How a Second Life Knight Lives

1. I returned to the beginning.

I thought I would die on the battlefield.

Stabbed by someone’s sword or having my head crushed by a warhammer.

Maybe I would fall after being hit by a stray arrow in the chaos.

That’s what I thought.

I was certain that at least I wouldn’t die in bed.

Because that was the kind of time it was.

But I never imagined that I would end up kneeling, bound, waiting for a sword to fall on my neck.

“Ugh! My mouth is so dry that I can’t even spit.”

“Soldier! Bring something for the prisoner to drink.”

A watered-down wine was shoved into my mouth. I drank half and spilled half, but having something in my mouth for the first time in days brought me back to my senses a bit.

“Is there nothing better than this filthy water? I’d like a proper drink on my way out.”

“You have a lot of demands for a traitor.”

“Still, we once had each other’s backs. How about showing some mercy?”

“You’re still thinking like that, with your head in the clouds. That’s why you’re in this state now. After all you’ve been through, shouldn’t you have come to your senses by now?”

I looked up at the man in front of me.

A face so pale it was almost white, tall and slender, with a figure that looked good in clothes.

His well-tailored ceremonial robe without a single wrinkle and his neatly trimmed nails, wouldn’t he fit right in at some party holding a wine glass?

He didn’t look like he belonged on a battlefield where you had to scrape the bottom of humanity.

Yet, with that appearance, he crushed me and my men.

I thought I was quite seasoned in battle, but I was defeated without a chance to fight back.

Well, there was betrayal, but that’s a passive thing on the battlefield. The one who gets betrayed is the fool.

Yes. I am that fool.

“It’s too late for me to come to my senses. So, dying like this doesn’t seem so bad.”

“Half-heartedly ruthless, half-heartedly merciful, half-heartedly cautious, half-heartedly rebellious. Even in death, you’re half-hearted.”

That’s a misunderstanding!

I hadn’t completely shed my modern sensibilities.

After living as a company employee for over twenty years, how could I suddenly make a living with a sword? I thought I had adapted well, but to the natives, I must have seemed clumsy.

I closed my mouth.

He, who had been staring at me with an unreadable expression, leaned in and whispered to me.

“I appreciate that you became the first stepping stone for my success. I hope the second and third stepping stones will do as well as you did.”

“?”

“The Countess, and the Elector.”

“Crazy bastard.”

“Farewell, William.”

Ignoring my bewilderment, he stood up. A cold smile, unfitting for his neat face, briefly appeared and then vanished.

“Execute the traitor.”

“Yes, sir.”

That was the last memory I had of him.

Gasp!

The moment the executioner’s sword struck my neck, I felt a burning sensation all over my neck.

The pain spread from my neck to my head as if it were exploding. As my twisted face silently screamed, I woke up, jerking my upper body.

My whole body was drenched in sweat. Unconsciously, my hand went to my neck.

Fumbling.

My neck was intact. There was no pain.

This dampness was sweat, not blood.

As my rapid breathing slowly calmed down, my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

And I realized.

This was my hometown.

Whether it was possession or reincarnation, it was the place where I woke up with memories of living as a Korean on Earth.

And the calendar illuminated by the moonlight told me that it was exactly the time when I had first woken up.

“What? After dying and waking up, now it’s regression? How can this be? After making me suffer among savages wielding swords when I had only ever held a pen, you want me to do it again? Ah! Well, now that I’ve had some experience with swords, it should be better than when I knew nothing. But still, I’m just one of those mediocre guys. I was just an ordinary knight! Hey, whoever sent me here. What’s your purpose? If you have a purpose, shouldn’t you tell me? Or are you filming some hidden camera prank? Do you find it amusing to see someone suffer? If you’re going to drop someone in a place like this, shouldn’t you at least give them something like a [blessing], [skill], or at the very least, a [status window]…”

I stopped talking.

The adrenaline that had been pumping fiercely also stopped.

Only after my cold brain confirmed it several times could I accept the fact as it was.

A translucent window was floating in front of my eyes.

* * *

It was something I had only imagined.

Living in the world with some special ability different from others, like a status window.

But if one day, you were suddenly thrown into a medieval fantasy world and told to survive in turbulent times, it wouldn’t be strange to expect something beyond mere imagination.

So, for a while after I first woke up here, I secretly tried calling out the status window just in case. I shouted out all kinds of words I could imagine, not just the status window.

That was it.

The lingering attachment to special abilities.

Because living here was a reality.

Thinking about it now, it’s quite funny, but when I first woke up here, I didn’t feel that bad.

The place I used to work was pretty tough.

As long as I didn’t cause any real trouble, neither that guy nor I would get fired. It was incomparable to a place like that. I played my part well enough to rise to a mid-level executive, so I guess I had some ability.

But what does that matter?

I was just a salaried worker.

My body and mind were worn out from excessive loyalty, and my marriage was just so-so.

Was it burnout, or maybe depression?

That efficient organization couldn’t just leave it alone.

Even the lowest level could tell that if things continued like this, I would soon be on the verge of quitting.

