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< Why can't it be done? >
As if reflecting the personality of its owner, the interior of the commanding officer’s barracks was rough.
As the man looked around at all the monster headdresses hanging on the wall, Golkan grinned and said.
“Don’t worry. I don’t have any plans to add your headpiece to the wall yet.”
When Golkan said the word ‘yet’, Princess Alina, who had come with the man, flinched.
But the man just laughed quietly.
“That’s fortunate.”
The man knew that such aggressive speech was nothing more than the tone of a golkan.
And he also knew why Golkan had invited him here.
‘I never thought I’d be invited to the Black Lion’s dinner.’
Golkan liked strong people.
It didn’t matter if the opponent was a knight, a magician, or a foreign race. He was interested in anyone who was strong.
Since the gate was connected between Earth and the continent of Gaia, even Earth’s superhumans would pass through the barrier and be invited to his dinner.
Of course, among the countless superhumans, only a very small number were able to receive an invitation to dinner.
“Just sleep on it for a day.”
It was a crude greeting inviting me to dinner.
A precious invitation that I never received in my ordinary past life.
The man accepted the invitation.
Rumor has it that if Golkan likes someone, he will give them various gifts the next day.
“Would you like a drink?”
In response to Golkan’s question, the man nodded readily.
“Okay.”
The two men sat across from each other at the table. As they emptied their glasses a few times, the tense atmosphere gradually loosened up.
Golkan said, frowning.
“Why don’t you take off that hideous mask? Just looking at it makes the alcohol taste bad.”
“Oh, it was so comfortable that I forgot.”
As the man removed the goblin mask from his face, Golkan spoke in a surprised voice.
“You’re much younger than I thought. The age you give off from the sword seems similar to mine…”
The man answered shamelessly, emptying his glass.
“I ate as much as I could. That’s because I look so young.”
“···Well, what do you think? Is there anyone out there? Bring me more alcohol!”
The number of bottles of alcohol piled up in front of the two of them gradually increased. Since they were both sword masters, they didn’t get drunk no matter how much they drank.
Golkan had many questions for the man.
“You don’t seem to be from this country. Where are you from?”
“Who taught you swordsmanship?”
“Who was the strongest opponent you’ve ever fought?”
Golkan Berger.
His family has guarded this wall for generations.
Because of this, Golkan’s influence in this area was so great that he was called the “King on the Wall.”
In other words, he lived and had to live his entire life trapped within the barrier.
He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about going outside the barriers.
but,
‘I cannot abandon the family legacy that has lasted for hundreds of years because of my greed.’
That’s why meeting the strong who pass through the barrier and hearing the stories from outside the barrier was Golkan’s only joy in life.
And the man knew many stories that would amuse Golkan.
Unlike Golkan, who had been trapped in a barrier his entire life, he had experience traveling through numerous dimensions.
Even though I only told him a small part of it, Golkan was as happy as a child.
“Hahahaha! Is that true? That’s amazing!”
“Huh! Is there really such a thing···!”
“You’re going to meet Abraxas?!”
As the bottles of alcohol piled up, Golkan became more and more absorbed in the man’s story.
And as the two became more intimate, Princess Alina became more and more alienated.
“······.”
Among the group, only Daein was invited to dinner.
However, the man brought Alina to this place on purpose.
Even though the kid whined and asked why he wasn’t taking her, he was willing to take her.
“Hahahaha!”
However, Golkan treated the princess like an invisible person. He didn’t even give her a glance and just laughed and chatted with the adults.
Intentional ignorance.
It was the same when Alina took off her mask herself.
“Huh!”
The knights who were quietly guarding the barracks gasped at the sight of Alina’s beauty.
“Tsk.”
However, Golkan only clicked his tongue at the knights and continued to chat with the man, paying no attention to the princess.
“Golkan Berger. How long are you going to pretend not to know me?”
Despite the princess’s soft call, Golkan snorted and downed his glass.
“A bug is buzzing. My ear itches.”
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Alina’s face turned red at the insulting words.
But instead of crying or screaming, she calmly took a deep breath and spoke again.
“Do you deliberately ignore me even though you know who I am? Or are you too ashamed as a knight who failed to protect his king to look me in the face?”
Golkan’s expression distorted at the princess’s provocation.
“You cheeky bitch.”
Golkan continued speaking, his voice rising.
“Be thankful that I didn’t kill you here. If it weren’t for this guy, you would have been beheaded long ago.”
Alina trembled as she felt the sharp murderous intent pressing down on her entire body like a blade.
“Ugh···.”
At that moment, Alina looked at the man without realizing it.
The man was drinking with a relaxed expression.
Then, when his eyes met with Alina’s, he nodded quietly.
At that moment, Alina felt her heart calm down as if it were a lie.
I felt confident that it would be okay to say everything I wanted to say here, even if it meant incurring Golkan’s wrath.
The girl began to speak in a clear voice.
“I am Alina Reinhardt, the rightful heir to the throne of the Duchy of Hicks. Golkan Berger, Knight of the Wall. If you have not forgotten your knightly oath, be courteous to me!”
Golkan stroked his beard as he watched the scene.
“He’s definitely better than my father. He’s got guts, and he speaks better.”
Alina said, glaring.
“Don’t insult Obama.”
Golkan chuckled at those words and gave a cool-headed assessment of the former king.
“Your father was a weak and timid coward. After I went to the palace and made my oath, he never looked for me or called me to the palace again. Do you know why?”
“······.”
