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Okay, so after looking at the polls and the comments you guys have left me, I've decided to compromise and put both chapter links and the entire story into 1 page. It'll take a bit of time before the rest of the books are condensed into 1 page, but I'll try to do them ASAP.

(15/6/2012)

Saturday 26 March 2011

Book 2: The Daily Duties of a Knight – Prologue

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

Now, let me introduce you to the daily duties of the great and illustrious Sun Knight.

Firstly, attend various boring functions and gatherings – For example, the coronation of the new king.

Secondly, pretend to be an electric automatic hand-waving machine –waving constantly in above said functions without breaking one's wrist is an art unto itself.

The third imperative task is – take care of the undead creatures.

The fourth task…… to think that there are more than four tasks to do in a day, does everyone now realize how demanding and tiring my job as the Sun Knight is?!


 

Prologue: This- is our Captain.

My name is Adair. (Ah-die-er) Just yesterday, I was merely an ordinary holy knight, but everything will change from today onwards. After today, I will be reporting directly to the Sun Knight as one of his Sun Division's holy knights!

Although, my direct commanding officer is not yet officially the Sun Knight; he is the same age as me- only 18 years old. Sun Knights have always taken on their title at the age of twenty years, so that will be when he will step up and replace the current Sun Knight as the 38th Generation Sun Knight.

"Adair, Adair! He's coming!"

Another holy knight who had similarly been chosen for this honour of serving in the Sun Division rushed in, looking all excited and nervous. I know that as holy knights we've always been trained to keep our calm no matter what happens, but-this is the future Sun Knight that we are meeting!

The leader of the Holy Temple's Twelve Holy Knights! As well as our direct supervisor! How can we remain calm in this situation?!

Even though in our hearts we were unable to calm down, we did not wish to affront the Sun Knight with our lack of manners. Within a few seconds, all twenty-five Sun Division holy knights were standing at attention in neat rows, as everyone looked forward with excitement and no small amount of trepidation to the Sun Knight's entrance.

The first to come in was the current Sun Knight. I had seen him in various functions and in the tributes held to the God of Light in the Holy Temple. Each time I see this Sun Knight I would sigh in admiration of his elegance. My decision to be part of the Sun Division had largely to do with this person that I so admired. It's a pity that I had been born too late to serve under this Sun Knight's Sun Division.

This time, the Sun Knight did not speak a word. He merely smiled in a relaxed manner as he stepped aside. It was then that we saw the person behind him.

Is that him?!

My eyes widened as I stared at him, not daring to even blink for fear of missing a single detail.

He just stood there in a pool of sunlight, his back towards the light. We couldn't see his face clearly, but the sun shining down on his head of golden hair made it seem to shine even brighter than pure gold.

This golden hair! So beautiful, like the legendary golden hair of the God of Light Herself. I couldn't help feeling some great emotion stirring deep within me. Perhaps, the Sun Knight that I am to report to is even more perfect than the one I had admired?

The person then stepped forward, revealing his face and figure. Sparkling golden hair, eyes as blue and as deep as the sea, skin as white as snow, and a smile as bright as the sun in the sky, his princely bearing and incredible elegance …… Dear God! I sound exactly like I'm recounting the tale of the legendary Sun Knight!

You might think this rather strange; after all, he is the future Sun Knight, but-but…… he's a little too similar to the 'Sun Knight of the legends'. Even the current Sun Knight-perfect as he is-is a little inconsistent with the image of the legendary Sun Knight... But this person standing in front of me is absolutely
identical to the Sun Knight of the legends.

This future Sun Knight looked at each of us with a gentle smile, before finally sighing in delight. "Ah… It must be the God of Light's benevolence that has brought us all here together-to permit this Creus to meet my fellow brothers. Let us become as brothers inseparable, and together bring peace and joy to Her people."

Hearing this speech, I could feel all my emotions rousing. I looked around to my left and right-all the knights of the Sun Division were as stirred up as I. We could not help but hold our heads high and stick out our chest in pride as this thought rang through our minds:

"This-is our Captain, the Sun Knight."


 

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Book 1: Rule A – The Twelve Holy Knight’s Shared Rule: “No matter what the circumstances, the Sun Knight is always perfect!”

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

'IS SUN THE SLAYER OR NOT?'

A large banner hung from the middle of the ceiling in the conference room.

To avoid detection, not a single lamp had been lit. Eleven knights sat around the table, each knight's face and figure hidden within the dark shadows.

One of the knights first spoke up, "The Sun Knight's sword skills may have always been so terrible that hardly anyone can recognise his sword waving for the Sun Sword Style, but how could he have been able to fool Blaze--"

A second knight immediately cut off the first one, saying, "No! I never claimed that Sun is Slayer, and I never will."

"Even if he is Slayer, I'd advise you to act as if he isn't." A deep and intimidating voice spoke up. Everyone seemed to tense up upon hearing this voice.

"We may have always maintained that the Sun Knight upholds Justice, but this time he really has gone too far-he had even used necromancy
spells, for crying out loud. Shouldn't we at least give him a word of warning?"

At this, everyone started arguing with each other.

"But he's already learned them, so what's the point of giving him a warning? It's not like he could forget them all."

"We could at least counsel him against learning the advanced necromancy spells."

"Idiot! We should forbid him from using necromancy spells at all for the rest of his life! And magic, too! What kind of knight uses magic?!"

"Puh-leese! You know how awful Sun's swords skills are, if you forbid him from using necromancy spells and even magic spells, he'd probably be found dead within two days."

"That's true……"

'Knock, knock'

Everyone instantly quieted down at the knocking and looked at each other flummoxed, unsure about whether to answer the door.

"Come in."

In the end, the one who had called out was the unknown knight with the deep intimidating voice.

The door opened up, letting in a ray of bright sunlight into the dark room. The person who entered was akin to the sun itself, with gleaming golden hair and a smile as bright as the sun. No one would ever connect this radiant man with any kind of darkness whatsoever.

And this bright, dazzling man had an extremely fitting title -- Sun Knight.

The Sun Knight smiled as he looked around, seeming to not notice the huge banner with the words 'IS SUN THE SLAYER OR NOT?' on it hanging from the ceiling.

With a sincerely apologetic expression on his face, the Sun Knight said, "My beloved holy knight brothers, this Sun is extremely sorry for interrupting your secret meeting. To disturb your time of socialising is such an inexcusable transgression.

"However, this Sun just couldn't resist the urge to share with my brothers of the miracle the God of Light had bestowed upon us." At this, the Sun Knight's face was filled once again with happiness and delight. "This Sun had just been blessed by the God of Light, and has finally understood the true essence of the resurrection arts. Ah…! Even his grace the Pope had leapt in joy at this wonderful news.

"In the future, my fellow brothers may go to do battle with evil without any second thoughts. There is no need to worry about fatal injuries, for this Sun believes that as long as my fellow brothers still retain their heads, this Sun will be able to bring each of you back from the clutches of Death himself!"

But then at this point, Sun suddenly became saddened and sighed. "Sigh… Unfortunately this art of resurrection is not a very constant one, for one never knows when it might work, and when it might fail! If the spell were to fail due to 'certain reasons', causing a certain brother to miss out on his chance of living, this Sun will be inconsolable."

"… … … …" Everyone kept silent.

"After sharing this joyous news with my brothers, this Sun will not further impede my brothers from exchanging words of the God of Light any longer. May you have a pleasant time conversing."

With a scarily bright smile, the Sun Knight slowly closed the door, returning the room to darkness. The dark conference room was quiet for some time before someone ventured to ask, "Was that…… a bribe?"

"No! It was a threat."

The Judge Knight slowly stood up, deciding to leave this pointless meeting. He left a word of advice behind before he left though.

"This is my advice to all of you. Our Sun Knight had already dared to set up the King. Unless you have a position above that of a king, don't mess around with him."

The Storm Knight, too stood up and added idly, "And, he's proficient in the art of resurrection that even the Pope cannot cast; he's proficient with the holy spells, the magic spells, and now necromancy spells. He has the 'strongest Sun Knight in history' as his teacher backing him up, and another necromancer teacher. I'd like to add that he might also have a Death Lord best friend."

'Thank God his sword skills are terrible……' thought everyone.

"Fu*king hell! Is he the Sun Knight or the evil Demon King?!" griped Earth Knight, his face ashen.

Leaf Knight chuckled and said, "Oh, Earth. Have you forgotten what our teachers had drilled into our heads since we were small?"

~O~O~O~O~

"Remember child, no matter what the circumstances, the Sun Knight is always perfect!"

P. S. "Child, if you were to accidently come across an imperfection in the Sun Knight-unless you wish to personally experience his imperfection-just acknowledge that he is perfect."


 

End of First Volume


 

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Friday 25 March 2011

Book 1: Rule 10 – The Sun Knight’s Tenth Rule: “Serving out justice is the meaning for the Sun Knight’s existence.”

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

Judge and I had explained the whole situation with the Crown Prince, for only a fool would hope to secretly hide close to fifty holy knights within the Royal Palace without alerting anyone. The Crown Prince had grudgingly agreed. Looks like he had already realized the gravity of the situation.

And so, a group of holy knights put on the uniforms of the royal knights and patrolled the area, while another group disguised themselves as servants, hiding all around the palace. There were already a huge number of people going in and out of the palace daily, so it was a simple thing to insert fifty more people without alerting anyone.

Judge was lying in bed, pretending to be the person Roland was after, while I had to hide away in the wardrobe. To hide my strong holy aura, the Pope had to design a special seal to seal away my aura and had stuck the seal on the wardrobe, hence why I am currently lying in the wardrobe.

Not that I'm criticizing or anything, but the royalty really are a different breed from us. Just this one wardrobe is half the size of my room; the flooring of the wardrobe is lined with crushed velvet, so soft that I simply couldn't resist lying down on it. I then grabbed a hanging cloak and covered myself with it…… Ahh… how comfy! I started feeling drowsy; this wardrobe is even more comfortable than my own bed.

Thank goodness I did not have to take Judge's position and lie on the bed, if just a wardrobe is enough to make me sleepy, what more a bed fit for royalty? I'd probably still be asleep when Roland comes in slicing me in half……

"Sun? Sun!"

"Huh?" I flipped over onto my other side. 'What is it? How noisy! I'm sleeping here!'

The person outside was silent for a moment before pounding heavily on the wardrobe door.

I leapt to my feet, startled wide awake, and anxiously asked, "What is it? Is Roland here?!"

"Not yet." Judge's low and deep voice could be heard from outside. "But I'm worried that even if he were to come bursting in you would have fallen asleep and not notice him at all."

"Eh…… hahahah! Of course not!" I l gave a forced laughed. 'It is possible. Judge really knows me too well!'

