Arc | Chapter. 18: Elite Dark Knights (Patreon)

And this is it for now! 

To my surprise, Syd jumped in and with a flick of his sword he deflected the arrow into a wall⁠⁠— the wall exploded and he rapidly spoke.

“They are the Elites of the Kingdom, we’ll fight them away, don’t get involved!”

With those words, he jumped into battle as I saw hundreds of people enter a deadly brawl with the black knights. I stood there for a moment, confused on what to do as Ceylon said.

“I think it’s best for us to leave…”

“I guess so⁠—”

And an arrow was shot at me. I moved Ceylon out of the way along with me as the wall behind us exploded with chunks of dirt and rock. I turned only to see one of the black knights stowing away his crossbow and rushing at me with a sword.

[ Elite Dark Knight of Draliz. Tier: C ]

And a sigh left me as I flicked a finger, the man was wrapped in ice unable to do anything, I forced him to look at the ceiling just out of sheer skepticism, perhaps he hadn’t seen us clearly so I wasn’t going to give him the chance. I didn’t actually want to kill him because he was a knight of the kingdom.

The sounds of battle and death echoed across the now chaotic Black Market as I turned to offer Ceylon my hand to leave. However, she wasn’t even looking at me anymore, but instead at the chaos.

“Can we stay here? I think, I just want to see what comes from it,” she said pensively. “The Dark Knights rarely act.”

I blinked and nodded, taking this opportunity to see what was actually happening. The first thing I noted, and was already aware of is that no other enemies were nearby, and the second thing was that the Black Market people were actually pushing the knights back.

“Why are they even here?” I asked in confusion.

“I don’t… know.” Ceylon thought. “The Elite Dark Knights is a private brigade under the King of Draliz, they act in the name of order and security of the Kingdom, so I guess the Black Market must’ve done something quite… bad.”

“Right…” I nodded, watching as people died. “This is a bit… odd.”

Ceylon agreed. “That it is, I’d expect the people of the Black Market to flee rather than to fight back.”

And at that moment a whistle resounded, the knights began to hastily retreat and it didn’t take long before they left. Or well, before almost every knight left. There was still the ice-bound one. It didn’t take long before Syd arrived back to us, though the first thing he did was draw his sword at the knife and swung⁠— the ice around the knife grew protecting him as the sword bounced.

“You can’t kill him.”

Syd nodded slowly before turning to me. “I should warn you that not killing him, given he’s seen you, will cause problems in the future.”

I shook my head. “I’m an adventurer, I’m not even affiliated with the Black Market, this whole conflict doesn’t correspond to me, if they do come for me after this then I’ll deal with it how I see fit.”

Once more, the Black Market leader slowly nodded. “Then I’ll make a suggestion, block his vision and free him outside.”

I nodded. “Sure, we can do that.”

Syd then called people over and a bag was placed over the knight’s head. And then, just before he could even suggest that they’d take him away I spoke.

“Alright, let’s leave with the knight.”

Syd blinked. “I highly advise against that, as soon as you set him free he’ll get an even better image of you, or maybe even⁠—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted as I walked towards the knight. “Ceylon come here, and you too Syd, we’re leaving now.”

Ceylon’s eyes went wide for a moment. “Wait, we are doing that…?”

I nodded, as I held Ceylon’s hand, then placed my other hand on the knight’s shoulder. Syd arrived in confusion.

“Touch my shoulder.”

He nodded and did so as instructed, he flinched for a moment before making full contact. And finally, I spoke.

“We are going now, everyone brace yourselves.”

And with a breath, I chanted in my mind⁠— [God Step]!

In an instant, we found ourselves standing in a random alley not too far away from the Black Market, the knight let out a muffled groan, Ceylon let out a very elongated breath and Syd…

“Holy shit⁠—” he fell on his back stumbling. “What even is that, and why are you so damn cold⁠—” And he paused. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that…”

I shook my head, and extended my hand towards Ceylon, offering the same to Syd. He hesitated for a moment before grabbing it.

