The Walking Fortress

“C-Captain! Something seems to be approaching!?”

The gate guards immediately went into Level One alert.

They pulled out their rifles and hid behind cover.

A moment later, the source of the vibrations emerged from the dense forest.

It was a large rock.

The rock was moving.

For a moment, that was what they thought, but as it drew closer, they realized it was armor, not a golem.

No, was it really armor?

It was heavy enough to send vibrations through the ground with every step.

It seemed as though a golem, something they had only ever seen underground, was coming here.

It drew closer and closer.

A body about two meters tall felt as imposing as a great mountain.

As it drew closer, the duty captain opened his mouth to carry out his duty.

“S-Stop…….”

The man could not even get the short word out properly.

Once he was close enough, the man stopped on his own and set his shield down in front of him.

Thud!

With a deep rumble, the man stopped moving.

A gate guard cautiously approached and asked him.

“W-Who are you?”

His tone naturally became polite in the face of a threat to his life.

In response, the armored man silently unfolded a crumpled sheet of paper.

Though it was tattered beyond recognition, the seal stamped on the document belonged to Count Consilius.

“This certifies that, as the knight who distinguished himself in this monster-subjugation battle, he is to be granted an audience with Regent Ferda Valdrova…… Huh?”

The gate guards looked at one another after reading the document.

“That can’t be…… Did something go wrong?”

“The armored knight who was supposed to come already entered, didn’t he?”

“Yes, and they said he’d arrive around morning. He did arrive in the morning…….”

The guards wore troubled expressions; with a certificate in hand, they could hardly refuse him entry.

“P-Please, go ahead.”

When the duty captain returned the certificate, the armored man raised his shield and continued walking.

His impossibly heavy footsteps headed toward Hestia Village.

* * *

Meanwhile, Erika was delighted that the armored knight, Valdrova, had accepted her proposal.

‘I thought this would take more time to settle, but I never expected it to work out this way.’

Erika clenched her fist to suppress the tremor of accomplishment and expressed her gratitude to her.

“Ahem! Thank you very much. If the day comes when the continent of Serdes is saved, it will surely be thanks in no small part to your assistance, Knight.”

Taking advantage of the good atmosphere, Erika cautiously asked another question.

“I can guarantee your anonymity, so could you perhaps tell me a little about your identity?”

Shake, shake, shake!

“I understand. It’s unfortunate, but…… it can’t be helped.”

One of Iorga’s spawn’s traits was that if they were curious about something, they absolutely had to find out.

With a determination to uncover her identity someday, Erika brought the conversation to a close for now.

She dispelled the barrier magic.

“Then tomorrow, please come to the Adventurers Guild first rather than the Laborers’ Union. There are things we need to coordinate, and since I know you aren’t working solely for the money, we’ll have to arrange our schedules.”

Nod, nod.

With that, Valdrova and Erika went outside.

Hanson, whom they had expected to be waiting by the door, was fidgeting in front of the Laborers’ Union lobby.

It was because of the statue standing in front of the door.

Hanson was talking to the statue.

“Um, this isn’t the Adventurers Guild, but the Laborers’ Union. This isn’t really a place for you to be, sir…….”

No, it was not a statue.

It was a man clad in such heavy armor that calling him a walking fortress would not be an exaggeration.

His armor and shield seemed to have been melted and hardened over and over until they rippled, and he looked as though moving even one step in such weight would be difficult.

At the same time, the single step he took proved that he possessed strength so immense no one would dare stand in his way.

At the sight of him, enough to make one’s breath catch, Erika tilted her head slightly and asked Valdrova.

“Do you know him?”

Shake, shake.

If he were an acquaintance, he could only be one of the dragons, but there was no dragon who would wear armor like that.

Even if he were in human form, he would remain in his own appearance; he would never wrap himself up so completely.

The helmet of the knight who had stood motionless like a statue bobbed.

Valdrova felt his gaze from beyond the helmet.

He was looking at her.

“Is it…… you?”

A rumbling voice broke the profound silence.

“You shameless thief who steals other people’s achievements.”

It happened then.

To Valdrova’s eyes, whose combat instincts were keener than anyone’s, it was perfectly clear.

The tell before his movement showed that he intended to bring the club down on her head.

The thick, sturdy club moved.

“What are you doing……!”

Erika reacted swiftly.

Using magic, she bound his arm and stopped the club.

Crack!

No, she failed.

Erika’s intention shattered to pieces along with the binding chains she had thrown.

“What……?!”

Erika’s magic was a fifth-circle spell powerful enough to bind even an ogre, an opponent difficult to face with strength alone.

