ㅡThe last immortal. I will eradicate you.
ㅡAs a human, cry, laugh as a human… please live as a human.
The large, old greatsword in the man’s hand aimed at its own throat. It was in a position to strike at any moment.
Kneeling before his master with a blank expression hoping for happiness, there was not a hint of hesitation about the fact that he must die.
He gathered strength in his arm. The blade pulled back slightly before swinging with all its might toward its throat. The rusted and worn blade, now dulled, effortlessly sliced into the man’s neck.
Flap flap! Cherry blossoms danced in the air.
‘It’s still moving no matter how many times I read it.’
I nodded and closed the book. It was indeed a touching story no matter how many times I read it.
The title of the book I had just closed was “One-Armed Wolf.”
It was a collectible ‘book’ traditionally found in the Brightest Darkness series. You had to complete the book by finding the scattered pages throughout the open world.
If we stopped here, it would have been just another ploy to increase playtime commonly used by certain potato server companies when creating open worlds. However, the notorious reputation of this collectible had a different reason.
Simply put, the novel was extremely entertaining.
Those who skipped checking the collectibles from the very beginning wouldn’t know, but the moment you found it interesting, players often prioritized hunting down the pages, putting the main story on the back burner.
Before someone would share the complete PDF of the novel in the community, this collectible had truly inflicted so much pain on countless people just based on its sheer enjoyment.
I was, of course, one of those many people.
‘I never imagined it would be here.’
Indeed, it was the library in the imperial palace.
I searched a bit more in the hopes of finding novels included in Brightest Darkness 1-3, but they were nowhere to be found. Given that this was the world of Brightest Darkness 4, it was reasonable.
The novels included in 1 to 3 were titled “Black Soul” 1, 2, and 3, and as it shifted to 4, a completely different series, “One-Armed Wolf,” emerged. And each of them was a masterpiece.
There were rumors that “An Old Ring” would be included in “The Brightest Darkness 5,” but… that wasn’t confirmed.
I would only know once 5 was released.
‘Why haven’t they released 5 yet? I’d buy it immediately if it were out.’
I cursed the miserable production company in my head and got up from my seat. If they find it unfair to be criticized, they should prove themselves with Brightest Darkness 5.
After placing “One-Armed Wolf” back on the shelf, I returned to my reading spot. I was about to wake Lize up to head out when I paused, seeing her dozing with her chest half-buried.
To be exact, due to her ample chest, the only way she could sleep in that position was that way. Or she could have draped herself over the edge of the desk to let her chest hang down.
‘…Can someone with such a chest do that?’
She was sleeping in an uncomfortable posture, with her chin resting on her arms while her chest lay on the desk.
I found myself staring at her in fascination before coming to my senses. I slightly shook her shoulder, which was exposed due to her sleeveless top.
“Lize. It’s time. Let’s go.”
“Uung…”
Still half-asleep, Lize groggily awoke, blinking her eyes open.
After looking around, she spotted me and smiled broadly, spreading her arms wide. I hugged her from the front to help her up.
“Did you finish it?”
“That’s why I woke you up. So what’s next? If you’re sleepy, you can go back to sleep in your room?”
“No. I’m awake now, so let’s go to the training ground.”
After our meeting with Kaiquilia ended yesterday, we had ultimately found ourselves with nothing to do.
Since I had called her early in the morning, I thought it would take all day, but the actual meeting hadn’t taken even half an hour, most of which was spent just chatting with me.
We had waited in our respective rooms all day long, unable to do anything, and it wasn’t until the next morning when we received orders to act freely before His Majesty called us again.
“Even if it’s short, it feels like it should take a week. Is it really okay to leave the mansion empty for that long?”
“I think Ron can handle it alone for about a year? Unless something big happens, I’ve given her full authority to take care of things, and Ron is quite capable. As long as no major incidents happen in the territory… Ah.”
Aurora trailed off, scolding herself for whether saying that would tempt bad luck. I couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. Did the concept of flags exist here too?
