The Legend of Sun Knight Volume 1 Chapter 5

The Legend of Sun Knight Volume 1: An Introduction to Knight Theory

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)

Fifth Rule of Sun Knights: "Save up for Retirement to Avoid Impoverishment in One's Old Age" - translated by Raylight

The northwest execution ground outside the city really is not just a normal distance away. In order to prevent myself from immediately lying down and joining the row of corpses after walking all the way there, I reluctantly decided to bear the pain of spending money to call a carriage to bring me there.

I could have returned to the Holy Temple and taken their public carriage instead, but then I would have to maintain the Sun Knight's brilliant smile and perfect demeanor in front of the driver…

In my current feeble situation where I can't even fully smile, I better bear with the grief and rent a carriage, using the retirement funds that I had been saving with great effort. After all, if I were to die now, then the retirement funds that I have been saving so painstakingly would be useless, right?

At the carriage rental area, I chose a carriage that looked like it could still arrive at the execution ground without falling apart, and an old coachman who wouldn't seem to mind even if the pa.s.senger were a man-eating demon. I jumped into the small carriage and, although it smelled like a basket of rotten eggs, I was too tired to care. I nested in the corner and made myself comfortable. Gradually, my consciousness became fuzzy and all I knew was that the swaying of the carriage was just as comfortable as a baby's cradle…

Boom!

I woke up with a blank expression on my face, along with a large, swollen b.u.mp on my forehead. This was because the carriage had braked suddenly, causing my head to b.u.mp against the wooden board of the carriage in front of me so hard that even the board had broken.

I started thinking, Perhaps I could also pay a sum of money to bribe the person handling the corpses at the execution ground, and then let this coachman join the pile of corpses “who didn't die by hanging” there?

"Pardon me, a few knights suddenly stopped up front, so I had no choice but to use the emergency brakes," The coachman shouted to the compartment, though his monotonous voice didn't sound apologetic in the least.

Knights? I rubbed my forehead a bit painfully.

Holy knights and knights are actually pretty much the same thing, for both wield weapons, ride horses, wear a suit of armor, have to be a meat s.h.i.+eld in combat, and are the first of the troops to die… Cough! It should be, both use their own bodies to block off attacks on other group members, n.o.bly sacrificing themselves to protect others with every breath in their body until death.

The only difference is that the former serve G.o.d, while the latter pledge their allegiance to the people. However, because Holy Knights serve G.o.d, they have various kinds of special abilities. For example, we holy knights have a "Self-Recovery" ability, so our bodies' recovery rate is super fast!

For example, I had just spilled a whole street's worth of blood yesterday, yet am able to run about today. This is something that definitely cannot be achieved by a knight; it's more probable that they would just fall down and die right after they finish spilling all their blood.

As for the people-serving knights, of course they wouldn't be able to get any help from G.o.d, but the salaries paid by their masters is also higher than ours, and not just two or three times higher. d.a.m.n them!

A high level knight, as long as he can survive until retirement, can definitely save up enough money from his salary to spend his old age luxuriously. However, for a Holy Knight… If one does not accept private jobs, even the Twelve Holy Knights that have worked to the top would still have to live their life thriftily. Otherwise, when they retire, they'll realize that they don't have a single cent to their name for food. The consequences will either be going to see the G.o.d of Light directly, or having to fight over missions with younger people to earn money even when they're already fifty, sixty years old.

(Whisper) For example, that master of mine who is considered to be the strongest Sun Knight in history is now an adventurer, competing for missions with younger people everywhere, and fighting evil with evil against monsters and robbers… Cough! It should be guiding the younger generation and upholding justice.

Anyway, before my master left the Holy Temple, he once told me in a grave tone, "Child, if you don't want to be forced to become a cleric after you retire… and with your swordsmans.h.i.+p, it's too dangerous to be a knight… Then you must save well for your retirement funds, in order to avoid impoverishment in your old age."

