Chapter 12
Until their ordered meal arrived, Duke and Hana talked about the past.
“Sir Duke. Do you really not remember me?”
At her question, Duke nodded calmly.
No matter how deeply he searched his memories, he had no recollection of meeting her.
‘How many battlefields did I roam during my time as Ophir?’
According to her, she had been on the same battlefield as Duke as an officer of the resistance.
But Duke had never associated with the resistance during that period.
He remembered standing on the same battlefields under the shared goal of destroying the empire, but they had never cooperated, let alone held a proper conversation.
Therefore, even after learning that she had been an officer of the resistance, Duke found it difficult to accept that she knew his identity.
Perhaps reading his expression, she asked in a faltering voice, like a shy girl.
“Do you happen to remember the battle at the Citadel on the Kachen Plains?”
Duke was able to recall the place without difficulty.
It had been one of the top five most enjoyable battles of his time as Ophir.
However, even after recognizing the location, he still could not remember her.
Facing Duke like that, she nodded as though it were only natural.
“Of course you wouldn’t. I merely watched Lord Ophir from afar.”
As she looked at the knight sitting before her, she recalled that battlefield.
*
The final years of the empire turned every corner of the country into a battlefield.
The demi-humans who had been oppressed under the empire’s ideology rose up and formed liberation armies,
and the common folk who had been exploited also took up farming tools and formed resistance armies.
Hana had been part of one such resistance army.
She was from the eastern region of the empire, now known as the Eastern Kingdoms Alliance.
She had joined the resistance out of a desire for revenge against the lord who had killed her parents.
By secretly observing the training of the other officers, she gained enough knowledge to break through the first wall,
and by teaching herself the secret manual carried by a knight she had somehow defeated on the battlefield, she broke through the second wall.
Having reached the third tier, she swept across the battlefield while freely manipulating her shadow.
Since third-tier knights were considered high-ranking knights, she could be called one of the resistance’s elite forces.
Shadow Princess.
That was the alias given to her after she became wanted as an officer of the resistance.
Having reached the third tier at an age far younger than ordinary superhumans, her appearance had been fixed at that of a woman in her twenties, so the superhumans called her a princess because of her youth.
Perhaps they were jealous and thought she was acting proud despite being so young.
But she did not care.
Her increased lifespan and her beauty, fixed in her twenties, were outside her interests.
Her only concern was that she had nearly achieved her dream.
‘Now I’ll be able to create a domain where ordinary people can live without fear.’
She had never feared death.
Because she had a dream she wanted to fulfill even if she had to risk her life.
As long as she achieved that dream, she did not care when her lifespan ended and she died.
And to fulfill the final part of that dream, she always headed toward the battlefield.
But when she first encountered a fourth-tier knight on the battlefield, she realized that she had been a frog in a well.
“Kuh!”
“You were too eager to die at such a young age.”
The knight who had forced her to her knees spoke.
The siege of the Kachen Plains Fortress.
Before a fortress that had never once been breached in the five hundred years since its construction, she encountered a fourth-tier superhuman for the first time.
After their repeated victories in previous sieges, the resistance had believed that their officers could defeat even a fourth-tier opponent by joining forces.
But that had been their misconception.
The difference of one tier was not something so easy to overcome.
Even several third-tier officers working together could not defeat a fully developed fourth-tier individual.
Even more despairing was the fact that the fourth-tier knight was ultimately nothing more than the lord’s subordinate.
In other words, to the fifth-tier lord, the resistance was neither more nor less than an entertaining event.
As if to prove it, when she raised her head, she saw the lord and his vassals waving wineglasses atop the fortress walls.
- “Bravo! Excellent!”
One of the vassals shouted at the knight.
As though the resistance’s struggle against the knight had been nothing more than an amusing play.
She did not want to accept this absurd reality.
Therefore, she rose from her place, using a spear made of shadow as a staff.
The knight, who had saluted the spectators atop the walls, pointed his sword at her.
“What a pitiful life, little girl.”
That was when it happened.
That was when she first met Ophir.
He suddenly appeared in the middle of the sun-drenched plains.
“An unfavorable battlefield. What an excellent stage. May I join this war as well? I wasn’t asking, so you needn’t answer.”
Ophir, the serpent that devoured the earth.
With his arms folded arrogantly as he surveyed the battlefield from a hill, he was unquestionably the apex predator of that battlefield.
When he appeared, the fourth-tier knight who had been so relaxed moments earlier panicked and shouted.
“It’s the serpent! Everyone, retreat to the fortress!”
The knight did not even think of finishing off Hana and hurriedly fled toward the fortress.
The knight and his soldiers, who had embodied sheer absurdity only moments before, began fleeing from a single man.
