Episode 38
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The demon tribe, and the demon king.
That existence that sounds like a fairy tale is, after all, a name given based on ‘human standards.’
The word ‘German’ does not refer to a specific race, but is simply a general term for monsters with a certain level of intelligence.
Orcs, goblins, and even other strange monsters whose names are unknown.
And not much is known about the Dark Land, the Demon King’s territory beyond the north, known as the home of the Demon Tribe.
When the warriors and the imperial forces defeated the being called the ‘Demon King’, the people of the continent believed without a doubt that peace had finally come to the world. However, what the imperial leadership realized was that some of the demons had simply attempted a great migration to survive in the harsh environment of the ‘Dark Land’.
Not with a grand goal of dyeing the world in evil, but simply to survive.
For that reason, even after the Demon King was defeated, the large-scale southward migration of such demons did not completely disappear.
Commonly known as the ‘Barbarian Invasions’.
That was exactly what it meant when a large Orcish warlord began to march south towards the Duchy of Saxony.
“Is the ‘Great Migration of Demons’ about to begin again?”
“I guess so.”
At Dale’s words, the Duke of Saxony nodded silently.
“It will be a battlefield of incomparable scale to anything we’ve seen before.”
The most fearful are those who fight simply to survive. In that respect, Dale understood the dangers of the Demons more deeply than anyone else. As the church says, there was no grand idea of infecting the Demons with the evils of the world.
But fortunately enough, war never happens overnight.
“We will need allies.”
“I have ordered the Northern Lords, the Black Tower, and all their knightly orders to assemble.”
“Is there any other help?”
The Duke of Saxony remained silent at Dale’s words. It was a tacit agreement. Rather, shedding blood in battle against the Demons was something the Empire and its rivals did not want.
“It will not be an easy fight.”
So the Duke of Saxony continues speaking.
“I guess it’s time to teach you how to use necromancy on the battlefield.”
* * *
“charge!”
The Saxon cavalry, led by Lord Vale of Baskerville, raised their voices. Lancers on their lances waved, and the heavy cavalry began to charge toward the wolf pack.
Monsters and beasts are no different in that they pose a threat to human survival. They are also beings that must be eliminated for the sake of peace in the territory.
The spears of the knights armed with armor swung down at the pack of wolves, and the pack of wolves also put up resistance in their own way, and a bloody fight unfolded.
“As you can see, the Lance Charge of the Knights of Saxony is not suitable for you.”
From a distant hill, watching the battle of his men, Dale opened his mouth. With ‘Knight Charlotte’ by his side.
Charlotte’s body is too small and delicate to use horsemanship and spearmanship to launch a cavalry charge. The fact that she holds the Saxon greatsword in her hand is close to an ability derived from the ‘power of the aura’.
“……huh.”
At Dale’s words, Charlotte’s expression became slightly clouded.
“But if you utilize Aura, even a child’s body will be able to fight on equal terms with a grown knight.”
Nevertheless, Dale continued.
“You have to make the most of the talents that have been given to you.”
“My talent… … .”
Talent of the sword. A blessing and curse bestowed upon her as the daughter of the divine sword. In a sense, it is not much different from the term ‘talent of the auror.’
“okay.”
Charlotte nodded quietly at Dale’s words. Aura and magic are similar in that they are powers that utilize mana. It could also be said that the sword of a knight who has reached the realm of the realm contains his own thoughts, similar to a magician.
“Stand on your two legs and focus on swinging the Black Sword of the House of Saxony.”
Relying on the pitch-black Aura Blade that the Saxon family is proud of.
“You will gain a ton of practical experience from now on.”
The battle between the cavalry and the wolf pack was coming to an end, and Dale opened his mouth as he watched the scene.
“Let’s find a sword style that suits you together.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Charlotte responded to Dale’s words.
“I will work harder for you.”
She blushed shyly like a girl.
“I will become a knight who will not be ashamed in front of the world’s ‘Black Prince’!”
But it was a resolution that did not show even the slightest hint of hesitation.
* * *
That afternoon, in the Black Gong’s underground workshop.
The first class on how to use the art of command on the battlefield has finally opened.
“What do you think is the difference between a Death Knight and a Soldier of the Dead?”
Death Knight, Death Knight, and the Death Knight.
“Isn’t that the difference between a knight and a private?”
To Dale’s question, the black ball nodded.
“Then where does the difference between a knight and a private come from?”
“I think it’s a difference in power.”
Dale answered.
“It’s 50% correct.”
But the Duke of Saxony shakes his head.
“Just because you have strong weapons doesn’t mean you can become a knight.”
He stretched out his arms towards the corpse on the altar of the workshop. Towards the corpse of the Night Raven Knight who had sworn to be loyal to the House of Saxony while alive and to donate his body even after death.
“Is it the Auror Blade?”
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“Yes.”
The black ball nodded and snapped its fingers. Dark magic flowed towards the knight’s corpse, and a being armed with black armor and a knight’s sword rose up.
