I was in the audience with the king and queen.
Long flowy blue hair and eyes, he stared down at me as I kneeled. Meanwhile, the woman next to him had long silky silver hair and a beautiful pair of blue eyes.
Not like mine, which had an ominous glow. Hers had a shine to them that made them beautiful to look at.
I lowered my head, looking up at the king would be considered rude, right?
"My husband says that you have dutifully served this country, and after looking through your progress reports, I must concur." I rose my head and stared at the queen, wondering where she was going with this.
She slowly walked down to where I was and snapped her finger. Immediately, a knight in the giant throne room came running with a pillow in his hands. On the pillow was an ornate sword full of jewels.
"Please recite the Knight's Oath of fealty." The queen unsheathed the sword, revealing a beautiful white blade with no impurities. The handle was still full of jewels, so I couldn't imagine that being a good weapon.
"I don't understand your royal highness. What have I deserved to be knighted?" All I did was invade an enemy camp and kill everyone there. That's hardly something worth praise. I was actually surprised she didn't want to admonish me for prioritizing the lives of the men on the assault team rather than the mission itself.
"Bartfort, were you not given information about the place you invaded?" The queen knit her eyebrows. I must have looked really confused because she answered before I could. "Our intel informed us, that the camp you destroyed was a terrorist camp with plans to blow up the royal palace. They had spies infiltrated this very castle as maids. They would have succeeded were it not for your efforts."
I had no idea. I just didn't want to die.
"Regardless of your motives. What you have done saved the kingdom, as a reward such as this is to be expected. If you could please give the oath, we are all busy people, personally, I have to meet with my brother-in-law for tea this evening."
I complied.
"I promise on my faith that I will in the future be faithful to the lord, never cause him harm, and will observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit." I recited while kneeling down. The queen tapped the side of the blade on both my shoulders.
"Then, I declare you, Leon Fou Bartfort, a Knight of this country. You may rise." I looked up and pushed myself up from the kneeling position. I was slightly taller than her. The queen looked at one of the many knights around the room, one of them got a sword from his back, an extra one, and handed it to me. "Take it and serve your kingdom dutifully."
I gave a curt nod and grabbed the sword with both hands.
"Before I dismiss you, Bartfort," the queen had an intense and serious stare. "I must ask, would you like me to decrease the number of assignments coming your way?"
It was natural for someone who had just been knighted to want to take it easy for a little bit, after all climbing the social ladder gave you certain benefits.
"Your royal highness, if possible I would rather you gave me harder quests with bigger rewards." The queen looked at me with some furrowed eyebrows, like I had made her uncomfortable. Regardless, I was still a long way from being able to afford Colin's school.
"Very well, I shall see to it, you should have what you desire soon enough. I dismiss you, Sir Bartfort."
I left the throne room and immediately went to the soldier barracks.
When I arrived, I saw Arthur waiting for me at the entrance.
"Sir Bartfort! I heard the news!" He walked toward me with a smile on his face.
"You don't have to call me sir." I insisted. Being called 'sir' felt so foreign, it didn't make much sense at all. I
"But you are a knight now. I have to call you sir as a form of respect." I huffed and rolled my eyes. I could tell this was not a battle I would win. I sat down at the dining tables outside and started eating my meal.
"So? What's next?" Arthur asked, with a smile, "You became the youngest Corporal, skipping the Man-at-arms rank. You are the youngest person to become a knight for exploits in war. Will you get a barony next?" Arthur's eyes shined.
"Me? Don't joke around Arthur, there's no way I'd be given a noble title." I told him, finishing my meal.
From behind me, I felt someone touch my shoulder. I looked in the direction of my shoulder and saw no one. "Congrats man! I heard the news." on the other side was Fergus with a large grin on his face. He was awfully chipper for someone who had been accused of spying and betraying us.
According to him, he was on the side of the camp, killing anyone who got close.
Arthur and Fergus.
They were both suspicious.
Why was Arthur so good at making speeches? Why did Fergus leave in the middle of the battle to fight alone?
Both tried getting close to me since the start.
"Thanks," I told him putting both hands on the seat and leaning back.
"Haven't you heard of manners, Fergus? I thought you were part of a Barony." Arthur narrowed his eyes. That was rare, Arthur being aggressive.