When I thought about this, I started to feel regretful over my decision to spend money to hire a carriage. I should have walked there, for I believe with my Sun Knight's recovering ability, I probably wouldn't have died halfway.

Just as I was feeling regretful, there was suddenly an uproar coming from outside with horses trotting, armors clanking, and people shouting.

"What happened?" I asked impatiently, sticking my head out of the carriage.

Just as I stuck my head out, I happened to see the coachman jump out of the driver's seat. Oh, great! He ran off as though he had grown wings, in the blink of an eye becoming little more than a speck of dust in the distance.

d.a.m.n coachman, don't let me find you in the future! Otherwise, I will definitely take you to see the Judgment Knight, and charge you with the offense of purposely abandoning the Sun Knight!

After I "blessed" that coachman to see the G.o.d of Light soon in my heart, I turned my head around, and finally understood why the coachman had fled. In front of the carriage were three burly knights who didn't look too friendly.

"Go back!"

The three knights were originally watching the escaping coachman, stunned, but the leader was obviously experienced and returned to his senses quickly. Seeing me peeping at them, he roared at me.

I scowled. Being the leader of the Twelve Holy Knights, no one had dared to roar at me in my whole life, with the exception of my teacher, the Pope, and that fat pig of a king who was oblivious to the situation. I can't believe that today "The holy knight who is having difficulties at the execution grounds is being bullied by knights"1 is actually happening. Three measly knights actually dare to roar at me? You guys better watch your backs!

Do you believe that I'll, I'll—…go back and tell Judgment Knight to beat you all into a pulp!

Hey! You're not allowed to say that I'm weak! You try losing a whole street worth of blood, and then let's see if you can do anything the next day other than being lovey-dovey with your bed!

I have always said that my swordsmans.h.i.+p is lousy… I mean, "not that great", but that is only in comparison to the standard of the Twelve Holy Knights and my abnormal master. Compared to normal knights, my swordsmans.h.i.+p is considered to be…to be…average!

However, don't forget that I am a holy knight. My salary isn't sacrificed in vain, for after adding in a whole bunch of hodgepodge holy skills, my ability is about that of a high level knight! Moreover, taking into account the holy knights' extremely unusual self-recovery abilities, my real ability is definitely above that of a high level knight!

Nonetheless, let me repeat myself. After bleeding an entire street's worth of blood, forget about dueling with a high level knight, even the action of pulling out a sword would be the kind of vigorous activity that should be avoided. Thus, I rubbed my nose and lowered the hood of the cloak. Jumping from the back seat of the carriage into the driver's seat, I wielded the horsewhip with little skill and commanded the horses to hurry and turn back.

"Consider yourself sensible enough!" The three knights seemed as though they weren't particularly looking for trouble either, and after seeing me leaving obediently, they paid me no further attention and rode their horses in the opposite direction.

They are riding in the direction of the execution ground, I observed as I sneakily turned my head around.

Waiting till I had enough distance between us, I brandished the horsewhip again to let the carriage continue onwards, while I jumped off the carriage and hid amongst the trees on the side of the road. As long as I don't walk on the main road, those knights probably won't notice me.

I was extremely interested in why these knights were going to the execution grounds seemingly without any reason, faintly smelling a conspiracy. It would be great if this conspiracy had some connection to the Death Knight that I was investigating! Even if it had no connection, at most I'd just go back and hand the case over for Judgment to investigate. Anyway, I better continue the investigation first.

Afraid of missing the opportunity to crack a conspiracy, I did not use my tortoise-style of walking to advance further, but instead stepped up my pace and jumped agilely in the forest. Though I had a premonition that my injury would probably re-open tomorrow, it didn't matter, for if my self-recovery abilities were claimed to be second best amongst the Twelve Holy Knights, no one would dare claim to be number one.

No matter how serious the injury was, as long as I rested for a whole day, I'd definitely be able to get up from bed the next day. If I were to rest for three full days, even if my injuries were as heavy as my intestines taking a stroll outside, my heart going on strike, and my lungs running out of breath, I would still be able to get up for breakfast and apply my facial mask as usual.

