"Weak" Igris spoke to King in his majestic voice.

Igris was used to measure the strength of his opponents by his unique ability to perceive 'mana'. He could simply glance at them and he would understand their mana quality and capacity. Then he would simply judge their strength by the amount or the quality of mana they possessed. It was the basis of a person's strength in the kingdom of Algania from where Igris was summoned from. Even though only less then a quarter of his true strength remained, he could still use many of his learnt abilities. Perceiving mana was one of them.

'However...what...?' Igris suddenly felt an unsettling feeling, as if something was wrong, something missing. He didn't knew why, but he could feel as if overlooked something. Something extremely important.

Igris started remembering when he had first seen King. Feeling the aura of a strong person around him, he had used his ability on King the moment he saw him. However contrary to his guess, King was a weakling who didn't had any mana.

'Wait...no mana!' The red blazing eyes of Igris widened for a moment.

Mana was a type of energy present in every living being, be it a human or monster or even a plant. It was the basis of living, the unit of energy. Every second, every minute, each and every cell of even the simplest being had mana running in it. However, looking at the man once again, Igris could confirm, this man had not even a shred of mana!

'H-How can it be?' Igris was completely baffled this much for the first time in his life. He had never seen such a thing! How can a human have no mana! It was as if he was contradicting the life and death itself. This man, it was as if he had already surpassed the limits set by Gods!

With cold sweat, Igris looked at the man in difficulty, and horrifyingly found him looking towards himself too.

"So, someone finally found out." The man looked at him and spoke with an extremely spooky grin on his face. 

And for the first time in his entire life, Igris felt it. 

He felt something he had never thought he could ever feel.

It was just Pure terror.

 

***********

 

Nima! Someone finally found it!

Contrary to Igris' horrified feelings, King was feeling quite excited and joyful. And why not? He had finally found someone who didn't misunderstand him!

King was an extremely lonely person. He was actually very alone. Even though he tried to hide it, he was in fact under immense pressure after continuously being misunderstood and having to pretend to be strong day and night.

However, now, he finally found a person who could see through him! King almost felt tears coming out of his eyes when he thought he could finally share his horrible experiences with someone. 

In his haste, King had forgotten one most important thing.

Yes, it was that Igris was in fact a monster! And a super strong monster on top of that!

King had gotten so excited that he forgot about how he had seen Igris thrash Puri-Puri Prisoner just a moment ago. No, he had not forgotten but just gotten so stimulated that the memory had slipped to the back of his mind.

King looked at Igris with unexpected hope and joy in his eyes. He then tried to give him a kind smile for getting closer to him.

After all, a smile can open ones' heart! Heh. I am truly a master of making friends!

But contrary to King's expectations, instead of becoming closer, Igris backed away with a panicked look.

"Y-You, what are you?"

What? What does he mean? Is this some new trendy way of asking name?

King began to feel the threat of himself becoming a boomer in this fast-moving age however he moved the thought to the back of his mind after resolving to use more social media after returning home and started introducing himself politely.

"I am King."

 

********

 

"I AM KING!" 

This confidence, this unhesitation, this pride.

Igris felt it. This man, he was destined to rule. He, he was a born King!

Igris was a knight too. He felt the emotion of longing and passion in his heart he had not felt for a very long time. Yes, he wanted to serve this man, this monarch! This, King!

Even though right now he was following orders, in fact he was doing this just because their goals collided with each other. He was not truly subordinate of anyone.

Igris thought that he would never serve anyone again in his undead life, but right now, he could almost feel his dead heart bursting with emotion.

He kneeled on one of his leg and looked at King.

"Can I, can I..."

'Can I become your knight?'

 

******

 

"Can I, can I..."

Become your girlfriend?

King felt shivers going down his spine when he thought what the tall, bulky knight in front of him was going to say. He had heard such words many time in his past life career as an otaku. Be it tsundere, kuudere or deredere, all of the girls confessed to the boy they liked with these same legendary line in eroge games.

This one-knee-bent-pose was even used for engagement!

He could be sure, no, looking at those fidgeting hands and those eyes filled with lust, he was sure that right now, this knight was going to confess to him!

Nima, what have I gotten myself into?

King felt true despair. The only person he thought could be his friend was now confessing his love to him. And he was a tall bulky man wearing knight costume!

Now facing despair, his earlier memories too returned crashing down to him. Earlier, he had seen this knight with Puri-Puri Prisoner. He had subconsciously thought that they were fighting, but what if they weren't fighting, but doing something like 'that'. After all Puri-Puri Prisoner is already famous for loving all the handsome men. But such a knight was dominating Puri-Puri Prisoner...

Hiss!

King took a deep breath when he realized what was going on! This knight, this knight now was not satisfied with just Puri-Puri Prisoner. He wanted to covet his handsome body too!

King felt that the world has abandoned him. Why did his first confession in both of his lives came by a muscular knight instead of a cute girl?

"...become your..."

"No!" King reflexively shouted to prevent him continue his words.

