## Chapter 746 – Paladin Kim Kat

But Karin’s move was faster.

ㅡThwack!

Her launched palm struck Jeniel’s hand, and instead of the hand that was knocked away, she snatched.

ㅡSwoosh.

Karin drew Jeniel’s sword.

It was a technique where she drew the opponent’s sword before they could.

Jeniel was a skilled knight, called an “Elder Knight,” so her movement to grab the sword was swift and efficient, but Karin struck her hand even faster.

The difference in skill was too great.

“My sword!”

ㅡFwoosh!!!

Karin, having drawn the sword, instantly unleashed sword energy that surpassed mere sword ki. The force of the sword energy, erupting fiercely as if showing off, made their hair flutter.

“…!”

Jeniel’s eyes widened.

“You fucking idiot.”

Karin smirked once, then threw the sword into the darkness.

ㅡWhoosh!!!

It tore through the air like a steel arrow fired from a giant siege ballista, quickly disappearing completely from sight.

It all happened in an instant.

It would take some effort to retrieve that. It flew really far at a glance. Would it be stuck in the dungeon wall? If she was unlucky, she would have to go through a horde of golems.

“Hey, is drawing swords between colleagues allowed? Or not?”

Karin said with a smile, having thrown the sword.

“You, what was that just now…!”
“I was a Chieftain-class even before I left the Knights, you fucker. How strong do you think I am now? Can’t you tell by looking at my face? Unlike you, who’s all wrinkled, I look the same as then. But the fact that you even thought of messing with me shows how pathetic you are, you crazy bitch.”
“Uh, uh…”

Perhaps stunned by the sword energy Karin had unleashed, Jeniel sat down on the spot. Her mouth hung open, unable to close. Karin had always been confident that she could beat anyone except Sword Masters.

“Huh? I know you’re happy to see me after a long time, but what are you going to do about those wrinkles around your mouth? Shouldn’t you worry about that before being happy to see me?”
“Th, that is…”
“Just do your fucking job, you dumb bitch.”

Karin messed up her short hair, not only ruffling it but also using both hands to braid it into ridiculous ribbons and tie it up haphazardly. It was a technique to completely ruin the hair she had painstakingly styled.

Jeniel couldn’t resist at all.

“Where are you acting like a crazy bitch, you piece of shit? You would have died if you weren’t wearing your regulation armor, you fuck.”
“…”

Honestly, I was pretty pissed off too, but Karin solved it like this, so there was no problem. She had been signaling to me not to step in and let her handle it herself.

She handled it very maturely.

In fact, murder is something only kids do. There were so many other ways to resolve the situation besides murder in this world.

As expected of Karin…!

“Wh, who are you to be so rude to the Elder Knight!”
“What is going on…”
“What in the world is happening…!”

Then, other male knights who had been waiting in the back rushed forward and said something. Unexpectedly, their tone was quite polite, probably because they were terrified by the sword energy Karin had just shown.

“I know you’re a strong knight… but we are the Royal Knights. How can you be so rude like this? Th, this is unacceptable… Who are you…?”

The War Knight who had spoken to me earlier spoke as a representative. But looking at what he said, it seemed he hadn’t heard the conversation between Karin and Jeniel in detail.

They were definitely colleagues or something.

Well, they were a bit far apart.

Karin, having completely ruined Jeniel’s hair, said:

“Junior. Did you not hear this bitch sitting here picking a fight with me for no reason?”
“Ju, junior?”

Karin continued, mentioning junior.

“Don’t be surprised. I’m a former War Knight and her colleague. So, juniors. Don’t mess with me for no reason and take this bitch away and comfort her. And are you just going to stand by while your commander picks fights with people for no reason? Is that okay for Royal Knights to do?”
“…”
“Aren’t you going to answer?”
“Ah, understood… Th… Elder Knight?”

The knights, completely intimidated by the word “junior” and the sword energy, supported the sitting Jeniel and tried to drag her back.

Karin said goodbye to them.

“Hey, Jeniel.”
“…”
“Don’t even think about messing with me more because of this. Even if you bring your Master Knight, they can’t compare to me.”
“Huk…!”

At those words, the knights and Jeniel, who were about to move, gasped. Then, they quickly disappeared into the darkness. It seemed they were going to look for the sword first.

“Let’s go.”

