The Strongest Man, Gracia
Kim Hana was conducting an interview with a blond man, her expression tense.
Gracia.
The man all Dimension Warriors revered!
The might he had shown in the United States was beyond imagination.
He deserved to be called the strongest man.
But in the middle of the interview, he suddenly started talking about someone else.
"······ Phantom. If the rumors are true and he's Korean, I'd like to meet him. We could become a great combo. I can give him a lot of information about various 'rights and interests.'"
"Who is Phantom?"
"One of the eight heroes who fought the Demon King alongside my 'descent body' in another dimension. He's also called Wilhelm. We need to join forces again here on Earth."
"Sounds like he's an incredible person as well?"
"Yes. And this is off the record, but there's something I personally want to ask you, Reporter Kim Hana."
When Kim Hana signaled to those around her, the camera turned off.
Off the record, it meant guaranteeing secrecy.
Then Gracia spoke with a gravity he had never shown before.
"What relationship do you have with the owner of 'Hydragon'? Do you know where he is?"
Gulp!
Under Gracia's gaze that felt like it could pierce right through her, Kim Hana swallowed hard, tense.
***
The Garden of Knights.
A city you had to pass through to become an official knight of the Balan Kingdom.
A place with a small marble lake and statues of honorable knights.
Its beautiful, dignified appearance was romance in itself.
"··· Looks like they're holding a memorial."
But apart from that, the city's atmosphere was gloomy.
A huge stele embedded in the central plaza, names carved into it, and beneath it rows of memorial flowers.
All of them were the names of knights who had been sacrificed in the great expedition.
'All the knights were wiped out.'
The five hundred knights were all people who knew courage and honor. They fought demons on the front line of the Demon Realm, and never feared dying.
Wilhelm's charisma had been overwhelming, but if their nature hadn't been like that, it would have been impossible.
Yet the ones who stepped forward bravely all died.
In the end, I alone faced the Demon King, and I too met the same end as the knights.
"Do you recognize any of the names?"
"······ No."
A familiar name on the stele?
None.
It's not like I would have memorized every single knight's name.
To me, it had only been a game.
Unless they were important named NPCs, I didn't know them. Among the names carved here, there wasn't a single one I knew.
Not one.
"Wilhelm! You bastard! Give me back my son, give me back my son!"
At the voice, I turned my head, and not far away an old woman was beating her chest.
"Zion, didn't you say you'd come back! Didn't you tell me not to worry! How am I supposed to, supposed to······ guh!"
She clutched the back of her neck and collapsed.
Before I knew it, my body had already run over and was supporting the old woman's back.
"Lord Star Bearer?!"
Hudson's eyes went wide at my sudden move.
Isabella looked quite flustered too.
I hoisted the old woman onto my back and said to them,
"······ To the relief station."
***
The relief station run by clergy served as a hospital that treated ordinary citizens.
And the relief station in this 'Garden of Knights' was operated by the 'Goddess Church,' the religion with the greatest influence on the continent, but.
"I'm dying, I'm dying!"
"Uaaagh!"
····· as you could see, it was overflowing with patients.
Inside and outside the building, there wasn't a single person who looked normal.
Proof that both manpower and supplies were lacking.
After taking in the scene, Hudson frowned.
"Wouldn't it be better if I treated her?"
"It's useless."
Water's Protection is a skill that heals physical illness.
It can't heal sickness of the heart.
But if it's the owner of the relief station, that's another story.
"Hey."
Someone in a robe with a 二 on the shoulder, the symbol of the Goddess Church.
When I spoke to a man who looked like a deacon below a priest, he wiped cold sweat and answered,
"If you're a patient, please get in line and wait. I'm sorry!"
"Is Priest Andrew inside?"
"He is, but······ ah! I told you not to touch that!"
"This is an urgent patient."
"··· Even so, you have to line up. Unless you donate 50 gold!"
They were taking money?
Even though the relief station was run by the Goddess Church, in reality it depended on donations from the city.
The size of a relief station always matched the scale of the city.
This 'Garden of Knights' was one of the top three largest among the Balan Kingdom's thirteen great cities.