"Night has only just fallen, Roland shouldn't be arriving so soon. To avoid you falling asleep, why don't you talk about him?"

I kept quite for a while. I had no idea where to begin, but Judge was a patient man, he did not push me to speak. In the end, I let out a deep sigh and began reminiscing about my past.

"The first time I had met Roland was at the Selection for the future Twelve Holy Knight, when only ten boys were left in the selection.

"You might or might not be aware of it, but that event was one of the single most widely betted on event in a long time. Practically everyone had placed betted on the outcomes for the next generation's Twelve Holy Knights."

"I know." From outside came Judge's reply. It sounded fainter; he'd probably lain back on the bed.

I dared not lie back on the carpeted ground and instead leaned back against the wardrobe's door. I asked Judge, "Do you still remember the odds against you?"

"I never noticed."

I gave a chuckle at that. "You and Roland are equally serious, spending all your time on sword practice! I still remember though, your odds were 1:1.083. Even if anyone had betted on you, they would not have won much."

"You remember the numbers very clearly." I could hear a hint of wonder from him.

'Well, can't be help, I have an excellent memory.'

I continued on with my story, "Roland's odds were 1:1.052, even higher than yours. That is to say, the probability of him being selected as the next Sun Knight was even higher than the probability of you being selected for the next Judge Knight."

"But he wasn't chosen," said Judge evenly.

"That's right, he wasn't. Instead, a kid with the odds of 1:563 had been chosen. Back then, a number of people had become millionaires just from betting on me." I said a little deprecatingly.

Outside, Judge replied calmly, "You weren't that bad. Your holy spells and written test results were among the best. Outsiders just didn't understand holy spells and the written examinations."

Even though it had all happened a long time ago, I still felt very glad and relieved at Judge's comforting words. 'That's right! I wasn't
that bad! It was only the sword skills that I did a little poorly at.'

"However, your sword skills were really terrible."

'Hey! You didn't have to add that last sentence!'

"Anyway, because everyone was certain that Roland was going to be the next Sun Knight, and I was the least likely candidate, we were able to get along well with each other. He would often help me, like……"

"Help me fight, help me scale the walls and buy me blueberry pastries, help me chase away that dog that bit me, etc. etc." Judge gave a little sigh at this. "Creus, you really haven't changed at all."

"Hahahah……" I laughed weakly. 'Oh, that's right, since Roland left, Judge had taken his place.'

"And so because you took his place, Roland now wants to harm you and frame you?"

"No. He wasn't trying to harm me at all." I felt like crying when I recalled that incident. "He was just being incredibly clueless. Till now, he still has no idea that he had accidently started rumours about me being his murderer. He believes that he had only accidently cut me."

"Speaking of the rumours, I have a suspicion that……" Judge suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence.

I was wondering about it when I heard a familiar voice from outside, except now, it was filled with hatred.

"I've said this before that I, Roland, will come back for you, Your Majesty."

Roland?! How is it possible? How did he get here…… Ah! It must be the secret tunnels, damn it! I hadn't thought that Roland would know of the tunnels too.

"Y-you are not the King!"

Have we been discovered?

I quickly pulled open the wardrobe and leapt out while letting out a burst of holy light. This was our signal to the others lying in wait outside. Let it not be said that our holy knights are not alert and observant, for the holy light had barely faded away when Blaze Knight and the Judge Division had come leaping in through the windows on both sides of the room, while Earth Knight led my Sun Division in from the doors.

Judge had also leapt out of bed, his Divine Judgement Sword in hand.

Roland was surprised at first, but then he finally turned to look at me, saying in a disbelieving voice, "Creus……. How could it be?!"

"Roland, you should know that I cannot allow you to kill anyone." I said a little sadly as I looked at my old friend.

"But… I had clearly told you……"

I interrupted him, nodding, "You told me that your enemy was the Crown Prince."

"But," Roland interrupted angrily, "this is the King's bedchambers!"

"Correct. It was only until the moment you personally told me that your enemy was the Crown Prince, that I was a hundred percent certain that your real target was His Majesty the King. Roland, you've always been as terrible at telling lies as I had been at sword fighting."

"You-……" Roland was stunned speechless.

"Besides, I may not know for certain if the Crown Prince has a hobby of torturing people to death, but I am certain that if he did do such things, we would never have discovered it for at least another ten years."

I gave a shrug and said, "The Crown Prince is not an idiot. If he had really killed a person, he would definitely have destroyed the body once and for all, and not order one of his knights to dispose of the body for him instead.

"Moreover, rumours were later started saying that I had tortured the Death Knight and then killed him. It's understandable if it had only mentioned me killing the Death Knight; as everyone had heard you saying that you would come back for me, it's reasonable that they would conclude that I was the one who had killed you. But, the rumours had specifically mentioned that I had 'tortured you to death'. Now that's much more perplexing."

As I carefully watched Roland's face, I could tell from his baffled expression that he had no idea of the rumours. But that's alright; I wasn't solely explaining it for him.

"The only people who could have known that the Death Knight was tortured to death would be the Death Knight himself, and the guilty party who had done it in the first place."

I took another glance at Roland; the latter was frowning as if trying very hard to understand what I was saying. I continued on regardless, "However, the rumours had spread too far too quickly. I do not believe that the Death Knight was the one who had started them. After all, it's a little hard for the Death Knight to walk out into the streets and start gossiping with people.

"Therefore, the rumours incriminating me must have come from the guilty party themselves." I gave a small smile and turned to look at Judge. "The thing that you were about to mention earlier was this, right? Would you like to add anything, Judge Knight?"

Judge merely gave me a look, as if saying 'Stop playing around', but he did further elaborate on the subject, "Originally, the Holy Temple would have most likely dropped all investigations the moment we realise that this case involved the royalty; however, the moment the Sun Knight's reputation was dragged into the case, we had to find out the truth to clear the Sun Knight's name."

"That is to say, the guilty party had been stupid to try to incriminate me, forcing the Holy Temple to find out the truth. Doing something so stupid is not something the Crown Prince would have done."

I gave a cold laugh. "And thinking about it, who else had a grudge against me, who had enough guts and the stupidity to incriminate the Church of Light's Sun Knight? Why, there could be no other than His Majesty, our dearly beloved King."

"Bullshit! You impertinent bastard!"

The bookshelves on one of the walls suddenly split in two and moved apart, and the King rush out in a fit of anger. Following him closely was the Crown Prince, frowning deeply. Besides the two were a large number of royal knights, there to protect the two royals.

As I had expected, they were hiding in that sealed secret room that I had first investigated earlier this afternoon. In order to lie here in wait, they had probably lifted the seal on its exit.

Roar!

The moment Roland saw the King, his eyes glowed a deep blood red colour and he rushed in the King's direction. The King quickly paled and pushed his knights to the front of him while he hid behind them.

"Judge! Earth!"

I quickly reminded them, but there was no need for it as Judge had already raised his sword to block Roland's attack, while Earth quickly rushed forward to stand in front of the King, his Earth Shield already out and ready.

I started chanting an incantation, and as I chanted the Holy Light filling the room grew stronger and brighter. This Holy Light is the bane of all undead creatures; regardless of Roland's mastery with the sword, nor the fact he is one of the more powerful kinds of undead; as a Death Knight he would not be able to withstand the Holy Light for long.

Moreover, his opponent is the Judge Knight-the most skilled swordsman among the Twelve Holy Knights.

And true to form, Roland did not last long. His sword was soon sent flying by Judge and he was forced to the ground by the strong Holy Light.

Seeing this, the King-who had been cowering behind his knights all this time-immediately rushed out and stomped on Roland's head. As he continued to kick and stomp on him, he yelled out, "You rubbish! My killing you was an honour, yet you dare to come back for revenge……?!"

"Father, stop!"

The Crown Prince paled and he tried to pull his father away, but instead his thin, weak body was knocked back. Fortunately, the surrounding knights managed to catch him and so spared this royal personage from the indignity of falling to the ground in front of so many.

"Stop stomping him!!" The Blaze Knight standing by could not hold his peace any longer, and stepped up to push away the King.

"You dared to push me……" The King said shocked, before shouting out, "Royal Knights! My knights, he attacked me! Attack him!"

The royal knights were taken aback by the order, but after only hesitating a second they pulled out their swords and advanced on the Blaze Knight, surrounding him carefully.

Blaze's face had swiftly turned red in anger, as he shouted, "You dare to point your weapons at me?! Holy Knights, prepare for battle!"

The holy knights aimed their swords at the royal knights.

"Everyone, stop this at once!" the Judge Knight roared angrily.

But the situation had already escalated beyond Judge's control. His order may have stopped his own division's knights- they would never go against his orders-but there was still my Sun Division, the hot-tempered Blaze Knight, and the secretly venomous Earth Knight.

The King's longstanding appalling conduct had not endeared him to the holy knights, and plenty of holy knights already held him in contempt. Yet now, the King had stomped on the fallen Death Knight and openly admitted to killing Roland, as if trying to make everyone detest him even more.

The holy knights and the royal knights glared at each other, both sides ready to attack at any time. Adding fuel to fire to the already tenuous situation, the King grabbed a vase and threw it at the Blaze Knight. It did not hit its target though and smashed instead on the Earth Knight's Earth Shield.

However, such an insulting action was enough to incite the Sun Division's wrath. One of them spitted at the royal knights, and before you knew it, both sides had attacked each other. The sounds of weapons clanging on shields and armour filled the room.

I have to admit that, my Sun Division may be a little, OK, extremely hot-tempered, but their strength is definitely top-notch.

I don't know of it's because of their piss poor luck or due to their inborn nature, but they often seem to be provoking and getting into fights with people who shouldn't be trifled with. And because their leader always had a smile on and looked easy to bully, not to mention that he had adopted the 'Don't bother me' attitude with them, they had no choice but to depend on themselves. Utilising their pure strength and rallying together, they would beat up the other party until they (the other party) were fearful of complaining of their treatment.

I ignored the fight going on behind me and walked up to Roland. As I knelt in front of him and looked down at him, I felt my many emotions struggling within me.

"Creus, Creus."

Roland called out my name softly and lifted his head, his face expressionless. Only the flames within his eyes revealed his inner turmoil as they slowly darkened. He stared at me with those black flame-eyes of his and asked, "Is this what you do after becoming the Sun Knight? Protecting that kind of people?"

I said softly, "Roland, there are many unfair things in this world that we cannot change. As the Church of Light's Sun Knight, I have to consider many things."

"Is this your answer?" The flames in Roland's eyes turned even blacker and blazed even stronger.

"Roland, wake up." I said with pity in my eyes. "No matter what the King has done, as long as he remains the King, I have to stop you from killing him."