Ophir chased after the fleeing knights and spoke.
“How pathetic. To show your backs so easily just because our positions have been reversed.”
Ophir’s battle was overwhelming in its entirety.
Moving at a speed they could not even react to, he caught up with the knight’s horse and dragged him off it.
He seized the knight’s sword and began to butcher him with swordsmanship too fast for the eye to follow.
With a single sword, Ophir dyed the plains red.
“Whe— Urgh!”
Ophir raised clouds of dust on the battlefield and used them as a smokescreen while continuing to slaughter the soldiers.
The lord and his close aides, who had watched the resistance die from atop the walls, also turned deathly pale and hid themselves beyond the walls.
They locked the fortress gates to save themselves, abandoning the knight and soldiers to be hunted by Ophir.
At the moment when the knights who had killed their own families and comrades for entertainment were reduced to prey, the resistance erupted into enthusiastic cheers for Ophir.
Ophir paid no attention to the resistance and continued disposing of the knights.
He looked as though he were saying that he did not do such things for fame.
The resistance watched Ophir’s back as he fought silently and felt admiration for him. Hana was no different.
- “Open the gate! Let us in···!!”
Shnk.
Amid the desperate screams, Ophir cut down the last knight left outside the fortress.
He lightly kicked the fallen knight and said,
“Isn’t camaraderie also a virtue of chivalry? The chivalry you were always so proud of is only worth this much.”
Despite Ophir’s provocation, the fortress gates remained firmly locked in silence.
Ophir quietly gazed at the fortress gate.
Thinking this was her chance, Hana could not hold back and shouted toward him.
“We can hel—“
But before she could finish speaking, Ophir interrupted her and shouted.
“I have no need for followers. If you truly wish to help me, take up your weapons.”
With those words, Ophir threw the spears stuck in the battlefield at the fortress wall.
Boom!
The spear Ophir threw struck the wall, making the fortress tremble as though it had been hit by a catapult.
After making a staircase out of the spear shafts, Ophir stepped on them and climbed over the wall.
Naturally, no one in the resistance possessed the skill to climb the wall by stepping on those shafts the way Ophir had.
In the end, the resistance could do nothing but stare blankly at the fortress wall Ophir had crossed alone.
Hana also found it difficult to tear her gaze away from the spot where Ophir had stood.
And that day, when the five-hundred-year history of the fortress’s invincibility ended and its gates opened,
admiration for Ophir blossomed in Yuhana’s heart.
***
While Hana was having that flashback, Duke was having a similar one.
However, his memory differed from hers in a few subtle ways.
Up to the point where he disposed of the knights on the Kachen Plains, their memories were the same.
The problem began just before Ophir climbed over the fortress wall.
Ophir stood atop the knights’ corpses, gazing at the fortress gate.
‘How should I get over it in a way that suits my character?’
Flying over the wall would have been easy, but it lacked style.
Ophir’s character was a final boss who possessed overwhelming speed, strength, and magical power, while also being equipped with superb technique.
If Duke was a slow, steadily tightening despair, Ophir was an overwhelming despair that crushed even the will to resist.
It felt somewhat lacking in style for someone like that to simply tap a flight spell and cross the wall.
He needed a performance that was fast, made his opponent despair, and inspired awe in the resistance watching him from behind.
While he was pondering that stylish performance, one of the resistance members shouted from behind him.
“We can hel—“
Ophir answered reflexively.
“I have no need for followers. If you truly wish to help me, take up your weapons. And create more battlefields.”
The last sentence seemed to be cut off by the sound of the wind, but Ophir paid it no mind and prepared to leap over the fortress wall.
He threw spears to create a staircase and climbed it by stepping on them.
By showing that he possessed not only great strength but also great technique, Ophir leaped alone beyond the fortress wall.
What happened inside the fortress afterward was a dark chapter in Duke’s life.
- “Come! An intruder has arrived! Lord! Show me your duty!”
- “Oh ho, you stopped that? Then how about this? Show me a new battle tactic!”
- “More! I said entertain me more!”
*
‘Aaargh···’
Back to reality.
When the forgotten dark chapter was thrust before my eyes, I squeezed my eyes shut.
That had been the period when I had gone wild because I believed I would be discarding that identity anyway.
The dark chapter I had shouted during that period pierced my heart like a dagger.
- “Hmm. The fun is over.”
Whenever Ophir withdrew from a battlefield, he always delivered a line like that.
I had thought it suited the war-mad Ophir.
‘I never thought anyone would recognize me!!’
I did have some excuses, in my own way.
To avoid being discovered as the same person as Ophir, I had not used telekinesis, Duke’s signature ability.