However, there are also disadvantages to having injuries heal so quickly.  Ever since it was discovered by that d.a.m.n old man the Pope, my sick leave has always been shorter than everyone else's…

After cursing that old fellow for a while, I saw the short clay walls of the execution ground. It was a large, circular arena, and its only surroundings were those tiny, low clay walls. In the center was a square with the execution device, which was rather crude as well, for it was consisted of only three wooden stands with a rope hanging down from the middle. The lowest point of the rope was a simple noose, simple yet deadly.

This execution ground was the oldest in history, as well as the most run-down one. Criminals with serious crimes or those with even a bit of status would not be transported here for executions. Generally, only the lowliest of bandits, whose lives no one cared about would be sent here.

However, this Leaf Bud City is after all the capital of the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound. Moreover, it is also the headquarters of the G.o.d of Light's devotees. Thus, on one street there might be a few knights from the Royal Knight Militia Squadron having a friendly duel, and then walking onto the next street one would see a few Holy Knights contesting whose holy magic is stronger. Then going onto the next street, one might see a few clerics preaching.

The most horrifying part would be the Knight-Captain Judgment's habit of patrolling the city at different times every day. In the ten years that have pa.s.sed, the total number of criminals caught for various crimes is 1056.

Tell me, who would dare to steal or rob?

Because of the lack of criminals in the city, this execution ground was also pretty much abandoned.

But then it's due to this kind of abandoned look that leads to various kinds of sneaky matters happening, for there were actually corpses that are not criminals being dumped here. If there are corpses, that means that there are crimes still happening. Looks like the capital is still not as peaceful and safe as the Sanctuary of Light and the Holy Temple might think.

I laughed grimly. Wait until I tell this to Judgment! That cool face of his will definitely become even colder, until it can clean up the whole capital.

The execution ground was desolate except for three horses tied at the side. Looks like the three knights have already arrived.

Although there was n.o.body here, the run-down house on the edge of the execution grounds had bright lights in the window that revealed a few faint human shadows.

I cast two support spells on myself, specifically the Light s.h.i.+eld2 that increases physical defense and the Wings of G.o.d3 spell that increases agility. Then, I avoided the angles from which the people inside might be able to see from the window, and slowly moved closer to the house.

"…Where is that corpse?" a rather fierce voice said from the small house.

"Sir… There are many here… Here… Which one is it?" This voice was quite feeble with age, and even though I tried my best to eavesdrop, I still missed out on much of the conversation.

At this moment, I stopped in my tracks and hid behind a few big trees at the side of the house, not daring to advance any further. The three knights were obviously inside, and sadly my current condition was not looking good, for even the strength from the two buffs on my body was wavering. If I were to go any nearer, it would be hard to guarantee that they wouldn't discover me.

"…The one with blue eyes." The knight's voice suggested that its owner was desperately trying to restrain his anger.

That feeble, aged voice cried out, "Sir, I will not go and flip dead people's eyelids!"

"Blond, no, the hair color is closer to brown. About twenty-three years old, with a rather handsome looking face."

I furrowed my brows. The description made me feel faintly uneasy… I wonder why?

Blue eyes, brown hair, twenty-three years old……He's the same age as me, and to have actually died so young. I believe that this might be a part of the Death Knight's grudge too.

"Already buried…"

"How dare you lie to me!"

This was followed by a series of shrieks and blows. After a while, that old, feeble voice said even more feebly, "…Sold it to someone two days ago."

"Who?"

"A man with a little girl."

A flash of light shone in my eyes. What a blessing from the G.o.d of Light! I can't believe that I actually guessed right, that these three knights really do have some connection with the Death Knight.

Hmm, a man and a little girl? It's probably a small corpse bringing a big corpse! It was definitely Pink and her "Cleaning Corpse", which is an undead creature that she specially summoned to clean her house.

