I Became the Dark Knight in the Game
Chapter 59: Northbound (2)

The supply line was set to depart in three days.

Rebecca had not disclosed the specific route to her destination to Dale, all in the name of security.

Thieves were common in this world.

Leaks in the plan could attract unwanted attention like flies.

One might wonder who would dare attack such a large convoy, but on the flip side, the greater the risk of the hunt, the larger the reward upon success.

Dale had nothing special to prepare.

As always, he meticulously sharpened his weapon and polished it with a cloth.

Elena looked at Dale with concern.

“Will you be alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“You might encounter demon worshipers. The ones I’ve seen were all horrific.”

Elena thought back to the powerful kingdom of Vyman.

The fall of Vyman was not solely due to the onslaught of the invading army of demons.

Demon worshipers were also to blame.

The traitors of humanity who were plotting chaos from within were the culprits that destroyed the kingdom.

Their power might have been inferior to that of the demons.

Yet the terrifying aspect of the demon worshippers was they were once humans.

Since they knew humans well, they also knew precisely how to act to bring humans to their knees.

Dale grasped Elena’s concerns yet he remained largely unfazed.

“It doesn’t matter.”

In fact, he preferred fighting those demon servants over humans.

Brimming with life force and twisted yet strong souls, they were excellent sources of experience points for him.

After all, just how much had he grown after slaying the demon servant Hasina?

“I’d rather they attack me first.”

At Dale’s response, Elena couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

“Sir Dale truly knows no fear.”

Dale shrugged and continued with his task.

Just then, the inn door burst open loudly.

“Sir Dale! I’ve come upon hearing that you are going to duel!”

The one who burst through the door was a dwarf whom Dale had almost forgotten about. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NʘvᴇlFirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Balton strode in with his short legs and a serious expression on his face.

“Balton. It’s been a while.”

“I’ve heard the news. You’re to duel a formidable knight.”

“?”

“To help you in the duel, even if just a little, I, Balton, have stayed up all night to craft this item for you.”

What an instance of too little too late. This help came well after the event had long passed.

Dale responded coldly.

“The duel has already ended.”

“…What? When did this happen?”

“A week ago.”

A look of astonishment washed over Balton’s face.

“Who-who won?”

“I did, hence why I’m still here, alive and well.”

Kyla who was washing dishes scolded him.

“Were you holed up in some cave? The whole city has been abuzz with the news.”

Balton slumped into his seat with a look of dismay.

“Good heavens. I… I was just a bit. Just a tiny bit late.”

“It seems like more than just a bit.”

Only then did Balton who was wearing a deeply apologetic expression offer his apologies.

“I’m so, so sorry, Sir Dale. I was too engrossed in my workshop.”

It was clear that Balton hadn’t stepped outside his workshop for quite some time while absorbed in his work.

He must have heard about the duel by chance and rushed over in a hurry.

Dale was torn between being grateful and finding the situation utterly absurd.

“So, is that the item you’ve made this time?”

Dale’s gaze shifted to the object in Balton’s hand.

At first glance, it appeared to be an ordinary holster but a large leather pouch attached to its side caught his eye.

Hearing this, Balton instantly sprang to his feet and shook off his dejection.

“Yes! Indeed! This is my masterpiece, created after much deliberation upon receiving Sir Dale’s request.”

Dale felt curious.

“What effects does it have?”

“Before that, let me explain in detail how I made this item.”

“Can’t you just get to the main point?”

“When I first received the task from Sir Dale, I felt quite overwhelmed.”

Ignoring Dale, Balton began his explanation.

“Sir Dale had expressed his concerns about not having the means to attack opponents from a distance.”

“That’s right. There are limits to throwing.”

Dale decided to go along with Balton’s mood for the time being.

Of course, he planned to make Balton pay if the item turned out to be trivial.

Balton continued,

“My initial thought was simple. What if I made a bag that could hold hundreds of throwing weapons, so one could carry them around?”