"Even when he truly deserves death?" Roland pinned me with his eyes, the flames beginning to burn so brightly that the flames were leaping out from his eye sockets.

"Yes, even when he truly deserves death." I acknowledged frankly.

"What a Sun Knight!" Roland started laughing abruptly, his small chuckles growing into a crazed laughter. The black flames in his eyes had spread out from his sockets and moved across his face like two streams of black tears.

"Argh!"

Without warning, Roland knocked his shoulder into me, sending me flying. At this sudden attack, the Holy Light previously filling the room instantly winked out, and with the Holy Light gone, Roland was able to regain his feet once more.

I slowly got up after being knocked down. Several holy knights from the Judge Division had seen this and stepped forward to help me, but I waved them back, ordering them to continue standing guard at the exits.

Other than the Judge Knight Division, no one else had appeared to notice anything. The whole room was chaotic as a battlefield with the royal knights fighting with Blaze, Earth and my Sun Knight Division. All in all there were about fifty or so people battling it out in the room.

Although both the Crown Prince and the Judge Knight were trying to stop the fights, the King was instead doing his best to stroke the fire. Furthermore, my Sun Division knights were completely ignoring the Judge Knight. Besides, their leader-moi-and the Judge Knight are sworn rivals! It's perfectly normal for them to disregard the Judge Knight's orders!

By now, the Crown Prince's face had turned so pale he looked to be on the verge of fainting; Judge Knight, on the contrary, was so angry his face had turned black.

It is fortunate that this is the king's royal bedchambers; it was as large as a conference hall. Otherwise, there would not have been enough room for more than fifty people to have out their battle here.

I chanted the incantation for the Holy Light once more, and this time the Holy Light was even brighter than before. But this time I had secretly tweaked it a little so that the Holy Light filled the entire room but stayed clear of Roland.

I needed Roland to become the Death Lord, for only then can my plan succeed.

The bright Holy Light successfully blocked everyone from seeing the Death Knight becoming a Death Lord, as well as covering up Roland's strong dark aura. No one could see Roland's form with the Holy Light so glaring; the Judge Division knights probably thought that I was in control of the Death Knight situation and so did not make a move to help me.

As for the rest, well… I doubt those knights so engrossed in their fights had even noticed the Holy Light disappearing and then reappearing again.

The Holy Light was cast by me so it did not block my vision, and I was able to witness firsthand the birth of a Death Lord.

Roland's body had originally been a pale grey colour, it was latter on that the flames in his eyes had turned a dark black and seeped out from his eyes and down his face, forming two black fiery streaks. Now, those black streaks were reaching down his neck and continued on under his clothes. I may not be able to see what happened as they travelled under his clothes, but I was soon able to see the streaks cover his arms and hands.

Other than the fiery black streaks, the surrounding dark aura was suddenly absorbed into Roland's body. Next, I could see something slowly growing from his back-a pair of black leathery wings akin to a dragon's! At the peak of each wing grew a set of sharp claws.

Pale white body covered with markings of black flames and a pair of clawed black wings, is this the Death Lord's form?

I have to admit that he looks pretty strong and powerful. I can only hope that my plan can stop Roland, or else…… Heheh! I'd probably die just while taking him down.

At this point, Roland opened his eyes and looked down curiously at the markings on his arms, and then twisted around to touch the wings on his back.

It is time!

I ran towards him, and when we were about one meter apart, Roland caught sight of me. His face twisted into an expression of anger as he sent me flying with a swipe of his hand. He was so fast that I hadn't manage to see him move.

I fell to the ground for the second time today. 'Shit! It really hurts this time!' I suspected that my chest had caved in, or even worse, that a hole had been punched right through!

"Sun Knight!"

The Judge Division knights were the first to notice my condition and had cried out, coming forward to help me, but with a wave of his hand and a few incantations, Roland had summoned up all kinds of dark creatures. Zombies, skeletal warriors, blood-sucking human-head spiders, malignant spirits……there were even several that I could not put a name to.

'Isn't this a little too powerful?!' I thought as my face paled. 'Please don't tell me my plan has backfired and Roland is going to kill me right here, right now!'

With this summons, the Judge Division were too busy trying to subdue the dark creatures to help me. But it had successfully alerted the two battling parties to what was happening.

The royal knights all cried out "protect the Crown Prince!" …… before realising that each had cried out the same thing and quickly shouted out "protect His Majesty, the King!"

'That old fart really isn't popular with everyone, even his own knights!'

And on the other side of the room, my Sun Division had finally noticed me lying on the ground coughing up blood, each showing various different expressions of shock that together they could make a compilation of 'Shocked and Stunned Faces'.

Struggling through my pain, I gave the order, "Stop the dark creatures, do not let a single one escape from this room."

"Yes, Sir!" They replied in unison, so disciplined were they that they were completely unrecognizable from the disobedient, unruly group earlier.

Even though my Sun Division might usually mess up everything, they would immediately become as obedient as a little kitten when they receive an order from me. This is because I had once told them that even if I had ordered them to jump off a cliff, they would have to follow my orders and jump. Or else I would personally push them off the cliff and throw down a huge rock after them.

At first, they weren't really afraid of this threat, for I was the ever-smiling Sun Knight and did not look at all scary. But, when I smiled at them as I kicked two of them off the cliff, and really pushed off two humongous rocks after them, the rest of the division made the decision to jump off the cliff themselves.

My Sun Division knights were better and quicker at subduing the dark creatures than the Judge Division, for the Holy Light and various other holy spells that is a must for the Sun Division is perfect for countering dark creatures.

I felt relieved as I watched my knights getting rid of the dark creatures easily; it was just a matter of time before all the dark creatures are gone.

Blaze and Earth had walked up to stand by my sides, each reaching out a hand to help me up. Once on my feet, I gave them the orders, "Blaze, I leave the spirits to you; Earth, help out anyone who is in trouble. I do not want to see any fatal injuries."

Both of them nodded, and Blaze entered the melee and started targeting the malignant spirits, Purification Fire burning in each hand.

Earth Knight stood by my side, watching the battle closely, casting his specialty-Earth Shield-whenever anyone was in trouble.

Roland was surrounded by a group of dark creatures. As he stood there he watched the battle going on around him with a small smirk on his lips. This was a complete 180 from his usual expression.

'Has his anger destroyed all rationality?' I wondered uneasily.

While thinking that, Roland did something that further supported my theory. He turned the dark aura in the room into a net-like form and placed it around the entire room, trapping everyone inside. He then summoned out a second wave of dark creatures, their numbers rivalling the number of knights in the room.

Ah, no wonder all the books on undead creatures had warned not to allow a Death Lord to be born, or else it'll be a disaster in the making……

I looked at Judge as he questioned the Crown Prince, "I apologise, your Highness, but the situation has gotten a little out of hand. May I ask how long it'll take for the rest of the knights and guards to notice the situation here?"

The Crown Prince was white as a bed sheet, yet he still had to fend off his father's shouts. He smiled wryly as he answered, "Because this…… delicate case…… is not something to be proud of, I had diverted all the guards elsewhere, and had given the order not to approach this area regardless of anything they might hear."

Upon hearing this, Judge frowned furiously before looking at me. I can guess at what he's planning. He probably wants me to get out and alert the guards and the Holy Temple, and call for backup.

That would be the best solution, because for one-I'm already injured; two-even if I weren't injured, my fighting skills were little better than an injured person; three-my whole body is filled with holy aura, and so it would be easy for me to get through the dark aura caging us in.

But I had my own plans. Just one more step left.

"What am I retaining you knights for?! Hurry up and kill that bastard!!" The king was trembling with fury, that he even slapped one of his own knights in anger.

'My dear beloved King, never before have I wished to kiss that fat sweaty paw of yours as I do now!'

His actions and words are a hundred percent sufficient to further enrage Roland, and it is this moment that I had been waiting for!

Roland was definitely furious. The flames in his eyes were spitting sparks and he gave a low inhuman roar. The dark aura exploded, causing the whole room to shake.

I immediately ran in the king's direction. I have no idea how Roland is going to break through the royal knights' defences to get to the King, but I know he'll definitely do it. I just need to stand in front of the King when he does it.

As I ran, I turned to look back at Roland. It seemed like the air was subtly bending around him, oh no, don't tell me……

I increased my pace, terrified that I would not reach the King in time.

Roland disappeared.

While everyone else was still staring at the spot where he was last standing, Roland had re-materialised in front of the King. He gave him a cruel smile and said, "Your Majesty, your time is at hand."

The King was so terrified that his trembling legs could not support him and he dropped to his knees.

That move was a type of spacial magic-Instant Teleportation, shortening the distance between two places and allowing one to move between places in an instant. I never thought the Death Lord would be able to use this magic.

"Roland, stop!"

I was able to reach the King's front, just as Roland unhesitatingly lifted his sword to swing at the King's head. I quickly cast a holy spell on myself, giving me Holy Blessings, and took on Roland's attack.

Even so, my chest was sliced deeply and my blood spurted out, spraying onto Roland. Each drop of my holy blood was deadly to him, and he cried out in pain.

Even though he cut a sorry figure with my blood splattered all over him, his expression had cleared and the flames in his eyes were no longer as dark as before. Upon seeing this, I let out a breath of relief. He's finally calmed down. I was worried that he would continue on in his rampage!

"Creus……" Roland raised his head and stared at me with uncomprehendingly, "Just now, why didn't you stop-……"

"Roland!" I interrupted. 'Are you kidding?! I can't let all these people here know that I had purposely allowed Roland to become a Death Lord! They'd tie me up if they found out!'

"I know that you're determined to kill the person who had killed you, but I also know that you are not doing this for revenge. You're doing this because you cannot allow a cruel and heartless torturer to rule over this beautiful country of ours. You cannot bear the thought of people undergoing sufferings such as that you had experienced, to prevent future cases of Death Knights like yourself from happening again, right?"

Upon hearing my words, Roland nodded reflexively as they were somewhat similar to his intentions.

I looked at him calmly and said, "If that is so, if the King were to agree to abdicate his throne as a sign of his repentance, you would be satisfied and be able to move on, right Roland?"

"Su-sun Knight, what is the meaning of this?! What are you saying?!" The King cried out, his face red with anger.

Roland frowned at this, unsure at where I'm going with this.

"Roland? You're Captain Roland?" One of the royal knights suddenly cried out.

The rest of the royal knights seem to know of Roland's name, for they each took a closer look at the Death Lord's face, before one, then two,…… many of the knights had soon recognised who the Death Lord was.

The royal knights started murmuring:

"It really is him. It's that youngest captain of the royal knights."

"It's Roland! I used to run patrols with him."