Having finished her business, Karin turned around and took my hand. The situation, which had been encountered suddenly, was naturally resolved by Karin’s excellent handling.

Karin’s attitude was very cool and mature.

“Okay.”

Karin took my hand and headed towards the corner in the back. There, my women were peeking out, looking at this place.

“Oh my, Karin. What was that just now?”
“Karin. Was that someone you knew from when you were in the Knights?”

Liz and Cloud asked.

“Pretty much. It’s nothing. Just a fucking loser. Cloud, you saw it too, right?”
“Yeah. I did.”

Elder Knight = loser, huh.

“I didn’t expect to meet someone I knew, but there’s no point in fighting, so I just let her go. But if I had met her alone somewhere, I might have killed her. She probably acted up as soon as she saw me because she had other guys next to her.”
“What a shady person.”

Risha made such an assessment.

“She is a shady bitch. She acted like shit when I was in the Knights too.”
“Did she always act like that?”

Winia asked, frowning.

“Yeah. I couldn’t beat her up, she was just annoying as hell. Ah, fuck. Thinking about it now makes me feel a bit bad, but seeing her so old makes me feel so much better.”

Karin smiled.

It was a bit funny.

“Hehehe, you just crushed her with ‘youth.’ I thought there was a twenty-year age difference, sis.”
“Kyahaha, really?”
“Karin is so firm. Huh? Sis, why are you so firm?”
“You’re talking nonsense again, you.”

She smiled and pulled my cheek.

Anyway, the Knights disappeared that way, but there was no need to go in the same direction. The War Knight had told me the way.

We should go that way.

“Then Hilde, shall we go rest now?”
“Katt. I haven’t seen one more golem yet. And it’s not that hard… It would be nice to see just one more and then rest, so let’s do that.”
“Hmm… Okay, let’s do that.”

So we headed in the direction that the War Knight had told us.

“By the way, Karin.”
“Yes?”

As we were going, Cloud spoke to Karin.

“I think that knight earlier said she was an Elder Knight, is that a rank in the Royal Knights?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right. The Royal Knights are divided into a total of nine ranks, and that’s the fifth rank. Within each rank, there are seniors and juniors depending on the number of years of service.”

There were nine ranks?

“Sis. Can you tell me more about that?”
“That’s right, Karin. I’m curious too after hearing about it.”
“Hmm, you’re curious, huh?”

Karin, with her arms crossed, began to explain.

“First, if I were to say the ranks of the Royal Knights in order from lowest to highest, there’s Page. Squire. War Knight. Ace Knight. Elder Knight. Knight Chieftain. Knight General. Master Knight, and above that, there’s Sword Master.”
“That’s a lot of shit.”
“It’s a lot, but it’s not that complicated.”

Was it somewhat like the military?

“Page is a trainee. They receive the essential training and education to become a member of the Royal Knights.”

A chick.

“And Squire is an apprentice knight. After finishing training and passing the test, they go out on missions with their seniors to gain experience and do odd jobs before being put into full-fledged work.”

The next one is War Knight, she says.

War Knight is now a knight who can perform official missions, and this is usually called a regular knight. It means they are a knight who can do their part. They are quite strong. By ordinary standards, they are very strong.

Next is Ace Knight, which is like a squad leader. It’s a position that a War Knight who has gained experience is promoted to. Above that is Elder Knight, which is like a company commander.

That Jeniel was an Elder Knight.

“No, how many years has she been a knight to only get that far?”
“She’s just incompetent. Her skills have reached their limit. Or she failed the command test.”

Anyway, Elder Knight is about the same skill level as Baron Salberin. In other words, it’s a rank that can be said to be a veteran among knights.

“And above that is Knight Chieftain. And one step above that is Knight General.”

I understood it as battalion commander and regimental commander level.

“If an Elder Knight improves their skills a bit more and passes the test, they get promoted. They’re a commander-level. They don’t do field work unless it’s a really important job.”
“That’s a sweet gig.”
“When I was about to leave the Knights, I was either Chieftain or General level, but until then, I was rotting as a War Knight.”

She had the skills, but she wasn’t promoted because she was a half-breed barbarian. In the Knights, what is prioritized over experience is skill.

“Those fucking bastards. Sis. I’ll grow up quickly and slaughter all those bastards.”

Those bastards are all dead.