So the relief station shouldn't be in such dire straits that it demanded money from patients.
'Even the donation money for the relief station has dried up. Looks like the city's finances have collapsed.'
And yet they were openly demanding donations.
Fifty gold, at that.
That meant the city's finances had collapsed so badly it couldn't even support the relief station.
So the relief station was forced into survival of the fittest too.
In the golden city Arcana, you could blow hundreds of gold in a day, but normally fifty gold was about a commoner's monthly wage.
'They don't even have time to wash their robes······.'
I looked at the deacons rushing around checking patients.
Every one of them had dark circles, their clothes grimy with sweat and dirt.
Their faces and hair were oily too, like they hadn't washed.
No time to sleep, no time to wash. There was no one to relieve them.
"If you're not donating, then wait!"
They weren't even paying attention to us anymore.
Clatter—!
At the sudden sound, the deacon turned, his eyes bulging.
"Ghk!"
Gold spilled across the floor.
An enormous amount, too much to count.
I pointed at the Gold Bar worth ten thousand gold among it and said,
"Will ten of the big ones do?"
"I-I'll escort you personally, brother!!"
***
A man with a thick white beard and a face full of wrinkles.
Priest Andrew placed a hand on the old woman's chest.
Blue light poured out, and her hardened expression began to relax little by little.
"L-Lord A-Andrew, why are you···?"
The old woman opened her eyes, seeing Andrew, and spoke in confusion.
Andrew smiled kindly.
"These people brought Sister May here after she collapsed. If they'd been any later, it could've been very dangerous."
"I'm sorry. I caused trouble······."
The old woman called May bowed her head toward me.
Andrew gave her a scolding look.
"Did you go there again?"
"··· I can't help it, it keeps weighing on me."
"What about the foundation? Don't you have clothes you must deliver by this winter?"
"It's just, I can't focus on the work."
"You still have to do it. No, this won't do. I'll come every day to check your progress."
"I-If you do that, the people in the city will throw stones at me. You're already busy with the relief station work······ please don't do that."
"Then will you work diligently so I don't have to check?"
"Y-Yes······."
When May agreed, Andrew nodded.
As expected.
The only relief station in this city, and Andrew as its owner inevitably had a close relationship with the citizens.
'He used to give mostly honor-raising quests.'
A large share of the quests called 'honor work' came from Andrew.
So if you were raising a class that valued honor, you inevitably had to go through him.
Of course, I knew exactly what kind of figure he was in this city.
"Thank you, truly······."
She thanked me again. I shook my head.
After she left, only Andrew and I remained in the room.
"······."
A quiet silence.
A heavy stillness passed between us.
Andrew spoke first.
"Sister May's only son went missing not long ago. He joined the great expedition. Since then she's lived with constant rage and grief. She keeps saying she should've stopped him, that she couldn't stop him."
"······ It looked that way."
"Her son Zion admired the Knight King. He was full of zeal, saying he'd drive out the Demon King with the Knight King. And he never returned. Not even a body. Dead or alive······ that hope, endlessly close to zero, has made her like that."
"In truth, he's probably dead." Andrew continued bitterly.
"Is Sister May the only one? Many people lost family, friends. The only one who returned alive, Lady Serengeti, keeps her mouth shut······."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I think you need to hear it."
Andrew let out a long sigh.
He was a wise man. One of the few true wise men recognized as a genuine priest.
He had guessed the reason just by looking into my eyes.
An unshakable stillness. Even with the Heart of the Iron-Blooded Monarch, my emotions shouldn't waver at all.
"Donating a hundred thousand gold must have had a reason. So, for what reason have you come to see this old man?"
With a hundred thousand gold, the relief station could breathe again.
At least for a year they could accept patients without worrying about money.
It was like rain in a drought.
But nothing in the world is free.
'If he asks for something strange, I'll have to refuse even if it pains me.'
They needed money, but they wouldn't sell their souls for it.
Money was needed only for the patients, to serve the citizens. If he made a request that reversed that purpose, they would have to refuse.
'Sometimes merchants approach asking for indulgences.'
A priest of the Goddess Church can issue three indulgences in their lifetime.
And Priest Andrew had only issued one so far.
