For the next few minutes, no one in the attic spoke another word, the silence as dead as stagnant water.
Perhaps this was what a cold war felt like.
It was Wu Shuang's first time experiencing one, and he felt entirely fidgety, at a complete loss for what to do or how to break the silence.
The atmosphere remained frozen until familiar footsteps echoed outside—sounding like some massive creature walking—drawing the attention of both people inside the room.
It was a goblin!
Wu Shuang immediately made a shushing gesture, signaling Mia to stay quiet. Then, crouching low, he tiptoed over to the window and peeled back a corner of the curtain.
What he failed to notice was that Mia had followed him, mimicking his posture as she wriggled along stealthily without making a single sound.
Outside the window was that shark goblin Wu Shuang had seen several times before. It appeared on the north street, looking left and right, even glancing in Wu Shuang's direction. Startled, he hurriedly ducked back down, grumbling in his mind about why this boss-like goblin hadn't appeared sooner so he could have used the silver-armored knight to eliminate it.
“Is that the goblin you were talking about...?”
A tiny, mosquito-soft voice sounded right beside Wu Shuang's ear. It was almost inaudible, but she was so close her face was practically pressed against his.
Combined with the suddenness of her speaking and the faint puff of breath against him, it startled Wu Shuang—who had been entirely focused on looking outside—nearly out of his skin, prompting him to quickly dodge to the side.
“I...!”
“Shh...”
Mia held her hair up in front of her mouth and made a shushing motion, leaving Wu Shuang temporarily speechless. Fortunately, he kept his voice down and spoke after a few seconds:
“How did you get over here without making a sound? You almost scared me to death!”
“Didn't you say to be quiet?”
“Uh...”
Because her logic was so flawless, Wu Shuang was left completely speechless.
“Is that fathead-fish monster outside a goblin?”
“Fathead...”
Wu Shuang almost choked, but he quickly recovered and nodded to confirm it was.
“This monster has sharp hearing. Whenever there's a big commotion in town, it'll show up ten minutes later to patrol and check things out.”
Wu Shuang explained. At that moment, the footsteps outside stopped as well, seemingly coming to a halt on the north street.
The two exchanged a look, both making a shushing motion, then peeked out together, carefully pulling the curtain open while trying not to make any noise.
Outside.
The goblin stood on the north street, looking around for the source of the noise. From time to time, it glanced toward the estate, seeming curious about the shield stuck in the ground, but in the end, it did not step inside.
After all, the old knight's residual lingering threat remained; the last goblin that had dared to do so was still lying dead on the ground.
It didn't know the old knight had already left, nor did it dare to risk its life to test the waters. But discovering the truth was likely only a matter of time, so the estate was no longer safe. Wu Shuang needed to take action and make some changes.
The goblin wandered the street searching for a while without spotting Wu Shuang or Mia. Positioned up high with small targets, the two were extremely inconspicuous.
After about three minutes passed like this, the empty-handed goblin seemed to lose its patience. Letting out a strange, roaring screech, it swung the bone club in its hand and began smashing the buildings along the street, pounding frantically along the way and causing considerable destruction. The noise was immense, and two buildings were even reduced to ruins.
Through this wild smashing, it actually made a discovery—a living corpse ran out. The goblin immediately gave chase, scooped it up, stuffed it into its mouth to chew, and departed satisfied, gradually disappearing into the fog.
Before long, however, sounds of destruction and commotion echoed from further away, vanishing after a few minutes, after which no more sounds could be heard.
“It's gone,” Mia whispered in a low voice, seemingly realizing the terror of the fathead fish by now as well.
Wu Shuang nodded, a dead-serious expression on his face.
Because the situation had changed, he had lost the card that was the old knight. The estate was no longer safe and had even become a suspicious target worth destroying.
Furthermore, the shark-headed goblin seemed prone to destroying buildings, especially when it turned up empty-handed and went on a rampage out of anger, which further increased the risks of moving around.
He had to do something, such as...
“That fathead fish is attracted to noise, and you have a gun. Why don't we ambush it?” Mia suggested at that moment, voicing the exact thought Wu Shuang had in mind—the two of them had actually thought of the same thing.
Although Wu Shuang had considered it before, he had lacked confidence and feared failure. But things were different now—he had Mia as an assistant as well as the divine weapon Blood Rose. It was indeed worth a shot, though the first strike of the ambush had to heavily damage it.
“Wait until tomorrow...
It's too late today, and I need time to recover my stamina. If night falls suddenly, we'll be in big trouble.
Once day breaks tomorrow, we'll try to ambush it!”
Wu Shuang nodded, wanting to act as soon as possible—preferably killing it before it realized the old knight was gone to avoid falling into a passive position.
The details of the plan could be discussed later; they had an entire night to plan.
Before that, however, they had to head to the estate's main gate—that was, the south side—to check the situation. Now that the old knight was gone, that area was available to explore.
Wu Shuang pulled out his handbook to check and confirm the entry details regarding that shield.
【Name: Kingdom Knight Shield】
【Quality: Fine】
【Description: The pride of the Holy Kingdom—a standard-issue shield used by Kingdom Knights.
To ensure durability and reliability, it is forged in one piece from pig iron mixed with silver, thick and hard, infused with a small amount of Humanity to render it even sturdier and virtually rustproof.
However, for this very reason, the weight of the shield is extraordinarily exaggerated. Ordinary people cannot use it at all; a minimum of 30 Strength is required to barely lift this shield.
Kingdom Knight ①: Kingdom Knights are the core force of the Holy Kingdom in resisting the Demon King's invasion and one of the key reasons the Royal City stands firm.
Each of them is a carefully selected warrior, possessing not only superhuman physiques but also the determination to dedicate themselves and sacrifice everything for the Holy Kingdom. Thus, they are capable of bearing the heavy Kingdom Knight Armor, battling on the front lines to defend the Royal City.】
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“Kingdom Knight...” Wu Shuang muttered under his breath.
“What is it? Did you see something?” Mia leaned in and asked, actually looking at the Hero Handbook as well, though she couldn't see the text on it.
This time, Wu Shuang wasn't startled. After finishing reading, he relayed the appraised information to Mia.
“Kingdom Knight...”
“Why? Does that ring a bell?”
Mia shook her head to indicate no, yet she felt she might be related to the Kingdom Knights, or even one of them.
Wu Shuang pictured the old knight's figure in his mind, removed the helmet, and replaced him with Mia...
Mmh... that was way too damn weird. Impossible!
“You're probably not a Kingdom Knight. That set of heavy armor doesn't match your figure at all.”
“How strange. You haven't even seen my body, so how can you be so sure? Do you have clues or something? Speak up!”
Mia still stuck to her opinion, but Wu Shuang stubbornly insisted it was impossible, even if he couldn't offer any proof.
If he had to name proof... it was simply too weird to imagine.
Wu Shuang refused to believe Mia could look like that.
Rate on N.U.