"What did the man look like?" The knight sounded like he was in a towering rage.

Heh! You asked the wrong question. You should have asked what the little girl looked like, I mocked spitefully.

"The cloak hood was pulled really low… I couldn't see his face…"

"You birdbrain!"

"Let's kill him, in case he tries to reveal our ident.i.ties."

"Spare me!" that feeble, old voice suddenly shrieked.

My face became grim. As the Sun Knight, shouldn't I do something to help in this kind of situation, where criminals are trying to eliminate their witnesses?

However, in my current state, if I were to dash in, I might end up getting killed along the way as well.

Should I save him or not…

"Stop! No more!" The pleading voice could be heard from inside, but the other party seemed to totally ignore them and the sounds of punches and kicks continued.

b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! I had been daydreaming for such a long time and yet you guys still hadn't killed him off yet. One slice of the blade would be enough, so what's the point of attacking with mere limbs?! Don't you realize that when villains take their time, there will inevitably be a defender of justice showing up to meddle in your business?

Especially when this defender of justice who has to show up is me!

After looking down to check that the Light s.h.i.+eld and Wings of G.o.d spells were still activated, I sneaked a peek inside from the window. Two knights were in the midst of landing blows, and one lone knight was standing at the side with a grim-looking face. According to my theory that "the boss usually only talks and does not take action"4, then this fellow ought to be the leader.

In a low voice, I recited a magic incantation. Although I'm a holy knight, I clearly have the potential to be an exceptionally gifted cleric, as well as the qualifications of a talented magician. In other words, I would excel in every profession except as a knight. s...o...b..

My teacher often lamented to the sky, "How is it that you can copy a magician using a Spell of Paralysis after just a glance, yet you still can't grasp the concept of a basic sword technique after I guide you with demonstrations over twenty times?"

In order to avoid unnecessary problems, such as people saying that I'm not true to my image and such, I usually don't use magic in front of others. However, this is a special situation, and I have no intention of revealing my ident.i.ty.

"Spell of Paralysis!"

I cast a Spell of Paralysis on the leader of the knights, while simultaneously breaking through the window with a flying kick. Then, I kicked the back of the knight's neck, and he fell down without even uttering a single cry. Not that I want to boast about it, but my qualifications for being an a.s.sa.s.sin are also unusually good… Ahem! Let's stop chatting, as the two other knights are already charging over here with their swords.

In the moment I kicked the leader of the knights, I had conveniently pulled out his saber. After all, I wanted to hide my ident.i.ty, so I couldn't take my s.h.i.+ning Divine Sun Sword into battle, for then only the blind wouldn't realize that I am the Sun Knight.

As I dodged the two knights' attacks, I chanted another incantation in a low voice. With a swing of my left hand, I threw a Spell of Grease that would cause the ground to become slippery. Straight away one of the knights fell, and I quickly stomped on his leg and broke his s.h.i.+n.

A knight with a broken leg is even less dangerous than a cleric, for after all they are just a bunch of armor-wearing tin cans running around. To support the hefty weight of armor requires a steady foundation, thus when a knight breaks a leg, even standing up is quite difficult.

"A swordmage!" the other knight shouted as his face paled drastically.

Swordmage? I rolled my eyes. Oh please, I'm just a holy knight who accidentally learned some elementary magic, not the kind of deviant who learns both magic and sword fighting.

However, I was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence after defeating the knights this easily. Looks like the three in front of my eyes are not quite high level knights; that makes this much easier to deal with. The knight in front of me who mistook me for a swordmage was obviously very frightened, and didn't have the guts to go anywhere near me.

I could probably understand his feelings. After all, a swordmage is a weird occupation, in that one might be extremely strong or extremely weak. However, when I first entered the battlefield I defeated the strongest one among them, and in another instant I defeated a second one. In his mind, I was probably a swordmage who belongs in the strong category.

