How to Live as a Knight After the Ending

Chapter 38: Big Sister (2)

Osian did not return the greeting.

He merely glared at the unwelcome visitor with a wordless, cold gaze.

“I wish you wouldn’t stare so hard.”

The voice was sweet, with a hint of laziness.

Osian slowed his pacing. His steps on the carpet were very confident.

He took a seat across from his uninvited guest.

His red eyes widened at the sight of the black shadows.

“You know who I am, and you’re not afraid. You have great courage.”

“Should I be afraid?”

Osian asked in a tone that was meant to be provocative but despite the words, his thoughts were quite complex.

‘I never thought I’d face them like this without a sword. I’m so unlucky.’

Osian lightly clenched and unclenched his hands under the table.

As a knight, he shouldn’t be without a sword.

If his opponent was of average skill, he could crush him with pure physical prowess, but the guest in front of him was no such thing.

‘The head of the Blood Brotherhood.’

The darkness that permeated this room was probably part of her power.

As if to prove it, when Osian sat down across from her, he could see her more clearly than he had just a moment ago.

She had deliberately chosen the darkness to showcase herself.

She was a beautiful woman with hair like jet-black ebony.

Her clothes were also black. The only other color was her snow-white skin and blood-red eyes.

She looks to be at least in her mid-20s. Far too young for the leader of the city’s most dangerous terrorist organization.

“Grace.”

She introduced herself.

“Grace Seeker, eldest of the Blood Brotherhood.”

“Osian. Fixer and Knight.”

Osian answered, still staring at the woman who had introduced herself as Grace, trying to gauge her.

The Blood Brotherhood member had come to him for only one reason: revenge for recent events.

The Brotherhood is a small group, true to its name, but I’ve heard that the members are close-knit.

Now that her brother has been beaten outside, it’s only natural for them to retaliate as a family.

Osian weighed the situation in his mind.

Can he fight and win?

When he used the Starlight, he felt a kind of liberation.

It gave him a huge sense of confidence that he could fight anyone and not lose.

But the woman in front of him now turned that confidence into distrust.

‘I can use Starlight right now.’

Osian had been assured that he could pull out the Starlight now.

The problem was, he didn’t have a medium to channel it.

‘Without a sword, I can only swing it once.’

Even without a medium to contain the starlight itself, it could be roughly transformed into a sword and wielded.

But it’s a one-shot deal, a single strike.

At the very least, he needs something to contain the starlight, and a sword is the best way to do that.

At the very least, a kitchen knife could be used for up to three swings but even that would not withstand the power of the starlight and fall apart.

The knight’s senses were warning him.

It was not a good idea to fight in his current state.

In many ways, it was the worst possible situation.

“So why did you barge into my home?”

“Well, you know, our sweet youngest came home after being beaten up by someone.”

Instead of answering, Osian stared at Grace.

Was she going to tell him that she was here for revenge?

At that, a viciousness began to creep into Osian’s eyes.

The starlight burning within his pupils intensified in response.

If Grace answered in the affirmative, he would use everything in his power to slit her throat.

“Will you not stare at me so frighteningly?”

But Grace shuddered at Osian’s provocative gaze.

“I admit, I came here with the intention of giving a little admonition to whoever was bullying our youngest.”

“That’s quite a noble way of putting it.”

It was clear she didn’t mean to admonish, but take bloody revenge.

The organization wouldn’t have Blood in its name otherwise.

Grace pointed a white, fine finger at Osian.

“So I’ve been thinking, what should I do? I’m the eldest, and people will look down on me if I don’t take action.”

Grace’s red eyes lit up.

At the same time, her black hair stirred.

I hadn’t realized it because it blended in with the darkness, but upon closer inspection, her long hair was spreading around the area.

At the same time, the entire space exuded a strong sense of pressure, as if it were crushing me.

“That’s why I need to set a good example, that’s what I’m thinking.”

“Set an example.”

Osian muttered the word and stared into Grace’s red eyes.

“Do it if you can.”

-Hwoaruk.

The starlight inside him burned brightly, ready to explode.

The darkness that had been slowly eating away at Osian, trying to devour him, stepped back in surprise at the light.

The two continued to stare at each other, neither speaking.

Minutes passed, and it was Grace who gained the upper hand.

“I’m kidding. Why are you staring at me like that? You’re scaring me.”

With a mischievous laugh, Grace dispelled the darkness in the room.

Soon the room was filled with scarlet light from the window.

“I’m just here to say hello, and since our youngest caused such a scene, someone has to step in, and it’s just my role as the oldest sister.”

With that, Grace slowly rose from her seat.

Her every move was graceful and filled with a color that mesmerized the opposite sex.

Grace’s beauty played a part in this, too but Osian was not to be mesmerized, with beauty comes danger.

In his eyes, Grace was a black rose soaked in blood.

A rose is also an archaic expression.

That’s a flower that eats people. If you approach it unaware, you will be eaten.

Grace smirked at Osian, who sat still in his seat.

“It was a pleasure meeting you. Next time, I hope we can say hello properly.”

“If you want a proper greeting, you should bring a visiting gift.”

A cocky tone, like he was talking down to her but Grace didn’t take offense to it.

It was rather natural for Osian to speak like that.

‘Where did this person come from?’