That man had broken through it.

She had gauged his strength from the moment she saw him wearing that heavy armor, but even that now seemed like a gross underestimate.

That strength came crashing down toward Valdrova’s head.

Boom!!

A shock wave burst forth.

“Eek!”

“Aaaah!”

Everyone nearby fell hard onto their backsides, and dust attached to the ceiling came showering down.

If she had taken that attack head-on, not even her form would have remained intact.

But that did not happen.

His club had not touched the floor; it had stopped above the armored knight’s head.

Just as he had swung the club with one hand, the armored knight was gripping its tip with one hand.

“Hmph…….”

The man let out a breath.

“So even a thief like you has some skill, is that it?”

Holding the club, Valdrova looked around.

The people had fallen, and the building had shaken violently.

‘The building…… almost collapsed.’

Her emotions surged.

‘The building I built…….’

It was the first anger she had felt since the Godwin incident.

It was just as that emotion began to erupt from Valdrova’s heart.

“What is this commotion in someone else’s territory?”

Then a young man’s voice rang out.

It carried a weight difficult to believe belonged to a man not yet twenty.

At the sound of that voice, Valdrova’s emotions flew away like steam.

The voice that came between them belonged to someone Valdrova knew very well.

‘Mr. Ferda……!’

Her incredibly cool fiancé.

* * *

Before the incident,

Ferda received a report from Isabella.

-We have received word that although the armored knight has already entered, another armored knight has entered as well.

Wondering what she meant, he asked her.

-One is the armored knight who had been working here, while the one who arrived afterward is a man carrying a certificate from Count Consilius.

“Is that so?”

The first was the familiar armored knight, while the one who entered afterward was undoubtedly Alberto, known as the Walking Fortress.

If that had been all, he would simply have assumed there had been a mistake and let it pass.

Isabella would not have reported it, either.

But what came next was the problem.

-The man was heading to the Laborers’ Union rather than Valdrova Castle.

“Did he say he wanted to work, too?”

He wondered whether that man was another strange eccentric like the armored knight.

-It doesn’t seem so. I suspect he may hold a grudge against the armored knight who arrived first.

“Hold a grudge?”

-It’s only a guess, but perhaps he resented the welcome everyone gave the other knight, thinking that the armored knight who was supposed to arrive today was naturally the armored knight who works here.

Isabella’s words made sense.

The only oddball who worked here was probably that armored knight, and if he was heading somewhere entirely unrelated, her guess was likely correct.

-I thought something might happen, so I reported it in advance and intend to head to the scene.

“I’ll go, too.”

Two men possessing monstrous strength were gathering in one place.

Curious about what might happen, Ferda decided to see it with his own eyes.

And when he arrived, something astonishing was taking place.

Boom!

A terrifying shock wave exploded from the Laborers’ Union.

Tables, chairs, and even the people nearby were shoved away.

‘Impressive.’

Ferda had naturally assumed that the armored knight would be pushed back.

Though the armored knight possessed monstrous strength, compared to Alberto’s reputation, Ferda had considered him a silkworm showing off before a dragon.

But the scene unfolding before his eyes was different.

The armored knight, who had blocked the attack with one hand, proved that he was no ordinary person either.

When those two powers collided, a shock wave erupted and the building shook.

He was privately curious who would be stronger if they truly went at it.

But he could not allow that to happen.

This was Hestia Village, not a battlefield.

He could not stand by and watch the building collapse.

“What do you think you’re doing in someone else’s territory?”

When Ferda appeared, the atmosphere that had been turning vicious vanished.

Ferda stood between the two knights and turned toward Alberto.

He was large even from a distance, but he was even larger up close.

Alberto handed the certificate to Ferda.

“The certificate allowing you to come here does not mean you have permission to run wild, does it?”

“I merely tried to catch a thief coveting what belonged to someone else.”

Ferda was slightly surprised by the sight.

‘He can talk.’

The Walking Fortress, Alberto.

He had never heard him speak, so he had naturally assumed the man’s tongue had been cut out.

But that was not the case.

He simply did not go around speaking because there had never been any need to.

That man had opened his mouth, yet the armored knight behind him still said nothing.

“I doubt that was his intention.”

Ferda had no choice but to defend him in his place.

“He took a vow of silence, and being swept up in the atmosphere left him no chance to explain himself. The claim that he stole your achievement was merely a misunderstanding on everyone’s part. Isn’t that right?”

Ferda glanced at the armored knight.

She nodded quickly.

‘Mr. Ferda…….’

Valdrova was overjoyed that he had taken her side despite her not being in her original form.

