I Became the Dark Knight in the Game World - Chapter 22

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

◈ I Became the Dark Knight in the Game World ◈

Chapter 22: This Order Needs a Great Warrior (4)

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The mirror was pristine, without the slightest distortion.

It reflected a knight clad in fine armor, black with gold accents.

Fine though it was, it was not the neat, ornamental kind. The twisted horns winding across it and the spikes protruding from the gauntlets suggested that this armor had been forged for battle.

The black armor possessed the refinement of a weapon of war, an intensely intimidating presence, and steadfast protection.

I imagined weapons to go with the figure. A blackened greatsword. Or the Horn Dagger, fashioned from a Bicorn horn and carrying a somewhat sinister aura.

Or perhaps a Demon Sword, its ash-gray blade overlaid with a blue glow.

No matter which weapon I added, it did not give the impression of someone on the side of justice. I would probably make a better first impression if I took off all this armor and walked around in ordinary clothes.

[Master. Fine clothes.]

Hmm.

I was doomed. Anyone would take one look and know I was a Dark Knight.

"Uh, Kriel?"

Morgina approached with unusual hesitation. She held what looked like a piece of black cloth.

"That... is a cloak we give to the holy knights of our order."

Already half resigned, I obediently accepted the cloak.

[Aha. Since she's the crow goddess, even the cloak is black!]

The hem was not cut in a neat, straight line. Perhaps meant to resemble feathers, it ended in pointed diagonal edges with a wild feel to them. Black armor and a black cloak.

Now it would probably look as though shadows rippled with every step I took.

I gave the impression that passing Monsters would bow their heads, while gatekeepers in every city I entered would come out and fight for their lives.

I could pass for a mid-boss from the Abyss faction in Tirnanog RPG. The typical Dark Knight Demonkin, perhaps.

"...Can I return it?"

"Just wait a moment. I didn't expect it to turn out like this either."

Morgina sounded flustered as well. Hadn't she made it herself?

"Damn it. I was half out of my mind while making it, so the design..."

I decided to take off the armor for now. The weight was so well balanced that it did not feel heavy at all, and it was as comfortable as armor could be.

But still.

[Wise choice, friend! I don't think wearing that around the temple is a good idea!]

As Orisin said, if decent workers engaged in Abyss extermination saw me in this armor, disaster would likely follow.

Even Morgina seemed unable to get angry at Orisin's taunting this time. She only held her forehead and lowered her head.

As I removed the armor with a clatter, Morgina began picking up the helmet, gauntlets, and other pieces.

"Hey. Put it back on."

"Was one of the plate joints misaligned?"

"Not that. Just put it back on first."

I put the armor back on. With a sigh, Morgina lightly tapped each part of it with her hand.

It was a kind of laying on of hands. Normally, it was a ritual in which a priest touched a believer near the head while praying, but this was meant to bestow a blessing upon the entire suit of armor.

She began with the helmet. Morgina straightened her legs and raised her arms to touch its crown. As Divine Power entered the armor, I felt a strange pressure.

Next came my shoulder. Oddly, I could feel the warmth of her hand through the plate armor.

That strange warmth remained like lingering heat even after her fingertips left. Morgina continued laying her hands over each part of the armor. My arms, chest, waist, thighs, all the way down to my feet.

After Morgina's hands had passed over every part of the black armor...

"...I can't make anything better than this anyway. Eve Kaha, please proceed!"

"Proceed with what?"

Morgina closed her eyes and brought both hands together before her chest. With the backs of her hands facing forward, she crossed her thumbs. The shape of her remaining fingers spread outward somehow resembled a bird's wings.

At that moment, red light spread from the armor and cloak. When it finally faded, I felt strangely lighter.

The same was true of my vision. The restricted field of view caused by the helmet opened up completely. The armor I had been wearing moments ago had vanished.

[...No. The goddess answers when you pray like that? What is this?]

At Orisin's muttering, Morgina briskly passed the puzzled horse head and came around behind me.

"Sit down. You're too tall, so it's hard to fix your cloak."

I pulled over a chair near the mirror and sat down. Morgina knelt and calmly began straightening my clothes, starting from the hem of the cloak. It felt oddly ticklish. Her fingertips brushed over my cloak-covered back.

