Future Knight

Chapter 5

“The law of universal gravitation?”

Arteon still tilted her head in confusion.

“Yes. There is a force of universal gravitation that acts between all objects with mass. The force that a star exerts to pull objects is what I mentioned earlier as gravity, but to be precise, it is the sum of universal gravitation and the centrifugal force due to Earth’s rotation. The person who discovered this was a scientist named Isaac Newton, who was also a mathematician, physicist, and philosopher.”

Arteon could only stare blankly at his incomprehensible explanation.

She could not understand his words at all.

“Oh, he must have been a great person. Having three jobs.”

Her attention to a completely different topic left Kang Chan feeling utterly defeated.

Even though Kang Chan tried desperately to make her understand, the worldview she had believed to be true for hundreds of years was too deep-rooted and solid. Conveying the truth to her was no easy task.

“Anyway! This world rotates!”

“How does the world rotate? The world is standing still right now.”

‘Ah, damn it… This is exhausting.’

For the past two hours, he had been intensely debating with her over things that even elementary school students knew.

As if he wasn’t already feeling drained.

Feeling both physically and mentally exhausted, Kang Chan painfully realized through this experience that he had no talent for teaching anyone.

In the end, he had no choice but to reveal his ace card.

“Then, I will show you proof instead of just talking.”

At the mention of showing proof, Arteon’s ears perked up.

“What is it? What will you show me?”

“Would you take a look at this?”

When Kang Chan extended his forearm to Arteon, her gaze naturally followed to his forearm, where an unbelievable sight occurred.

“Oh my! Heavens!”

A hologram floated above his forearm, faintly depicting the image of Earth, the former home of humanity, although not this place, Neo Earth.

“This is what a star is, Lady Arteon.”

Arteon’s mouth dropped open.

She was shocked not only because she was seeing a star for the first time, but as a mage, she instantly knew that the hologram in front of her was not magic.

“How did you do that? I don’t sense any magical energy at all.”

“This is called science, Lady Arteon. The place where I come from is highly advanced in a civilization called science, not magic. The spaceship I came here in was also made with that science.”

“Science?”

Arteon, with a face full of disbelief, asked again, and Kang Chan answered her once more.

“Yes.”

“That can’t be. Science, science is clearly…”

She shook her head in disbelief.

She simply could not believe that the hologram before her eyes was created by science.

Of course, science did exist on the current continent of Elrador where she lived.

However, compared to magic, science was at a considerably primitive level.

Therefore, it was merely recognized as a low-level technology mainly used by lower-class people like farmers and commoners.

Royalty and nobles, people in power, sought convenience in their daily lives using highly skilled mages.

For hot water, they used fire magic to heat water instantly, and in the sweltering summer, they enjoyed cooling with ice magic. Lovers whispered sweet nothings through magical communication using crystal balls late into the night.

And when going out or traveling, they preferred spatial teleportation using magic circles.

Magic was utilized not only for such trivial personal daily matters but also extensively throughout society.

When building castles, they used lightweight magic on heavy construction materials to easily shorten the construction time. Permanent spatial teleportation magic circles were installed all over the continent, allowing famous agricultural and marine products from distant regions to be sold nationwide in an instant while maintaining the highest level of freshness.

Of course, these products were destined for the tables of royalty and wealthy nobles.

While magic was an exclusive privilege of the wealthy, farmers and commoners struggled to alleviate their burdens by relying on meager science.

Farmers built watermills to refine their grain and attached plows to oxen to till their fields.

Woodcutters created cranes to lift felled trees, and laborers who didn’t benefit from magic had to move heavy objects using the principles of levers.

Beyond daily life, magic and science also showed significant differences in warfare. In battles, a few mages were far more effective in long-range attacks than a large number of archers.

No matter how powerful a lance charge by heavily armored cavalry might be, it was nothing more than an egg hitting a rock in front of a magical weapon like the Gigantes.

To someone living in such a world, the hologram he showed appeared to be more like magic than science.

Now, she had no choice but to believe that he truly came from another world.

“So, are you really an alien from outer space?”

‘What, what, an alien?’

Although it sounded a bit strange, Kang Chan couldn’t help but acknowledge that, from their perspective, he could indeed be considered an alien.

“Yes… Well, I am an alien….”

‘Ha ha, damn. To be called an alien by an alien…’

Kang Chan, now suddenly an alien, made a face as if he had bitten into something unpleasant, while Arteon struggled to remain calm, still in disbelief.

“Then, why did you come to this place?”

“That, I’m not exactly sure, but it seems that I crash-landed here.”

“Crash-landed?”

In response to her question, he nodded silently.

“We are an expedition team exploring the vast universe. While I was in deep sleep for long-term space travel, something went wrong with our spaceship, and it seems we crash-landed here. After that, as you know, I ended up here like this….”

In reality, the Red Mars was a warship, but a warship was essentially a vessel for combat. To hide his true purpose, he described the Red Mars as just an ordinary spaceship.

“I see. So, you are an expedition team from another world. Understood. For now, please rest in our village until your body fully recovers. When the time comes, we will guide you to the crashed spaceship.”