I had also used swift swordsmanship that overwhelmed opponents with speed, rather than the blunt swordsmanship that emphasized Duke’s restraint and pressure,
and I had used only magic I had learned from my master or stolen from dragons.
I had left not even the slightest possibility of being discovered and had even perfectly deceived the same Thirteen Heaven-Defiers.
‘But how did Hana···?’
After thinking about it, I asked Hana.
“How did you discover my identity? Does anyone besides you know this?”
Since I had already spoken informally as Ophir, I decided to drop the formal speech here as well.
Even though I naturally adopted the attitude of a superior, she did not take offense. Instead, she spoke shyly.
“In my homeland, there is a custom of observing a three-year mourning period when a respected teacher passes away. Do you happen to know about the three-year mourning period··· Ah, you do.”
I nodded while anxiously waiting for the explanation that followed.
‘Wait, no way···’
“Then this will be quick. It was three months after the day Lord Ophir was officially declared dead. On my way back from gathering firewood for dinner, I happened to see you walking out of his tomb.”
‘Oh, Jesus.’
As she said, I had officially declared Ophir dead and somehow arranged to be secretly buried in a stone tomb.
The plan proceeded smoothly, and afterward, I waited three months inside the tomb to make certain.
(For reference, I considered coming out after three days, but I thought someone might see me and think I was starting a new religion, so I allowed myself a generous three months.)
I had assumed nobody would be there to perform memorial rites for Ophir anyway, and saw no reason for anyone to wait in front of it for three whole months.
The problem was that Hana had been there, prepared to wait for three years in front of the tomb.
‘So that was why I saw something like a hut near the tomb.’
I had assumed it was just some ordinary beggar or wanderer, and since there was no one inside at the time, I had hurried away as though fleeing.
But in reality, Hana had been the owner of that hut.
And on her way back from gathering firewood, she saw me.
What followed happened just as one might expect.
The empire disappeared, and hundreds of kingdoms were built upon its ruins.
Although she could have become the ruler of a small country in recognition of her contributions as an officer of the resistance,
- “I am not capable of that.’
she refused and received only the relatively small Sneria Domain.
(Of course, the Sneria Domain was still about the size of South Korea in my previous life.)
Even after becoming a lord, Hana spent a hundred years collecting stories about the wandering knight Duke Urwick.
Sometimes through newspapers, sometimes through minstrels, and sometimes through informants.
By pursuing stories about him through various means, she began comparing Duke Urwick’s actions with Ophir’s.
And she realized it.
“When I think about it, Ophir was strange. He called for war, but he never once sided with the empire or attacked powerless civilians.”
“···”
“He always fought on the side of the weak, never sought any reward, and did not even shy away from infamy.”
In other words, the Ophir in Hana’s mind was,
“Sir Duke, you have not changed much since then.”
‘Cough!’
Hana’s admiring gaze filled my heart with guilt.
‘Urgh···’
No.
Not at all.
I had sided with the weak simply because fighting the powerful empire seemed fun.
And, incidentally, I had also enjoyed the thought that I could beat the empire to my heart’s content because it was doomed to collapse anyway.
But as I watched her eyes shine brightly before me···
‘How can I tell her the truth with that face?’
Her eyes shone like those of a girl meeting an idol, and I could not tell her the truth to her face.
More than that, I wanted to look even cooler in front of my favorite.
In the end, after desperately wracking my brain, I decided to take advantage of the misunderstanding.
“It was an embarrassing past.”
I immediately began embellishing my past as Ophir.
“It was a period when I was arrogant enough to believe I could achieve peace through my strength alone.”
I lowered my head while consciously adopting a deeply subdued voice.
Hana could not take her eyes off my helmet.
“Sir···”
“I thought new flesh would grow over wounds carved by a sword. I was foolish. I had neither the power to heal wounds nor the sense of responsibility to do so.”
“If that is the case, then please come to our Sneria Domain···”
“I’m sorry. I already have a lord to whom I have sworn loyalty.”
Perhaps shocked by those words, Hana’s shoulders trembled faintly.
“What kind of person is the one you serve, for you to···?”
“A Khan. Someone who will claim a title beyond even that.”
It was not a lie.
In the end, Rex would enjoy a glory incomparable to that of the first Conquering Khan.
I changed the subject to recover the darkening atmosphere.
“So, you are fourth tier now. You must have worked very hard all this time.”
The Hana I knew had broken through the fourth-tier wall without any fortuitous opportunities.
She had not performed human sacrifice, steeped people in elixirs, exploited her domain’s people, or gained enlightenment through murder.
She had no teacher, no secret manual, and no special blood flowing through her veins.
Even so, she broke through the fourth-tier wall over a hundred years through nothing but meditation and training.
