How to Live as a Knight After the Ending-Chapter 505

Seren opened her eyes. It was a quiet room with no one around. Seren felt a chilling sensation flow down her spine. Falling alone into this silence, an instinctive fear washed over her.

Without realizing it, as she was about to push away the blanket and get up, the door opened.

"Ah. You're awake?"

It was Ena who entered. She handed Seren a bowl of soup that she had brought on a tray.

"Be careful when you eat it. It was just made so it might be hot."

At the sight of Ena, Seren unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't a dream. She hadn't been left in that lonely and desolate space. She had finally returned to reality.

The warm temperature of the plate in her hands vividly reminded her of that fact. Seren spooned up the soup and ate it. Even soup that she would normally eat without much thought—she didn't know why it tasted so good.

Still, she didn't shed tears. Crying while eating would be quite unseemly in its own way.

"More importantly, why am I here?"

Seren belatedly remembered to ask.

"You fainted as soon as we got here. I wondered if there might be something wrong, but they said it was because fatigue hit you once the tension was released."

That did seem to be the case. Still, perhaps because she had slept soundly, her body felt much lighter than before. Her ability was still there. The fear of not knowing when it might go out of control again—that fear probably wouldn't disappear immediately.

But she wasn't as afraid as before. It was because of trust. She knew that if she were in danger, there was someone who would come to save her like a knight from a fairy tale.

Not like a knight. He was truly a knight.

Ena quietly watched Seren as she finished her meal. Seren didn't particularly point out Ena's watching either. She might have before. But now, having no one nearby was far more uncomfortable and painful.

"Thanks for the meal."

Seren smiled as she handed over the clean plate. Ena smiled gently.

"Since you enjoyed it, it was worth making."

"More importantly, where are the others?"

"Ah. Everyone's here. Will you be okay?"

"I slept well and recovered. I'm fine now."

Seren got out of bed. She immediately went down to the first floor. In the spacious area on the first floor, her companions had gathered. Not just the members of Violet Fox. The knight order led by Osian was there as well.

Among them, Mark, who spotted Seren, brightened up and waved his hand. Seren also smiled back and wiggled her fingers at him.

"You're up."

"Seren!"

"You've finally come to your senses."

Everyone greeted Seren with a word or two. Even in the ordinary greetings, their concern for her welled up.

"Everyone, I'm sorry for making you worry."

Seren said this, then paused briefly as she looked at one person. A man in a black suit wearing a pitch-black mask. Basilio was there.

"Uncle."

"Seren. I heard what happened. You must have had a hard time."

"It's all in the past. Thanks to everyone worrying about me, I'm okay now."

"I'm glad to hear that. If you have any difficulties, feel free to tell me anytime."

If it had been the old Seren, she would have taken those words as courtesy and not truly believed them. But now it was different.

Seren nodded with a smile. Soon her gaze shifted to another person.

This time, rather than joy, a different emotion dwelled. A kind of anger and disgust.

Doctor Cromwell, a scientist from the White House. Complex emotions swirled like a vortex in Seren's eyes as she looked at him.

But she didn't express anger as she had before. At the fact that he was alive, she even felt a strange sense of relief.

"Why are you here?"

Still, she couldn't help but ask. Naturally, her voice sharpened. Of course, Cromwell didn't bat an eye at such behavior.

"Even though it may look like this, I'm essentially being held as a prisoner. I have nowhere else to go."

Seren was about to snap back at him but decided against it. She didn't want to ruin the atmosphere in this rare gathering of everyone.

"You've come down at a good time. We were just about to have an important discussion."

Osian stepped forward and organized the situation. He glanced at Cromwell and jerked his chin. Everyone's gaze naturally turned toward Cromwell.

"Since I'm being held hostage, I don't have the right to refuse. Well then, if you have any questions, feel free to ask anything. I'll say upfront that I'm willing to answer as sincerely as possible."

"My ability—you can fix it, right?"

Seren asked as if she had been waiting. She said she was fine now, but there was no telling about the future. She wanted to completely eliminate even the possibility of this anxiety. For that, whether she liked it or not, Cromwell's cooperation was essential.

"At the time, I thought it was impossible. In fact, I still think that hasn't changed."

Cromwell soon shook his head.

"But that's just my stubbornness. Saying it's impossible was just because I didn't know. The moment I saw that scene, I had no choice but to think differently."

Cromwell recalled Osian's figure cutting through space and disappearing into the rift of spacetime. And the man who pried open the sealed crack again, returning with Seren in brilliant starlight.

Could that really be proven with theory and science? It was a mysterious power that even modern science and magic couldn't achieve, which is why he too had been interested in ancient beings.

Infinite possibilities. Cromwell decided to bet on that.

"It can be fixed. But there's one important factor that comes with it. Namely, that man, Osian, has to help."

"Osian..."

Seren looked at Osian. At the same time, she thought Cromwell's words were quite credible. Osian had come alone with just a sword to save her, separated beyond that rift in spacetime.

His sword, containing the powerful force of the heavens, moved straight ahead, even cutting through the rift in spacetime. In other words, it meant Osian's power could intervene in spacetime.

Cromwell saw a clue there.

"The power of the knight that this man wields. If it affects spacetime, you too need to control that power of crossing rifts based on this force."

"Does that mean I also have to become a knight?"

"There's no reason you couldn't."

It was Osian who answered instead. Seren looked back at him with eyes asking if he was serious. Osian didn't speak with words. He simply gazed at her with infinitely upright eyes.