All of a sudden, I felt a strong aura at my back. I abruptly turned around and, as expected, I saw the fellow that I had first kicked down stand up slowly. His face was thunderous, and what was even worse was that his body radiated a small energy flow. That is battle aura, and only knights of high level and above possess it.

"Shameless backstabber!" the knight roared.  He wanted to pull his saber out, but realized that I have already taken it away, which made him so furious that his face flushed crimson.

So that guy was actually a high level knight. No wonder he was only wearing light armor instead of the heavy armor that the other two were wearing.

"Battle aura" is like an air bubble wrapped around the body, and the effect is much better than armor, for it can not only block attacks but also at the same time, it had a buffering ability that armors don't have. What's more, it doesn't have the weight of armor and thus will not lower one's speed. So it can both help attack and save one's life!

However, this kind of good thing wasn't something that everyone can have, which can be seen from the fact that once knights can bring out a battle aura, they can immediately apply to be promoted to a high level knight.

I remember when my teacher spent all possible efforts to help me bring out a battle aura, and used all the possible methods he could think of. Every day, he would activate his battle aura over and over so that I could experience the battle aura's activation method… In the end, I still didn't manage to learn how to use it. On the other hand, when I was using my eyes to record the beautiful clerics, I accidentally learned the support spell that was meant specifically for high level clerics—Light s.h.i.+eld—which nearly made my teacher die of frustration.

It was not until I took over my teacher's position as Sun Knight that I experienced the activation of battle aura during a mission that had nearly killed me.

However, I still prefer to use Light s.h.i.+eld instead of battle aura. That's because I can cast Light s.h.i.+eld easily, but my battle aura fails an average of once every three activations, and it is weak to the point of being pathetic. On average it can take three blows before dissipating, so I don't really dare to entrust my life to my disappointing battle aura.

I peeked at the high level knight's battle aura. Smooth energy flow with suitable thickness, it looked like his battle aura was not as bad as mine, so it probably would not be an easy feat to break through it.

"Spell of Grease!" I casually threw a spell again.

However, as that high level knight was wearing light armor, the weight on his body and the little bit of oil on the ground was obviously not enough for him to fall on his back with four limbs facing the sky. Instead, this magic only aggravated him. He roared, "Despicable!" and then lifted the nearby table off the ground, throwing it in my direction in one breath.

He probably thought that I would face him head-on and handsomely slice through the table with the sword, and then have an earth-shaking knight vs. swordmage battle!

But…I dodged! Also, I added a "Spell of Smokescreen" to create smoke that would obscure my enemy's sight.

After that, I scooped up the old fellow who had been beaten to a pulp from the floor and jumped through the window. In a surge of adrenaline, I dashed to the side of the three horses, and cut loose the ropes holding them with one slice.  Then, I jabbed two of the horse's backsides, causing them to run away, neighing loudly. Carrying the old man, I jumped on the third horse and pulled on the reins with great force.

At this moment, a sword covered in strong energy came flying through the broken window, slicing through the air straight at me.

If I were to dodge this sword, I would definitely fall off the horse. If I fall off the horse, then the knights behind will definitely catch up, and matters will be disastrous.

That is because in my current condition, even my Light s.h.i.+eld was like a protective barrier made of paper, and I totally had no strength to engage in combat with others, let alone with a high level knight.

I guess I have no choice but to take the damage!

Light s.h.i.+eld plus my holy magic should be able to take it…

Tsssshhh…That blade broke through my protective barrier as though it was pa.s.sing through two layers of paper. My face paled, but I managed to tilt my body slightly so that blade didn't pierce through my heart, but only sc.r.a.ped across my right shoulder, which immediately spilled a stream of blood. Luckily, the sword didn't hurt the horse, so it still pressed forward with all its might, increasing the distance between us and the knights.

As I used healing magic to seal the wound, I thought, This knight is very strong… Even if my condition were at its best, I'm afraid I still wouldn't be at an advantage. The only reason I managed to successfully knock him down in the first blow was thanks to the luck of catching him unaware and through the coordination of magic.