"Ex-Baron, we were too busy training for war to care about table manners. Though, I find it weird that a supposed low knight knows such things, did you spend your time playing house rather than learning how to fight?" Fergus's grin was growing on me, I wasn't about to lie.
Both annoyed me equally.
"Why you --"
I slammed my hands on the table. Fergus stopped, but Arthur didn't. Seconds later, Fergus was on the ground with a swollen cheek.
"It's like I'm talking to grade-schoolers. Mind not doing that in front of me?" I asked them, walking away from the table. "Get ready, the queen said we were going to receive a mission sooner enough."
"What?! We just came back! We've barely had any training!"
"Doing is learning." I left to my room.
Sleeping was hard. Every time I did I would see it. The faces of those scouts.
Weird, I didn't even kill them.
I don't dream of the people I killed using my eyes. Is it because I couldn't see their faces?
I lay down on my thin blanket on the ground, put both hands behind my head, and tried falling asleep.
*
Just as I expected, I slept poorly.
"S-Sir Bartfort!" I heard Arthur yell from outside. I sighed and walked to the entrance of the tent we slept on. I saw Arthur, he looked panicked.
"What?" I asked, looking around. Everyone looked nervous, but Arthur was the only one freaking out. He looked pale as a ghost.
"D-Did you anger the queen?" his hand came to his face as he stared at the small building for meetings.
"No, she seemed uncomfortable with my presence, but I don't recall angering her. Why are you freaking out?"
He pointed to the meeting room, "D-Duke Redgrave is waiting for you at the meeting room."
I was curious. What would a Duke of high reputation want with mere soldiers?
I walked toward the building, and on my way to it, I saw Fergus. He looked nervous as well, though his face showed it less than Arthur's.
"Good Luck." He whispered as I walked into the building.
The duke had incredible pressure to him, the air felt heavier in the room as he stared at me. Swept back grey hair, brown eyes, a well-maintained muscular body for his age, and a strange glint in his eye that felt like he was reading my every move. He wasn't even standing up or holding a weapon and it still made me nervous.
"So you are the brave young man who sacrificed himself for our country," he put both hands together and hummed. "Yes, that look in your eyes proves it. You are quite something Leon Fou Bartfort."
"So, may I ask why the Kingdom's Punisher came all the way here to speak with me?" I sat down in front of him. He didn't have the best reputation. It is said that if there is someone Duke Redgrave wants dead, they will be found dead.
"People and their nicknames. I never understood it myself." He acted with calmness even while being teased, "Though, insulting the Redgrave name in front of its duke is quite the daring strategy."
"Sorry, I had to tease you at least a little bit. My fellow soldiers are panicked, worrying about their futures after all." I sat straight and made sure to look as formal as possible. The Duke put a hand on his chin and narrowed his eyes. He brushed his mustache carefully.
"What I am about to tell you is of great importance. My presence here is important because no one else must know what is about to be discussed." That made me nervous, something so important that the only person the duke trusted with coming here was himself. He has a son and a daughter last time I checked. He couldn't trust either of them with this? "It is a very dangerous mission. I asked the queen who to choose and she pointed me in your direction. Many of you might die."
We expect death. We are soldiers.
There's only one reason you might become a soldier in this world, and it is money when being an adventurer is impossible or not allowed. Most of the men in this place were sent here to die by their families so they can get one of two pensions: the widower pension and the heroic contribution pension, maybe even both.
"We are prepared," I told him with a serious expression.
He nodded, closed his eyes, and crossed his arms. "There is an enemy headquarters to the south of here. We think they plan on gathering monsters and striking at the kingdom. We predicted this would happen one or two years from now, but for whatever reason, they've begun to move immediately. Their hide-out is full of traps and soldiers holding extremely powerful weaponry. We need you to infiltrate, and kill every enemy soldier alongside all their monsters."
"What happens if we all fail and die?" I questioned.
"We have a spy inside, if you fail now, they will regroup somewhere else, but at least we will force them to relocate, buying us time. Your families would also get an extra pension for taking on this quest." The risks were incredible.
Though, this setting reminded me of something.
There was a game from my past life. I barely remember it. But my sister blackmailed me to play it for her. This situation reminded me of one of the later events. Wait, what was the name of the duke in the game again?