In such a situation, being transported to a medieval European-style fantasy world? Reincarnation? It felt like a vacation to me.

I actually rested well for about a year.

The problem was after that.

After that.

Just thinking about it gives me PTSD.

So I decided.

To leave this place immediately.

Putting the decision into action was simple.

I first went to the village chief’s house.

“What brings you here so early in the morning, Mr. William?”

“Gather all the people of the manor at my house before noon.”

The village chief, who was over 30 years older than me, stiffened at my words.

The question written on his face, ‘What the hell did this guy eat wrong to act like this?’ was clear enough for even me, who was immersed in my decision, to read.

It was because the village chief was somewhat like a friend to my late father. Although I had never met him, everyone around said so, so I decided to believe it.

There was a clear difference in status, and from the side, it was obvious who was above and below, but we still respected each other.

But now, here I was, his son, giving orders out of the blue. He must have been wondering what was going on.

“Didn’t you hear me?”

“······Yes. I will send the message now.”

“Alright. Hurry up.”

After openly demonstrating the power of the caste system, I nodded and turned to head home. I thought I heard something break behind me. However, the village chief did his job regardless of personal feelings.

After a while, people started to gather one by one, and by noon, everyone in the manor had gathered in front of my house.

About 50 households. Just under 300 people.

The people of Sandhog Manor.

They lived on barren land, so barren it was named after a sand dune.

I had no particular grudge against these people.

That’s why I called them.

“You must be wondering why I suddenly called you here. I’ll keep it simple. I have decided to leave this place. So, I plan to distribute the items I won’t be using to you.”

A brief silence followed. People who didn’t understand my sudden words looked at each other in confusion and began to murmur.

“Sir William is leaving? Isn’t Sir William our knight?”

“Wouldn’t he need the lord’s permission······”

“What are these unused items?”

A sharp voice rose above the murmuring noise.

“No, wait! William. What do you mean? Leaving!”

“Do you not understand the meaning of leaving?

“Are you abandoning the manor? Isn’t this your father’s manor? Have you received the lord’s permission?”

The village chief, his face red with excitement, asked me.

“Legally, this manor has nothing to do with me. It was my father’s manor, and now it has returned to Baron Ash. The baron will decide who comes here.”

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“William! Let’s go talk to the baron first. How long did Sir Burrows serve the baron? This is not a decision to be made lightly. Although Sandhog is a small manor, it will become important in the future due to its location. Abandoning such a manor is not right.”

I laughed bitterly.

He knew exactly what was going on, yet he was spouting such flattering words.

Isn’t this mess because of that very location?

“Enough. Chief. I’ve made my decision. So shut up.”

The village chief couldn’t say another word at my uncharacteristic tone. He finally looked at me properly and flinched.

*

Inside, I wore woolen clothes and over them, a steel breastplate. I wrapped my arms and legs with leather protectors and secured several daggers around my body.

I also prepared my longsword so that I could draw it at any moment.

I looked more like someone heading to a battlefield than someone embarking on a long journey. No, the atmosphere I exuded was more like someone returning from a battlefield.

Even the eyes playing with a red aura gave the impression that he might draw his sword and cause trouble at any moment.

The village chief felt fear from William, whom he had always thought of as a mere novice. It was the same fear he had felt long ago from the knight who had dismembered the bodies of the protesting peasants.

*

I could see the fear slowly rising in the village chief’s eyes. He was terrified now.

Ignoring the village chief, I continued speaking.

“Thanks to all of you in Sandhog, my late father and I were able to live well. As a token of gratitude, though it may not be much, I will leave behind the furniture and household items. Take them one by one in order of age, and if there are any left, they will be handed over to the manor’s communal warehouse.”

And then I left them.

I didn’t look back.

I decided that my connection with them would end here. If we were to meet again, I would treat them as if meeting for the first time.

*

The remaining people quickly forgot the one who had left and flocked to see the furniture and tools William had left behind.

However, the village chief could not do so.

“Chief, we need to divide the household items left by William.”

“That’s not important right now! Let old Bill, the eldest, take care of that. You all follow me!”

The village chief took his usual subordinates and went to the village warehouse. There, the communal tools and weapons used by the village were well organized.

“That brat! How dare he speak so arrogantly! Even his father didn’t dare to speak to me like that. The fool who never had any sense suddenly ran away? Did he suddenly gain some sense? Damn it. What should I tell the butler? This won’t do. You all, grab your weapons.”

“What? What do you mean? I saw William leave fully armed! It’s impossible. Impossible.”

“He’s just a novice who hasn’t even been knighted. After his father died, I never saw him train. Even the young men of the militia are probably stronger than him. Besides, there are four of us!”

For a moment, the fact that he had been scared hurt the pride of the village chief, who had once served as a territorial soldier.

A man whose pride is hurt sometimes loses his reason.

For the village chief, now was that time.

*

However, to me, who had left the manor, the village chief was already an irrelevant existence.

After leaving the manor with two horses, I was engrossed in what I had discovered at dawn.