If you were worried about running out of weapons, why not carry a large number with you? It was a straightforward idea.

“Hmm.”

“That’s right. That would be quite inconvenient in many ways. So, I moved on to the next idea. I drew inspiration from this object.”

Balton pulled a boomerang from the bag slung over his back.

“Imagine if, after throwing a weapon, it could return to you, wouldn’t you be able to throw it as much as you like? A weapon that returns on its own after being thrown!”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

Dale agreed.

A weapon like a boomerang that returns after being thrown would mean never running out of throwing weapons.

Indeed, Balton had exceeded his expectations.

“Impressive. So, where is this weapon?”

Balton tilted his head in confusion.

“Hmm? Of course, there isn’t one. A self-returning weapon? Isn’t that the field of rune mages?”

“?”

“What I had in mind was attaching a line to the weapon to pull it back. Then, I had one particularly clever idea.”

Balton’s eyes sparkled as if he was eager for Dale to ask what that idea was.

Dale indulged him.

“What was that?”

“It’s about changing the approach. If the distance to the opponent is great, one must close it. But does Sir Dale really need to be the one to close it?”

Balton put his hand into the pouch hanging on the holster with a confident look on his face.

When he withdrew his hand, he was holding a large hook with a pointed end that curved sharply. The hook was attached to a rope.

“Like this, you pull out the hook… and throw it!”

Balton extracted the rope and hurled the hook with all his might.

Whoosh!

The hook shot out rapidly and embedded itself firmly into a table on the opposite side of the inn.

“Now! Just hold onto the rope tightly and press this button!”

When Balton pressed a button on the leather pouch, a mechanical “ting!” sound was heard.

In the next moment, the unfurled rope began to coil back up.

At the same time, Balton pulled back hard on the rope in his hand.

The table scraped across the floor and started being drawn towards him.

Balton laughed with satisfaction.

“Haha! If the distance is great, pull the enemy towards you! Isn’t this the very essence of thinking outside the box?”

“What are you doing in my store! If you keep this up, Mr. Balton, you’ll be banned from entering!”

“Ugh.”

When Kayla expressed her anger, Balton flinched and hurriedly returned the table to its original place.

Although the table bore the marks of the hook’s scrape, Balton pretended not to notice.

Meanwhile,

Dale examined the hook in his hand. The rope and the attached hook quickly retracted when he pressed the button.

Not bad at all.

The retracting force wasn’t particularly strong. For heavier objects, it seemed Dale’s own strength in pulling would be crucial.

But that didn’t matter.

Wasn’t he overflowing with strength?

Above all, he liked the idea of not approaching a distant target but rather pulling it towards himself.

He immediately wanted to test it out.

When Dale was about to throw the hook, his eyes met Kayla’s.

“You’re not going to do that as well, are you, Sir Dale?”

“…Of course not.”

Dale and Balton went out to the backyard of the inn. Harty, who had been dozing off under the summer sun, perked up his ears.

He let out a gruff sound as if to say, “Are you here?” then abruptly turned his head and lay back down.

Balton let out a wry smile.

“Ah. Quite the unique friend you have.”

“Don’t mind it.”

Dale held the hook in his hand.

Coincidentally, there was a scarecrow that Harkin had set up for practice.

Dale pulled the rope and swung it around in the air.

Balton added,

“Actually, the biggest concern when creating this tool was whether Sir Dale could handle it properly. It’s somewhat different from throwing weapons, after all.”

Dale nodded his head in agreement.

Indeed, it felt different. It wasn’t like a weapon that simply needed to be thrown.

With the rope attached, he had to consider the movement of the rope as well.

But since becoming what he was now, Dale had one thing he was sure of about himself.

I have a talent for handling almost any weapon.

Whether this talent lay dormant within his new body or was an innate ability Dale himself was unaware of, it remained uncertain.

Regardless, Dale found that he could easily learn most techniques designed for killing an opponent.

It was one of the secrets to his survival.

This time would be no different.

