Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 58

“Sister, who is this?”

“Please greet him. This is G. Zekyon, who helped with the Gigantes recovery operation.”

“Z, Zekyon? Did you say Zekyon? N, no way, the ruler of the Elf Forest!”

“Yes, he protected us from the green elf raid. He’s a really good person.”

Gloria’s tone trembled slightly when she said he was a good person, but it was an undeniable fact that he had saved them.

Even though he was a bit eccentric.

“A, a humble elf greets the great one!”

An elf mage named Adora, looking terrified, quickly prostrated herself. The other elves next to her also began to prostrate themselves.

Zekyon casually accepted their greetings and hurried to find Kang Chan.

The dwarf workers watched them with puzzled expressions.

“Hey, why are they suddenly doing that?”

“How would I know.”

“Oh! That elf over there, isn’t she the elf mage who went as a vanguard?”

“That’s right! Let’s go ask what happened to our comrades.”

The short, hairy dwarves rushed towards the elves who were still prostrating.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“D, d, d.”

“What are you saying? Speak clearly.”

The dwarf pressed her, frustrated by the terrified elf’s stuttering. The elf slowly raised her head and said with eyes wide with shock, as if she had seen a ghost.

“It was a dragon. The one who carried the Gigantes was…”

“Eek! D, dragon?”

The dwarves’ faces twisted as if they had tasted wormwood [a bitter herb] at the word dragon.

“T, then does that mean that human woman from earlier is a d, d, dragon?”

“Yes, that woman is G. Zekyon, the owner of the Elf Forest.”

“G. Zekyon!”

The dwarves who had gathered were even more shocked at the name Zekyon.

Who was he? Wasn’t he the evil dragon who had exploited them like livestock for thousands of years?

A dwarf who had jokingly said he would burn his own intestines if it were a dragon looked at his companion, unable to close his mouth in shock.

“It really was a dragon. H, how…”

“What do you mean, how? We have to burn them, right?”

“W, what are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you say you’d burn your intestines earlier? You too, Pouchkin, right?”

“Why are you dragging me into this!”

“Are you guys even men? How can a dwarf man go back on his word? I’m very disappointed in you.”

As all their comrades looked at them with disappointed eyes, the two dwarves’ faces gradually hardened.

If they didn’t keep their promise, they would lose their credibility and be known as liars among their comrades from now on.

Dwarves kept their promises as if their lives depended on it.

“S, sorry. I was just joking… How did it come to this? I, Danika! As a dwarf man, I will keep my promise!”

“I, Pouchkin, will also keep my promise as a dwarf man!”

Even though they could have just let it go, they stubbornly burned their friend’s hand with fire.

That’s how important promises were to dwarves.

As the mournful screams of the two dwarves echoed softly within Mine Kingdom, Zekyon arrived in front of the guest reception room of the royal castle where Kang Chan was staying.

“This is the room where Kang Chan is staying. Then I’ll be on my way.”

“Okay, thanks for your hard work. Here’s a reward. Eat it on your way.”

Zekyon took out an apple again and handed it to her.

Gloria’s expression was very embarrassed as she received the apple, but she bowed as much as possible and politely greeted him before hurrying away from Zekyon.

“Gee, why does she like apples so much?”

Zekyon, smiling contentedly, knocked on the door of the room where Kang Chan was staying.

Toc! Toc! Toc!

But no matter how much he knocked on the door, there was no response from inside.

Zekyon knocked on the door again, but there was still no response from inside.

“Is he not here? View Mana Force [a spell to detect magical energy].”

Zekyon scanned the room with mana detection magic and sensed that someone was inside.

“What is it? Someone’s there? Should I go in for now?”

Zekyon decided to go in and took a step forward.

Then Zekyon’s body gradually became transparent and entered the room through the door.

The room was very dark, and someone was sitting quietly leaning against the bed.

“Who is it?”

It was a weak voice like a mosquito, but Zekyon immediately recognized that the owner of the voice was Kang Chan.

“Hey, you! How could you just leave a letter like that to your friend and leave?”

“Z, Zekyon?”

“Yeah, it’s me! Zekyon! What’s with this room? Light!”

Zekyon illuminated the room as bright as day with light magic, and Kang Chan frowned at the glare.

“The sun is high in the sky, and you’re still lazing around in bed? Have you eaten?”

Zekyon sat on Kang Chan’s bed and examined Kang Chan. He was emaciated, as if he had been suffering a lot.

“How did you know I was here…?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t be able to find you if you left like that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Have you eaten?”

“No…”

“Let’s eat first. I haven’t eaten a single meal today looking for you.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have an appetite right now. I’ll go with you. You eat.”

Kang Chan had hardly been eating these days because he missed Jaina so much.

“Ugh, what a load of crap… A guy who said he would take revenge, wrote a letter, and abandoned his friend, what is this? So, where are you going to get the strength to do anything? Here, I’ve been saving the last one, eat this.”

Zekyon handed Kang Chan an apple.

As Kang Chan stared blankly at the apple, Zekyon emitted cold air from his hand, slightly freezing it, and placed it in Kang Chan’s hand.

“It’s an apple made with the blood of the green elves I met on the way to find you. The fertilizer is good, so it’s very delicious. Try it.”

Kang Chan was startled by the sound of an apple made with the blood of the green elves.

Then he slowly took a bite of the apple.

Then, the truly sweet and refreshing taste of the apple filled Kang Chan’s mouth.

Suddenly, tears flowed from Kang Chan’s eyes.

