Chapter 11
A knight appeared in the Karognar Domain.
The awkward combination of a knight's helmet, uniform, and cape.
But the aura given off by the person wearing them overcame that awkwardness.
- “Who is that person?”
- “I don’t know. I’ve never seen a style like that.”
Amid the crowd’s gazes, that knight—Duke—was pleased.
“Hmm.”
‘I am kind of cool.’
It was a frivolous inner self that did not match his appearance.
Duke straightened his clothes and checked the time.
‘It seems a little early to meet up with Rex.’
Even the original story had described him entering during the day and coming out around sunset.
Back then, he had thought the author wanted to create an atmosphere with the sunset, but now that it had become reality, there was a good reason for it.
‘Finding someone in a slave-trading caravan is a real pain.’
When Duke searched for the missing child as the wandering knight Duke, he realized it.
Finding someone in a slave-trading caravan was grueling, filthy labor.
In his experience, many people had become so mentally broken that they did not respond even when their names were called, while others had changed so much that their faces were unrecognizable.
More importantly, slave traders had no sense of professionalism(?), so even when asked whether anyone was there, they claimed not to know.
To make matters worse, Rex did not know A’s name or appearance and had to find A using only A’s shoes,
so it was hardly strange for him to enter in the morning and come out in the evening.
‘In any case, I have a lot of time left.’
Judging by the current time, he needed to set aside about three hours to find A.
‘Then where should I kill time?’
It was then.
Grrr.
‘Ah, I skipped lunch.’
Duke had been so delighted by choosing his equipment that he had completely forgotten lunch.
For a moment, he thought of having a simple sandwich, but···
‘Damn. That’s not really appropriate.’
Sitting by a fountain in the plaza wearing this outfit and eating a sandwich would ruin the image completely.
So he considered a restaurant as well, but the problem was the menu.
‘Ah, I hadn’t decided what kind of appearance to adopt or what menu to order in situations like this···!’
How could he have failed to think about something so important for two hundred years···!
Originally, he had planned to settle down in some mansion, hire a private chef, dismiss all the servants, and eat alone in his room.
That would strengthen his mysterious image.
But he had never thought about what to do during the transitional period before settling down.
‘Damn··· How could I make such a mistake···!’
Did charismatic final bosses in works of fiction calculate even things like this in advance?
Duke was filled with involuntary awe.
Then a woman’s voice called out to him from behind.
“Are you perhaps Sir Urwick?”
At the woman’s voice calling him, Duke unconsciously brought a hand to his helmet.
‘Huh? I’m definitely wearing a different helmet.’
The symbol of the wandering knight Duke Urwick was his battered armor and red tail feathers like a rooster’s comb.
By contrast, Rex’s knight Duke Urwick looked much cleaner and more dignified than he had back then.
‘How did she recognize me?’
He also clearly remembered the blacksmith explaining that the helmet had a mild recognition-obscuring function.
‘Did that blacksmith scam me?’
When his thoughts reached that point, Duke resented the blacksmith, who was probably fighting a fierce defensive battle in another sense.
But nothing would change by thinking about it now.
He resigned himself and turned toward the woman who had spoken to him.
First, he saw the head ornaments and hats of the knights who appeared to be the woman’s guards.
That was because Duke was exceptionally tall for a human.
When he lowered his head slightly, the crown of the woman’s head came into view.
Blue highlights stood out amid her black hair.
Lower still, he saw skin as white as snow through her hair.
Just confirming that was enough to make Duke’s chest begin pounding wildly.
‘No way···’
He lowered his head further.
And then he met the woman’s eyes.
He saw beautiful black eyes reminiscent of obsidian.
‘Ah···’
For the first time, Duke’s RP began to waver.
While Duke held back the cheer rising from deep within his danjeon, the woman examined his front and then···
“I’m sorry. Your magical power is similar to someone I know···”
“I am Duke.”
“Pardon?”
“I do not know you, but I am Duke Urwick. Who are you?”
The woman bowed her head toward Duke without losing her dignity, maintaining a courteous posture.
“I’m sorry again for speaking to you so suddenly. My name is···”
‘Yuhana.’
Duke instinctively held back the word that was about to leap from his mouth.
Fortunately, he did not end up interrupting her.