Golkan said, pouring the liquor into his mouth.
“He did it because he was afraid I would become a threat to him. But as soon as Ormond rebelled, he sent me a letter asking for help. That was the first letter I received from the king in twenty years.”
For a moment, a look of contempt flashed across Alina’s eyes.
“Is that the only reason you didn’t come? Because His Majesty never summoned you?”
Golkan clicked his tongue.
“Foolish woman. If I had intervened, the civil war would have been much longer. And that’s not all. If I were to empty the wall, would you sit still in a foreign country?”
“that···.”
Alina blushed, as if she hadn’t thought of that.
Golkan said with a snicker.
“I couldn’t risk my entire country to save one of your fathers. He was not worth it.”
The princess gritted her teeth at the harsh criticism she had never heard before.
“profit···.”
I wanted to say something in rebuttal, but the words didn’t come out easily.
He knew it himself. That his father was an incompetent king.
Looking at the sight, Golkan spoke coldly.
“I’ll let you off this one time, so get out of the wall. And don’t ever set foot on this land again. If you show your face to me again….”
“I will definitely come back!”
For a moment, the gaze of the princess, who was just a young girl, overwhelmed the knight.
“I will return and set things right. I will punish the traitors and restore glory to my country!”
At those sharp eyes, Golkan felt a little curious.
“You speak well. Do you think things would be different if you were king?”
Alina nodded without a trace of doubt on her face.
“different.”
Golkan’s eyes became a little more serious.
“What’s different?”
“I am···.”
The princess spoke about what she had seen, felt, and experienced during her time on the run.
“I saw knights who gave their lives to save me, I saw poor but good people, I saw villains, I saw women who sold their bodies to survive, I saw starving people. I saw thieves, murderers… Now I see knights who are testing me.”
“······.”
From the highest to the lowest.
Although it may have been a short time, the roller coaster ride of life that the girl experienced was by no means short.
“Yeah. It might be a little different.”
Golkan pushed the bottle aside. Now his eyes were fixed squarely on the princess.
Meanwhile, the man slowly slipped out of the barracks.
‘You just have to make room for me.’
I was sick of hearing this painful story anymore.
Behind the man who quietly left the tent, two people exchanged questions.
“What are you going to do outside the walls?”
“I will return with the strength to reclaim what is mine.”
“What will you do first when you return? Revenge?”
“I will open the six gates of the wall to everyone. The sick will pass through the wall before the nobles, the hungry before the rich.”
“···Ha. Do you think I would allow that?”
“Of course. Because it is the king’s command.”
“What? Puhahaha!”
The voices coming from behind were turning into an increasingly lively discussion.
The man who came out was holding a plate of snacks in his two hands to give to the little boy.
“But what kind of gift should I give you···.”
***
The next day.
The pursuers sent by the Marquis of Ormond were stopped at the checkpoint in front of the wall.
“Why on earth won’t you let me in!”
The knight standing in front of the pursuit party was coincidentally one of the knights who had been in the commanding officer’s barracks last night.
The knight spoke with a stiff expression.
“Please wait. We are currently checking the authenticity of your pass.”
The leader of the pursuit party said, beating his chest in frustration.
“It’s already been an hour since I believed those words and waited!”
The knight spoke with an even more sinister expression.
“The process originally took a long time, so please wait a little longer.”
But this time, the men in the pursuit party did not back down easily.
“You’d better think carefully. If you keep doing this….”
“What if I come out? Are you threatening me now?”
Srrrrung!
As the knight drew his sword, the other knights of the Black Lion Order also drew their swords as if they had been waiting.
The faces of the pursuing party turned pale at the chilling momentum.
“W-You can just wait, right? T-Take that sword down for now…”
Golkan was looking down at the sight from far above the barrier.
“You are doing something useless.”
He said that, but he didn’t tell the knights to contact him and let the pursuit party pass.
Golkan turned his body around and looked outside the barrier.
In his vision, which was as far as an eagle’s eye could see, a steel carriage was leaving with its roof loaded with luggage.
“···Did I give you too much?”
After a long time, I made a close friend and took care of all sorts of things for him, to the point where I couldn’t even see the carriage properly.
Golkan stroked his chin with his hand. A chuckle escaped his lips as he thought about what had happened earlier.
“That’s the first time someone has asked for more. Usually, I just pretend to refuse.”
Next to that ditch, the adjutant spoke with a worried expression.
“Captain. What are you thinking about?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, princess.”
“······.”
Golkan didn’t answer for a while, just staring at the steel carriage getting smaller and smaller.
Only when the steel carriage, which had turned into a small dot, was out of sight did Golkan open his mouth.
“I’ll just wait and see. As long as the barrier is here, we’ll meet again when we return.”
It was impossible to build trust or faith with just one night’s conversation.
That’s why they didn’t promise anything.
But if the princess comes back, if she comes back and proves herself,
Then Golkan’s thoughts might change a little.
Golkan turned his head again and looked inside the barrier. He could see the pursuers still struggling with the knights.
“Just keep them for two more hours and then throw them away.”
“···yes.”
The adjutant sighed and nodded.
***
After crossing the border wall, the steel carriage ran without stopping and arrived at the Central Mountains.
The Central Mountains, as the name suggests, were a huge mountain range that ran across the center of the continent.
Within the mountain range, various races such as elves, dwarves, and mermaids lived together with monsters.
And now, the man was arguing with the elves he had met for the first time.
“Why can’t I do that?”
< Why can't it be done? > End
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