Chapter 82: An Unpleasant Reunion
ㅤ”Gwaaaaah!”
ㅤ
ㅤThe voice of a knight rises from the entrance.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Damn it, Heinlein!”
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ㅤSherry-san shouts and draws her sword.
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ㅤSherry-san’s weapon is a double-edged knight’s sword decorated with gold.
ㅤIt’s as beautiful as a work of art, but the blade looks sharp and the hilt is worn and tattered from use.
ㅤA daughter born into a high-ranking knightly family, she stubbornly continued to swing her sword until she reached her current position—I could see Sherry-san’s background shining through.
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ㅤI also grip my Black Steel Sword in my right hand and face the entrance.
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ㅤFrom the entrance to the water sphere room, a man appears, swaying with a ghostly gait, a blood-soaked sword dangling from his hand.
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ㅤ”Lewis… No, it’s not. It’s not any of the other knights who have disappeared either.”
ㅤ
ㅤAs Sherry-san muttered, the one who appeared was none of them.
ㅤAccording to the Dream Weaver, only three people rejected Imusoda’s temptation: me, Sherry-san, and the knight on watch who seems to have been killed just now.
ㅤIf anyone were to appear at this juncture, they would certainly be the most suspicious.
ㅤ
ㅤBut the person who appeared was someone else.
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ㅤIt’s no wonder Sherry-san doesn’t recognize him.
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ㅤIt’s me who recognizes this person.
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ㅤA cool and handsome man in his late twenties, with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes.
ㅤBut his face is twisted in madness, and a dangerous light dwells in his eyes.
ㅤEven before, he wasn’t exactly a relaxed person, but compared to his current state, the previous him was still more human.
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ㅤYes—at least when he was complaining to the guild staff at the dungeon front outpost, he was still within the realm of “human.”
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ㅤ”Cretias…! Why are you here…?”
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ㅤAt my words, the man who appeared—Cretias—gave a distorted smile.
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ㅤ”Adventurer Minato… I never thought the opportunity would come around so soon.”
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ㅤ”Do you know him, Minato!?”
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ㅤSherry-san asks, standing in a position as if to protect me.
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ㅤ”Ahaha, yeah, well, I guess I know him. We’re not friends, though.”
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ㅤ”I can tell that much.”
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ㅤSherry-san said, holding her sword at the ready.
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ㅤ”Didn’t you get a notice from the guild? There’s a Zamzaria Kingdom Royal Guard knight who, despite being a special envoy knight dispatched to rescue the prince, destroyed the discovered Cockatrice beak, and on top of that, tried to kill everyone involved, failed, and fled.”
ㅤ
ㅤWhen you put it all together like that, he really hasn’t done anything good.
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ㅤ”The one where the King of Zamzaria was furious and added a large bounty to the guild’s wanted poster, right? His name was, if I remember correctly, Cretias… He lost both his official and noble titles, so he no longer has a surname.”
ㅤ
ㅤOh, Sherry-san knows him too.
ㅤThe fact that he’s being so thoroughly pursued means that both the Adventurer’s Guild and the Zamzaria Kingdom are completely enraged.
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ㅤ”Hmph. I don’t need the title that foolish king gave me anymore. I just need to get revenge on the adventurer who stole my honor.”
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ㅤCretias glares at me with completely crazed eyes.
ㅤWhoa.
ㅤ
ㅤSherry-san glanced at me and said,
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ㅤ”So, Minato was the adventurer who exposed the misdeeds of the wanted knight Cretias? I thought you were something special…”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Ah, ahaha. Well, it kind of happened that way, I lost my temper and did it, I’m reflecting on it, or something…”
ㅤ
ㅤI look at Cretias again.
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ㅤCretias used to be clad in shiny, expensive knight armor, but now he’s wearing jet black armor with an organic form.
ㅤI took his previous knight armor after winning our duel and burned it along with all his other possessions in the dungeon front plaza. It’s only natural that he’d change clothes.
ㅤ
ㅤ”That’s pretty cool armor. It’s got a Dark Knight vibe. It looks like it could drain your HP with its attacks.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Hmph, as always, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.
ㅤBut this is the armor that that person tailored for me. It suits me much better than that knight armor that only smelled of Zamzaria gold.
ㅤA Dark Knight, huh… Call it whatever you want.”
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ㅤWhether it was boasting or self-deprecation, Cretias snorted and said so.
ㅤHe seems to have taken a slight liking to the term “Dark Knight.”
