It was absurd.

He couldn’t find any word to describe this situation other than absurd.

Arthur, who had been watching, moved his lips in disbelief.

“That…”

Approaching in an instant and delivering a powerful blow.

What Arendt presented was clearly similar to Bethel’s moves, and he even applied Richt’s clean downward strike.

‘Is this what you meant by showing?’

The knights’ astonished gazes were fixed on Arendt, and the one who broke the silence that was flowing earnestly in the training ground was Richt.

“You.”

His blue eyes were filled with quiet, yet hot anger, but the voice that came out was relatively calm.

“Did you cheat?”

“Yes, there’s no way I could win if I fought my senior.”

Arendt admitted it shamelessly, then spun the sword around in his hand and put it away.

“Even if someone decides to beat up someone, there’s no reason to just take it.”

“Ah…”

Richt seemed speechless at the shamelessness. He looked back and forth between the broken sword and Arendt, then burst into laughter.

“It’s a duel between knights. Sometimes it’s a matter of honor, and sometimes it’s a matter of teaching. Can you still call yourself a knight after doing this?”

“Aren’t knights people? They also don’t want to get beaten. Well, you were the one who started the fight, which you couldn’t possibly lose. If I were stronger than you, I don’t think I would have rushed at you with my sword, teaching you lessons or anything.”

“… I’ll admit that, but you were the one who rushed at me with the intention of killing me.”

Richt quietly muttered.

Although it was Richt who started it, it was definitely Arendt who poured oil on the small spark. But Arendt shrugged and ignored that.

“If you think so, then it’s okay if we just say that I didn’t cheat. Then it seems like you were defeated by the youngest apprentice knight of the Knights Order with your fair and square skills.”

“You hit the nail on the head. Let’s just say I got tricked.”

“Okay, I understand. I’ll leave.”

Arendt waved his hands and turned around. No one stopped him as he left the stage.

It was a truly wonderful exit.

Arthur, who had been observing the situation, quietly left the training ground and followed Arendt.

Richt followed his figure with his eyes for a moment.

“…Senior Richt, is it okay to send him away like that?”

“It’s over.”

People opened their mouths but Richt just shook his head.

‘That’s ridiculous.’

It didn’t even occur to him to ask what Arendt was doing.

The wooden sword was handed over to Arthur, and the duel was something no one had expected. So whatever trick Arendt used was ultimately based on Arendt’s skills.

Richt’s eyes settled calmly as he stared at the half-broken wooden sword still in his grasp with his mouth tightly shut.

Arthur, who had left the training ground, looked around quickly.

The back of a snow-white head wearing the light-colored uniform of an apprentice knight soon came into view.

Arthur ran towards him.

“Hey, what on earth are you trying to do…”

“Huh, huh.”

At that moment, Arendt let out a huge sigh and sat down.

Arthur ran to him with his eyes wide.

“What? Why are you doing that?”

“Why?”

Arendt opened his eyes and blurted out in an arrogant manner. Arthur couldn’t help but place a hand on Arendt’s forehead .

“…Open your eyes a little more carefully. What’s that sweat? You were fine just a moment ago.”

“I just used a lot of magic power. Don’t worry about it.”

After a while, Arendt, who had caught his breath, sat up normally. Arthur looked at Arendt, who had changed his posture in an instant, with dumbfounded eyes.

“What on earth did you do to make the sword break so easily? It’s made to withstand even the hardest strikes.”

“I told you it was a trick.”

Arendt held out his hands to Arthur.

On Arendt’s pretty hand, instead of the leather gloves he had always worn, a single black ring was in place.

Arthur frowned.

“That… Did you take it from Bethel? No. Wasn’t the one he was wearing a little bigger?”

“That’s right.”

At first glance, Arendt’s fingers were only about half as thick as Bethel’s. But the ring now seemed to be tailored just for Arendt.

“Is that right?”

“Yes, the artifact he used. It was quite an important item over there… It must be a bit disappointing that it was stolen.”

“Aren’t you really that bad-tempered?”

There were many other things he wanted to ask, but Arthur blurted that out first.

Arendt glared at his senior for a moment, then shook his head.

“Okay. I’ll go eat.”