I couldn't remember.
"The rewards?" if they could give us some extra money for clearing this quest it would go a long way. Many of us would have pressure lifted from our shoulders and I would be able to get Colin into school.
"110,000 dia for each individual participating in this mission and an additional fee once you finish it."
Time froze.
One dia was one hundred yen. Meaning one dia was roughly one dollar.
"Have you gone crazy?!" I asked, slamming the desk in front of me. I would be willing to participate if it was a couple of thousand dia, but one hundred thousand?! That's sketchy, "where is all this money coming from?!"
"I am taking it from the Redgrave treasury. Even if it is a high reward, I must remind you that this is a stealth and eliminate mission, you must pick four others to accompany you." Even if they were billionaires -- which they were -- that's still a lot of money. That's a total of five hundred thousand, more than half a million dollars on this one mission. "In addition, any spoils you might gain while on the mission will be protected under the adventurer's law."
"... You've gone insane... What if we recuperate weaponry? Ships?"
"Does it really matter if the kingdom is destroyed?" Duke Redgrave looked me in the eyes and smiled. "Do the rewards scare you, Bartfort?"
A grin came across my face as I looked at the duke. "Scare me? I'm just making sure you don't whine about an unfair amount of rewards when we are finished." I shrugged with a grin. The duke let my -- clearly rude -- comment go.
"You are a straightforward man Bartfort. I wish the Royal court was more like you. Chose the five men by the end of today, it is best if you do it quickly, it takes an entire day to get to the enemy base and we need you to arrive there at night." He stood up, gave a nod, and left the building.
I could choose another four people other than myself.
*
As expected, after explaining we had a very dangerous task ahead, only two others applied for the mission.
And of course, those same people were those I suspected of spying and betraying us.
"I'll go where you go, Sir. Bartfort!"
"I still owe you my life. What's the mission?"
Both of them had annoying reasons for joining too. I refused their submissions and put only my name on the submission sheet.
With my eyes, it should be possible. Especially since it's a stealth mission. They looked upset that I wasn't taking them with me, regardless, I couldn't risk a spy ruining the mission, and no one else wanted to risk their lives. If anyone was to die, I would be the best candidate. If I die Colin would get all the inheritance money I've saved up. Thanks to Redgrave my bank account was about to look like a fat pig. A hundred thousand dia is more than enough to get into the academy.
I looked at the ship Redgrave prepared for the mission. It was a small five-seater ship painted black. I took a step into it and saw plenty of food supplies. I started the ship's magical engine and it started moving forward. I sat down as comfortably as possible and set the speed low enough for me to arrive there tomorrow night.
It was a long trip, but I was pretty sure that I spotted some interesting things while going toward my destination. Mainly, islands.
Adventurers had the right to claim islands, and depending on how big the island was, or how many resources it had, they could get different ranks in nobility. These eyes weren't natural.
In fact, every time I thought of them I'd get images of another game I used to play. The names Mystic and Pure Eyes were engraved in my mind, like a constant reminder of what these eyes were.
But even then, I felt like it wasn't everything my eyes could do. There was this voice in the back of my head telling me "there's more, you just aren't there yet".
I thought I was going insane for a while.
Regardless, gazing upon the vast skies in the flying ship, I could see several islands that were surrounded by a weird barrier. The islands were kind of transparent. They were weird because usually islands are supposed to be claimed by nobles, but even from where I was, I could tell it was vacant, or maybe they weren't and I wasn't seeing properly.
I saw quite a bit of them while riding on this ship.
Nightfall came quicker than expected.
The enemy base in front of me was surrounded by a weird transparent barrier. Looking around it, it seemed to be highly guarded.
The base was a white building with one floor. There was probably more underground, but it was still a pretty big base. The fact there were men all around the base, and probably many more insides... It was like they were expecting me to come.
But how?
I grit my teeth and stopped the small ship in front of the land. I grabbed the throwing knives supplied by the duke and stashed them in the gaps of my armor for easy access. Then I soldier crawled toward the back entrance. The transparent barrier was weird for sure. Just in case, I threw a rock at it.
Nothing happened.
I narrowed my eyes, quickly put my hand through it, and pulled it back.
Nothing happened again.
