Chapter 44

Kerum’s gaze swept over the three of them.

Two familiar people and a young boy he was seeing for the first time.
It was a new combination.

Kerum’s brow furrowed faintly.
The reason he was in the audience chamber now was to bestow nameplates upon the new knights.
He had to administer the Knight’s Oath, and if a knight desired, he would also bestow gifts such as weapons and armor.
And yet none of the people before him looked anything like new knights.
The Sword Saint who had grown sensitive after declaring his rest.
The empire’s archmage who did not go to the battlefield.
And…… a kid.

“There is a knight here to receive a nameplate?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”

When Lars gestured with his eyes, Serpens stepped forward awkwardly.

“I greet Kerum de…… Your Majesty.”

Serpens followed Lars and knelt on one knee.
He had tried to make a cool greeting like Lars, but failed.
A large part of the reason was that he had not properly heard the emperor’s name from Lars’s mouth.
He should have asked in advance.

“…….”

Kerum looked at the retainers around him.
Some were tense, and some were puzzled.

‘Was it Vice-Captain Croxon Stone?’

The other day, the knight who had supervised the examination had come to him.
He said Lucas Liberator had come to the examination site.
Kerum had not believed it.
A few months ago, Lucas had turned away from the audience chamber with a sharp air around him.
For such a man to appear at a mere knight examination site.
Was that not strange?

Tap. Tap.

Kerum’s fingers tapped the armrest of the throne.

‘Lucas as a guardian…….’

According to Croxon, he had been the guardian of a boy.
A very young boy who had received a recommendation letter from the Academy.
Rumors spread that he was not merely a young boy.
It was hard to believe, but Kerum had heard that he had used Aura and even landed an effective hit on the vice-captain, an Expert.

Tap. Tap.

His fingers tapped the armrest once again.

“What is your name, young knight?”
“It is Serpens.”
“Come forward, Serpens.”

Serpens froze for a moment.
After hesitating briefly, the boy carefully stepped forward.

The emperor’s red eyes looked at the boy as if piercing through him.
Serpens inhaled. He swallowed.

“Serpens.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Do you believe you can carry out the duties of a knight?”
“……Yes.”

The duties of a knight.
To Serpens, the words felt muddled.
There were two kinds of knights the boy knew.
If the guards he hated were knights, then they were knights.
And people like Lucas, who was still watching over him, were knights.

‘Lucas said he wasn’t a knight, but…….’

Lucas had not said he was a knight.
He had only said he could be seen as one.
But now that Serpens looked back, there was no way he was not a knight.
Otherwise, everything until now could not be explained.
It was certain he was not an ordinary knight.
But he had to be a knight.
Even if, by some chance, he was not a knight, to the boy, he was one.

‘Because the knight I dreamed of was someone like Lucas.’

Serpens smiled and answered once more.

“I want to become a knight.”
“……Good.”

Kerum turned his head and met eyes with one retainer.
The retainer who received the emperor’s signal approached with the prepared heavy sword.
A blue sword with faint light flowing through it.
A light that seemed to have risen from the deep sea flowed softly along the blade.

Kerum received the sword and rose from the throne.

“Boy, do you know of the Knight’s Oath?”

Kerum’s red mantle dragged along the ground.

“I do not know it well.”

His steps toward the boy were solemn and heavy, just like his voice.

“It is a rule by which a knight of the empire swears loyalty to the empire in exchange for support.”

Step.

Kerum stood before Serpens.
The blue sword flowed with light.
The sword slowly settled on the boy’s shoulder.

“Oath Article 1, Clause 1. A knight places the empire’s safety above all else and swears loyalty. Oath Article 1, Clause 2. A knight has a duty to protect the weak. Oath Article 1, Clause 3-”

Kerum recited the oath clause by clause.
It took quite a long time.
But no one felt bored, and everyone steadied themselves during that time.

“Article 20, Clause 4. If the oath is violated, one is considered a rebel. Remember that one becomes an enemy of the empire.”

When the emperor stopped speaking.
Serpens was blinking.
He had tried his best to memorize it, but failed.
Only a few things remained in his memory.
And even those were the shortest rules.

“Serpense. Will you take the Knight’s Oath?”