"He was such a talented knight, how could this be……?"

"Captain Roland! Weren't you killed in the line of duty while out on a mission?" The knight who had first recognised Roland cried out.

Roland looked at the young knight and his severe face softened. "It's you, Herle."

"It really is Captain Roland!" When Herle heard his name called out, he got so worked up that he even dropped his sword. "H-How could you have become a Death Knight?" he asked disbelievingly.

Roland slowly turned back and looked at the King, his look of hatred making it clear to all that this was the person who had killed him. The royal knights looked at the King and looks of realization appeared on their faces. Not one person even doubted Roland's words, for the King's usual conduct was already telling everyone that yes, he is the kind of person to do such things.

The King got a little embarrassed, but he turned it into anger and shouted, "Yes, I'm the one who killed him! But he's one of my knights. He committed a crime so I merely executed him for it, what's wrong with that?"

Standing beside him, the Crown Prince wearily pressed his face into his hands, as if tired of all the trouble his father kept stirring up.

"Bullshit! Roland was one of the most law-abiding knights; he would never commit any crime. If not, why don't you tell us what crime he had committed?"

That knight called Herle must be one of Roland's fans, to be so daring as to shout back at his king; although, he did look rather shocked by his own outburst the moment he had realised what he had done. However, the other royal knights must have agreed with him, for even though no one else had spoken up, they were looking at the King coldly.

Looks like Roland has a pretty good reputation among the royal knights.

"He-he tried to take liberties with the princess!" The King cunningly picked a crime difficult to investigate, not caring that he was ruining his own daughter's reputation.

The twenty or so royal knights all revealed strange expressions, same even looked exasperated as they explained, "Everyone knows that Captain Roland avoids women. He doesn't covet money, he doesn't gamble, or drink, or get into fights. He spends all his free time doing nothing but swords practice……"

This kind of guy really
is hard to incriminate, is what the King must be moaning inside.

"I-as the King of a country, I would never kill one of my knights for no reason. If I said he had seduced the Princess, then he did! "

The knights fell silent at this, for if the King refused to admit it, they could not do a single thing about it. Then again, even if he had confessed, what could they do? Unless they were to rebel against the country……

"The reason his Majesty the King wanted to kill him was because……"

A lazy voice totally inconsistent with the current tense situation suddenly spoke up, startling everyone. Storm stepped out from behind a large dressing mirror lazily, a small smile on his face even when seeing the Death Lord.

'Storm is an-gry!' I thought gleefully.

I could tell, because every time this guy got really angry, he would look calm and relaxed just like now. And then just when the other guy had relaxed his guard, this guy would suddenly launch his attack, striking where it would hurt the most.

Currently, I hold the record for angering him the most times. In the thirteen years I've known him, I've angered him a grand total of ten times, and was surprise-attacked by him nine times. The reason why I was attacked one time less was because just after angering him that time, I had managed to anger my teacher.

When he had entered my room all calm and relaxed, I was already lying in bed pitifully, wrap from head to toe in bandages like a mummy. He had stood at the foot of my bed quietly for ten minutes, before his pity finally won over his need for revenge (or maybe it was because he could not find a single uninjured spot to hit?) Anyway, in the end he left without doing a single thing.

Well, looks like this torture and murder case had really roused Storm's anger.

Storm pushed open the mirrored door, slamming it into the wall. If I'm not mistaken I could see cracks forming in the wall…….

"He discovered your habit of torturing the maids and then killing them, and wanted to expose you. Instead, he was imprisoned by you and tortured for three whole months before dying."

'Three months? Where the hell did he get such a precise period of time?' I thought questioningly. 'Even I didn't know how long Roland had been tortured for.'

The king's face twisted into a sinister expression as he shouted, "Lies! All lies! You couldn't have known how long I had imprisoned Roland!"

Storm nonchalantly replied, "There are no walls that are completely solid, just as there are no secrets that cannot be found out. I even know that the underwear you are currently wearing right now are red, leopard-spotted briefs. Do you think that there's anything that can be hidden from me? Do you want me to list out the methods of torture you had put him through? Whipping, burning, pulling out his nails, tearing out his tongue, soaking him in salt water, pouring honey onto his wounds and releasing a nest of ants on him…… need I continue?"

The King's face paled drastically.

Upon hearing again all those torture methods, Roland covered his face and let out a little pained roar as he recalled all the cruelty he had undergone at the hands of the King.

'Woah!' I nearly gave Storm a standing ovation. I had only asked for Storm to jump out in the middle and help me reveal the existence of the secret torture room, but I never thought he would be so thorough as to investigate how long Roland had been imprisoned and what methods had been used on him. He had even found out the colour of the King's underwear!

I sincerely prayed to the God of Light that Storm would not die from overworking.

Storm stepped away from the dressing mirror, and I immediately noticed that he had removed the hanging cloth. With the cloth gone, the rotting smell of flesh and blood immediately drifted out, emphasising the truth of Storm's words.

By now, the Sun Division had finished with all the dark creatures. Roland had yet to realise that the dark creatures were no longer there to protect him, but no one had moved to attack him.

In fact, judging from everyone's expressions, they would rather attack the King than attack Roland.

"Blaze, go purify the room of any lingering air of resentment." I ordered.

Blaze nodded and stepped into the torture chamber, but he did not immediately call out the Purification Fire. Instead, he stood there for a while, dazed. Not a sound could be heard as an oppressive silence fell upon the whole room. Everyone had fallen silent as they watched him. After a while, a long sigh could be heard from Blaze.

The Purification Fire had started to burn when the torture room was suddenly filled with the screams of the dead victims, screaming out their agony as they were tortured mercilessly before dying.

More than a few had paled at these spine chilling screams, and had quickly bowed down their heads while muttering prayers.

Once the screams were over, an even more shocking sound was heard.

"Father, please abdicate the throne and retire, so that you may enjoy your older years in peace."

The Crown Prince had finally spoken up. His face was weary and looked like he had aged several years, tired of tonight's entire farce.

"What are you saying?......" The King looked at his son, stunned.

The Crown Prince looked at his father sternly and said, "Please abdicate the throne as a sign of your repentance, and let me take care of you in your retirement."

Several emotions flickered across the King's face at his son's words. As he looked around him, the royal knights just looked back at him coldly; the holy knights looked on in disdain; and standing not too far away was a strong and powerful Death Lord staring at him with hatred in his eyes.

Lastly, he turned to look at me. I turned my head and looked back at him, my golden hair and the angle hiding my expression from everyone else, but allowing him and him alone to see me, and the evil smile on my lips.

His eyes widened as his face paled, suddenly realising who had masterminded this whole act. And this person just so happens to be the leader of the Twelve Holy Knights with the capability of calling out the entire Holy Temple against him. The portly guy was probably even guessing if the Hall of Light had anything to do with all this.

"I-I will abdicate the throne." In the end, the King announced defeated.

The moment he announced his decision, I quietly slipped a hand into my pocket and crushed a pink heart-shaped glass.

At this moment, something began happening to Roland. His body started floating up and everyone thought he was going to attack, but Roland merely looked down at himself perplexed, as if not understanding why he would be floating up.

The dark aura began receding to be replaced with a soft pink glow.

'Why is it pink? I had clearly asked for white……' I grumbled softly.

"Could it be that his obsession has been achieved and that he's now going to move on?" Some random holy knight who had once flipped through a book about the undead exclaimed.

"Captain Roland!" cried Herle as he looked up at Roland with tears in his eyes.

Roland had a puzzled expression, as if wondering why he would 'move on'. As he started struggling a little the dark aura grew thicker and the pink glow dimmed a little……

"Death Lord, let me give you a helping hand!" I called out. As I wrapped the Holy Light around Roland, the dark aura diminished, leaving only the pink glow which got brighter and brighter, until a pink light appeared in the air, falling upon Roland and enveloping him in it.

At last, Roland seemed to have understood something. He looked at me meaningfully and said, "Creus, see you around."

I nodded back at him.

The light flashed and winked out, taking Roland away with it. From the air drifted down delicate pink petals, their soft and sweet scent clearly telling everyone that nothing dark remained.

As I looked around the room covered in pink flower petals, I felt thankful that everything had gone according to plan.

With the threat of a Death Lord and the royal knights distancing themselves from the King, the Crown Prince-firstly worried that the Death Lord might pull out all the stops to kill the King, secondly, to appease the royal knights, and thirdly…… well perhaps it is the little selfish desire of an old Prince already in his forties- would advise his father to abdicate the throne.

The Crown Prince had already been in control of political affairs for quite some time now, so when he spoke up, even the King would not dare to flippantly go against his son and refuse to abdicate.

In the end, the cruel-handed ruler has been forced down from his power, and I believe that after my advice about the possibility of his father creating more Death Knights, the Crown Prince would definitely watch his father carefully and stop him from resuming his hobby.

'Roland, you might not be completely satisfied with this ending, but after all, I am not a Death Knight. I cannot simply kill people to settle this.'

The dead can just kill and move on to the afterlife afterwards, but the living would have to stay and face the consequences. That is why the living has to find ways to compromise. I can only hope that you can accept this compromised justice.

~O~O~O~O~

The King abdicated the throne, and the Death Knight moved on to the afterlife.

Everything might have been resolved in a rather unexpected way, but it is a happy ending.

All fifty something holy knights had naturally returned to the Holy Temple, and while it had been unavoidable that some had been injured, they were all restored back to full health by the holy priests. Within half an hour, everyone was as good as new.

As the Sun Knight-not to mention I had been heavily wounded-I was the first the priests had rushed to. After receiving more than ten advanced level healing spells, I'm sure even the split ends on my hair have been healed. I immediately stood up to leave, intending to regain my beauty sleep, when I heard the Judge Knight approaching from behind.

"Sun, can I ask you a few questions?"

"Hmm?" I smiled faintly at him.

Judge hesitated for a moment and frowned. "The reason you brought Blaze and Earth along was really to stop the Death Knight, and not because their tempers are easily roused and might start a fight, thus allowing Roland time to become the Death Lord, right?"

"Earth Knight is an honest and gentle person, how could you possibly say that he would start a fight with someone?" I asked, showing just the right amount of bewilderment.

Judge could only frown at that. I knew that he had no way of refuting that statement as the Earth Knight's honest and gentle personality is a fact that the whole continent knows!

He then asked his second question, "Then while the royal knight were fighting with our holy knights, you had said something to him when he started changing into the Death Lord. You hadn't used your knowledge of your friend and purposely said something to anger him, thus manipulating him into becoming the Death Lord, right?"

I opened my mouth to reply him with another weak answer, but Judge had continued on without giving me the opportunity to answer.

"When Roland was close to becoming the Death Lord, were you really unable to stop him?"

