Surviving as a Knight in a Trash Game

Chapter 163

The people of Saraban were watching a man from a distance.

Black hair and black eyes, strong features, and a straight nose.

They looked at the man, who appeared to be a foreigner to them, with such caution that it was hard to believe they were the same people who had bravely faced death and advanced towards the monsters just moments before.

“Lord Zaved!”

“Sharif!”

Sharif, having spotted Zaved, ran towards him.

“You’re alive, man!”

“I was on the verge of death. It seems Malua was watching over me.”

“It seems so, then… this person is….”

“This is His Excellency, Count Karl Reitz Arthur Meyer.”

“Ah…!”

Although he had sent Sharif, he hadn't expected Karl to actually come to their rescue.

But he was truly here.

“We thank you for the grace of the great lord. If Your Lordship had not helped us, this place would have been our grave today.”

“You are the Ginyura of the Mamluks, then.”

“I am lacking, but yes.”

Ginyura was the term for the leader of the Mamluks, equivalent to a knight commander in the West Continent.

“I heard you shouting on the castle wall. They lived not because of me, but because of you.”

It was a short compliment, but Zaved, sensing the sincerity packed into that simple statement, bowed his head to Karl.

“Thank you sincerely for coming all this way, even though you had no reason to help.”

“No need for thanks. I came because I needed to.”

“…”

Zaved, unaware of Karl’s reasons for coming here, thought Karl was being considerate.

“Once again… thank you very much.”

“Don’t keep thanking me when we haven’t even started. My ears will itch intolerably.”

“…”

Zaved, who was about to habitually say thank you, closed his mouth.

“By the way, where is Lord Ashad?”

Sharif looked around, searching for their lord, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“I am ashamed….”

“What happened? Where is His Lordship?”

“He… fled.”

“…”

A wave of futility washed over Sharif’s face for a moment.

Still, the years he had served him, calling him his lord, were not short.

He had never thought that the Ashad he had known would abandon his people.

“How can a lord abandon all his people and flee just to save himself!”

For what purpose had his subordinates risked their lives to go to the West Continent and request reinforcements?

“I’m sorry… It’s all my fault….”

All those who had died on their way to the West Continent this time were Sharif’s cherished subordinates.

Each one of them was skilled and sincere in everything they did, and he had lost them so meaninglessly.

“Thanks to them, everyone here was able to survive.”

Zaved, noticing his feelings, carefully offered belated comfort.

Nevertheless, Sharif could only nod with a somber expression.

“I will escort you inside the castle.”

Zaved led Karl into the lord’s castle.

Inside the castle, retainers who had not followed Ashad, as well as servants, remained.

“Lord Zaved, who are these people?”

They were looking at the suddenly arrived armed strangers with wary eyes.

“This is the great Lord Karl Reitz Arthur Meyer, the Margrave who rules the northern part of the West Continent. He saved all of us in this castle from being annihilated today.”

Even after Zaved’s explanation, they did not let down their guard and cautiously continued the conversation.

“His Lordship…?”

“I will tell you the truth. Lord Ashad has fled.”

“That cannot be. His Lordship fled!?”

Omar, a retainer who had served Ashad for a long time, widened his eyes.

“I don’t want to believe it either, Omar. But Lord Ashad has abandoned us.”

“…”

Everyone present had been with Ashad for at least 10 years, some for over 20 years.

None of them seemed to believe that the lord had fled.

He couldn’t be called a great lord, but he wasn’t a particularly bad one either, so everyone present was dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.

“Malua will be watching, and Lord Ashad will pay the price. For now, Lord Karl will be staying here for the time being. Since His Lordship is protecting us, there must not be any negligence in serving him.”

“We will follow your orders.”

In truth, Zaved held more practical influence in Saraban than the lord, Ashad, so all the remaining people began preparations to welcome Karl and his party as guests.

***

That evening, a grand banquet was held, so grand that it was hard to believe this place had almost been destroyed by monsters just a short while ago.

Alcohol, meat, music, and people mingled, eating, drinking, laughing, and chatting excitedly.

“That idiot Muki was always out of it, what the hell was he doing just standing there? If he had just crawled back, he would have lived.”

“Hahahahaha, Muki was always like that. And what about Tusk? That guy couldn’t even take care of himself properly… a guy with a wife and an old mother at home….”

“Idiots always die early. Early… I mean… Malua will take good care of them now.”

“To Muki.”

“To Tusk.”

Those present raised their glasses for their fallen comrades.

Eating, drinking, and sharing memories of them, they were bidding farewell to the comrades they had been with.

When the banquet was well underway, Karl rose and left the banquet hall.

Following his feet, he arrived at a well-maintained garden within the lord’s castle.

“Aren’t you enjoying yourself more?”

“I don’t quite fit in with banquets.”

“I’m the same, so Your Lordship is similar, I see.”

Zaved, who had followed him out at some point, offered the liquor bottle in his hand to Karl.

“It doesn’t seem like you’re incompatible with alcohol, though?”

“That’s right.”

Karl took the bottle Zaved offered and took a large swig.

It seemed they had brought out some decent liquor from the lord’s castle, as the aroma was quite good.

