## Chapter 838 – The Black Knight

We arrived at a city quite a distance from the capital.

“Ugh, this trip took a while,” Karin said, stretching as she stepped out of the carriage after I opened the door. It hadn’t actually been that long, less than a week. We’d arrived faster than expected, making it feel almost leisurely.

“Doesn’t it feel similar to when we went to catch the Spirit King last time?” Winnia asked, stretching after Karin.

“It does, but maybe it’s because I’m overflowing with energy after eating that elixir. Ugh, why is the air here so refreshing?”
“So, the Black Knight appeared in this city, right? What kind of crazy bastard is he? I’m scared he’ll be like Karin,” Liz said.
“You little…”

I did some quick stretches myself before heading over to Illyong and Ilyong.

These bastards had been a huge help this time. Maybe it was because I fed them those elixir-soaked goblins as a tonic last time? The two shits were overflowing with power.

That’s why we were able to arrive so early.

ㅡGrrrroowl…!
ㅡKrrrunge!

See? Even their voices are different from usual. Anyway, I went over and stroked their chins, and they rubbed their heads against my arm, making happy noises.

“Hehehe, you little ball-busters.”

The sight made me laugh.

If you eat something good, you have to use your strength, of course. Feeding them goblins soaked in that precious elixir was a perfectly reasonable investment. In the future, if I get my hands on any more elixirs, I should feed the monsters used for clinical trials to them as a tonic.

Even on the way here, I caught a few monsters that attacked us and gave them to the dragons after skinning and gutting them for easier eating. They loved it.

“You fucking bastards!!!”

ㅡGrrrrooooowl!!!
ㅡKrrrunge!

Seeing them so full of energy made me feel good too. Isn’t that how it is? Pet animals are supposed to bring peace to people’s hearts.

It’s a well-known fact that Leonardo da Vinci was a cat lover.

A person who loves something and finds stability in it can gain inhuman strength. That’s why da Vinci was a monster. There’s no way a guy who could paint such insane pictures was normal. He was practically not human.

And he was a damn good inventor too.

The fact that he was also well-versed in human anatomy and internal organs only hinted at his true, sinister nature. This is too scary to bear.

And you can’t forget Hitler, who created animal protection laws because he loved animals.

Hitler, who didn’t see other humans as human, ironically regarded animals as beings equal to humans. Perhaps that’s why he slaughtered people as easily as he killed animals.

For Hitler, there was no difference between animals and humans.

In the end, he butchered himself like a pig at the end of the war and died. As a result of not distinguishing himself from animals, he killed himself as if he were one. It was a miserable end fitting for someone whose mind had turned into that of a beast. At least the innocent Actaeon still had a human heart.

And here’s another interesting story: while the superhuman da Vinci loved cats, Hitler hated them as much as he hated Jews.

There’s a famous, horrific anecdote passed down like a legend in the German region that Hitler, as a teenager dreaming of becoming a painter, enjoyed catching cats alive and squeezing their blood to obtain red dye, just like the Belgian imperialist soldiers squeezing the blood of Congolese people.

Yes, for this fucker Hitler, the world was like a zoo. He slaughtered Jews just like he killed cats. A crazy fucking zoo… Speaking of zoos, I can only think of the inhumane actions of the Western powers!!!

Imperialists enjoyed kidnapping the children of colonial people and locking them up in human zoos to abuse them!!!! And they enjoyed these acts of abuse as a leisure activity, even introducing a scoring system to see who could abuse them in the most entertaining way!!!!!!

Today, my job is to slaughter the Black Knight, who is no different from those bastards, and extract information from him!!!! Thinking about it filled me with a frenzied desire and boundless courage spread throughout my body!!!

“Krrrrrrrr…!!!!!!”

Black Knight, you fucking bastard, if I catch you, I’m going to tear off all your limbs and kill you!!!!!!

As I was venting my anger, cursing at Illyong and Ilyong while stroking their heads, Winnia came over and said,

“Is Blackie bullying the kids again?”
“Bullying? I’m giving them love!!”
“Spouting insults and being violently loving. There’s no such thing as that kind of love in the world.”

Then she shook her head and continued, but wait, is this something Winnia, who used to torment me so much, should be saying? It’s not like I was bullying these beasts, but it felt strange to hear Winnia say that.

“Wait, is that something you should be saying, Winnia?”
“I’m allowed to.”

Why.

“Why is that…!!!”
“I let Blackie touch my boobs all the time.”

With that, Winnia pressed down on both sides of her breasts with her hands, gathering them together as if to show me. That made her already insane volume even more explosive, and peace descended upon the world.

“I understand.”
“Right?”

Acknowledged.

Yeah, acknowledged.

Erection.

“Ugh.”

Anyway, after petting the two shits for a while, I approached Claudia, who was talking to Ari.

It’s almost the end of winter, but the snow hasn’t completely melted yet, and the temperature is still quite low. Even though she ate the elixir… today is the first time she’s come out this far to work. I wonder if Claudia is okay?

“Claudia, are you okay? How do you feel?”
“Katt?”
“How’s the cold?”
“Ah, yeah… it definitely feels different. I was going to feel it out a little more before saying anything.”

Claudia answered, moving her arms and legs.

“So, the cold is less intense?”
“Yeah. That’s the feeling. It’s strange, this feeling… I used to feel sluggish when it was cold, but now that’s mostly gone. It’s like walking in water and then coming out.”
“Really?”