“Let’s talk cute at home. It’s like my uterus is ringing, you.”
“Ah.”

Karin continued, touching my head.

“And above that is Master Knight. They’re really fucking strong and good at everything, but honestly, I’m confident I can cut off all those bastards’ necks.”

In other words, Karin is stronger than a division commander by Royal Knight standards.

“Lastly, Sword Master. As I said last time, this can be said to be an honorary rank. It’s a title given to the strongest, smartest, most hardworking, and most ruthless psycho among the Master Knights. They have private meetings with the king.”
“Shit.”

That’s really scary.

“That’s quite an interesting story. They have a pretty good system, don’t they?”
“It’s an old group. It’s only natural.”

Certainly, if the ranks are clearly divided, they can do anything well. But what level is Garos? Chieftain? He seemed at least two levels stronger than that Jeniel earlier.

“Then sis. What level am I?”
“I haven’t seen my husband fight properly except for that Baron Salberin, so I don’t know in detail, but if you caught that Lycanthrope last time? I think you’re either Chieftain or General level.”
“Oh, so the next one is Master Knight level? Am I that level?”
“Um… There’s quite a big difference in skill between General and Master Knight, so I don’t really know. Anyway, train hard. It’s a bit weird to explain the levels according to the Knights’ ranks. So don’t worry about that. Got it?”
“Okay.”

I should.

It’s just a reference.

As we were moving forward while listening to Karin’s story.

ㅡWhirr.

From the front, a strange mechanical sound and light began to appear. Its height was a little over 2 meters 50 centimeters. About the same height as the golem we saw earlier.

“Father. That looks like a golem.”
“It seems so.”

ㅡWhirr, whirr.
ㅡThump, thump. Thump.

The heavily walking golem was like a “knight” made to defend the facility. A combat-oriented design with high defense.

ㅡThump.

Finally, the golem, which had entered our range, stopped walking. Was it trying to confirm the identity of the intruders?

“…”

But it kept still.

“Blackie? It’s just standing still?”
“…Yeah? Just a moment. Let’s wait and see.”
“Okay.”

We stared at the golem for a while, observing its reaction. But… it didn’t move. It just stood there, looking at us.

ㅡLike that strange monster on the third floor.

“What the fuck. It’s really just standing still?”
“Katt? Should we just take care of it?”
“Uh… Let’s do that.”
“Mama will do it. I want to try cutting it.”

ㅡShuffle.

Cloud, who had lightly walked forward while drawing her curved blade, approached the golem’s nose, and ㅡSwoosh! As a crescent moon was drawn, the steel-like body of the golem was neatly cut in half in a `/` shape.

ㅡThump!

The upper body of the golem, cut like precisely processed metal, fell and raised dust.

“Hehehe, as expected of Cloud. You cut it in one go.”
“It didn’t feel special… What is it? This golem?”
“I don’t know. Let’s check it out first.”

We immediately checked the remains of the golem.

“Oh.”

The inside was full of very complex-looking machines.

It felt really amazing.

“That’s quite an elaborate mechanical device.”

Risha showed great interest.

“Ah. It’s a core. Sis. We have to take this.”

Liz tore off the golem’s breastplate, and Winia said at the same time.

ㅡWhirr.

The core was emitting a radiant red light. Winia, carefully collecting the core, showed it to Risha.

“A unique energy… Hehehe, I’m glad we came. Keep it for now. We’ll have to check it out in detail when we get back.”

If Risha liked it, then it was good that we came.

Anyway, we caught one appropriately, so let’s take a break for a while. Rest is the priority.

There are many other golems and plenty of time.

We can afford to relax a bit.

“Hilde. Are we going to rest for a while now?”
“…”

Hilde seemed to be thinking about something.
Was she dizzy?

“Hilde, are you really okay?”
“Ah… Yes. I’m okay. I was just thinking…”
“We need to rest quickly.”

So we went into a room next to the road, checked the inside, and sat down to unpack our luggage. We should sit here and eat something and rest.

“Katt… Just a moment.”

As I was about to sit in front of the entrance, Hilde called me.

“Hilde?”
“I kept thinking after seeing the golem earlier…”
“Did you figure something out?”

I asked.

“…I.”

Hilde replied.

“It wasn’t me sensing it.”
“Hmm?”
“They were talking to me.”

They were talking to Hilde…?

“What?”

The golem?
That monster?