72. Conversion (end of part 1)

“Transfer.”

The festival is over.

All that was left was to clean up the battlefield and ask for responsibility for the sacrifices.

The Behemoth’s throat was neatly slashed by Maxim’s final blow. At the last ridge to cross the kingdom, Behemoth’s revenge was thwarted. The moment the monster’s head fell to the ground, the chain of light that bound the Behemoth disappeared, and its body like a giant mountain collapsed.

It seemed that another huge mountain had formed through a gap in the canyon. The soldiers began to clean up the ruins of the battlefield without even having time to feel the afterglow of the battle.

“It looks like I’m dreaming.”

“I don’t even know what happened.”

who died and how

The soldiers did not want to think of their past deaths. The strewn corpse over there had a familiar face, but the soldiers didn’t pretend to know it.

“That’s…”

The sunlight just before sunset fell on the canyon, and the Behemoth’s corpse formed a huge shadow. The soldiers’ eyes were on the brown-haired, mysterious knight who had fallen below him.

“I was wearing the emblem of the Order of the Raven.”

“If you see him talking to Captain Theodora, do you know someone?”

And, there were two shadows approaching the knight.

“Maxim…”

Paola frowned and looked at the fallen Maxim. Maxim, who was lying on the ground, spitting out dark blood, looked as if he had already stopped breathing. The medics came running to check Maxim’s condition, but most of them looked flustered. Should I be glad I didn’t die? If you leave it as it is, it will come soon.

“How did you end up like that?”

Paola herself was also very tired. Although he did not directly deal with the Behemoth, he constantly dealt with the monsters swarming from below. My bones ached and the muscles in my limbs felt as if they were going to break. Paola sighed and glared at the person next to her.

“…Finally defeated the Behemoth.”

Roberto Miller.

It was clear that I was fighting monsters on the front line, but I don’t know exactly what I was doing. However, in contrast to Paola, who seemed to have poured all her energy into it, her expression was quite relaxed.

“I will take Maxim back. Uncle Paola must be very tired too, so go in to rest first.”

Roberto said as he walked away. Paola, as if disapproving of something, was watching Roberto’s behavior with a pair of eyebrows. Roberto was no different than usual. The sensitive thing is probably his own senses, which became sensitive right after the battle and ran amok.

Paola repeated that and turned her steps.

“…yes. Bring me back.”

Roberto continued to open and close his fists as he watched Paola move away.

“then…”

Roberto looked away. The medics were eagerly checking the pulse and breathing. Of course, Roberto knew perfectly well that Maxim was alive, even without such a confirmation procedure.

“Come on, get the stretcher!”

“Prepare to move to the injured ward.”

Roberto narrowed his eyes and looked at the fallen Maxim. I didn’t expect it to come this far. Maxim’s aura was much stronger than he thought.

I thought it was the last flame and burned it all up.

“Should I call it a miscalculation or a happy miscalculation? Should I admire the count’s discernment?”

Robert said to himself as if talking to Maxim.

“Here! Bring it!”

“If you do one, two, three, it will be uploaded.”

The medics brought a stretcher in the meantime. Soldiers placed Maxim’s limp body on a stretcher. Roberto changed his expression and approached the soldiers.

“Good job.”

The soldiers tilted their heads when they saw another strange knight greeting them. After confirming that Roberto belonged to the same order as the Jackdaw Knights, he opened the way.

“Wait, can you move this friend to where I am talking about?”

The soldiers were not particularly suspicious. They only follow Roberto, who lifts Maxim on a stretcher and moves forward first.

The battlefield was bustling. The injured were moved and the bodies were collected. Soldiers with matting stretchers passed by. The monster’s corpse decayed quickly under the sun, and the rotting smell vibrated throughout the mountain range.

The place Roberto arrived at was a place where horses and wagons were waiting to carry the wounded or report to the rear. Roberto lowered the ladder of one of the transport wagons and gestured for Maxim to go inside. The soldiers hesitated, put down the stretcher, and lifted Maxim into the wagon.

“… Knight, is this really the right place…”

A soldier asked cautiously. Roberto nodded. Another medic took a sneaky look and asked Roberto again.

“That… taking him to the injured ward isn’t a priority…”

Roberto didn’t say anything, just stared at the soldier who asked the question. The soldier was about to say something more, but as soon as he met Roberto’s gaze, he immediately shut up.

“…no. I apologize for being too presumptuous.”

“No, no. Anyway, Maxim is not in a condition to take care of properly here. Better to evacuate back quickly.”

Then, the rest of the soldiers cautiously asked a question.