Judge paused after these two questions, hesitated for a second, before continuing on to say in a certain voice, "Tonight's events leading up to the King's abdication, are they all done for Roland's sake? Your actions……"

"Judge Knight!" I interrupted him with a smile. "You need only know one thing. It does not matter if that Death Knight had been Roland or a complete stranger, everything that had happened tonight would have happened regardless of the Death Knight's identity, and no other way."

Judge frowned in disbelief.

I calmly laid my hand on the Sun Knight insignia on my chest and solemnly said, "The first thing my teacher had taught me was this: 'Serving out justice is the meaning for the Sun Knight's existence.'"


 

"Child, the Sun Knight may not be able to get full justice, and the Sun Knight may have to compromise on justice, but the Sun Knight may never give up on justice. The moment that you have given up on carrying out justice, tear off that Sun Knight insignia on your chest, for you are no longer a Sun Knight!"


 

"Do you understand my answer, Judge Knight?"

Judge was silent for a moment before he nodded. "I understand, Sun Knight. However, I would like to ask you one more question."

"More questions?" I laughed wryly.

"The Sun Knight is not going to leave a Death Lord wandering around, is he?"

"Of course not!" I smiled my most innocent and guileless smile at him before giving a yawn and said, "I'm so tired! I'm off to bed. Go to bed soon, yourself."

The Judge Knight kept quiet as I quickened my footsteps, and just as I was about to reach the corner and leave his sight, he suddenly asked me, "Then, will Creus let Roland go?"

At this, I halted my footsteps as I stroke at my pocket. After I had crushed Pink's pink heart-shaped glass, a book on advanced necromancy arts, a necromancy apprentice certificate and a small slip of paper had appeared in my pocket. I had yet to read the message.

I smiled wryly as I read the message now and answered him, "Well…… it's rather late. Creus is already asleep; he'll answer you some other time!"

Written on the paper was:

Dear apprentice,

Don't bother hoping to get your friend Roland to move on to the afterlife. He's told me that his obsession is to be the Sun Knight.

Shit!

I should have just burned him at the stake.


 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

Thursday 24 March 2011

Book 1: Rule 8 – The Sun Knight’s Eight Rule: “Never act suspiciously while wearing a cloak.”

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

Creus, if you aren't chosen to become the Sun Knight, becoming a priest is not bad either! That way you can help to heal my wounds in the future.

I abruptly jerked awake in bed. I had a dream. A dream of a memory long past, as well as a serious face I had not seen for a very long time.

Roland had always been a serious child, even when trying to comfort someone else. He had very seriously observed my abilities and then suggested a viable alternative for me. And I had genuinely considered taking his advice and becoming a priest in the Halls of Light, should I fail to get chosen to become the next Sun Knight.

I wouldn't have minded becoming a priest, for I could then continue to stay by his side as his priest. Especially if Roland were to be chosen as the next Sun Knight, that would be the best!


 

I had met Roland at the selection held by the Holy Temple for the next Sun Knight. When all but ten contenders had been eliminated, everyone had looked upon each other as deadly enemies.

But Roland and I had been very close instead.

Roland had been very strong, the most promising one among us, while I? I was well aware that my sword skill was the worst among them. The only way for me to win would have been to pray for a miracle to happen.

But it is only when one is the most likely one to win, and the other is the least likely, that a friendship could be formed in such hostile waters.

But that day, our friendship was ruined when teacher had announced me as his successor……

"Why did you pick me?" I had asked in timid confusion as I stumbled up to the current Sun Knight. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that I would be chosen.

"Well, it might be because of your beautiful golden hair." My teacher had said in a lackadaisical tone.

My heart chilled at this irresponsible reply. Had I really gotten the position through such a dubious reason? But yet even if so, I just couldn't bring myself to bow out, to say that I handover the position to Roland, I just can't!

I, too, want to be the Sun Knight; I want it so much!

When I finally forced myself to turn around, Roland had already turned to leave. I could not see his expression, but he was walking away hurriedly, as if all this meant nothing to him; he hadn't come up to congratulate me either, but given the situation, I was lucky he hadn't taken a swing at me. Compared to the rest of the contenders who were eyeing me in hatred, I was grateful he hadn't beaten me up.


 

"Do you hate me, Roland?" I murmured as I buried my face into my hands. "You came back because you hate me, right?"

"But how did you die? You are Roland! The Roland who was capable of defeating grownups even at the young age of ten……"

I then remembered the Duke's third son, the implications with the Crown Prince, and understood. No matter how strong he is, Roland alone cannot win against someone with the might of a whole country behind them.

Even I, the Sun Knight, cannot directly confront the country's ruler; not unless said ruler had a confrontation with the whole Church of the God of Light, unless said ruler starts a conflict between a country and a Religion of a God.

But… hmmm…… it seems that someone had promised to exact revenge for Roland….

'… … … …'

'Let's put that aside for now! First, I should investigate the whole matter properly before I could even start thinking of revenge,' I thought. Like an ostrich trying to bury its head in the sand at danger, I tried to avoid having to think of such a difficult and unsettling problem.

Now, if one wants to investigate the royalty, they should go to the Storm Knight. He's always hanging around (winking) with the noble women 24/7, and can often be seen exchanging stories of romance and freedom with the playboy aristocrats, so he'll definitely know plenty of secrets and scandals about them.

Well as the saying goes: 'Make things happen, don't wait for things to happen.'

I got myself presentable in just a minute and rushed out of my room to begin my search for the Storm Knight. Searching everywhere-high and low-in the large Holy Temple, I finally found him in one of the corridors carrying a huge stack of office documents.

"Brother Storm, can you help this Sun?" I asked without hesitation.

"Can I refuse?"

Storm didn't look so hot right now, with a pair of deep black shadows under his eyes. I could tell from the imposing stack of documents he held that he'd probably been carrying out his duties as the Storm Knight. I.e. as the Storm Knight he has to skip meetings, and the rest of the Twelve Knights had-as usual-'volunteered' him to complete all the extra work that arose due to my absence these past few days.

"This is an order from the leader of the Twelve Holy Knights."

"…… what is it?"

"Please help this Sun to investigate who among the nobles and royalty have the unsavoury hobby of torturing people, so that the God of Light may guide those lost sheep off the stray path and back onto the proper way."

"If that's your problem, then I can tell you without needing to investigate that eight out of ten of the nobility have such hobbies," said Storm as he rolled his eyes at me.

"That many……" I was a little surprised. Is the art of torturing some kind of basic skill that the nobility must learn?

"Of course. They're the nobility." He replied matter-of-factly.

"Then…… are there any in particular who are especially immersed in such activities, who have not only strayed off the right path, but even gone so far as to commit an act unforgivable in the God of Light's eyes, such as torturing their victims to death?"

At this, Storm gave me a strange look before answering my question seriously, "No one would actually admit to such an interest, but if you really want to know, there are quite a lot of unconfirmed rumours……"

"Do speak," I encouraged.

I had originally thought that there would only be a few people, but in one breath, Storm expelled a whole list of names-more than ten, so many that even I whose memory is quite good could not memorize all of them.

"… … … … The Duke of Ceylan, and I think there are also such rumours surrounding the King."

I hesitated for a moment before pushing forward. "What about the Crown Prince?"

"Nope. I've yet to hear any such rumours about the Crown Prince. His reputation is one of the better ones among the nobility."

Storm then shrugged before adding, "Of course, it could be because he hid his secrets very well. He might look like a weak and easy target, but he is the textbook example of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Otherwise, how could he have such power and leverage over the King?"

"Are you saying that you would not be surprised if he actually did tortured people to death?"

Storm gave me another strange look but nodded.

I felt a little disheartened, but I nodded at him and said, "That'll be all. May you feel the bright presence of the God of Light no matter where you are, my brother Storm."

Storm nodded and left, but I could hear him muttering, "How strange. Today, Sun's words are so simple and clear! I could understand him immediately without needing to discern his meaning. How inconceivable……"

I ambled around while considering the matters in my head. The suspects number at more than ten, but seeing as the Duke of Ceylan and his son who had pledged his alliance to the crown prince is involved, the list of suspects can be narrowed down to: the Duke of Ceylan, the Crown Prince and His Majesty.

Even though the Duke's third son's pledged lord is the Crown Prince, the King should also be able to order him around. And the reason why I do not suspect the third son himself is because he had brought along two other knights with him when disposing of the body. Typically, knights greatly value their honour and reputation. If he had really been the culprit, he would never have willingly let others know of his secret. He would have gone to the execution grounds alone rather than bring along the other two knights.

But on the other hand, maybe the three of them had been in on it together?

"No." I quickly refuted this theory. "Roland is too strong. He would never have fallen to those three."

"Looks like you've found something."

I jumped, startled, before I realised that it was the Judge Knight who had spoken.

"Roland, is that the Death Knight's name?"

Judge looked at me piercingly, as if trying to read me for answers. I think I can now understand why the criminals would always spill out the truth to him.

As can be expected of Judge, he had pieced together the fact that Roland was the name of the Death Knight just from that one sentence.

"You know that Death Knight? But I've never heard you mention his name before. Was he an old friend?"

Erk! I have yet to say anything! Right? How come he seems to know everything already?! How scary!

"Blaze met the Death Knight yesterday, as well as a black clothed man……"

At this, Judge paused and looked at me. "You don't seem surprised? Did you already know about this? But the Twelve Knights had just finished the meeting, and Blaze had left after me, so you couldn't have met him."

"… …" I think Judge can deduce everything even without me speaking a word.

Judge probably understood that I was unwilling to answer any questions, for he did not question me any further, only explaining this, "According to Blaze, the Death Knight is close to becoming a Death Lord. I intend to dispatch half of our knights to search him out in the city. The Pope has also agreed to send out half of his priest to aid in the search. A Death Lord must not be allowed to be born."

Oh no, at this rate, Roland is going to be burned on a stake!

I pushed back my panic, drew myself up and putting on the rarely used Sun Knight's dignified mask, said sternly, "I believe that matters of the undead are under my jurisdiction. Judge Knight, you seem to have overstepped your boundaries."

"My apologies, Sun Knight. I had believed you to be on leave, and the matter regarding the Death Knight cannot drag on for long, so I had taken the liberty of settling the matter in your stead. If you wish to handle this matter personally, then please cancel your leave. And may I remind you that you have two more days to investigate the truth of this matter." Judge had replied calmly before leaving.

But as he passed by me, he quietly said, "Ever since we were kids, I've been forced to do many things that have crossed the boundaries; help me fight this, help me investigate that, help me beat up those guys who bullied me,… who do you think had requested all these things of me? Hmmm?"

