CH 284

“This is unacceptable!”

“The King of Maren murdered Sir Carmier. How could we let a dishonorable murderer command us? Instead, we should even take revenge.” The commanding knights of the Knights of Dawn reacted violently. Unlike the other members of the cavalry, they had shared years of friendship with Carmier as fellow knights and friends. After witnessing the murder of their close friend, they couldn’t even stay calm, much less let the murderer command them.

‘Ha… This is driving me crazy.’

Baron Blanc also agreed that things were completely out of control, but he desperately attempted to persuade the knights.

“Sirs. Sirs, it’s not that I don’t know how all of you feel. But Sir Carmier promised on his honor, right? Are you planning to go against Sir Carmier’s last orders?”

“Keugh!” The knights gritted their teeth. Indeed, they had heard Carmier promising to bet ‘everything he had’ on the duel.

“And another thing. Uh… His Majesty said he had no idea of Sir Carmier’s identity,” Baron Blanc said.

“W-what did you say?!” the knights exclaimed with fierce gazes.

Baron Blanc responded while breaking a sweat, “From what His Majesty has told me, Sir Carmier didn’t introduce himself, did he? His Majesty said that he mistook Sir Carmier for a mercenary captain since Sir Carmier had brought with him a large group of soldiers and suddenly asked for a duel.”

“What nonsense…” The knights started to make a fuss.

“No, don’t just get angry, but tell me. Did His Majesty and Sir Carmier introduce themselves? Did they formally declare their names and background before engaging in the duel?” Baron Blanc asked.

“Well, that’s…”

“Did they not even introduce themselves?”

“I-I’m not sure. I think they might have… Or maybe they didn’t…”

The knights were hesitant as they glanced at each other.

“Ha…!” Baron Blanc let out a long sigh. They obviously hadn’t even introduced themselves. Baron Blanc glanced at Eugene, who was staring from afar, then spoke, “Sirs. From now on, you must calm down and think logically. Firstly, it was Sir Carmier who blocked the road and called out His Majesty, right?”

“…That’s right,” the knights answered.

“His Majesty told me that he didn’t know you all and Sir Carmier. I didn’t have the chance to His Majesty because he left in such a hurry. However, Sir Carmier didn’t even introduce himself before the duel, right?” Baron Blanc continued.

“Hmm. That might be correct…” the knights muttered.

“Ha…! Then we can’t hold His Majesty responsible for killing Sir Carmier,” Baron Blanc said.

“…?!”

The gazes of the knights blared once more, and Baron Blanc hurriedly continued, “From His Majesty’s point of view, he had no idea that all of you belonged to the Knights of Dawn. What if you were just a group of mercenaries who took arms during the chaos?”

“Ha! Mistaking hundreds of light cavalries for mere mercenaries? What kind of nonsense…”

“Oh, how frustrating! As long as that’s what he says, there’s no way to refute his words!” Baron Blanc finally raised his voice, and the knights flinched. They were in a state of unprecedented rage at the murder of their captain, but they weren’t completely tactless. Baron Blanc was a prestigious noble and a person Count Hisain trusted to represent the Hisain Countdom as part of the countdom’s delegation to Maren. Even if he wasn’t their direct superior, they couldn’t act carelessly toward him.

“So, Sir Carmier suddenly blocked his way and picked a fight! He didn’t even introduce himself! If this becomes known to the world, who would possibly side with you, sirs? Aside from that, the man in question is the king of another nation who has come all this way to help us! What would the other nations possibly think about this? Hmm?!” Baron Blanc raged.

“…” The knights had no choice but to stay silent. Everything that the baron was saying was correct. Of course, that didn’t mean that their fury toward the King of Maren had lessened. Carmier’s death and what Baron Blanc had pointed out were two entirely different things.

“…Even so, there was no need to kill him. Sir Carmier was a knight from an honorable family and—”

“Oh, these bastards are so talkative,” Galfredik waddled over while speaking in a disgruntled voice.

