Knight: Becoming King of the World

Standing in the camp, he couldn’t help but picture the Inferior Horned Beast he had dueled—the one that had suddenly mutated on the battlefield.

Not only did its body swell, but it was also covered in purple markings. Henry still remembered its power and ferocity vividly.

Henry was one hundred percent certain that power came from Chaos.

He closed his eyes. ’The source of that power... it must be Khorne.’

A sense of unease washed over Henry. If Khorne’s power had already permeated this place and could directly influence reality, then the scale and complexity of this war might be far greater than he had imagined.

’Besides, why doesn’t a good thing like an army just appearing out of nowhere ever happen to me?’

’Screw Khorne. Useless piece of crap.’

Then, he recalled the battle flag—the one Glock had wanted to take.

He didn’t know what was so special about it, but its existence clearly held some unusual significance for the Inferior Horned Beasts.

’Could it be used to subdue, command, and rally other Inferior Horned Beast armies?’

The thought swirled in Henry’s mind. He decided he would have to test it when the time came and uncover the flag’s secret.

Henry’s gaze turned northward again. He had no idea where these Inferior Horned Beasts were coming from.

The Snowfield Basin was already very far away. Could it be that vast numbers of Inferior Horned Beasts lived somewhere even farther north?

The thought sent a chill down Henry’s spine. If that were true, they could be facing a nearly inexhaustible enemy force.

Previously, Henry had speculated that a spatial rift might have appeared somewhere, allowing these Inferior Horned Beasts to pour through.

This speculation unsettled him, but neither the Prince nor Ratifa had ever mentioned such a thing, which left him feeling helpless.

He hadn’t personally witnessed a spatial rift appear, so it was all just conjecture for now.

Regardless of where the Inferior Horned Beasts came from, he had to be prepared to deal with them.

He needed more intelligence, a better understanding of the enemy, to formulate an effective strategy.

He climbed down from the watchtower and returned to his command tent.

Inside the tent, a brazier cast a warm glow. Henry sat at a table and pulled out a map. He needed to identify the Inferior Horned Beasts’ likely points of origin, find the locations of any potential spatial rifts, and formulate a complete reconnaissance and defense plan.

A set of footsteps interrupted Henry’s thoughts. He turned to see it was Claude.

Claude held a report in his hand, a serious expression on his face. He walked up to Henry, handed him the report, and said, "Sir, these are the initial statistics."

Henry took the report and read it carefully. It listed the casualty numbers and the amount of spoils.

Henry nodded. The numbers in the report were more or less the same as on his status panel. Although the losses seemed heavy, the gains had also been substantial.

Or rather, from the moment Henry acquired his status panel, it became impossible for him to truly lose out in a victorious battle.

Winning. He was winning big.

Henry handed the report back to Claude. "Well done, Claude. Sort through the spoils as quickly as possible and distribute the equipment to the troops who need it. At the same time, begin selecting new members for the Personal Guard. We need to restore our combat strength quickly.

"Hmm... as for that scrap metal, same as usual. Sell it to Ratifa, have her write an IOU. And since we’re helping her transport the goods, have her cover the shipping fees and all that too. She’s got the money, anyway."

Claude laughed heartily, nodded in agreement, and turned to carry out Henry’s orders.

Not long after Claude left, Ratifa’s voice came from outside the command tent, requesting to see Henry.

Henry nodded, signaling the guard to let her in. ’She’s a countess, after all. Whatever was bothering her, she’s had a whole night to get over it.’

Ratifa swept aside the tent flap, letting in a gust of cold air as she entered the command tent with her Personal Guard captain, Vasco.

"Henry, could you be any cheaper?" Ratifa said jokingly as soon as she entered.

"You won’t even cover the shipping on such a large arms deal?"

Henry just smiled, not responding directly to Ratifa’s banter.

He knew about Ratifa’s financial situation. Her fief was a major crossroads in the Northern Lands, with countless merchant caravans passing through daily. Taxes and tolls kept her coffers overflowing.

Ratifa’s money really did seem like it was just blown in by the wind. Every day, thousands of merchant caravans, large and small, passed in and out of her lands, bringing a ceaseless flow of wealth.

’You’d have to be an idiot not to take that money. How’s a poor guy like me supposed to get rich? You take it from the rich.’

Ratifa casually pulled up a chair and sat by the brazier, holding out her hands to feel its warmth.

Ratifa acted so naturally that Henry might have thought it was her own tent. It seemed she had no intention of leaving right away, probably planning to enjoy the warmth for a while.

Henry couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. Ratifa had brought almost no "logistical support" this time—just food, weapons, and armor for her Personal Guard. As for comforts like a warm fire, she couldn’t possibly have them in her own camp.

Unlike Henry, who had at least five carriages dedicated to his personal belongings whenever he went on a campaign.

No one spoke, and the tent grew quiet. After sitting for a moment, Ratifa seemed to get bored. She looked around, her eyes landing on Henry’s huge battle-axe and warhammer, and his strange set of armor.

’Curiosity gnawed at her,’ but Ratifa resisted the urge to go and fiddle with them. She was afraid Henry would smack her.

She noticed Henry was staring intently at something, so she walked over curiously.

When she saw Henry studying a map, his finger tracing lines between the mission location given to him by the Prince and the places where the Inferior Horned Beast hordes had appeared before, Ratifa grew confused.

"What are you doing?" Ratifa asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

Henry glanced up at her, then pointed to the markings on the map. "I’m looking at the locations where these Inferior Horned Beasts have appeared, along with our current mission objective, to see if I can find any patterns or clues."

Ratifa leaned in closer, her eyes scanning the map, trying to understand Henry’s train of thought.

But it was no use. Ratifa stared for a long time, only managing to make her eyes swim, and she couldn’t glean any intelligence from it.

"Did you find anything?"

Henry sighed, his finger tapping lightly on the map.

"I have some theories, but no conclusive evidence yet. I suspect these Inferior Horned Beasts might be coming from somewhere in the north, or possibly even through a spatial rift."

Hearing Henry’s words, Ratifa’s brow furrowed slightly. She fell silent for a moment.

"A spatial rift?" Ratifa repeated the term, staring at Henry’s face as she pondered.

’How does this man know so much?’

Henry pressed his lips together and said with a sense of resignation, "If it really is a spatial rift, then things are complicated. We might not just be facing the threat of the Inferior Horned Beasts, but also the intervention of the Chaos Force."

’Chaos Force? Another new term...’

"A spatial rift is..."

Henry blinked, holding his pen suspended in the air to explain. "Imagine we live on the surface of this table. In that case, the Subspace, where Chaos resides, is here where the pen is."

"The people on this ’table’ can’t get to the ’pen’... most likely, anyway. But the Chaos armies from the Subspace are now appearing on our table."

"This shouldn’t be possible. It means the ’pen’ and the ’table’ have gotten very close, maybe even partially overlapping somewhere... Possibly. To be honest, I don’t really get it either. It’s too complicated."

Henry felt a little frustrated. The Subspace was just too complex a subject, and he was just a dabbler himself; his knowledge was actually quite limited.

Ratifa swallowed, not knowing what to say.

’If even Henry doesn’t really understand, how could she?’

Henry had just rattled off a whole bunch of stuff, and Ratifa felt like the information had gone in one ear and out the other, leaving nothing behind.

Ratifa felt that in the entire empire, there was probably no one who understood this better than Henry.