Future Knight

Chapter 54

“What a terrifying monster.”

“Yes, even the attacks of thousands of Ents were useless against that hard shell.”

At Arteon’s grim words, the Dwarves fell into deep thought, rendered speechless.

As they were engulfed in silence, the door of the conference hall opened, and Kang Chan entered.

“Did you call for me?”

“Come in. Please, have a seat.”

When Kang Chan sat down at the place offered by the Dwarf King, Elradian introduced him to the unfamiliar Dwarves.

“Let me formally introduce him. This is my disciple, Kang Chan.”

“What?”

“Disciple?”

Elradian’s bombshell announcement turned the conference hall upside down.

Not only did the Dwarves look at him in disbelief, but Arteon was especially shocked beyond words.

It was unheard of for a proud and dignified Elf to take a mere human as a disciple.

Of course, Kang Chan himself couldn’t close his mouth as he stared at Elradian.

“Master, this was supposed to be an absolute secret…”

“I have decided not to hide it any longer.”

“But…”

Elradian raised his hand to cut off Kang Chan and bowed his head in a respectful apology to Arteon.

“Didn’t I discuss this matter with you before, Arteon?”

“Yes, I remember. But at that time, I clearly…”

“Yes, you clearly said it was not allowed. However, after that, I personally decided to break the rule and took him as my disciple. I deeply apologize for this, Arteon.”

“No, Elradian. Looking back now, I think your judgment was correct. But it’s still a bit surprising.”

Seeing Arteon smile warmly at him, Kang Chan couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.

Elradian, who had always insisted on keeping it a strict secret, made such a shocking announcement in a public setting.

“I apologize for deceiving you all this time.”

“I had sensed mana from you, Kang Chan, and thought maybe Zikyon had bestowed it upon you. But to think it was mana accumulated from mastering our Elven swordsmanship, that’s truly remarkable. How did you manage it so quickly…?”

“The swordsmanship I learned is not Elven, but Cheon! Uh!”

Since his master had already revealed their secret, Kang Chan decided there was no more reason to hide and began to disclose the name of the swordsmanship he had learned.

However, Elradian quickly covered his mouth.

‘That is absolutely forbidden!’

Arteon’s brow furrowed at Elradian’s strange behavior.

“Cheon? You mean the swordsmanship you learned isn’t Elven?”

“No, it’s just that I’ve been developing a new swordsmanship lately, and I had him learn it. The name is still a secret, haha!”

“Is that so? Then that’s a relief. I was worried it might be the Thunder and Lightning dual-wielding technique.”

“There’s no way! As an Elf who practices Elven swordsmanship, I would never teach my disciple someone else’s swordsmanship! Haha!”

Arteon, who was still doubtful, finally nodded reluctantly, finding some sense in the explanation.

No master would teach another’s swordsmanship to their disciple.

“Alright then, please stop making a fuss and take your seats.”

“Ah! Yes!”

Blushing at Arteon’s words, Elradian sat down, mouthing to Kang Chan, ‘You’re dead.’ Kang Chan’s face turned pale immediately.

With the atmosphere still unsettled, Cracksion spoke gravely, drawing everyone’s attention.

“…I heard Zikyon bestowed mana upon you. Could it be the ‘G. Zikyon’ I know?”

At his anxious question, Kang Chan responded without hesitation.

“Yes, she’s my friend.”

“Gasp!”

“Eek!”

“Eek!”

“Ahh!”

“Ahhh!”

One by one, the five elders, led by Cracksion, had seizures.

One Dwarf even spat on the floor.

One of the elders, trembling, stood up and stepped back, asking,

“F-friend? D-does that mean you are also a… a D-Dragon?”

Kang Chan looked bewildered at the Dwarves’ extreme reactions, and Arteon quickly stepped in to calm them down.

“No, Kang Chan is not a Dragon. He is definitely human. He simply became genuine friends with Zikyon.”

“G-genuine friends?”
### “True Friend?”

“Is that even possible?”

“……”

Arteon’s words did not calm them down; instead, it was like pouring oil on a burning house, making their reactions even more intense.

“If you became friends with that demon, does that mean you are also a demon?”

Cracksion trembled violently like an aspen tree, overcome with fear.

Unable to bear it any longer, Kang Chan got angry.

“Demon? Isn’t that going too far? Apologize. Even though he’s a good-for-nothing freeloader, he’s still my friend.”

“A-apologize? For what that demon did to us! Ugh!”

As Cracksion tried to recount the past with Zikyon, Arteon suddenly appeared beside him and covered his mouth.

“Ugh! Mmm?!”

“Ah, ahahaha… Cracksion, please, just a moment.”

Kang Chan and Elradian watched as a scene similar to what they had just experienced unfolded before them. Arteon quickly led Cracksion and the five elders out of the conference hall.

“Why are they acting like that all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Arteon so flustered.”

Leaving behind the curious Kang Chan and Elradian, Arteon dragged Cracksion and the five elders out for some stern education.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zikyon, having hastily finished a boring tribal meeting, returned to the Red Mars ship to meet Kang Chan.