Err…… It sounds like some of the things the 'young and immature me' had asked.

"No matter who Roland was, a Death Lord absolutely cannot be allowed to be born. Is this not the principle by which you stand firm with, Sun Knight?"

"Yes," I quietly nodded in agreement, "this is Sun's principle." 'But Creus has his own principles too.'

Judge nodded at my answer and left.

I am now quickly running out of time. The Holy Temple and the Hall of Light are highly efficient. With half of the people from both branches forming groups and combing the city for the Death Knight, it'll only take them half a day to find him. Within this half a day, I have to find Roland first and place him in hiding with Pink.

I'm confident that Pink would be able to hide Roland without leaving a trace.

With my high sensitivity to dark aura, it shouldn't be too hard for me to locate Roland within the deadline-provided that guy isn't hiding in some unusual place.

I went back to my room and strapped on my Holy Sun Blade, put on an inconspicuous cloak to avoid attention, and headed out to the city centre-the city's largest plaza. Pretending to be a weary traveller, I sat down beside one of the fountains.

Hidden under the cloak, I quietly clutched the Holy Sun Blade. The Holy Sun Blade is a precious artefact imbued with pure holy element, thus able to help increase my sensitivity towards any dark aura.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the dark auras in Sprouting Leaf City. There is an element of darkness in every city, as well as within every person, but these dark elements are in rather small amounts. Both the city and the ordinary person alike are filled with an assortment of different elements. While some might have a stronger fire or water element, it is only those who specialise in certain skills who would have certain elements in greater abundance within them. For example, a sorcerer specialising in fire would have an unusually high amount of the fire element within him.

By studying the different elements within a person, I am able to identify with almost certain accuracy the jobs of strangers I'm meeting for the first time.

Fortunately, my ability in sensing and recognising the different elements (mage sight) is better than average. It can even be said to be an innate gift, for although one could try to learn this skill, their skill will never be as strong as a natural's.

My teacher is the only one who knows of this skill of mine. He had gravely warned me not to tell others of this ability, and had at the same time forbidden me from using it unless absolutely necessary.

This is because this ability is rather alarming, for you see, each person's combination of the different elements are unique, and unlikely to change in the short run; so once I've recognised someone's elements combination, I can then track their movements wherever they go.

And just as I can guess a certain person's strengths and abilities just from seeing their elements, similarly I can tell if a person is carrying any magical items, and if so I can roughly tell what its properties are.

It would not be a good thing for me if others were to be aware of this ability of mine.

And besides, ever since I took on the title of the Sun Knight, my mage sight had weakened due to the overpowering holy aura on my person. The holy aura hampers me from sensing other elements, all except one type of element, that is. My sensitivity towards any dark element-which is on the opposite end of the spectrum from holy element-had instead increased significantly.

I could certainly sense the various pockets of dark element within the city, but only in small amounts. In fact, Sprouting Leaf city is actually considerably cleaner than various other cities.

I continually widened the range of my mage sight, from the plaza outwards in all directions; through dark alleys and corners, over old broken houses and bypassing straw-filled stables, yet I could not find a trace of Roland. Where could he have hidden himself?

His dark aura is too strong; there shouldn't be any reason why I can't sense him.

What if…… tentatively, I turned to look behind me. Not far away, rising over the city are the towers of the Royal Palace-the seat of the country's King.

The Royal Palace could be considered one of the darkest places. While there may be many loyal and trustworthy knights there, the darkness of the nobility is overpowering. One can tell just from Storm's tales of the nobility's distasteful torturing hobby, that the Royal Palace is the dirtiest and darkest place.

Even from where I'm sitting, I could feel the whole Royal Palace smothered in a cloud of dark aura. I would never be interested in the place, if not for the possibility that Roland might be hiding in there.

'I really don't wan'na extend my senses into that cloud of oppressive dark aura…….' I wailed inside, but seeing as I cannot find Roland anywhere else, the Royal Palace is the last place left.

Closing my eyes once more, I reluctantly extended my mage sight into the palace……

After awhile, I opened my eyes. Strange? He's not in there either?

'Could he have left the city?' I thought bewilderedly. 'Well, that's a good thing, 'cause that way Judge won't be able to find him.'

"Tell me, is it the Sun Knight's duty to daydream in the city square?"

"Of course not! I'm always very busy!" I disagree on an automatically reflex, but when I raised my head, I was stunned, for here was the very person I've been looking for, standing right in front of me!

Standing before me, Roland looked exactly the same as he did when we were small, only taller.

He had a slender build and a handsome face; his expression was as serious as ever. Even just standing there, he gave off an air that screamed, 'don't mess around with me'. I bet even if he were to smile he would still feel a little oppressive, but most people would not mind said feeling, for Roland is just that kind of natural-born leader, where people would willingly place themselves under his command.

But the most astonishing thing was the fact that Roland looked…… human!

He looked completely different from his previously faded appearance. If Roland were to appear in front of me for the first time in this form, I would definitely have recognised him the moment I clapped eyes on him.

I asked him bewilderedly, "You… you've been resurrected?"

But the moment the words were out of my mouth I felt like hitting myself. He's already dead and had become a Death Knight, there's no way he could have been resurrected!

"No, of course I haven't been resurrected." Roland still answered me seriously, despite my idiotic question. He then asked politely, "May I sit down?"

"Oh, sure." My thoughts were in a mess. 'If Roland had not been resurrected, how is it that he looks so human?' The suspicion that he was actually a figment of my imagination crept into my mind.

Roland sat down beside me and smiled, "Creus, you're still the same as ever. Whenever you come across a difficult problem, you would sit in public places like this and get lost in your thoughts."

'That's because I was using my mage sight, I wasn't daydreaming!'

"Why do you look like this now?" I just couldn't resist asking.

Roland merely held up his left hand. My attention was instantly drawn to a ring on his middle finger. Roland never wore jewellery of any kind, especially one like this pink heart-shaped ring. Anyone could tell that this ring is just a cheap fake. So right away I knew that this ring must have some powerful ability, for him to willingly put it on.

Roland gave a small cough and explained, "Pink gave me this Life Ring. It gives the illusion that I'm a human; but this illusion can be easily broken by Holy Light."

"Yeah, I can tell that this belonged to Pink…… Did she give you the sword too?"

I never would have guess that a silly ring like this would possess such an impressive ability. The next time I visit Pink I'll have to take a closer look at that panda bear doll sitting in the corner. Who knows if that panda bear is capable of summoning the Demon King, or something like that?

"No. The sword is a family heirloom. Although, I had never thought I would one day use this wicked sword," said Roland with a depreciating smile. "Who would have thought that I would become a Death Knight and use this sword. I really have become one of the wicked……"

"Stop!"

I held out a hand to stop him, as I had seen a group of five holy knights and two priest entering the city square. Although they might not believe that the Death Knight would appear in such a crowded place, Judge has always been a cautious person who would leave nothing to chance, so it would be just like him to insist on checking public places like this.

This is bad! The Death Knight himself is sitting right beside me!

Roland might currently look like a human, but I could still faintly sense the dark aura he emitted. The priests might be able to sense it too…… Uh oh! One of the priests had looked in our direction before turning to point us out to the holy knights beside him. Looks like he's asking them to inspect us.

"Roland, leave now, quickly!" I hissed at him.

Roland merely looked at the holy knights, but made no move to get up and leave, continuing to sit there calmly.

Oh dear, not only are the holy knights heading in our direction, all seven of them had varying degrees of stern looks on their face. Could they have already discovered Roland?

My heart was beating frantically, as my mind scrambled as to how I would explain this to my own holy knights, when all seven of them had reached Roland…… and proceeded to ignore him, coming to a halt in front of me.

The leader of the holy knights looked at me warily and said, "Please lower you hood."

My face was expressionless as I lowered my hood. Beside me, Roland had turned his head away, but I could tell from his shaking shoulders that he was laughing.

"Ah! Sun Knight?!" All seven of them cried out, startled. I bet even if they had discovered the Death Knight, they would not have been as shocked as they were by me.

I asked morosely, "Could it be that this Sun is no longer blessed by the God of Light? That her holy aura no longer wraps surround this Sun, causing my fellow brother holy knights to mistake this Sun for the dark filled Death Knight?"

"N-no! It's not that at all!" The seven seemed to move in perfect harmony, heads shaking left and right together.

"Then could it be that this Sun's activities or behaviour were too sneaky, that my brothers would mistake this Sun for the hiding Death Knight?"

Once again, all seven holy knights shook their heads at 180 degrees, in unison.

"Then, could it be that this was all just one of the God of Light's lovely misunderstandings?"

All seven of them shook their head again…… before realising what I said, their faces showed various expressions of horrified looks, and then hurriedly nodded their heads forcefully.

"If this really was one of Her beautiful misunderstandings, then this Sun will not keep you here. My brothers, please continue as before to carry out Her divine biddings."

The seven holy knights hurriedly saluted me and after I had calmly saluted them back, they immediately turned and fled as if I, the Sun Knight, was even more frightening than the Death Knight himself.

It was probably my expressionless face that had scared them so. The ever-smiling Sun Knight suddenly stopped smiling? Even if my face had not been expressionless, the lack of a smile would probably still be very frightening!

Looks like I'll have to watch myself carefully from now on, and make sure I keep my smile on in front of others, or else rumours of this generation's Sun Knight and his bipolar attitude might spread around.

I raised back my hood and turned to Roland, only to see his surprised expression. "Creus, since when do you speak in such a cultured manner?" he asked.

"… … Don't ask."

"Roland, it's best if you go back to Pink's place and lay low for a while. That priest earlier must have sensed some of your dark aura, but it's just that you were sitting here so openly that they mistook me to be the Death Knight."

Roland kept quiet for a moment before saying, "I only came here to say goodbye to you, Creus. After this, we'll be enemies."

"Enemies…… I see. You do hate me then."

I looked down sadly.

Roland had never been one to hold grudges for long. I had hoped that Roland would have forgiven me for stealing his position as the next Sun Knight. But……

Roland asked me curiously, "Why would I hate you?"

"You don't hate me?!" I looked up at him and exclaimed. "Then why did you slash at me the moment you appeared?!"

Roland suddenly looked apologetic, and said, "Back then, Pink had told me to send the undead to you. I'd merely wanted to greet you, but as I was still new to my state and unused to my increased strength and speed, I couldn't control myself and accidently hit you. I'm really sorry about that."

"… …" I then asked exhaustedly, "Then why did you say that you'll come back for me?"

"I had always intended to come back and say goodbye to you," said Roland matter-of-factly.

Roland, you dimwit! Are you really, truly aware of your new status as a Death Knight?! I was nearly killed by your 'hello'. And your 'goodbye' had incriminated me as a person who likes torturing people to death!

