ALL NOVEL chapter 128
128 – Side Story – Last
#Best Knight – 2
“Captain Chris, the two kingdoms have declared surrender!”
As I was sitting in the barracks, Helen finally brought the news with a bright smile.
At the news, everyone with me stood up with cheers.
“Ha ha. Tired, tired.”
I relaxed and sighed quietly.
“I can finally go home.”
The war that lasted for six months is finally over.
The two kingdoms, Elam and Kassite, declared war by surprise at dawn.
I don’t know why they declared war on the empire, even though they have a public enemy called Masura.
Of course, this is just my position based on the values of modern people.
According to Leon, it was for their own benefit before the seeds of confusion planted by Avatar were completely sorted out.
Because the two of them had already bared their teeth at the Empire.
Simply put, it’s a tactic of hitting before you get hit.
Well, I think the damage was increased because I did something stupid like that.
As a result, the two kingdoms came under the rule of the empire and became principalities rather than kingdoms, and they had to pay tribute to the empire every month, as well as having no troops beyond a certain level.
“In the end, the one that benefited the most was the Sumel Kingdom.”
“That’s right.”
The Kingdom of Sumel supported the Empire as it was natural in this war, and the Empire decided to send some of the tribute from Elam and Kassite to the Kingdom of Sumel as a token of gratitude.
As expected, in this world, it is the same that you have to ride the line well.
“Ike. Are you planning to return to the manor now?”
I nodded at the words of Chris Central Knight Commander.
“It should be. I haven’t seen my family’s face in six months. I will die of loneliness.”
“It will be hard to see you again for a while.”
“Because this was an exceptional situation.”
No matter how much I belong to the Central Knights, originally with the title of Marshal, I have to prioritize the management of the territory, so I rarely follow the Knights’ schedule.
In fact, if only one of the two kingdoms had declared war, I would still be in Syrd.
“Still, I go to Orkeon once every two months, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Well, that’s right.”
I only wanted to see Raina, Frey, and Ethel as soon as possible.
This was a war after all, even if there were few casualties on our side.
For six months, I’ve never been able to put my mind to rest and close my eyes.
The feeling of being devastated in real time was so miserable that it is difficult to describe in words.
Some people might laugh when I say this, but what I need the most right now is the warmth of my family.
And.
“Well, I won’t stop you from going back to Syrd, but can you stop by Orkeon for a while?”
As if he was sorry for interrupting my dream, Captain Chris said with an awkward smile.
“… All right.”
I wanted to refuse with a single heart, but I had no choice but to nod my head because he was my immediate superior within the Central Knights, no matter what the actual title was.
Above all, Captain Chris was the age of my uncle, so he was sorry to refuse.
And I.
“Ike. The next Central Knight Commander is you.”
“… Yes?”
“Because I’m about to retire too.”
I regret going to Orkeon with Captain Chris immensely.
★
“Oh, Ike. Did you say you were going back to Syrd today?”
“… Yes, Your Majesty.”
The place where I was sitting with Leon was in the drawing room inside the audience room.
And now I was playing chess with him.
Of course, the situation is the worst.
There was no way I could win against him, the greatest genius in the history of the empire, with a brain game.
Actually, it was a game that Leon could end right away if he wanted to, but he was holding me back just for the sake of talking a little longer.
“As expected, I’m not used to being called that. Why don’t we just call her Highness like before?”
“What blasphemy do you want to accuse me of?”
When I said it with a snort, Leon covered his mouth and burst into laughter.
This kind of smirk doesn’t change even after becoming the emperor of Astraia.
“Shall I go to Syrd with you after a long time?”
“This is a boring joke.”
“You were serious? Sofia said she misses Frey and Ethel.”
“I will welcome you if you go through formal procedures later.”
“Then it’s hard to be comfortable as a friend.”
Well, that’s for sure.
But taking Leon to Syrd without any formalities makes no sense in the first place.
He is now the absolute emperor of the Astraia Empire.
Unfortunately, if you enjoy that right, you also have an obligation.
“Well, I can’t help it. Then see you again in two months.”
At the same time, Leon moved the bishop to checkmate.
It was my complete defeat.
“Yes. Then I will step back, Your Majesty.”
I got up from my seat, bowed as a servant, and quietly left the drawing room.
“Oh, Mr. Ike.”
On the way out of the Imperial Palace.
It was Sophia who met my eyes in the aisle.
“Your Majesty the Empress.”
I naturally raised my head after preparing the courtesy of a servant like before.
“As I said before, when you call me, you call me Marshal Ike….”
