Future Knight

Chapter 123

* * *

The next day.

Britina woke up to find Loki staring intently at her.

“Wh-where am I? My…”

“Yes! You’re at your place.”

“My barracks? How did I get here…?”

“I brought you here yesterday.”

“You brought me? By yourself?”

“Yes.”

Among the Allied Forces, only Loki could have managed to carry her alone, as she weighed nearly 250 kilograms.

Thinking about the previous night’s events, Britina touched her wounds.

The injuries she sustained last night were miraculously healed.

“What? How did my wounds…?”

Britina looked at Loki in astonishment, and a beautiful woman’s voice reached her ears.

“Where did you pick up this strange thing to bother me again?”

“I didn’t pick her up! Britina is my friend!”

Loki, who was usually calm, retorted angrily, causing Zikyon to wave her hand dismissively.

“Oh, is that so? You certainly have interesting friends.”

Britina looked at the woman conversing with Loki.

She was unbelievably beautiful and wore an arrogant expression. Recognizing her at a glance, Britina quickly stood up and greeted her respectfully.

“A follower of Paiones! I-I greet you, Priestess!”

Still believing Zikyon to be a priestess, Britina, as a devout follower of the Paiones religion, showed her utmost respect.

However, Zikyon, who had long abandoned her priestess role, ignored her and left the barracks.

“Entertain yourselves. I’m busy.”

Preparing for something with Kang Chan, she had been incredibly busy lately. After treating Britina’s wounds, she departed like the wind.

After Zikyon left, Britina urgently called Loki.

“Hey! What’s your relationship with the priestess?”

“We’re friends.”

“Friends with the priestess?”

“Yes.”

“How can you be friends with the priestess?”

Britina looked at Loki with eyes full of envy upon hearing he was friends with the priestess.

Feeling uncomfortable under her gaze, Loki changed the subject.

“Are you hungry? Want something to eat?”

“Uh… I’m a bit hungry.”

“Wait a moment.”

Loki brought out a giant bowl of mushroom soup and a heap of cornbread, enough to feed ten normal people.

But she, who needed to eat that much, felt more comfortable than embarrassed.

Loki, an ogre, would eat several times more than her, after all.

“Did you eat?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Thanks. I’ll eat well.”

As she started eating, Loki watched her with a smile.

Feeling Loki’s gaze, Britina blushed and spoke.

“Why are you looking at me like that…?”

“Because you’re pretty.”

“Pfft! Cough! Cough! What?”

Having lived a life far removed from being called pretty, Britina was shocked by Loki’s words and started coughing.

“P-pretty? Me?”

“Yes.”

“What’s pretty about me…”

Despite her lack of confidence and downcast expression, Loki confidently replied.

“You look cute when you eat.”

“Pfft! Cough! Cough!”

Britina’s face turned red like a beet.

She knew that Loki wasn’t human, but it was the first time she had ever been called cute.

Moreover, Loki currently looked like a lovely young boy rather than a hideous ogre, which made her even more flustered.

“T-thank you.”

“Thank you? I’m the one who should be grateful.”

“Wh-what?”

“You protected me last night.”

“Thank you, but it’s only natural as a knight. Besides, you saved me.”

The two smiled at each other for a moment in silence.

“Hey, you know…”

“What?”

“I’ve started to like you, Britina.”

“W-what!?”

Britina was taken aback again, staring at Loki. It was the first time in her life that she had received a confession of love from the opposite sex.

Moreover, the fact that her suitor was an ogre made her even more flustered.

“If you say it so suddenly, it makes me feel awkward.”

“Sorry, but since last night, I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Loki didn’t know how to sugarcoat his feelings. His words were filled with genuine sincerity, and his straightforward ogre nature meant there was no turning back.

However, Britina, being human, didn’t know how to handle her feelings for Loki, an ogre.

“But I’m human… and you’re an ogre…”

Despite her lifelong lack of experience with men due to her gigantism, falling in love with an ogre disguised as a human was somewhat unsettling.

Yet, she couldn’t deny the fluttering excitement in her chest.

Once again, silence settled between them.

In the awkward atmosphere that couldn’t be expressed in words, they swallowed dryly.

After a while, Loki spoke in a despondent tone.

“Of course, right? Because I’m an ogre…”

Seeing Loki’s forced smile, Britina’s heart ached. Despite him being an ogre, she could feel the sincerity in his sad eyes.

Loki’s eyes conveyed purer and clearer emotions than any human she had ever seen.

Britina didn’t dislike Loki for being an ogre.

After thinking for a moment, she finally spoke.

“Then promise me.”

“What?”

“Promise you’ll love only me forever.”

Loki’s previously gloomy face lit up with a joyful smile at Britina’s words.

“Yes! I promise.”

When Britina opened her arms toward Loki, he climbed onto the bed and embraced her.

“Really! Really! I love you, Britina!”

