# Chapter 108
Rite raised his right arm instead of his sword to protect his face.
The blade couldn’t penetrate deeply and remained on the surface of the scales. The scales rippled like waves, moving once to push away the blade. The soldier continued to press down with force. Rite groaned and kicked the soldier away. The soldier was pushed back and hit the railing.
“…Guess I shouldn’t pull out the horns.”
He muttered, recalling a thought he’d had before. Even with just one horn cut off, it was difficult to maintain consciousness. The scales that grew on his arms were helpful, but the horns on his head were useless. Horns alone couldn’t pierce heavy armor.
It would be nice if he could control them precisely, but whenever he regained awareness, they had already protruded like this. Retracting the horns required concentration and energy, making it harder than expected. It was even more difficult to conveniently retract only the horns while keeping the scales out. Rite spoke with an irritated voice.
“Do you get anything for working so hard your neck could snap? Can’t we just resolve this nicely?”
“……”
“I guess that’s a no?”
The soldier who had barely maintained balance at the railing picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground. Rite also readjusted his grip on his sword and pointed it at the soldier. With his back pressed tightly against the wall, he slowly moved up one step.
To make the fight advantageous, it was good to claim higher ground. As he climbed another step, the soldier’s twisted head turned toward Rite. A red light flashed from inside the helmet. It was a signal just before an attack.
Rite quickly turned his body and grabbed the stair railing. He jumped up and stood on the thin handrail. The soldier’s sword sliced through the empty air behind Rite’s back, missing by a hair’s breadth.
Rite lowered his body and put weight on his front feet, causing him to slide along the railing. At the same time, he stretched out his arm and wrapped it around the soldier’s neck. Suddenly caught, the soldier tilted and slid down with Rite. Thump, thump, thump—the sound of the mechanical mass hitting the stairs was loud.
At the end of the railing, Rite released the soldier’s neck with a throwing motion and jumped down. Rite’s knees collided with the soldier’s solid body. Ignoring the resonating pain, he put his weight into thrusting the sword into the neck. Small gears popped out beside the sword that had completely penetrated through.
With a clattering sound, the cogwheel rolled toward the bottom of the stairs. With that sound, Rite got to his feet. Abandoning the sword he’d been using, he took the sword still gripped in the impaled soldier’s hand. Even if hundreds of soldiers appeared, Rite was confident he would win this fight. Rite’s desire was more desperate. He had an aspiration that mere scrap metal could never understand.
As he climbed the stairs, he tore off the sleeve of his left arm. The tattered, blood-stained shirt stuck to his wounds and was only cumbersome. The right sleeve had long since been torn off, revealing clean black scales without a single scratch.
After passing through traps that either mindlessly swung huge axes or blocked escape routes while releasing a heap of mechanical soldiers, Rite reached the second floor, and there was a change. The traps that had been trying to kill Rite now seemed intent on keeping him contained.
“…I get what this is.”
Rite muttered, pressing his broken horn as if applying acupressure. Pain continued as though half his head had been torn off. Eventually unable to endure, a painful groan escaped his lips.
He’d thought it would be painless like fingernails or hair, but it hurt quite a bit. If only the headache would disappear, he might be able to think. Rite struggled to hold onto his consciousness.
What he saw before him was a giant chessboard. He was wary that the ground might collapse or poisoned arrows might fly from the ceiling if he stepped on it, but there was no change even when he threw his sword onto the floor.
Rite glanced at the object he had been ignoring. A giant horse figure was placed on one square in the corner of the chessboard. It was a knight.
‘This kind of puzzle is called the Knight’s Tour.’
‘How does Arden know about these things?’
‘…I used to do them a lot before.’
‘Before coming to the Winter Forest?’
‘Yes. Before coming to the forest.’
Arden had taught him about this when he was young. It was a puzzle where one knight had to travel across every square on the chessboard exactly once.
The castle is quite a mess. Rite looked back at the path he had come from, then took in the situation before him again.
Since they specifically placed a puzzle instead of a trap, it seemed like he had to solve it… Rite approached the knight and rested his arm on it.
Leaning against the massive horse that came up to his chest, he looked around the wide chessboard. The chessboard was considerably large.
As far as Rite knew, the Knight’s Tour had more than one rule. He couldn’t know the exact rules of this trap, and above all, he had never tried one on a chessboard of this size. Rite had quickly grown tired of puzzles on small chessboards of three by four squares.
“…Still, I have to try.”
Rite pressed firmly between his horn and scalp while looking at the wide corridor. The horse figure seemed to be fixed to the floor as it didn’t move at all. Apparently, Rite himself was to be the knight in this puzzle. With a sigh, Rite strode forward briskly.
Two squares forward, then one square to the side. Simultaneously, the chessboard square Rite stood on turned red. The puzzle was as Rite had guessed. He needed to turn this chessboard completely red to make the wall blocking the middle of the corridor disappear. Glancing up at the ceiling, he saw paintings of knights who had been called the Reincarnation of Noah’s Sword throughout history, centered around Knight Eden.
Rite’s eyes fixed on Knight Eden. A knight who had sacrificed his life to protect and fulfill the dream of his beloved. People lamented yet were fascinated by his love that ended in tragedy.
Rite didn’t want such an ending.
Rite emptied his mind and continued to move. The chessboard gradually began to turn red. Just knowing that Arden was somewhere in the castle increased Rite’s impatience.