“Let’s go now⁠— [Quick Step].”

And we vanished as I commanded the ice on the knight to melt.

* * * * *

The Elite Dark Knights had a constant mission, and that was to deal with the Black Market, to whittle down its wealth to stop the corrupt nobles from using underhanded means to become king. That had been King Credence’s last command, and what caused a constant neverendless hunt for all the black markets across the land.

It was hard to say whether it was an organization, or a phenomenon that happened naturally, however it did loosely work like an organization, and hence it was treated as a collective that had to be dealt with by the dark knights. Casualties occurred every so often, however the main focus was to instill chaos and destroy goods, and like any other knight in his position Blake followed that command.

Except this time, he had nearly died. He slowly removed the bag from his head clutching his fists. He remembered the white haired woman and the companion. He remembered his actions, and anger consumed him for a few moments, he had been foolish. However, he had been saved.

He was a Captain, a Commander inside the Elite Dark Knights, he had to know better, he had to follow an example, but more than anything he had to acknowledge when the right things were done.

Perhaps giving her that would be too much, but…

He shook his head, he was sure that she stood to benefit more from it, and it was also a repayment from him. Taking a deep breath, Blake resolved himself.

He was going to find her.

* * * * *

We ended up far away from the knight, enough for us not to worry about things. Syd massaged his hand as he spoke.

“Sorry that you had to deal with that, those fuckers started to show up about two months ago, they would always retreat after some time, but it’s been a logistical headache.” He shook his head. “They show up every two weeks too.”

We stared at him for a moment before he shook his head and addressed us once more.

“Well, now it’s time for me to uphold the last request. The best food in Blackcrest…” He thought for a moment. “I think I know where to find it.”

◇ ◇ ◇

Syd took us around, thankfully, it wasn’t too late at night yet so places were still open. And where we found ourselves was before a grand building where well dressed people came in and out of it, meanwhile there was us.

Ceylon wore what was best described as casual clothes with blood on them, I wore a winter jacket that while fancy did not fit anything in this world, and then there was Syd dressed in basically rags, needless to say we caught everyone’s attention.

He coughed. “If you’ll excuse me I’ll go arrange some stuff inside, since the place is reservation only.”

We blinked as he confidently strode into the building and a… small argument ensued, something about knowing someone and wanting a manager. It was a bit awkward, but eventually after things escalated and Syd went elsewhere to talk. Then a couple of minutes later a happy manager came up to us.

“Miss Arc and Miss Ceylon, yes?”

We blinked and nodded as he massaged his hands.

“Wonderful, we have just the right table for you.”

And in spite of our clothes or everyone’s gazes, we were guided inside. Where Syd nodded at me.

“You know where to find me, enjoy your night Miss Arc.”

Then, he left, all while we took in the atmosphere, the looming chandeliers and the inner balcony of the restaurant as well as the candlelit tables. It wasn’t particularly full, but the man still guided us to the second floor where we were sat overlooking the entire restaurant.

And after handing us menus, he smiled.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, your meal has already been paid for.”

He smiled and with those words he left.

Looking around on my seat, I voiced out my thoughts. “This is surprisingly modern…”

“Modern?” Ceylon asked with confusion. “It is quite elegant, not something that would be high class in the Royal Capital but certainly still a place worth visiting.”

I looked at her strangely before she shook her head.

“Sorry, that was a bit weird…” she meekly said. “Still sometimes you say things I don’t really understand.”

“Just things from my world, I suppose,” I said, shaking my head. “A lot of my memories are blurry but at least I can tell the differences and similarities.”

“Oh, how is it different?” She asked with curiosity.

“Well it’s more technologically advanced, considerably so, but also there is no mana or even magic…?” I said with doubt. “Not that I'm aware of.”

“Wait, and how do you people deal with the monsters then?” Ceylon asked in confusion and some alarm.

