The Monster Knight wants Parental Leave

“Hail to the Black Knights of the Eldarion Empire! Salutations to our leader!”

“…..!”

The moment the door was thrust open, a deafening cry took her by surprise.

Unfolding before her were men standing in a perfectly aligned row, their discipline reflected in their posture.

Every one of them wore their customary Black Knights uniform, which displayed their formidable physiques, all in flawless synchrony.

A ripple of avian alarm cut through the quiet, the sound of startled birds scattering, triggered by the booming exclamation.

She had braced herself for a scene involving Berl confronting beasts that had breached the boundary, or perhaps an adept ally he had brought in.

Thrown off by this unforeseen twist, Lucia found herself rooted to the spot.

As her stillness lingered, Berl, who was knelt before the commander, lifted his gaze.

“It’s been a while, Commander Lucia.”

As he spoke in his resonant voice, Lucia’s focus shifted from the sea of staring eyes to him. Confirming his identity, she was taken aback once again.

‘He’s the spitting image of him.’

Genetics truly was a marvel.

The direct gaze he bestowed upon her was also a perfect match for the Berl she remembered.

“So, he passed on before me.”

The sole reason for his son, his mirror image, appearing here with a sizable entourage became apparent.

Though they were of a similar age, Lucia, who held a superior rank, calmly continued, talking about his father’s passing.

“You don’t need to address me as commander as your father did.”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m saying, dispense with the formality. There was no need to greet me. You’ve inconvenienced yourself coming all this way.”

Upon hearing Lucia’s abrupt statement, Berl, taken aback, straightened his bowed leg.

As though lit on fire, he hurriedly lowered his head, flustered.

“My apologies! I misread the situation and acted hastily…!”

‘Those rascals…! They could have at least warned me. It’s no wonder none of them were around today.’

Berl’s indignation smoldered within him as the key members who were supposed to be part of the surprise party he had meticulously organized for the Sword Master’s birth celebration were conspicuously absent.

Lucia let out a sigh of sympathy, watching the man in front of her, his morale clearly deflated.

Even his unwavering tendency to address every disapproving comment, even in the midst of his father’s memorial, was so similar to his father.

“Then, return and prepare for what’s next.”

“Yes, Commander. No, wait, just… Commander? Or, Captain? Boss…?”

Berl was left floundering by Lucia’s request to not call her ‘commander’.

Lucia moved past him into the house, heading for the dressing room to get properly attired.

She wasn’t overly enthusiastic about donning the empire’s uniform after such a hiatus, but considering the occasion was to honor a comrade she had served alongside for many years, she resolved to attire herself as formally as possible.

Upon searching for her uniform, she noticed a large mirror not previously part of the dressing room.

Although the mirror was familiar, frequently used during her tenure as a royal knight to adjust her uniform, she did not recall bringing it here.

Approaching the mirror cautiously, perplexed, she scrutinized it.

However, the image reflected in the mirror was…

“…!”

‘What in the… what…’

Frozen in disbelief at the incredulous sight, Lucia was rendered immobile.

In place of her white hair and aged skin, there was a cascade of glossy black hair reaching her waist, even tied up, and a vibrant complexion adorned with delicate rosy cheeks.

In place of the faint boundaries of her pupils were strikingly blue eyes that shimmered like a night sky filled with stars.

It was indisputable.

It was how she looked in her 20s.

Tentatively, Lucia traced her face with her trembling hand to verify it.

The conclusion she arrived at was,

“… Have I, in the end, lost my sanity?”

Despite garnering wisdom over nine decades, her mind had crumbled.

Wouldn’t a peaceful passing be less distressing?

Lucia was filled with trepidation at the prospect of departing from this world in a state of mental deterioration, desiring a different end.

Despair engulfed her under the weight of such sorrow.

That’s when it occurred.

Knock, knock

“Boss, it’s Berl.”

It was Berl, who had opted to address her as ‘boss’, following her request to refrain from using ‘commander’.

He wasn’t so egotistical as to name his son after himself.

Once again, she felt a twinge of resentment for the misguided assumptions made about him.

Lucia chose not to respond to his voice, unsure whether she was experiencing a hallucination or a reverie, as she held onto the mirror in a static pose.

“I’m sorry for the interruption. However, a representative from the royal palace is here. It appears they’ve brought a royal decree, requesting your presence at the palace tomorrow.”

Return to the palace?

That was out of the question.

She’d spent enough of her life quietly enduring what she deemed wasted time.

Lucia had remained secluded here for 40 years to distance herself from that place.

Moreover, the current young emperor wouldn’t even recognize her.

That’s even more peculiar.

Even if she was suffering from dementia, she wouldn’t recall such a futile period because she had no longing for it.

‘…Could it be?’

With a suspicious gaze, Lucia inspected her reflection in the mirror once more.

Still youthful.

However, that wasn’t her primary concern.

Abruptly, she pushed aside the blouse she was wearing.

She then scrutinized the scars etched into her skin in various places, resembling tattoos.

‘This one is from the Heberni Valley War at the border, this one from a demon in the Palail Mountains… this is…’

The scars Lucia was studying were indelible records and proofs of her past experiences and memories.

Nonetheless, as expected,

‘It’s not there.’

The particular scar she sought was the final one inflicted by the fiercest and most terrifying demon residing in these mountains.

The mark on her shoulder, acquired during her battle with the demon, had completely disappeared.

Her suspicions intensified.

Quickly, she swung the door open and surveyed her surroundings.

“Comman-, no, Boss! Much as I respect you, this is not appropriate…!”

Perhaps her half-unbuttoned blouse revealed her sternum, prompting Berl, who had been standing by the door, to swiftly turn away, his face flushing.