Nothing had given him pause.
They were rules that seemed natural for a knight.
And they were rules he intended to follow.

But, as expected, it felt wrong.
Was it because of what he had thought during the knight examination?

Restricted, permitted, and free.
While thinking about the three types of wandering knights,
he had wondered whether there should be surveillance through magic.

Perhaps these rules now served the role of surveillance.
They were called something ridiculously grand, ‘Knight’s Oath.’

Were the rules he had just heard not things difficult to keep through loyalty alone?
He thought that not all of those many knights could keep the rules.

But the world was peaceful.
As for him, beggar and orphan or not, he was still a criminal who had stolen things.
Because he had not belonged among those who should be protected within the rules, he had lived a hard life, but
the lives of ordinary people he had seen over the past year were extremely peaceful.

In other words, the moment one took the Knight’s Oath.
Would some powerful magic activate and force one to follow the rules?

‘Did I go too far……?’

That thought came to him.

“Wait a moment.”

Instead of the boy’s answer, Lars’s intervention came one step faster.

“……?”

Kerum’s eyes sank coldly.
Interrupting the emperor’s act was nearly the same as treason.
The murmuring hall and the guards reaching for their sheathed swords were proof of that.

“Because I don’t think our little knight here will be taking the oath, you see?”
“What?”

Lars’s characteristic playful smile.
It was a smile meant to convey that he held no malice.
But malice depended on how the other party received it.

“I do not understand the intent behind that smile, archmage.”

And in a solemn atmosphere, a smile was difficult to view positively.

“The process of taking the oath is an important moment that happens only once in a knight’s life. No matter what heights you have reached, you cannot take away the boy’s right to decide.”

Serpens quietly inhaled.
Cold air filled his lungs.

The adults’ conversation going back and forth before his eyes.
Words like courtesy and rules were far removed from the boy.

Everyone held their breath, and only the two of them were speaking.
The retainers, guards, and knights were holding on to their tension.
They were the emperor’s retainers.
The emperor’s guards.
The emperor’s knights.

If the emperor happened to command it, they had to subdue Lars Musica.
And that was practically impossible.
Their opponent was one of only two archmages among the three existing races.
Even if all the Experts of the imperial knight order and magicians gathered, subduing him would be impossible.
Unless there was a Sword Master…….

The gazes of several people turned toward one person.
They were people who had served the imperial court for a long time.
Uncertain gazes.
But they soon made their judgment and began to grow even more tense.

“I did not come here to have a quarrel.”

Meanwhile, the one who had seemed unlikely to speak opened his mouth.

“…….”
“…….”

A chilled silence lingered after the exchange.
Serpens naturally looked at Lucas.

In those eyes, which showed no agitation as always, the boy felt calm.

“Serpens. What do you think of the oath?”

Lucas asked.

Everyone’s attention focused on Serpens.
The boy forced himself to ignore their gazes and thought hard.

The earlier conversation between the emperor and Lars.
He remembered all the information he needed to know from it.
The reason everyone took the oath.
That the Oratio Empire would become their backing and provide full support, and that in exchange, they had to offer absolute loyalty to the empire.
If they raised a rebellion against the empire, they would become enemies of all other knights.

‘So this is how they monitor them.’

Serpens could tell that he had been right.
He was not certain whether it worked like a restraint through magic,
but at the very least, the pressure of becoming the enemy of the empire had to be a tremendous restraint.

Even while bearing such a risk, everyone took the oath.
The reason was simple.
Because entering it was far too natural.

Would one ever raise a rebellion against the empire in one’s life?
No.
Of course, one could hold dissatisfaction.
One simply did not have the power to rebel.

In such a situation, the empire said it promised full support.
Honor. Wealth. Power.
It promised what many people desired.

‘Who would refuse that? They’d have to be an idiot.’

Serpens blinked.
This was his first time encountering detailed information about royal law, and the Knight’s Oath at that.
And yet the reason he had been able to understand it at once was Lars Musica.
It was because when he spoke with the emperor, he had spoken as if leaking information to the boy.

No matter how playful Lars was,
surely he was not a madman who would interrupt the emperor simply for a joke.