“To Captain Theodora Benning…”

As if to stop asking any more questions, other soldiers stabbed the questioner in the side.

“No, you know the captain was taken away, you stupid bastard. Why do you keep being so careless?”

“No, I…”

To the confused medics, Roberto waved his hand to disperse.

“Good job. Now go move the other wounded.”

An awkward expression. However, the soldiers accepted Roberto’s instructions and withdrew with empty stretchers. Roberto laughs at the retreating soldiers.

“…Yes, not knowing is much better for you guys.”

The coachman was wearing a hooded hood. The coachman raised the hood and checked to see if his passenger had arrived.

“You came quickly.”

“The longer you drag on, the harder it is to get out.”

Roberto looked around and climbed into the carriage. The inside of the wagon, with its tent raised like a caravan, was too wide to carry only two people, Maxim and Roberto. Roberto tapped the bar that was connected to the coachman’s seat.

The carriage, rumbling, started towards Murat.

—

The chain of light collapsed with the sound of breaking glass.

As soon as the golden scribe shook and the head of the Behemoth fell off, the wizards holding the magic all cheered and sat down.

“Killed…”

“Who is it? Until just now, no knights would have been able to fight properly.”

Wizards began to deduce who the owner of the aura was. All the while, Christine’s quivering green eyes were fixed on the spot where the Behemoth had dropped its head.

“senior…”

The recovered mana was also used to the point where it was almost depleted. But Christine could never sit still.

“why…”

He kept muttering the same words over and over again. A light that I saw only once but could not forget. The golden light shimmering after cutting the Death Worm under the cliff at the end. Christine could recall the light of the aura that she could see even here far away.

“Didn’t you say you would regret it?”

A cynical voice came to Christine as she stood up. It’s like he knew everything was going to turn out this way from the beginning. Christine stood up from her seat without saying a word. From behind came the professor’s chuckle.

“You’d better run, Christine.”

The professor’s words were no longer heard. Christine had already left the group of wizards and was going down the canyon after the war.

senior.

Thanks to Maxim’s arrival, he was able to kill the Behemoth. If Maxim hadn’t come, Behemoth would have killed all the knights and soldiers here and turned Murat into ruins by now.

nonetheless, nonetheless.

If that’s what you saved at the cost of your life.

Christine bit her lip.

Maxim will be down after defeating the Behemoth now. If you don’t hurry up and take action…

“Vice-captain!”

Christine woke up to someone shouting. Paola was holding her wrist.

“…Sir Paola? Let go of this…! Senior…!”

Paola sighed inwardly when she saw Christine’s eyes shaking with confusion. Do you want to listen Paola grabbed Christine, who kept running forward, and said.

“Wait, wait. Calm down. Maxime will be brought by Roberto. Don’t worry too much…”

Christine suddenly stopped struggling and looked at Paola. The wind blew her hair, making her look insane.

“…What do you mean by that?”

Paola let go of Christine’s arm, who was finally able to listen.

“You are very kind. Roberto is probably transporting the fallen Maxim along with the medics…”

“Roberto! Where are you now?”

Christine questioned Paola in a more urgent voice.

“Not yet… not here…”

Paola’s expression also hardened. Roberto, who dared to take him, and Christine with a very urgent expression. Paola lowered her voice, as if realizing that things were going crazy.

“what’s going on. Vice-captain.”

“Senpai, we have to find him… Come on! I don’t think there will be time to explain, sorry.”

“…I’ll go to the wounded ward and look for it.”

Christine nodded and returned to the transfer area.

The transfer site was chaotic with a queue of wagons carrying corpses and wounded. Christine was frantically looking around, trying to find a wagon that Maxim could be in.

“Wizard, what’s going on here…”

Christine asked, turning her head to the medic talking to her from beside her.

“Did someone from the Knights of the Raven come here by any chance?”

The medic looked at Christine’s uniform and nodded very slowly. In the first place, he must have recognized Christine’s uniform and her urgent appearance and started talking to her.

“…was here.”

“Where now…!”

Christine asked, almost screaming. The soldier answered, pointing to the place where the transportation wagon originally stood.

“…A knight wearing armor with the same pattern set off with the wounded on a transport wagon. He said that it would be better to carry it to the rear because he was in poor condition…”

“When did you start?”

The soldier hesitated, then added.

“It’s been about half an hour, so it’s probably time to get out of Murat…”

Christine looked for words, her expression contorting. Next to the wagon, Christine climbed onto a horse that was grazing with its reins on.

“Where are you going?!”

The soldier looked at Christine in a panic and asked, but Christine cut the leash and started the horse. Dust rose, and the medic stared blankly at the horse as it receded.