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ㅤ”That person? Are you talking about the demon Imusoda?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Wrong. It’s true that Lord Imusoda is my current superior, but…”
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ㅤ”Then, is it the 『one above』? Just who is it?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”I don’t need to tell you about that person.”
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ㅤ”Well, I guess you were picked up after you lost your wealth and honor and ran away, and you got attached because they were a little nice to you.
ㅤIn the end, you can’t live on your own. You can’t settle down unless someone’s keeping you. You’re a fox who can only boast by borrowing the authority of your owner.
ㅤFrom the user’s perspective, there’s no more convenient pawn than one who wags its tail without being asked to do anything.”
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ㅤ”…Guh, you dare mock me at this late hour!”
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ㅤ”Well, yeah, I’d mock someone who’s so wrapped up in their desire for revenge on such a suspicious person that they’re getting off on it. I’ve thought this for a while now, but… Cretias, you’re really pathetic.”
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ㅤ”You bastard!”
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ㅤ”So, where is Imusoda hiding? I think they sent you here because they decided the Dream Weaver wouldn’t join them and decided to get rid of them.”
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ㅤ”Do you think I’ll just spill the beans if you ask?”
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ㅤ”Ahaha, I thought you would because you don’t seem to have much thought, but I guess not.”
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ㅤAs I said that, I was breaking out in a cold sweat.
ㅤCretias knows my strength firsthand.
ㅤSince he’s appeared here, he must have some kind of winning strategy.
ㅤ
ㅤ（Actually, it’s just as it looks.）
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ㅤI could see an aura of dark ether rising from Cretias’s entire body.
ㅤA full-fledged magician would refine ether within their body and basically wouldn’t let it leak out. If it leaked out, it would expose their hand to other magicians.
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ㅤCretias shouldn’t have been able to use magic.
ㅤHe might have had a little aptitude, but if he could use it at a practical level, he would have used it in our previous duel.
ㅤOf course, Cretias is quite a skilled swordsman, so not only would he not need magic, but it would be more effective for him to attack in the time it would take to leisurely construct a spell. It’s better to focus on one or the other than to think about both sword and magic, so you can fight without hesitation. I do both, but I’m more magic-oriented, and the sword is for feints and show.
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ㅤAnyway, the previous Cretias was a straightforward swordsman who fought with only his sword, just like a Royal Guard.
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ㅤ（The fact that ether is leaking from Cretias means…）
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ㅤHe’s probably awakened.
ㅤBy the power of Imusoda.
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ㅤThe Dream Weaver must have known this, but since they didn’t know about my history with Cretias, they probably didn’t bring it up in our conversation until now.
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ㅤCretias shakes the blood off his sword and holds it horizontally in front of him.
ㅤAs Cretias runs his left hand along the blade of the sword, dark flames rise from the sword.
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ㅤThe straight sword Cretias was holding transforms into a magic sword cloaked in dark flames.
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ㅤ”Kukuku… With this power, I can surpass you.”
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ㅤCretias looks at me with eyes dyed in madness.
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ㅤI let out a small sigh and looked at Cretias with pity.
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ㅤ”You poor thing.”
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ㅤ”…What did you say?”
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ㅤ”It was originally your own foolishness, but you can’t look at it objectively and hold a grudge against others. You can’t satisfy your ridiculously high self-esteem without doing that.
ㅤAnd then, you’re approached by a suspicious person with an invitation that’s obviously a trap, and you readily follow it.
ㅤYou can’t see your own reflection in the mirror, can you, Cretias?
ㅤNo one else will say it, so I will. You’re very ugly right now. You’re not cool at all.
ㅤEven if you defeat me, no one in this world will acknowledge you for that.
ㅤWell, maybe 『that person』 will pat your head and say 『you’re a good boy』.
ㅤBut you know what they call people like that, Cretias?
ㅤ—A lapdog. And a rabid one at that, badly trained by a bad owner, biting people and enjoying it, the kind that’ll be sent straight to the pound in a few weeks.”
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ㅤ”Wha…! What did you say…?”
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ㅤ”You’re just desperately trying to convince yourself that the blurry image you see in the mirror after you’ve painstakingly clouded it is cool. You’re a real clown, Cretias.”
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ㅤ”Guh, ga…”
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ㅤ”I can’t let someone like you run wild anymore. I thought I didn’t need to take responsibility for you, but now that you’ve appeared in front of me, I have to do something.
ㅤOh, but I won’t kill you. I’ll capture you alive and hand you over to Zamzaria. I don’t want to get my hands dirty for someone like you.”
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ㅤ”Guu, Gaaaaaaah!”
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ㅤRoaring like a beast, Cretias kicked off the ground.