I crawled inside the barrier, and nothing seemed to happen, though inside it looked kind of hazy.
I looked at the soldiers, they were wearing weird goggles, but nothing more. There were eight at the back. They were separated into two rows. The same strategy as last time. A tinge of guilt fell over me again and my heart began to beat harder and faster. I was about to kill someone again... no, I was about to kill a lot of people.
I grabbed some of the throwing knives and squinted my eyes, activating their abilities. A world of dots and lines made itself clear to me. My heart stopped beating as hard. It was weird, like having the ability of these eyes active let me kill more easily.
I threw four knives at the enemy from behind the bushes. All of them hit the enemy, but only two hit a point of death, the lines allowed me to separate objects with ease by tracing along them. It's like it killed the union between the objects, no effort was needed, all that was needed was a movement going down the same path as the line and the object would cut itself.
Points were different. Hitting the points would instantly kill something.
So when they were hit on their points, they simply collapsed in front of me. I took the opportunity to make myself known. They prepared their guns, but I was faster, I was already in front of them, and with swift cuts, all eight were killed without shooting their weapon once.
"So far so good." I whispered to myself.
I grabbed the bodies and dragged them to the bushes, hiding them from plain sight. I covered the blood by digging it out and covering the holes with dirt from around the area. I grabbed the other dead men I'd killed and tried on their uniforms...
None of them fit me.
'Why do they have to be either so tall or so damn short?!' I questioned clenching my fists, it was like in those mangas where every dude met by the protagonist was either a shota, a dilf, or a tall handsome teen, there was no in-between here!
What was an average-height man like me supposed to do?!
Sighing, I searched through their corpses, making sure to keep my Mystic Eyes active... not that I could turn it off that easily either way... but keeping them on felt like the right decision. I felt like if I gazed at their regular bodies with my normal eyes, I would puke.
From the bodies of the dead men, there were several magic keys. I grabbed them all and put them all in my pockets. I made sure to recover my throwing knives from the bodies as well.
Killing everyone in such a big base was going to be a tall order.
I went back to the woods and waited for several minutes. A party of three -- probably worried about the sudden disappearance of the previous eight -- came searching the area in front of me.
I grabbed my knives and threw them, they all missed the point of death, hitting them close to their chest instead. They opened their mouths to scream, but I dashed forward and cut the lines on their necks, killing them before they could say anything.
Same as before, I hid their bodies, the blood, searched them for anything that could be of interest -- I found nothing -- and then hid in the bushes again.
One by one I killed the search parties, the place started sending four people, then six, then ten, then fifteen.
There was barely any room to hide their bodies in the bushes near the base, so I started dragging them further back.
One thing was certain, my aim improved drastically from the first time I tried this. I was starting to hit their points of death in my first toss.
I saw them send thirty people in one go.
Just how many were staying in this base?
There wasn't enough room in the forest for the number of members here.
With a huge search party, I was forced to move location. Hiding on top of the trees, I would wait for them to get close, hit the point of death, then wait for them to make the same mistake. Move if they spotted me, kill the witness, wait for more to arrive, repeat.
They were falling like flies and saving me time. I didn't have to hide their bodies in the forest, since they were dying here
Eventually, the number of soldiers coming into the forest ceased. They probably got tired of hearing nothing back. One thing was for certain, the rest were definitely inside.
With a grin, I got out of the tree and ran inside the base using the key I stole. The second I made it inside several soldiers were ready with guns.
"Do you use clones or something?" I sneakily grabbed my knives and rose my arms as they closed in. I curled my index and middle finger as they held onto the knives, hiding them from their view.
There were three of them, which meant after throwing these two knives, I would have to close into this guy with a gun and kill him using a throwing knife.
I lowered my arms as fast as I could, tossing the knives straight into their points of death. The two men fell instantly, leaving only the third party, who I killed using one of the many knives hidden in my armor.
I heard the troops walking through the halls, I glanced at the fork in the halls a few meters in front of me, behind the walls I could see the lines moving as they did. I grabbed the knives from the bodies of the soldiers and waited for them to show themselves. The moment they did, I threw basically all my knives at them.
All I had left was the knife given to me by my father. I held it tightly and rushed toward the fork and looked to my right, there was a room, to the left, another one.