A knight this strong, plus the fact that he yelled 'unscrupulous' and 'despicable'… I'm afraid he's no ordinary knight. Who knows, he might have some n.o.ble family background and that is why he would value the virtues of honor and fair play.

However, thinking about it, a knight who values honor going to an execution ground for a corpse… Seems like there's something wrong going on, no matter how you look at it!

Unless it was the order of the master that he is serving under, then it would be another matter entirely… Urgh!

A sudden dizzy spell struck me, and I shook my head violently. Lowering my head, I saw that the shoulder that I just healed had started bleeding again. That made sense; on this kind of b.u.mpy horse ride, even if the wound were to clot up, it would be jarred open again.

I better hurry back to the Church so as to be able to use my full strength on healing my wounds. I quickly tore off a strip of the cloak, casually wrapped it around my shoulder twice, and then focused all my strength on riding the horse back to the city.

When I was just about to reach the city gates, I threw the old man off the horse, and then tossed a healing spell at him. In a low voice I told him, "If you value your life, leave this place quickly. Go as far as you can, you hear?"

The old man was obviously much better after my healing, and he nodded his head in fright before limping away.

Once he was gone, I also jumped off the horse. It belonged to that group of knights, so I wouldn't dare to ride it back into the Church. If it were found out after the incident, there would be a lot of trouble. Moreover, my shoulder was dyed red with blood right now. If I were to ride in on a horse, it would be too eye-catching. I was worried that I might garner too much notice from the Militia Squadron or even from our own holy knights.

I used my hand to cover up the wound and slowly walked into the city. The city guards at the gate looked at me with a scowl for a few moments, but they didn't stop me from entering. They had probably already seen a lot of adventurers with injuries covering their body. Moreover, since there are Militia Squadron and holy knights present within the city, there shouldn't be a lot of guys who would dare to cause a ruckus in the capital.

I really had lost too much blood, and was so weak that I had no choice but to go back to my tortoise style of walking.

Although I didn't create trouble, there was still a squad of Militia Squadron who were staring at me. The blood covering half my body on the cloak was a startling sight and they were probably also afraid of me suddenly causing trouble or worse still, directly toppling over to the side and dying.

Seeing that some of the knights in the Militia Squadron were pressing closer, I walked towards the side of the street, where three holy knights from the Holy Temple were chatting.

I moved closer to the three people and then reached out a hand to the holy knight with his back facing me. This action had obviously made the Militia Squadron and the other two holy knights who had noticed my movements nervous, and the other holy knights pulled the holy knight to one side…

I had originally wanted to tap that holy knight's shoulder, but evidently I'm unable to now.

"May the G.o.d of Light bless you, my fellow brothers," I said in a loud voice. However, after speaking, I realized that my voice was not as strong as I had imagined. Instead, I sounded abnormally weak.

"Who are you?" The holy knights stared at me in confusion, and seeing the fresh blood on my body, they couldn't help but furrow their brows.

I pulled away my cloak a little to let them see my face, and said with a smile, "Can you recognize me?"

The three holy knights widened their eyes as soon as they saw my face, and the youngest among them started stuttering, "You, you are Su—!"

"Shh!" I pressed my pointer finger to my lips and even winked playfully with a casual smile on my face… I really wanted to just d.a.m.n faint, but I still had to work hard to maintain the image of the Sun Knight!

The three holy knights' facial expressions ran through several emotions. First they had discovered that I was the Sun Knight, so they wanted to salute. However, they remembered that I seemed to want to avoid revealing my ident.i.ty, so they didn't dare to salute. Next, their eyes drifted over my body, and seeing it covered in blood, their expressions changed drastically. After that, I could no longer tell what they were thinking, but they looked extremely pale.

How interesting…

"I need an escort. Are you are willing to spend some time to accompany me back to the Holy Temple?"

