Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 123

퓨쳐나이트 123화

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The next day.

Britina woke up to find Loki staring intently at her.

“W-Where am I? My…….”

“Yeah! You’re at your place.”

“My barracks? How did I get here…….”

“I brought you here yesterday.”

“You carried me? All by yourself?”

“Yeah.”

Loki was probably the only one in the Allied forces who could carry her, given that she weighed nearly 250 kilograms, all by himself.

Britina recalled the events of the previous night and touched her wounds.

The injuries she had sustained the night before had miraculously healed.

“Huh? How are my wounds……?”

Britina looked at Loki again, seemingly very surprised, and then she heard a beautiful woman’s voice in her ear.

“Where did you pick up this weirdo to bother me again?”

“I didn’t pick her up! Britina is my friend!”

Loki, who rarely got angry, rushed at her, causing Zikyon to wave her hands in dismissal.

“Oh, really? Birds of a feather flock together, I see.”

Britina looked at the woman talking to Loki.

She had an unbelievably beautiful appearance and wore a very arrogant expression. Britina recognized her at once and stood up to give her a respectful bow.

“A follower of Pioness! I, I behold the Goddess!”

Britina, still believing Zikyon to be a goddess, paid her the utmost respect as a follower of the Pioness Church.

However, Zikyon, who had long since given up pretending to be a goddess, ignored her and left the barracks.

“Entertain yourselves. I’m busy, so I’ll be going.”

She was preparing something with Kang Chan and had been so busy lately that she felt like she needed ten bodies. She had only healed Britina’s wounds and left like the wind.

After Zikyon left, Britina quickly called Loki.

“Hey! What’s your relationship with the Goddess?”

“She’s my friend.”

“You’re friends with the Goddess?”

“Yeah.”

“H-How can you be friends with the Goddess?”

Britina looked at Loki with envy in her eyes when he said he was friends with the Goddess.

Loki felt burdened by her gaze and changed the subject.

“Are you hungry? Do you want to eat?”

“Uh…… I’m a little hungry?”

“Just a moment.”

Loki brought a huge bowl, the size of a baby bathtub, filled with mushroom soup and a pile of cornbread.

The amount was enough for ten ordinary people to eat.

However, she felt more comfortable than embarrassed that she had to eat such a large amount.

After all, Loki, being an ogre, would eat several times more than her.

“Have you eaten?”

“Yeah, I already ate.”

“Okay, thank you. I’ll enjoy the meal.”

Loki smiled as he watched her eat.

Britina felt Loki’s gaze and blushed as she spoke.

“Why are you staring at me like that…….”

“Because you’re pretty.”

“Pfft! Cough! Cough! What?”

Britina, who had lived a life far removed from being called pretty, seemed quite shocked by Loki’s words and even coughed.

“P-Pretty? M-Me?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s so pretty about me…….”

Loki boldly spoke, not caring about her words, which were full of self-doubt.

“You look cute when you eat.”

“Phoooot! Cough! Cough!”

Britina’s face instantly turned as red as a beet.

She knew very well that Loki in front of her was not the same as her, but it was still the first time in her life that she had been called cute.

Moreover, Loki was not in his hideous ogre form but in the form of a lovely pretty boy, which made it even more so.

“T-Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. I’m more thankful.”

“F-For what?”

“You protected me last night.”

“No need to thank me. It’s only natural as a knight, and you were the one who saved me.”

They looked at each other and smiled in silence for a moment.

“I have something to say.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve come to like Britina.”

“W-What!?”

Britina looked at Loki in surprise once again.

It was the first time in her life that she had received a confession of love from a member of the opposite sex.

Moreover, the fact that the other party was an ogre made her even more flustered.

“I-If you say that so suddenly, I’ll be embarrassed.”

“Sorry, but I can’t stop thinking about you since last night.”

Loki didn’t know how to beat around the bush when expressing his feelings.

There was a lot of sincerity in Loki’s words, and true to his simple ogre nature, there was no backing down.

However, as a human, Britina didn’t know how to accept him, an ogre.

“But I’m human…… and you’re an ogre…….”

Even though she had lived without knowing men due to her gigantism, she was still a little reluctant to fall in love with an ogre in human skin.

But strangely enough, she couldn’t deny the fact that her heart was pounding and fluttering.

Silence fell between them once again.

They swallowed hard in an awkward atmosphere that was hard to describe.

After a while, Loki opened his mouth in a weak tone.

“I guess so? Because I’m an ogre…….”

Britina felt a pang in her heart when she saw Loki trying to smile.

Even though he was an ogre, she could feel the sincerity in Loki’s sad eyes.

Loki’s eyes conveyed a clearer and purer emotion than any human she had ever seen.

Britina didn’t dislike Loki.

Even knowing that he was an ogre.

She thought for a moment before opening her mouth.

“Then promise me something.”

“What?”

“Promise me that you’ll only love me for the rest of your life…….”

Loki’s face, which had been gloomy at Britina’s words, was filled with a happy smile.

“Yeah! I promise.”