With a swift motion, Dale threw the rope forcefully and sent the hook flying with a snap.

Thud! The hook struck the wall behind.

A miss.

But there was no need for disappointment.

The greatest advantage of this weapon was that it could be retrieved. A failed attack was not the end.

Dale retracted the hook and immediately threw it again.

After a few tries, the hook finally struck the dummy.

Balton was impressed.

“Oh! To get the hang of it in just a few tries! Remarkable. Honestly, I thought it would take at least a week…”

However, he was still far from proficient.

He had merely managed to hit the target.

Of course, the sharpness of the hook meant it could inflict wounds on its own.

Though, it would be better with poison applied.

A deadly poison would do or even herbs with paralyzing properties could be smeared on it.

But the primary function of the hook was to embed itself in the target and then pull it towards him.

Merely hitting the target was only a partial success.

Dale continued to practice.

He threw the hook, retrieved it, and then threw it again.

Having seemingly limitless stamina also meant he could maintain his concentration for long periods of time.

With his focus unbroken, Dale repeated the exercise for a long duration.

Naturally, his proficiency improved rapidly.

After about half a day of this relentless training,

The hook Dale threw finally burrowed into the exact spot he had aimed for.

Dale immediately pulled on the rope and the dummy was dragged along with it.

Balton who was sitting down next to Harty clapped his hands.

“Ah! A success! To handle it so perfectly already!”

“It’s not perfect yet. It will only be useful when I can use it at any moment, which means I need more practice…”

Dale looked down at the dummy with a twinge of dissatisfaction.

“It would be better for practice if there were a moving target.”

“A moving target?”

“In real situations, the opponent will be moving, won’t they?”

“That’s true. But a moving target… I’m sorry, but that might be difficult for me to arrange…”

Just as Balton was expressing how difficult it would be,

What kind of coincidence was this?

Fraud burst out of the inn’s door.

“Ah! Sir Dale! There you are! What are you doing with that dummy?”

Dale muttered to himself upon seeing Fraud.

“Found it.”

***

Time flew swiftly by.

On the day of departure, Dale set out for the meeting place early in the morning.

The carriages and Rebecca’s employees were already gathered.

Most were faces he didn’t recognize, but there were a few he knew.

Harkin who had come from the inn was there, as were a few mercenaries Dale had crossed paths with at the mercenary guild.

On the other side, the priests of the church, including Esther, were grouped together.

Esther who was surrounded by her colleagues bowed her head in his direction.

Dale waved his hand back casually.

It seems they’ve pulled in people from all over the place.

After waiting for some time,

Rebecca came his way after she finished making the final inspections. She was accompanied by a knight with a rather sour expression.

Rebecca greeted him warmly.

“Welcome, Sir Dale. Have you changed your holster? And I see a bag I haven’t seen before.”

“I’ve got a new one.”

Dale tapped the pouch hanging from his holster a couple of times.

It was quite heavy since it contained the rope and hook.

Rebecca seemed not particularly interested and merely nodded her head a few times before pointing to the knight beside her.

“Please say hello to each other. This is Sir Gabriel, the chief of security at the merchants’ guild. Go on, Sir Gabriel.”

Rebecca gestured for them to greet each other. However, Gabriel glanced at Dale briefly before speaking bluntly.

“I’m in charge here. Don’t get in the way, and follow my orders immediately. There’s nothing more to say.”

Rebecca sighed deeply and closed her eyes tightly.

Dale remained silent.

One thing was clear: Gabriel did not seem inclined to listen to his employer’s words.

“Ptui.”

Leaving nothing but those words behind, Gabriel, as if disgusted by something, spat yellow spit on the ground and walked away.

Harty seemed irritated at this sight and growled lowly towards Gabriel’s retreating back.

Dale said while brushing Harty’s fur.

“Hold back for now.”

Dale had seen many people in his time.

He knew all too well that individuals of such nature often don’t live out their natural lifespan.

After all, it was very difficult for unlucky people to survive for long in this harsh world.

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