Activating The Holy Knight.

“How on earth are you handling things!”

The face of the pope of the Rat Religion was filled with both anger and a lack of hope. There had suddenly been a report that the facility mass-producing Holy Knights had been attacked. And it was said that there were people who had stolen everything there, including the body of a Holy Knight that had been just before completion, the researchers, and even the research materials.

Naturally, he had immediately ordered them to chase after them and catch them. They mobilized everything they could mobilize, and in the end, he was now in a situation where he had received a report that they had ultimately lost them. For him, it could only be an absurd situation. Just how had they handled security for the facility to be discovered this easily?

On top of that, while they had not even caught them, the Holy Knight’s body, the materials, and the researchers had all been taken from them. Everything they had done over the past two years had disappeared. In addition, according to what they said, they had stored the materials necessary for mass production, but there were many difficulties in starting again.

‘To think there is only one Holy Knight who can use divine power right away at best. What am I supposed to do about this?’

Since things had turned out this way, they would have to start again. But they would have to capture many people again and use them as test subjects. However, as they said, there were many difficulties. Until now, not long had passed since the war had ended, so there had been no difficulty even if many people went missing, but now that was becoming difficult.

‘Even if we start again, it will take several more years. If this happens, my plan to rule this country will become even more difficult.’

Time was the problem. As time continued to pass, the royal family’s power would return to how it had been before along with the recovery. If that happened, their influence would also grow. On top of that, the nobles aiming for him would certainly bare their teeth in earnest as well.

“That cannot be allowed to happen…”

His grand dream could not end like this. Of course, considering the influence and believers he currently had, there was no difficulty in immediately overturning things, but the fact that there was only one Holy Knight weighed on his mind. Originally, he had intended to overturn this country while possessing at least seven or more.

‘If that had happened, the plan would have been perfect.’

Unfortunately, they had already lost two in the Polia Kingdom. Because of his foolish subordinates, everything had been ruined. On top of that, even right now, he was under threat from the Polia Kingdom. They had briefly slowed down, but even now, snipers were still aiming for him.

‘Do I have to apologize?’

This pope, having to prostrate himself and apologize to the king of the Polia Kingdom? That would be something that would greatly wound his pride. He thought it was something that could not happen as the pope of the Rat Religion. Of course, it was merely stubbornness from not knowing that King Ian was not someone who would accept it even if he apologized.

“Is there no solution to make up for this matter?”

At the pope’s question, everyone kept their mouths shut. Seeing that, the pope thought that there was not a single person here who did their work properly. Inwardly, as he wondered whether he could entrust a great task to people like this, he noticed that the seats of several of those present nearby were missing.

“Where is Cardinal Deira? And I don’t see Cardinal Bellot either.”

“That is, both of them have disappeared.”

“Disappeared? What do you mean by that? Were they perhaps attacked by assassins?”

“That does not seem to be the case. I was just about to report it, but both cardinals seem to have… fled.”

“Fled? Did you just say fled?”

“Yes… All the assets of their households have been liquidated, and even their families have all disappeared. It seems this can only be seen as them having fled…”

At that explanation, the pope’s complexion was filled with another kind of anger. What those words meant was that they had seen how things were going, given up everything, and fled. A strong sense of betrayal surged over him. He thought about how he had treated them, and wondered how they could do this.

“Capture them immediately! If you cannot capture them, you will have to take responsibility!”

“I-I will definitely find them.”

For the person who had to find the cardinals who had fled, it could only be an awkward situation. They had disappeared yesterday. And their last trace was that they had boarded an airship and crossed into another country. Looking at the destination, it was even to the south, and if they had headed for the Polia Kingdom, there would be no way to find them forever.

‘Should I run away too?’

“Everyone, keep your wits about you. With the events that have occurred this time, our Rat Religion can be said to have reached its greatest moment of crisis. So do not even think about fleeing or betraying us!”

At the pope’s words, everyone was answering, “Yes.” In that situation, there was suddenly a kwaang! explosion. At this, everyone had no choice but to fall flat in panic. At the same time, the feeling that it was starting again settled over them. It was surely one of the bombing attacks they had already experienced several times.

At that moment, their gazes caught sight of the pope, who had somehow hidden beneath the desk and was frozen stiff. Seeing that, they wondered whether it was truly fine to believe in that person. At the same time, they could not help feeling a defeatist thought that perhaps they really should apologize properly for this matter.

