Future Knight

Chapter 133

Kang Chan was immersed in deep thoughts as he gazed at the nearly completed Red Mars ship with Zikyon. Arteon, who approached him from behind, spoke to Kang Chan.

“The battleship looks very different from before.”

“Yes, it has changed quite a bit.”

The giant hull of the Red Mars ship, reflected in the evening glow, turned golden, making it look like the legendary ark of the gods.

“So, you’re going to fight the enemy with this?”

“Yes, Master.”

“……”

Elradian didn’t seem to welcome the idea of fighting the invaders with the killing machines they had created.

“Now that we have weapons to counter the enemy, all that’s left is to engage in battle.”

“Yes, Master.”

It was clear as day how fierce the war would be.

Of course, there was no guarantee of victory. However, even if the battle seemed hopeless, they had to fight and win. This was the only way to return this continent, which had fallen into the invaders’ hands, to its rightful owners.

This was a promise he had made to the deceased Jaina, and it was the only thing he could do for her.

As Kang Chan thought of Jaina, another person came to mind.

‘How is Platina doing?’

“Zikyon.”

“Huh, what?”

“I’m going out for a bit.”

“Where are you going? I’ll come with you.”

“Sorry, I need to go alone.”

“Are you going to see that child?”

When Kang Chan silently nodded, Zikyon shrugged her shoulders.

“Then it can’t be helped. I’ll keep watch here, so go quickly and return.”

“Thank you, Zikyon.”

Without looking back, Kang Chan used the spatial movement magic circle to head toward the Elven village in Rakasa.

It had been a month since he last visited her.

With Zikyon’s help, Platina had taken on the form of an elf, but as a Green Elf, she couldn’t live among the other elves. Thus, she lived alone by the waterfall on the outskirts of the village.

That place resembled the spot where Kang Chan and Jaina had secretly trained together long ago.

Rushing to the waterfall, Kang Chan found the familiar face of an elf woman sitting in front of the waterfall, washing vegetables and fruits.

Seeing her again made a corner of his heart ache.

It was a sight he would never tire of, no matter how many hundreds or thousands of times he saw it.

‘Jaina…….’

Of course, she wasn’t Jaina, but Platina.

He knew well how selfish it was to chase after old memories while looking at her. But he couldn’t help it.

To Kang Chan, Jaina was someone he could neither forget nor erase.

“Ahem! Ahem!”

Startled by his presence, she turned around quickly.

“Kang Chan-nim!”

With her hands wet, she greeted him warmly, while the fruit she had been washing floated away in the stream.

Soon, Kang Chan’s figure flickered, and in no time, he had the drifting fruit in his hand.

Platina stared at him with wide eyes, amazed.

She knew he was a Sword Master, a supreme being, but this was the first time she had seen his inhuman movements.

“Oh! Look at me… I’m sorry.”

“Here.”

“Thank you.”

Blushing, Platina took the fruit from Kang Chan.

Her shy smile made Kang Chan’s heart pound so intensely that he felt dizzy.

It was as if he had returned to the time when he had shared love with Jaina at the waterfall.

However, he didn’t show it. He knew well that it would only hurt her.

“It’s been a month since I last saw you.”

“Yes, indeed.”

Having not properly washed for four days while traveling across the continent, Kang Chan, seeing the refreshing waterfall, wanted to take a bath.

Startling Platina, who turned her head in surprise, he suddenly took off his shirt.

“Oh my!”

Platina tried hard to hide her blushing face, while Kang Chan, turning his back to her, began to wash himself in the waterfall.

As his smooth, porcelain-like muscles gleamed under the waterfall, Platina swallowed dryly at the sight of his wild figure.

“Have you been very busy all this time?”

“……”

“Did you have dinner?”

“No.”

“Then let’s eat together. I was about to eat too.”

“Alright.”

At Kang Chan’s words, she smiled happily and hurried home, carrying the washed fruits and vegetables in her arms.

Watching her retreating figure with sad eyes, Kang Chan blamed himself inwardly.

‘This isn’t right…’

He repeatedly resolved not to become attached to her, but he couldn’t help himself when he stood in front of her.

After finishing his shower, Kang Chan sat across from Platina at the table.

Being a Green Elf, her food was no different from that of other elves. The table was covered with greens and fruits. However, Kang Chan didn’t mind. He was very familiar with the elven diet.

“Try this.”

She offered him a gratin made with pineapple and cheese, holding it out to him with a fork.

But Kang Chan refused to eat the food she offered, his expression stern.

“I’ll eat it myself.”

“Okay…”

Platina’s face fell at his cold words, and she sipped her lemonade, looking dejected. Kang Chan cleared his throat and spoke to her.

“Ahem! Ahem! So, are you comfortable living here?”

“Comfortable? No, not at all. This is the most beautiful and bountiful place I’ve ever seen.”

Though not as rich as the Elven Forest, the forest of Rakasa was one of the most fertile on the continent.

To someone who had lived in the barren Iceland, it was like paradise.

“This is a wonderful place. It’s incomparable to the Iceland where I was born… How happy I would be if I could raise children and spend my life with a loved one in a place like this.”

Kang Chan felt his heart tear at Platina’s words.

Her wish was the same as the one he had desperately hoped for in the past.

With Jaina…

Seeing Kang Chan’s sorrowful gaze, Platina met his eyes without flinching.

Even if he was seeing another woman in her, it was her who was right in front of him now.

Moreover, the woman he was looking for was no longer in this world. She wasn’t someone to be jealous of.

Platina didn’t mind if she was a substitute for the deceased woman.

She just wanted to be by Kang Chan’s side for the rest of her life.

