obvious reasons, there are no rivers of blood, of course.’

In this world, neither vampires nor elves exist.

Instead, both races are merged into one and are called Elvenheims.

They had the elves’ characteristic long ears, the vampires’ red eyes, and their fangs.

Ah, and they also possessed the traits of both races, such as the elves’ exceptional affinity for mana.

And the vampires’ traits as well, such as drinking blood, growing stronger from it, and other similar characteristics.

’The Elvenheims are undoubtedly a superior race compared to humans.’

However, humans possessed the ability to avoid limiting themselves to mana as their sole source of power.

The Elvenheims had extremely clear limitations, along with many other reasons why they were not the strongest race in the world.

’Humans are still the strongest.’

In the past, intelligent races such as the Great Ancients (dragons) were the strongest.

But every single one of them died during the First Dark Era, and the few survivors barely managed to live until the Third Dark Era.

’Mhm, I still don’t understand how an entire race died.’

The only person who currently carries the bloodline of the Great Ancients is Director Bernice, who has lived since the Third Dark Era and was present during the days when the Abyss Lords died.

Anyway, pushing those thoughts aside, I looked at the city before me.

Apparently, the house—or rather, the mansion—I was currently in was actually an enormous tree.

I had to look downward to see the full expanse of the city stretching into the distance.

’I’m in a palace or something like that.’

Apparently, that was the case, but it wasn’t the Palace of the Chosen, much less the Tree of Dreams and Wishes.

’Raon could never enter the Palace of the Chosen.’

Because the Chosen Elvenheims of the Dark Era were extremely arrogant and viewed humans as inferior beings.

Of course, that wasn’t the case with ordinary Elvenheims or the citizens in general.

They were all kind.

It was simply that the Chosen Elvenheims—who actually weren’t very numerous—were so arrogant that they even treated members of their own race who hadn’t been chosen by the Tree of Dreams and Wishes that way.

"Ah, seriously, we’re in an Elvenheim Kingdom."

Apparently, after Raon and the others escaped from the Kingdom of Valroa, they headed to the Kingdom of the Elvenheims, which bordered the Kingdom of Valroa.

’Mhm, well, it doesn’t really matter.’

In any case, I already had a clear understanding of the objective of Chapter Two.

Chronologically, according to the historical records my master told me about,

Williams was at the peak of the Six-Star realm, and after the events that would take place here, in this Kingdom,

he would advance to the Seven-Star realm.

And in this Chapter Two, Raon would fall completely ill.

That was when Williams would take over Raon’s role from that point onward.

***

Several days had passed since I woke up in Chapter Two.

And indeed, three years had passed since Raon escaped from the Kingdom of Valroa with the others.

And the poison he had drunk at the summer mansion because of the maids had only worsened.

Although he could still move, and outwardly he merely looked pale and exhausted, as though the poison wasn’t actually affecting him that severely,

internally, it was a completely different story.

His power had fallen to that of a Five-Star Awakened.

He had once been a Peak Seven-Star Awakened; now he was a sick and poisoned Five-Star Awakened.

From early every morning, Raon would go out to train and wouldn’t stop until the sky grew darker.

Which meant it was almost nightfall.

Then, a couple of hours later, he would return to his room to sleep.

Meanwhile, Teresa, Vilenia’s maid,

had been left partially disabled whenever she used her mana because she had overloaded her Mana Channels during her battle against the Psychopathic Knight.

And because of the loss of an arm and several internal injuries that had become permanent.

Her combat power had fallen to that of a Four-Star Awakened.

She had once been a Six-Star Awakened, not far from reaching Seven Stars, but now she could no longer even advance to the next Star.

And finally, Vilenia.

She had once been a cheerful little girl with bright eyes and a large family, wearing a radiant smile every single day.

Now she was more mature. She would turn fourteen in the coming weeks, and she had achieved her Awakening at the age of twelve.

Normally, Awakening occurred between the ages of fifteen and seventeen.

There was no specific age for Awakening, as it depended on certain requirements.

However, under normal circumstances, it usually happened around the age of sixteen. Mana would simply flow into the body in massive amounts, and the Awakening would occur.

Because of the loss of her parents, Vilenia worked hard to become a great Mage.

Although she was only at the Second Star, reaching that level at her age made her exceptionally talented.

’Damn, even I, with more talent than Lumina and all the experience she gained through her regressions, wouldn’t have been able to reach Two Stars at that age.

And it’s only been a little over a year.

Meanwhile, I awakened in this body when it had already reached the peak of Three Stars.

Since then, I’ve taken several elixirs to greatly accelerate my progress.

And according to my memories, this body awakened at the age of seventeen, and I’m currently eighteen, almost nineteen.

’In any case, I’m finally caught up with everything that happened to the characters in Chapter Two.’

Naturally, I resumed my training.

My goal had always been to train the Third Form of Inverted Heaven and all of my Traits.

This Memory Gate has long periods of time during which I can remain in each Chapter.

’I could simply fail to complete Chapter Two, but Raon’s Unique Trait is far too tempting.’

So I had decided to complete this Memory Gate from the very beginning, when my master told me about the Traits Raon possessed.

And so, as the days passed, I never stopped training.

Although, from time to time, I had to play my role as Williams and train my Sword Art and my Traits within my master’s Domain.

Nothing else happened, and besides, I still had thirty-two days left before the time limit for Chapter Two.

So I was going to make full use of the remaining time to bring the last of my remaining Traits to the Peak of Mastery.

***

Clang! Clang!

His sword struck the air before him. There was no opponent, or even a training dummy, standing in front of him.

Raon was alone, simply swinging his sword beneath the canopy of a great tree whose leaves were crimson.

In fact, every tree in this Kingdom was crimson.

They were known as the Crimson Trees. Legends claimed that rivers of blood had once flowed through this land, and the trees, which had already existed back then, had drunk from those rivers.

Over time, their leaves had taken on that distinctive crimson color.

Even these trees had survived the First Dark Era.

However, Raon paid no attention to the color of the leaves.

The reason was very simple.

They reminded him of battlefields drenched in the blood of both humans and monsters.

And they reminded him that part of that spilled blood had been the result of following the orders of the King he had once admired.

Now, the sight of the color red reminded him of how foolish he had been and of every atrocity he had committed while obeying the King’s orders.

He didn’t even know whether he had killed innocent people under those orders.

Drip! Drip!

Cold, sticky sweat beaded across his body.

His body, poisoned by an unknown toxin, caused even the water he drank to become so thick that his sweat carried the same viscosity.

Blood covered the palms of his hands as he continuously swung his sword.

His pale face and weary eyes seemed to beg for even the slightest moment of rest whenever someone looked at them.

Raon panted from time to time, yet he continued moving both his body and his sword.

For some time now, he had reached a rather strange state of concentration.

It was a state in which he felt as though his sword were part of his body, as if it possessed unique properties.

Raon did not know what it was. However, if a Ten-Star Swordsman were to witness it, they would be slightly surprised.

Finally, after many hours of training, he sat at the base of the tree and looked toward the south.

Perhaps no one else could see it, but to the south, Raon gazed at a great tree with green leaves. The tree stood at the edge of a cliff, also known as the boundary of the Floating Continent.

As Raon silently gazed at that solitary tree with a smile on his face.

The following day, someone arrived who made his emotions almost explode with rage.