Before they knew it, everyone was growing exhausted by the Polia Kingdom’s retaliation.

October 10. This was the day Ian’s second wedding ceremony was held. There was a wedding ceremony with Princess Helena, and the place where it was held was the Hall of Kings. Of course, there were not that many people attending. Even all combined, it could be said there were not even around one hundred people.

Meanwhile, a guest also came from the Doicheun Empire, and it was the crown prince of the Doicheun Empire. Crown Prince Meteor di Doicheun. He was five years younger than Ian. However, unlike the emperor, he had an impression that looked rather delicate.

With an impression that made him seem like a scholar and even wearing glasses, he looked exactly like a teaching assistant. In any case, he exchanged greetings with the crown prince he was meeting for the first time, and he was someone he could communicate with fairly well. Amid that, they were able to safely hold the wedding ceremony.

On that day, she received the official title of First Consort Helena, and he was able to spend the first night with her. In truth, his first night with her was different from the one with Queen Adrina. Since it was not a relationship held while properly in love, it was impossible to have the same feelings as before.

Even so, Ian treated her as preciously as he could. Having thus come to have two women as wives, Ian still continued living as king. And when October 15 arrived, he went out for the first time in a while.

The place he headed to was the Zaila Research Complex. And the thing he faced the moment he entered the secret facility located there could be said to be the completely motionless body of a Holy Knight. This was an underground facility different from the place where the White Crystal existed, and it was a place prepared entirely to investigate the Holy Knight’s body.

“We will awaken the Holy Knight today, but what kind of reaction it will show is still unknown.”

“Dr. Billeor, what do you think? Do you think that man who will awaken already has a personality?”

“First of all, I expect that the personality of the person serving as the base will exist, but honestly, since we have not activated him yet, I do not know what kind of reaction he will show.”

“As expected, we have no choice but to wake him up to know.”

“For safety, how about Your Majesty goes somewhere else?”

“Haha, I’m fine. Isn’t there also a reliable guard standing beside me over there?”

Dr. Billeor, who saw Camyu standing nearby, nodded. Since there was a mana user who possessed military power reaching the level of an upper-tier Expert, no matter how much it was a Holy Knight, there was no way it would be a match. They already knew the approximate combat power of Holy Knights from the ones they had encountered before.

‘The existence called a Holy Knight has roughly the ability of a lower-tier Expert, so it is not Camyu’s opponent.’

Of course, what he trusted most was only his own ability. What he wholly believed in and relied on, not as a king, could be said to be his own Psychic Power no matter what. Thinking like that, Ian could not help looking forward to how it would react when it woke up.

“Then I will wake him up.”

Ian nodded at Dr. Billeor’s words, and everyone present here began directing their gazes toward the Holy Knight reflected in the small glass window. Amid this situation, they saw crackling electric shocks rise from a pointed metal rod installed on the ceiling. The electric shock, which lingered for a moment, began to pour out as it was.

Crackle—

The force of a small electric shock that poured down as though lightning had struck directly slammed into the Holy Knight’s body. They could see the body lurch violently. Perhaps the body that had fallen into suspended animation was waking up again as though being rebooted.

The body that had been lurching like that stopped, and they could see him open his eyes. Blue pupils shaped like a + were visible as they were. And he was blankly staring only at the ceiling. Seeing that, Ian said.

“For now, it seems he has no personality at all.”

“That appears to be the case. We will have to examine him a little more, but judging by his current state, it seems his personality has completely disappeared. There is probably a separate process for granting a personality in that state.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Granting a personality was something Ian himself was good at. Camyu nearby had originally possessed a different personality as well, but now a new personality that listened entirely only to his words was in place. Thinking that he should soon enter into Mental Manipulation, he threw a question at Dr. Billeor.

“More importantly, what did they say must be done to make a body like that?”

“The captured people are not talking, so I do not know the details, but if we look only at the materials, it seems human experimentation will be necessary in general.”

“You mean it can only be made by using people as test subjects?”

“Looking at the materials right now, it seems they prioritized finding someone with some kind of compatibility.”

“Hmm, condemned prisoners won’t be enough, then?”

Even now, according to his permission, human experimentation had begun to be carried out through hundreds of condemned prisoners. In that situation, in order to make something like the Holy Knight’s body, some unknown compatibility still seemed to be necessary, and it seemed they would only be able to confirm it through a large number of humans.