—

The mountain range with tall coniferous trees was replaced by short grass and broad-leaved trees growing in places. As if they were unaware of the war on the front, the occasional livestock grazing and groaning. In the meantime, a wagon was passing at a moderate speed on the dirt road. Wheel marks were clearly visible behind the seat of the wagon passing by.

The ground was getting lower. The only road split into several branches, but the only road wide enough for a wagon to pass was the one that ran near the cliff. Roberto tried to talk to the coachman through the bars.

“How did the royal capital go? Has the Count entered?”

Roberto asked. The coachman’s gaze slipped back to Roberto.

“When I started, things were going according to plan. The soldiers of the Bening family have now replaced the guards in the royal capital, and the mages of the Mage Tower are also cooperating.”

“…that’s good.”

muttered Roberto. The past days of acting like a doll, just doing what Count Benning told me to do, were coming to an end.

“How about the second prince?”

“There will be an official announcement of the heir to the throne soon. I think it will be difficult to ignore the power of our family that has now been revealed on the surface.”

However, in the meantime, there was only one concern. The royal palace escort knights. Roberto’s eyes went cold.

“…what happened to them? Royal Palace Guard Knights.”

“There has been no news yet. However… it seems that the Count and Baron Borden have a plan.”

rattle.

The carriage rocked greatly. Roberto woke up from his thoughts and frowned.

“What?”

“Probably the wheel got caught on a boulder. It’s not that serious, so don’t worry…”

Kudang.

Once again the carriage rocked. This time the coachman cut off his conversation and began to slow down the carriage to see what had happened. If the horses got excited, the carriage could fall into the lake at the bottom of the cliff.

“what…”

As soon as the horses slowed down and the carriage stopped, magic was manifested.

“crazy!”

Chains of light wrapped around the carriage. The horses that were pulling the carriage stopped moving further and stopped in place.

Ahead of them, the Wizard descended. Roberto got out of the carriage and came to the front of the carriage. Always with the same expression, with a casual smile.

“…Vice-captain, what have you been up to here?”

Christine said nothing. Holding on to the magic that activated it, Christine questioned Roberto with her eyes.

“…I really didn’t want to fight again.”

Roberto let out a big laugh as if he couldn’t help it. Pulling out a knife from his waist, he changed that casual smile into a cold sneer.

“Isn’t it the same as not having time for each other, let’s finish it quickly.”

—

Darkness was staining his vision.

Consciousness seemed to be flying in the empty sky rather than drowning in the deep sea. There were memories of cracks here and there, but they were all floating around like broken pieces like a shipwreck.

couldn’t happen

Maxim looked around, feeling as if his whole body was shackled. It was dark. It was like lying in a tent.

The problem was memory.

he was empty It was gradually disappearing as if the memory was being eaten away. From the memories of the very past to the memories of the present, they were gradually disappearing as if ink soaked in water was being erased.

“no…”

Maxim desperately got up.

I am Maxim Appart.

First of all, remember your name.

Cursed Knight. The Raven Knights. In order to defeat the Behemoth, the monster of no man’s land…

Behemoth, yes, he defeated himself.

I cast an aura on the bound Behemoth and defeated it.

“Cool.”

Maxim vomited another handful of blood from his mouth. Staggering, Maxim rose from his seat. The Behemoth is down, why the hell am I here?

kugung.

The ground shakes as if an earthquake has occurred. Maxim was finally able to see the scenery around him properly.

“what’s the matter.”

Maxim got out of the carriage. The vibrations were getting more intense.

“…a contest?”

I felt a very familiar wave.

Maxim, having a premonition of something uneasy, walked in front of the carriage.

“At that time, I probably didn’t think that my skills were my everything, Vice-captain.”

A voice is heard.

“If you thought so and came forward like this, it was a very complacent and pitiful choice. Almost all mana was used up, and even that little mana was used to hold on to that wagon. Even in the fight for your life, that’s how it will end up.”

It’s a familiar voice. Roberto. Maxim barely remembered the name.

“Roberto?”

Maxim opened his mouth in a cracked voice.

“The Count said he would value it highly and put his life on the line… I wonder if this is too greedy.”

count?

Before Maxim could understand what it meant,

hooked

A terrifying metallic sound echoed through my senses, to the tip of my brain.

“ah.”

Roberto was reaching out.

What was in his hand was a sword.

A sword that doesn’t even emit an aura stretched out and pierced someone’s chest.

“…ah…”

It falls.

Christine’s body fell, like leaves fluttering and falling to the ground in autumn. Maxim staggered and walked towards Christine.

