Future Knight

Chapter 58

“Sister, who is this?”

“Say hello. This is G. Zikyon, who helped us retrieve Gigantes this time.”

“G, G. Zikyon? G. Zikyon, you say? N-no way, the ruler of the Elf Forest!”

“Yes, she also saved our lives from the ambush by the Green Elves. She’s truly a good person.”

Gloria’s voice trembled slightly as she called her a good person, but the fact that Zikyon had saved them was undeniable.

Though she was a bit eccentric.

“I, a lowly elf, greet the great one!”

Adora, an elven wizard, quickly prostrated herself with a terrified expression, and the other elves beside her began to do the same.

Zikyon casually accepted their greetings and hurriedly moved to find Kang Chan.

The dwarf workers watched their behavior with puzzled expressions.

“What’s with them all of a sudden?”

“How should I know?”

“Hey! Isn’t that elf the wizard who went with the advance team?”

“It is! Let’s ask her what happened to our comrades.”

The short, hairy dwarves rushed over to the still prostrated elves.

“Hey, you there, what’s going on?”

“D-d-d…”

“What are you saying? Speak clearly.”

A dwarf, frustrated by the stuttering elf, urged her to speak properly. The elf, slowly raising her head as if she had seen a ghost, said in a scared voice.

“I-it was a dragon. The one who flew Gigantes….”

“A-a dragon?”

The dwarves’ faces twisted as if they had bitten into something sour at the mention of a dragon.

“T-then, could it be that the human woman earlier is a d-dragon?”

“Yes, that woman is G. Zikyon, the ruler of the Elf Forest.”

“G. Zikyon!”

The dwarves were even more shocked upon hearing Zikyon’s name.

Who was she? Wasn’t she the evil dragon who had exploited them like livestock for thousands of years?

A dwarf, who had joked about grilling a dragon, was so shocked he couldn’t close his mouth and looked at his companions.

“It really was a dragon. How, how could this be….”

“What do you mean, what should we do? We have to grill her, right?”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Didn’t you say you’d grill a dragon earlier?”

“When did I say that?”

“Didn’t you just say you’d grill a dragon? Even Puchikin here said it with you.”

“Why drag me into this!”

“Are you men or not? How can dwarves go back on their word? I’m very disappointed in you.”

As all their comrades looked at them with disappointed eyes, the two dwarves’ faces gradually hardened.

If they didn’t keep their promise, they would lose their trust and be known as liars among their peers.

For dwarves, keeping a promise was as important as their life.

“S-sorry. I was just joking, but now… I, Danika, as a dwarf man, will keep my promise!”

“I, Puchikin, as a dwarf man, will also keep my promise!”

Although it could have been let go, they insisted on burning their hands.

That’s how important a promise was to the dwarves.

As the mournful cries of the two dwarves echoed through the Mine Kingdom, Zikyon arrived in front of the guest room where Kang Chan was staying.

“This is the room where Mr. Kang Chan is staying. I will take my leave now.”

“Alright, you’ve done well. Here’s a reward. Eat it on your way.”

Zikyon pulled out another apple and handed it to her.

Gloria’s expression was quite bewildered as she received the apple, but she bowed deeply and then quickly disappeared from Zikyon’s sight.

“Why do they like apples so much?”

Zikyon chuckled contentedly and knocked on the door of the room where Kang Chan was supposed to be staying.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

However, no matter how much she knocked, there was no response from inside.

Zikyon knocked again, but still, there was no answer.

“Is he not inside? View Mana Force.”

Using mana detection magic, Zikyon sensed someone inside the room.

“What is this? There is someone inside? Should I go in?”

Deciding to enter, Zikyon took a step forward.

Her body gradually became transparent, and she passed through the door into the room.

The room was very dark, and someone was quietly sitting on the bed.

“Who are you?”

It was a feeble voice, like a mosquito’s buzz, but Zikyon instantly recognized that the owner of the voice was Kang Chan.

“Hey, you! How could you leave just a single letter for your friend and take off like that?”

“K-Kang Chan?”

“Yes, it’s me! Zikyon! What’s with this room? Light!”

When Zikyon illuminated the room with a light spell, making it as bright as midday, Kang Chan squinted against the brightness.

“The sun’s already high, and you’re still lazing in bed? Have you eaten?”

Zikyon sat on the edge of Kang Chan’s bed and examined him. He had become gaunt, likely due to considerable mental distress.

“How did you find me here?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t be able to find you after you left like that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Have you eaten?”

“No…”

“Let’s get something to eat first. I haven’t had a single meal today while searching for you.”

“Sorry, but I don’t have an appetite right now. I’ll go with you. You eat.”

Lately, Kang Chan had barely eaten due to his longing for Jaina.

“Geez, what nonsense is this… You said you’d take revenge and then left a measly letter, abandoning your friend. Do you think you can accomplish anything like that? Here, take this. It’s the last one I saved.”

Zikyon handed Kang Chan an apple.

When Kang Chan stared blankly at the apple, Zikyon emitted a cold air from his hand, slightly freezing it, and placed it in Kang Chan’s hand.

“It’s an apple grown with the blood of the Green Elves I met on my way here. It must have been good fertilizer because it tastes great. Try it.”

The mention of it being made from the blood of Green Elves snapped Kang Chan out of his daze.

He slowly took a bite of the apple.