“It will be a taste you’ve never had before. You probably haven’t had many opportunities to try good East Continent liquor.”

As Zaved said, during his time as the Ghost of Chevalier, he hadn’t had the luxury to care about the quality of alcohol.

Most of his time was spent fighting or on the road seeking fights.

“I heard from Sharif. You have an infamous name that makes East Continent people shudder.”

“It just happened that way.”

Even in front of Zaved, an East Continent native, Karl was confident.

As someone who lived by the sword, were the people who died at his hands only from the East Continent?

The number of people who died at his hands in the West Continent was no less than in the East Continent.

“What’s interesting is that there are surprisingly many good rumors about Your Lordship.”

“Good rumors?”

In the East Continent, Karl would have been nothing but a demon; how could there be good rumors?

Zaved, receiving his questioning gaze, took a sip of liquor and then slowly opened his mouth.

“I understand that Your Lordship did not touch ordinary citizens. Furthermore, if a conflict arose, you would even buy time for them to escape or lure the battle to a different location.”

Hearing his story, it seemed like that might have been the case.

He wielded his sword to survive, but Karl was not a madman who enjoyed killing people, after all.

At that time, even when he was pondering whether these were game characters or real people, he had at least adhered to the principle of not cutting down those who were not his adversaries.

“Thanks to that, an unseen virtue has accumulated around Your Lordship’s infamous name. Those in the ruling class who were at odds with Your Lordship might not know, but some people even hold respect for Your Lordship.”

Respect, that was something he had never even considered.

“Thanks for the good story.”

Just knowing that he hadn’t remained solely a demon to them didn't make Karl feel bad.

“What are your plans for the future?”

“We’ll have to find the source from which those things are emerging.”

“We’ve tried several times, but it only increased our sacrifices.”

“But if we just stay here, we’ll only be waiting for the day we die.”

Karl was right; staying here would only mean waiting for death.

“If we preemptively eliminate them, it might be possible to reduce their numbers.”

Since a mission was given, completing the mission should definitely be possible.

Karl was confident, and his confidence seemed to have instilled some faith in Zaved.

“I plan to move out starting tomorrow. It would be best if you guard this place while I’m away.”

“…Why do you take such a risk?”

It was natural that going outside was more dangerous than staying within the castle walls.

“I’m just doing what needs to be done.”

He couldn’t understand Karl’s words at all.

He could only express his gratitude by offering him a better bottle of liquor.

***

The day after the banquet, despite the lingering effects of excessive drinking, Karl and the knights sortied outside the castle to find the origin of the monsters.

Perhaps due to the impact of the rather large battle, the number of monsters they encountered for about an hour after setting out was not very large.

“Cut down everything you see.”

Knowing that even individual entities would eventually form a massive group and launch an attack, Karl and the knights disposed of any monsters they saw.

“It seems the number of them increases as we go towards the center of the island.”

“Their types are also more diverse. Where on earth did all these monsters come from?”

It wasn't just Dire Wolves.

Rare monsters like War Bears and Shadow Foxes were also frequently sighted.

For hundreds of years until now, monsters in the West Continent had been mere products appearing in books.

But now, creatures with rare names were appearing here and there.

“First, clear the area and set up a base camp.”

Not long after the order was given, the Lighthouse Knights slaughtered all the surrounding monsters and set up makeshift obstacles.

After setting up various traps they had, they quickly prepared a space where they could rest.

After resting for a day at the quickly established base, they continued reconnaissance and monster subjugation in the surrounding area daily, in four teams of 50.

Whenever monsters seemed to gather, Karl would appear and invariably dispose of them.

For about a week, the Lighthouse Knights repeatedly cleared the surrounding monsters and searched for the source.

“We absolutely cannot figure out where these things are coming from.”

They confirmed that the number of individuals appeared consistently, but they couldn't figure out the location where these things were generated or the principle by which they were created.

‘Regen… is it something like that?’

The word Karl thought of after searching for a long time was something those around him wouldn't know unless they had died and come back to life.

Could it be some kind of dungeon?

If so, Saraban Island seemed likely to be either a hunting ground where a certain level of monsters infinitely spawned, or a dungeon that could be cleared by satisfying specific conditions.

‘I need to investigate a little more.’

The next day, and the day after that.

For almost a month, the Lighthouse Knights, who had established several bases throughout the island, continued their investigation by traversing the entire island.

Saraban soldiers took positions at the fully established bases, and after pioneering was completed, Saraban soldiers would again take their positions to stabilize the surroundings.

The Mamluks and soldiers of Saraban were capable enough to suppress the monsters that spawned repeatedly at a certain level, so Saraban quickly began to regain stability.

“This is the last place.”

Eventually, Karl and the Lighthouse Knights scoured the entire Saraban Island and arrived at a place where natural caves were clustered at the northern tip of Saraban Island.

“There are too many caves. It seems like it will take a long time to search all of them.”

“No, there’s no need to search them all.”

Kelvin, who was wondering how long it would take to search all those caves, suddenly noticed Karl’s gaze fixed on something.

“Is there something there? It doesn’t look like anything?”

They didn’t know, but Karl could see it clearly.

A giant eyeball staring at him.