Ignoring the flustered Berl’s reaction, Lucia paced around the house with a grave expression, her suspicions demanding confirmation.

The place was familiar.

Could it be that she had failed to notice an inconsistency?

As she had suspected, this place was the royal training camp residence, where she had spent nearly two decades serving as a knight of the royal palace.

‘…So that’s it after all.’

That peculiar term and tale circulated through generations via the songs of wandering elderly bards.

Regression.

“Berl, what year is it?”

Berl, who had turned his back to her in the corner, promptly responded to her inquiry.

“Yes, umm… It’s the 5th year of the New Imperial Era!”

The 5th year of the New Imperial Era.

That was the year Lucia, having engaged in intensive training immediately after the war concluded, achieved the rank of Sword Master.

Lucia dismissed Berl and found herself staring blankly at her own reflection, her thoughts overwhelming, like a clock halted in its tracks.

She must have remained frozen before the mirror for a considerable length of time.

As time passed, a shaft of sunlight filtering through the window accentuated the pale, dried trails on her smooth cheeks.

Those incongruous imprints in her memory were traces of tears.

A singular remnant of the previous night’s reflective contemplation.

Tiny and white.

A child too young to even be called a girl.

‘…Mom…?’

The faint words she had heard uttered by the child then, and the golden, clear eyes of the small child, grew blurry in the cascading sunlight.

If her recollection was accurate, tomorrow she would be entrusted with a Sword Master-level mission by the emperor.

This would be the inaugural step in the tragic process of the Saintess sacrifice she deeply regretted.

Had she finally recognized the divine opportunity she was granted to alter her destiny?

It was only then that everything that had been churning in Lucia’s mind started to converge.

She rubbed the dry corners of her eyes with her coarse hand, and her youthful eyes glittered with unyielding resolve.

Late into the night,

At the 3rd training camp situated on the hill directly behind the royal palace,

Lucia was gazing out the window.

More specifically, she was staring at the brilliantly illuminated royal palace from the window of the training camp.

“…”

If her memory was reliable, she would have to present the outcomes of her training to the emperor early the following morning.

And the mission she would be given.

‘…I can’t believe a special mission is something like that.’

In her previous life, the emperor’s order for the special mission did not mention the Saintess.

She had assumed it was a mission to escort a noble from a certain kingdom who had secretly escaped to the temple.

But it turned out to be about escorting the Saintess…

No, it’s disillusioning to even use the word escort.

That path was merely the commencement of the inhumane confinement of the Saintess.

‘With my own hands, I would…’

“…”

As she swept her hand over her downcast face in the silence, she shook her head, as though striving to break free from her thoughts.

“I cannot repeat the sins of that day.”

Lucia studied the paper in her grasp.

This document was one she had covertly procured from the temple as soon as she regained consciousness.

Once she rose to the rank of Commander, Lucia had discovered the location of confidential records.

With this location etched in her memory, she revisited it to scrutinize the plans of the Saintess’s sealing that had been previously executed.

Just as she expected, there were over 50 documents brimming with extensive details about the children.

However, according to her memory, there were only seven candidates for the role of the Saintess.

Perhaps at this stage, they hadn’t yet selected the seven children possessing divine power from this large number.

For her, who had personally taken care of the child, identifying the genuine Saintess’s information amongst these wouldn’t pose a challenge.

The prophecy’s content, from the temple’s perspective, was as straightforward as a heroic legend.

The prophecy that the Saintess would materialize and resolve everything.

The reason everyone believed in it was simple: the black corruption described in the prophecy actually manifested as soon as the New Empire was founded.

This black corruption caused the land to decay, resulting in widespread famine and escalating to the point of threatening the continent’s end.

And the Saintess who emerged as prophesied.

The sacred tree accompanying her swiftly rejuvenated nature, thereby providing the groundwork for a thriving, peaceful empire.

Indeed, everything had come to pass just as prophesied.

However, not all was as it seemed.

In the confidential documents she reviewed upon becoming the Commander, there was a precise interpretation of the original prophecy about the Saintess that she was previously unaware of.

The day of the Saintess’s birth, her black hair, and the day of her awakening.

She comprehended why the temple concealed that information.

It would be challenging to protect the Saintess if ordinary people were aware.

But upon perusing the later records, Lucia despaired.

They stated that the Saintess, having awakened due to the tree of life, was sealed in order to extract her life energy.

…While she was still alive.

It was a chilling revelation.

Before she could recover from her shock, doubts started clouding Lucia’s mind.

If the prophecy was interpreted accurately, it would only mention the Saintess, not the sacred tree.

So, the plot to seize the Saintess’s power and exploit it must have been a deliberate scheme by someone.

However, the royal family, who would have benefited the most at that time, perished prematurely, and nearly everyone in the temple was replaced as well.

Furthermore, no specific name was documented anywhere in the records.

Facing this daunting truth, the only fact that remained for her was her own role in leading the innocent Saintess towards a gruesome death.

Even though she was unaware, she couldn’t bear the guilt of shielding those who prospered from the Saintess’s death.

That was the true reason she had spent the remainder of her life in solitude.

Lucia tossed the paper containing the actual Saintess’s information into the fireplace.

The genesis of the ordeal that had tormented her for half of her life was casually reduced to ashes in a heartbeat.

She placed her hand on the sword at her waist and tightened her grip.

Whether it was resolve or destiny.

Even if it was nothing more than the gods’ tedious jest, it was irrelevant.

If she could rescue the child right now and seize an opportunity to atone for her sin.

Lucia, her determination firmly set, strode towards where the young Saintess was.