If Sophia, who is in the position of the empress, uses that kind of respect for me, a problem arises.
Especially in the social world.
Of course, being so friendly was definitely Sophia’s strong point.
Actually, Sophia’s popularity among people was higher than Leon’s in a way.
The Empress who is benevolent to anyone born as a saint.
“hehehe, sorry. Somehow I’m not used to it. It would be more convenient for Marshal Ike to call me Miss Sophia as before.”
… It’s fortunate that the only people in this aisle are me and Clarisse, Sofia’s exclusive maid.
Seeing Clarisse sighing and shaking her head, I don’t think I’m happy.
Well, that didn’t mean Sophia had any serious disqualification.
I heard that the only opponents who occasionally use the sword like this are me, Reina, Helen, and Attal, who I went with in Arcana.
I’ve heard that she perfectly handles court etiquette in front of other people.
Except for the occasional appearance like this, she was definitely the empress of the Astraian Empire recognized by everyone.
“Come to think of it, today was the day you died in Syrd, right?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I want to go too after a long time. It’s been a while since I haven’t seen Ethel and Miss Frey.”
I never thought I would hear from Sophia again what I heard from Leon earlier.
“… Next time you go through formal procedures, I will warmly welcome you.”
“Whoops. I need to catch me ASAP.”
“But please refrain from it right now. Didn’t His Holiness Atal tell you that you should refrain from riding a wagon as much as possible?”
“hehehe, that’s right.”
Sophia smiled happily and stroked her belly.
Her belly was so swollen that anyone could tell for sure.
It was the fruit of her first love she made with Leon.
“Then I will step down first, Your Majesty the Empress. Have a peaceful day.”
“Yes. Then see you in two months, Mr. Ike.”
“Haa….”
Her last sigh belonged not to me, but to Clarisse, Sofia’s exclusive maid.
It has already been two years since I was appointed as the Central Knight Commander.
Of course, at first I protested to Captain Chris saying no.
However, since the Central Knight Commander was appointed unilaterally, in the end I had no choice but to accept the reality.
Then why don’t I immediately hand it over to someone else and run away?
In preparation for that, Captain Chris joined forces with Leon and made a rule that he must remain as the Central Knight Commander for at least 5 years.
… What is this
Of course, I was taken care of that much.
In peacetime, Syrd, the territory, allowed me to handle all of my business, and all I had to do was visit Orkeon once every two months and stay there for a week.
But if I hadn’t been the Central Knight Commander in the first place, there wouldn’t have been a need for this.
Originally, I visited once every two months and only spent two days there.
It takes 8 days to go back and forth from Syrd to Orkeon.
If you stay for two days, it is 10 days, but if you stay for a week, it consumes 15 days.
I have to be away from my family for practically two weeks.
What a sad reality this is.
Even while I’m gone, Reina has to manage the estate, so it’s almost impossible to come to Orkeon with Reina.
Does that mean my reputation is good?
Of course not.
My current nickname is the weakest Central Knight Commander in history.
It is a nickname that cannot be refuted because it is true.
The position of leader of the Central Knights is not all about military force, but as expected, whenever I hear a story like that, I wonder why I am here.
“Ehh….”
A sigh comes out naturally.
I want to see Reina.
★
A single thin candle was lighting up the dark room.
“So the knight and the princess lived happily ever after.”
And then, on the bed in the room, when Rayna whispered the ending of the fairy tale in her ear, Frey and Ethel clapped their hands with their small palms, eyes twinkling.
“Mother, mother! I want to be a cool knight here too!”
It was Ethel, a boy with twinkling blue eyes and waving short platinum hair up and down.
“I-I want to be a princess too.”
It was Frey, a girl who rolled her purple eyes around while using her long auburn hair to hide her blush.
“Then I will rescue the princess Frey!”
“… Huh. I’ll be waiting for you, brother.”
Looking at the two laughing as if they were happy with each other, Reina stroked their hair.
The twins, who recently celebrated their 6th birthday, brought Reina’s smile as they always cared for each other like this.
“Ah, but I have a question, mother.”
“What is it, Ethel?”
Ethel hesitated as if he wasn’t sure if it was okay to say it, then opened his mouth slowly.
“Oh, my father said he was the head of the Central Knights, right?”
“Right.”
“Doesn’t that mean your father is the strongest knight?”
At Ethel’s question, Rayna nodded her head as if she understood what she meant.
Ethel longed for Ike and dreamed of becoming a knight, and Ike was the strongest knight in his heart.
“Can you tell me why you asked that question?”
