- Change of plan. Tell Mr. Death Knight King to show as much of his power as possible, then play dead. With this plan, we will make Princess Irena a queen and a saintess.
Celia’s order was simple.
Necros handed the paper with the order written on it to the Death Knight King.
The Death Knight King checked the order, then slowly walked forward.
It was time to release the power he had been forced to hide.
At that moment, the atmosphere around them changed.
“……”
Red clouds formed in the sky.
Lightning flashed between the crimson clouds, letting out thunderous roars.
Then black lightning struck the ground.
The black lightning hit the Death Knight King.
At the same time, an immense aura of darkness wrapped around his pitch-black armor. A helmet rose sharply like horns, and beneath it, black eyes radiating a red glow could be seen.
The aura of darkness did not end there.
Soon after, the energy gathered behind his back, and enormous wings spread open.
If there were a demon that had just stepped out of hell, would it not look like this?
Those who saw the Death Knight King in that form began to tremble all over.
“This… this makes no sense…”
Deputy Commander Liana could only click her tongue at the sight before her.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Her heart pounded as if it would burst.
The paladins who had survived the monster’s earlier strike were also so terrified that they looked as though they could barely stand.
All they could do was cling to their swords with trembling hands and lean on one another.
There was nothing they could do here.
The knights led by Princess Irena were in the same state.
With pale faces, they only glanced at one another and backed away. Someone’s sword and shield fell with a clatter, but they did not even have the courage to pick them up.
Even the paladins of the Order that annihilated evil were seized by fear, so ordinary knights were no different.
The fear of death pressed down on their entire bodies.
But among the humans, Princess Irena alone was an exception.
Princess Irena glanced behind her.
She could see the people who had followed the knights.
But right now, all of them were captivated by that monstrous figure. Before such overwhelming terror, it was clear they could not even think of fleeing.
On the other hand, Princess Irena’s face remained calm.
It was because she had already heard an explanation of the current situation.
A shadow had approached Princess Irena just moments ago. Everyone had been distracted by that monster, so no one had paid attention to the princess or the shadow.
The shadow secretly delivered a note to the princess.
The note likely contained Celia’s words.
When the princess quickly checked the contents, her eyes widened.
‘So she truly did summon a seven-star being…’
Written on the note was the information that the being before them was seven-star class, and that his name was the Death Knight King.
Princess Irena was sincerely impressed.
In particular, she paid her respects to the great being Celia always spoke of.
‘What tremendous power…’
This was something no nation could do—no, overwhelming power that no one in the Demon Realm could ever even approach.
Irena wanted power.
Was that not why she had made a contract with Celia as she was now?
‘Just how powerful a being are they?’
Even she could not tell how powerful the other party was.
Truly infinite power.
Princess Irena felt an intense thrill at the fact that such a being was helping her.
It was something that had happened when she was young, before she entered the royal family.
Irena, who had been nothing more than an ordinary girl, had once watched a play in the streets.
At the time, the play had shown the love story of a prince and princess, and how her heart had raced.
Like a girl watching the love story within that play, Irena gazed at the Death Knight King.
The love story in that play had been fiction, but the scene she was looking at now was all reality.
‘To think they would help me to this extent.’
Princess Irena had already raised her reputation through the Arch Lich and the Dullahan.
When monsters approached Princess Irena, the knights under her command and Maru took them down.
Everything had already been part of a prepared script, so victory had always belonged to Princess Irena.
The people who saw Princess Irena winning cheered passionately, shouting her name.
Even until now, she had received more than enough help.
With this level of recognition, she could somehow move closer to the throne.
But it seemed that was not how others saw it.
‘You want something more certain, Lady Celia.’
That was why she had even brought out the card known as a seven-star class.
This was the privilege of those with power.
The privilege to shape the situation itself in the direction they desired.
Princess Irena urged her horse forward and stepped out before the knights.
* * *
“Princess, you mustn’t! It’s far too dangerous!”
As her escort knight, Lennon tried to stop Irena, but he could not break her resolve.
“It’s all right, Sir Lennon.”
Princess Irena reassured Lennon.
“We can do this.”
And she spoke of hope.
Princess Irena advanced in silver armor, leading her white horse.
At the same time, Lennon saw Maru following close behind her.
‘Why are you so certain…?’
Lennon could not understand.
That being was a monster that they, as they were now, could never face.
Even if every nation on the continent joined hands and formed an expeditionary force, would they be able to defeat it?
If they confronted that monster with the troops they had now, they would only die in vain.
They would certainly die.
And yet Lennon wavered.
‘Am I… truly only this much of a man?’
Lennon looked at Princess Irena’s back as she strode forward proudly.
He saw the princess advancing without hesitation, and Sir Maru faithfully following behind her.
‘Sir Maru is merely someone who came to help the princess.’
Even if he had once served as a paladin, Sir Maru was stepping forward with dignity.
It was a sight different from the paladins frozen in terror beside him.
‘Is that courage?’
No, that did not come from simple courage.
It was a duty, a salvation, that came only from those who sought to save humanity.
Lennon clenched his fist.
“Princess! I will join you as well!”
And he ran forward.
He did not know what result his choice now would bring.
Perhaps it would end as nothing more than a dog’s death.
