I have become Legion - Zetro Translation

The Title of Holy Knight is very rare. Well… In truth, it’s not an actual title, people just call them that. It’s because of a special interaction with papal law. Basically, when you become a paladin, a soldier of the papacy, you need to relinquish all your titles, and you can’t accept new ones. This way, paladins hopefully remain fully loyal to the papacy, rather than a certain kingdom. But there is a certain loophole to this rule. That is… If the Pope is the one giving you that title.

Now how could the Pope, who is only a religious figure, give out a noble title? More specifically, how can the Pope give out knighthood when the papacy does not have it. Well, it’s quite simple, there’s the Holy Kingdom. It’s a little complicated, but the Pope is also the King of the Holy Kingdom. So if a paladin, who is not acting on order of the church, achieves a great deed, helping the Holy Kingdom, then the Holy King, who is also the Pope, would grant them knighthood.

Now this is where a major loophole comes into play. Because of a great war in the past, the Pope can’t command a noble of any kingdom. Normally when he’s acting as the Holy King, he’s acting as the Holy King and not the Pope, so that’s fine, I guess. But now he’s got a Paladin that he’s got under him, but he’s not allowed to command them since they’re also a knight. If he tries to command the knight as the Holy King, then there’d be a problem with the church, saying that the Holy King is abusing his powers.

It’s a really weird situation. Even though the Pope is the Holy King, and the Holy King is the Pope, they can’t command this specific type of subordinate. That’s why people started calling them Holy Knights, to distinguish them from the regular knights and paladins. Mostly though the Holy Knights are pretty chill, and listen to the requests of the Pope, but they also often just go wander around and do whatever they want to.

And Holy Knight Aaron de Teir, out of the Holy Knights. He is the one who has fought against the most amount of demons. He fought during the incident in the south, wielding holy flames against King Baal. Righteous, kind, and always trying to destroy evil. Originally a regular paladin. Bestowed the title of Holy Knight for defeating a dragon. Well, that was a secret until right before the game began. Holy Knight Aaron suggested it directly to the Warrior-Pope. They’d reveal it around the same time as the Saintess enters the academy. Since each Holy Knight is a strategic weapon, the church having one more, and a recent one at that, should elevate the Saintess’ position.

‘Ah’

I should get back on track. He has a personal grudge against demonkind, as during the incident in the south, a demon killed his lover. So, the words:

‘I’m gonna go kill a demon. Isn’t that enough Holy Knight Aaron?’

Should be enough to satisfy him. Especially considering his trait of [Lie Detection]. If somebody else were to say those words, it wouldn’t mean anything. Even if they were to try killing a demon, most people understand that it’s practically impossible. Well, for me it’s not, it’s just gonna take a long time. It’s a foregone conclusion. An absolute truth.

Right now I don’t want any attention from people high up, since I need to keep a low profile until I at least enter the academy. Thankfully, it seems he didn’t mind the stigmata on my back, don’t know why. Well, I have some guesses. It’s a high-ranking stigmata, higher rank than the stigmata of killing a saint even, so he’s probably guessing that a demon instead of a cleric would brand me with it. Especially since I just talked about a demon.

Anyway, since my mind seems to have cleared up from the pain of the holy embers, I should get dressed. I take the clothes I set aside and check that I have everything. I take out the knife that I took from the village.

‘It’s damaged.’

Yeah, it won’t last long, and I don’t feel like fighting against a demon with a broken blade. Well, I already have a better weapon in mind.

“It is not enough.“

I look over to Holy Knight Aaron and think: that’s a scary expression. Like what the hell, I’m declaring that I’m gonna go kill one of your archenemies and you’re glaring at me.

“First, you show the ability to traverse the Misty Forest.”

Oh yeah, I guess I did that, but so what? Oh right, only the elves are supposed to do that. Well, whatever.

“So what-”

“Second, mental resilience to withstand the holy embers.”

Well, is it really that hard? Nevermind, yes it fucking is. It hurt like hell, and it still feels as if there’s some phantom pain.

“Four Times!” the face of the holy knight is now exasperated.

Guilty! I don’t really know what to say to that. But I’m pretty sure some people out there should be able to do it. I’m only slightly above average.