After that, the decision was made for each of us to do our own things.
Aurora set off alone to reminisce about her old memories since she had returned after a long time. The other knight commanders, excluding Lize, gathered their weapons with determined expressions and headed to the imperial palace’s training ground.
I came to the library to check if the complete version of “One-Armed Wolf,” which appeared in Brightest Darkness 4, was available, and Lize followed me.
To my surprise, it was indeed there. It seemed this masterpiece was also well-received here.
“Others must still be at the training ground, right?”
“Probably? That’s why I suggested we go. Delta, how long did I sleep?”
“You started sleeping about the time I was halfway through reading. So about an hour?”
“Is that not much?”
As we chatted idly while walking down the corridor, we soon could hear the sharp sound of weapons clashing as we got closer to the training ground.
It seemed the knight commanders who had left before us were vigorously sparring. Exiting the lengthy corridor revealed the scene of the training ground, where the metal sounds grew even louder.
It looked like a miniaturized version of the Colosseum at the center of the training ground, where someone was locking weapons.
It was Erica.
Flames flickered around her Japanese sword, and every time she swung, sparks flew into the air. The areas of the training ground still ablaze with flames flickered wildly.
Erica leaped into the air, gripping the sword’s hilt with both hands and spinning her body clockwise, tracing a perfect circle. Cherry blossoms and embers scattered along the trajectory of her sword.
Strikes one and two followed in quick succession, pausing briefly in the air before launching strikes three through five. Then, after about a 0.5-second delay, she delivered the final, sixth strike.
The sound of metal clashing grew louder and louder. Clang clang, clash, ching! It was as if the timing of strike three determined whether five would sync or not.
By the way, that which just happened was syncopated. I shivered at the memories of how many times I had fallen for such dirty tricks.
The knight who was facing off against Erica couldn’t withstand for long and dropped his sword. The Japanese sword then struck him squarely on the forehead. Splat! A crisp burst echoed.
The knight, struck on the forehead, rolled back, eyes wide—a clear sign of defeat.
“You’re here.”
“What were you doing?”
“Just as you see. I’m sparring.”
“It seems a bit intense for just sparring?”
I glanced around the training ground. Even though Erica wasn’t armored, she had a fierce expression, and the faces of the knights from the Golden Dusk Knights sitting opposite us showed determination.
“You know why.”
“True. That makes sense.”
I accepted that reasoning and sat down beside her.
From the perspective of the Silver Dawn Knights, they certainly couldn’t view favorably the Golden Dusk Knights, who had helped a previous lord tear them apart.
Ultimately, the final decision-maker was the Emperor, but considering why Kaiquilia spared that guy, it was understandable that she allowed such careless behavior.
No matter how much he acted independently, compared to the mess created by other royal relatives, he appeared almost saintly. At least until I stealthily killed him before he remained human.
Though I had no way of knowing how the Golden Dusk Knights thought about us.
“Oh, have you arrived, Delta?”
Erica, having triumphantly returned to her place after a swift victory, greeted me.
“What’s with the sudden sparring?”
“Well… it just happened that way. They started it first. Maybe they thought we were an easy target since we were just three.”
Erica glanced around the training ground. Several knights were literally hauling their downed companions somewhere in a hurry. Probably to the infirmary.
As expected, all the visible knights were women. No men in sight, even if you washed your eyes and looked hard.
“You’ve won every match so far?”
“Of course. Even though they have more numbers, they’re all just ordinary knights. No matter how many there are, we aren’t weak enough to lose to regular knights.”
Erica chuckled briefly. I returned her smile.
“Then where did their knight commander go?”
“I don’t know. No sign of them.”
As we engaged in such banter, a golden-armored knight, who had been anxiously watching from the sidelines as they continuously lost, suddenly looked at me and brightened up.
“Hey, you!”
With that forceful voice, all our gazes turned towards her. The gloved fingers pointed precisely at me.