The fact that he had deliberately intervened at this timing and revealed his opposition to the oath meant…….

‘He wants to leave it to my judgment?’

Lars wanted him to refuse the oath.
It might be his own decision,
but there was a high chance that his will was also Lucas’s will.
Lucas maintaining his silence was proof of that.

“…….”

No, he should not think too complicatedly.
Surveillance or restriction.
He should set those secondary thoughts aside.

This was what Lars and Lucas had suggested.
From the position of someone following them,
was it not enough to trust them?

‘Honor. Wealth. Power.’

Various things passed through the boy’s mind.
If he took the oath here, he could live a life others would envy.
Was that not the life he had wanted since he was young?

“I think the oath is a very good law. It is a law that kills two birds with one stone, protecting the life of a knight and the safety of this country.”

Perhaps he might live even better than he imagined.
A knight at this age.
Was that not an amazing thing?

“But I…… will not take the oath.”

The audience chamber stirred.
Some were shocked, and some sighed.
And someone smiled.

“Do you know what meaning your words carry, young knight?”

Kerum said with a stiff face.
It did not look as if he was suppressing anger.

“Whether support is given is not the main point. Not taking the oath means you have not sworn loyalty to the empire. That alone means the eyes on you will inevitably become sharp. Mine are included among them.”
“I understand that well.”
“You understand?”

Serpens looked up at the red eyes with an awkward smile.
Like when one stared at the sun for too long.
He wanted to look away at once.
But the boy raised his head while hiding his clenched teeth behind his smile.

“Even without taking the oath, I am confident I can strive to live a more knightly life than anyone.”

What was a knight?
Was it not one who protected the weak and put the great cause first?

One who used the strength they possessed for righteous purposes,
and who had to know how to put down a sword as much as how to swing one, was a knight.
When darkness covered the world, those who became light and illuminated it were knights.
Those who did not turn their backs even if the path they walked was harsh were knights.
One who fought against injustice and became someone’s hope.
That was the knight Serpens had dreamed of, and the knight he wanted to become.

And if he wanted to become such a person,
he felt it would be better not to take the oath.

To protect someone because of an oath.
Of course, doing something for others even that way was incomparably better than not doing it at all.

But doing good because one feared punishment…….
That was not the type of knight the boy wanted to become.

Serpens ignored his heart, which was pounding as if it would burst.

How would he look to the emperor?
Some brat who knew nothing of the world?
Well, it didn’t matter.
When had he ever cared about gazes like that?

“It is possible to strive to live a knightly life even after taking the oath. The oath exists to encourage such a life.”
“You are right. But…….”

Serpens looked at Lucas.
His eyes met Lucas’s, who was observing the situation with his arms crossed indifferently.

“For some reason, I feel like I should not take the oath.”
“For some reason? Are you speaking of intuition?”
“Yes. It’s intuition. Intuition.”
“…….”

The people fell into shock.
They couldn’t understand.
He was refusing the Knight’s Oath for the reason of intuition?
To foolishly throw away a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

“To be honest, my mood is not very pleasant.”

Kerum said quietly.
Should he call it a young boy’s boldness?
Calling it boldness was being generous. This was closer to recklessness.
If others had done this-.

‘No, no one would.’

Kerum let out a small breath.
He was a troublesome one in many ways.

His red eyes, now thoroughly tired, turned to the man beyond the boy.

‘So you irritate me even in this way, Lucas.’

Lucas nodded in greeting.
Kerum also answered with a nod.

The murmuring audience chamber.
Kerum gently raised his fist and quieted the officials.

He silently looked down at the small knight.
Light brown eyes shining without wavering.
For some reason, he thought that shine resembled Lucas’s deep eyes.

“Kneel, boy.”

And as the people’s eyes widened.
Serpens knelt on one knee.

Slide.

The blue sword, laid flat, rested on the boy’s shoulder.
When the cold metal pressed down on his shoulder, Serpens flinched.

Slide.

It rested on the opposite shoulder as well.

Tap.

Finally, it was placed on the boy’s head.

“In the name of Kerum de Evgenia, emperor of the empire, I appoint you as a knight. May your sword point toward justice, and may honor follow your steps.”