“···Yuhana. I am also the lord of a domain bordering this one. I’m staying here on business, and I happen to meet you.”
Overcome with emotion behind his helmet, Duke bit his lower lip.
‘Oh, heavens. I don’t believe in you, but thank you so much today.’
Duke was moved enough to offer thanks to the heavens he usually ignored.
And with good reason: Hana was his favorite character.
‘Yu Hana.’
She was the first person in this world to show that Rex’s dream was achievable.
In a world where people killed their domain citizens, friends, and even family to raise their realms while karma hounded them,
she showed Rex that everyone could raise their realms together without resorting to such methods.
In short, she was Rex’s predecessor, teacher, and even spiritual pillar.
‘Thanks to you, Rex was able to preserve his humanity until the end.’
Because she had set that precedent, Rex was able to reject advancement through evil deeds until the very moment the novel ended.
Because of that, her presence continued throughout the original story, and Duke liked her more than anyone else in the novel.
But she was not Rex’s heroine.
Duke barely maintained his RP, which felt ready to shatter at any moment before his favorite character, and nodded.
“Hana··· In the Eastern Kingdoms Alliance, that word means the foremost, doesn’t it?”
Duke himself had merely managed to nod his stiff neck because of his tension, but perhaps because of the helmet, the gesture came across as somewhat arrogant.
Hana’s escort knights displayed faint displeasure at Duke’s behavior.
But unlike her guards, Hana seemed to like it.
It was as though Duke had shown respect for her homeland’s culture.
Her guards failed to notice the change in her mood, but strangely, Duke accurately sensed the mood of this woman he had just met.
‘She looks happy.’
He did not know why, but seeing his favorite character happy made Duke happy as well.
But Duke could not simply be happy.
That was because he knew her fate.
‘Hana can never be with anyone.’
She had certainly taught Rex about good deeds and chivalry.
She taught him that one could become strong through steady training and effort without committing evil deeds,
and among lords who treated exploitation and human sacrifice as the default, she alone ruled her domain’s people through law and justice, proving that such a thing was possible,
even proving in advance that everyone could live well through welfare, an unfamiliar concept in this world.
Yet strangely, there were no flags between her and Rex.
And the reason was revealed early in the novel.
Because she··· eventually took her own life.
For none other than her own domain’s people.
***
Yuhana died because of the karma she incurred early in the novel.
In a world whose central theme was karma and divine retribution, she had committed an act that was forbidden even by the standards of this bleak world.
An absolute taboo that could not be committed even in a world where exploitation, murder, and the like were regarded as necessary evils for raising one’s realm.
Cannibalism/human sacrifice
She had violated this worst of taboos.
Of course, she had her own tragic circumstances.
Early in the novel, her domain was invaded, and the sudden need for power was compounded by a horde of magical beasts and a plague outbreak.
In the end, she and her knights steeled themselves, and she devoured them with her shadow.
The power she gained by eating her knights was overwhelming.
‘Cannibalism is definitely effective when it comes to raising one’s realm.’
There was a reason orcs, goblins, and other demonfolk grew so quickly.
In this way, cannibalism was far more effective than murder for raising one’s realm.
But the karma accumulated from it was incomparable.
Even in this world, where people commonly raised their realms faster than karma could overwhelm them and forcibly endured the consequences, cannibalism was not a recommended method.
That was because cannibalism drove one’s karma score to rock bottom, making it completely unprofitable.
‘It’s no coincidence that humanity, rather than cannibalistic monsters, rules this world.’
That was why it was a taboo.
‘But Hana broke the taboo despite knowing that.’
To protect the domain she loved.
And what returned to her after she ultimately protected her domain was every kind of curse.
The domain’s people feared that an even greater famine would descend upon the domain because of her, while religious zealots thoughtlessly condemned her.
In the end, she took her own life because she feared that the domain would be destroyed by karma if things continued as they were.
No, perhaps karma was not the problem.
Perhaps she simply could not endure her guilt toward her subordinates, her sense of betrayal toward the domain’s people, and her emptiness.
- “Protect this beautiful land of Sneria.”
She left Rex that request before ending her life.
Afterward, Rex began from the domain he was currently in, but made the Sneria Domain he had inherited from her his foundation.
In the end, the Sneria region had the honor of becoming the capital of the empire,
but her story itself came close to a sad ending.
