The Former Holy Knight. Having Lost My Job and Childhood Friend, I Decided to Start a Dark Guild

I was trudging desperately through the forest, Bumpy blood-soaked on my back. Gradually, the effect of Kano’s skill “Search” weakened, and the presence of Nadale and his followers faded behind us. However, there was no doubt that the Holy Knights were still behind us.

Bearing a wounded Holy Knight on my back and being pursued by the Holy Knight Order left me in a state of confusion. And as I walked, the scene I had witnessed earlier kept flashing through my mind. Despite being attacked, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something I could have done.

When I overwhelmed the heretic attackers and demanded, “Tell me who ordered this attack and their purpose,” something started to go awry.

The presence of the “Search” skill was that of Nadale and the Holy Knights. Intuitively, I knew we should not face them.

So, I repeated the same demand, “Tell me who ordered this attack and their purpose,” hoping to quickly extract information from the attackers, apprehend them, and leave this place.

The attacker hesitated for a moment before attempting to speak. However, no words came out of the man’s mouth.

Suddenly, his entire body began to tremble violently. For a moment, I braced for the activation of some skill, but the man seemed to be in agony, clutching his throat and stiffening.

As the man whimpered and shook, I was powerless to do anything.

And when the man finally ceased moving, I came to my senses.

(Undoubtedly, he is dead…)

I couldn’t understand what had happened right in front of me. The man’s neck was marked with a pattern resembling plant vines, vividly red and bleeding. Having witnessed death numerous times during my days as a Holy Knight, the scene before me was undeniably abnormal.

There was no time to ponder. Nadale was closing in. My instincts screamed that we couldn’t stay here.

I spoke to Bumpy, lying on the ground.

“Bumpy, I have to go. I’ll leave you in the care of the knight order.”

Despite his severe injuries, Bumpy could recover with proper treatment. Just as I was about to leave, Bumpy groaned and lifted his head.

“Leon, don’t leave me…”

“Nadale and the others will be here soon. They will heal you with holy magic. Claim this heretic as your achievement. You’ll be promoted for sure.”

Bumpy shook his head.

“Listen, Leon. According to the plan, I was supposed to die in this attack, and you were supposed to be gravely injured.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nadale was the one who ordered the attack. If the attack failed, a second plan would be executed. I would be killed, and you would be framed as a Holy Knight murderer. Take me to the captain, to Saintess Cecil.”

As I carried Bumpy through the forest, Nadale’s voice occasionally echoed through the trees.

“Leon Stein! Stop this futile resistance and surrender!”

Nadale’s capture rate is among the top in the knight order. The situation was incomparably more serious than when I was pursued by knights in the royal capital before. I had planned to shake off Nadale and his men in this familiar forest and take Bumpy to Cecil’s mansion, but the more we walked, the more difficult our situation became.

If only I could use Kano’s “Shadow Walk” skill, but that was impossible due to activating “Search” earlier.

We needed to increase our speed no matter what. As I thought this and put strength into my legs, I felt heaviness like lead wrapped around them.

Was this unnatural sensation due to holy magic? It wasn’t as severe as the Gethsemane Prayer I received from Cecil the other day, but my legs felt significantly heavier, slowing my walking speed. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before we were caught.

“No choice but to change our plan.”

I looked around and changed our direction. Come to think of it, the base Cecil and I used in the past wasn’t too far from here. If we could hide there temporarily, we might be able to shake off Nadale.

As I walked, recalling the way, a large stone wall with strange patterns, different from ancient scripts, appeared as expected. When Cecil and I discovered this during our forest exploration, we pondered what it could be.

Cecil speculated it might be a hidden door and brought a book on rune hieroglyphs, a language older than ancient scripts, from the royal library. When she casually recited words from it, the stone wall opened by chance, revealing a cave. I remember the surprise we shared that day as if it were yesterday.

Uttering the words I had said countless times before, the stone wall opened with a sliding sound, just like back then. As I stepped into the darkness, the wall closed behind us.

Once enveloped in darkness inside the cave, trembling Bumpy spoke from my back.

“Is this place safe?”

“It’s an old cave, but there are no monsters, so rest easy. This was a base Cecil and I used to use.”

The cave’s interior followed a narrow path for a while. Familiar with the way I walked effortlessly in the dark.

Relying on memory, I lit the magical lanterns on the wall, and in the next moment, a nostalgic space unfolded before us. The crude bed and table we made and the books we read were all left as they were.

The cave was surprisingly spacious, spacious enough for simple training. A piece of paper from our days that read “Absolute Success in the Royal Holy Knights!” remained on the wall.

“Bumpy, I’ll lay you down on that bed for now. There should be potions and bandages somewhere. I need to stop the bleeding; it’s severe.”

“Thanks, man. Since this was a base for you two, does that mean Lady Cecil also used this bed?”

“Well, yes, that’s true.”

“Now that you mention it, it smells nice, like Lady Cecil’s fragrance.”

“What, are you a pervert? Besides, it’s been years since she used it; any scent would have faded by now.”

“Really? It smells like the fragrance Lady Cecil uses, though.”

Despite his grave injuries, I could only be amazed by Bumpy sniffing the sheets. Anyway, I opened the storage shelf to look for potions and felt something was off.

The bandages, potions, and emergency food supplies were new for some reason. Even the bed sheets were fresh, different from the worn clothes we used in the past.

Had someone been coming here recently? Confused, I tossed a new potion to Bumpy. “Lucky you, Bumpy. It’s a high-quality potion.”

Thanks to the quality potion, Bumpy’s wounds healed to the point of closing. Perhaps because his injuries were healing, Bumpy’s banter seemed to return.

“You’re really lucky, man. It is great to have spent your childhood with Lady Cecil. She’s going to be an empress one day.”

“Cecil was just a tomboyish girl back then.”

We heard a noise from outside, and I gestured to Bumpy to be quiet.

The tapping of the stone door could be heard, followed by Nadale’s voice faintly reaching us.

“He must be around here. He couldn’t have gone far.”

My heartbeat intensified, but even Nadale couldn’t enter this cave.

While we held our breath, knocking on the stone echoed in the cave, and Bumpy sat up abruptly on the bed.

“Thanks, Leon. I really would have been dead without you.”

“No need for thanks. You haven’t fully recovered yet. You should rest.”

As I said this and focused outside, Bumpy stood up from the bed.

“I’ll make sure to rise through the ranks in the knight order for both of us.”

“What are you talking about… Where are you going? Bumpy!”