Her movements were different from simply smoothing it down at random. There was a strange formal beauty to them, as though this was the sacred sign of the Church of Eve Kaha.

Once she stood, Morgina reached over my shoulders and fastened the cloak again.

Unlike usual, she had set aside all playfulness and unnecessary emotion. I instinctively understood that this was not ordinary dressing, but part of a ritual with some deeper meaning.

"There, finished!"

"What happened to the armor from before?"

"It's stored inside the cloak. You can take it out whenever you need it."

Morgina explained that it was a special function of armor given to a Champion. The Black Wing Cloak, shaped after the wings of the crow goddess, borrowed the shadow of the goddess's wings and stored the armor within it.

"Just so you know, it only works with items made by our order. You can't use it as some all-purpose warehouse to store anything you want. The armor is all it can hold."

"Remarkable. Something like this is possible?"

"You could call it a power meant only for a Champion. Want to formally join the order?"

I smiled and was about to shake my head, but then I recalled the appearance of the armor that had disappeared.

"...But can't you alter how the armor looks?"

Morgina avoided my eyes.

"Morgina."

"When creating sacred equipment, the creator's mental image is reflected in it. I imagined what would suit you best, and... even if I made it again several times, it would probably turn out similarly."

"If that's the case."

I quickly accepted the situation. Thinking it over, I had just received fine armor that would be hard to obtain even if I had money. To get armor of similar quality, I would have to seek out dwarf craftsmen.

I could not throw away such precious armor just because I disliked the design.

"I'll put it to good use."

"Huh? Sure. I mean, a Saintess is supposed to provide all the equipment for the Champion she appoints. I should make you a weapon too, but you have that horse head for now."

[Oh. Then can I enter that mysterious extra-dimensional space inside the cloak too?]

"No. You're tainted by the Abyss. How dare you dirty the goddess's wings?"

[How petty!]

As Morgina bantered with Orisin, she quietly clicked her tongue as though she had remembered something.

"I should tell you how to take it out. You're wearing the Champion's necklace, right?"

I lifted the crow ornament hanging around my neck to show her. Morgina smiled with satisfaction. Since Morgina had fastened my cloak, even stronger Divine Power had been flowing within the Champion's necklace.

No. This was not Divine Power contained in the necklace.

"Oh. Your observation skills are good, as expected. You can access the extra-dimensional space through the necklace. Focus on the item you want and channel Fighting Energy into it. Then it'll come out."

As a test, I targeted the right gauntlet and channeled Fighting Energy into it. The next moment, with a red flash, an ink-black gauntlet covered my right hand.

"That's amazing!"

I could not help but exclaim at the function. From the outside, it was practically a transformation!

It reminded me of the heroes from television shows on Earth. I practiced summoning only certain parts of the armor, then finally summoned the entire suit at once.

A red flash swept through the room. Feeling the reassuring weight of the armor wrapping around my entire body, I turned in a circle.

That was when I met my own gaze in the mirror.

"......"

[Kriel. Can I say just one thing?]

"No."

[Honestly, didn't that just look like a Demon of the Abyss that had been hiding its identity revealing its true form?]

I closed my mouth.

[It's fine, Master. I think it looks cool.]

Tuon's voice was devastating.

* * *

Morgina finally saw Kriel off. She wanted to join his journey to the Empire in search of a cure for that horse head, but she had come to the headquarters for a reason and could not leave right away.

"All right, Grandma. Why did you call me?"

The Head of the Order closed her eyes before Morgina. Where should she begin?

"Our order has always been the first to sense the Abyss's movements. Wherever they appear, war is sure to follow, and war brings death in turn."

"Damn it, it really was something serious."

"It is also related to the mission you carried out at the Priest-King's request."

The Head of the Order read the signs in the heavens. The Abyss's constellation was stirring. Behind the reappearance of the Seven Demon Weapons, which had disappeared for so long, the six Archdemons were surely at work.

"Given how things have turned out, I had intended to tell you to appoint a Champion as soon as possible."

Morgina looked at the Head of the Order with a strangely sulky expression. The Head of the Order brushed aside that look with a laugh.

"That matter seems to have been resolved, so we should move on to the next topic."

The Head of the Order's gaze turned east. She was not looking out the window, but farther beyond it, toward the Empire in the east.

Footnotes:

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