It seems the elixir is working.

“Hehehe, anyway, that’s good, Claudia.”
“I like it.”

Mana with resistance to cold… come to think of it, I don’t feel that cold either. I know the temperature is low, but I don’t feel cold at all. This is great. I put my arm around Claudia’s waist and asked Ari,

“How about you, Ari?”
“Ah, yes. I’m very well.”

Ari smiled as if she had been waiting for the question, and took off her gloves as if to show me something, and squatted down.

“It feels completely different from when we went to the ice maze… look.”

ㅡRustle.

As Ari, squatting down, placed her palm on the ground, a clump of weeds slowly began to sprout, what!!

“I can sprout seeds even in a snowfield now.”
“What the fuck is this!!!”
“After taking the elixir, I feel the power is a little more intense… it definitely feels different. I feel strange too.”
“That’s great!!”

If she continues to grow her power like this, maybe she can create a kingdom of plants or something? Maybe she can use tactics like rapidly growing plants to bind enemies, like a real Alraune.

“Then let’s find a room.”
“Katt-nim, are you resting today?”
“Ah, yeah. Let’s get a room and rest for a day.”

I immediately found the biggest inn nearby.

* * *

As usual, we rested for a day and gathered information.

There were quite a few troops in the church here, as written in the documents, but only one nun was guarding the church.

She said that all the paladins and priests had gone out to chase the Black Knight. They were working together with the local lord’s army, but they had only received reports of sightings and damage, and had not been able to capture or harm him. Still, I was able to obtain a copy of a map and documents with various information and current status. It’s a bit lacking, but it should be enough.

I returned to the inn and told my wives what I had learned.

“They say progress is slow because it’s difficult to disperse the troops for investigation.”

Because they can’t spread out and investigate, progress is slow.

“Well, it can’t be helped. If they recklessly divide their forces against a bastard like that, they’ll all be wiped out one by one.”

Karin nodded.

As she said, the Black Knight is damn strong. The troops are limited and the land is vast. Normally, they would have to divide their forces and search, but if they run into him, the entire unit will be wiped out. They inevitably have to stick together, so the investigation isn’t going well.

That’s why they requested support from headquarters.

“Catching one guy like that is the hardest thing. You can just pit armies against each other and catch them, but tracking down one strong guy who escaped is damn difficult.”
“Oh, that’s Karin-unnie for you. You’re the expert.”
“That’s what my job was.”

As expected of a mercenary, Karin was knowledgeable about this kind of thing.

“I’ve done this a bit too, and if there’s a unit that looks like it’s made up of clumsy guys, I’d ambush them and slaughter them all.”

I see.

“Well, if a woman like Karin suddenly attacks, it would be impossible to deal with.”
“That’s true, but Liz? Your words are a bit…”
“What?”

Recently, Liz-nuna seems to be subtly saying something to Karin with a smiling face.

“So, nuna, you’re saying that the Black Knight is also going to go crazy and try to wipe out any small units he sees?”
“Probably. No matter how strong he is, he’s still weak against numbers. He’ll go in openly if there’s a small unit, but he can’t touch anything above a certain size by himself. That’s why he’s running, but the documents said he’s still causing incidents, right? He must have some lingering attachment if he’s not running away completely. He probably wants to eat the pursuers. That’s what those bastards are thinking.”

Lingering attachment, huh.

Karin spoke with the logic of a serial killer, but if there’s a real purpose… well, there probably is. There must be a reason why he’s not running away even though he’s being pursued. He could move to another area if he’s being pursued, but he’s not.

Let’s think about that later.

First, we might need bait to catch him.

A guy that strong probably has a well-developed sense of danger, so he’ll be good at judging angles.

“Hilde, nothing yet?”
“Yes. I’ve been focusing, but I think I need to get a little closer to know for sure.”

She was able to detect the Arachne quickly last time, but we still need to narrow the distance to some extent. We were about to leave anyway.

“Still, Katt-nim, if the Black Knight isn’t related to a demon, I might not be able to find him. Then my detection ability won’t be very helpful.”
“Of course, that could happen. Don’t worry about that. If he’s not a demon, we’ll just catch him ourselves.”
“Yes!”

We’ll figure it out somehow.
And circumstantially, it seems certain that a demon is involved.

Anyway, we ate lunch.

The first day is rest. The second day is gathering information, eating, and looking around a bit, and then the third day is waking up early and starting in earnest. That’s the concept route.

“Hmm…”

But Risha was looking at the documents I received from the church earlier while eating. It was the page with the sketch of the Black Knight.

Black armor. A sinister aura, like a flame, was rising from its surface. What was unique were the blood-red eyes and the murderous thorns sprouting all over the armor.

I’ve never seen this style of armor before. The Royal Knights’ armor would be more refined, and this is crude, damn crude. It’s like armor from a long time ago.

“Risha, is something bothering you?”
“No, it’s nothing. I was just looking at the style of the armor and thinking about which era it’s from.”

Wow.

The ancient witch.

“Really, don’t think about that!”
“No, I wasn’t thinking about anything. Anyway, Risha, do you know anything?”
“I don’t know about the armor.”
“Really? Karin-nuna, do you know anything about this?”

I asked Karin too.

“I don’t know either.”

Karin doesn’t know either.

After we finished eating, we brushed our teeth and set off.

Black Knight, you’re dead now.