Grace chuckled to herself and walked away.

Her hair moved like threads, wrapping around her body like a cocoon, before disappearing into the floor.

The chill tension that had filled the room dissipated.

At the same time, the starlight in Osian’s eyes faded.

‘Gone.’

Osian’s shoulders sagged as he relaxed.

He checked his palm, and it was slightly damp.

He was glad his opponent had let it go, but what would have happened if she hadn’t?

‘I was feeling a little relieved that I could handle Starlight.’

Still, it wasn’t enough.

How many other people like Grace Seeker are there in this city?

‘I need more power.’

Starlight’s other skills, his other characteristics, he needed to be able to use them all.

*

Appearing in a quiet alleyway, Grace Seeker looked back.

“Have you been waiting much?”

“No.”

With a solemn, polite voice, a figure appeared.

It was Gerhan, a man of nearly two meters, dressed in an immaculate suit.

The man who was the de facto second in command of the Blood Brotherhood asked.

“Sister, is that okay?”

“What?”

“Daver. He survived, but he’s pretty traumatized. He’ll need to rest for a while, and I don’t think he’ll be able to fulfill his duties.”

What he meant was simple.

The youngest must be avenged.

That’s why Grace, the leader of the Blood Brotherhood, had gone to Osian herself to exact blood revenge for what was done to Daver, and more.

Given her recent inactivity, a move by Grace herself would be a warning to others but Grace Seeker did not act.

She faced Osian, spoke to him, and then quietly retreated.

This was uncharacteristic of her, which made the large man all the more curious.

Why didn’t she kill him?

“It’s a shame about Daver, but he’s still alive, so that’s all that matters.”

“I see.”

At the terse answer, Grace asked.

“Why don’t you ask me why?”

“Because if you made that choice, there must be a reason.”

“Funny.”

Grace pouted her lips, making it sound like she was pouting.

But even as she acted the part, her red eyes continued to dwell on the dark-haired man she’d seen just moments ago.

‘He said Ossian.’

The first time Daver had returned with his arm severed, Grace had vowed revenge.

It wasn’t emotional anger.

Daver was the cute youngest, but he had always been the bane of his older siblings’ existence.

His older siblings resented him, but Grace, the eldest, had only come to Ossian out of necessity.

But the man she saw.

‘There’s something about him.’

He’d won with a single sword against Daver, who was wearing a stolen Tesla Arms.

In his panic, Daver said Osian had used a strange light.

He said a star had fallen from the sky.

‘I didn’t know what the hell that meant, but now that I’ve seen it, I know.’

A pure white glow, rising from the darkness she had created.

At first, Grace wondered how to kill him, but then she realized that she shouldn’t.

She couldn’t fight that thing.

No, she could fight it. Osian didn’t even hold a sword at the moment.

There was no way she could lose against a weaponless opponent.

But she would have to give him one of her arms.

That was the best she could do. Maybe she would have given him one of her eyes too.

That was the conclusion she drew from the premonitory intuition that came with being strong.

She could have called for the second, who was waiting outside, and killed him without difficulty, but that would have been too much.

‘I’ve already got the city’s guards, army, and enforcers searching for us with lights in their eyes because of the youngest, and if we make too much noise, we’ll only draw them out.’

It was still just a taste.

It wouldn’t be until later that they would resume their activities in earnest.

Of course, part of the reason was that she was intrigued by Ossian and wanted to keep an eye on him.

So Grace decided to indulge her whim just this once.

‘A knight with a star in his eye. I wonder what he will become.’

Will he bring change to this city of gold?

Or will he be swallowed up by the city’s greed.

It would be quite interesting to watch.

*

“Shit.”

Harris let out a harsh exclamation through trembling lips.

He was a fixer, a fixer in a way that wasn’t much acknowledged.

His latest assignment was to break a strike.

The workers had gone on a full-scale strike for more pay.

It was unlikely that the uneducated workers would suddenly go on strike.

He knew that the labor union was behind the strike, so he hired a mediator and a contractor as a last-ditch effort.

The workers’ experience with fighting was limited to punching each other in dingy bars so he figured a few shots in the air would scatter them like a swarm of cockroaches.

‘But you didn’t tell me there was such a thing!’

Harris’s gaze fell on a giant machine moving at the entrance to the factory.

A brassy behemoth over four meters tall, spewing pure white steam from exhaust ports on its shoulders and back.

Steam Suit.

Also known as the Full Metal Ogre, it was a mounted, reinforced exoskeleton weapon powered by the ether water.

Mere guns were no match for the heavily armored behemoth.

Several of the mercenaries who had already rushed forward fell to the ground in a pool of blood, instantly dead.

It seemed that the labor union that called for the strike had planned and encouraged this.

‘Should we retreat?’

Just as Harris was about to ask himself that, he saw the back of a man’s head as he walked toward the steam suit at a leisurely pace.

Harrison muttered to himself.

“What the hell was that?”

It was a dark-haired man in a neatly pressed frock coat.

He had an air of aristocracy about him that seemed out of place.

Harris suddenly realized he was the same fixer he’d been hired to help.

His name was Osian?

It was surprising to see him strutting toward a steam suit many times his size, but even more surprising was the weapon in his hand.

“Is that a kitchen knife?”