“You’re going to swallow your food after doing this? We’re not done talking yet. How are you going to handle this now! Are you crazy for trying to cheat Senior Richt?”

“Senior, do you know the saying that you don’t avoid something because it’s dirty, but because you’re scared?”

Arthur followed his cheeky junior, his face crumpled.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“It’s easier than you think to become someone who is scary, but also someone who is dirty and avoided.”

It wasn’t just Richt who wanted to crawl over and start a fight, calling him a traitor.

Since getting along with them was not an option from the beginning, Arendt decided to firmly stick to his path as the character ‘Arendt’ who splashed mud everywhere.

Arendt walked away, leaving Arthur frozen in place in a daze.

Arthur muttered as he watched his back moving away.

“Isn’t that guy crazy…”

And it was only after Arendt was completely out of sight that he realized that he had never asked any of the questions he really wanted to ask.

Arthur followed him, panting and hurried.

“Hey, wait! Let’s go together!”

It wasn’t that difficult to get Arthur to shut up while he was asking questions about this and that throughout the meal.

Arendt spat out the bread in his mouth in annoyance.

“You can ask the captain directly later.”

“Report?”

“It’s not something the lower-level officials should be responsible for.”

Arthur, who had been asking questions in a puzzled manner, gave up and shut his mouth at those words.

After shaking off Arthur and returning to his room alone, Arendt immediately threw himself on the bed and took off the ring he had on his finger.

When worn, it had a shiny appearance as if it had been carved from obsidian, but as soon as it was taken off his finger, it returned to its original worn-out appearance.

The light from the chandelier hanging from the ceiling filtered through the rough rings.

After thinking about it for a moment, Arendt came to a simple conclusion.

“It’s not something I should use.”

Unlike the Frosty Touch, which granted direct attack abilities, this one was meant to assist the user. Therefore, it must be used in the hands of someone who is both rich in magical power and has excellent swordsmanship skills.

If it was used in an emergency situation and magic power runs out, it’s obvious that you’ll die a complete death.

Arendt, who had been rolling the ring in his hand, clicked his tongue and put the ring in his pocket.

His head was complicated.

It was about time that Bethel’s death became known to his enemies.

Then, they would have noticed that someone had stolen the Shadow of the Strong, following the Frosty Touch.

“They’re going to go crazy trying to get it back…”

Fortunately, the fact that it was Arendt who had intercepted it was not yet known, but it was only natural that the nature of the conflict between the Knights and their enemies would be different from last time.

“In the heroic epic of Laius… is it a tragedy or a comedy?”

Since the author gave up on writing the novel midway and the ending was not yet known, it was impossible to perfectly infer the ending. However, it was natural that hardships and adversity would follow the heroic epic.

Until he found a way back, he could only hope for Laius’ heroic epic happy ending, because that would increase his chances of survival.

It meant that, whether he liked it or not, he had no choice but to stick with the Third Knights and do his best to cooperate.

The direction that the “Blue Knight of the Holy Sword” was headed was closer to tragedy than the story of a successful hero. As the end approached, the number of deaths within the Knights increased, and the empire was covered in despair.

That’s probably why it didn’t attract readers’ attention until the novel’s episodes piled up like that.

‘In today’s terms, it was full of hardships.’

So what had to be done was simple.

Using what he knew, he could twist the story to make Laius a successful hero. That was the only way he could survive the mess that was about to unfold.

And the ability to change the story was a privilege only the characters in the play had.

‘Arthur, who was supposed to die, was saved.’

The story has already started to go wrong.

He also found traces that he couldn’t find in the novel, and he also got his hands on an artifact that could be of help.

If you think about it that way, it wasn’t a bad start.

The point was to eliminate as many tragic elements as possible, and establish a means of protecting oneself.

Originally, there was no place for Arendt on this stage. In the original, Arendt was consumed by one of Laius’s sufferings and died, so he was unable to participate in the subsequent developments at all.

So, just by his presence, the play had to change drastically. So, the best thing to do was to continue to do his best and squeeze in to get the role.

Just as he was thinking that far, a knock came from outside.

Before the owner could even answer, the servant’s voice came through the door, as if it was urgent.

“Captain Laius is calling.”