After a while of silently staring at each other, they broke the awkward silence and resumed eating.

During the meal, Kang Chan, in a slightly softer tone than before, asked her a question.

“You were born and raised in Iceland?”

“Yes, I lived there for about 300 years.”

“……”

Kang Chan was a bit surprised to learn that she was over 300 years old.

She was older than he had thought.

‘So, it’s not that Platina resembles Jaina, but rather Jaina resembles Platina?’

Without showing any reaction to this realization, Kang Chan calmly moved on to the next question.

“I heard Iceland is a forsaken land. Is it really that hard to live there?”

When Kang Chan asked if it was hard to live there, Platina looked out the window and sighed before speaking slowly.

“It’s somewhat livable now, but when I was born, it was an extremely harsh place.”

“Because of the cold?”

“The cold is indeed severe. Iceland is a land where ice doesn’t melt all year round. But what was even harder to bear was the hunger. For a species like us who can’t eat meat, the only things we could eat there were moss on cave rocks or seaweed from the cold ocean.”

“So you survived only on moss and seaweed?”

“No, of course not. When we first subsisted on moss and seaweed, countless siblings died. They froze to death, starved to death…”

Platina’s face was filled with sorrow as if she had returned to that time.

“My younger brother also couldn’t survive that period. We called it the March of Hardship.”

“Oh…”

Her eyes reddened at the memory, but she forced a smile as she continued.

“Then we discovered it.”

“Discovered what?”

“Have you ever heard of a mushroom that grows on ice, Kang Chan?”

“A mushroom that grows on ice?”

“Yes, a mushroom that only grows on ice. We call it the Ice Mushroom.”

“So you thrived by eating that mushroom?”

“Yes, it’s delicious and nutritious. We Green Elves cultivate Ice Mushrooms extensively on the vast glacial plains. They require little care and grow quickly, providing enough food for the millions of us. But many monsters covet the Ice Mushrooms, and Ice Trolls frequently invade our farms. It was a constant struggle to fend them off… Well, thanks to that, we all became excellent warriors.”
Platina, having found someone to talk to after a long time, chattered on and on about her hometown without taking a break.

Although she had followed Kang Chan, leaving her own kind behind, the nostalgia for her homeland was something she couldn’t easily forget, no matter how determined she was.

As Kang Chan watched Platina excitedly talk, he once again thought of Jaina.

Her nonstop chatter reminded him so much of the talkative Jaina.

Seeing her like this, Kang Chan inadvertently smiled, and Platina, seeing his smile, also beamed happily.

However, when Platina mentioned Green’s name, Kang Chan’s expression instantly turned deadly serious.

“……”

“Wh-Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?”

Platina, unaware that Green was the one who killed Jaina, was confused by Kang Chan’s sudden change in demeanor.

Looking at her, Kang Chan carefully asked a question.

“Do you know much about that woman named Green’s past?”

“Of course, I do. She is the mother of us all.”

Kang Chan wanted to take this opportunity to learn about Green’s past.

He wanted to understand why the wretched woman who killed Jaina had started the continental war.

“Tell me about her past…”

“Do you want to hear about our mother?”

“Yes.”

To the Green Elves, Green was like a god, and her history and ideology were like a religion to them. There was no way Platina wouldn’t know about Green’s past.

“Where should I start?”

“From the beginning.”

“It’s a long story, are you sure you want to hear it?”

“I don’t mind.”

Hearing that, Platina cleared the dishes from the table and brought out some tea. The story seemed like it would take a while.

Platina began her tale with the hope that Kang Chan would understand their situation even a little.

“It was about 500 years ago that our mother was born in this land.”

After that, she told Kang Chan all about Green’s past in detail, and Kang Chan listened earnestly. The night deepened as he heard everything about Green.

He felt nothing.

Just emptiness.

No matter how tragic her childhood had been, it didn’t justify her killing Jaina.

Platina looked at Kang Chan with desperate eyes, hoping he would understand their race’s situation even a little.

However, Kang Chan’s thoughts were quite the opposite.

‘You were unhappy, so you made others unhappy? You’re not the only one with a tragic past.’

Hearing about Green’s tragic past only fueled his desire for revenge.

Kang Chan, who had lived a more miserable life than anyone else, had never thought of taking revenge on the world. In fact, he was more afraid of hurting others because he knew the pain of being wounded.

But Green was different.

She inflicted her pain on others without a second thought.

Without realizing that revenge begets more revenge…

She had become a henchman for the invaders from Earth.

Oddly enough, Kang Chan felt relieved.

Now he could destroy both of them at once.

Venzler, who had been lying naked next to Edelene, suddenly got up as if something had come to mind and poured himself a glass of the finest whiskey.

Edelene, who had been woken by his movement, buried her face in her pillow and asked,

“Hmm, aren’t you sleeping?”

“I have something to think about. Go to sleep.”

Having spent three years mingling with Venzler, Edelene had become his woman.

Living together with him had become a routine.

She had also adapted to her given environment.

Venzler pulled the blanket back over Edelene’s chest and got up to stand by the terrace.

He then fell into deep thought again.

Everything had been going smoothly.

According to his plan, this planet was now his, and nothing could hinder them.

Yet, something felt uneasy.

The fact that the dragons had vanished since that day and had been silent for three years like a dead mouse was suspicious, and the fact that royals and knights from various kingdoms had quietly disappeared without any resistance was also suspicious.

It was as if they were waiting for something…

‘What could it be? What are they plotting?’

Instinctively, something was bothering him.

No matter what schemes they had, there was nothing they could do, but still, something felt off.