- “I’m sorry for making such a one-sided request.”
He remembered the sad smile she had worn as she cut her own throat at the end.
And that sad smile overlapped with the face now smiling faintly before him.
*
He shook his head and returned to reality.
She was still alive.
And I had enough knowledge and power to change that tragic future.
She was diligent, but ultimately could not escape medieval knowledge and common sense.
She had leadership and diligence, but lacked political skill and power, which had led to tragedy.
Fortunately, there was no need to repeat that tragedy on this world line.
So there was no need to become gloomy starting now.
I continued the conversation with Hana standing before me.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you.”
I had no idea why she had recognized me.
So I asked her.
I had no desire to let misunderstandings pile up for no reason.
Fortunately, she was not offended by my question.
“I suppose not. When Sir Duke and I were on the same battlefield, I was merely one of the resistance commanders.”
‘Oh. No way···’
Cold sweat poured like a waterfall from beneath my helmet.
She whispered without giving me time to respond.
“I have been looking forward to meeting you, Lord Ophir.”
Good heavens.
*
She and I decided to change locations.
She led me to a restaurant, and I naturally followed her into a private room.
“I’ll speak with Sir Duke alone, so wait outside.”
Her voice was filled with charisma, in stark contrast to the gentle tone she had used when speaking to me.
‘Big sis, you’re so cool.’
She was exactly the Queen Hana I knew.
While I was applauding enthusiastically inside, her guards objected.
““Lady Sneria!!””
Hearing that, I realized one thing.
That was right. Sneria was Hana’s ja.
Since she came from the East, she had an unusual naming system.
A hwi, the person’s true name on the household register, which was difficult to use officially.
A ja, the name mainly used in public life after reaching adulthood.
Finally, a ho, a name one gave oneself, like a nickname.
(It is a little different if you go into detail, but it is roughly like this.)
The ja was used in public life, while the ho was used with people one was closer to.
And the people who could call someone by their hwi were···
‘Family or someone truly close.’
Beyond that, it was common not to reveal one’s hwi at all.
Even if someone knew it, calling a person by their hwi without being close was taken as an invitation to a duel.
‘But why did she introduce herself to me using her···?’
Hwi??
While I was wondering about that, she was arguing with her knights.
Their reasons for trying to dissuade her varied, but in summary, they were saying this.
- Being alone with this crazy monster bastard is dangerous.
My mood became slightly better and worse at the same time.
I was pleased that her subordinates possessed enough insight to see through my realm.
But I had tried to conceal it, so my displeasure at them seeing through everything added another stack.
‘Maybe I really have no talent for acting.’
My past as Ophir had been exposed, and so had my realm.
I had thought I had laundered my identity well for two hundred years, but I became gloomy at the possibility that I was the only one starring in my own Truman Show.
To the point that I even forgot my RP and affected the mood around me.
Perhaps interpreting me that way, the knights flinched.
One of them took hold of a weapon, apparently interpreting me as a threat.
At that moment, Hana stopped them.
“If Sir Duke intends to harm me, you would be helpless anyway.”
“···”
“And Sir Duke is not someone who would do that.”
No, Queen, why would you say it like that and hurt your knights’ feelings?
Apart from that, I felt good.
Because she had acknowledged me.
When I smugly basked in it without letting it show, the knights seemed convinced and backed down.
In the end, only she and I remained in the restaurant’s room.
She sent the knights out and closed the door.
She enveloped the room with her signature shadow magic and finished making it perfectly soundproof before opening her mouth.
“A-actually, the thing is···”
“???”
Her atmosphere changed the moment she sent the knights out.
Where had the diligent and perfect Queen I knew gone? A shy girl stood there instead.
She fidgeted with her fingers.
‘This is insane···’
She was cute.
Without realizing it, I wanted to pat her on the head so badly that my hand was trying to break free of my control.
Her height was considerable for a woman, but to me, she only came up to my chest, making her seem incredibly cute.
‘Are you crazy? Why does my RP keep breaking?’
While I was losing my head over her appearance, she finally got to the point.
“Could I perhaps shake your hand just once···”
Hearing that line from her, I became certain.
‘Oh, heavens.’
Two hundred years spent living for a vicious, charismatic final boss.
If all that hardship had been for this moment, it would be worth doing it all over again.