“More importantly, there is an interesting fact.”

“Interesting? What is interesting?”

“As befits the title Holy Knight, he uses a power, and that power appears to be called divine power.”

“Divine power? Is it truly divine power?”

“That does not seem to be the case. It seems they simply named it as they pleased. Even so, it seems to show a similar effect in that light settles over it like divine power. And it definitely seems to use the White Crystal as an energy source.”

“An energy source? Is there a White Crystal inside the body?”

“No. Looking at the materials we obtained, it seems there is an artificially created biological storage organ inside the human body. Through the power absorbed from the White Crystal, they imprint it, then newly process and store that power, and it seems to have even reached the level where it can directly generate it.”

“If that is true, then it means this is truly a method for cultivating superhumans?”

“Yes, that is corr—huh?”

At that moment, Dr. Billeor, who had been speaking, saw the being visible beyond the glass window turn his gaze toward them. It was a sight that seemed to contain no emotion at all. As he struggled to calm his startled heart at that sight, he saw the figure suddenly disappear.

“Huh? Where is he—”

Crack—!!

In an instant, the solid glass window was shattering as it was filled with cracks. The Holy Knight who had disappeared was breaking the glass window with his fist. Was it the moment he was about to break it and come in right away? The one who moved first was Camyu. As soon as Ian, whom he was trying to protect, was threatened, he automatically judged him as hostile and moved.

Bang!

He rushed forward as he kicked him. Along with that, the Holy Knight’s body was sent flying backward and struck the wall with a thud. Amid that sight, Camyu could be seen passing through the broken glass window and entering the spacious room as he was.

Seeing that, the people nearby could only then come back to their senses. It could be said that because it had happened so suddenly, none of them had been able to respond properly.

“Your Majesty! It is dangerous. You must quickly escape somewhere else—”

“That’s enough. Looking at this, he will be subdued immediately.”

Just as he said, Camyu could be seen pushing him back overwhelmingly. He was certainly no match for him in terms of strength. He was already several times stronger than before, and in reality, while staying near Ian, he was growing stronger in real time along with Ian as he grew stronger.

‘Certainly, there should be no defects in him. So I need to subdue him quickly.’

Because it seemed he might be injured if this continued any longer, Ian used psychokinesis to compress his body as it was. The Holy Knight could not budge even slightly at once. Even when he tried to move, he only struggled faintly.

Meanwhile, Camyu, who had been carrying out the suppression, could be seen flinching and stopping when his master Ian used his power. To others, it would probably look as though he had been subdued by Camyu and could not budge.

‘Shall I try mental suppression first?’

He entered Mental Manipulation as it was with a shiver. In an instant, something like an illusion appeared inside his head. It seemed to be traces of memories the body had possessed while alive. It was an ordinary childhood, and at the same time, he seemed to have dreamed of becoming a theater actor.

Starting from his teens, he had spent nearly ten years as close to an unknown, so while living a lonely life after becoming independent, he seemed to have unluckily been caught by an organization member of the Rat Religion and captured as a test subject.

‘So he had compatibility and was cultivated as a Holy Knight. His name is Midran? Hmm, as a commemoration of becoming my new subordinate, I’ll let him use his name as it is.’

Like that, Ian began completely suppressing his mind. Of course, there was also quite a bit of resistance. Some unknown power was resisting strongly. However, before Ian’s overwhelming mental strength, it merely disappeared helplessly. In an instant, Midran had become Ian’s.

‘It’s done now. Shall I do the rest slowly?’

He decided to try things like Physical Enhancement later, and for now, he intended to confirm that he had been properly subdued.【Rise.】At Ian’s absolute command, Midran could be seen smoothly rising from where he had fallen. At this, the people nearby flinched and hurriedly drew their pistols.

“There seems to be no need for that.”

“Yes? But Your Majesty… it is dangerous… huh?”

Mardin, the secretary, spoke while showing concern, but soon became flustered when he saw Midran kneeling on one knee and taking a posture of obedience. His expression showed that he did not understand what was going on, and at that sight, Ian shrugged and said.

“He must have lost to Camyu and decided to obey me.”

Naturally, it was something that made no sense, but since Ian, the king, said so, no one could say anything about such a situation. As expected, in one way or another, Ian thought it was convenient to be king for this reason. After all, his subjects had to believe it as true even if it was fake, as long as he said it.