Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 55

“What a truly terrifying monster.”

“Yes, even the attacks of thousands of Ents were useless against its tough shell.”

Artheon’s grim words left the dwarves speechless and deep in thought.

As they fell into silence, Kang Chan opened the door to the conference room and entered.

“Did you call for me?”

“Welcome. Come and sit down.”

As Kang Chan sat in the seat offered by the Dwarf King, Elradion introduced Kang Chan to the unfamiliar dwarves.

“Let me formally introduce you. This is my disciple, Kang Chan.”

“What?”

“Disciple?”

Elradion’s bombshell declaration turned the conference room upside down.

The dwarves were astonished and looked at him in disbelief, and Artheon’s surprise, in particular, was beyond words.

Never before had the proud and haughty elf taken a mere human as a disciple.

Of course, Kang Chan, the disciple, was also staring at Elradion, unable to close his mouth.

“Master, that was supposed to be a secret……”

“I’ve decided not to hide it any longer.”

“But, still……”

Elradion raised his hand, cutting off Kang Chan’s words, and bowed deeply to Artheon in apology.

“I believe I consulted with Artheon about this matter before, didn’t I?”

“Yes, of course, I remember. But at that time, I clearly……”

“Yes, you clearly said no. However, after that, I disobeyed the law based on my personal judgment and accepted him as a disciple. I deeply apologize for that, Artheon.”

“No, Elradion. Looking back now, I think your judgment was right. But it’s still a bit disconcerting.”

Seeing Artheon smile brightly at him, Kang Chan couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

Elradion, who had been saying that it should be kept a secret, had made such a shocking declaration in a public setting.

“I’m sorry for deceiving you all this time.”

“I’ve been sensing mana from Kang Chan, and I wondered if Zekyon had infused him with mana, but it turns out it’s the mana he has cultivated from mastering our elven swordsmanship. It’s truly amazing. How could you do it so quickly……”

“The swordsmanship I learned is not Elven swordsmanship, but Cheon! Ugh!”

Since his master had revealed all their secrets, Kang Chan decided that there was nothing more to hide and was about to reveal the name of the swordsmanship he had learned without hesitation.

But Elradion quickly covered his mouth.

‘That, that alone is not allowed!’

Artheon’s brow furrowed at Elradion’s strange behavior.

“Cheon? You’re saying what you learned isn’t Elven swordsmanship?”

“No, that’s, that’s not it. I’ve been creating a new swordsmanship these days, and I’ve had him learn it. The name is still a secret, hahaha!”

“Really? That’s a relief. I was worried that Kang Chan had learned the Thunder and Lightning Dual Swords.”

“Surely not! Would I, an elf swordsman, teach my disciple swordsmanship created by someone else? Hahaha!”

Artheon, who had been staring at Elradion with suspicion, thought about it carefully and reluctantly nodded, thinking it made sense.

No master would teach their disciple someone else’s swordsmanship.

“I understand, so please stop making such a fuss and take your seat.”

“Ah! Yes!”

Elradion, his face flushed at Artheon’s words, sat down and mouthed ‘You’re dead’ to Kang Chan, and Kang Chan’s expression immediately turned pale.

After that, as the atmosphere became chaotic, Crexion opened his mouth seriously, and everyone’s attention turned to him.

“……Um, I heard that Zekyon infused him with mana, but…… surely, that Zekyon isn’t the ‘G. Zekyon’ I know, is it?”

Kang Chan answered without hesitation to his anxious question.

“That’s right. He’s my friend.”

“Gasp!”

“Eek!”

“Kieeeek!”

“Hieeek!!?”

“Tteuaaaak!”

“Kyaaaak! ?!”

Suddenly, Crexion and five elders simultaneously had a fit.

One dwarf even spat phlegm on the floor.

One of the elders who was convulsing stood up from his seat, took a step back, and asked.

“F, friend, then, s, s, surely! A, are you also a d, d, d, dragon?”

Kang Chan looked bewildered at the dwarves who were showing such extreme reactions, and Artheon hurriedly stepped forward to calm them down.

“No. Kang Chan is not a dragon. He is definitely human. It’s just that he and Zekyon are like-minded and have become true friends.”

“L, like-minded?”

“True friends?”

“Is that possible?”

“……”

Artheon’s words did not calm them down but rather made their reaction even more intense, as if pouring oil on a fire.

“If you are of one mind with that demon and have become friends, does that mean you are also a demon?”

Crexion was trembling like an aspen, so terrified.

Kang Chan, unable to watch any longer, got angry.

“A demon? Aren’t you going too far? Apologize. Even though he’s a good-for-nothing who only eats, he’s my friend.”

“A, apologize? What that demon did to us! Ugh!”

As Crexion was about to reveal everything about Zekyon’s past, Artheon, who had appeared next to him in an instant, covered his mouth.

“Ugh! Ugh?!”

“Ah, hahaha…… Crexion? J, just a moment.”

A scene very similar to what they had just done unfolded before Kang Chan and Elradion’s eyes, and Artheon hurriedly took Crexion and the five elders out of the conference room.

“Why are they suddenly acting like this?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know. I haven’t seen Artheon so flustered in recent times.”

Leaving behind Kang Chan and Elradion, who were curious, Artheon took Crexion and the five elders out and began mental training.