Although the armor made her look even larger, his back appeared incredibly broad and dependable.

‘Would that dimwit really do something like that on purpose?’

That was clear from the way he had ended up on display at the Laborers’ Union.

He must have stood there because he thought he had to do something, without understanding anything.

Ferda merely thought the armored knight was an absurdly sentimental and honest fool.

It had to have begun with a misunderstanding, rather than an attempt to steal someone else’s achievement.

“Hmph…….”

Alberto let out a breath.

He seemed to be pondering, but the club was still pointed at his enemy.

“Even you don’t know what lies in a human’s heart. How could you know?”

“I agree with that.”

It was difficult to maintain an unwavering heart, which was why people yearned for it.

The human heart was as easy to change as turning over one’s hand.

“Even so, you have now clarified to everyone in your own words that this was a misunderstanding. Why don’t we end this here, rather than letting you use force recklessly and make things difficult?”

Ferda spoke gravely.

This was Valdrova’s territory, and he could not tolerate it being threatened.

If Alberto intended to cross the line any further, Ferda had made the offer prepared to fight him outright.

“Understood.”

Alberto obediently backed down.

He had not come intending to cause trouble in the first place; his target had been Ferda.

It was a relief that he was not needlessly belligerent.

“Follow me.”

The incident came to an end, for the moment, with Ferda taking him along.

Alberto slung the club over his shoulder.

Five finger marks were stamped into the end of the club.

* * *

Ferda continued the conversation at the town hall, the largest building in Hestia Village.

Since matters concerning the village sometimes required many people to gather, it had a reception room where they could conduct discussions.

The reason he did not bother going to the castle was simple.

‘Because of Luri.’

It was the rule that knights had to wash thoroughly when they came inside.

To do so, they had to take off their armor, but Alberto never removed his.

Even if he did not particularly smell or anything, Luri still held a grudge against the knight, and there was no way she would show Alberto any flexibility.

So they had conducted the conversation at the town hall from the outset.

Alberto did not seem to mind, either.

“So, what reward would you like?”

Ferda asked him for the time being, in accordance with what was written on the certificate.

“I need none.”

As expected.

He had not been driven by simple greed; he had come to see Ferda.

“Then what is the purpose of your visit?”

“Do you know about the white demon?”

A demon’s defining feature was its black skin.

Yet there was one among them who, unusually, had white skin.

Gokma had been one such creature.

“I know.”

“I met him.”

It was not surprising.

For a wandering knight who slaughtered everything that disturbed the world, demons would naturally be his first target.

If he kept at it, he was bound to encounter one eventually.

‘Did he come here to cooperate with us so he can eliminate him?’

If so, it was good news for Ferda.

“He told me.”

“What did he say?”

“That he had discovered a candidate for the new Demon King.”

Demon King.

Though the Black Dragon Godwin was said to be the root of all this, the Demon King was by no means someone to underestimate.

The Twelve Heroes had struggled to kill him, and in the end, the hero and the Demon King had killed each other.

If that was what he had said, Alberto could simply set off in search of that Demon King.

But Ferda could easily infer why he had come here instead.

“You mean me?”

“Correct.”

“And you believe what that demon told you?”

He was asking indirectly whether Alberto was an idiot.

“No, I do not believe him.”

He was no idiot.

“But I saw no reason to disregard his words.”

Yet neither was he so reckless as to ignore a warning.

Ferda threw himself back against the backrest.

“If you confirm that I am truly someone capable of becoming the Demon King?”

“Everything will be for the sake of the continent of Serdes.”

He meant he would kill him.

“What is a Demon King?”

“An idiot who wants to turn this continent into nothingness.”

“Are you saying I could become such an idiot?”

“Anyone can become such an idiot. Turning loss into emptiness, then filling that emptiness with misguided emotions—that is what makes a Demon King.”

Ferda understood what he meant.

Ever since his mother died, all affection had vanished from him, and in the end, he had even been cast out.

Just like the version of himself from the distant future, before he returned to this time.

Back then, he had been no different from a Demon King.

“So I’ll ask you. Are you certain you will not become a Demon King?”

Ferda thought about it.

He would do anything for Valdrova.

“No.”

So he could not be certain.

The feeling that he could do anything would become twisted, eventually distorting even his original intention.

That was simply what humans were like, and Ferda was human too.

“So I’ll make you a proposal.”

Ferda held out his hand to him.

“There is an abandoned territory not far from here.”

The territory of Thesalos Walcher, whom he had executed.

The time had finally come for that territory to find its rightful owner.

“How about keeping watch over me from there?”