“Do honorable men pick a fight and block the way of someone who has come all the way to help their country? Without even introducing themselves? Is that the honor the Countdom of Hisain boasts of?” Galfredik continued.

“You…”

“You bastards got smashed apart with a single blow, so keep your mouths shut. Aren’t you all just basically trying to say that you’re not going to honor your promise?” Galfredik added.

“…!” The knights couldn’t respond, even though Galfredik was hurling insults at them left and right. After all, that was indeed their intention.

“N-no, Sir Galfredik,” Baron Blanc called out with a pale expression. He knew exactly how strong and vicious this straightforward and blunt knight was. Moreover, he was as bad-tempered as his monarch, the King of Maren. If even Galfredik became involved in the matter, the matter could quickly spiral out of control and become irreversible.

“Sir Galfredik. Please, calm down and—”

“Stand aside, Sir Blanc. This is the only way that knights, including me, can come to a resolution,” Galfredik interrupted. His lips curled into a twisted smile as he tapped his longsword.

The knights glanced at each other. Although their opponent wasn’t the King of Maren himself, the burly knight was clearly the king’s closest aide judging from the fact that the two of them had come together earlier. If they could defeat the knight, who quite closely resembled a bandit boss, then surely, they could provide consolation to the soul of their captain.

“Hehe. That’s what I thought…” Galfredik muttered with a grin when he saw the knights grabbing their weapons with determined gazes.

“Aide, bring it here,” Galfredik said.

“Yes, Master!” Galfredik received his favorite steel mace from Selena.

He spoke while waving his weapon around, “I’m going to tell you this in advance. You lot have already lost your honor once because you broke your captain’s promise. Do you admit to this?”

“…!!!” The expressions of the knights distorted. They were angry, but they couldn’t retort Galfredik’s words.

“As such, if you lose once again, then you are no longer prisoners. I have no intention of treating those who have tarnished their honor twice as prisoners,” Galfredik continued.

“Hmph!” The knights unsheathed their weapons while clenching their teeth in anger. Their pride was greatly hurt.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Galfredik waved his mace through the air with ease, then glared at the rest of the cavalry behind the three knights and shouted, “If any of you bastards want a piece of this, come at me. I will take you on. Ten of you at once on a first-come, first-served basis.”

“You little…” One of the knights started as if he were dumbfounded, but he was never given a chance to finish. As soon as Galfredik spoke, dozens of the soldiers directed their horses toward him.

“Hehe! You lot may have no honor, but you sure do have grit. Kuaaagh!”

“S-sir Galfredik!” Baron Blanc called out as Galfredik jumped from the ground.

“Huh?!” The knights were astonished to see how fast Galfredik was moving. Such movements were unbelievable for a man in plate armor. Like a beast, Galfredik forced his way into the knights’ improper formation and started swinging his mace.

Clang!

One of the knights fell to the ground along with a heavy metallic sound. His body had instantly stiffened after receiving a direct attack from the mace on his helmet.

“You!”

Shuack!

The remaining two knights swung and stabbed with their longswords. They were skilled knights, and they predicted Galfredik’s path as they attacked. However, they had no idea that Galfredik was a vampire with superhuman vision and reflexes as Eugene’s vassal.

Clang! Kang!

Galfredik deflected the attacks of the knights with the mace in his left hand, as well as his right gauntlet. Then, he rushed at one of the knights.

Thud!

“Kuaggh!”

The knight was thrown far back after being struck in his chest with Galfredik’s shoulder. The blow felt as if he had collided against a boulder, and even his armor couldn’t soften the massive blow. Right after tackling the knight, Galfredik rotated and swung his mace. The blunt weapon parted the air in a straight line.

Bang!

Unlike the other cavalries in chainmail, the knights were armed with plate mail. However, even that was insufficient to negate the unstoppable force of the blunt weapon. Moreover, the one wielding the weapon was the vassal of an Origin with superhuman strength.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The knight’s body was bent abnormally at the first blow, but several more followed immediately afterward. He collapsed to the ground while vomiting blood with broken ribs and crippled organs.