The taste of the apple reminded him of the fruit basket Jaina had thrown at him in the past.

At the same time, he felt the thrill he had felt when he first ate the fruit again running through his body.

“Hey, why are you crying while eating? Is it that delicious?”

“This is… an apple made with their blood?”

“Yeah, was it about 200 people? I twisted them and killed them, but they were withered, so not much blood came out. It’s an apple grown by sprinkling the blood of those guys as fertilizer. How is it, delicious?”

Anyone else would have felt like throwing up at the sound, but Kang Chan didn’t feel that way at all.

Rather, Kang Chan was very happy.

He was happy that Zekyon had killed them so painfully and cruelly.

Kang Chan continued to cry and began to eat the apple voraciously.

It wasn’t a very big apple, so Kang Chan took three big bites and only the stem was left in an instant.

“Everyone eats apples very flamboyantly?”

“Thank you, Zekyon. I’ve come to my senses thanks to you.”

“Huh? What did I do?”

Zekyon had only killed them for personal reasons, but Kang Chan understood that Zekyon had killed them so cruelly for revenge for himself and Jaina.

He took the apple made with their blood that he had given him as an intention to awaken the revenge of blood.

Kang Chan was sincerely grateful to Zekyon.

Hurriedly wiping away his tears, Kang Chan got up from his seat.

“Let’s go eat. I suddenly started to get an appetite because of the apple you gave me.”

“Okay, there’s a restaurant I know well here. Their dwarf-made beer was excellent. I went there about 300 years ago, so I don’t know if it’s still there.”

Kang Chan, who had been discouraged, was able to regain his strength thanks to Zekyon’s unexpected visit.

For the sake of his beloved Jaina, he wanted to drink like crazy today.

“What if it’s there, what if it’s not? Let’s drink until our noses are crooked today!”

“Oh, I feel something coming on today? You pay this time.”

“Okay, I’ll pay. Let’s go.”

After Kang Chan and Zekyon went out to drink beer in the dwarf’s marketplace, King Kracksion and Arteon of the dwarves, who received the report late, put everything aside and hurriedly came to Kang Chan’s room.

But they had already disappeared.

“Kang Chan hasn’t moved for the past few days, where did they go together?”

Kracksion answered Arteon’s question.

“It’s been a while since they met, so they must be catching up somewhere…”

Kracksion’s complexion was not very bright as he answered in a reluctant tone.

“Then, we shouldn’t disturb them, right?”

“What if we get caught for not saying hello?”

Kracksion’s face was in a state of extreme tension.

The worst opponent he didn’t want to encounter had come to Mine Kingdom.

Once, Zekyon was fascinated by the beautiful and magnificent underground community of Mine Kingdom and visited Kracksion and said that he would make Mine Kingdom his lair.

Mine Kingdom, which had never been given to any invaders for thousands of years.

It was such an absurd request, but Kracksion was not reckless enough to face a dragon head-on.

At that time, Kracksion visited Zekyon and made a deal with him.

He said that he would make Zekyon’s existing lair in the same structure as Mine Kingdom.

Zekyon readily accepted Kracksion’s proposal, and the dwarves were able to barely protect Mine Kingdom from the black clutches of the dragon.

Of course. Because of the huge construction cost that they were forced to take on at that time, they are still struggling financially.

This fact was almost unknown to the world because it was nothing short of humiliation for the dwarves.

* * *

Zekyon was not at all interested in the fact that his visit had turned Mine Kingdom upside down.

His interest was only in this freshly poured draft beer.

He ate smoked duck and squeaky smoked sausage, and repeated drinking again.

It was the first time Kang Chan had ever drunk beer, but he wasn’t savoring the taste, he was just pouring it in.

It had already been 3 hours.

The amount of beer they had drunk was slowly exceeding 30,000cc [approximately 7.9 gallons].

They kept drinking beer as if they were drinking water.

Dwarf-made beer is more potent than human beer. In addition, Kang Chan hadn’t eaten properly for the past few days, so his stomach was almost empty, so the alcohol started to rise quickly.

“Auntie! Here… another beer.”

“You’re eating like you’re trying to die. Hey, young people. That’s not how you drink alcohol. You have to savor it.”

As the dwarf woman, who appeared to be the owner of the bar, scolded them, a dwarf who was quietly drinking alone next to them said to her.

“Looking at them, they both seem to be humans, but they’re drinking beer heartily. I like it! Chelsea, put this 3,000cc on my tab.”

“No, Mr. Bruno, these two have already drunk over 30,000cc, are you going to feed them more?”

“Men drink like that when they have something they want to forget. At that time, it’s not bad to see if the alcohol wins or I win.”

“So, has the great Bruno ever won?”

“Huh, if I could win if I wanted to, how could that be called alcohol? Hahaha!”

“Ugh, here comes the great bullshit philosophy!”

“Auntie… when are you going to give me the alcohol?”

“I can’t live. Wait a minute.”

Kang Chan and Zekyon each had the ability to control their drunkenness, but they didn’t.

Today was a day they really wanted to get drunk.

“Hey! Zekyon!”

“Why?”

“I’m going to leave…”

“Where to?”

“I’m going to leave for revenge, that’s what I’m saying!”

“So, where to?”

“Where else, to where that bitch is.”

“By yourself?”

“Yeah! Go! Just bang!”

Thud!

Suddenly, Kang Chan fell backward, and Zekyon stared at Kang Chan with unfocused eyes.