As soon as he did, the sweet and refreshing taste filled his mouth.

Suddenly, tears streamed down Kang Chan’s face.

The taste of the apple reminded him of the fruit basket Jaina had thrown to him in the past.

At the same time, the thrill he felt when he first ate the fruit coursed through his body once again.

“Hey, why are you crying while eating? Is it that good?”

“Is this… really an apple made from their blood?”

“Yes, about 200 of them. I twisted and squeezed them to death, but since they were so shriveled, not much blood came out. This apple was grown using their blood as fertilizer. How does it taste?”

To anyone else, it would have been nauseating, but not to Kang Chan.

On the contrary, Kang Chan was delighted.

He was thrilled that Zikyon had killed them so painfully and brutally.

With tears still streaming, Kang Chan started to devour the apple.

It wasn’t very big, so in just three large bites, only the core was left.

“Everyone sure eats apples noisily.”

“Thank you, Zikyon. You snapped me out of it.”

“Huh? What did I do?”

Zikyon had killed them for a personal reason, but Kang Chan thought Zikyon had killed them so brutally to avenge him and Jaina.

He saw the apple, grown with their blood, as a gesture to remind him of blood vengeance.

Kang Chan was genuinely grateful to Zikyon.

Wiping his tears hastily, Kang Chan got up.

“Let’s go get some food. Thanks to the apple you gave me, my appetite’s coming back.”

“Great, I know a good place. They had superb Dwarf beer. I last went about 300 years ago, so I hope it’s still there.”

The unexpected visit from Zikyon had given Kang Chan, who had been downcast, new energy.

For Jaina’s sake, today he wanted to drink to his heart’s content.

“Who cares if it’s there or not? Let’s drink until we can’t stand!”

“Oh, I have a feeling about today. This time, you’re buying.”

“Alright, I’ll pay. Let’s go.”

As Kang Chan and Zikyon headed to the Dwarves’ marketplace for beer, the Dwarf king Cracksion and Arteon, who received the report a bit late, rushed to Kang Chan’s room.

But they had already left.

“Sir Kang Chan hasn’t moved for days. Where could they have gone together?”

To Arteon’s question, Cracksion replied,

“They probably went somewhere to catch up after meeting again for the first time in a while…”

Cracksion’s tone was grudging, and his expression wasn’t bright.

“Then we shouldn’t interrupt them, right?”

“What if he holds a grudge for not greeting him?”

Cracksion’s face was tense.

The worst person he wanted to avoid had come to the Mine Kingdom.

Once, Zikyon had been so captivated by the beautiful and grand underground caverns of the Mine Kingdom that he had told Cracksion he wanted to make it his lair.

It was a ridiculous demand, but Cracksion wasn’t foolish enough to confront a dragon head-on.

At that time, Cracksion went to Zikyon and made a deal with him.

He promised to recreate Zikyon’s lair to have the same structure as the Mine Kingdom.

Zikyon readily accepted Cracksion’s proposal, and thus the dwarves barely managed to protect the Mine Kingdom from the black clutches of the dragon.

Of course, they are still struggling with financial difficulties due to the enormous construction costs they were forced to bear at that time.

This fact was barely known to the world because it was nothing short of a disgrace for the dwarves.

* * *

Zikyon had no interest in the fact that his visit had turned the Mine Kingdom upside down.

His only interest was the freshly brewed draft beer he had just ordered.

He kept drinking it along with smoked duck and crispy smoked sausages, repeating the process of eating and drinking again.

For Kang Chan, it was the first time in his life drinking beer, but instead of savoring it, he was just gulping it down.

It had already been three hours.

The amount of beer the two had drunk was gradually surpassing 30,000cc.

They continued to drink beer as if it were water.

Dwarven beer was stronger than human beer. Besides, Kang Chan hadn’t eaten properly for the past few days, so his stomach was almost empty, and the alcohol started to hit him quickly.

“Ma’am! Another beer here, please.”

“You’re really drinking yourself to death. Hey, young people, that’s not how you drink. You should savor it while drinking.”

As the dwarven woman who seemed to be the owner of the tavern scolded the two, a dwarf who was quietly drinking alone next to them spoke to her.

“Seeing them, they both seem to be humans, but they’re drinking beer quite heartily. I really like it! Chelsea, put this next 3,000cc on my tab.”

“Mr. Bruno, these two have already drunk over 30,000cc, and you want to give them more?”

“A man drinks like that when he wants to forget something. At times like that, it’s not so bad to see whether the alcohol wins or I win.”

“So, Mr. Bruno, have you ever won even once?”

“Hah, if you could win because you wanted to, would it still be called drinking? Hahaha!”

“Good grief, here comes the great pseudo-philosopher again!”

“Ma’am… will you give us some more booze?”

“I can’t take this. Just wait a moment.”

Although Kang Chan and Zikyon had the ability to control their drunkenness, they didn’t do so.

It was because today, they really wanted to get drunk.

“Hey! Zikyon!”

“What?”

“I’m going to leave….”

“Where to?”

“I’m going to leave to find the Jewel Tree!”

“So, where to?”

“Where else? Where she is.”

“Alone?”

“Yeah! I’ll go! And then just… bang!”

Thud!

Suddenly, as Kang Chan fell backward, Zikyon, with his bleary eyes, looked at him.