“The higher your level as an ‘Auror Knight’ in life… … .”
Death Knight. Reborn with an immortal body, he emits the aura he acquired while living as a Night Raven Knight.
Along the icy blade of the knight’s sword in his hand, he wraps around the pitch-black aura blade that symbolizes the House of Saxony.
“Also, the better the ‘compatibility between Aura and Magic’, the more powerful Death Knights can be created.”
“… … !”
Dale was struck by the words of the black ball, as if he had been hit in the head with a hammer.
Why did the Auror Blades of the Northern Night Raven Knights of Saxony take the form of a ‘Black Blade’? It was because it had the best compatibility with the ‘black magic’ possessed by the necromancers of the Black Tower.
Dark magic, dark aura.
In other words, the Night Raven Knights sharpen their swords from the beginning, prepared to be resurrected as ‘Death Knights’.
“Whether alive or dead, they must keep in mind that they are proud knights.”
The Black Knight spoke. He looked at the Death Knight he had resurrected with his own hands, and the Black Sword of Saxony emanating from his sword was behind him.
“… … Follow me.”
After a moment of silence, the Black Knight began to walk across the workshop, accompanied by the Death Knight he had raised himself.
“I have something to show you.”
With a weight that is incomparable to anything before.
“Yes, father.”
The place the two reached across the workshop was where Dale had previously obtained the dark artifact.
The underground workshop of the Black Ball. However, the Black Ball’s steps did not stop there. He simply walked down to the underground, which contained even deeper darkness. Just silently.
‘Where are you going?’
Dale followed him in silence.
“Do you know about the Immortal Frederick, the founder of the House of Saxony?”
The Duke of Saxony asked back as he walked. At those words, Dale suddenly thought of the 『Book of the Black Goat』 that had taken root in his heart. The girl with the black goat horns who was still waiting for him alone in the ‘Abyss of Thought’.
“It’s all about the stories I read in books and the stories my father told me.”
Dale pretended not to know and mumbled.
“He was a monster of truth.”
A demon who does not hesitate to sacrifice his own daughter, and is blinded by his thirst for the truth beyond the veil of death.
“And what I’m going to show you now is… … .”
Towering.
Only then did the black ball stop walking.
“It is the ‘darkness of the old world’ to which he once pursued and to which we, the House of Saxony, still owe a debt to this day.”
The place where he stopped was the entrance to a large underground cavern. The dark walls seemed alive and writhing. A room where a high-level barrier that Dale could not even dare to imagine was in operation.
“Only ‘red blood’ people with Saxon blood can pass through here.”
With those words, Father Black Gong stepped into the darkness. Dale followed him without hesitation.
Phew!
The indescribably powerful dark barrier opens the abyss without rejecting the two rich men of the Saxon family. The unmistakable bond of blood. And the sight that unfolded beyond it took Dale’s breath away.
The immortal knights were there.
In a huge tomb reminiscent of a pyramid or a mausoleum, just like the Terracotta Army of the Qin Shi Huang’s tomb…
It wasn’t one. It wasn’t two, three, ten, or even a hundred.
Roughly several thousand people.
“What the heck is this… … .”
Even Dale couldn’t hide his shock at the sight.
An ‘Army of Death’ consisting of thousands of Death Knights was sleeping there.
A number greater than the combined strength of all the knights of a nation, along with a matching number of immortal warhorses.
But soon I realized that these immortal knights were not sleeping. They were just silent. Waiting for the orders to be given to them.
… … Whose orders?
As the thought crossed Dale’s mind, a shiver ran down his spine.
“Long ago, the Immortal Lord discovered a way to ‘animate the dead without having to continuously supply them with magical power’… … .”
The Duke of Saxony continued calmly.
“The Saxon lords, generation after generation, began to raise an army of death called the ‘Death Order.’”
Death Order. An order of dead knights.
Only then did Dale finally understand.
“I am no exception.”
Why the House of Saxony so stubbornly declared isolationism. And why the Black Duke so strongly emphasized ‘morality’ in ruling the power of darkness.
“This is our darkness.”
It was hypocrisy that was so ugly it was nauseating.
“And this darkness is also the shield that protects us.”
From enemies without, from enemies within.
The Death Knight that Black Knight had just raised walked through the Death Order. Dale knew that knight. He was the knight of the left wing unit who had died fighting for him in the Black and White Revolution that day.
And so another knight joins the ‘Death Order’.
It can use the Aura Blade, but it also operates on ‘perpetual power’, meaning it doesn’t need to continuously supply magical power.
How on earth? It was something that even the world’s greatest Dale could not dare to imagine.
“Are you prepared to embrace this darkness?”
The Duke of Saxony asked back blandly. At that moment, Dale’s heart began to beat violently.
The three mana circles, and further on, the ‘black tentacles’ that are grabbing Dale’s heart, are writhing.
“… … .”
Dale nodded silently, his heart pounding behind him.
“I was prepared from the beginning.”
There was no reason to hesitate, no matter how evil and negative the force was.