All while managing her domain’s internal affairs!
‘Other lords neglect their domains and devote themselves solely to training and their hobbies.’
In that sense, comparing Hana’s fourth tier to anyone else’s fourth tier was itself an insult.
“You are truly a virtuous ruler. The knights who serve you must also be honored.”
Hana’s face brightened at my words.
“Thank you, Sir.”
“I should be thanking you instead.”
“Pardon?”
I looked at Hana, who had opened her eyes wide in surprise.
I knew her hardships well.
While every other lord was in the fifth to seventh tiers, she felt anxious about being only fourth tier.
She constantly wondered whether her path was truly the right one.
While other lords neglected their domains and suppressed the resulting discontent with overwhelming force,
she had to care about welfare and listen to the voices of domain citizens far weaker than herself.
The fact that religious fanatics who could not even utter a word in other domains raised their voices in hers was proof of that.
Even so, she sought to uphold her convictions to the very end.
She had risen through the tiers by means of training and enlightenment, not exploitation and murder.
I found her determination incredibly admirable.
“Your convictions gave me confidence as well. I offer you my respect.”
At that, she waved her hands in denial.
“No! I merely followed in your footsteps!”
“?”
“Did you not also avoid unnecessary killing and reach that realm by upholding justice alone? Thanks to you, I was able to remain confident in my path until now.”
At those words, I realized my misunderstanding.
The Hana of this world was subtly different from the Hana in the original.
The Hana in the original had been forced to walk that path alone, so she had been confused about whether her way was correct.
And in the end, she had touched the taboo.
But this world’s Hana was different.
Because she had been following in my footsteps, she had not doubted her path in the slightest.
Seeing the confidence dwelling in her obsidian-like eyes, I
“Hahahaha!”
could not help but burst into an unfeigned laugh for the first time in a long while.
At my sudden explosion of laughter, her gaze filled with questions fixed on me, but my laughter refused to stop.
‘This is the best!’
I had walked this path without hesitation because I knew the Rex and his subordinates from the original.
That Rex had walked this path without hesitation while pursuing Hana’s trail.
And the Hana of this world was once again following in my footsteps.
‘I wasn’t wrong!’
What else could this be but the true cycle of goodness?
Taking advantage of the moment, I removed my helmet and revealed my bare face.
“Sir?!”
She was aghast.
The meaning of the wandering knight Duke, who had hidden his face for a hundred years, revealing his bare face was by no means insignificant.
I held out my glass to the astonished Hana.
“Since you trusted me enough to reveal your true name, should I not also show you my sincerity?”
At those words, her composure broke just as mine had.
She had been surprised once to learn that I knew her homeland’s culture,
and then surprised again to realize that I was showing her boundless trust.
But her surprise soon turned to joy,
“It is an honor, Sir.”
and she held out her glass as well.
“I can say this with certainty. You are a better lord than any I have ever met. If I had not met my own lord, I would have served you without hesitation.”
“It is an honor for me as well. To receive such praise from the greatest knight like you, I hardly know what to say.”
Clink.
The two glasses struck each other, and a clear, crystalline sound rang through the room.
When I was in a good mood, everything sounded beautiful.
‘This is the best day ever.’
I happily swallowed the wine.
···I felt as though I had forgotten something, but it did not seem important, so I decided to enjoy the moment.
***
After clinking glasses, Hana also savored her wine.
‘Hmm.’
It was not good wine by any stretch.
This domain was terribly poor compared to hers.
The difference was clear even in the quality of the wine.
Comparing this domain, run on exploitation, with the domain she had carefully cultivated was absurd to begin with.
But even this cheap wine tasted sweeter than the finest wine in this moment.
She raised her head and looked at Duke’s face.
‘I never understood why the women shrieked whenever the knights finished training in the domain···’
Now she understood.
A face suddenly appearing from beneath a helmet was more lethal to the heart than expected.
Amid the pleasant pain in her chest, she took a sip of wine.
‘I didn’t want to come to this domain, but I never expected to have a meeting like this.’
She felt a little grateful toward fate.
Just then, the steak they had ordered arrived.
She cut into the steak, which would have been an insult to compare with one from her own domain, and put it in her mouth.
Then she looked at Duke’s face and thought,
‘It’s delicious.’
Just then, her eyes met Duke’s.
The two exchanged faint smiles and enjoyed their lunch.
***
Meanwhile, Rex.
“Graaah···”
He paused his shopping at the slave traders’ caravan and melted into a puddle in the reception room as he thought,
‘How did that prince from Cinderella manage to speak to people all across the country···’
Rex gazed at royalty with awe, thinking that, as expected, not just anyone could be royalty.