“Kuaaagh!” Galfredik immediately turned and charged with a shout without sparing a glance at the collapsed knight. He was targeting the rest of the challengers. No matter how skilled and strong a knight was, it was reckless bravado to charge at dozens of horsemen. In addition, rather than a spear, he was armed with nothing but two maces. It seemed as if the man was rushing toward his death.

However, Galfredik was truly confident in his skills. Moreover, he believed in his armor, which had never been destroyed during his years on the battlefield. Above all else, he believed in the power his master had bestowed upon him.

“Kuaaaaaghhh!”

Galfredik roared, and a wave of translucent Fear stormed over the horses of the challengers. The horses weren’t ordinary. In fact, they had been educated and trained over years to absolute obedience to their riders and to eliminate any fear they might feel on the battlefield. As such, warhorses never retreated, even in the middle of a dangerous battlefield. Unfortunately; however, the warhorses had never been trained against the Fear of vampires—the Fear of one of the highest-ranking vampires, to be exact. The horses reared when they came into contact with the unprecedented power, which was completely unlike the Fear contained in the roar of intermediate-rank monsters.

“Huh?! Uh…!” The soldiers’ momentous charge was interrupted, and they were quickly thrown into chaos. Galfredik jumped several meters into the air.

Fwoosh!

He jumped into the midst of the cavalries. The glare emanating from inside his helmet was like sparkling crimson blood.

“Uagh!” The startled warriors reflexively swung and stabbed with their spears. Simultaneously, Galfredik’s two maces came down like thunder and weaved through the group of soldiers.

Pupupuk! Kakakakang!

The heads of six spears were broken off from their shafts. It was impossible for the soldiers to leave even a scratch on plate armor with nothing but wooden rods. Galfredik crushed the weapons of the warriors while jumping into their midst, then swung his weapons once again just before he landed.

Thuuck!

The soldiers were thrown off their saddles like wooden dolls. Had Galfredik not controlled his strength, their limbs would have been torn apart, and their bones shattered.

“Kuwuuuuugh!” Galfredik let out a beastly roar, aroused by the crimson that blurred his vision. Even so, as a veteran knight, he was constantly willing his body to move in ways to fight the most efficient battle. The soldiers of the Knights of Dawn couldn’t organize a proper formation as they rushed at Galfredik due to his provocation. The most powerful weapon of a cavalry existed in their lance charge, where dozens or hundreds of horsemen charged at once. In their current state, where their horses had halted in the middle of the battlefield, they were even less capable than infantrymen when faced with an opponent with terrifying power and cold judgment.

Neiiiigh!

With their horses running rampant, their movements were greatly restricted. As such, they were no match for Galfredik. However, some of them still attempted to swing and stab their spears at Galfredik, but almost no one could hit him properly due to his speed.

Several attacks found their target by coincidence, but the plate armor wasn’t called the strongest armor for no reason.

Tititing! Tiing!

Even the attacks that found their marks were harmlessly deflected. In the meantime, Galfredik never stopped swinging his maces, and the soldiers screamed in pain after having their limbs and bones broken. A short, but violent two minutes had passed since the battle began. And only the pained groans and screams of the defeated soldiers could be heard. Galfredik finally stopped his rampage.

“Hoo… Hoo… Hoo…” Galfredik raised his visor while breathing raggedly. He had been exhausted even further by trying to control his strength instead of killing them mercilessly. He finally relaxed and let his maces hang from the side after seeing that the more than twenty cavalries were incapacitated. He glanced at Baron Blanc and the other nobles, who were staring at the scene with absolute disbelief, then turned toward Eugene with his arms crossed while revealing his fangs.

“Master, I have secured us some slaves.”

The Origin’s vassal had perfectly fulfilled his duty.