Chapter 33: Connell

Under a sky full of moonlight.

In a quiet forest clearing, Muno silently held his hand out into the air.

It had only been three days since he had beaten the band of roadside robbers, and now, his injuries were completely healed.

To the point where the wound that had pierced him from back to stomach was now just a scar.

Marveling at a recovery speed he himself could hardly believe, Muno focused once again on testing his power.

‘Reduce the volume as much as possible…….’

Sssk.

The moment the will was formed, the crude, armor-like guards that came up to his shoulders shrank to a size that wrapped only around his wrists.

An area exactly half the size compared to when he had just awakened.

‘Good. Then, again…….’

As soon as he thought of increasing its size, the guards returned to their form reaching up to his shoulders.

Sssk.

It was the same for the rest of the guards on his arms and legs.

Moreover, he felt no resistance in the joints when moving his limbs.

It was so weightless that the leather armor he had obtained from dealing with the bandits felt much heavier.

‘The form changes freely. Then this too…….’

Chwareureuk.

Chains naturally shot out from the guards on his arms and legs—no, from the black metal that should now be called arm and leg armor.

Without needing to be swung with any particular force, the chains extended according to his will, floating in the air and creating a wall of chains around him.

It was not strange.

This black metal armor and chains were no different from his body.

‘No, it's not that they're no different, they are my actual body.

Ever since that time…….’

For a moment, the terrible pain from his childhood, when his father tried to cut the chain with his beloved sword, Slayer, came to mind.

When he saw the half-severed link of the chain slowly mend(?) over several days, just as a cut would heal, Muno and his father had to admit that this chain was a part of his body.

Realizing he had to live with chains over 5m long attached to his limbs was truly disheartening.

How much had he secretly cried back then?

‘It’s a good thing I can control the size now.’

Muno slowly moved the chains, another body surrounding him.

The feeling of the air touching the chains and the weights at their ends was much clearer than before.

His senses reached all the way to the last link of the long chains.

‘The maximum length is about 20m.

More than double what it was before.’

Thud.

A smile naturally formed as he saw the weight on the chain, moved lightly, deeply indent the ground.

‘The force behind it is also roughly more than double.

This should be enough to use for simple strikes.’

He couldn't test it rashly, but it seemed to have gotten harder as it grew longer and stronger.

‘Maybe now, even Slayer can’t cut it easily……?’

And.

Thud.

Even the physical strength he felt from a light roll of his foot.

Not only his physical abilities but also his sense of movement had grown, and the armor and chains, which could be called another body, had been enhanced in many ways.

He was confident he could now easily subdue two of his former self if they attacked him.

As a smile naturally appeared, Muno drew the greatsword slung over his shoulder.

Thud.

As soon as his forward step slightly dented the ground.

Paaaaaaang.

Wooooong.

The greatsword, swung like lightning, tore through the air in front of him.

Chwaaaak.

Pababang.

The chains, extending toward an imaginary enemy, struck the mid-range air.

At the same time, the moment Muno, who had charged forward, jumped up.

Pabak.

The weights of the four chains all braced against the ground, pushing his body to a height unreachable with physical strength alone.

Paaaaaaang.

His body, soaring 20-odd meters from the ground in an instant.

‘Good, good!’

A laugh escaped him at the sense of exhilaration, as if the full moon floating in the sky had come right up to his head.

“Ahahahahaha!”

Pababababang.

While the greatsword, swung in the air with only muscle strength where there was no center of gravity to shift, brutally tore through the air.

Thud.

Pabak.

The four chains bounced off the ground again before his body landed, pushing him up.

By wrapping around or kicking off the branches and trunks of nearby trees, they enabled him to perform three-dimensional maneuvers in the air.

“Azazazazaza!”

A sense of omnipotence, as if he could do anything.

Every single movement provided a thrilling excitement that stimulated his peripheral nerves.

In this moment, he forgot all about the fact that he was chasing the evil cultists who were his enemies, and his worries about an uncertain future.

How long had he wandered in such ecstasy?

Clap, clap, clap.

The sound of applause came from a corner of the clearing.

‘Oops.’

He had said he would stand watch, but it seemed he got too carried away with his moonlit exercise.

Muno, who had hastily stopped swinging his sword, fell to the ground.

Chwareureuk.

Thud.

He tried to land as quietly as possible while retracting the chains, but because he wasn't yet used to the weight of his enhanced armor, he ended up making a heavy sound and deep footprints.

Muno etched that clumsiness into his mind and bowed his head toward his companions, whom he had woken up by his mistake.

“I am sorry.

I got carried away and made a disturbance.”

“No, no. I couldn't sleep anyway.

I enjoyed the show.”

Klarm, whose complexion was still pale unlike his, chuckled.

“But that thing, it’s not just an artifact for magicians, is it?”

The following words made Muno flinch.

He already felt uneasy about hiding things from the benefactor who had saved his life.

‘Should I just be honest?’

The moment he was in conflict.

Klarm added, looking at him—no, at his arm and leg armor—as if in admiration.

“At that level, it could be considered an artifact exclusively for close-quarters combat.

An average 1 or 2-Star knight would die without even being able to resist.”

“Ah…….”

“I don’t know where Ryan got such an artifact.

