How to Live as a Wandering Knight

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 (𝟔)

‘𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨.’

Johan thought to himself. Although Johan had instigated such a situation, it wasn’t entirely unsurprising.

After all, the opponent had little choice. Johan dismounted his horse and drew his sword, intending to defeat anyone he faced without underestimating them.

“?”

However, the opponent did not move.

Standing still, the veins near Mahreet’s eyes became distinct and darkened. The mercenary leader, drooling, began to speak with a trembling hand.

━𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞!

It was a chilling voice, deep and powerful, vastly different from before.

At this voice, the mercenaries yelled out with a different emotion than before.

If the previous cheers were of respect for a brave knight, now they were of fear towards an incomprehensible mystery.

“The leader prophesies!”

“Everyone shut up! The leader is prophesying!”

Mahreet continued to pour out prophecies towards Johan.

━𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭! 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞-𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬!

Johan listened to Mahreet’s prophecy with an amused expression, not believing a word.

Suetlg had advised that prophecies are often wrong and inaccurate, and Johan, by nature, was far from such blind faith.

Aren’t these just forced, possibly wrong predictions?

‘𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘳’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦-𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯? 𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩.’

If Johan had been an ordinary knight, he might have panicked at the thought of facing the Emperor’s forces. However, Johan asked without flinching.

Such prophecies I can make too!

“Is that all?”

━𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭! 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐲?

“Is that all? Tell me more. Can’t you see what will happen to your own neck?”

Johan took a step forward. Then something strange happened. A black, ghost-like figure began to appear behind Mahreet.

Despite this unusual phenomenon of a black ghost appearing behind someone in broad daylight, the surrounding mercenaries showed no reaction.

Johan realized that he was the only one who could see this ghost.

━𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤. . .

“And your neck?”

━𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫. . .

“So, your neck?”

With each question, Johan stepped closer. With each step, the black ghost became darker and more violently agitated, as if it feared Johan.

A strong spirit dominates the mystical.

Johan’s unshakable soul shook his opponent.

Finally, Johan stood before Mahreet.

“Now, what do you think will happen to your neck?”

━𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥. . .

𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐩!

Johan struck Mahreet’s face. Mahreet flew sideways. Johan spoke fiercely.

“How dare someone who can’t foresee their own future prophesy? Better worry about saving your own neck. Who are you? Come out and face me!”

━𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥, 𝐝𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞. . .

Instead of answering, Johan repeatedly struck Mahreet’s face. Blood splattered, and his mouth was shut. Without being able to open his mouth, even if he tried to prophesy, there was no way.

Eventually, it was the black ghost that surrendered.

Johan was unfazed by dozens of prophecies, but the ghost could no longer endure.

Above Mahreet, a black mass billowed and bloomed. Only now visible, the mercenaries screamed in alarm.

“My God! What is that?!”

“It’s a malevolent spirit! A malevolent spirit!”

Johan caught the malevolent spirit. Not with a silver-plated sword or blessed ash wood, but with his bare hands.

However, the strong power of Johan’s soul enabled him to grasp the malevolent spirit with his bare hands. Once caught, Johan’s formidable strength was unleashed.

Johan exerted all his strength to crush the malevolent spirit. As his grip intensified, the malevolent spirit screamed silently.

“My name is Valkalmur! Valkalmur! Spare me, Sir Knight! As a humble spirit, I will serve you!”

The true names of all things mysterious and bizarre were the source of their power. The moment the true name was revealed, the entity became subservient.

Unable to withstand it and revealing its true name, the form of the malevolent spirit vanished as if melted by light.

And Johan deeply realized from within his soul that he had subdued this malevolent spirit.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

“It’s getting too late.”

Crossing the bridge with mercenaries, Suetlg looked at the camp with a subtle expression.

Although Johan’s confidence as a knight was understandable, Suetlg was a wizard.

To a wizard, bravery and foolhardiness were not much different. Who would compensate for the bravery if an unlucky arrow flew in and cut off the breath?

“Sir Gerdolf. It seems we must go to aid Sir Johan, but entering with soldiers might cause misunderstanding. Can you manage if it’s just you and me?”

Even if the opposition had a fierce formation with raised spears, Gerdolf would have agreed.

Gerdolf nodded without hesitation.

“Then let’s go! Move aside! I need to see your leader!”

Suetlg and Gerdolf spurred their horses towards the main gate of the fiefdom.

As the two charged alone, the mercenaries, unable to stop them, stepped aside in confusion. It didn’t seem like an attack, and the fact that they had already been allowed to pass once played a big part.

After passing the main gate, it was easier inside. The mercenaries were nowhere to be seen, perhaps due to some commotion within.

Reaching the center of the fiefdom easily, Suetlg was startled by the sight in the distance.

Johan was grappling with a malevolent spirit with both hands, trying to tear it apart.

‘𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴??!’

It was unclear how one ended up wrestling with a malevolent spirit barehanded in broad daylight, but it had to be stopped.

Entities like spirits or malevolent spirits should not be recklessly confronted by non-wizards.

Even well-prepared wizards sometimes failed to subdue them and got devoured, let alone someone who wasn’t a wizard.

Suetlg frantically searched for blessed holy water and elixirs. But it was unnecessary.

The form of the malevolent spirit had disappeared.

It was unbelievable, but there was only one reason: Johan had subdued it. Suetlg made the sign of the cross, something he hadn’t done in a long time.

“God. . . if you were to show a miracle, it would have been enough to show it in my youth. . .!”

“???”

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

Suetlg first checked Johan’s hand. Fortunately, it was intact without a single wound. The situation was more serious for Mahreet, who had been beaten badly. Mahreet was gasping for breath, spewing foam.

