It is my Destiny to be the Savior of the Protagonist

“Huh?”

Knight wrinkled his face as if to show off his disbelief.

“Ha, come to think of it, your master is the famous idiot Adrian Black. A guy who uses money as kindling. So you truly believe that he wouldn’t abandon you?”

Axel ignored the grinning knight and packed his things.

“Shit.”

As he started to walk away in silence, Knight got up too, swearing.

They moved quietly. A soft red and green light encased their bodies as they moved. It was the blessing of their spirits. A Spirit Knight was able to survive even in a contaminated area thanks to this protection. Even if it wasn’t at the level of an elemental spirit who can create safe territories for the humans around them, it was at least possible to protect their bodies for a while. It was a strength that was distinctly different from that of ordinary people whose lives were in danger the moment their spirit lamp was extinguished.

Axel held a map as he led the way, with Knight stumbling after. Contaminated sites often have a significantly different topography when compared to before contamination, so preexisting maps were useless. But Axel had a rough, hand-made map of the area, made by one of the subjugation teams when they closed the labyrinth here. It was an item given to him by the Master for this mission. Axel inadvertently checked his chest pocket. An envelope crinkled under his fingers. Even on this mission, Adrian Black had sent a sealed letter. As always, if a crisis arose, this letter would help him. 

He walked for a long time. It was difficult to discern the passage of time because the sky was always the same, whether it was night or day. Axel took out his pocket watch and checked the time. This was one of the items he got as a ‘birthday present’. In contaminated areas, normal watches wouldn’t work properly, but this was an expensive watch that prevented such problems with an inserted spirit stone.

He looked at the time and it was night. He stopped and prepared to camp. They ate beef jerky and hard biscuits as they couldn’t eat anything found in the contaminated area. Whether it was hunted meat, fruit, or water, if they ate anything, their flesh would rot and they would die. Even the air was so polluted that ordinary people couldn’t breathe without a spirit lamp, so it was unavoidable. That’s why they could only use water and food brought with them or found within the territories created by the Elemental Spirit. However, since the local Elemental Spirit was dead, they had to be careful with every drop of water.

Axel frowned as he measured the remaining water. It would be a struggle to hold out until they got out of the contaminated area.

Likewise, Knight, who checked his water bottle, said in a subdued voice.

“Let’s just go back.”

“Abandon the mission? You know what that would mean.”

“Damn it, what’s more important than life?”

“Is there not enough water?”

“Water is not the problem. As I said before, I will die at this rate. Whatever the mission, we will both die.”

Knight scratched his head nervously.

“We haven’t even gotten close enough to see the entrance to the labyrinth, but already the Elemental Consul, Wizard, and Priest have died. There are only two people left, you and me.”

“We will arrive at the entrance tomorrow, but we don’t have to defeat the labyrinth, so the mission is quite possible.”

“Is it really a subjugated labyrinth? How can monsters constantly pop up like this in a contaminated area where the labyrinth is closed? Is the nucleus still alive?”

“Don’t we have a map? If it hadn’t been subjugated, the map…”

“…It’s not normal to have a map! This is a place where 11 or 12 subjugation troops were destroyed. At that level, even if the subjugation was successful, the map isn’t enough to prevent us from wandering around.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I want to live!”

Knight’s voice rose.

“Let’s go back. If we discover that the nucleus is still alive after entering the labyrinth, it’s all over.”

Axel silently checked his pocket and felt the texture of the envelope. He shook his head.

“I won’t give up. If you want to give up, go back alone.”

“Then you’re going to die!”

“I don’t intend to die in a place like this.”

“You’re driving me crazy. Do you know who’s thinking of dying?”

“If you’re not going back, go to sleep.”

Axel wrapped himself in a cloak instead of using his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. Knight gritted his teeth, then sighed and grunted, as if he couldn’t help himself. He didn’t dare go back the way they came by himself, so he stayed, annoyed.

“Do you really trust your master this much? Why? Because Black doesn’t use his position to make money? Didn’t that guy free all his pieces?”

Axel didn’t answer. Knight continued quietly.

“Look, I’m 35. Even though my rank is lower than yours, I have lived as a chess piece for 10 years longer. There is no Master who does good things for no purpose. If they were such a merciful person, they’d be the director of an orphanage rather than an association master. Everything has a purpose. A piece of equipment is just a tool. No matter how much you protect it, it’s still a tool that can be discarded and replaced if necessary. Since you’re strong, do you think it’s different for you? You’re good, but you’re still a ‘tool’. Even if you seem more precious than the other pieces, you can still be sacrificed if your master wants to win. That’s chess.”

