Future Knight

Chapter 30

* * *

It had been five days since Kang Chan and Zikyon had squandered an amount of alcohol worth enough to buy an entire city in just one night.

Kang Chan, as usual, woke up at dawn to gather mana and spent his monotonous morning training, swinging two daggers.

With each passing day, Kang Chan’s longing to see Jaina grew stronger.

But he couldn’t go.

It was all because of the baggage that never left his side.

As expected, that baggage found Kang Chan from the morning.

“I’m hungry.”

“Go eat.”

“Hey! What kind of friend tells another hungry friend to just go eat?”

“Ah! So annoying! Then eat this!”

“No! Ugh!”

What Kang Chan shoved into her mouth was the very pill he habitually took every morning before coming to this place.

It was an essential food for space travelers, keeping the stomach full all day long.

Kang Chan quickly shoved it into Zikyon’s mouth, covering his mouth and nose, using mana to push it down his throat.

Although Zikyon resisted fiercely, in a woman’s body, she couldn’t match Kang Chan’s strength.

In a desperate attempt, she used the power of the Dragon’s Word to blow Kang Chan away.

However, the pill had already gone down her throat, and Kang Chan, who landed gracefully, looked at Zikyon who had swallowed the pill with a triumphant expression.

“Huhu, pretending you don’t like it but enjoying it.”

“You bastard! You made me eat that tasteless thing again!”

Previously, when Zikyon had whined about being hungry, Kang Chan had piqued her curiosity and made her take the pill.

Since that day, she had adamantly refused to take it.

Thanks to this magical pill that kept her full all day, she couldn’t touch any of her favorite foods all day long.

“Ah, damn it! Now I can’t eat anything all day again. I’ll curse you.”

“So if you’re hungry, find something to eat yourself. That’s the only food I can give you.”

“Becoming friends with someone who doesn’t care about their friends was the biggest mistake of my life.”

“Did I ask to be friends first? Anyway, I’m sorry but you’ll have to spend today alone.”

At Kang Chan’s sudden words, Zikyon grabbed him in surprise.

“Why? Where are you going?”

“Uh, I have some business in the elf village.”

“Take me with you.”

He was going to see Jaina, and he couldn’t bring Zikyon in her female form.

“No.”

Zikyon protested to Kang Chan’s firm refusal.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re in a female form right now.”

“Because I’m in a female form? Then, are you by any chance going to meet a girl?”

As Kang Chan’s face blushed, Zikyon leaned against him with a mischievous expression.

“Oh, who is it? Prettier than me?”

When Zikyon deliberately pressed her chest against Kang Chan’s arm, he jumped back in shock.

“Hey! Are you going to keep doing this?”

Seeing Kang Chan turn red like a beetroot, Zikyon smiled as if she found him irresistibly cute.

From the day Kang Chan and Zikyon first met and became friends, her teasing had become a hobby.

That’s why Zikyon stubbornly maintained her female form, despite Kang Chan’s earnest pleas.

Moreover, although Kang Chan pretended to dislike it, he honestly preferred Zikyon in her female form rather than as a man.

Zikyon’s beauty and figure were otherworldly.

“Anyway! Today is not the day. I really need to go alone. Please, Zikyon.”

When Kang Chan pleaded with her, even calling her by name, Zikyon couldn’t bring herself to refuse her friend’s request and nodded obediently.

“Alright, I won’t interfere. But I also have some business in the elf village, so let’s travel together up to our village. After that, we can go our separate ways, okay?”

Kang Chan shrugged his shoulders as if he had no choice and replied in resignation.

“Fine. But only up to the village!”

“Okay! Then let’s go right away.”

“Yeah. Hold on, I’ll go get the air bike.”

At the mention of the air bike, Zikyon’s eyes sparkled.

“Air bike? Really?”

In fact, Zikyon could use spatial teleportation to instantly move to the elf village.

But the thought of riding the air bike excited her to no end.

Zikyon had fallen in love with the air bike after Kang Chan repaired it in the hangar and let her ride it once.

Although Zikyon could fly freely using levitation, the thrill of riding the air bike, a marvel of scientific achievement, was incomparable.

Flying with magic felt no different than standing on the ground, but entrusting her body to the air bike carried the exhilarating risk of falling.

This made her feel the true thrill of flying.

Moreover, when Kang Chan, one of the top pilots in the Federal Army, intentionally drove recklessly to tease her, the excitement Zikyon felt was unforgettable.

However, since then, Kang Chan hadn’t let her ride it again, no matter how much she begged.