* * *
“Ugh… haa… urgh……”
The hard-soled boots kicked Arden’s abdomen repeatedly. Curling up and covering his stomach was useless. As he twisted his body, he was kicked in the chest and coughed as if he was about to lose his breath. Daniel showed no interest in his condition. Daniel used the tip of his foot to push Arden’s shoulder and flipped him over. Before another kick could come, a voice was heard from the massive bed.
“Enough.”
Daniel composed his rough breathing and swept back his disheveled bangs. Arden, lying on his back facing the ceiling, rolled his eyes. He was covered in blood as the wounds on his back wouldn’t stop bleeding. His lip was split from a misplaced hit, and his face was drenched in sweat. He looked savage.
“I’ll ask again. Where did you hide it?”
It was a chilling voice. It was hard to believe it was a human voice. From Arden’s viewpoint, he couldn’t see the Emperor’s face on the bed. He could only guess the Emperor was there from the bulging bedding, but the voice was worse than an outdated robot that needed replacement.
“…If you threw it out, that would have been the end. I raised it.”
You’re still not thinking straight. Daniel’s small voice mocked Arden. At that voice, Arden glanced at Daniel. The blue eyes that met his were filled with clear contempt. As if looking at the corpse of a half-crushed insect.
The Emperor’s bedroom contained only the Emperor, Daniel, and Arden. In place of invisible people, the bed was surrounded by machines of unknown purpose. The sounds of mechanical devices running mixed chaotically.
It seemed grotesque—trusting no one and filling the space only with machines.
“I raised him, so Your Majesty has no right to treat him carelessly. It’s pointless to ask where he is now.”
Arden staggered to his feet, but his legs gave way and he soon sat back down. The muscle behind his thigh, which he hadn’t realized was hit, pulled taut. Naturally, he ended up kneeling as if showing respect.
“That thing is crawling in here to kill me, and you’re telling me not to find it?”
“You tried to kill him first, Your Majesty. You’re the one who abandoned a baby without clothes on that cold day. Do you know how I saved him from dying? How much fever that little one had?”
“It tried to kill me first.”
“He was an infant who couldn’t even open his eyes!”
Arden’s shout echoed loudly. Arden’s jaw was tense. Thick saliva mixed with blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. Arden’s entire body trembled. It wasn’t from cold or fear. Even Arden didn’t know the cause of his boiling anger.
“An infant? Did that parasite that grew like a worm in my body ever look like a human to you?”
“He is human. Regardless of how he was born, Rite is definitely human!”
Rite wasn’t just that kind of being. No one had the right to mock him, even if he dreamed foolish dreams and longed for an insignificant person. To Arden, Rite was precious enough to willingly undertake a life-threatening journey together…
“That child feels emotions, dreams of the future, and breathes like a human!”
“How dare you!”
At the precarious and sharp voice that sounded as if it might tear at any moment, Arden flinched. Only then did Arden raise his head and meet the Emperor’s eyes on the bed.
Arden’s face contorted even more. This wasn’t the Emperor he knew. Arden quickly bowed his waist. He couldn’t bear the disgust. Along with the sound of retching, blood dripped, staining the carpet.
“With such impudence, you dare try to kill me.”
“……”
“Those who crawl up without knowing their place should be trampled from the start. I should have killed it earlier. What was I afraid of, some divine anger……”
“Until now… how many have you killed?”
That question flowed from astonishment. It popped out suddenly like a sneeze.
Even if I erased my presence and lived as if dead in guilt all my life, the world didn’t change. In the end, Rite was born, and that Rite came to me. To me, not anyone else.
Rite was tasked with settling all these evil deeds, and I stand by his side.
Is all this mere coincidence? Arden asked himself.
“How many Rites must be born before you come to your senses?”
Shut your mouth. Daniel warned in a low voice, but Arden didn’t hear it at all. The sense of injustice and resentment that had been suppressed and endured for so long squeezed through the cracks. He had been a fool who couldn’t call out injustice, who didn’t know how to be angry or sad.
“I asked how many you’ve killed!”
But he was also someone who could raise his voice like this.
“Do you expect me to thank and mourn those who have died?”
The words that flowed from between the Emperor’s pale lips silenced Arden. Though cold water had been poured on the hotly boiling flames, which should have extinguished them, Arden’s heart didn’t feel that way.
“Do you even know what position an Emperor holds?”
“……”
“You can’t even imagine it. How I feel sitting in this position day after day. What it means to wear a crown.”
So that’s why you’re saying such bookish things to me. The Emperor’s voice that added this sounded genuinely tired.
What right do you have to be tired? After maintaining that position with the blood of so many people, why do you speak as if you’ve endured pain?
“I’ll ask again. Where is it?”
“How can you, who isn’t even human, dream such a wicked dream?”
Their gazes clashed. Arden wanted to grab the Emperor and shake him right then. He wanted to shout about what days he had gone through, wanted to speak about how the survivors and the dead felt as they endured each day. He needed to say that you weren’t the only one suffering.
He couldn’t find a reason to endure anymore. The thought of finding rationality didn’t occur to him. A missing component was clearly causing a malfunction.
Just then, the machine placed closest to the Emperor began to make noise. The high and regular sound was nerve-wracking just to hear. The Emperor and Daniel looked at the machine as if it were a time bomb.
“…Your Majesty.”
Daniel called the Emperor with a panicked face, but the Emperor didn’t respond. Like a robot with its power turned off, he stared at the small machine with empty eyes…
With a thud, the machine was thrown against the wall. Despite this, the machine continued to make noise. It seemed to be a machine warning of something, but Arden couldn’t understand the situation.
The Emperor’s bloodless face gradually turned ashen. He was visibly trembling severely. Only then did Arden sense it.
Rite had arrived.
