Excalibur Chronicle of Raidorl - Chapter 230: Knights of Death

Kingdom of Athena. The royal capital.

Once the most prosperous city on the western edge of the continent, it has turned into a hell where countless dead people roam.

All the people who once lived in the city are now undead and roam the streets in a daze.

Men and women. Old people and children. All are equal before Osman. As if it were the phenomenon of ‘death’ itself, they are all immortals in fairness.

In the royal castle in the centre of the city sits the witch of the 『earth』 and queen of the underworld – Osman.

And…..the greatest wall protecting Osman, the 『Four Knights of the Apocalypse』, one of which was a man standing on top of the walls surrounding the royal city.

“………….”

Wearing a sword on his armoured waist, the man stared at the eastern sky.

The time is midnight. The area is closed off by a shroud of darkness. But……the man’s gaze is sharp. It is as if he sees beyond the darkness to an unknown enemy.

The man’s name is Zansha.

He is a close associate of the witch Osman. He is the 『Four Knights of the Apocalypse』 who govern 『Death』.

“….they’re coming.”

Zansha opens his mouth slowly.

A normal person would not be able to recognise it, but a tingling scent of iron rust hits the nose, mixed with the smell of death that the……undead give off.

The smell of weapons. The smell of blood. The killing intent emitted by the oncoming enemy…….It is a sign of war that could only be sensed by Zansha, who stood on the battlefield many times before his death and continues to fight as a knight of the witch Osman even after his death.

“Ruluve, Wilfred…..apparently the opportunity to avenge you two has arrived.”

The names of those who were also members of the 『Four Knights of the Apocalypse』 came out of the normally from Zansha’s mouth. They were the names of the compatriots who went east in pursuit of Mistilteinn, the Holy Sword of Water, and were beaten back.

They were not close friends. They were not flattering as friends or associates. They even fought over the favour of their masters.

Nevertheless……they were comrades-in-arms who fought under the same banner. When he thought of their deaths, he felt a gaping emptiness open up in his chest.

Zansha is a warrior.

Before his death, when he was still a man, he was a knight in the service of a kingdom.

He was trusted by the royal family and saved his country many times as a knight of the kingdom. Many people placed their hopes and trust in him and he believed that the meaning of his life was to live up to their expectations.

But……these glorious days come to an abrupt end.

His lord to whom he had sworn his allegiance with all his heart dies of illness and a young prince becomes king.

The new king was young, immature…and stupid.

Even his father, the previous king, had half given up on him and thought that he should be stripped of his right to the throne and let his younger brothers take over.

Zansha thinks. That the king should have taken away the right to the throne earlier. If he had done so, such a tragedy would not have happened.

“『I am the new king! A king needs a queen!』”

The first thing the new king did was to gather beautiful princesses from all over the country to create an Inner palace.

Even though the country had a monogamy system, the greedy king wanted to twist it and take many women as wives.

Of course, many opposed this. Some of them tried to abolish the new king by using his younger brother and other necessary means.

But…… the new king was cunning despite being stupid.

He had his brother and his followers accused of treason and executed them in the blink of an eye.

It would have been better if he had been truly incompetent, but the new king has been surprisingly powerful only in fulfilling his own desires.

“『Now there are no more obstacles in my way! Because I’ve killed everyone who crossed me!』”

The new king, who had killed all the other royalty, reigned a lustful reign with a goofy smile on his face. He gathered beautiful women from all over the country and built a huge inner palace.

The construction and maintenance of the palace, with its 1,000 beautiful princesses, cost a terrible amount of money and put pressure on the state’s finances. Heavy taxes were imposed on the population and many villagers were forced to leave their homes, unable to make a living.

But what was more important to…..Zan-sha was that among the beautiful princesses the new king had gathered in his palace was his own wife. The new king had no mercy on even the wives of his own vassals, whom he wanted to take for himself.

“『Your Majesty……please,please give me back my wife……!』”

Zansha begged the king in desperation. He even threw away his knightly pride, crawled on the ground and smeared his forehead with dirt.

It would have been better if he had taken back his stolen wife by force, but Zansha, who was a loyal knight to all intents and purposes, had no other way to get her back than to beg.

“『Alright, Fine…… Instead, there are conditions.』”

The new king, perhaps fed up with Zansha’s persistent requests, presented his conditions in a depressing manner.

The new king wanted Zansha to destroy the major powers that were around the country at the time. It was a difficult task that would not have been easy, even with Zansha’s bravery.

But…..Zansha would faithfully carry it out. Using the connections he had built up as a knight, he used every trick in the book to carry out the royal decree.

The new king who ordered it did not expect it. He never thought he would actually achieve it.

But Zansha managed to do it. While remaining loyal as a knight, he fulfilled the conditions for recovering his wife, who had been stolen from him by the king.

And the reward for Zansha’s bravery was……the bones and ashes of the woman who was once his wife.

When he returned to his kingdom after destroying a neighbouring kingdom, his wife was already dead.

“『I have returned the woman as I promised! I have not broken my oath!』”

“『…….』”

Zansha did not hear the new king’s words, which were hurled at him as an excuse.

He later learnt that the king, who was unwilling to return the…..woman, had forcibly humiliated his wife. The wife, who was being used for her husband power, was so ashamed of herself for being defiled that she committed suicide by cutting her own neck with a blade.

Zansha’s loyalty, which he had tried to carry through to the end, was trampled on and he was covered in mud.

He has no memory of what happened next. When he came to his senses, Zansha was standing alone in a burnt-out field.

“『…….?』”

There are no buildings around.

No, the wreckage of what would once have been buildings lies in countless numbers.

Crushed, burnt and destroyed…..the place where the capital would once have existed is a burnt expanse of land.

In Zansha’s right hand is a sword. It is no ordinary sword, radiating an amazing sense of intimidation. It must have been a magical sword with tremendous power.

“『Ki………Aa…….』”

“『Osman-sama says, 『Have you had your fill, my new knight?』”

Someone called out to him.

They were a beautiful woman with chestnut hair and a wrinkled old man.

“『You guys are…….?』”

“『What a fool you are. You have been given a magic sword by  Osman-sama and you are unworthy of it.』”

“『Osman… magic sword…?』”

A bewildered Zansa suddenly realised.

That he has made a contract with one of the 『The Six Witches of Doom』 – the witch Osman, and has become one of the 『Four Horsemen of Apocalypse』.

He doesn’t remember what she asked him to do. Nor do he remember what he responded with.

What remains clear is the grip of the magic sword in his right hand.

All that remains is the feeling of the hand that slaughtered the king to whom he had sworn allegiance and destroyed the homeland that he should have loved.

Thus, Zansha became an apostle of the Witches.

He became a pawn of the witches, who wished to abolish humanity and helped them by killing dozens of people to turn them into undead.

A man who should have been a noble and loyal knight now walk as a knight on the path of depravity and ruin

‘A knight needs a master……no matter how foolish he is, no matter how much she is a witch who wishes to perish mankind……’

Droplets of water fell on Zansha’s face as he stood on the ramparts and looked up overhead. Apparently, it was raining.

The rain is gradually gaining momentum, wetting the city and the earth, which has been defiled by the undead.

“…..Mourn for us, O rain that falls from the heavens. May the mourning of the dead be appeased.”

“May our dead brothers and sisters rest in peace. May those we have killed rest in peace.”

While wishing……he grips the hilt of his sword with his right hand and slowly draws it out.

“…… please bring an end to this abominable life.”

The knight who presides over Death, while praying from the bottom of his heart, pointed the tip of his demon sword at the enemy coming from the east.