* * *

Around that time, Zekyon, who had hastily ended the tedious clan meeting, teleported back to Red Masrho to meet Kang Chan.

But her friend Kang Chan, whom she wanted to see so much, was nowhere to be found, and only two letters were left in his room.

One was to his beloved Jeina, and the other was to Zekyon.

Zekyon, who found the letters, suddenly felt uneasy.

“S, surely he hasn’t left?”

Seeing that he had also written a letter to Jeina, it didn’t seem like the two of them had eloped.

If so, he might have returned to the other world where he originally lived.

Growing impatient, Zekyon roughly unfolded the letter he had written to himself.

And as he hurriedly read the letter, Zekyon’s eyes widened at the unexpected content.

The letter told the story of how the green elves had joined hands with the dark elves and launched a surprise attack at dawn, how the elf village had been destroyed, and how his beloved Jeina had been killed by their hands. It went on to say that he was leaving to avenge her and asked for forgiveness for leaving without a word.

Zekyon sighed after reading the letter.

“Hoo……”

Unlike her worries, Kang Chan had not returned to the other world.

If so, it was too early to conclude that her game was over.

She had the ability to follow Kang Chan to the ends of the earth.

She teleported to the elf village to find his whereabouts in order to track him down.

Teleporting to the elf village in an instant, her eyes widened in surprise once again.

“Gasp! H, how could this!”

An unbelievable sight unfolded before her eyes.

The scenery of the endlessly destroyed forest, so vast that the horizon could be seen, filled her vision, and the elf village that should have been beneath her feet had turned to ashes along with the forest, disappearing without a trace.

Zekyon was momentarily stunned and stared at the desolate scenery.

“H, how dare they…… do this to my territory!”

Anger welled up from the depths of Zekyon’s heart.

“How much power do you have…… to dare to do this to my, G. Zekyon’s territory!”

As she slowly hovered in the air, exuding murderous intent, she saw another astonishing sight.

She discovered a vast trace of destruction, at least several hundred meters wide, where the soil and rocks had melted into glass due to the intense heat.

As far as she knew, only the Red Dragon Clan or the Fire Elemental King Phoenix could do such a thing.

But the Red Dragon Clan would never do such a thing.

It would be insane to breathe without permission in the territory of the Lord.

If so, the culprit was only Phoenix.

“The leader of the green elves made a contract with the four elemental kings. Yes, Phoenix is more than capable of turning my forest into this.”

Zekyon was overwhelmed with rage and wanted to go to the green elves right away and show them what she was made of.

But she couldn’t do that.

At this dragon meeting, the dragons had agreed to condone their actions.

The reason they had gathered in one place was to decide on that.

The dragons who attended the meeting agreed to reduce the number of humans and orcs, which were becoming too large.

It wasn’t just their idea.

There was also an earnest request from the elemental kings, who had maintained close ties with the dragons.

The natural order was collapsing due to the humans’ indiscriminate use of mana.

Therefore, the dragons decided to maintain neutrality by adding their opinions to the elemental kings’ request.

In such a situation, the Lord could not reverse the decision and attack them.

“Tsk, damn it……”

Zekyon felt like her head would explode with anger.

As the Lord of the Dragons, she could not break her promise.

However, she could not easily forgive what they had done to her territory and the act of trying to take away the precious friend she had gained in her later years.

“Gritting! Just you wait……”

Zekyon forcibly swallowed her anger and decided to wait for the right time.

Finding Kang Chan’s whereabouts was the top priority right now.

Zekyon began to scan the entire elf forest with View Mana Force to find creatures with mana.

Kang Chan and the elves had mana, so she thought she could find them faster if she only searched for them.

Using View Mana Force on the elf forest, which was hundreds of kilometers long, was only possible because she was an Ancient Dragon.

Several people with mana were detected in her extensive View Mana Force.

Zekyon teleported there without hesitation.

Then, several elves appeared before Zekyon’s eyes.

They seemed to be mages.

In addition to them, there were hundreds of dwarves who had no mana at all, and they were transporting the remains of a giant Gigantes [a race of giants in mythology] using heavy equipment.

Zekyon slowly looked around.

The remains of Gigantes were scattered all over the area.

They seemed to be collecting the broken remains of Gigantes.

The remains of Gigantes were full of valuable materials that Zekyon also coveted.

Zekyon was about to approach them, who were busy collecting Gigantes, to ask about Kang Chan’s whereabouts.

But then Zekyon caught sight of hundreds of other creatures.

Unlike the others who were working hard, they were quietly crouching down.

They seemed to be assassins waiting for the elves to come to collect the remains of Gigantes.

They were quietly hiding, concealed by an invisibility magic circle.

In addition, they showed meticulousness by creating a separate magic circle with Hide Mana Force cast on it to deceive the mages.

But that was not enough to deceive Zekyon, a dragon.

A murderous intent flashed in Zekyon’s eyes.

“Yes…… you guys. A. Are caught.”

The green elf soldiers, who had been hiding their presence, slowly drew their swords.

“There are no more reinforcements. So far, there are a total of 10 mages and 135 dwarf warriors.”

“Archers and mages will ambush the elf mages, and the rest will follow me to strike the dwarves.”

“Understood.”

They slowly moved out of the Hide Mana Force magic circle and approached the elves and dwarves with extreme caution.

And when they were within sufficient attack range, they gave the order to the archers.