However, her longed-for friend Kang Chan was nowhere to be found, and only two letters remained in his room.

One was addressed to his beloved Jaina, and the other to Zikyon.

Finding the letters, Zikyon suddenly felt a sense of unease.

“C-could he have left?”

Seeing that he had also written a letter to Jaina, it didn’t seem like they had eloped.

In that case, he might have returned to his original world.

Growing anxious, Zikyon hurriedly opened the letter addressed to her.

As she quickly read through the letter, her eyes widened in surprise.

The letter detailed that the Green Elves had allied with the Dark Elves to launch a surprise attack at dawn, destroying the Elven village and killing his beloved Jaina. He wrote that he was leaving to avenge her and asked for forgiveness for his silent departure.

After reading the letter, Zikyon sighed deeply.

“Phew…”

Contrary to her fears, Kang Chan had not returned to his world.

Therefore, it was too early to conclude that her fun had ended.

She had the ability to follow Kang Chan to the ends of this world.

To chase after Kang Chan, she first teleported to the Elven village to find his whereabouts.

Upon arriving at the Elven village, she was once again shocked.

“Gasp! How… how could this be?”

Before her eyes was an unbelievable scene.

The forest stretched out endlessly, destroyed to the horizon, and the Elven village that should have been at her feet was reduced to ashes along with the forest, leaving no trace.

Zikyon stood in a daze, staring at the desolate landscape.

“How dare they… do this to my territory!”

The sight before Zikyon was appalling even to a Dragon.

Deep within her, anger surged.

“What kind of power do they have… to dare do this to the territory of G. Zikyon?”

As she roamed the sky, filled with killing intent, she came upon another astonishing sight.

She discovered vast swathes of land, hundreds of meters wide, where the soil and rocks had melted into glass due to extreme heat.

As far as she knew, only the Red Tribe or the Fire Elemental King Phoenix could do such a thing.

However, the Red Tribe would never commit such an act.

They would not dare to breathe fire on her territory without permission.

Therefore, the only suspect was Phoenix.

“They say the leader of the Green Elves made a pact with one of the Four Elemental Kings. If it’s Phoenix, this devastation of my forest makes sense.”

Zikyon was engulfed in immense rage, wanting to immediately go after the Green Elves and show them a lesson.

However, she could not do so.

During the recent Dragon council meeting, the Dragons had agreed to condone their actions.

The reason for their gathering was precisely to decide on this matter.

The Dragons who attended the meeting agreed to reduce the number of humans and orcs that were growing too large.

It wasn’t just their opinion.

The Elemental Kings, who had maintained close ties with the Dragons, had earnestly requested this.

The indiscriminate use of mana by humans was disrupting the natural order.

Thus, the Dragons decided to remain neutral, adding their opinion to the request of the Elemental Kings.

Under such circumstances, as a Lord, she could not overturn their decision and launch an attack.

“Ugh, damn it…”

Zikyon felt like her head was about to explode from the anger.

As the Dragon Lord, she couldn’t break her promise.

However, she couldn’t easily forgive the actions they committed in her territory and their attempt to take away the precious friend she had made in her later years.

“Just you wait…”

Zikyon swallowed her anger and decided to wait for the right moment.

Right now, finding Kang Chan’s whereabouts was the top priority.

Zikyon began scanning the entire Elven forest with her View Mana Force to find any life forms possessing mana.

Since Kang Chan and the Elves possessed mana, she thought it would be quicker to search in that direction.

It was only possible for her, an Ancient Dragon, to use the View Mana Force over the vast hundreds of kilometers of the Elven forest.

Her extensive View Mana Force detected several individuals with mana.

Without hesitation, Zikyon teleported to that location.

There, she saw several Elves.

They seemed to be magicians.

In addition to them, there were also hundreds of Dwarves without any mana, using heavy equipment to transport the remains of a gigantic Gigantes.

Zikyon slowly surveyed the surroundings.

The area was littered with Gigantes’ wreckage.

It seemed they were collecting the remains of the destroyed Gigantes.

The remains of a Gigantes were filled with valuable materials that even Zikyon found tempting.

Zikyon approached them to ask about Kang Chan’s whereabouts.

But at that moment, she detected another group of several hundred life forms.

Unlike the others who were busy working, these individuals were quietly crouching.

They seemed to be assassins lying in wait for the Elves to come and collect the Gigantes’ remains.

They were hiding quietly within an Invisibility magic circle.

Moreover, they showed meticulousness by creating a separate Hide Mana Force magic circle to deceive the magicians.

But such measures couldn’t fool a Dragon like Zikyon.

A killing intent flashed in Zikyon’s eyes.

“So… I’ve got you.”

The hidden Green Elf soldiers slowly drew their swords.

“No more reinforcements are coming. So far, we have identified ten magicians and 135 Dwarf warriors.”

“Archers and magicians, ambush the Elven magicians. The rest, follow me to attack the Dwarves.”

“Understood.”

They cautiously moved out of the Hide Mana Force magic circle, approaching the Elves and Dwarves with extreme caution.

Once they were within sufficient attack range, they gave the order to the archers.