I went to the right and opened the door, I saw several rifles pointed at me and immediately closed it. The bullets made marks on the wall and deformed it. Strong doors.
The door was kicked open by one soldier while another pointed their rifle at me. I wasn't quite back at the fork to hide behind the corner. The soldier pointed his rifle and shot. A sharp pain came to my hand as the knife was knocked away from me.
There I stood, weaponless, staring down at several men with rifles pointed at me.
Chances weren't looking the best. I ripped the button off my pants off and using its small edge, I slammed my hand on the wall's point of death. To the soldiers, it looked like a futile thing, but to me, I had just hit the point of the life of the wall. In the following instant, the wall crumbled and I jumped sideways to take cover from the gunfire.
I jumped into a storage unit whose door was to the side, probably leading into the room the enemy was in. I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon.
Nothing.
Just a bunch of cleaning supplies.
I looked at the back, took a deep breath, and sighed.
Ripping off a steel pipe from the wall, I grimaced at my chances of survival.
The door leading to the next room opened, and alongside the hole in the wall. Enemies crawled in, like cockroaches.
I rose the pipe toward them and focused on where their lines were. The pipe was certainly not going to be sharp or thin enough to accurately hit the lines, but I had to try something.
It was a long pipe, I was holding it down the middle, but by slowly moving my hand back I increased my reach. The enemy slowly came closer to get an accurate shot, this was a storage area for cleaning supplies, and there was very little space. By doing a horizontal movement with my pipe, I tried following the lines on their necks.
I didn't expect anything to happen.
I widened my eyes and stood in shock.
A blunt weapon.
This pipe. It cut through the line, splitting the heads from their bodies.
"This thing..."
The soldiers were in shock, and so was I. "D-Did he just cut someone's head off with a fucking pipe?!" yelled the soldier.
"It's lighter than a sword, which makes it easier to hit the lines," I whispered to myself, I let go of the pipe and grabbed it by its end and then thrust forward, hitting the enemy on the shoulder, right where its point of death was "It's well balanced and has good reach." I pulled the pipe and grabbed it closer to the middle, then swung it down like a sword, splitting the next enemy in two.
"... The perfect weapon."
With a longer reach, it was much easier and faster to cut the enemy, striking their lines of death, not to mention it was safer.
I cut through every single enemy using the pipe. No one was able to stop me. Before I knew it, the entire floor was full of bodies. I made sure to always decapitate the enemy in case they were still alive.
I reached the lowest floor of this weird dungeon base. Behind me was a trail of bodies. Due to the way the lines worked, I didn't feel tired at all.
For a second I wondered why I didn't see any Mech suits -- because this weird world had them for some reason -- but I guess the enemy did want to be stealthy, and giant robot suits didn't particularly help their stealth check.
I finally reached the last room. It was a large one full of cages containing different kinds of monsters. From rabid horned rabbits to giant winged snakes it seemed to hold a little bit of everything.
Only a single scientist stood at the very back of the room, standing in front of several large magical circles and crystal balls.
"You've done well to get here invader. Before you try -- and fail -- to kill me, can I ask you one thing?"
I looked the man straight in the eyes.
"It's Twelve in the morning. I spent my entire night killing your goons. I've pretty much got you cornered. Could you please tell me where you get your energy from?"
The man laughed and shook his head, "Ah, you think you've got me cornered, but that is not the case." He spread his arms, gesturing to the room we were in, "I still have my little pets! So before you die, could you please tell me how you were able to see through our illusions?"
"Illusion?"
"We set a barrier with illusion magic that was supposed to create a thick fog so you couldn't see our reinforcements."
"There was no such illusion."
"... Lies, I set it up and made sure to activate it."
"No. Nothing of the sort."
"You lie!"
"Dude, I'm right here. I'm telling you, there was no such fog. I have no idea what you are talking about." Was the barrier he was talking about, the transparent one I saw? Because if it was, they just sucked at illusion magic.
"It doesn't matter! For I will unleash these beasts into the kingdom!"
"Are you talking about the horned rabbits? Because I'm telling you right now, I have no idea why you got those in your team."
"If I had more time, I could have probably bred more, but this should be enough for someone like you" He completely ignored me and rose a hand containing a red button -- those are generally very bad.
