‘Why… are there only four of us?’

No matter how much I looked around, it was the same.

Iris, sitting silently at the table, continued her meal, while Lize was teasing her with a bright smile, and Erica was nagging Lize to stop with the nonsense.

And then there was me, glancing around.

In the enormous dining hall, large enough to serve as a training ground, there were only the four of us.

“Hey, Lize.”

“Yep? What is it?”

“Why are we the only ones? Where are the others?”

In the game, the term ‘Knights’ referred to not only boss-level NPCs like Iris, Lize, and Erica but also a fair number of ordinary knight NPCs filling the mob positions.

Comparing it to the much larger scale of the Imperial Palace in the latter part of the game, it was still quite small, but if we didn’t let any enemies regenerate and just wiped them out, there would be around twenty knights.

If we went down the path of human hostility, this spot would turn into a stage, requiring us to place mobs there. The knight members filled that mob role.

But right now, apart from the four of us, there wasn’t even a shadow of a person.

“Other people? There aren’t any?”

“There aren’t?”

“Yep. Only us four in the Silver Dawn Knights. Oh, now that you’re here, I guess it’s five? Anyway.”

“…Why?”

“Um… it’s a bit of a long story. Iris, is it okay to tell this to the newbie?”

“It’s fine. Since we’re all in the same knight order now, there’s no reason to hide anything. Just make sure to warn him not to blab about it everywhere.”

Iris consented with a nonchalant tone.

“Well, let’s get our meal first. I’ll tell you after that.”

Lize said this while walking over to the hearth. On it, there was a large pot steaming with food and freshly baked bread radiating warmth.

Up to this point, everything was fine. According to the setting, the white bread made from flour was an item of fair value in the world of Brightest Darkness 4, but it wasn’t so rare that even the knights couldn’t eat it.

There was meat soup in the pot too, and similarly, it wasn’t food unfit for the knights. Bread and soup even appeared as background resources in the game.

The truly astonishing thing happened next. Despite Lize ladling meat soup into her plate and taking five or six pieces of bread, the amount didn’t decrease at all.

‘What is this, a miracle?’

Lize’s plate was piled high with bread she claimed was her share, yet the tray on the hearth still had exactly the same amount of bread. I suddenly wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me.

“Ah, the newbie must find this fascinating since it’s your first time here.”

Erica approached me, still stunned.

Unlike Lize, who was making off with ladles full of soup and fistfuls of bread, Erica’s plate had a near-normal amount of soup and only one piece of bread.

“Of course it’s fascinating. What the heck is going on here?”

“I completely understand. It’s only natural to be surprised.”

Erica said as she picked up a piece of bread. Instantly, the empty space swelled and a new piece appeared. I wasn’t mistaken after all.

Witnessing this miracle firsthand, the newly acquired bread was gently placed on my plate.

“You don’t need to think too deeply about it, newbie. It’s the same as the act of things returning to their original state. This bread and soup belong to that category. Having the bread and soup full like this is considered their ‘original’ state, while the difference is that even in the situation we’re observing, they can return to that state.”

“So this is like that magic then?”

I picked up the bread on my plate and inspected it. It wasn’t anything particularly special. Lize and Iris ate without issue, and Erica didn’t seem to mind much either.

As if she sensed my thoughts, Erica smiled gently.

“Honestly, I can’t say eating this is safe. We’re all just accustomed to it and brush it off.”

“Then why…?”

“That’s better explained along with ‘why are only five of us in the knight order.’ Here, have some soup. Please sit comfortably; I’ll explain everything.”

I grabbed the soup bowl and placed it on my plate. While Lize was munching away at the bread, she patted the spot next to her, clearly inviting me to sit beside her. I knew precisely what that meant, so I joined her.

A satisfied smile appeared on her face. Lize swallowed her bread and turned to me.

“Earlier, you asked why there are only us here, right?”

“Yeah. It seemed like there was a reason.”

“Of course there is. It’s all because of that damn pig.”

She grimaced at the word used to refer to the lord as if it were distasteful. It was the first time I had seen the usually kind Lize react like this.

“Which part should I explain first… Okay. First off, we, the Silver Dawn Knights, were originally the knight order protecting the Imperial Palace. The Golden Dusk Knights and the Silver Dawn Knights were the two groups guarding the palace.”

