The Knight King Who Returned with Gods : Chapter 1
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode
1. You're trapped where I am
Reincarnated into the fantasy world.
A lofty ceiling.
Instead of LED bulbs, oil lamps lit up the
room.
Garments woven from silk and flax.
Looking
at the dull wooden utensils, it is certain that they are inferior to the
Earth's civilization known to me.
But.... Isn't this a rich family in a fantasy
world? It is a good reincarnation for an orphan who died from overwork while doing
manual labor.
Above all, there is one thing that made me
sure that I was reborn as an aristocrat. It was my mother's beauty.
"My baby...."
The dazzling smile of my biological mother
looking at me. How can that face not belong to an aristocrat? I don't think
there will be any problem with my future relationship.
***
When I entered my 3rd year, I saw out of the
cradle, out of the room. It was so high up and tall, even for a toddler.
"Young Master!"
Mona, the nanny, hurriedly picked me up. That
was how my first adventure ended.
Come to think of it.
I shouldn't have dreamed of adventures at this
time.
If I had known that real adventures are 100%
dirt, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble.
In the 6th year.
The house I was reborn in seems to be a famous
archduke in the kingdom.
The Grand Duke of Dragonia. The family's
founder was a legendary knight who toppled the evil dragon and covered it with
blood. Apparently, they've also produced four kings.
For reference, this kingdom has an election
system for the king.
By the time I reached my 8th year, I was to be
trained to wield a sword as a future knight of the kingdom.
I was thrilled.
A
real-life fantasy knight! I wondered if I could draw a sword and put aura on
it?
The
man who will teach me is Sir Gordic, a Holy Grail Knight sent by the Royal
Court, but who is he?
Huh?
A Holy Grail Knight?
The 10th year.
It hurts. My whole body feels like it's going
to break.
I
chose the path of knighthood, and every day I was beaten by that Gordic brute.
It
was nice to be made a squire by the Archduke, but not a day went by that I
didn't learn to wield a sword and ride a horse.
The
Holy Grail Knights... yeah, they're like sword masters in fantasy.
While
the knights of this world are a bit different from my fantasy knights, the Holy
Grail Knights are truly monsters that are beyond human.
However,
in order to become a Holy Grail Knight, you must complete quests through
training, become a knight of the kingdom, earn prestige and honor, and be
chosen by the Holy Grail to drink the holy water?
You
had to be strong, honorable, and faithful to become a Holy Grail Knight, an
Otherworldly Sword Master.
Damn...
I'm not religious.
The 14th year.
Every day is a torment.
The
bone-crushing training aside, there is also a sense of accomplishment because I
can feel myself getting stronger with each passing day. It was bearable.
The
problem was the etiquette and the studies.
I
was a strong contender to be the next archduke. Naturally, I had to learn
everything there was to know about being an archduke.
How
to rule the people, how to carry out the law, the philosophical debate between
justice and law, how to treat a lady, and even studying the Bible.
In
this world, there are many gods, and you pay tribute to them at their temples
and do as they say.
Gods...
how fantastical.
But
me... I was told that I have to be recognized by a goddess of justice or
something in order to be chosen by the Grail?
The 16th year.
Now
I am wandering the world.
What?
At 16, I'm supposed to be in middle school? Well, in this world, I'm considered
an adult.
The
first requirement to become a Holy Grail Knight: You must leave your home,
protect the people of the kingdom, and complete an honorable quest.
To
fulfill that quest, I must find the embodiment of the goddess. How do I find
it?
They
say I just have to go all over the kingdom and do my best to be good, and
they'll find me. I'll be damned.
The
17th year.
Today
I slaughtered some orcs. Sons of bitches, warlike brutes. They invade the
kingdom's borders on a random day and kill our people. If it weren't for them,
the kingdom would be a peaceful place.
Accompanied
by Sir Gildus, Sir Antoc, and Gunnar the Wandering Wood-man, the guardian of
the forest, I cut down the orcs.