My speech was a lot simpler than usual.  Words like being under the watchful eye of the G.o.d of Light, or fellows.h.i.+p amongst holy knight brothers and the like—that kind of nonsense was all omitted. Right then I only wanted to go back to the Holy Temple and sleep like a log.

"Also, the Militia Squadron seems to have some misunderstandings about me, so may I trouble you to help explain for me, but please don't reveal my ident.i.ty."

The three holy knights nodded their heads fearfully, and one of the holy knights walked over to explain to the Militia Squadron. I don't know what words he used, but the knights just nodded their heads before leaving.

The youngest holy knight in front of me seemed to be a little nervous as he asked, "Sir-Sir, do you want your wounds healed first? I know a little bit of healing… Ah!" As he spoke, he seemed to remember something, and stopped again.

Smiling, I said, "Then, may I trouble you?"

When those words of mine were spoken, the three holy knights looked at me with extreme disbelief. I can probably understand their shock; after all, I am the Sun Knight who gained fame through my powerful holy magic, and yet I actually needed someone to help me by using healing magic. It was simply just too unbelievable…

The three holy knights also knew not to talk too much. Only the holy knight who had spoken just now used his less-than-proficient healing skills to tend my wounds, and then the three escorted me back to the Holy Temple.

With the escort from the three holy knights, I reached the Holy Temple quickly. After saying a few words of thanks to the three knights, I stepped onto the staircase of the Holy Temple alone.

"Su— …Are you alright?" the youngest holy knight called out worriedly.

My body swayed twice, though it was not visible. I turned around to them, showing my most brilliant smile while saying, "I'm alright, please do not worry."

However, for some unknown reason the three Holy Knights first became shocked, and then showed even more worried expressions.

Reaching the Holy Temple's gate, I pulled off the hood of my cloak. The holy knights guarding the door immediately saluted me, and I entered the Holy Temple without any problems. I made a beeline to my room. I'll be there soon! Oh, my dear bed…

"Sun!"

Hearing the voice calling me, I had to stop in my tracks. Without even enough time to turn around, I was dragged away by someone. Since I didn't even have the strength to talk now, I could do nothing but allow myself be hauled off.

"What have you been doing? There's so much blood on you! It's the enemy's, right? I bet you beat them until they were trying to find their teeth all over the floor, ha!"

The person had a head of fiery-red hair, a loud voice, and a tall build. His manner of speaking was also extremely straightforward, and his strength was shocking. My whole body was dragged about by him with just one hand of his.

This person is Blaze Knight of the Twelve Holy Knights, and his personality is like an inferno, direct and explosive. He, Storm, Leaf, and I are all the same, for we all belong to the "good, warm-hearted" faction of the Twelve Holy Knight-Captains.

Please let me go, Blaze! I feel like crying; I'm about to faint already!

"Right, forgot to tell you why I was looking for you."

Blaze didn't even look back at me, but only continued to drag me forward. I saw that when the holy knights pa.s.sing beside us saw me, all of them dropped the doc.u.ments, cups, and even precious swords in their hands in shock. I think that my current facial color must have been very scary—as in so weak that it's scary.

If this continues, my image as a Sun Knight would definitely be completely tarnished. I mustered every last ounce of strength in my body and pulled up the hood of my cloak.

"Ice is lying down. That Death Knight's sword was a bit strange. They say that it was the Death-something Sword, and when struck with it, it directs the aura of death into their body. Even that old man the Pope can only forcefully repress its deathly energy. They said that only you have the power to cancel out that what's-it-called energy."

Aura of death? Everything makes more sense now! No wonder I was still this weak even with my extremely strong recovery abilities. I'm afraid that the sword has some extraordinary origin and, unfortunately, it is being held in the hands of a Death Knight. What was even more ill-fated was that I was being suspected as the chief culprit for creating that Death Knight, so I had no choice but to find out the truth.

Blaze dragged me to the row of rooms where the "cruel, cold-hearted" faction were living, and kicked open Ice's room with his leg. Then he shouted, "I found Sun! Now what do we have do to save this icy fellow?"