“Uncle Andrew told me recently. My father is the weakest Central Knight Commander in history.”
Raina quietly gnashed her teeth after hearing that.
Of course, her face was still smiling.
Because she couldn’t show her anger at the kids.
“That’s my uncle….”
“Wait a minute, brother. Uncle Andrew has said more since then.”
It was Frey who interrupted Raina, who was trying to somehow protect Ethel’s dream.
“There is definitely such an evaluation in the world, but among my uncles, the best knight is my father.”
“… What are you talking about, Frey?”
“Yesterday my brother asked Uncle Andrew who is the strongest knight in the empire. So Uncle Andrew replied that Grandpa Addos was the strongest knight.”
After hearing that, Reina began to roughly guess what happened yesterday.
“So my older brother asked about my father, and Uncle Andrew told me that unfortunately, in the world, my father is evaluated as the weakest Central Knight Commander in history.”
At Frey’s words, Ethel nodded her head eagerly.
Then, as if she couldn’t do that, she looked up at Reina.
While gently stroking Ethel’s hair again, Reina opened her mouth.
“I may not be completely wrong.”
“But mother. Isn’t it the best because it’s the best? As Uncle Andrew said, because my father is the best, it means he is the strongest.”
At Ethel’s words, Raina quietly recalled her memories with Ike.
Ike was a coward and cried a lot.
Even when Ethel and Frey were born, he was more scared of Ike than he was and cried more.
Seeing her sullen expression and shedding a lot of tears, Anna and Noel were terrified.
Ike wasn’t even the strongest in the Central Knights.
He heard that out of 10 sparring matches with Helen, the vice-captain, he loses 9 times and ends up with a draw in the other 1 match.
Ike was more distant from sincerity than I thought.
His physical training doesn’t take a break every day, but he says incredibly often that he wants to rest quickly whenever he’s working as a change captain or central knight commander.
Certainly, Ike had too many shortcomings to be called the strongest knight.
‘… But.’
Ike never turns his back on his weakness.
For the sake of important people, he helps even if he dedicates everything.
He says he’s a nuisance, but he acts with a clear sense of his duty.
The number of people who have been helped by Ike is so numerous that it is difficult to count by hand, excluding Reina and Arcana’s close friends.
Reina loved him.
This feeling grew stronger every day, even at this very moment.
After all, Ike is Raina’s best husband and….
“Mother, am I wrong?”
It was Ethel with a worried expression that woke Reina, who had been deeply engrossed in such thoughts for a while.
Recovering her senses, Rayna quietly hugged her Ethel and smiled at her.
“Ethel. There is a difference between the best and the strongest.”
“… Then, is Choi Kang more handsome?”
When Ike was told that Ike was the best but not the strongest, it was Ethel who asked if the strongest was greater.
Reina shook her head at that question.
“At least I think the best is much cooler and great.”
“Then the best article my mother thinks is….”
“Of course you are the father of the two of you, my husband, Ike Syrid?”
That was a truth that would never change in Reina’s heart.
“Wow….”
At Reina’s assertion, Ethel and Frey looked up at Reina with twinkling eyes.
“So, then, is your father greater than His Majesty Leon?! My father told me that His Majesty Leon is the greatest person in the history of the Empire!”
“Foot!”
Reina laughed involuntarily at the question she had heard from Ike before.
“Mother?”
“Of course. Did your father ever defeat Your Majesty head-on in a duel as a knight?”
“Wow! Then, I want to become the best knight like my father!”
“Ethel will surely become the greatest knight ever.”
“Then I will become the prettiest princess saved by my brother, the most wonderful knight!”
Ethel and Frey hold hands again and smile.
Seeing that lovely figure, Reina gently embraced the two of them with her arms.
“Then, the next fairy tale….”
“Madam.”
The one who interrupted Reina outside the door was Andrew, who is currently working as a butler for the Shird family.
“The master has arrived.”
“Oh, is that so? Ethel, Frey. I am going to meet my father.”
“Yes!”
At Rayna’s words, Ethel and Frey immediately got out of bed and ran out the door.
And to Andrew, who was looking at him with such satisfaction.
“Sir? Can we talk separately later?”
Raina was sentenced to death.
Andrew turned her head with a gurgling sound like a rusted machine, and Rayna was standing there, looking at her with a colder atmosphere than ice.
Andrew knew.
When Raina calls herself ‘Senior’, it’s only when she’s really angry.
And Reina knows that she never picks up weird quirks.
“My, what did I do wrong….”
“First of all, it’s okay to rest first.”