When Axel didn’t move, Knight lay down and muffled his swear words.

“Damn it, you’ll have to get hit in the back of the head in order to come to your senses.”

It was a tough night. If they fell asleep deeply, their spiritual protection might be cut off if a ‘crack’ appeared in it while sleeping. They had no choice but to take short naps in order to maintain their protection. And they had to be on guard against being attacked by monsters. 

After spending a lot of time taking short naps, they woke up and ate breakfast. Knight chewed his jerky with a haggard face. Since he had an injury, he must have been more tired than Axel. His eyes were only half open.

Axel saw that the faint green light covering Knight’s body had begun to flicker.

“Knight, your blessing is wavering. Stay focused.”

After giving a word of caution, he began to clean up. As he packed his sleeping bag, he heard Knight’s jerky being dropped. Axel looked behind him and reflexively drew his sword. It was the right decision.

“Kuk!”

He was barely able to block the sword that Knight had pulled out and struck down with. The eyes looking at him were unfocused.

“Ugh!”

Knight screamed and swung his sword. Light green wind blew out in all directions from the blade of his sword. Axel gnashed his teeth and slashed each gust of wind with his sword wreathed in fire. Then Knight’s eyes completely rolled back into their sockets. It was a phenomenon Axel had seen several times.

‘He’s gone crazy.’

He seemed to have breathed in the contaminated air because his spirit protection had weakened while he was sleeping.

‘Should I kill him?’

He pondered for a moment, but then shook his head. He remembered what they had been talking about last night. It may have seemed that Knight was trying to convince him because he was not confident in going back alone, but his concern for Axel was also quite sincere. He was a senior who had been a piece for a long time and needed to look out for a younger piece who trusted his master too much. 

‘It’s not that there isn’t a cure.’

He approached, deflecting the wind, and slammed Knight’s stomach with his knee. He let go of the crumpled knight and rolled up his sleeves. He manipulated the dark blue metal bracelet that was on his wrist. It was an item that he obtained from a labyrinth during a past mission. It was classified as an ‘inventory’ item and was extremely rare, having a fairly large space inside to store things.

“Doesn’t the monster fight hard to protect the treasure, not the egg?”

Because of the phrase in Adrian’s letter, he looked around the monster who was strangely outraged. It was after all his other colleagues left, assuming that the monster had gone on a rampage because of the egg. If it hadn’t been for the letter, he wouldn’t have looked. And, if he hadn’t learned about the habits of that monster from his teacher, he wouldn’t have thought to dig into the ground under the nest. 

After finding this inventory item under the nest, Axel tried to turn it in to Simon. After all, items obtained during a mission naturally become the property of the Master. But Simon calmly said that he hadn’t seen anything.

“Master said that there is no need for you to turn in items other than those requested from the mission.”

“But you’ve seen it. So, won’t it remain in the necklace’s record?”

“A record?”

Editor’s Note: just a reminder that each ‘chess-piece’ wore a necklace which recorded everything, like a body camera.

Simon inspected the necklace Axel had returned and clicked his tongue as if he couldn’t believe what he saw.

“This. It’s broken. I’ll get a ‘new’ necklace from the association. But I’m afraid that these necklaces may often break in the future. Don’t worry, you can always exchange them for a new one.”

It meant stealing items while keeping it a secret from the association. And Simon said it would happen more often in the future. Axel quietly asked.

“So there’s no need to turn the item in. Is this an order directly from the Master?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you even know what this is?”

“Well… Even if I didn’t know what it was, you’re welcome to it.”

He pretended not to know that he had basically been instructed in the letter to retrieve this item. At that time, Axel thought the Master was doing this to obtain the item without having to report it to the Association. But if it was stolen like this, the Master wouldn’t be able to obtain it if he didn’t turn it in. Axel thought Adrian was pitiful. 

It was only later, after he became uncomfortable, that he realized that giving these items to him without anyone knowing was the Master’s purpose in and of itself. 

Axel took out a bottle of elixir from his inventory. Adrian used to send out enough expensive elixirs for the entire team. As for this time, he only carried one bottle, but his master seemed to have quite a lot of money.

He gripped the bottle, grabbed the chin of the writing knight, and bit the top off the elixir.

“Kuck, kuck.”

The potion that purified contamination also healed the illnesses caused by contamination. As he forced Knight to take several sips of the golden liquid, his eyes regained focus.

“If you don’t want to go crazy again, reinstate your spirit protection first.”