Re-written date: 7 / 2 / 2025
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Chapter 19: The Headless Knight
"The undead have been sighted near the southern border?"
Just as Edward finished posting his latest call for female adventurers at the Adventurer's Guild and sat down to rest, the receptionist gave him that unsettling report.
His brows shot up in surprise. "The undead? Here in the south?"
The young woman nodded gravely and continued, "There've been rumors since a few days ago. Because the southern territory rarely sees powerful monsters, we always issue warnings when something this dangerous appears. We're telling adventurers to avoid leaving the city for a while. After all, the last lich incident nearly wiped out a whole squad. Fewer and fewer people are willing to become adventurers now… The last thing we need is for someone important like you to end up in danger again."
Understanding her intentions, Edward leaned forward, voice serious. "Do we know what type of undead it is?"
Undead creatures varied greatly in power. At the top were beings like lichs—once powerful mages who voluntarily transformed into undead. Though their elemental affinity decayed with death, they retained the ability to cast magic through necromancy or sheer will.
Below them were lesser undead, like skeleton soldiers and zombies. Then, there were nightmarish anomalies like bone dragons, each name alone enough to chill the blood.
Seeing that Edward seemed to know a fair bit about such creatures, the receptionist hesitated only briefly before replying:
"This time… it's a Headless Knight."
Edward froze.
And he wasn't the only one. Every adventurer nearby who heard the name stopped what they were doing and looked up in disbelief.
Yes—the Headless Knight.
Unlike liches, who could be numerous, the term Headless Knight referred to one specific individual—the Empire's once-greatest warrior, Belldia, who had perished centuries ago on the battlefield of the Northern Territory.
The south might be a peaceful land, but the north was a warzone. It bordered the uncharted chaos land and was under constant siege by monster tides. The Empire's elite knights and warriors were always stationed there, defending its final bastion.
And Belldia—he had been a legend among them.
A swordsman who reached the mythical Fifth Rank, the rank of Sword Saint, while still in his youth.
Many believed he would one day be the first human to break into the never-before-reached Sixth Rank of swordsmanship—a realm so elusive, it didn't even have a name. Not because people lacked imagination, but because no one had ever reached it.
For reference, the six swordsman ranks were:
Apprentice SwordsmanSwordsmanSword MasterSword SoulSword SaintUnnamed Rank
While magic had its own six-rank hierarchy, with the Sixth Rank dubbed Arch Mage—named after its first user—the sword's path had yet to witness a similar breakthrough.
Belldia might've been the one to do it.
His achievements were many. Had he returned from the front, he would've been named the Empire's Grand General without contest.
But fate had other plans.
In a critical battle against a horde of undead, Belldia was ambushed and slain. Worse, his body was desecrated by a lich who used it as material for dark rituals. What came back… was no longer the man they knew.
It was the Headless Knight—a powerful, restless undead.
According to legend, Belldia's sheer will had resisted the lich's control. He even managed to kill the lich who had reanimated him. But the victory came at a cost. Though free, he could no longer suppress the bloodlust inherent to the undead. He became a monster—one who wandered the empire, drawn to battle, driven by hatred and memory, but bound by no master.
For centuries, the tale of the Headless Knight faded into rumor. But sightings never fully stopped. Whispers of a headless warrior clad in obsidian armor, riding a spectral steed, wandering through mist-shrouded forests and empty battlefields…
It was as though the Empire's greatest hero had never truly died—only lost himself.
And now, that living nightmare was here.
At that moment, upon hearing the receptionist's reply, Edward raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued.
"Can you tell me where exactly the sighting was?"
"Uh… about that…"
The receptionist's expression became a little complicated, her eyes glancing toward the far side of the hall just as a heated argument erupted at the adventurer reception desk.
The sudden commotion immediately drew the attention of the otherwise idle adventurers. Hungry for gossip and excitement, the crowd surged toward the source like moths to a flame. Naturally, Edward and his companions followed suit, squeezing into the throng to get a better look.
In the middle of the crowd stood a young woman, her expression urgent and pleading as she argued with the guild administrator. Clearly, whatever had brought her here was no trivial matter.
However, despite the desperation in her tone, the guild official merely shook his head with a helpless look, unmoved by her request.
Edward, watching the scene unfold, leaned over to one of the bystanders and asked quietly what was going on.
"That woman came outta nowhere and demanded to see a high ranked mage, someone on the level of a Grand Mage. Like, what? This is the Southern Adventurer's Guild, not the Mage Tower. Who does she think we are, the capital? Even after the staff told her we don't have anyone that strong around here, she still won't give up. No one knows what her deal is."
"I see…"
Nodding to himself, Edward refocused on the mysterious woman. Her body was wrapped in a long brown robe that completely obscured her figure, and her long hair spilled from beneath a hooded cloak. Though he couldn't see her face clearly yet, Edward could tell—she was young.
But that "youth" needed quotation marks.
Because from her… he could feel no sign of life.
His eyes narrowed.
"An undead? Since when did one of them have the gall to walk into an Adventurer's Guild in broad daylight?"
Muttering under his breath, Edward stepped forward. Before anyone could stop him, he pushed through the crowd and walked straight up to the woman and the guild administrator.
His sudden appearance made the woman blink in surprise, while the guild officer scowled and said, "Sir, this doesn't concern you. Please don't interfere—"
Edward waved him off with a calm shake of his head, eyes fixed on the cloaked woman.
"I heard you're looking for a Grand Mage?"
The girl's head shot up, her hood falling back slightly to reveal a surprisingly delicate and youthful face. Her wide eyes blinked at him, confused and a little wary.
"Who… are you?" she asked, her voice soft but steady.
Edward didn't bother with theatrics.
He simply said, coolly and matter-of-factly:
"If it's a Grand Mage you're after… I just might be able to help."