Even so, he had made up his mind.
He had become a knight despite being born a commoner, but he had faced all manner of discrimination.
Even after becoming the princess’s escort knight, the discrimination had not disappeared. But Princess Irena alone had been different.
‘I will surely repay the grace you have bestowed upon me, Princess!’
He would protect the princess even at the cost of his life.
That was Lennon’s duty.
With Princess Irena at the lead, Maru and Lennon advanced.
Then the knights, whose morale had fallen to the floor, raised their heads once more.
Until now, things had gone far too easily.
After repeatedly encountering five-star Arch Liches, the knights had briefly let down their guard.
But with the appearance of an overwhelming being, all of them had lowered their heads.
They were afraid.
Some had even been tempted to flee.
But look at Princess Irena advancing before them.
Even the princess was mustering her courage and stepping forward—so what were they, knights, doing?
And royal knights at that.
“Y-yeah! We still have hope!”
One of the knights shouted.
‘Hope.’
Yes. If they retreated here, the Seil Kingdom would fall anyway.
Why had they tried to become knights?
To protect the royal family?
No.
Then to protect the palace?
No.
In a narrow sense, perhaps, but that was not a knight’s absolute goal and purpose.
It was to protect the kingdom.
The happy memories they had shared with their families.
The days when they had taken up their swords while building friendships with their comrades.
Had they not taken up their swords to protect the memories they had now and the daily lives to come, and sworn eternal loyalty?
It was not that there was no hope.
If there was even a small hope, they would move!
The knights lifted the swords and shields that had fallen to the ground.
They were not shouting the code of chivalry, which had now grown so faint in memory.
Was not even their liege, the princess herself, taking the initiative to protect the kingdom?
Now it was time to show their knightly oath.
* * *
The knights also raised their swords high toward the sky and advanced.
The mages began chanting spells.
Even the dazed commoners picked up anything around them that could serve as a weapon and followed.
Princess Irena’s fearless actions stirred hope in everyone.
Thud—
Thud—
At that moment, the Death Knight King also took a step forward. Each time he did, the earth rumbled.
The buildings around him collapsed as though trembling in fear.
Dust rose from the falling buildings, half-concealing the Death Knight King’s form.
【Kahahaha! I am death. I am despair. I am the king of death who will bestow death upon you!】
At the monster’s voice that rang out then, everyone trembled.
Of course, it was not truly the Death Knight King’s voice.
Vetter, who was behind the Death Knight King, was providing the voice in his stead.
As befitting a master of transformation, his acting was also first-rate.
The Death Knight King merely released his power as ordered. From now on, Vetter would speak the lines.
【Hehehe… Humans worth less than ants, struggling so desperately to live! Come! Princess Irena!】
Hearing Vetter’s line, Necros turned his head.
Why would a monster that had just appeared know Princess Irena?
But the words had already been spoken. Necros could only record it in his notebook.
- The plausibility has collapsed. Vetter is currently lost in his performance.
But the people did not care.
They only looked at Princess Irena, who was bravely stepping forward against the Death Knight King.
“Princess Irena…”
There was someone who paid more attention to Princess Irena than anyone else.
It was Deputy Commander Liana.
Not only the paladins, but even she herself had trembled in fear.
But the princess’s actions were unhesitating.
That dignified figure had caused a butterfly effect, giving hope to the people.
‘How shameful.’
For the first time in her life, Deputy Commander Liana felt ashamed of herself.
She had always lived with pride in belonging to the paladin order.
The paladin order was her, and she was the paladin order itself.
To Liana, that was how proud an existence the paladin order had been.
But now, she was not proud.
Rather, she was ashamed.
Even an ordinary princess was acting like that, so what was she doing?
Even now, Princess Irena was confidently approaching that monster.
‘He said he was the King of Death, didn’t he?’
She would report everything that had happened here to the Order.
And she would have to report about Princess Irena as well.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive, but…”
Deputy Commander Liana picked up the sword she had dropped on the ground.
It was a sword of the Order, different from an ordinary blade.
When one became a paladin, it was the so-called mass-produced holy sword issued by the Order.
If she gave up here, she would not be worthy of holding this sword.
Deputy Commander Liana also rose to her feet.
And she shouted.
“Believe in the light of the Goddess!”
Deputy Commander Liana’s voice rang out.
At the deputy commander’s words, the paladins began to come to their senses one by one.
Though they had lost comrades to the monster called the King of Death, they could not simply stand by.
If they did nothing here, they would be dishonoring the comrades who had gone before them.
Deputy Commander Liana clasped her hands together.
“O Goddess of Light. Bestow your merciful light upon this land stained with sin.”
As she prayed, light appeared from Liana’s hands.
“Drive away evil and illuminate the darkness with truth. Grant us hope. Guide us!”
It was Deputy Commander Liana’s power, an area-wide buff.
When the prayer ended, dazzling light poured down from the sky. It was as if the heavens had opened between the crimson clouds.
Within the light pouring from the sky, one figure stood out especially in Liana’s eyes.
It was Princess Irena.
Even in despair, the princess advanced with resolute will.
‘Perhaps true hope is right there.’
That thought briefly flashed through Liana’s mind.