Five Time Regressor Walks the King’s Path - Chapter 49

Chapter 49

People’s attention was focused on me after I showed overwhelming strength. Even Lyonnais’s lord rushed out to give me a reward.

I refused everything and simply disappeared after receiving the money I was entitled to, though. Naturally, this created some rumors.

[There’s a monster in Lyonnais. They say he took out 50,000 Setura soldiers all on his own.]

[I heard something else. Rumors say he picked up and tossed a boulder for the catapult with his bare hands.]

[Idiot, that’s the truth, not a rumor. My brother participated in the war and saw it with his own eyes. Even wrote a letter talking about how crazy it was.]

[What was his name? I think it was…]

[Chang-Sung. It’s Chang-Sung, Knight Chang-Sung.]

[He’s not a knight, just a mercenary. I heard he can’t even use aura.]

[It’s more amazing that he can’t. He did it all with just his own body. Rather than the knights bragging about using aura, he’s even more amazing!]

Various rumors began to rapidly spread.

One rumor grew by biting the tail of another, and people began to wonder about the existence of Knight Chang-Sung.

I continued to appear in various wars as if to answer their questions.

Each time, I would write a new legend and thus it was confirmed that the rumors related to me had some integrity.

Since then, more and more people wore blue armor as if they were imitating me.

‘It’s going as planned.’

Before I knew it, Knight Chang-Sung became an object of fear for the enemy and a hero for the allied troops.

Even though he couldn’t handle aura, he could handle everything on his own.

Such a concept gave people a rather new impression.

There was a perception that aura was a privilege that only knights possessed.

The average person would be jealous.

Therefore, when someone saw a person with something they lacked, that someone would become jealous.

Awareness of the symbol that is a knight.

However, the appearance of me fighting without aura, using just pure force, looked like a sword that sliced apart the symbol of a knight to those stained with jealousy.

Of course, there were more people who couldn’t use aura than those who could.

Thus, those who couldn’t use aura as well as the ordinary citizens showed even greater support for Knight Chang-Sung.

In addition, the lack of greed shown by being paid the same as the mercenaries accelerated Knight Chang-Sung’s status as a hero.

‘Shall I stop moving in this war?’

Having been around the war for quite some time, I figured it was time to put on the brakes.

The general knights regarded me as an eyesore, since they were being compared to me, a hero without aura. The nobles also wanted to have me as a card to play, but couldn’t act hastily because of the eyes of the knights under them.

Now that the hero story had been created to this extent, it was enough.

‘The only thing left is to become a soldier under Baron Andrew, the rich noble the Numbers created. Andrew will then be recognized as not only a rich noble, but a man of great aspirations, someone envied by knights. The citizens’ support for an aristocrat who can embrace heroes is a bonus.’

With that in mind, I participated in the final war.

When I appeared, people around me began to talk while looking at me and several envious eyes looked toward me. When I appeared,

“K-Knight Chang-Sung, I really want to become someone like you!”

Suddenly, a young-looking teenager came in front of me and shouted loudly, tightly hugging a sword.

Seeing that, I smiled under my helmet and patted their head.

That image of me formed a warm atmosphere even though the war was in full swing.

Each of these actions would be a main point to the hero’s image.

“Hah, a knight?”

However, there was a voice that sounded annoyed.

Passing through the crowd dressed in clothes that appeared quite luxurious, the man was accompanied by several others. As soon as he approached me, he gave a disapproving glare.

“Yeah, right. What kind of knight is he if he can’t even use aura? Do you think you’ll be acknowledged as a knight like that? He won’t even take off his helmet, so nobody’s seen his face. Let’s be honest, aren’t you just ugly or some wanted criminal?”

Because I wore a helmet all the time, he was using that to pester me.

There was always a guy like this.

Someone who didn’t like that I, recognized as a knight yet unable to use aura, was being revered as a hero.

And I intended to send the guy in front of me flying as usual.

This guy didn’t seem to know how Knight Chang-Sung came to be.

I’d blown away all the guys who got on my nerves whether they were aristocrats or not.

That was why aristocrats hated me even more.

Even if they wanted to punish me, they couldn’t send a bunch of soldiers to catch me during the war. Plus, there were people saying they’d have to send at least the Six Bladeworks of the empire, so the aristocrats hated me yet couldn’t do anything.

So I did what I felt like even more.

A hero for ordinary citizens and a half knight for aristocrats.

“Knight Chang-Sung.”

The moment I raised my hand, I heard a voice.

Turning my head to the familiar voice, a man with fair features and blue hair stood there.

Recognizing him, I lowered my hand. The aristocrat who was making a fuss bowed to him in surprise.

“I greet Count Gilbert, the Sword of the Empire!”