“That, that, that….”
“Miss Michelle and Tiana are waiting for you, right? Go in first and rest. Because I also have a lot of things I want to talk about with my husband.”
“Great, great, alternative, nothing, what….”
“… Still, they say Ike is the best knight, so they look after him.”
“Yes?!”
Leaving behind Andrew, who was screaming because he couldn’t hear her last words, Raina went outside.
To welcome Ike, the best husband and best knight.
“My father is the best!”
“The best is the best!”
“I will be the best!”
“I am the best!”
At the front door of the main house, Ethel and Frey were looking up with twinkling eyes while holding Ike’s legs.
Listening to Ethel and Frey’s incomprehensible words, Ike tilted his head with a sullen expression.
And seeing that figure, Reina greeted Ike with a smile.
★
It’s strange.
“My father is the best!”
“The best is the best!”
Fray and Ethel were clinging to my leg and talking strangely.
“I will be the best!”
“I am the best!”
Though, it’s nice to have a family that welcomes me like this.
Anyway, it seems to be saying it in a good way.
“… I’m here?”
It was Raina who approached me with a kind smile.
“I’m back. I want to quickly stop doing this Central Knight Commander or something.”
“No! Dad is the best!”
“Right! The best is the best!”
What do you mean the best is the best, Frey?
When I lowered her gaze with such a question, Reina burst out with her cute smile.
… Well, it’s okay because it’s cute!
“I’m back.”
I said that and spread my arms towards Reina.
Then Rayna naturally came over and put her arms around her waist and hugged me, and I kindly wrapped my back around her.
“I love you, Reina.”
“I love you too, Ike.”
The expression of sincere affection for each other, which has now become a daily routine.
And what interrupted it.
“If father is the best knight, is mother the best mother?”
“Isn’t that so, brother?”
“Then the best is the best!”
“I see!”
It was Ethel and Frey who were still making strange noises.
Well, it’s okay because it’s cute.
★
Who is the strongest ‘knight’ in history?
If you ask this question, you will probably get a variety of answers.
Someone will pick ‘Arthur Axus’, the originator of the Axus family.
Someone will pick ‘Lore Tonel’, the 9th Central Knight Commander.
Someone will point out ‘Dite Rosen’ as the knight who participated the most in subjugating Class A monsters.
But most people will probably answer like this.
The former head of the Axus family, ‘Ados Axus’, is the strongest knight.
Someone who heard the answer asked.
Couldn’t the current generation’s Central Knight Commander rise to that rank?
Everybody laughed at that question.
The knights who currently belong to the Central Knights couldn’t hide their laughter.
And someone smiled and answered that question.
“He will probably leave his name as the weakest Knight Commander in history.”
.
And the knight who said that, after a while, continued with a smile.
“Still, I consider it an honor to be with him.”
#Afterword
“… Well, is this enough?”
Ike sighed quietly and turned his back.
A pure white space with nothing in it.
Ike looked at the place and continued his words.
“Now, I think everything is over.”
「Are you satisfied enough?」
At that declaration, a voice resounded in the pure white space.
It was the voice of Eos, the god who granted ‘Ike Axus’ wishes.
“Yes, I am satisfied. The two of them will live happily ever after.”
A weak smile settled on Ike’s lips as he said that.
「Good. Then I’ll give you a choice too.”
At the same time, two cracks appeared in the pure white space.
“… Yes?”
Ike frowned at the unexpected words.
Wasn’t this contract obviously made at the cost of his own life?
「The first option is to be reborn as a new life in the Astraia Empire.」
But as if he didn’t care at all about Ike’s questions, Eos continued his words.
「The second option is for you to live in the world that ‘he’ lived in.”
“… What are the conditions?”
When this contract was first signed, EOS was obviously.
‘Devoting one’s fate to a god means giving up even reincarnation.’
He said.
By the way, what is this option?
「If you choose the first option, you will be able to live a happy life. You’ll get a lot of luck.”
“….”
「If you choose the second option, there will be nothing. It doesn’t mean you’re going to be particularly unhappy, but it’s harder to live in abundance than choosing the first one. Instead, I will leave all the memories behind.”
At Eos’ words, Ike was at a loss for words.
「I’m not going to ask you to donate anything. Their story was interesting, but I think your story was also very interesting. So, this is an opportunity given to you as a god.”
“Yes, is it?”
After saying that, Ike looked at the floor for a moment and laughed.
“Okay.”
He raised his head and stretched out his finger.
“What I want to choose is….”
I possessed the childhood friend of the villain. Abduction complete