"Roland…… if not for the fact that a person cannot die twice, I would have killed you again!"

I gritted my teeth in annoyance. He'd sliced at me, well ok, fine. But he just
had to say such a misleading sentence, 'Sun Knight, I'll come back for you'. That sentence had led to such a misunderstanding that I could have bashed my head in on the Holy Temple's cross, and still no one would have believed my innocence.

"You can burn me," said Roland calmly. "After I've killed my enemy, I will let you burn me."

"I was only joking," I said with a frown. I had forgotten how seriously Roland took everything. You couldn't even joke around with him.

"But I am serious. If not because I have to kill that person first, I would never have allowed an evil being such as myself to continue existing in this world."

"Was it the Crown Prince who had killed you?"

Upon hearing this, Roland looked stunned for a moment, before he slowly nodded.

It was really the Crown Prince?

My mood abruptly turned for the worse. "You won't succeed. The Judge Knight is not as lax—ahem! Not as 'kind' as I am. He will definitely guard the Crown Prince well, covering all possible areas. You won't be able to succeed."

As Roland slowly turned around to look at me, I could see his eyes changing as he got more and more worked up over it, slowly changing back into that of a Death Knight's flame-eyes. He said coldly, "No matter how slim the chances are, I will kill him."

"Roland, it is against a knight's principles to hold grudges."

"No, Creus. I'm not going to kill him because of a grudge," said Roland icily. "I'm going to kill him because he is a habitual offender. It was precisely because I could not stand it any longer and tried to expose him, that I became another of his many victims. Leaving that kind of person in this world would only cause many more to suffer my same fate."

I was speechless. The Crown Prince, who always had a gentle smile for anyone, was actually such a monster?

Roland abruptly stood up, the dark aura seeping profusely through his disguise. "I must kill him. I can't let him harm anyone else!"

"You're obsession is to kill him?" I asked. It'll be difficult, if that really was the case. There is no way to reach a compromise with obsessions.

"Obsession?" asked Roland.

"That's right. Last time, you had nearly turned into a Death Lord. For you to reach this stage so quickly in such a short time, your obsession must have been something near impossible to achieve. If it is to kill the Crown Prince, then that really is a near impossible thing."

I shook my head sadly, but caught Roland eying me strangely. "What is it?"

"Nothing. I should go now. I had lost control of my dark aura just now, and others must have noticed it. Creus, the next time we meet, I hope you will come as the Sun Knight."

With that, Roland left without looking back once.

I continued to sit there in a daze, feeling torn over Roland and this whole matter. I cannot stop Roland from killing him now, so what should I do?

Should I reveal his plans? If I do that, no matter how strong Roland is he won't be able to succeed, with all of the Holy Knights and the Royal Guards stopping him. He won't even be able to escape. When that happens, as the Sun Knight I will have to personally drag him to the stake and burn him to ashes.

Or, I could not reveal his plans and let him kill the ruler. With his own impressive abilities and the Life Ring disguising him, he'd probably succeed……

Idiot Roland! Why didn't you just keep quiet about your plans and come meet me after you've killed him?! Why did you have to specially come and tell me of your intentions, leaving me with such a hard choice to make?! I should just tie you up and burn you to ashes right now for throwing such a dilemma at me.

At that moment, the sounds of many hurried footsteps interrupted my thoughts. I looked up to see a group of holy knights approaching, too late to do anything anymore. I shook my head disapprovingly. Only arriving just now, you guys won't even be able to pick up his trail anymore!

"There he is!"

Huh? Did Roland turn back? I looked around the plaza searching for his figure, but I couldn't see him……

"You! Pull down that hood!" The holy knights marched over to me and shouted at me fiercely.

"… …"

How many times are you idiots going to mistake me for the Death Knight?!!


 

Previous                                                                                                             Next

Book 1: Rule 9 – The Sun Knight’s Ninth Rule: “If you want to know a secret, ask a woman.”

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.


 

An old and dilapidated wooden house stood at the end of a street, so shaky it looked ready to fall apart at the slightest gust of wind. A door slowly squeaked open, revealing a little girl's pink face. She held in her hand a humongous pink strawberry lollipop even larger than her head.

"Pink, I agree to become your apprentice and learn the arts of necromancy." I said seriously.

The little girl was stunned for a moment, before crooking her finger at me-indicating for me to bend down closer.

'Huh? Don't tell me that there's some kind of ceremony to undergo before becoming one's student?' I thought doubtfully as I bent down. Pink crooked her little finger again, and I moved my face closer.

She then placed her hand on my forehead and cried out, "Oh no! Sun, your forehead's so hot, you're burning up! No wonder you were saying such ridiculous things!"

"That's because you're a corpse-your hands are icy cold……"

Pink withdrew her hand and looked at it for a while before comprehending, "Oh, you're right. I had nearly forgotten that I'm already dead, but……"

Pink gave me an unconvinced look, "You sure you're not running a fever?"

I rolled my eyes and said exasperatedly, "Thanks to the divine blessings of the God of Light, I have not had a fever since I was ten."

"Oh." Pink nodded. "Then what is it that you need my help for? You must be really determined this time, to even sell off your 'alive self'."

I hurried to clarify the terms of our deal, "I'm only agreeing to learning necromancy from you, but I'm still going to continue on as the Sun Knight!"

"A Sun Knight studying part time as necromancy apprentice?" Pink shook her head sombrely and sighed, "Only you would dare to do something so heretical. Are you not afraid of your God of Light striking you down with lightning in punishment?"

"I believe that the God of Light will understand my difficult position." I replied solemnly, before adding, "Besides, Her Holiness has not made an appearance for the past few hundred years, I don't think Her Holiness will pop in for such a small thing."

Pink just licked her lollipop, neither agreeing nor refuting me.

I suddenly felt a chill go up my spine and seriously thought about the odds of the God of Light smiting me down …

'It shouldn't be that bad!'

I shook my head forcefully and asked Pink, "How 'bout it? Do you accept?"

"So, what is it that you want me to do?"

"I wish……"

~O~O~O~O~

After putting forward my request to Pink, I walked back to the Holy Temple-of course, with my cloak and hood on. If one more person mistakes me for the Death Knight, I will turn them into a Death Knight!!

Next, I had a request for another person. Luckily, this person is much easier to settle than Pink, so I wasn't overly concerned.

I smiled at a holy knight I met along the hallways of the Holy Temple and asked, "My holy knight comrade, the God of Light watches over us high up in the sky, smiling down upon the people. It is such a bright and beautiful day, and I pray that you also bask in the warmth of the God of Light."

The holy knight I had stopped looked extremely thrilled, and replied in a respectful and worshipful tone. "And may you also feel the God of Light's warmth, Sun Knight. Today's weather really is quite good. I hope we can successfully catch the Death Knight."

I nodded my head and said, "My brother, would you know of where our brother, the Storm Knight, is basking in under the God of Light's blessings?"

The holy knight got a little nervous and asked uncertainly, "Err…… May I ask if you are asking where the Storm Knight is?"

I nodded.

The holy knight let out a breath of relief and answered, "The Storm Knight has been in his room for the past three days going over official documents."

"My brother, this Sun is grateful for this conversation filled with compassion and goodwill. May you always receive Her Holiness the God of Light's warm blessings."

"Sun Knight, you are too kind!" The holy knight gazed at me with worshipful eyes as I left.

I immediately walked up to Storm's room and knocked on his door.

After a while the door gradually opened at a snail's pace, and a pale gaunt face befitting a Death Knight revealed its self. If it weren't for the fact that Death Knights did not have dark eye bags, I would have believed that Storm had become Sprouting Leaf City's second Death Knight.

I was about to open my mouth to speak when Storm raised a hand to stop me and said faintly, "Sun, please use the simplest and most direct speech possibly, or else I guarantee you I'll fall asleep within three seconds."

I thought about it for a moment before saying two words. "Help me."

"Can I refuse?" Storm moved those pale and bloodless lips of his and asked.

I thought again for a moment and shortened it to one word, "Order."

"…… how direct."

After telling Storm what I needed of him, I left to carry out the next thing on my agenda, not feeling the least worried for Storm even though he looked like he could collapse at any moment.

But there's nothing to worry about, for even if he were to collapse and die from fatigue, he would rise again as a Death Knight and finish off all his work. That's just how he is; a complete workaholic, completely opposite from his image of the carefree Storm Knight.

I was about to sneak off to some hidden spot and change into my 'Slayer' identity when I heard the sounds of many footsteps marching perfectly in step, as well as the quiet exchange of words. Such neat and orderly marching could only come from the Judge Knight's Division.

As expected, the Judge Knight appeared around the corner leading twenty or so holy knights. He said to me as usual, "May you one day understand the God of Light's stern and merciless way, Sun Knight."

"Tonight, the Death Knight will go to the Royal Palace seeking revenge." I spoke in an undertone.

Upon hearing that, the Judge Knight halted in his footsteps. Even though he had stopped so suddenly, the twenty something holy knights behind him had also immediately stopped, not showing a single bit of disorder among their ranks.

Judge merely waved his hand, and his team quietly went around us and continued on without a single word.

When everyone had left, Judge asked me without delay, "You are sure?"

"Mm-hmm." I nodded. Roland is not one to dilly-dally about. If he said he's going to do it, then he's definitely going to do it straight away.

Judge looked at me a little suspiciously and asked, "You've decided to catch him?"

"I am the Sun Knight, Judge Knight." I said to him calmly. "The Sun Knight would never allow a dead person to interfere in matters of the living, even if that living person were to have committed an unforgivable sin."

The Judge Knight nodded and calmly answered, "Tonight, I'll send some of our knights to hide themselves within the Royal Palace and protect that person, as well as catch the Death Knight at the same time."

I glanced at him, "Not bad. You've already found out who had killed Roland?"

"Nng" Judge explained simply, "I arrested the execution site's groundskeeper and questioned him about the corpse's condition, and concluded that the Death Knight was indeed tortured to death. I then asked Storm to investigate the Duke of Ceylan and his third son, as well as to which of the nobility are fond of torturing. From there, I had three suspects-His Majesty the King, His Highness the Crown Prince, and his grace the Duke of Ceylan."

Poor Storm, not only was he grilled by me, he also had to undergo a second round from Judge. No wonder he looked so terrible.

"Then how did you determine which one of them was the guilty party?" I asked curiously.

"Actually, based on the current events, I could already deduce who it was, but to confirm it I had Frost-who had seen the Death Knight-pick out a holy knight who looked the most similar to the Death Knight, had his face look paler, before bringing him along to pay a visit to each of the three suspects. The one who acted suspiciously would be the guilty person."