“W-Wizard-nim. Milord’s condition is a bit. . .”

“Give this potion to your master. He will be fine soon.”

“T-Thank you!”

Although outsiders were using the leader’s tent as they pleased, no mercenary dared to speak up about it. They had just seen Johan subdue a malevolent spirit.

Suetlg listened in as much detail as possible to what had happened to Johan. It was unbelievable, but Suetlg tried his best to believe it.

“What did I subdue?”

“A malevolent spirit. Normally, it’s impossible to subdue it like that. . .”

It seemed the mercenary leader was called a prophet for a reason. With a malevolent spirit dwelling in him, it must have appeared to the mercenaries as if he was making prophecies.

“Can a malevolent spirit make prophecies?”

“Anyone can prophesize. But a malevolent spirit never gives a proper prophecy. It leads people to ruin with malicious mockery and pranks.”

“This mercenary leader was quite successful, wasn’t he?”

“It was just his luck.”

Among many prophecies, those of the malevolent spirit were particularly poor in quality. Initially granting glory, but soon dragging one into a quagmire━that was the nature of its prophecies.

The best way was to simply ignore them.

Ignoring them, be it spirits or malevolent spirits, they couldn’t interfere. Suetlg noticed that Johan was not at all swayed by the opponent’s prophecy. The strength must have frightened and shaken the malevolent spirit.

“At first, only I could see them, and not the mercenaries. Why is that?”

“Perhaps it’s because you’ve faced many evil things. Like the Death Knight. . .”

Living in close proximity to mystery makes one closer to it.

Johan, who had subdued a Death Knight, found it not strange to see a malevolent spirit dwelling in someone.

“So, how does it feel to have used magic?”

“?”

“I asked, how does it feel to have used magic?”

“Is this magic? But last time. . .”

Suetlg nodded.

To wield magic, one needs to be interested in and understand the mystery.

But there were always exceptions.

“Right. It requires complicated procedures and processes. You have to be interested in the mystery. But sometimes, even someone who knows nothing can perform magic with innate talent and instinct alone. Like a gravedigger who has lived near a tomb for a long time, casting exorcism spells with chants learned from ancestors, or a shepherd wandering all their life, predicting the future just by looking at the stars.

What you showed is similar. Taming the malevolent spirit with the power of voice and soul, that’s magic.”

“Well, if you think about it, I subdued it with strength.”

“. . .Well, anyway.”

Johan summoned Valkalmur from his soul. A small black shadow flickered on the palm of his hand. Once his true name was revealed and subdued by Johan, Valkalmur was no longer a malevolent spirit scheming evil. It had become merely a strand of dark power, stripped of intelligence and voice, and subjugated.

There was less Johan could do with Valkalmur than he had thought. It was barely stable enough to lift a sheet of paper.

“Thinking magic is not all that special, aren’t you?”

“!”

“No need to be surprised. I felt the same at the beginning. Getting into magic is just the start. Isn’t that how it is with everything in the world? Gradually, you’ll be able to do more. Just keep an interest and explore.”

“I understand.”

Johan had intended to practice with this power he had acquired at his leisure. Suetlg looked at Johan as if it was nothing new.

“But to subdue a malevolent spirit with your voice. . . You might be well-suited to be a priest.”

Traditionally, priests were better at handling such malevolent spirits than wizards. A deeply faithful priest could scare off a malevolent spirit with just his voice.

“Actually, more with fists than with my voice. . .”

“If anyone asks, say you subdued it with your voice. That sounds more plausible.”

Suetlg spoke decisively.

Subduing a malevolent spirit with a voice seemed more plausible than with fists.

The former sounded like a person full of faith, while the latter seemed more like a brute.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

As the mercenaries whispered rumors that ‘𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦,’ Mahreet woke up. Suetlg, who was beside him, looked at Mahreet and asked.

“You must have slept soundly for once, without any nightmares.”

“How. . . How did you know?”

Mahreet, not knowing who Suetlg was, felt overwhelmed by his aura and spoke to him respectfully.

“Haven’t you always had nightmares, seen your own death in the future, and sometimes felt like you were not yourself?”

“No! How did you know?!”

Mahreet was startled. There was a mysterious aura about Suetlg, making Mahreet certain that Suetlg was a wizard.

“Wizard-nim, please help me! No matter how much I follow the prophecy, the shadow of death does not leave me!”

“Do you wish to escape the unfortunate prophecy?”

“Yes!”

“Then do not believe in the prophecy. That will allow you to escape it.”

“. . .That’s such nonsensical talk. . .ugh.”

Only then did Mahreet notice Johan beside him. Johan, with his large build, sat up and asked Mahreet.

“Are you hurt?”

“. . .Yes?”

Mahreet took out a bronze mirror and looked at his face. It was swollen and in a mess.

“??!”

“I tried to control my strength, but the malevolent spirit was so strong that I couldn’t help it. Sorry about that.”

It was a lie. Even if the malevolent spirit had been weak, he would have hit hard.

Suetlg consoled the confused Mahreet and explained what had happened.

The revelations that it was not divine revelation or blessing that had given him prophecies, but a malevolent spirit, and how he had narrowly escaped death due to good fortune.

“Then, that malevolent spirit. . .”

“A devout knight here banished it with a prayer. Be thankful. It wasn’t something just anyone could do.”

“I have received a favor so great I could never repay it in a lifetime! Sir Knight, thank you!”

Even Mahreet, who was not a wizard, knew how remarkable it was to vanquish a malevolent spirit. He bowed down in front of Johan.