I'm envious.

Of him, and of you, who became the artifact's owner.

Those chains, are the four of them a set?”

He felt relieved at the subsequent question, but also a little bitter.

‘I’ve become this strong…….’

Well, from the perspective of Klarm, a 4-Star knight, his movements, being merely 2-Star, were unlikely to be impressive.

Even when he used ‘Acceleration’ against the bandits, he was compared to Karina.

It was fortunate that Klarm was at least admiring his ability, which he had lied about being an artifact.

“That’s… right?

You could call it a set.

All of them.”

“Its name?”

“Pardon?”

“An artifact with that level of performance surely has a name, doesn't it?”

“That, well……”

“Hmm. If you don't want to tell me, then don't. I'll just keep wondering……”

“Black… Knight.”

“What?”

“It's Black Knight.”

His face flushed hot as he spoke.

The name he had made up on the spot felt so childish.

It was a relief he hadn't blurted out the first word that came to mind, which was full of adolescent delusions.

“Black Knight?

The artifact’s name?”

“Yes.

Well, that’s what I named it. Since it’s black.”

“You named it?”

“……Uh, yes.”

“You named it well. It suits it.”

Huh?

‘Now that you say it’s fine, it feels like an even stranger name.’

Damn it.

“Ah, but how is your body?

Are you perhaps unable to sleep because of your wounds?”

As the conversation that started from his lie was about to get too long, Muno hurriedly changed the subject.

“I’m fine. By the time we arrive tomorrow, the visible wounds should be almost healed.

Of course, it will take a few more days to move as vigorously as you.”

As Klarm’s curious gaze turned to his own body this time, he could only smile awkwardly.

“Ah. Haha, I was less injured……”

“And you recover faster than me, a 4-Star knight?

You said you weren't a regeneration type.”

“Well, I’ve always had a rather unique constitution.”

Is this why they say one lie begets another?

Cold sweat trickled down his spine as he kept trying to lie to someone who treated him with nothing but kindness.

However.

“……Well, let's just say that’s the case.”

Seeing Klarm turn away with a grin, he wondered if perhaps this middle-aged knight knew everything and was just pretending not to.

‘He seems like a respectable person in many ways.’

Of course, still.

“With a unique constitution like that, if you get split in two, do you become two people?”

He just couldn't get used to him making such unfunny jokes.

Ignoring him was the answer in times like these.

“You should get to sleep.

You said we should enter Connell before the castle gates close tomorrow evening.”

“You woke me up, and you won’t even take a joke?”

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t sleep earlier?”

“That was then!”

“What does that even mean!”

“What do you mean what! It's bullshit!”

“Hah……”

……So much for respect.

Muno had to fight the urge to smack the back of the blue-haired, middle-aged man’s head, who was chuckling to himself.

* * *

The next day.

Clip-clop. Clip-clop.

Klarm was finally able to ride a horse, but his expression was sour the entire time they moved at a trot.

“Ugh. I’m still sore all over.”

He was complaining, but seeing that an injury that would have killed an ordinary person or left them with a lifelong disability had mostly healed in just five days, he too was certainly a superhuman.

“Still, you’re not bleeding. It seems to have healed for sure. Let's pick up the pace.”

“You merciless bastard……”

“You were the one who said we should arrive before sunset, Sir Klarm.”

“Don't call me Sir Klarm, call me brother! Kid, you're making it feel so distant……”

A hollow laugh escaped.

“Hey, isn’t your character too different from when we first met……”

“I told you! I've already treated you as a guest more than enough.”

“Well, I’m fine with it. Are you really okay with this?”

“Of course!

When men have crossed the threshold of life and death together, they're close enough to be brothers!”

“Then you’d have to speak formally to my father……”

“Ah……. Ahem, umm.

On second thought, even among comrades-in-arms, there must be a hierarchical order.”

Pfft.

Klarm’s attitude as he feigned indifference made him seem like a completely different person from his first impression in Trian, but he preferred him this way.

However, the atmosphere of Connell Castle, where they arrived in such a warm mood, was quite different from what they had expected.

“What the……?”

Klarm frowned at the unexpected sight.

In the late afternoon, as the sun was just about to set.

Connell's north gate, which by custom should have always been open, was completely shut.

On the high castle walls, which looked to be nearly 20m tall, broken spots were visible here and there.

“Didn't you say this is a castle that serves as a trade route between the North and South?

And that there would be many merchants coming and going?”

“……Something is wrong. Let's go and see.”

Heeeeeigh!

As Klarm galloped his horse on the empty main road, the playful demeanor from a moment ago had vanished without a trace.

And.

Dududududu.

By the time they neared the castle gate.

From atop the castle wall, where torches had now been lit, arrows suddenly flew toward them.

Pabababak.

As if they had no intention of hitting them, the arrows landed on the ground a good distance in front of them.

Heeeeeigh!

A clear signal of warning.

They had no choice but to stop their horses.

“Open the gate!

Vice-Commander of the Trian Knightly Order, Klarm Rosean, has come with his party to assist the investigation team!”

Only after a long while since Klarm shouted, holding up his identification plaque, did a person appear on the wall.

However.

- Throw up your identification plaque. We will check it.

The reply from atop the wall made them frown deeply.

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