The situation in the room was not as grave as I thought. Although Ice Knight was lying in bed, he was conscious and was even holding a book and reading. A few high level clerics stood at the side, discussing how to heal the wound.

Judgment was also sitting at the side of Ice's bed, amending doc.u.ments. Even though he came here to take care of Ice, he still would not forget about official work.

The high level clerics showed a joyous expression at my entrance. "As long as we drip that holy blood of Sun Knight, which has long been receiving blessings from the G.o.d of Light, onto Knight-Captain Ice's wound and combine it with our purification magic, we can definitely chase out the aura of death,” one of them said. "After that, just let the Knight-Captain Ice rest quietly for a few days and he'll be fine.

Can you let me rest quietly for a few days first? No matter how you look at it, I feel that my condition is worse than Ice's by a fair amount…

Urgh! With a twinge of pain, my arm suddenly sprayed out blood like a fountain.

"That's simple. In any case, Sun is like an invincible c.o.c.kroach. Bleeding one or two buckets of blood is nothing for him." Blaze grabbed my shoulder with one hand and with the other hand, lifted my hand and waved it all about on Ice's head. My blood sprayed all over his whole body, and the expression on his face grew even colder.

Seeing the situation, a few high level clerics rushed up to perform the purification spell. However, all of the purification spells were given to Ice on the bed… Hey, hey! Did everyone forget that I was also struck yesterday? Moreover, the wound I received is even deeper than Ice's, so share some purification magic with me!

I watched all those purification spells, wanting to cry and yet unable to do so. Although I wanted to shout, only a hoa.r.s.e sound came out from my mouth.

"Knight-Captain Sun, you…" Judgment seemed to have observed that there was something wrong with me. He raised his head up suddenly, yet he hesitated and didn't continue.

I can understand Judgment's hesitation. After all, the two of us are the Sun Knight and Judgment Knight who definitely cannot get along with each other. It doesn't matter what is the true situation in private, in front of those clerics and Blaze, it was not appropriate for him to initiate concern for me. Moreover, with the recovery abilities that I had shown in the past that resemble that of a c.o.c.kroach, probably no one would believe that I would really die…

During the time that the clerics were doing purification on Ice, my consciousness gradually became hazy. Please! Anyone is fine, just discover that I'm about to go see the G.o.d of Light…

In the final moment before I fainted, I watched from the corner of my eye as Judgment pulled off Blaze's hand from my arm and removed the hood of my cloak. When he saw my face, he took in a deep breath, and then turned around, roaring at the clerics. However, I couldn't hear any more so I don't know what he was roaring about.

Hoho, Ice also jumped up from his bed. This icy fellow's face can actually have a fl.u.s.tered expression? It's simply too amazing. Instead it was Blaze, who always had exaggerated expressions, who had become dumbstruck.

I don't care anymore!

At any rate, what happens after, be it life or death, is none of my concern. Right now, I only want to sleep…Closing my eyes, I thought, Ah! How comfortable. Good night, everyone.

[Sun Knight Volume 1 Chapter 5 End]

1 "The Holy Knight who is having difficulties at the execution grounds is being bullied by knights": This is a play of the original idiom, 虎落平阳被犬欺 (hǔ luò píng yáng bèi quǎn qī), which literally means the tiger fell to the plains (in China, tigers are considered the kings of the mountains) and is being bullied by dogs. (Meaning that strong people who are in a difficult situation can't even fend off the weaklings.) So, in this case, Sun is saying that he's in a difficult situation and is being bullied by people weaker than him.

2 Light s.h.i.+eld: Basically, it works like a layer of light around the caster that helps to increase physical defense. For those who play Ragnarok Online (RO), it works like Kyrie Eleison.

3 Wings of G.o.d: A spell that increases agility. Basically works like Haste.

4 "The boss usually only talks and does not take action": Another play on words. The original is 君子动口不动手, which means, "A gentleman should reason with his mouth instead of brawling with his hands."