 

*******

 

Igris wanted too become King's sword. He wanted to be his knight.  He truly wanted to serve King. But the hopes and dreams  are often different from the cold reality.

"No!" The instant refusal stunned Igris for a moment. Looking at those glaring eyes, he felt as if he was being pierced by a thousand swords.

The only monarch he wished to serve didn't even take a second glance at him. Was it due to his weakness? Or his incompetence? A million questions haunted Igris's mind but he could only speak a single word with difficulty.

"Why?" Igris couldn't help but ask in sorrow.

"Because you are a sinner." A voice answered Igris' doubts. He turned back and saw it was Puri-Puri Prisoner standing and looking at him. He still had scars and injuries from their earlier battle, but his aura was even sharper than before.

"You have killed hundreds if not thousands of people. You have sinned too deeply to be redeemed. You have forgotten what is the purpose of sword you wield."

'No, it can't be.' Igris felt the world was going black in front of him. 'I can't be rejected because of such a reason.'

He remembered his earliest memories, his own life before becoming a undead.

"Knight Igris, you are the strongest knight in the history of Algania!"

"Knight Igris, please kill the demons haunting the kingdom!"

"Knight Igris, please save us from the monsters!"

"Knight Igris..."

"Knight...."

So he killed the demons who terrorized the imperial capital. He killed the monsters who destroyed the villages. He killed the murderers who slayed innocents. He killed the bandits who looted the carriages. He killed...He killed...He killed...He killed...He killed... He killed...killed...killed...

Kill.

He got tired of such a world where all there existed was war and slaughter. He wanted a better world. A world without such chaos. A world where there is only peace.

What was the reason of wars and killings?

Whose fault was this terrible fate?

He reached a conclusion. 

It were the weak.

Weakness is a sin.

So how could he make such a utopia? By killing all the sinners. All the weak. If there were no weak, there would be no sins. There would be no evil. There would be no wars and killings.

If by going to hell after judging such sinners he could save a world, he would carry the sins himself.

He would become a judge, a punisher.

But after hearing the question of Puri-Puri Prisoner, he suddenly faltered and started feeling muddled about his own beliefs.

'Me...what am I wielding my sword for?'

He couldn't find answer to such a simple question.

'I, what was I wielding this sword for when I first grabbed it in my hands?'

He could no longer the reason for this.

"There is only one reason the knights take the sword in their hands." Puri-Puri Prisoner looked at Igris with extremely serious gaze. "To protect."

"Knight Igris, no Igris. You are no longer a knight."

To protect.

It was such a simple truth.

However this simple truth was too much for this undead.

'What have been I doing these past fifty years?'

However, even when the truth hit Igris on his bare face, he still couldn't let go of his obsession. His belief, which he had been following for more than half a century, had almost became unshakable faith to him.

"Does someone like, does someone like you, think those weaklings, those sinners should be protected too?"

He looked at King. He could never believe such a person would protect a weakling. Such a strong person almost equalling God, he couldn't, he shouldn't...

"Yes. Weak must be protected." King nodded and looked at Igris seriously. "Because I myself am weak."

Ah. It then dawned on him. King wasn't like him. Even after possessing such a vast power, such godly strength, he still considers himself weak. He isn't sympathizing with the weak, nor is he looking down on them for needing his protection.

No, he truly considers himself their equal. He, he truly considers himself weak.

'This, this...'

"King-san..." A murmur escaped from Puri-Puri Prisoner's mouth.

"Ahahaha!" Igris laughed. He laughed at himself. He laughed at his own pathetic nature and his delusions of making a better world.

Who am I to think of myself strong if an existence like him considers himself weak?

"Ahahaha!" So Igris laughed. He laughed madly at the absurdity. 

The cold iron helmet of the knight couldn't shed tears, so only laughs could be heard echoing across the lone streets.

 

***********

 

Nima, is everybody crazy nowadays?

King felt that everybody was insane in this world except him. Just a minute ago, when he was afraid of what Igris was going to do to him, Puri-Puri Prisoner made out his way and convinced him with some bullshit he couldn't understand.

However, he understood that he was safe for now from this beast!

But after hearing the bullshit, the knight looked at him and suddenly asked him something completely random about weaklings or something.

However, King still answered with his own thoughts, but that knight suddenly laughing like crazy! And he had been laughing like this for whole five minutes!

Gan! I feel he is acting like some old witch who is running business of selling orphans!

However, at least the misunderstanding was resolved and the knight was not after him! King didn't wanted to lose his chastity to such a person.

But just when King had thought that he was finally free and could run away far from these men-hunters, the knight suddenly started disintegrating right in front of his eyes!

No, he wasn't just disintegrating! His ashes started flying toward the sky toward a huge storm! King could feel the dangerobell in his mind ringing like crazy!

"What...What in the world is that?" Puri-Puri Prisoner said in disbelief at the unbelievable scene in front of his eyes.

Only a sword was left where the knight stood.