'He gave indulgence only to him.'
He had given a single indulgence to only one person, the Knight King Wilhelm.
So merchants sometimes approached him, believing they could buy indulgences with huge sums.
"My purpose is already fulfilled."
Priest Andrew's brow furrowed.
Fulfilled? Wasn't the indulgence the purpose?
Don't tell me healing Sister May had been the real purpose?
"······ What do you mean your purpose is fulfilled?"
Seeing Andrew flustered, I smiled.
At that moment—
"Move!"
"Out of the way!"
The outside grew noisy.
The sound of iron scraping the floor.
The group that appeared with heavy footsteps were, as expected, knights.
"Andrew! The lord wishes to see the guest inside!"
As they tried to enter, Isabella and Hudson blocked them.
A sharp standoff.
"Th-this, what······."
Andrew was bewildered.
But it was only natural.
I had expected their visit.
The master of the Garden of Knights, Marquis Weiser, must be desperate for money right now.
He'd be curious who had donated one hundred thousand gold to the relief station.
Since I'd spilled the money where everyone could see it, the news would reach the marquis in an instant.
Far more effective than handing it over quietly.
"It was good to see you again, Priest Andrew."
I rose slowly, opened the door, and headed outside.
"Again······?"
Leaving Andrew behind with his complicated gaze.
***
The Weiser marquisate.
Guided by the knights, I entered the grand mansion with an old-fashioned exterior.
After arriving in the audience room, I sat at a classic table.
Tea and snacks placed on top.
Clearly a setting to receive a guest.
'He doesn't look like much on the outside.'
Marquis Weiser studied the three people he had invited.
Especially the man seated in the middle. The one who had donated one hundred thousand gold to the relief station.
'A wandering merchant? Doesn't look like he brought supplies. Maybe a rich young master traveling around.'
Either way, he clearly had a lot of money.
The gear worn by the woman and man accompanying him was extremely expensive.
Marquis Weiser smiled.
"I apologize for inviting you so suddenly. I offer my apologies."
A burly man, Marquis Weiser.
The master of this city, once an object of admiration for countless knights.
But now he was nothing more than a fat pig.
At the sight of him, Hudson started trembling like crazy, clutching both hands under the table, trying hard not to show it.
"As a small token of apology, I prepared this."
But Marquis Weiser didn't recognize Hudson.
Maybe he hadn't cared from the start.
Either way, it didn't matter.
Slurp.
I lifted the cup, tasting the black tea, and said,
"Let's get to the point."
"······ The point?"
Marquis Weiser's brow twitched.
'··· Is he crazy?'
A boy who looked absurdly young was speaking casually to him, and in front of a marquis at that. Weiser is the master of this city.
With a single gesture, he could make a few nobodies disappear.
'If he's insignificant, I'll teach him a lesson.'
Even if he left alive, he wouldn't walk out on two good legs.
With a look that said "let's hear how great you think you are," Marquis Weiser stared at me.
"I came to collect a debt, Marquis Weiser."
"······ A debt?"
Marquis Weiser's mouth went bitter.
He had debts everywhere.
'Tch, a mistake.'
So he wasn't a good guest, but a debt collector.
If he'd come through the front gate, the knights would've stopped him, so he must've tried to stir Weiser's curiosity first.
Letting him in was a blunder.
But soon Marquis Weiser realized this wasn't just that kind of problem.
"The Knight King, Wilhelm."
Why that name all of a sudden?
Everyone's confusion lasted only a moment.
Thud.
·· Slowly.
Leisurely, I laced my fingers together, slumped back, and put my feet up on the table.
An action with not a shred of etiquette.
"······!"
The atmosphere froze.
Shing!
The knights waiting at the door drew their swords.
Marquis Weiser's face twisted.
Feet on his table? In front of him?
He had planned to just teach me a lesson, but no, this deserved death.
Marquis Weiser raised his right hand. The moment it dropped, the knights would rush in and cut off the head of this impudent brat.
The idea that a punk like this would mention the Knight King and demand a debt from him was laughable.
Just as Marquis Weiser was about to lower his hand—
"I am his successor."
····························· What?