Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 52

Future Knight Episode 52

‘If Red Rabbit could have emitted an Aura Sword back then, he wouldn’t have lost his arm helplessly last night…’

Kang Chan realized that in order to avenge Jeina, Red Rabbit needed the ability to manifest Aura like their Gigantes [giant, humanoid war machines powered by mana].

After a moment of thought, Kang Chan slowly opened his mouth.

“Excuse me, could I ask you something?”

“What is it? Just say the word! I’ll help you with all my might.”

“What allows the Gigantes to use Aura Swords or Aura Blades?”

“It’s through the mana condensed in the Mana Furnace.”

“Mana Furnace? So, if I install that Mana Furnace on my Red Rabbit, Red Rabbit will be able to use Aura Swords?”

Craxion, upon hearing Kang Chan’s words, wore an expression of utter incomprehension.

“No? Doesn’t your Gigantes run on a Mana Furnace?”

“My Red Rabbit isn’t a Gigantes. It’s a mechanic made with a science called Zaid. So, it’s powered by a nuclear fusion generator, not a Mana Furnace.”

“Nu-nuclear fusion generator? What’s that?”

“It’s a very dangerous thing. If you mess with it, it could easily blow away not just a city, but an entire country… That’s why I told you not to touch my Zaid.”

“Me! An entire country? Is that even possible?”

“Yes.”

At Kang Chan’s words, Craxion couldn’t close his disbelieving mouth.

Arteon and Eladion, who were behind him, also widened their eyes in surprise.

“Wh-what kind of thing is it that it can blow away an entire country?”

“I didn’t make it, so I don’t know much about it either. However, because it has such tremendous power, my Zaid can operate for 50 years without refueling.”

“5, 50 years!”

Craxion was once again shocked by Kang Chan’s statement that it could operate for 50 years without refueling.

Even the ancient giants, who could recharge mana on their own, could hardly operate for more than half a year without external mana replenishment.

But the heart of that mechanic called Zaid, which Kang Chan mentioned, would operate for a whopping 50 years.

Craxion, who created the Elven Knight, and Arteon, who created the Elven Knight’s Mana Furnace, shook their heads in disbelief.

“What kind of method does it use to move for 50 years?”

“Even the latest Mana Furnace can’t do that.”

“You probably won’t understand the principle of nuclear fusion reactors. I only know it theoretically. Anyway, it’s certain that if you mess with that device, your kingdom could disappear in an instant. Would you still like to work on my Zaid?”

Craxion couldn’t help but hesitate at Kang Chan’s words that the survival of the kingdom could be threatened by a single mistake.

But his hesitation didn’t last long.

He couldn’t give up.

In his eyes, the mechanic called Zaid looked like a work of art of immense value, down to the smallest screw.

“Hmm, then can you give me the blueprints of that mechanic called Zaid? With the dangerous parts marked, of course. Then I’ll avoid those parts and try to install the Mana Furnace. But if that happens, I’ll have to use the arms and legs of the Gigantes. That’s the only way it can use mana.”

“I understand. Then the contract is established.”

Kang Chan extended his hand, and Craxion grabbed it with a very excited expression and shook it roughly.

“Then do you have anything to ride in the meantime? We just made 10 new Elven Knights with the mithril [a strong, lightweight metal] mined from the Elf Forest this time. By developing the accumulated experience, they perform even better than the Elven Knights we produced in the first batch. If you need it, I’ll lend you those Elven Knights in the meantime. How about it?”

Kang Chan was so surprised to unexpectedly obtain a Gigantes that he was momentarily speechless.

“…Are you really going to give me a Gigantes?”

At Kang Chan’s words, Craxion waved his hand and said.

“Keep in mind. I’m not giving it to you, I’m lending it to you. So please use it cleanly and return it. Your Gigantes… no, that Zaid, I, Gapheld von Craxion, will fix it for you at all costs.”

Kang Chan, who had been watching the Elven Knights doing mobile training while riding the Elven Knights, had thought that he wanted to ride the Elven Knight at least once.

He was very happy to get a Gigantes so unexpectedly.

Now that he had a Gigantes, it was clear that revenge against the green elves would be much easier.

Late in the evening. Before leaving the Red Mars, Kang Chan printed out the design of the Zaid and packed some portable equipment and space emergency rations for long-term combat in a duffel bag.

Then Kang Chan stopped for a moment and looked at the bed.

The bed where he had his first intense experience with Jeina.

Then, unbearable tears poured out.

“Jeina…”

Kang Chan hugged the blanket that still had Jeina’s scent and cried for a long time.

Kang Chan’s eyes were swollen after crying for a long time and barely regaining his composure.

He had lived his whole life without shedding a single tear, but now, whenever he thought of Jeina, tears came out on their own.

Now, this room was nothing less than a sanctuary for Jeina and himself to Kang Chan.

It was a room he didn’t know when he would return to, but he was determined to return before he died.

Kang Chan wrote two letters and fell asleep.

One was a letter to Jeina, who had gone to heaven, and the other was a letter to his friend Zikyon, who was supposed to return in ten days.

* * *

The next morning.

The elves and dwarves, who had completed all preparations, hurried to the Mine Kingdom to evacuate.

Among the evacuees were Edeline and Zizen.

“Princess, why are you doing this? We have to go back to Bellalen, right? Huh?”