“There are no monsters,” I said, picking up the menu and going over the options. “All conflict is born from humans.”

“That is… no interracial conflicts? For example, elves?”

I shook my head. “There are wars, perhaps things born out of hatred for other people’s appearance or origins, but all intelligent races are humans.”

She blinked. “That, I guess it does happen here too…”

I nodded. “Anything else you’d like to know?”

“What was your role in that world, Arc?” she asked and I paused.

A small sigh left me. “I was a student, I was studying to do art.”

“Art… student…?” Ceylon asked uncomprehendingly. “Like you studied how to do paintings…?”

“I guess so,” I said with a shrug as I refocused on the menu.

“That… huh.” She tilted her head and at that moment the manager came.

There was a weird silence as he stood before us with a small notepad.

“What would you like to order?”

Ceylon panicked, but I simply began to order as normal, and by the time I finished, she did so too. After that the manager left, and Ceylon pointed out something.

“You ordered a normal amount of food.”

“Well…” A sigh left me. “I think I want to have measured enjoyment rather than one blissful experience that I’ll never have again. Also, it’s kinda ruined in my mind with what happened.”

“Yeah what happened was stupid,” Ceylon huffed. “The trader really just wanted to blame you for his misfortune.”

I nodded. “Though no use in lingering on it, the man might be dead by now.”

“What did you do to him?” Ceylon asked skeptically.

“I abandoned him in the middle of the Black Forest.”

Contrary to my expectations, Ceylon laughed.

“Well that’s just great.”

I smiled. “It was very satisfying, you know?”

“I bet it is,” she said chuckling. “Happy we can finally enjoy dinner, after everything that happened.”

I nodded, and continued chatting with Ceylon about rather unimportant stuff, such as whether it was better to sleep on hide or on grass, and her simply saying that it's silly and that beds are better. They were unharmful conversations that allowed us to get to know each other better.

And after a few minutes, the food finally came.

I was served the exact same steak that I had seen explode over an hour ago, and now it looked better than ever. And Ceylon had some type of salad. I could barely contain my excitement while the manager was here, but as soon as he left I grabbed the utensils and cut onto the juicy meat.

Once more I saw it glistening with juices, a perfect medium rare, steaming hot, all under the cozy orange atmosphere. I took it in for a moment, before eating it.

The warmth spread across my tongue as I savored the tender meat, its juices spreading in my mouth as I tasted the buttery fat and I simply just smiled in bliss. It also had a somewhat sweet sauce that complimented it. It was lukewarm by the time I swallowed it, but it still left a somewhat warm feeling inside my mouth which was unexpected but also, welcome.

Its flavor was amazing, and I found myself deeply enjoying the dish as I ate it. I didn’t cry, but it was still a blissful experience, one that made me feel incredibly happy and fulfilled, and by the time I finished I was simply put: satisfied and also a bit teary eyed.

I hadn’t had proper food for so long, and the fact that I knew that this experience was just one of many made me feel a deep sense of satisfaction.

I had so much to live for.

Ceylon too finished eating at the same time as she looked at me and smiled. This time she didn’t show concern, she was just happy for me. I smiled. I liked Ceylon, and I would certainly miss her by the time she was gone, but for now, I’d enjoy her company to the fullest.

The manager came and took the plates as we were told that it was already paid and to enjoy our night.

And so, we slowly left the restaurant, wholly satisfied, however something seemed weird. In spite of people still giving us attention, most people were looking outside instead, confusion filled me but when I approached the entrance I understood.

Standing outside was a platoon of Elite Dark Knights holding their weapons at the ready. I blinked with a sigh as I stepped outside, and the knight commanded.

“Halt! Adventurer Arc, for your actions⁠⁠—”

This was…  I got ready to fight, but the knight continued speaking and suddenly he knelt displaying a golden pin.

“We’d like to award you a Medal of Bravery.”

What…?