The Monster Knight wants Parental Leave

Solemn imperial palace corridor.

A woman’s heavy footsteps echoed unceasingly through the endless hallway, too heavy to be considered a mere walk.

Black hair and black uniform.

On her shoulder, a splendid badge suggested her impressive history. Her name was Lucia.

Among the imperial royal knights, Lucia, the leader of the Black Knights, had countless accomplishments under her belt at an age not even 20 years old.

However, her methods were so ingenious and brutal that behind her, always followed by various rumors of unknown origins, she was called the Black Monster.

Unexpectedly, she appeared in the imperial palace after five years, and the attendants who recognized her bowed their heads in fear of making eye contact.

As Lucia reached the end of the corridor, an extravagant door appeared that anyone could tell belonged to the owner of the palace.

Despite being warned beforehand, the imperial guards were so startled by her presence that their hearts pounded audibly through their armor.

It was only natural, as Lucia had completed the training to become a Sword Master, a dream for many knights despite her infamous reputation.

Before them stood the fourth Sword Master of the continent.

They could not help but gaze at Lucia with reverence.

Unable to even wipe his sweat, a guard turned and shouted loudly.

“His Majesty the Emperor! The leader of the Black Knights has arrived!”

As if waiting for this, the door opened, and the Emperor hurried down from his throne and welcomed her with open arms.

It was an informal act for someone who had just become an Emperor.

“Oh, who do we have here!”

“Greetings, Your Majesty, the Sun of the Empire. I am Lucia, the leader of the Black Knights.”

Lucia respectfully bowed her head in response to the Emperor’s hospitality.

“Ah, how impudent. Greeting His Majesty and omitting her own family name…”

“Did you not know? She severed ties with the Earl’s family as soon as she came of age.”

“I see. Still, showing such consistent behavior after a long time since we last met… Tsk.”

The nobles who were waiting for the Emperor’s approval frowned and whispered at Lucia’s attitude.

However, as always, the Emperor didn’t care at all.

Instead, he waved his hand at the nobles,

“Come on, let’s do this later. Please leave for now.”

As expected, the displeased nobles left their seats one by one.

Then, only the Emperor and Lucia remained in this spacious great hall.

“You, it’s been five years. Now 25 years old, huh? You’ve grown quite respectable as you age.”

The Emperor, with his middle-aged and wrinkled smile, stroked his beard as he spoke.

He tried to act nonchalant, but he couldn’t hide his desire for her in his eyes.

He looked at Lucia with shining eyes and greedy breath, like a dog waiting for a treat.

Anyone who only saw this situation might think that the middle-aged man would do something inappropriate to the beautiful woman, but Lucia, who knew the Emperor’s true intentions, didn’t even blink.

“You’ve aged since five years ago, Your Majesty.”

It was her usual candid response.

“Ahem… Is it because you’ve been living alone? That mouth of yours hasn’t grown up at all. Haha…”

Although the Emperor pretended to brush off her words, he moved his hand, which had been stroking his beard, to the wrinkles near his elbow, with a slightly sullen expression.

“But that’s not what’s important. Come on, let’s hear it. You’ve sent a report about the results of your training. Indeed, it’s commendable that you’ve reached a level that is unattainable at your age. And it doesn’t make sense that this empire has no Sword Master.”

The Emperor once again rambled on in admiration.

And the current empire was exactly as the Emperor said.

Ironically, there was not a single Sword Master in the empire, except for the continent’s top swordsman, the General.

There were only three Sword Masters on the continent, with one each in the two allied nations that could rival the empire. And with the retirement of the empire’s pride, the General, its military power would not be much different from the other kingdoms.

The Emperor’s choice, cornered in such a predicament, was to obtain the title of the youngest Sword Master on the continent.

As soon as he became the ruler of the empire, he instructed Lucia, who showed the potential to become a Sword Master, to undertake a five-year training, and as a result,

“You never disappoint me.”

Lucia, who was looking at the excited Emperor, emitting breath through his nose, quietly opened her mouth.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes, yes, ahem. I’m ready. Show it to me.”

What he meant was to show the red sword aura, the evidence of a Sword Master.

The Emperor smoothed his excited gesture and prepared to fully enjoy the fruits of the five years of training.

“I need to take parental leave.”

“Yes, well, the youngest glory, parental leave is just…”

The Emperor continued in a gentle tone, then suddenly looked as if he had been hit on the back of the head.

It seemed as if the words “Don’t joke around” were carved in his blank eyes.

However, Lucia in front of him was just waiting for the Emperor to finish his sentence with a serious expression.

A suffocating silence filled the spacious hall.

And the Emperor stared at Lucia with a deflated chuckle.