“Shut up! I’m going when I say I’m going. If we go back like this, when will I ever get to see the Dwarf Kingdom again?”

“B, but…”

In fact, Zizen also wanted to go to the Dwarf Kingdom.

It is no exaggeration to say that all the best weapons on this Erkanndor continent were made by dwarves.

As a warrior, it would be a lie if he didn’t want to go to their weapon manufacturing site.

However, Zizen had a mountain of things to report to the Emperor in a hurry.

But that stubborn princess didn’t care about the safety of the country or his opinion.

Zizen sighed deeply as he looked at Edeline, who was sitting in a cart on the evacuation route and couldn’t take her eyes off Kang Chan.

‘Princess, why don’t you just tell the truth? You’re doing this because of him rather than the Dwarf Kingdom… sigh.’

In fact, Kang Chan’s appearance was so beautiful that even he, a man, sighed.

He even seemed to shine more now than when he first saw him.

Kang Chan’s appearance, which had been mingling with the elves, was not very special, but that was even more frightening.

He had a beauty that was by no means inferior even when compared to the elves.

The humans who lived on Earth before its destruction were so obsessed with beauty that it was extreme.

Their obsession with becoming beautiful was almost fanatical, and they didn’t hesitate to put a knife to their entire body if they had the money.

The fanaticism did not subside even after the Earth was destroyed, and after the era of space exploration came, thanks to the development of genetic engineering, parents even manipulated their children’s genes to match their desired beauty standards.

The appearance of the children born in this way was all standardized to the appearance of the past, which was called handsome and beautiful.

Then, from that time on, the standard of beauty began to change.

Rather than appearance, personality and individuality became the measure of a person’s charm.

So, how beautiful was Kang Chan’s appearance, which was created within an obsessive standard?

It was certain that his appearance was so beautiful that even when compared to the elves, it was not inferior at all in the eyes of humans.

Edeline couldn’t take her eyes off such Kang Chan.

It wasn’t just his appearance that captivated her heart.

Kang Chan’s appearance, which showed the tremendous power of forcibly repatriating Phoenix in front of her last night, was also a great shock, but what was even more shocking was his crying appearance.

She was shocked that a man’s crying appearance could be so beautiful.

The men of the Arkanndor continent were very ashamed of crying in front of women, so Edeline had never seen a man crying except for children in her life.

Of course, Kang Chan wasn’t a man who cried a lot.

He had never cried once while serving on Red Mars.

He lived without even knowing what tears were.

Jeina’s death was such a painful ordeal and unbearable pain that made him shed tears.

“Oh…”

His pitiful appearance, leaning against the giant Gigantes and shedding tears, was so clearly engraved in her mind that Edeline could only sigh repeatedly.

The reason why she was sighing so deeply was because she couldn’t figure out what to do with her heart.

She had always made whatever she liked her own by any means.

Because she had that much power.

But Kang Chan was an exception.

Because the power and background she had were of no use to him.

He seemed to have no desire for power or wealth, perhaps because he lived with the elves.

In addition, he was a swordsman of tremendous skill that even Zizen, who was called a genius in the Empire, could not match, and he was the owner of a powerful Gigantes that forcibly repatriated Phoenix. He was also an unpretentious friend with that fearsome dragon.

Tremendous skill, outstanding appearance, and connections that transcend race…

No man had ever made the princess of the Empire feel so insignificant.

If she wanted to win his heart, the only thing that could make it possible was her own pure effort.

So she had no choice but to sigh.

When had she ever made such an effort?

Edeline could only sigh repeatedly at the feverish throbbing that suddenly came to her at the age of eighteen.

There was another woman who stole glances at Kang Chan from time to time besides her, and that woman was Ellika.

The weapon of God she received from Kang Chan was cherished in her arms.

Of course. It was her delusion that it was a weapon of God, but…

However, the power was so great that anyone could mistake it for a weapon of God.

Before leaving for the evacuation, Kang Chan, who had been to the Red Mars, shared the railgun ammunition with her.

She exclaimed as she received the ammunition.

All the arrows in this world that she knew were the same, but the arrows that Kang Chan gave her were enough to break her concept of existing arrows.

The arrows were so small and cute.

The ammunition that goes into the railgun is in the form of a small capsule that carefully wraps a small warhead of about 3 millimeters, and 200 such bullets were packed in a long magazine.

Kang Chan brought a ammunition pouch that held six of them and personally put it on Ellika, teaching her in detail how to wear it.

At that time, Ellika’s face turned as red as if it would explode, but the dull Kang Chan didn’t pay much attention to her reaction.

With the ammunition pouch on and the railgun in hand, she looked just like a Red Mars member.

Kang Chan nodded slowly, feeling somewhat satisfied with her appearance.

After that, Kang Chan taught her how to handle the railgun.

“The railgun has a very strong recoil, so you have to brace it tightly against your shoulder like this and hold the rifle as if you’re hugging it. That’s the only way to prevent injuries caused by the recoil.”

Ellika’s face turned as red as a persimmon again as Kang Chan hugged her slightly from behind to correct her posture.

“Now, slowly release the safety mode, set it to single shot, then aim the sights at the target and pull the trigger. Take a deep breath, stop, and slowly pull the finger with three breaks.”

Ellika, hearing Kang Chan’s words, slowly pointed the gun at the stone on the rock.