He didn’t want to spoil her.

When he suddenly offered to let her ride the air bike, Zikyon eagerly waited outside the battleship for it to appear, her heart racing with anticipation.

Soon, the small auxiliary hangar of the Red Mars opened, and the powerful engine of the air bike roared to life.

Bwoooom!

Kang Chan’s air bike shot into the air, displaying a stylish air drift before stopping beside Zikyon.

“Get on!”

“Wow! So cool!”

Zikyon genuinely praised Kang Chan’s cool demeanor.

As she climbed on behind him, Kang Chan shouted over the loud engine noise.

“Buckle up and hold on tight!”

“Yes, I’ve buckled up! Oppa, let’s go!”

“Don’t call me ‘oppa.’ Here we go!”

Kang Chan harshly pulled the accelerator, and the small ion propulsion system of the air bike ignited, sending them soaring into the sky.

“Kyaaa! I love it! I love it!”

Rising rapidly to a dizzying height, Zikyon trembled with excitement.

To someone like her, who had lived thousands of monotonous years, this thrill seemed to bring life back into her.

Feeling so happy, Zikyon leaned against Kang Chan’s back, secretly thinking to herself.

She thought she was truly glad to have become friends with this insufferable human.

The five days she spent with Kang Chan were the most enjoyable and happiest of her 8,000-year life.

* * *

While Kang Chan safely mingled with the elves, far beyond in the vast universe, many were anxiously awaiting reports from the Red Mars.

“Lieutenant, is communication with the Red Mars still down?”

“Yes, Commander! Given that it has been three years, it seems that something must have happened to the Red Mars.”

“Hmm…”

The man, known as the Commander, narrowed his eyes while looking at the enemy fleet displayed on the large main screen.

“With the war against the Empire right before us, damn it! We can delay no longer. All matters concerning Neo Earth will be postponed until after the war.”

“Understood, sir!”

As the lieutenant saluted and hurried off to carry out his orders, the commander leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.

‘It’s been 500 years since humanity lost Earth, their mother planet, to the Last Impact and has been wandering the universe… We must secure Neo Earth, the second Earth, for the sake of future generations. I will do it with my own hands!’

The Supreme Commander clenched his right hand so tightly it seemed his blood might burst.

‘To do that, we must first defeat that ruthless Empire. Without victory over the Empire, we will never see the blue skies of Earth again!’

His eyes burned with conviction.

“Deploy the entire fleet for battle! Open the gunports!”

-Deploying the entire fleet for battle! Deploying the entire fleet for battle! At 01:30 on September 13, 2708 U.Y., a combat alert has been issued by the Supreme Commander of the UNA Space Federation Fleet.

As the emergency message detailing the combat situation was transmitted to the bridges of all combat ships within the UNA space fleet, emergency lights flashed, and loud warning alarms blared.

-Emergency! Emergency! Combat readiness alert! Combat readiness alert! All combat personnel to their positions! Repeating! All combat personnel to their positions! Emergency! Emergency! This is a real situation.

“Ah, damn it! What now!”

“Fuck, damn it! Can’t we get some sleep!”

Groggy combat personnel, who had just woken up from their sleep capsules, quickly changed into their battle suits, their faces weary, and floated toward their positions in zero gravity.

Whooooosh…

Amidst the vast galaxy, enveloped in the gentle glow of various stars, a massive, silver-white spaceship that had been quietly nestled began to emit a bright light from its rear and advanced rapidly.

Its speed was so swift that it was hard to believe such a gigantic ship could move so fast.

The Temeraire, the flagship and premier battleship of the Space Union Defense Forces, was so grand and beautiful that it left onlookers breathless.

As the colossal Temeraire began to move swiftly, numerous smaller and larger combat ships gathered around it, forming a coordinated formation and escorting the Temeraire.

Suddenly, bright light flared from all directions, marking the start of their space war game.

10. The Reckless Princess and the Rookie Knight

While Kang Chan and Zikyon were flying towards the elf village on the air bike, an Imperial diplomatic delegation from the Visman Empire had arrived in the elf village.

Their sole purpose was to urge the elves and dwarves to join the front lines as soon as possible, where they were maintaining a stalemate with the enemy thanks to the participation of the orcs.

Queen Arteon of the elves engaged in intense negotiations with the envoys of the Visman Empire.

Humans, more cunning than dwarves or orcs, were somewhat more troublesome.

At that time, a woman with a completely different purpose from them had come to the elf village, exploring it with a face full of curiosity.