Surviving as a Knight in a Trash Game

Chapter 145

Bright sunlight and bustling people.

Overflowing bright expressions and dynamic vitality.

All of these things described the Arthur Domain of late.

Knights and soldiers ran their morning drills throughout the entire city at dawn, and some of the people trained their stamina alongside them.

Anyone who wished could learn basic swordsmanship and combat skills, and anyone who wished could receive literacy and education at educational institutions.

Thus, the Arthur Domain, commoners and nobles alike, was filled with learning every day.

Those who learned in this way then educated others, and the power of such education became nourishment for the people, leading to the daily development of the domain.

“No incidents today. No traces found during patrol either.”

“Alright, good work.”

Marc, who had been suddenly appointed as the vice-captain of the city patrol rangers through a recent personnel change, compiled the reports from the arriving soldiers and once again pondered why he was working here like this.

“…This is really unexpected.”

He was a half-elf, half-demon, and Karl knew that fact.

Nevertheless, he didn’t care about Marc’s origins at all.

“I heard you’ve taken down several elf necks outside. Just keep doing that.”

At his indifferent remark, Marc had thought that perhaps he could settle down here.

And he realized a few days later that it had been a mistake.

“Should I just run?”

Just as he was briefly thinking that, a strange sensation caught his senses.

The sound of footsteps that only elves could hear and only elves could recognize.

As soon as he heard the sound, Marc climbed onto the castle wall and focused his senses to the fullest.

Despite being half-elf, half-demon, his senses were superior to any elf’s.

In fact, when he had visited the elven tribes, Marc's senses were so acute that most elves couldn't even keep up with his movements.

“It’s the elves. An attack?”

He was well aware that the Arthur Domain had clashed with the elves.

Detecting the elves’ movements, he immediately sounded the emergency alarm and spread the news of the elven invasion through the rangers.

Wiiiiiiiiiiing-

The moment something like an alarm sounded from somewhere, the people who had been moving vigorously just moments before began to move in perfect order.

Based on the emergency action plan for the domain, which Karl had prepared along with the city development plan, people quickly moved to designated locations.

Ordinary people without strength and non-combatants quickly evacuated to pre-planned underground spaces, while those who were civilians in peacetime but could serve as reservists received military supplies according to the supply system and moved to their respective positions.

At the same time, the knights and soldiers, already in their assigned positions, were fully armed and had completed their defensive posture.

“Vice-Captain Marc, what’s this about an elven attack?”

Marc arrived at the emergency operations meeting room, which had been quickly set up, and gave a brief report.

“What route are the elves targeting?”

“A large number are detected. It seems to be an all-out attack on the entire castle. The biggest concern is explosion magic. They can cause large-scale explosions using sacrifices. It’s a common method elves use when attacking human cities.”

Marc, who had suffered discrimination from both elves and humans, had once desperately studied elven history, wanting to live as a member of the elven race.

So he knew well how elves attacked human castles.

First, they would blow away a part of the city with a massive explosion magic, and while the humans were panicking, they would attack from all directions and assassinate the commander.

Then, swiftly taking control of the city, which had fallen into extreme chaos, was their main tactic.

“Thanks to you, I’ve learned a lot. Don’t worry too much; the Arthur Lord’s Castle won’t collapse from such explosions.”

Emilio confidently patted his chest.

“How can you be so confident? Elven explosion magic has a different dimension of explosive power.”

“I know that well. That’s why I’ve made preparations too.”

Emilio grinned and exchanged glances with the priests of the Order present.

Anti-Great Elf Defensive Magic Circle.

Their defensive magic circle, combined with the holy magic of the Vatican, was a masterpiece that wouldn’t be breached even if the elven grandfather himself came.

Just then, along with a rapid tolling of bells, the sound of a massive explosion was heard from outside the castle walls.

Kwaaaaaaaaaang!!!

As Marc had said, if it had been an ordinary defensive magic circle, it would have been blown away with the castle walls without even putting up a proper fight.

A powerful vibration was felt as explosion sounds were heard from various parts of the city.

Despite the tremendous explosions, the Arthur Domain, just as Emilio had confidently stated, repelled the elves’ explosion magic without even a scratch.

“….”

Marc, taking in this unrealistic situation with his own eyes, was once again gaining a new understanding of the capabilities of this domain.

The domain was as insane as its lord.

This was a defensive facility whose cost was beyond imagination.

Yet, the Arthur Domain had achieved such a feat.

It was a result made possible by the aid from central nobles, support from the Vatican, and the constantly increasing income of the domain in recent times.

“All personnel, hold your positions! You have received the best training!”

The discipline of the soldiers and knights was strict.

However.

Kwaaaaaang!

“Reporting! An explosion has occurred inside the castle!”

While the castle walls were well-equipped with magic circles, the elves targeted the relatively vulnerable interior.

It was unknown whether they had managed to infiltrate disguised as humans or if they had bribed humans to cause the explosions, but according to reports coming from all directions, the damage was increasing more than expected.

“Defend the interior of the castle walls with the Knight of the Lighthouse and the Knights Hospitaller, and have the reserve forces of the Holy Knights move together as well.”

As Marquis Nigel quickly gave instructions while looking at the situation board, the command center, which was about to fall into chaos, quickly regained stability.

Meanwhile, civilian casualties began to occur.

As the frustrating situation of enemies rampaging inside the city continued, Bastien, unable to bear it any longer, shot up from his seat.