“…They say even a tiger will come if you call it.”

Arendt, who had been putting on the ring, sat up abruptly.

When he put on the outer garment he had thrown on and went out of the room, the servant had already disappeared in a hurry. It seemed like he didn’t want to get involved with Arendt, who was in the middle of something sinister.

“Did someone eat it?”

From a humanistic perspective, it was a rather regrettable situation, but it seemed that it could be taken as meaning that the acting was good. Feeling satisfied, Arendt walked alone to the director’s office.

Knock.

After knocking a couple of times, he heard Laius’ voice inside telling him to come in.

Arendt opened the door without hesitation. But when he saw what was inside, he couldn’t help but pause for a moment.

The three leaders sat around the soft sofa in the office and cast their gazes toward him.

“Come, Lord Arendt.”

The first knight commander, Kendrick, was the first to pretend to know.

Diana, the commander of the 2nd division, said teasingly.

“It looks like you’ve been having quite a bit of trouble lately?”

“I have never had an accident.”

“I just heard an interesting story. The knights were chattering away.”

Arendt responded bluntly, but Kendrick paid no attention.

Next to the third captain, Richt was standing, watching him quietly. Arendt did not avoid his gaze and instead looked back at him with a look that seemed to say, “What should I do?”

Kendrick continued, smiling as if he was glad.

“I heard you sparred with Lord Richt. I heard you beat him in one blow. You cheated? You embarrassed Lord Richt.”

“Yes, but he was the one who started the fight first. By the way, why did you call me? I don’t really want to have a petty chat.”

“It’s funny that the captain is calling you and you are asking why. Don’t hate him too much. It’s because of the work you brought.”

Kendrick simply burst into laughter at Arendt’s ramblings.

Arendt was slightly impressed.

“Did I bring that?”

“Yes, that’s what you and Sir Arthur found out when you went on a special mission. That’s fortunate. If you hadn’t found out anything there, you would have been executed on the spot.”

“…Oh, that’s a funny joke.”

Arendt responded with a sly laugh to Kendrick’s humorous addition.

Laius continued to explain.

“We decided to have soldiers watch over the house in shifts. But since no one has come near it yet, it seems to be completely abandoned.”

“You might want to avoid approaching it, as there might be some kind of trap inside. And as for the pattern you found in that house, do you remember exactly what it looked like?”

Diana, who was sipping tea, turned her gaze towards Arendt.

Arendt nodded for a moment.

“Yes? Well, I remember it roughly.”

“I asked around secretly, and it turned out that someone had seen something similar.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s not certain. So we were discussing whether it would be better for someone who saw it to go and check it out.”

Diana continued her explanation.

It seemed like the story was progressing in a direction Arendt wasn’t aware of.

“It’s not too far from the castle, so you can just check it out and come back right away.”

Laius took her word for it.

“This time it’s a formal order. Arendt, go with Arthur.”

“All right.”

Arendt nodded readily.

At that moment, Richt, who had been silently listening to the story from the side, opened his mouth.

“Is it okay if I come with you?”

“You?”

Although Kendrick looked puzzled, Richt continued talking without letting his expression break.

“Sir Arthur and Sir Arendt are the least experienced of the Knights. They are young and do not intend to fight, but if the two of them go alone and an unexpected situation occurs, it could be dangerous.”

Whether Arendt frowned or not, Richt continued his speech indifferently.

Kendrick also opened his eyes wide in surprise.

“You, are you by any chance thinking of taking personal revenge on the way here?”

“…It’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between General Kendrick’s jokes and his seriousness. Of course not. Of course, I want to punch him a few times.”

Richt continued, answering in a similarly timid manner as Arendt had earlier.

“I have to accept that I lost the match, and it’s my fault for being cheated. I’m just worried about sending a young man with a criminal record out alone with Arthur.”

“I feel more uneasy about going with my senior. I’d rather go alone.”

But Arendt’s opinion was, of course, ignored.

Laius nodded.

“Yes, Sir Richt. You go with the two of them. It will be safer that way in case there is an unexpected attack like this.”

“All right.”

Richt answered neatly.

Arendt furrowed his eyebrows, looking slightly annoyed, but he didn’t add any more words to a matter that had already been decided.