Since that knight was also a woman, it was impossible to discern who she was based on appearance alone. I racked my brain, trying to recall who she was, and finally recognized her by the weapon hanging at her waist.
One of the deputy commanders of the Golden Dusk Knights, treated as a mid-boss in the game.
“Who are you? Why are you sitting over there?”
“Um, I’m… a newbie… right?”
Even though I was unsure if newbie was the right term for me, I went with it anyway. I hadn’t formally been promoted to a knight yet.
“Well then, this works out. Grab your weapon. Since you’re part of the Silver Dawn Knights, you must participate in the sparring.”
Her expression brightened significantly. The intentions were painfully obvious. By labeling me as a newbie, she seemed to want to defeat me to recover some pride.
It was a very petty move, but it could also mean they were cornered enough to resort to such strategies.
From the side, I heard Lize and Erica chuckling softly. Claudia was snickering along, and even Iris looked bewildered.
With an incredulous tone, I opened my mouth.
“…Do I really have to participate?”
“You just said you’re one of the Silver Dawn Knights with your own mouth. Are you planning to back out alone?”
“No, it’s not that…”
It didn’t seem like things would go as intended.
As I pondered whether to accept this challenge, Lize smiled brightly and poked me on the back with her finger. It was a gesture urging me to go.
Iris, Claudia, and Erica’s expressions all seemed to say they wanted me to utterly crush the last bit of their pride.
Feeling four pairs of eager eyes on me, I stood up from my seat.
“Alright, let’s do this.”
What could I say when the knight commanders had such expectations? I had to give in to their request.
Seeing that knight acting feisty, it seemed she didn’t know that their knight commander had asked me for a spar before and ended up getting utterly crushed. She probably didn’t bring it up out of embarrassment.
I made my way over to where the weapons were laid out. I had left my blood-stained sword in my room, so I had no choice but to use another weapon. No reason to carry it to the library after all.
The reason I didn’t borrow weapons from the knight commanders was that it would leave room for them to say they lost due to the weapon. It was a cheap and underhanded argument, but knowing them, who knew?
While rummaging through the selection, I picked up the very last weapon at the bottom.
As expected, I knew it would be there.
“I’ll use this.”
What I picked up was a broken longsword.
The reason such a dilapidated weapon was sitting among the other ones was that it was used for sparring when the Golden Dusk Knights imposed penalties on their internal members.
For some reason, it was entirely impossible to enchant, and even with full upgrades, its damage was less than that of bare hands, making it one of the weapons that hardcore players used when they had nothing else to do and were bored.
Seeing the broken weapon I held, the golden-armored knight’s expression twisted drastically.
“…Do you have no regrets?”
“If I were going to regret this, I wouldn’t have picked it up.”
From my perspective, this was a lot better than fighting barehanded. At least, since it’s a one-handed sword, I could use parrying with it.
Bare hands can’t do that.
“If that’s your wish, then I shall grant it!”
The golden knight huffed as she walked to the center of the training ground. I mirrored her movements, heading towards the center as well. Behind me was the focus of four pairs of amused eyes.
In contrast, the side of the Golden Dusk Knights looked bewildered, as if wondering why the heck their side was acting like this.
When their rookie was willing to participate in a spar with a broken longsword, they showed no sign of anxiety; instead, they laughed and snickered. Surely, some strange feelings must have been creeping up.
With the broken longsword in hand, I glanced back at the commanders behind me and said:
“Commander, I have my original weapon, but unfortunately, I didn’t bring it, so I’ll have to use this this time…”
I gripped the handguard with both hands. The weapon’s blade, chipped and battered, caught my eye.
Beyond that stood one impossibly beautiful golden-armored deputy commander. Her fierce expression added to her beauty, expressing the power of mods.
Of course, I had no intention of taking it easy.
I would not take a hit for being too relaxed. The mere act of holding the broken longsword was already a demonstration of enough confidence. I directed the tip of the sword toward the golden knight before me.
“I’ll give it a go with this broken longsword.”
