The Mist Vol 5 Chapter 20

Vol 5 Chapter 20

"No!"

Superior, who had been limp, suddenly shouted and tried to get up, startling the Shine Knight who tightly embraced him.

"What? What can't be done?"

"That person over there is too valuable a talent to lose here! Ah, let me go! I need to go save him!"

"Who are you talking about?"

"That archer with the pierced leg! Why is the eyesight of the captain of Lugh's Holy Knight Order in such a state?"

The Shine Knight, who had been holding the shouting Superior without moving, seemed to have confirmed the archer's appearance as he stared intently at the battlefield, then frowned and asked.

"Don't you know the resolve with which we sent out the suicide squad without opening the castle gates? No matter how talented, we can't go rescue him now."

"You can rescue him or not, but I'm going to save him!"

After a long silence in response to Superior's frustrated shout, the Shine Knight met Superior's gaze. His eyes were surprisingly deep forest green.

"It doesn't make sense for someone who was staggering from mana depletion just moments ago to go down to rescue a single soldier."

"What did you say?"

"That person's abilities caught your eye, didn't they? But you're already too exhausted to go rescue him. So, how about I go instead, since I've shamefully been standing idle until now, just acting as a bodyguard?"

When Superior fell silent at the calm voice, as if at a loss for words, the man with the gentle smile carefully set Superior down.

"Please leave the rescue to me."

"No, wait a moment, listen..."

"Then I'll be going, and please don't follow. Ah, and before I go, just in case..."

"I said I'm going, what are you doing?"

"Holy Transfer. Then, I'll be back."

After casually casting Holy Transfer and the light faded, the Shine Knight approached the castle wall parapet, stepped up onto it, and before the surrounding people could even scream in shock, he flung himself off and disappeared.

"Ah...!"

Just as Superior rushed forward in surprise, suddenly the Shine Knight appeared riding a summoned creature in the shape of a bird made of blue-white wind, soaring upwards. He then shot down like a comet into the middle of the battlefield. As Superior stared blankly at his retreating figure, suddenly his vision distorted, turned black, and then began to brighten again.

A moment later, what appeared before his eyes was the Shine Knight he had seen earlier. However, the surroundings were surprisingly dark and desolate, and the sky was tinged with a purple hue permeated with the energy of death.

"Lord Superior, this is too reckless."

When Superior just stared without saying anything, the Shine Knight scanned the surroundings warily and approached, gripping the hand resting on his sword hilt.

"His request itself is nothing more than an incomprehensible stubbornness. If he really wants to go, he should go alone. This country needs you now. How can we send an 8th circle great mage to the already fallen north with just one injured person?"

"Do you know the sorrow of someone who has lost their family? No, have you even thought a little about the sorrow of all unfortunate people?"

"Pardon?"

The Shine Knight's expression changed strangely at Superior's cold words.

"He's someone who came here leaving his siblings behind after being deceived by nobles. How can you tell such a person that this country, which has already sent him out once as part of a hopeless suicide squad, will abandon him again? I can't do that. Your god is surely merciful, but I can't see you as a knight serving such a god. I'm certain that even 'that guy' wouldn't say such things at a time like this."

For a moment, the Shine Knight's face turned pale. Watching this from within Lord Superior, Kapros thought he could understand what Lord Superior was trying to say.

Certainly, the Shine Knight was very polite and disciplined, but he had never once shown an expression that seemed to genuinely worry about others. Even in the earlier memory, he had cast the same Holy Transfer skill as Kran, but while Kapros had felt endless concern for him beyond Kran's forced smile, the Shine Knight's attitude felt more like he was simply locking away a subject he needed to protect to prevent any possible accidents while he went to take care of a troublesome task.

"In your eyes, I may be precious as the friend of the Dark Flame Vice Captain and the kingdom's only 8th circle mage, and he may be just another common injured soldier, but people are not objects to be handled by assigning them grades like that. Why don't you understand that?"

"That's not it. I..."

"I apologize if my words were a bit harsh, but while you are certainly a polite and strong knight, if I were to meet you as a knight of god, I don't think I could understand the god Lugh."

Superior had turned away saying, "Well then," and taken a few steps when suddenly he felt a hand grabbing his shoulder forcefully from behind. When Superior turned around, he saw a surprisingly cold face instead of the polite expression from earlier.

"...You're saying exactly the same things I've heard so many times since I entered the Holy Knight Order that I'm sick of them, to the point where I can't even laugh."

"..."

"Is the reason you want to help that man so desperately because you lost your father and siblings for the same reason?"

For a moment, Superior's entire body convulsed as if shuddering to an astonishing degree. After a violent tremor passed from his body to his fingertips, he stood silently, and the Shine Knight quietly smiled.

"I see. But my intention of not letting you go alone remains the same."

"What..."

"So, I'm saying it would be fine if I go with you."

For a long time, Superior and the Shine Knight just stared into each other's eyes without saying anything, but in the end, it was Superior who turned away first.

"He would like that too. He was wanting to thank the person who saved him."