Chapter 1451: The Sovereign of Death - Part 4

The man devoured an entire Meat Cheese Pie in front of Arthur. The latter stared at him as if he was a clone, and began seeing the resemblance that the man had to the Knight of Loyalty that Arthur had once seen die in front of him.

King Solomon of Freda appointed several people as his knights, like the Knight of Courage or the Knight of Patience. All these knights were named after virtues that embodied how a good knight should be.

The first knight that Arthur met in Alka was one in the mansion of the serpent woman, where he was treated as a slave. The man died in the barracks after revealing his true identity as the Knight of Loyalty and gave Arthur a medal.

That was the previous timeline.

Arthur used his paradoxical choices to overwrite the timeline and send memories to an alternate one where those choices never happened. That ensured that Arthur wouldn’t be forced to lose Diana, and he would never reach Alka.

However, it seemed that his actions had far more overreaching effects than he anticipated. Somehow, the Knight of Loyalty was not sent to Alka and never perished, unknown, in the mansion.

Instead, he was here.

"Again, what do you do exactly?"

"I hunt treasures in lower worlds," the knight said while wiping the plate clean with what remained of the pie.

"That sounds like the worst place to look for treasures."

"It might seem that way, but not quite. There are certain worlds that are small, barely a valley like this one, and that allows its treasures to be more powerful and condensed in a certain area."

"And who sent you on this mission?"

"My lord, King Solomon," the Knight confirmed Arthur’s suspicions and made him surprised.

"I heard that... King Solomon died," Arthur said with confusion.

"That’s not true," the knight said with confusion. "Who told you such rubbish?"

Arthur was quiet, as he couldn’t tell the knight that he was the one to see Solomon die inside the Trial of the Holy Crown. However, this timeline might be different. Arthur had no way of knowing what happened in that underground cave with Solomon in this timeline.

"Does the king also participate in these worlds?" Arthur asked with a frown.

"He plans to do so," the knight answered. "How do you know my lord?"

"I worked with him once, but that was a long time ago," Arthur said with a smile. "I’m happy to hear that he’s alive and well. I’m also glad that he overcame his desire to revive Queen Ruki."

The knight was no longer smiling.

He glared at Arthur.

"That incident is unknown to everyone," he said. "How do you know about her?"

Arthur could hear the threatening tone in his voice and simply smiled. The knight was cautious, but he didn’t have a reason to be.

"Have you heard of the Seika of Living Beings?"

After explaining his identity, the Knight of Loyalty took some time to process it and then came to accept that Arthur was telling the truth. It seemed that the knight didn’t have much Spiritual Energy before his adventures began, which would explain why the memories of meeting Arthur weren’t transferred to the alternate timeline.

The two of them left the town and traveled toward the city at the top of the hill. According to the Knight, this city was the last step before meeting the Sovereign of Death.

"Meeting him is a lot harder than you think," Loyalty said while the two ran side by side. "I tried to find a way into the Death Palace, but it’s heavily guarded. I didn’t even catch a glimpse of the Sovereign of Death."

"I’m guessing that my purpose in this realm is to defeat this Sovereign," Arthur said with a frown. "Although I haven’t been given any clear instructions, that seems to be the case."

"I’ll help you to the best of my ability," Loyalty said with sincerity. "I don’t remember anything from our interaction in the previous timeline, but I heard enough about you from my lord. He would always be thankful for how you showed him how terrible his fate would be if he trusted Lorius."

"Lorius... that’s the word of calamity, right?"

"Ah, yes. I meant the Ancient One, Kar," Loyalty said with a chuckle. "After the epiphanies revealed their secrets to the world, our lord was quick to assemble his forces to drive the calamities back into their rightful place."

"I’m happy to see that things were different in the alternate timeline."

"Very different. The Princess of Ice and Fire made sure of that. Her rise as the Ruler of Runera and alliance with King Solomon was one of the reasons that we could push the calamities back. However, I heard that she disappeared a year ago back in Alka."

"There is one thing that I don’t understand," Arthur said. "I have merged the two worlds, but haven’t met Solomon yet. Why is that?"

"Oh, that might be because of me," Loyalty said. "King Solomon understood that the war with Alva was imminent. That’s why he sent me to meet Gala, the Witch of Spirits. She helped us find the Sovereign Path and obtain a way to visit the lower worlds."

"Gala did?" Arthur asked in surprise. "Why would you want to visit lower worlds?"

"King Solomon gave me the mission of finding a realm for the kingdom of Freda to escape into, away from the dangers of the calamities. I succeeded, and he now lives in a different realm as its sovereign."

"I had no idea..." Arthur said. "But why did Solomon not take the rest of Alka with him?"

"Resources in the lower worlds are a huge issue. We barely had enough to survive," Loyalty said. "It’s also one of the reasons I travel between worlds. I’m looking for a better place for our kingdom to live."

"And you landed here?"

"Not exactly," Loyalty said. "This realm is worse than ours. It barely has any resources, and it’s filled with undead answering to a powerful sovereign."

"Then, this is just a stop for you," Arthur said. "I have to say that I’m disappointed to see Solomon abandoning Alka like that. He is the only one who can create artifacts for them."

"My king never abandoned it," Loyalty stopped running and stared at Arthur with a grave expression. "We are simply preparing for the war that would decide the fate of the world."

"Does that mean Solomon plans on returning?" Arthur asked.

"He does," Loyalty said with a nod. "And he will use the second trial of the Holy Crown to do that."

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