“Yes, me too…”

The two shared their warmth for a moment, holding each other tightly.

As they whispered sweet nothings to each other late into the evening, Britina cautiously asked Loki.

She had always assumed Loki was a subordinate of the Duke of Sachsen, but suddenly she became curious about his relationship with the Duke.

“So, what’s your relationship with Duke Sachsen?”

“Duke Sachsen is my father’s sworn brother.”

“W-what? Sworn brother? With your father?”

“Yes.”

“…”

The thought of the continent’s most influential figure, Duke Sachsen, being a sworn brother with Loki’s father left Britina deeply curious about Loki’s father.

“What does your father do?”

“I’ve only heard stories, but they say he was once a duke of the Visman Empire alongside Duke Sachsen.”

“A duke?”

Britina’s face turned pale at Loki’s words.

Currently, Duke Sachsen was the only duke in the Visman Empire, and in the past, there was only one person who had been a duke of the Visman Empire with him, someone every knight knew.

He was the legendary swordsman, Kalitz Garman, still revered as the continent’s greatest knight.

‘Oh my god, this can’t be true…’

If it was true, then Loki was the adopted son of Kalitz Garman.

But why would a duke of the empire adopt an ogre like Loki?

Ogres weren’t just ordinary pets.

However, knowing that Loki would never lie to her, Britina decided to listen to him until the end.

“Then how did you meet him?”

“Do you want to hear about my father and me?”

“Yes, I do.”

Britina was the first person, apart from Kang Chan and his group, to show interest in his past, so Loki happily began to tell her about his life.

He spoke of the beloved father who raised him as his own child after finding him abandoned in the forest.

### 41. The Unfinished War

Another month passed, and the Dark Elves and Green Elves abandoned their last line of defense and disappeared.

They had returned to where they had originally come from.

The Allied Forces, who entered the now-empty Kingdom of Kermel, couldn’t hide their disappointment.

They were still troubled by the fact that they hadn’t completely eradicated the parasitic beings. With their parasitic reproduction and survival skills, they could regain strength and threaten the continent again.

Thus, the Allied Forces wanted to pursue them to the end.

However, both races lived in places that were difficult for the Allied Forces to reach, making pursuit not easy.

They had rooted themselves in the underground world, where finding a ray of light was difficult, and in the harsh cold of Iceland, which blew fiercely all year round.

Going to such places to wage war was like jumping into a fire pit drenched in oil.

Therefore, the Allied Forces had to be content with their immediate victory and chose to return to their respective kingdoms.

As they left, they vowed to become strong enough to prevent the invaders from ever threatening the continent again.

As the armies dispatched from each kingdom began to leave one by one, the Visman Empire, which had been the backbone of the Allied Forces, also began to withdraw.

Among the long line of returning troops was Loki. He was leaving for the Visman Empire, as promised, following Duke Sachsen.

Kang Chan bid farewell to Loki.

“Loki, take care.”

“…”

Loki hesitated, unable to move.

“Why are you hesitating? You even have a pretty girlfriend now. Be happy.”

At Kang Chan’s words, both Loki and Britina blushed.

Britina had also decided to go to the Visman Empire with Loki.

All the arrangements for her had been taken care of by Duke Sachsen. Her naturalization was a welcome event for him as well.

Who wouldn’t be pleased to acquire a strategic weapon that other kingdoms prided themselves on, free of charge?

The Silverline Republic, having invested heavily in her, didn’t want to hand her over to the Visman Empire. However, they had no choice but to bow before the world’s strongest nation.

Indeed, a country needed power to hold its ground.

With a bright smile, Kang Chan bid farewell to Loki. But as Loki disappeared into the distance, his expression darkened again.

“Let’s go, Zikyon.”

“Alright.”

“Oh, wait. I need to stop by the barracks.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’ll just take a moment.”

Kang Chan hurried to the barracks with Zikyon.

He had an important matter to settle.

It was regarding the green elf, Platina. The war had ended, and all the green elves had left for their cursed continent. She needed to be returned to her kin.

There was no place on this continent where she, with her green skin, could belong.

When Kang Chan entered his barracks, Platina and Erika were in the middle of a meal.

“Oh, you’re here?”

Though the two were living together, not quite as roommates, Erika had unexpectedly taken care of Platina in Kang Chan’s absence.

Only Erika knew why she took care of Platina, the green elf she once despised. Perhaps she wanted to atone for the wrongs she had done to Jaina in the past through Platina.

“Kang Chan, it’s been a while.”

Erika greeted him warmly, and Kang Chan nodded in response.

“Have you eaten?”

“Yes, I have. Don’t mind me, just finish your meal.”

Kang Chan leaned against his bed, waiting for them to finish eating.

After finishing her meal, Erika gathered the empty dishes and left the room. Kang Chan then spoke to Platina.

“Your kin have all returned to Iceland. Did you know that?”