At that sight, Seren realized. That this was the only way.

"Of course, during the process, I'll continue to monitor the progress."

At Cromwell's hedging words, Seren's expression crumpled. But Cromwell, as if not caring about Seren's reaction, only said what he had to say.

"If during the process the powers neutralize each other, that would be ideal. But conversely, the two powers might interact and show an even greater synergy. If that happens, it's another unexplored territory. It wouldn't matter if we adjust in real-time, but it would be troublesome if we don't chart a course."

Just because you make travel plans doesn't mean everything flows smoothly according to plan. But just because plans don't work out doesn't mean anyone travels without preparing anything. Everyone has at least minimal preparations. And Cromwell was the optimal preparation for possibilities that might arise later.

"...Really, your lifeline is incredibly tough."

"It's the reason I survived even after committing inhumane acts."

Cromwell was not a good person. The experiments he conducted were clearly ethically wrong and deserving of people's criticism.

But whether he was purely evil—that wasn't the case either. Ultimately, all the experiments Cromwell conducted were for a greater cause.

Cromwell knew that sacrificing someone for a greater cause was a cruel thing but without doing so, they ultimately couldn't respond to the future of destruction that was coming.

The extermination of all humanity versus a minority dying through human experimentation. If he had to choose between the two, Cromwell would naturally choose the latter.

Human lives aren't numbers, but still, they had to save as many people as possible. Cromwell believed that was right. It was a kind of conviction.

"Cromwell. Did you know about the future that's coming?"

Everyone's gaze turned toward Cromwell once again. The real story was starting now.

"Where should I start?"

Cromwell pondered for a moment, then spoke that familiar name.

"The Current King Solenon. He's someone who has lived for a very long time. He's been alive since the distant past, and at the time was called the wisest and most intelligent human. That was correct. In fact, while being human, he survived without dying until now. Among his countless knowledge, there was a way to extend humanity's lifespan."

Why did the Current King's name come up here? Cromwell naturally resolved that curiosity.

"When I was first a nameless scientist, I quickly rose through promotions, standing out with my excellent talent. And an opportunity came to me. The Current King summoned me."

Current King Solenon had been watching Cromwell's talent and valued it highly so he summoned him to a secret location no one knew.

"Did you meet him directly?"

At Osian's question, Cromwell shook his head.

"He's someone with many secrets. He didn't show me his appearance or make direct contact. What spoke to me was through a machine, and even that location was behind multiple layers of security so I couldn't even know where it was."

"A thoroughly meticulous bastard."

Well then. That's why his existence hadn't been revealed until now. It wasn't just anyone—even Aspirex, Amenora, and Gaien didn't know about him.

"He added me to a special project. It was an experiment dealing with the powers of ancient beings. At the time, I didn't really know. I just saw it as a kind of new biotechnology. There I met senior scientists who taught me. Someone I could call a teacher too." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"So essentially the origin of the White House. Delford was involved in that experiment."

"Yes. The genes of the ancient ferocious wolf. He was the only successful case of combining with it. At the time, I was just a researcher who had just entered, but I was in a position where I could at least observe. That's probably why he remembers me."

Cromwell continued his research secretly like that. Naturally, many of the experiments the White House conducted were morally problematic. No matter how much they tried to hide the information, problems inevitably arose from just what was revealed.

"But that was ultimately a deception. What happened to the White House was a predetermined sequence from the beginning."

"You mean, from the start the White House intentionally revealed information to the outside, and because of that, they received the city government's iron hammer."

"By doing so, they could officially order its dissolution and separately organize the remaining personnel to continue secret experiments."

It was astonishing. The downfall and maintenance of the organization called the White House that had been eating away at Tirna was carried out by none other than one individual.

"You accepted that well."

"I had no choice but to compromise. Through countless experiments, I had to kill my own humanity to endure it. But that alone wasn't enough to hide for a long time. I had a firm purpose."

Namely, to prepare for the future of destruction that was coming.

"This world is unstable. While civilization has developed dramatically through humanity, external threats have increased day by day. A representative example of that are the Outer Gods."

Because of the Gray Fungus an entire district disappeared. It wasn't even an outer god. It was just more accurate to call it an outer being, something from outside. Yet its danger level was terrifyingly high. It tried to devour everything around it, eroding even inanimate objects.

It survived through persistent baptism of fire, somehow maintaining a dormant state and enduring. Its vitality was also absurdly high.

"And though it's not widely known, there were several more cases similar to that."

There were many other incidents presumed to be outer things crossing over besides that one. And the frequency of such incidents only increased over time.

"What decisively added to the sense of crisis was the District 17 incident."

Cromwell thought that this world is brilliant, but at the same time too vulnerable to danger. That's why he researched ancient powers. The ancestors survived by wielding mysterious powers. They faced outer beings and even defeated them.

"Among all that, you saved the city from danger with none other than that knight's power."

Cromwell thought that this is it. With this power, Tirna can be saved from danger. More knights are needed.

"Why didn't you speak honestly?"

"Because I knew it would be useless anyway. Even if I said it, people wouldn't understand me. They'd just point fingers saying another mad scientist is spouting nonsense."

Cromwell's voice was calm. It was a nuance that he wouldn't particularly deny that fact.

"I have the conviction to save the world. But the world can't accept that. If that's the case, there's only one thing for me to do."

He would do as they wished. As long as he could achieve his desired goal by doing so, he would do anything.

"As they wanted, I became a mad scientist."