Britina opened her arms to Loki, and Loki climbed onto the bed and hugged her.

“I really! Really! Like you! Britina!”

“Yeah, me too…….”

The two hugged each other tightly and shared their warmth for a while.

Britina, who had been whispering sweet nothings with Loki until late in the evening, carefully asked him.

She had thought of Loki as the Saxon Duke’s mistress, so she suddenly became curious about the relationship between Loki and the Saxon Duke.

“Um, what’s the relationship between Loki and Duke Saxon?”

“Saxon Uncle is my father’s sworn brother.”

“W-What? Sworn brothers? With your father?”

“Yeah.”

“…….”

A sworn brother with Duke Saxon, the greatest figure on the continent.

Britina became very curious about the identity of Loki’s father.

“What does your father do?”

“I’ve only heard about it, but they used to be dukes of the Visman Empire together.”

“D-Dukes?”

Britina’s face turned pale at Loki’s words.

Currently, Duke Saxon was the only duke of the Visman Empire, and the only person who had been the duke of the Visman Empire with him in the past was the only person that any knight would know.

He was the legendary swordsman, Kalitz Garman, who was still revered as the greatest knight on the continent.

‘No way, this can’t be happening…….’

If that were true, then Loki in front of her was Kalitz Garman’s adopted son.

But what was so lacking about the duke of the empire that he would adopt Loki, an ogre?

Ogres weren’t even ordinary pets.

However, she knew that Loki would never lie to her, so she decided to listen to him until the end.

“Then how did you meet him?”

“Do you want to hear about my dad and me?”

“Yeah, I want to hear it.”

Britina was the first person other than Kang Chan and his party to listen to his past, so Loki was very happy and began to tell her about his past.

About his beloved father, who had raised him like his own child after he had been abandoned in the forest.

41. The Unfinished War

Before they knew it, another month had passed, and the dark elves and green elves had abandoned their last line of defense and disappeared.

They had returned to where they had first come from.

The Allied forces, who had entered the empty Kingdom of Kermel, could not hide their dismay.

They were constantly bothered by the fact that they had not completely eradicated the parasites. They were concerned that the parasites, with their parasitic reproductive and survival skills, might one day regain their power and threaten the continent again.

That’s why everyone in the Allied forces wanted to follow them to the end and finish them off.

However, both races lived in places that were not easily accessible to them, so tracking them was not easy.

They had taken root in the underground world, where it was difficult to find a single ray of light, and in Iceland, where harsh cold blew for 12 months of the year.

Going to such places to wage war was no different from pouring oil on your body and walking into a fire.

Therefore, the Allied forces had to be satisfied with their immediate victory and choose to return to their respective kingdoms.

As they left, they made a firm resolution in their hearts. They would become strong enough so that they would never threaten the continent again.

As the armies dispatched from each kingdom began to return to their own kingdoms one by one, the Visman Empire, which had been the backbone of the Allied forces, also began to retreat.

Loki was included in the long procession. As promised, he was leaving for the Visman Empire with Duke Saxon.

Kang Chan said goodbye to Loki.

“Loki, take care of yourself.”

“…….”

Loki hesitated as if his feet wouldn’t move.

“What are you hesitating about? You have a pretty girlfriend now. Be happy.”

Loki and Britina blushed at Kang Chan’s words.

Britina had also decided to go to the Visman Empire with Loki.

Duke Saxon had taken care of all the arrangements. He was very happy to have her naturalized, too.

Who would refuse to have a strategic weapon that another kingdom was proud of transferred to them for free?

Silverline Republic didn’t want to give her up to the Visman Empire after investing so much in her, but they had no choice but to back down in the face of the world’s strongest power.

As expected, it was good to have power.

Kang Chan’s expression, who had sent Loki away with a bright smile, darkened again as Loki disappeared into the distance.

“Let’s go, Zikyon.”

“Okay.”

“Ah, wait a minute. Let’s stop by the barracks for a bit.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’ll only take a minute.”

Kang Chan hurried to the barracks with Zikyon.

There was a problem that he had to solve before he left.

That problem was the fate of the green elf, Platina. The war was over, and all the green elves had left for their cursed continent, so she had to be returned to her own kind as well.

There was no place for her with her green skin anywhere on this continent.

Kang Chan entered his barracks and found Platina and Elrika eating a meal.

“Oh, you’re here?”

Although the two were living together, it was Elrika who had taken care of her in place of Kang Chan, who had been away from home every day lately.

The only reason Elrika took care of Platina, the green elf she had cursed so much, was known only to Elrika, but she may have wanted to atone for her past mistreatment of Jeina through Platina.

“It’s been a while, Kang Chan.”

Kang Chan nodded and returned her greeting as Elrika greeted him happily.

“Have you eaten?”

“Yes, I’ve eaten. Don’t worry about me and finish your meal.”

Kang Chan leaned against his bed and waited for the two to finish their meal.

After Elrika finished her meal and took the empty dishes outside, Kang Chan spoke to Platina.

“Your people have all returned to Iceland. Are you aware of that?”