God of Knight

Chapter 4 - A Place in the Haruki Family

Commander Souta came from one of the kingdom’s four noble families, and his family was the wealthiest of them all.

The Souta family’s trade routes ran across the kingdom and continued beyond its borders.

The Tsukigawa Kingdom currently maintained partnerships with foreign kingdoms, including Fengrui, Hwangjeon, and Tharondel.

“Commander Souta! Welcome. Please come inside!” greeted Enjou, accompanied by three servants.

“Mr. Haruki! How is the child you took in? Is he feeling better?” asked Souta.

“Yes, Commander. He felt scared yesterday, but now he can go outside and is in the backyard!” replied Enjou.

Souta had led the hundred soldiers who found Kazan.

On his way back after meeting with Enjou, Souta had stopped at the edge of the forest because the rain was lashing down.

At that moment, he heard the sounds of a battle coming from deep within the forest, so he took some of his soldiers to search for and investigate who was fighting there.

They had followed the sound through the downpour. Only when the rain began easing could they find the clearing.

Four familiar knights lay dead there. A soldier then found an unconscious child tangled in the Demon Mask’s oversized armor.

With no fifth body to be found, they assumed the Demon Mask had killed the others and escaped, leaving his gear behind.

The child lay beside the Mad Demon. Souta took him for a victim kidnapped for her experiments.

He had taken Kazan with him, unaware that the child was actually The Demon Mask.

***

“Take me there—I want to see that boy!” said Souta.

“Come on, Commander, follow me!” said Enjou, and then he led Souta to the backyard to see Kazan.

Kazan sat alone, his feet barely reaching the ground.

Approaching footsteps interrupted Kazan’s reverie.

He watched Souta’s measured steps and the way the commander held his weight. Even without Ki, Kazan’s old instincts warned him that this man could fight.

“Hey, kid! My name is Souta Kuroba! May I ask your name?” the commander asked as he stood beside him.

“Souta Kuroba? So he’s from the Souta noble family?” Kazan thought to himself.

Kazan didn’t answer; he looked Souta up and down, then glanced over at Enjou.

“Commander, he still hasn’t said a word since yesterday! The doctor said the child remains traumatized, so interaction will take time,” explained Enjou.

Enjou stepped aside to give Souta room and waited for his reply.

“All right, kid, I’ll come back to visit you! … Mr. Haruki, there’s a matter I wish to discuss with you. Let’s speak elsewhere.” Souta glanced at Kazan before leaving.

Kazan watched the commander disappear inside. He knew the noble family, but this member’s appointment was news to him.

He clenched and opened his little hands. Waiting for them to grow would not make the time pass faster.

Training alone had taken decades the first time. He needed another way to rebuild his reserves.

He searched his abdomen again, where Ki was stored and counted in units called Circles of Ki. It remained empty.

A hundred Circles of Ki was the highest reserve most knights of the kingdom spoke of. Kazan had once treated it as a ceiling; he had never tested that limit himself.

Before drinking Aira’s liquid, he had held fifty Circles of Ki and become a First-Stage Knight of Light.

He ran through the familiar progression: Lower Level, Middle Level, Upper Knight level, then Light Level.

At the Lower Level, a student began with the Art of Breathing and the early exercises of the body-lightening technique.

A clean five-meter leap marked the step into the Middle Level.

There, basic forms gave way to more demanding martial techniques. Ki alone would not teach a student how to use them.

At the Upper Knight level, a knight learned to direct Ki into the hands, feet, and other parts of the body.

At the Light Level, that control extended beyond the body—to weapons, to an injured person’s wounds, or to another person’s depleted reserves.

The Knight of Light rank had three recognized stages. Its body-lightening techniques carried a knight far beyond an ordinary student’s leaps.

More Ki could sustain greater feats, but reserves and mastery had to develop together.

His First-Stage Knight of Light rank had still not won him a place among the kingdom’s Top 10 Knights.

The Book of the Demons of Hell had made him deadly even against another knight at his own level. Now he could not draw on any of that power.

“I need to find a mentor so I won’t arouse suspicion later,” Kazan thought to himself with a wry smile.

***

Enjou and Souta were sitting in the living room, discussing Kazan, whose name and background they did not yet know.

“His Majesty wants you to be careful. What if that child is a trap, or someone has deliberately sent him to spy on us?” said Souta.

“Commander! Is it possible that a child that young could be an enemy spy or some other decoy?” asked Enjou.

“I don’t think so, Mr. Haruki. I don’t think it’s possible for him to be a spy, but it’s still possible that he’s a trap set by people who want to harm you!” said Souta.

“Commander, I disagree.” Enjou glanced through toward the backyard. “He flinches when someone approaches. Whatever he’s endured, I can’t turn him away.”

“It’s up to you, Mr. Haruki. I’m only here to deliver a message from His Majesty the King! So what’s your next plan for that child?”

Enjou rested his hands on his knees and considered the boy outside.

“Commander, I will take that child in, but only if we cannot find his family,” Enjou replied after considering it.

“Is your decision final, Mr. Haruki? Isn’t your wife two months pregnant? Why adopt another child when she’s already expecting your first?” Souta asked.

“Don’t worry, Commander. Two children will bring us more joy and make the house even livelier, with their little feet running everywhere!” Enjou replied with a laugh.

“It’s your decision, but I’ll still advise you to be cautious. I must depart now as I have an engagement with people from Tharondel Kingdom tonight,” Souta announced. He then rose and bid farewell.