“Third, your body regenerated from a permanent burn. I can excuse the fact of regeneration. Certain people are born with such a trait. But that trait should not work on permanent injuries.“

Oh, he’s talking about Troll’s blood. Yeah, that was an interesting thing, well it’s also really annoying. Since those guys don’t die unless you kill them properly. Actually, I’m gonna just use that, pretend that I have Troll’s blood. No, Super Troll’s blood, I guess. And then never state it while in the same room as a paladin. [Lie Detection] is terrifying.

“Fourth, you have a stigmata on your back, larger than the largest one recorded in all history. It is obvious a demon did it, but not even demons would use it on just anyone.”

Uh… Sorry, let me just tap out here. I don’t know where I got this stigmata. I just decided on it in the character creator. Like does Antir Bright even have a proper backstory? How the hell could a person get this many curses and still be alive?

“Fifth, you refuse to identify yourself.” Now he again frowns. While before he was just stupefied by the stuff I did, this seems to make him angry.

Trying to appease his anger, I say “There’s a good reason for that.”

“Further yet, you didn’t refuse to identify yourself to anyone. You specifically said religious people.”

Well yeah. You guys have the Warrior-Pope. That madman is gonna instantly consider me a demon, since I probably appeared out of thin air. Like in the late game, if he’s alive, he will join literally every single mission targeting the demons.

“Sixth, you know the location of a demon, and have the delusion that you can defeat it… No, you claimed you could kill it, even when that was last done over a thousand years ago.”

That’s more a skill issue on your part, though, isn’t it? Like what’s so hard about killing those guys, except the amount of combat experience, bodies designed for battle, infernal magic, and… Well, I’m just gonna stop there, yeah, there’re a lot of problems with killing demons.

“Seventh. How do you, whatever you are, know a church secret?” now his hand is hovering over his the hilt of his sword.

I guess that should be a danger sign, but not really for me. I’m more, just flabbergasted, “Huh? What church secret?”

“My title as Holy Knight is still a secret.”

Wait it is!? Wait what, is this before the game began?

Aaron takes a deep breath and speaks in a calmer voice. “I was prepared to ignore the first four mysteries because of your potential.”

Honestly, I was hoping you’d ignore it all. But even I, as an outcast, can realize that’s not happening.

“But now, this is too much.”

Yeah, it really is. Now that you’re explaining it properly. Pain really makes the mind go mad.

“You will tell me who you are, and you will tell me the answers to all my questions.”

Not possible. So…

“No.”

There’s nothing else I can say.

And with those words. Holy Knight Aaron pulls out his sword. Well, too bad for you. I was prepared for this. I jump slightly to the right and the world twists around me.

“Haha, you fool.”

Didn’t think that I’d do all that holy ember stuff right next to a spacial distortion of the misty forest.

Well, now that I’ve dealt with that threat, I can get back to my main purpose. That is to save the world. For that I’m gonna need to do a lot of things. And go to a lot of places. No time to waste, it’s time to walk.

===

“Weakling, do you really think you can achieve your goals?”

My first destination is gonna be the ruins of a roman fort. Yeah, that’s right. It’s not a roman-inspired fort. It’s an actual roman fort. You see back when the game was being made they had planned on the world being much larger, and one empire that got scrapped was roman-inspired, but since they already had a bunch of assets, they used them for a unique location in the misty forest.

“Your muscles burn and ache. I can feel my belly bursting from this feast you are giving me.“

The lore is that somehow a roman legion got lost and ended up in the misty forest, just like the romans do, they end up making a fort. Unfortunately, they slowly got killed off by the monsters of the misty forest. This happened because none of them had levels. But deep inside this roman fort there’s a special gladius. it’s called [Bulwark of Empire]. After its last death, the dead soldiers rose to undeath. So I have to fight those guys.

“Yet you think you can achieve anything against the mighty demons. Such a fool.”

The walk towards the fort has gone peacefully. I even had my constitution stat increase by a point. The web way of the misty forest is actually really peaceful, while normally the misty forest tries to twist intruders to fight each other. If you go through the web way, it becomes one of the most peaceful areas in the entire game. Well, on the outskirts, like when I was entering from the village, it’s still decently dangerous.

“You will only suffer, never be able to defeat the demons. No matter how tenacious you are, it is futile.”

“It seems the sun is rising again.”