"Thank
you, knights, thank you!"
"Tend
to the wounded and repair the damage. May the sword of the kingdom and the
favor of the goddess be with you."
I'm
worried. The farmers have had a good year, and their taxes have kept the
kingdom full, but the country has too many enemies.
There
are too many non-humans around. I hear there are even cultists nowadays.
The 20th year.
I met a goddess.
I'm
not kidding. It's real. There really was a goddess.
Wasn't
religion supposed to be a means of educating and organizing the ignorant?
Heaven?
Hall of Fame? Feast of the gods? Weren't they all just made up?
The
current king has been alive and ruling the kingdom for 110 years, but I thought
he was a Holy Grail knight who did some kind of transfiguration trick.
My
current master, Sir Gordic, was a 90-year-old Holy Grail Knight.
『Leon Dragonia, son of
Archduke Wolfric Dragonia, I grant thy
a quest to prove thy honor and faithfulness.』
"Yes,
at the command of the Goddess!"
In
my fourth year as a knight. At last I have met the embodiment of the Goddess. Arianna
is real!
I've
slain the orcs. Torn apart goblins. Slayed hordes of evil cultists and defended
the kingdom's territory.
It
wasn't all bad. Rather, it was good. The echoes of my name, the accolades, the
admiration and respect that came with each honor made me shudder.
Sir
Gildus, son of Galbat the Warknight. Sir Antoc, Guardian of the Mines, and
Gunnar the Wood-man, a mere two meters tall when I first saw him, now a
five-meter Tree Giant.
I
have been recognized by the Grail and become a Holy Grail Knight.
The
27th year.
Beheading an Orc Warlord and wiping out a
savage nomadic tribe must have been a big deal.
The
orcs would come in hordes of 100,000 or 200,000 whenever they could find a
decent enough chance to get their hands on children.
One
of the first things I did when I became a Warknight, with the freedom to wage
war and call my own knights, was to exterminate the orcs.
I
buried 700,000 of the damned green-skinned bastards, men, women, and children.
It's so refreshing.
The 35th year.
The honorable 14th King Lionheart, the living
saint and demigod Argent Majestie
Lionheart, has died. It was in a
battle against a n archdemon summoned from the outskirts of the Empire.
Orcs
are a pain in the ass, but now there are demons. Those damned Imperial mages,
their inquisitive minds leading them astray in their study of the dark arts.
This
is why you must believe in god, and live a faithful life.
It's
because of their inherent curiosity and their futile search for truth that the archdemon
has sliced a hundred thousand people into pieces.
Apart
from that, we need to elect a Holy Grail Knight to succeed King Lionheart, who
died honorably while helping the nearly destroyed empire.
『Holy Grail Knight Leon
Dragonia.』
"Goddess
Arianna."
The
Goddess herself has descended and chosen me. Apparently, this is the first time
in the kingdom's history that the Goddess has directly chosen a Holy Grail
Knight.
It
must have been a great feat of heroism to win the head of the Archdemon.
It
is an honorable path and a demanding position, but I cannot let my knights and
people down.
I
am now Archduke of Dragonia and King of the Lionheart Kingdom.
I
was implanted with the Lion's Heart, a holy relic given to me by the Goddess,
swore to protect the Grail, and took up the Holy
Sword and the Holy Lance to slay the
enemies of my kingdom.
The
80th year.
A lot has happened in that time.
There
have been three great battles with the orcs and a strange curly-haired goblin that
turned into an archdemon.
I
could have ripped its guts out, but it was lucky enough to escape through the Daemon Gate.
"Your
Majesty, the Imperial Mages of Dark Magic are said to be conducting experiments
again!"
Are
you crazy, Imperial fuckers, what is wrong with you these days?
The
Empire's complacency and distrust have reached a fever pitch lately.
The
annual pilgrimage to the Great Temple has been canceled, and a bunch of idiotic
theocrats have taken up arms against the gods.