“Where do you think you’re going again!”

“Shouldn’t we be doing something other than just sitting here! I’ll chop off all their heads.”

“What if an enemy infiltrates the leadership then?”

“…Call me when they come!”

Watching Bastien, who slammed his fist on the floor in frustration, Nigel slowly closed his eyes.

“Trust our knights. And they will surely come for this place.”

“The enemy’s movements are strange! The place they’re targeting isn’t here…!”

“Why not the command center!”

“…It’s the hotel where Lady Anne is!”

“What! Why would they target Lady Anne’s location? Don’t tell me!”

Nigel realized that the damn elves had noticed the relationship between Anne and Karl and were trying to kidnap her.

“Quickly, redeploy the reserve forces towards the hotel…!”

“It might already be too late! First, we need to redeploy troops to the routes the enemy will take!”

Following the command center’s instructions, the knights were moving hastily, but the elves’ movements were much more agile than theirs.

***

Gremory woke up in the morning as usual, enjoyed a walk while breathing in the fresh air, then basked in the sunlight on the hotel rooftop before heading to her regular bakery.

[Wiiiiiiiiiing!]

Just then, an alarm sound, spreading throughout the entire castle, echoed in her ears.

“Hmm…?”

The moment she thought it was a sudden loud noise, a massive explosion occurred, and her steps, which were heading to buy bread, came to an abrupt halt.

It was because she saw people rushing towards one place.

“Oh dear, the bakery will close too.”

Attacks like this weren’t a big problem for her.

However, the fact that she couldn’t eat freshly baked bread this morning came as a stress.

Walking towards the bakery with a sliver of hope, her mood lifted at the sight of the still-open shop and the fragrant smell of bread that could be felt from afar.

‘That’s a relief, it’s still open-!?’

Kwaaaaaang!

Just as she was about to approach the open bakery, a tremendous explosion occurred next to the bakery, accompanied by a massive magical blast.

Gremory reflexively used her hand to prevent the entire bakery from being engulfed in the explosion, but a significant portion of the bakery had already been blown away by the initial blast.

And beneath the collapsed debris, she saw the little boy, caught in the explosion, lying fallen.

“Euuuuugh… Ugh….”

The boy was groaning in pain, trapped under the building’s wreckage.

One side of the little boy’s face, who used to smile brightly at Gremory every morning, was caved in from being hit by the collapsed building, and his body was twisted in various places.

“Angel… lady…”

The boy, seeming to have spotted Gremory with one eye, called out to her, whimpering.

“It’s okay, angel lady will make you better.”

Snap.

As Gremory snapped her fingers, the collapsed building magically returned to its original state, and the fallen boy’s body began to recover.

Simultaneously, the boy’s mother also got up.

“Ah…!”

The boy’s mouth fell open, and his eyes widened in amazement at the miracle that had suddenly befallen him.

“Lady, were you really an angel?”

As the boy smiled innocently, Gremory nodded.

“Haha.”

Gremory turned away from the child, her two eyes glowing red.

At that moment, she saw the pointy-ears rushing towards the hotel where she was staying.

‘They seem to be itching to die.’

***

The moment the sudden alarm sounded, Anne moved to the hotel.

Her hotel was much safer than other places.

Sancho was also at the hotel, keeping an eye on the situation with Anne.

“The smell of danger is overwhelming.”

Sancho had always had an exceptionally good survival instinct, so Anne had already activated all of the hotel’s defense mechanisms based on his words.

Kuuung!

Pissh!

“Kuaaaaaak!”

At some point, the sound of the defense mechanisms activating was heard, and then sharp screams began to fill her ears.

“Why do you think those elf bastards are swarming here?”

“It seems these things are planning to take me hostage?”

Sancho looked at his master, who didn’t lose her composed smile even in the situation where extremely dangerous elves were swarming in, with great admiration.

“By the way, I don’t think we can stop them with our current strength.”

“Of course, that would be the case. So. We’ll have to hold out until the knight order arrives, right?”

“Can we hold out? We don’t have any combat personnel, do we?”

“Let’s try to manage somehow.”

Just as Sancho was nodding at her words, about 30 elves appeared before them.

Among them was Mikhail, the leader of the elf tribe who had an ill-fated relationship with Karl.

“Well, well, are you that human Karl’s woman?”

“Perhaps, it seems like it, but officially, we’re not in any particular relationship yet.”

Even in front of the elves exuding thick killing intent, Anne didn’t lose her bright smile and offered a witty joke.

“Certainly, you’re no ordinary person. We lost several of our kin on our way here. If you don’t want to die, it would be good if you followed us obediently.”

“Regrettably, I don’t have the option of ‘obediently’.”

“…Then we’ll have to escort you a bit uncomfortably. That’s not a good choice-!”

Kwaaaaaang!

Mikhail, who was continuing his words, suddenly found the space he was standing in engulfed in a massive explosion and hastily rose into the air with his subordinates.

Despite having dodged quickly, more than 10 of his kin were caught in the explosion.

Grind.

Mikhail ground his teeth as he looked at his kin, brutally torn apart and killed by the explosion, and resolved to cut off one of Anne’s legs.

It was the moment Mikhail approached Anne.

“Keok…!”

His breath caught in his throat, and the next moment, he realized that a woman with red hair, beautiful enough to enchant even an elf, was gripping his neck and floating in the air.

“You again?”

Her eyes glowed red, exuding a presence that single-handedly overwhelmed the scene.