Yeah, it seems it’s already been a day since I entered this body. I haven’t slept at all, but I guess thanks to [Legion] I don’t need to. Well, I probably still should once I’ve got the required items. It’s not a good idea for the mind to withhold sleep for a long time. Even if my physical condition is restored by legion. I doubt it properly gives me rest.

“Collapse to the ground. Eat the dirt, maggot. Cry and wallow in despair. For the monarch of hell will descend. And you will have no defense against his majesty.”

Yeah, I really need to take care of my mind. This annoying shadow demon has been whispering in my ear for multiple hours now. And it’s not like he’s even saying new stuff. He just keeps praising demons, calling me weak, and saying that I can’t win. When it’s really the other way around. The demons have nothing they can do against me.

The northern gate of the fort appears before me as I enter through one of the web way spacial distortions.

“Damn, that’s a lot of undead.”

There’s almost twenty undead just at the north gate. I wonder how many undead are in total inside the fort. The gateway had twin doors between two 12 meter watchtowers, but now the center of the gate is just rubble. With the undead soldiers loitering around.

‘This is gonna take a while…’

I hold the dagger tight and approach the undead.

It looks like they’re talking, but I can’t really understand them. Could it be that they’re speaking in Latin? Maybe I didn’t really think about it in the game since you couldn’t converse with them. If only I had taken some Latin classes. Can’t really fault myself too much though, I dropped out after my parents died.

One undead looks at me. Following its gaze, others do too.

The undead snicker at me. Well yeah, I look like a beggar, and they’re trained soldiers. With their large tower shields and segmented armor, it’s like they were ready to be on the battlefield at any moment. The only thing that would make them look out of place in ancient Rome is their rotting flesh.

They say something to each other. Then one of them steps forward.

“I guess you’re my match.”

I say, knowing full well that he can’t understand me. The undead draws its gladius, and I prepare to rush at it. I don’t really care for stealthy approaches. I’d rather face the enemy head on.

Closing in on the undead, I strike, stab, and slash at it. It easily blocks each of my attacks. It takes some steps back as I catch my breath.

‘Huuh’

Just because I have 1% stamina regeneration doesn’t mean I don’t run out of stamina. Rather, I still run out of stamina quickly because of my low stats. Shit. I can’t really come up with a way to properly injure this guy. He’s just playing with me.

‘Maybe if I get really close to..’

I don’t have time to finish my thought as the undead places down his shield. He opens his arms wide and says something, as if he is gloating. Damn, asshole. Just because I’m new to fighting in this world.

Again, I step into range. I stab towards the undead, and he parries it. He then goes in for a stab. I jump back, barely dodging out of the way. Pulling my arms back towards the center, he slashes at my wrist. Then he steps back again with a grin on his face.

Shit, I could’ve gotten a hit on him if only I had taken that attack. But that sword was really sharp, like really sharp. When I fought against the grey wolf, I was already high on adrenaline when the fight started, but now. I’m scared.

Fuck, why am I scared. I’ve already felt so much pain. And I need to feel so much more pain. To save the world, I will have to walk the most painful path.

‘Huuh’

I take a deep breath to calm down. He’s probably thinking something like ‘He can’t use his arm properly anymore.’, but that’s a mistake. It’s already regenerated fully.

The undead takes a step forward again, coming into range. I rush forward, this time determined to get hit, and hit back. He lifts his sword high towards the sky and slashes it down towards my head. With an involuntary reflex, I dodge out of the way, having the sword instead hit my shoulder.

Suffering through the pain, I stab upwards towards his stomach, but my blade cannot pierce his segmented armor. I feel a vibration through my arm as confirmation. He pulls back his sword from my shoulder and tries to step back. But I don’t let him. If the body is no good, then I just gotta go for the head.

I put all my strength into the attack towards his head, but it’s not good enough. He parries the attack and then, with the pommel of his gladius, he hits my face.

It hurts like hell. My vision goes black for a second, and when it finally returns, I see the world entirely in red… I don’t have time to think how that’s possible as I notice him lifting the tower shield from the ground.

With a rush, I close in on him. The shield is blocking my sight, but if I can just get close enough to stab at his arms. Then I could at least cause him a good injury. Well, that’s at least what I was hoping for, but…

*Thunk*

The shield smashes right into my face. Further yet, his gladius pierces right through my chest.

The undead places a foot on my chest and pulls out the gladius. On his face, I can see a strange expression. One that is maybe confused, maybe afraid. It’s hard to tell.