It's
all the fault of the pagan bastards from the north. We didn't have enough soldiers,
so we took in barbarians and even accepted their faith.
In
the Lionheart Kingdom, they'll live their entire lives as lowly serfs and die
like pigs, but they're still treated like people.
Should
I just punish them? It feels like watching a member of the group who trolls in
a group assignment.
The
98th year.
The Imperials are at it again!
The
Emperor’s son performed a sect’s secret sacrificial ritual, claiming he didn't
want to die, and summoned the Lord of Chaos to the Imperial Capital!
The
Imperial bastard, barely seventy years old, wanted to live forever, so he
killed three million people in the capital!
"Ha......."
While
the orc's grease was not yet dry since last year on the holy sword that I was
holding, I summoned the knights.
121st year.
The world is ending. I have done my best.
I
have slain demons on behalf of the Arianna,
the goddess of justice, and sent priests of Demera, the goddess of fertility,
to rebuild the farmlands.
Heto,
the god of metal and blacksmithing,
provided armor and swords for the Holy Grail Knights, and Pethos, the god of war and flame, personally descended upon the land to burn
away the remnants of the battlefield.
Twenty-third
year of the Shinma War. A war that began as an imperial shitstorm and
slowly led to the destruction of the world.
"Lord
Leon."
"Sir
Arene."
Son
of my sworn ally, Sir Antoc. My
deceased ally's youthful appearance remained with him. And yet, here I was, by
the grace of the Goddess, looking no different than I had a century ago.
"Be
proud, Sir Arene. Your father has died an honorable death and headed to the
feast of the gods."
"Yes......."
I
see the soldiers and knights looking at me, consoling the son of a dead father.
It was the last stand... no, the last holdout.
The
thud of the enemy's march and the mixed emotions in their eyes: horror, fear,
helplessness, despair.
Alas,
Goddess.
Owner
of the Grail, who has given this lackluster creature the Lion's Heart, who has
set the Holy Sword ablaze.
Here
are thy lambs trembling with fear.
Women
soothe their weeping children and swallow their tears,
the
young men try to hold the dying fire of resistance in their hands,
and
knights try to leave seeds of hope in the blood-soaked wilderness.
O
Master of the Holy Sword, the Holy Lance, and the Holy Grail.
I
realize that thy first knight will not be able to stop the evil that stretches
beyond the horizon.
Goddess.
My
Goddess. What shall this foolish knight do?
『Do as thou wilt. 』
"......."
『My knight. My dear,
honorable knight. Your goddess will be with you to the end. 』
The
Goddess is with me.
We
will indeed meet our end, and it shall be an honorable one.
"For
the Goddess, for the honor, for the Lionheart!"
That winter in my 121st year.
We
clashed with the ten million demons that filled the earth.
Barbarian
serfs were expended as meat shields, free men wielded spears and shields, and
knights of honor fell with dignity.
The
Holy Grail Knights ascended one by one, slaying demons to the very end.
Only
I, the chosen agent of all the gods, alone continue to slay the demons.
I
tore apart countless Demon Lords and Archdemons, radiating the divinity of the
Holy Grail Knight upon them.
The 217th year.
Winter
is not yet over.
The
256th year.
I
destroyed the last remaining Daemon Gate. Hundreds of thousands of demons lost
their way and looked at me with desperation in their eyes.
"Vile,
lowly creatures! You are now trapped in this world with me, and I will
annihilate every last one of you!"
I
am not trapped!
You're
trapped where I am, you fucking wretches!
The
300th year.
"My
God, I've never seen a gate like this before. Where the hell are we?"
"Relax,
Hari,
it's been 13 years since we've had an Unmeasurable Gate. We don't know what
we'll find."
"I
know... but what is it in this realm that can't be measured?"
"I
don't know... Maybe some kind of high-level demon?"
"Don't
say such horrible things."
It was only around the
300th year that I encountered the Earthlings.
***
Help us keep our spirit up by buying
us Coffee (人ゝω・）