Judge shook his said and sighed, "Although deceiving people in such a way is not the proper way to do things, it cannot be denied that it is a very effective method. It was quite easy to find out which one was the perpetrator. He was quivering in his shoes the moment he saw the dressed up knight."

"Not bad!" I admired. I had only realised who the real perpetrator was after speaking with Roland.

"Sun, seeing as you've made your decision, the Sun Knight Division and the Judge Knight Division will disguise themselves within the Royal Palace tonight," judge decided. "After all, even though his crime is unforgivable, he still cannot be harmed in the slightest, or there'll be a big uproar to deal with later."

"I agree, but I wish to bring along Blaze and Earth too."

Judge did not understand this. "I can understand the reason for bringing along Earth, as his defensive abilities would be helpful when protecting that person, but Blaze's specialty lies with the spirits, not the undead."

I shook my head in disagreement. "You may not be aware of this, but I've met Roland. He's very close to becoming a Death Lord. If he's unable to exact his revenge, he might become a Death Lord there and then, and be able to summon various dark creatures, malicious spirits being one of them. It would be troublesome for us then."

"Hmm. You are more familiar with the undead. You are very thorough." Judge nodded agreeing, before bidding me farewell, "May your friend find peace soon."

And with that, he was gone.

I watched as Judge left before looking out the window. It was still quite bright outside. Good. It's still early enough for me to finish my business before coming back to assemble my Sun Knight Division.

~O~O~O~O~

After settling things with Storm and Judge, I had only one thing left to do-infiltrate the Royal Palace and search out the location where Roland's torture had taken place.

Since Roland had said that that person was a frequent offender, he should have a place especially built for torturing people. If I can find this place and obtain evidence, I can then testify against him and his crimes.

Now, the Royal Palace may be heavily guarded, but I've actually already been to the place several times before.

Every so often that fat King would stir up some trouble, and every single time I would be ordered to visit the palace to nag at him. Of course, I would always drag along one of the Twelve Holy Knights with me to act the good cop, bad cop-obviously they're the bad cop, with the role of threatening the King, while I, the ever kind and forgiving Sun Knight, play the good cop.

Usually, Storm's the one whom I would drag along, but on particularly serious matters, Judge may put in an appearance.

Besides coming here to 'advice' that fat pig, I also often visit the palace as the Holy Temple's representative to attend social events, such as, the Queen's birthday celebration, the coming-of-age dance ball of some Duke's daughter, the Prince's first hunting trip,… etc. etc.

In short, the Sun Knight is the Church of Light's walking billboard.

And not to mention, the Queen is my teacher's foster mother; my teacher had even grown up with the Crown Prince as brothers. That was why my teacher had often brought me along to the palace when he visited. A nice way of putting it would be that he was there to build up good relationships between the Church of Light and the court; in actuality, my teacher was having tea with the Queen, the Princesses and the women in court while exchanging gossip……

Ahem! So, in the twenty-three years that I've lived so far, the place that I'm most familiar with after the Holy Temple would be the Royal Palace.

Therefore, the Royal Palace's security is nothing to me, for I could simply walk through the front gates without needing to come up with any excuses. Why, the royal guards would even salute me respectfully without questioning my appearance!

"Dragon's Holy Robe, in the name of the dragon's successor, I order you to activate!"

After finding a hidden spot and putting on my black and silver 'bloodthirsty clothes', I prepared to sneak into the palace and locate that torture chamber……

'Master, this lowly one is the Dragon's Holy Robe, not the bloodthirsty clothes.'

"Argh! You scared me." I patted my chest, 'don't worry, don't worry it's just the clothes'. "Don't suddenly speak out like that; you nearly had me discovered by someone."

'Yes, Master.'

You might think that it is an unwise decision to wear a black outfit in bright daylight, but at least it's better this way than to wear my Sun Knight uniform and be discovered sneaking around the palace grounds, up to no good.

Besides, even though it's still bright daylight, there're all kinds of ridiculously huge decorations placed all over the hallways that can provide cover for me to duck into. For example, this flower vase even taller than a man (can one even put flowers in it?); or that super-heavy armour that no knight would be able to move in (what's the point of forging it if no one's going to wear it?); and many others.

And if I really can't hide from them, well that's alright too.


 

My teacher had often said to me, "My child, do not labour under the misconception that the Royal Palace's walls are thick and solid. It might have been so at the beginning of its construction, but know that every king wishes to have a secret escape route that only he knows about, as well as a secret room where he can carry out some unspeakable deed…… Now, after several generations, there'll be as many secret hallways and as many secret rooms. These secret pathways and secret rooms may all be called 'secret', but don't actually believe that they're really such a big secret. Believe me, even the current king may not know all the secret hallways and secret rooms as well as his queen and the princesses do."

"Then how is it that you know of them?" I asked.

"The princess told me."

"But why would the princess want to tell you?"

"How am I supposed to secretly meet with her if she doesn't tell me……? Ahem! You're too young to need to know about these things. Just memorize all these secret entrances and hallways properly."

"Yes, teacher."


 

Now that I think back on it, my teacher was one slick guy. Why?

Well, back then, there were only two princesses. One was almost fifty years old-the King's unmarried sister, while the other was only fifteen years old-the King's daughter; my teacher had been in his thirties at that time.

I wonder if he had seduced the young princess, or been the one seduced instead…… Cough! I digress. The point is, I'm guessing that the torture chamber should be one not too far away from that person's bedchambers.

I'm hoping that he had used one of the pre-existing secret rooms instead of tunnelling a new one. After all according to the number of secret rooms and escape routes my teacher had told me about, the whole palace should be just about hollow already. Even the Royal Architectures would think twice before digging a new one in fear of the Royal Palace collapsing.

So, I sneaked along the hallways, slipping into a secret hallway for a while before exiting, only to enter another. On the way, I had nearly bumped into a couple lost in each other's arms and lips. Fortunately, they were too engrossed and had not noticed me, so I quickly turned to enter another secret hallway ……

Hold on! I frowned as I thought back to the kissing couple. One of them…… had looked rather like the princess?

You know, the fifteen year old princess I had mentioned earlier…? She's about twenty-five now, and is still dragging on with her marriage. I can see why now-she's already got a lover…… That guy must not have a very high status, or else they wouldn't have had to sneak around to meet each other in fear of the king's disapproval.

Looks like my teacher was right. These secret hallways and rooms aren't really a secret, and are instead more often used by lovers for clandestine meetings.

As I crept along the secret hallways, I considered the secret rooms and hallways around that person's bedchambers. There are quite a number of them, but only three had entrances hidden in his bedchambers. Two of them could be entered by another entrance somewhere else, but one of them was a closed one, with the exit hidden in the bedchambers being the only one.

I decided to look around at the other two secret hallways first.

I'd been walking around in the maze of secret pathways for some time, but thankfully I have an excellent memory and was able to easily find my way out. Before long, I had stepped into an empty secret room. According to my memory, this would be one of the places I was aiming at.

But from the thick cobwebs covering the whole room (even thicker than my cloak!), this wasn't it.

Next, I had originally decided to exit into the bedchambers from here and enter the second secret room from there, but as I looked at these layers upon layers of cobwebs, I shudder to think of having to go through all of them, wishing I could just burn them away with a fire spell.

But there are plenty of sorcerers in the Royal Palace. If I were to let loose with a magic spell they would immediately sense it. So with no choice left to me, I pushed on ahead through the cobwebs, trying my best to keep myself from touching them. Despite my best efforts, I was covered with cobwebs by the time I finally made my way to the exit. I bent down for the hidden door……

"It's sealed shut."

I felt like crying at this frustration. I should have anticipated this. How could pathways leading to the royal bedchambers have been left unguarded or unsealed?

"I hope the other entrance hasn't been sealed off as well."

I hoped, as I made my way once more through the winding hallways. To my surprise, this secret pathway was much smaller at only half my height, forcing me to crawl through on my hands and knees. At the end of the tunnel, I entered a small room only two meters high and two meters across. There's no way any torturing could have been done here. It would have been a difficult task to even try to squeeze in two people into this room!

I raised my head to look at the ceiling, for the exit leading to the person's bedchambers was a trapdoor in the ceiling. Thankfully this one hadn't been sealed. I guess this room was a better-kept secret, that even the bedchambers' owner was unaware of its existence. I gently lifted the trapdoor (how heavy!) and peeked around the room. Good! No one's around.

I tried to further lift open the trapdoor but it wouldn't budge further. I pushed with all my strength, lifting it up and pushing it to the side, before I was finally able to climb out. By then, my clothes were drenched in my sweat from all my effort.

I stood there panting, trying to catch my breath. I doubt that I would have been able to lift the trapdoor were it not for the boosted strength the Dragon's Holy Robe had given me.

After getting back my breath, I looked around the room before realising that there was a huge marble cabinet placed atop the trapdoor. It was even taller than me by ten or so centimetres-no wonder it was so heavy!

But now is not the time to complain. The bedchambers' owner might come in at any time, I'll have to hurry.

I quickly found the hidden entrance to the third room behind a wardrobe and entered, hoping I had not wasted a whole afternoon for naught……

Immediately upon opening the concealed door, the smell of blood greeted me, accompanied by the wafting smell of rotting flesh.

A thick piece of cloth was blocking the entrance, but it could not block the smell from coming through. I knew immediately that I had found the place.

I stepped forward and pushed aside the cloth……

I was stunned.

I had already found the proof, so I should leave immediately, but I couldn't do anything except stare in shock around the whole room.

There wasn't a single body lying within, and neither was there any blood or flesh splattered around the room. Instead, the room was quite clean; the shackles on the wall and the torture equipments were even freshly oiled, shining in the dark.

And in the middle of the room laid a shiny wooden bed.

It was probably impossible to wash out all the blood; layers upon layers of blood had splattered and spilled onto the bed until there was a solidified layer of black blood shining there.

At first glance, the surrounding four walls and floor looked spotless, but the horrible screams of the tortured dead bled out from the walls, lending a chilling glimpse of hell; the smell of blood and rotting flesh coming from all around.

This seemingly clean room was overfilled with the dirtiest and darkest thoughts of depravity; the air filled with the sorrowful and hateful cries of the many victims.

I couldn't help myself from trailing a finger in the black shiny layer on the bed. The shiny black layer was even harder than I had thought, only a little reddish-black had came off on my finger.

Roland's blood… must be intermixed among them.

"Roland, I can understand now why you had become a Death Knight, why you are so determined to kill him; if you had died in such a place, it's understandable."

I could feel my eyes get misting, but I did not wish to hold back my tears. Roland and I were both orphans. Now that he had died in such a horrible way, I'm probably the only person who would mourn for his death.

Only I would shed tears for him.


 

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