I dashed toward him with a pipe in hand. I swung toward his line, but the moment I did another line appeared right in front of me. A weird blue transparent fog solidified and a barrier was created. I stopped before hitting it and took a step back.
The enemy looked at me kind of surprised.
"Why did you stop?"
"What do you mean? You literally just created a barrier in front of me, why the hell wouldn't I stop? I don't know what kind it is."
The man fell silent.
The barrier was still up, and with my eyes, I could see its lines. I dashed forward and cut through them. More of the weird blue fog solidified, taking the place of where the cut was.
"Y-You?! Did you just cut through the barrier?!" yelled the man, taking a step back. He looked at the button, and more desperate than before, he pressed it.
The red alarm and sirens that came from the button pressing didn't give me much confidence.
I rose my pipe and trusted at the barrier's point, completely shutting it down. Before more fog could appear and take the barrier's place, I went through.
"The barrier de-activated!" I trusted my pipe on his head, he moved it to the side and I missed. He turned around and tried running away. I knit my eyebrows as the blue fog solidified. He hit his face against it.
"T-the barrier, it's back!" he yelled, "how is this possible?!"
I didn't know what he was talking about, so I just trusted the pipe at his thigh. He looked down and then fell limp.
I winced as my headaches began.
"I over-used the eyes again." The blaring red eyes continued shining. The room was completely lit up by flickering red lights.
The cages slowly started to open themselves.
"Ah... that's what it did."
I was wondering what the red button was for since he pressed it and nothing happened for a while. I dashed to the barrier and pierced its point of death to get through.
A flying snake crawled out of its cage. I didn't feel like fighting a flying opponent -- having 0 flying equipment myself, so I cut its head off right there and then.
I killed any of the threatening monsters first. Manticores, flying snakes, orcs, giant spiders. Anything that would be considered threatening was killed.
The second priority was poisonous monsters like salamanders. I cut their head off before they could generate gas.
The monsters in the room looked threatening, but it was clear that they were malnourished, after all, there is no way a giant praying mantis was supposed to be moving that slow.
They were thin and frail. Full of lines and dots to hit.
Still though, killing hundreds of monsters was hard.
On the other side of the room, a new monster walked out of its cage. A large bipedal gecko with earthy brown skin and emerald eyes that looked like they were actual gems. It had its mouth open, showing its rows of sharp teeth. The back of its throat started to glow intensely.
I grit my teeth and ran back to the weird blue fog. With the pipe, I destroyed the barrier. The dragon reeled its head back, then lunged forward. A beam of flames shot out of its mouth. The barrier solidified and blocked the attack. The intense heat was uncomfortable even meters away from the wall. The surrounding ground was getting scorched, then becoming red before finally starting to brighten and soften. It wasn't just the barrier, the entire room had become a sauna for this monster. when it finished, the room looked completely different, with the ceiling caving down like it was about to melt.
I got up and stared at the ground, there was no way I was going to traverse through it without burning my feet. The dragon opened its mouth, gathering breath once more.
The floor had become magma, and not in the fun game sense.
If I stood still, the dragon would shoot the beam again, this time, the ceiling might collapse and melt me completely. If I took a step forward, my legs would get burnt off.
I had to think of a solution.
Looking at the giant room full of hundreds of monsters, I realized a solution.
"Monsters inherently heat resistant! The manticore!" I broke the barrier and jumped on its corpse, "Salamander!" I jumped on its slimy and disgusting head. "Finally, the earth dragon!" I jumped off the salamander's head toward the dragon's.
The earth dragon didn't appreciate that. With its earthy arms, it tried knocking me out of the sky. I swung my pipe down, cutting its shoulder off completely, and with a quick lunge, its point of death -- located right at its head -- was pierced. The dragon screeched as I pushed myself off its forehead, landing -- although barely -- on the salamander's head.
Usually hitting the point of death was instant. Why was it taking so long? The dragon moved its head around. The light coming from its throat dimmed and flickered off.
The dragon's head drowsed around, and then he became limp, finally hitting the ground.
My breathing became ragged after finishing. I jumped on the manticore's body, which was now half inside the ground, broke the barrier, and jumped inside.
I sat down against the wall at the very back of the room and closed my eyes.