Took.

Christine came into her arms.

Her small body was so light.

Blood was constantly leaking from a wound in his chest. Maxim hurriedly covered Christine’s wound with his hand. Silently at the scene, Roberto looked down.

“senior…”

“Do not say.”

In the meantime, memories are erased mercilessly. Maxim had no choice but to hold onto him constantly so that the cruel erasure would not take away only the memories of the person he was holding onto.

blood was warm.

Those green eyes looking up at him began to wither. Maxim kept talking to Christine to keep her from losing consciousness.

“Don’t answer, just listen to me, okay? you don’t have to go back You… go back to the people waiting for you in the capital…”

“…senpai’s curse…”

Christine said something without listening to Maxim.

“I don’t want to hear it, so don’t talk and just stay awake.”

“I…taught… how to… plant that curse… into… the potion.”

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Now, what is the use of all that, and what does it all mean? Maxim bit his lip and asked.

“Why is that? What does it matter. what do you mean Are you letting me die because I did something wrong? Don’t be a jerk, Christine. If you’re going to apologize, apologize while the wound is healed. I mean, don’t go away like this irresponsibly right now!”

Christine’s hand came up to Maxim’s face.

“Do not cry…”

Maxim gritted it. Tears continued to flow down his cheeks, regardless of his will.

“Actually…Senior…I originally followed him around because I was sorry… but now…”

Christine’s thumb brushed Maxim’s cheek.

“I just like it, I just like being around seniors…”

“Don’t tell me.”

A light shone on Christine’s hand.

“what are you doing.”

Christine’s lips arced.

“A little… atonement.”

A cluster of brilliantly shining mana, resembling her hair, gathered at her fingertips. Maxim struggled with the memories that were disappearing moment by moment, trying hard not to let go of Christine’s hand.

“senior…”

“don’t do it. Stop.”

Into the heart, the light melts. Maxim tried to push the hand away, but she sent the beam of light to Maxim regardless of her own hand being pushed away. Maxim, knowing that he could not stop him, held his hand tightly. Feeling Maxim’s warmth, Christine’s green eyes widened.

A very beautiful smile bloomed on his face.

“I like.”

Christine.

Christine.

The strength in his hands was gone.

A pale, small, thin hand falls to the floor helplessly.

Christine.

chris…

Whose name am I calling you right now?

Roberto was looking down at Maxim, who was sitting on the floor with a dazed expression.

“…Amazing.”

To be able to maintain my sanity like this even after being so overworked and consumed by the curse. Roberto then looked at Christine, who had collapsed in front of Maxim.

“…To do nothing in vain until the very end.”

It was a sad voice.

However, he soon regained his expression and approached Maxim. Now that the curse has completely taken over her body, she’s just a doll that can only breathe.

“Just help move this guy.”

The coachman, who had been watching the whole situation, nodded in terror. Slowly, the two approached Maxim and grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

“Ugh, it’s heavy because of the armor…”

puck.

uh?

Roberto looked to the side.

The coachman was lying on the floor with his head twisted in a strange direction.

“…this.”

And in front of him stood Maxim, whose eyes were dyed with golden blood. Before he knew it, even his own abdomen with a hole pierced.

“Just..sim…you…”

Patter.

The rain fell.

Maxim twisted his wrist to cut off Roberto’s lifeline, which he could feel at his fingertips.

Took.

The sword slid out of Roberto’s torso, and Roberto began an endless fall down the cliff.

Maxim released the sword from his hand. The black slammed into the dirt with a muffled sound. Maxim slowly approached Christine. And while holding onto her, he tried to get up from his seat, but his legs gave out and he collapsed.

puck.

The mud of the road turning to muddy splashed over Maxim’s armor. Maxim raised himself up again.

“…uh.”

Maxim muttered. Pain arose. The full-blown curse was putting a formidable handicap on Maxim’s body just before it disappeared after completing its goal.

But it happened.

In Maxim’s arms, Christine’s body, which gradually cooled down, was cradled. Maxim let out a breath. Don’t delay, Maxime Appart.

to whip Maxim steps forward again.

“I will not lose.”

you lost a lot

Maxim said so. The last halo left by Christine, probably related to her fading breath, was able to hold on to the remaining fragments before Maxim’s memory faded further.

Maxim walks again. The mud was muddy and made an unpleasant sound.

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Now, the curse or whatever didn’t matter.

The heart that he would not lose pushed Maxim’s steps forward.

The rain continues to cool and wet the ground. Maxim didn’t care.

little bit more.

that buck

Maxim moved forward like that.

gradually. gradually.

So the knight went west.