‘My knowledge isn’t too far off. The overall setting is the same.’

Nodding along to Lize’s explanation, I noted that while many detailed things had changed due to all the mods, the general story and setting were following the same flow.

The Silver Dawn Knights had originally been an elite knight order sworn to protect the Imperial Palace. That’s why meeting them as NPCs early on and having the boss battle be excessively difficult made sense.

Setting-wise, these knights would seem entirely appropriate to encounter in the final part of the story, rather than this early field.

So why had that elite knight order ended up in a situation so disparaging that they were essentially driven to a backwater like this? It was all because of that lord they always bitched about.

Surprisingly, the lord of this city belonged to the royal family. Although he was a distant relative, he had blood ties to the emperor who ruled two-thirds of the continent.

While the other siblings were purged when the current emperor ascended the throne, this lord survived because he had given up the desire to ascend to power early on and had laid low to avoid being noticed.

Since then, the lord had committed all sorts of crazy antics while keeping his position in check to prove he was unworthy of the emperor’s seat. Eventually, he clashed head-on with the Silver Dawn Knights.

‘Of course, it was all that bastard’s fault.’

He was caught using banned substances circulated in the empire. The suggestion that he was uninterested in horses was just an act; he was actually a piece of garbage living freely while doing whatever despicable things he wanted.

Fortunately for him, he used every connection he had to survive, but he was no longer allowed to reside in the Imperial Palace.

That was why this royal bloodline was now living as a lord in such a remote area.

‘In the midst of all this, he dragged the Silver Dawn Knights down with him.’

The lord probably thought to take revenge by tearing apart the Silver Dawn Knights’ structure, absorbing most of the regular knights into the Golden Dusk Knights, leaving only a few of the knight commanders to follow him.

The nominal reason for this was ‘escort.’

‘That’s how it was in the game, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.’

It seemed that here, the lord didn’t bring all the regular knights with him but only dragged along four of the knight commanders.

Since the Golden Dusk Knights were rather corrupt, they welcomed and cooperated with the Silver Dawn Knights, who prided themselves on their morality as they dismantled the knight order.

Of course, in reality, it would have been impossible for them to cooperate or not, but the strong justification of having to guard royalty heavily influenced things, and most importantly, the emperor himself showed no reaction.

From the knight commanders’ perspective, it was impossible for them to view the lord, who had effectively dismantled the Silver Dawn Knights, favorably. The lord himself would definitely not look kindly at the commanders who had effectively tossed him out of the palace.

Given that the relationship between the two was like this, it was only natural to think there was something amiss with the castle that had magic placed upon it. That bastard would not do anything good for the Silver Dawn Knights.

The statement about not being sure whether it was safe to eat was a continuation of that line of thought. What kind of magic was placed here that one could casually eat?

However, the knight order received no monetary or material support, and thus they had no choice but to risk it and eat what was available.

…That was Lize’s explanation.

‘Did they do something good?’

I blinked as I realized the underlying details of this ‘Restoration Magic.’

It seemed the lord had placed this ‘Restoration Curse’ on the Silver Dawn Knights, presumably as a way to screw them over, but the reality was quite different. First of all, it wasn’t a curse at all, and it was certainly not for that purpose.

The magic placed on the castle caused no harm to humans whatsoever.

Well, to realize that, one would need to encounter the mages at ‘Arcana Library’ or the ‘Arcana Mage Tower,’ known as the greatest mages on the continent. It was only natural I didn’t know right now.

‘First, I need to deal with that guy as quickly as possible.’

After all, dealing with the lord could happen during any part of the storyline with the exception of the very early stages in the game.

Claudia, who recently went off to slay monsters, would soon return, and it made sense to activate the event, take down that boss, and then promptly eliminate the lord to lighten the load a bit.

“So, newbie, you’ll have to come with me too.”

“Me? Why?”

Iris, who had previously mentioned needing to report on what happened in the prison, added a line.

“Because that guy set conditions. If anyone is to join our knight order, we have to report to him.”

“That sounds like he’s saying he’ll refuse anyone joining.”

“Accepting someone itself is not a problem. It’s not about asking for permission, just notifying him. Confirming who it is is all there is to it.”

“Then it doesn’t really matter if we want to expand the knight order or not, does it?”

Iris shook her head.

“The problem comes after that.”