“Ahaha?! You? Are you serious? That’s absurd. An excessive joke.”

There was a reason for the Emperor’s laughter, as if he had made a mistake.

No matter how much he thought about it, there was a perfect flaw in Lucia’s words.

Ironclad among ironclads. The most single-minded of the single-minded.

After the 16-year-old debut of Lucia, the swordsmanship prodigy, countless noble suitors had tried to tempt the beautiful girl.

But Lucia was like a person who couldn’t understand their language, as if the words love or romance had been deleted from her mind.

The Emperor shook his head with a playful laugh, as if recalling a series of events.

Lucia remained motionless like an emotionless doll at the sight of him, seemingly dismissing her.

Soon, she held out her hand with five fingers spread in front of him.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I apologize. That’s right, five years. Five years have passed. So, our Sword Master, what do you want to…”

Lucia shook her head as if to interrupt the Emperor’s words.

“Five years old.”

“Five years old?”

The Emperor mirrored her by raising his hand, puzzled by her incomprehensible words.

“Yes, five years old. I have a child.”

The Emperor’s eyebrows shot up desperately.

He shook his head, thinking that it couldn’t be true.

Lucia nodded, insisting that it was true.

No way, right?

Yes, it’s true.

No way.

I’m telling you it’s true.

No way…

In the fierce battle of affirmation and denial, only the withered Emperor was left, like a thousand-year-old mummy in an instant.

Definitely.

It was her last breath…

Breathing out meaningfully through her open nostrils, the warm breath passed sharply over her lips.

‘…’

Was this the next breath?

After hesitating and repeating the exhale several times, she had no choice but to come to a conclusion.

‘I thought those memories were like a carousel, but I didn’t die after all.’

Lucia, a 92-year-old and the first and last Grand Sword Master of the continent.

At one time, she was a fearsome swordsman and knight of the royal family in the Eldarion Empire, so powerful that she was called a black monster.

Though now she lived alone deep in the empire’s mountain range for over 40 years, she was a legendary commander who effortlessly defeated numerous wars and top-class monsters without holding any official title, rising to the position of the empire’s commander-in-chief.

In truth, she had been waiting for death for a long time.

Her exceptional loneliness, since she never found interest in anything other than her sword, perhaps had made her life more exhausting than anyone else’s.

And last night, the night she had been waiting for.

Finally, with her memories like a carousel, she sensed that her body, which had reached its peak, was being eroded by death.

Lucia accepted her death without resistance and prepared to pass away peacefully…

But she didn’t.

Was it a delusion? Was it a regrettable failure?

Despite the special experience that could have been her last, the morning came inevitably.

Lucia eventually gave up on everything, sighed deeply, and sat up.

Without even looking, she reached out habitually and gripped the hilt of her sword.

Waking her body by grabbing her sword immediately after getting out of bed was a habit she had never missed since becoming a swordsman.

And the sword dance that began, creating elegant lines, cut through the stagnant air in the empty bedroom along a simple path all night long, and soon, as the final finale,

Whoosh.

The sharp sword left her hand, sweeping the high ceiling.

Thud.

“?”

That’s impossible.

Lucia looked at the ceiling in surprise.

The sword, stuck in the ceiling as if to show off.

Usually, the sword thrown towards the high ceiling should be caught by the sword rack as it spins around like a windmill.

‘Did I put too much power into it?’

She was certainly looking forward to death just a moment ago, but she couldn’t help feeling bitter as her body, which she had controlled without a single error for decades, began to act on its own due to her age.

With a dejected face, she tilted her head and stared blankly at the ceiling, examining the area around the sword.

‘…This is odd. Was this painting here before?’

The ceiling mural that seemed both familiar and unfamiliar.

The sword was embedded deeply in the center of that ceiling mural, specifically in the hand of the Aesir goddess who governs nature.

It was then.

Someone knocked on old Lucia’s bedroom door.

“Commander, it’s Berl. If you’re ready, could you come downstairs?”

‘…Berl?’

It was strange for someone to visit her in this place where she had no guests, but she first recalled her memory because it was a familiar name.

Then she remembered that a colleague she had been with in her youth had the same name.

The Berl she knew was the vice-captain of the Black Knights, Berl Alturut.

It was strange.

This mountain range was a dangerous place inhabited by monsters, unique to the empire, and it was difficult to visit unless one was a Sword Master or a wizard of that level.

That’s why it was impossible for Berl, who hadn’t reached that level, to visit alone, except for the special route used by the young maid who was helping her.

Lucia furrowed her brow, concentrating on her suspicion.

She didn’t even notice that, perhaps due to the unexpected guest, her strength had changed from before, and there wasn’t a single wrinkle on the spot where she furrowed her brow.