The unexpected welcome news brought a rare smile to Kang Chan’s face.

“Thank you very much.”

“Oh, and about the vine that entangled your ankle earlier. Please don’t misunderstand. It was a trap magic to prevent intruders, not to imprison you. After that, we had to restrain you because you seemed too agitated, so please understand that as well.”

“No, I deeply apologize for my frantic behavior back then.”

Arteon smiled as she looked at the human bowing in apology.

“Then please stay here and recuperate. If you need anything, feel free to ask.”

“Thank you for your deep consideration.”

With that, she left, telling him to get plenty of rest.

Leaving behind just one person.

“Jaina, take good care of Sir Kang Chan from now on. He will be an important guest in our village.”

“What?”

Jaina’s face twisted as if she had bitten into something sour.

* * *

Having found himself staying in this place unexpectedly, Kang Chan sat at the table, deep in thought after Arteon left.

He pondered what they truly thought of him.

Their unexpected kindness weighed heavily on his mind.

Until now, it had been his principle not to trust unsolicited kindness, and this principle had rarely failed him.

From his perspective, there were only two types of people.

They were either enemies or allies.

However, for some reason, it didn’t seem like they considered him an enemy.

He wasn’t sure what their intentions were, but if they had known what he intended to do on this planet, they would never have let him live.

He was like a robber who had broken into a peaceful home with a knife.

Yet, they didn’t act that way.

They were merely curious about where he came from and why he was here, without knowing his true purpose for being here.

A sly smile formed on Kang Chan’s face.

As Kang Chan smiled softly, the door opened quietly, and Jaina tiptoed in.

Watching her enter awkwardly, Kang Chan called out to her.

“Hey, you there.”

Startled, Jaina turned her head to look at Kang Chan and responded.

“Yes?”

“Come over here and sit down.”

“Sit down?”

When Kang Chan nodded, Jaina hesitantly approached the table and sat down.

However, she averted her eyes, deliberately avoiding Kang Chan’s gaze.

“Stop ignoring me. Since we’ll be seeing each other often, why don’t we make peace?”

“Peace? Really?”

“Yes, and if you’re really 95 years old, I apologize for speaking informally to you.”

Seeing him being friendly, Jaina’s expression finally brightened, as if relieved.

“I swear by the forest spirits, I am really 95 years old.”

“I understand. Sorry for judging you by your appearance. But since I look much older, how about we just be friends?”

“Friends? But I’m much older than you…”

“I’m taller! So, are we going to be friends or not?”

When Kang Chan suddenly raised his voice, Jaina flinched and cautiously responded.

“Y-yes, let’s be friends.”

“Great, from this moment on, we are friends.”

“O-okay…”

They extended their hands for an awkward handshake, both feeling like they were somehow losing out.

Through this newly made elven friend, Kang Chan learned more about the circumstances that led him to this village, and his face darkened immediately.

What she told him was hard to believe.

According to the elven girl, he was the sole survivor of a massive iron ark that fell from the sky engulfed in flames a year ago.

‘A massive iron ark engulfed in flames? She must be talking about the spaceship I came on. So, it really did crash-land?’

It was unbelievable, but seeing himself left alone in this primitive village, it had to be true.

He couldn’t even imagine these primitive people invading the warship and kidnapping him here.

‘Without the warship, I can neither continue my mission nor contact the base. Do I have to survive alone on this planet until the next team arrives?’

He felt utterly lost.

Even though he had survived countless battlefields, he had never felt this overwhelmingly uncertain.

Even if the follow-up team started immediately, it would take at least 20 years to reach this place.

Moreover, the Red Mars, which he had arrived on, was a specially designed warship made for this planet.

It was like a prototype equipped with the hyper-spatial navigation system, a top-secret technology that had not yet been put into practical use.

Rebuilding such an exploration vessel and the process of arriving here again would not be easy at all.

Even with hyper-spatial navigation, the journey from the Solar System to the OGLE-2006-BLG-109L system, located 5,000 light-years away towards the Sagittarius constellation, could not be made in a single trip.

The universe harbored threats like black holes that swallowed space-time and magnetic fields generated by numerous unidentified gas layers, and current technology, incapable of handling such unknown threats, required hundreds of alternating conventional and hyper-spatial navigations.

The only fortunate thing was that thanks to the navigation satellites left by the Red Mars at regular intervals on its way here, those following could arrive in about 20 years.

This was in stark contrast to the 40 years it had taken the Red Mars to reach this place.

Kang Chan sank into deep contemplation.

The thought of doing nothing but waiting for rescue and wasting 20 years in this primitive place was unbearable. If he had a sleep capsule, he would have set it for 20 years in the future and closed his eyes in peace.

‘I was born for combat. Battle is my life. The place where I am meant to die is the battlefield, not a pathetic death on this primitive planet. I must survive and complete my mission.’

He had no intention of ending his life on this primitive planet. He had to survive at all costs. For that, he desperately needed the help of the elves living here.

That was his only remaining means of survival, as he had neither knowledge nor resources.

However, to achieve this, he had to thoroughly conceal the fact that he was an enemy.

They could never discover his true identity.

Absolutely never.