With his loud shout, the general soldiers took notice of Gilbert. Surprised, they adopted a posture of respect for the aristocracy.

He came up to me and grabbed me by the wrist without caring about such a thing.

“Follow me for a moment.”

As I was dragged away with a shrug, people spoke as if something was happening, saying things like, “I heard the Sword took the hero away.

After passing through the crowd, we entered a building that Gilbert seemed to be staying at.

He took me to a room, locked the door, and then looked back at me.

“…I apologize for my rudeness. But, no matter how much I looked, you resemble someone I knew. It must’ve been for that same reason that you followed without really resisting.”

When Gilbert said so, I removed my helmet.

Pulling the helmet off and placing it down next to me, my hair fluttered down around my neck as it had grown a bit over the past month.

“It’s been a long time since I saw you, Your Excellency Count Gilbert.”

When I greeted him, he looked at me, sighed a little, and opened his mouth again.

“I was told you’d retired. I rushed to visit as soon as I got the news, but you’d already left. Meanwhile, I heard a rumor of someone commanding the battlefield without using aura, a certain Knight Chang-Sung.”

“Did you follow me?”

“To be exact, you followed me. Because I’m in charge of this war.”

Of course, I knew that, but I appeared a little disappointed at his words.

“…Personally, I was looking for you because I really wanted to have you as my knight.”

After staring at me for a moment, he immediately posed a question.

“Why did you retire?”

“It was necessary, for the sake of this country. Seeing the nobles who failed to properly deal with the war, instead fighting for power. Those were my thoughts.”

“That’s why you gave up your army service after barely entering, even hiding your gender?”

“I was disappointed by the army I entered to protect the country. I thought I couldn’t do it with the state of things.”

“…I’m sorry. The aristocracy’s struggle for power is the fault of the aristocracy. I have no right to represent all of them, but I still apologize on their behalf. The current army was too small to hold you.”

An unexpected answer.

The count was also an aristocrat but he didn’t seem to be very happy with the current situation.

Gilbert looked at me with his fists clenched.

“But I can protect you. Once again, will you take my proposal seriously?”

“Are you saying that even though you know I’ve become the enemy of all knights? Many of the knights will turn away from you.”

“I’ll take responsibility for that. Today’s knights have gotten too complacent, given the longtime peace. By accepting you, I can use their opposition to fuel their desire to surpass you, leading to an increase in the quality of the knights as a whole.”

“You’re quite open with saying how you’re going to use me.”

“That’s how sincere I am. Won’t you be my knight, Tian? Even more than before, I want you to be my knight.”

I smiled slightly at him trying his best to persuade me.

Gilbert saw my smile and was about to speak, but my own voice cut off him.

“I’m sorry, Count Gilbert. I’ve decided to not become a knight.”

“……”

“Even if I can in the future, I’ve decided to not use aura. While living under the name of Knight Chang-Sung, I’ve learned many people have various feelings of antipathy in regards to being a knight. Now that I’m their hero, I can’t just abandon them.”

Hearing my words, he only expressed his regret through his eyes, unable to continue with his words.

“I also recently got in touch with Baron Andrew. He’s the one that helped me become a soldier. He said he needed my strength, so I decided to join him for a while to repay his kindness. He desires to change the army into one that can protect the country, and I agree with him, so I’ll likely follow him for a while.”

“If it’s Baron Andrew, is he the one recently powering the munitions industry?”

“Yes.”

“…Okay, I’ll stop. If that’s what you want, then there’s no point in me pushing my opinions.”

When Gilbert replied after giving up, I donned my helmet again.

Turning around to walk out, he gave way and added a final question.

“Can we meet again next time?”

When I saw his eyes, which seemed to be stained with some kind of sadness, I opened the door and gave my answer.

“Yes, you will see me again.”

I felt tired after leaving the room.

As a result of rolling around in the war for a while and trying to remember every time I saw people, I began to feel tired.

‘Ah, I want to drink beer alone in a big bath.’

This Floor had me doing so many things without a break that it seemed like I really needed one.

Although I wasn’t physically tired, my mental fatigue continued to pile up.

‘Taking a day off would be nice, but I can’t. I’m spending so much time on Floor 29, and I’m sure Sword Queen has already come in. Considering it’s a private-clear Floor, it’s possible they even cleared it before me.’

It wasn’t a world that could be handled with just force.

Rather, how well you handle the situation was the important point on this Floor.

In that respect, the Sword Queen and her party had a magician.

With the skills of a magician, it’d be easy to handle. If that Apsara girl’s ability to see the past is added, it goes without saying.

‘There’s no time to play around.’

Thinking that, I first stepped up to prevent the war in front of me.