"Trade?" Bliss frowned.

"Yes, trade," the boy's lips curved upwards. "I hope Mr. Bliss will go to Alda in three days."

"After three days... heh, is the Martial Arts Festival over? It seems there's no need to go anymore. Old Lu's intuition was right, those suspicious guys we captured were indeed Black Elves!" Bliss sneered.

"Well, it's easy to guess when I say it like that..." the boy's smile grew bitter.

"Hmph, you only said what I have to do, what else can you do in this trade?"

"Me?" The boy pointed at himself. "If Mr. Bliss can refrain from reporting this result to Milt, I can let Mr. Bliss leave safely... wow, that was close!"

Before he finished speaking, the boy quickly stepped aside, a gust of sword wind narrowly brushed past his cheek, the sharpness of it split a large tree in half.

"Are you insulting me?" Bliss's expression turned cold.

The boy hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, how could I? If I knew Mr. Bliss would get angry, I definitely wouldn't have said that. I just thought, after hearing about Mr. Bliss's past experiences, that I might be able to avoid a fight by talking. I'm reluctantly a pacifist, you see."

"A pacifist stands still and watches while I kill all those Black Elves?" Bliss sneered, his body showed no signs of relaxation.

"I already said it was an accident. Probably messed up the casting time of the teleportation scroll." The boy shook his head.

"Wind Pierce." Bliss couldn't be bothered with further discussion, he gathered his chi and rushed forward, his sword emitting a cold light, aiming directly at the boy's throat.

With a clang, the boy pulled out a single-edged dagger from nowhere and parried Bliss's sword. "That was dangerous, now there's no more room for negotiation, right?"

"You're right."

Bliss showed no surprise when his opponent took his sword, his grip changed and the attacking posture shifted from a stab to a sweeping motion as he immediately followed up with another strike.

The boy's reaction speed was quite astonishing, but it was also expected. His calm posture standing in front of Bliss, if he couldn't even take one sword strike, then that would be worth being surprised about.

However, to withstand Bliss's attacks, mere reaction speed wasn't enough.

"Dance, Fireflies!"

Under the support of chi, the longsword turned into countless sword shadows, like fireflies dancing in the summer night, they formed dazzling trajectories in the air and stabbed towards the boy who hadn't stopped his body yet.

Each strike was not just an afterimage, but the blades formed by the chi of a ninth-level knight, with a wide range of coverage and a frequency of strikes surpassing human reaction limits.

Unless this guy's skin was as tough as a siege beast, it was almost impossible to safely dodge the continuous strikes even with quick reflexes.

That's what Bliss thought.

But the boy evaded, without any flashy movements. Instead, he calmly walked towards the sword edge, as if he were a dancer on the tip of a knife, effortlessly "dancing" around it and unharmed, ending up behind Bliss.

All of this happened within the short amount of time from Bliss's sword strike to the end of his attack, theoretically too fast to be seen with the naked eye, but Bliss could see it clearly, as if time had slowed down in his eyes.

His "speed" couldn't reach his opponent's "slowness," Bliss had experienced this before. Among the opponents he had faced, only one had shown him this kind of ability.

"Holy Rank?!"

The flow of time returned to normal as the side effects of the temporal manipulation took immediate effect on Bliss, causing a disorienting sensation that was beyond words.

"Well, it's barely passable, I suppose? Although I'm still a novice on this level, the power of the laws is undeniably real." The boy's face displayed a pure smile.

Bliss's heart sank, and his body stiffened in place.

Although he was a Level 9 knight, just one step away from the Holy Rank, the gap between mortals and the Holy Rank was like heaven and earth.

A turning point, indeed a turning point. He had already made sufficient estimations against the enemy, but he could never have anticipated the appearance of a Holy Rank.

The number of Holy Rank powerhouses on the continent was few, so where did this guy come from?

"Now, let me ask again." The boy chose not to take Bliss's life with a stab from behind, but instead, he put down his single-edged straight sword and sincerely said, "Mr. Bliss, can you leave my sight three days from now?"

Bliss touched the burned scar on his left cheek and fell silent.

...

Ten years ago, a fire meteor fell on the outskirts of Marston Kingdom's capital, causing such devastation that even the protective inscriptions on the city walls were destroyed, collapsing half of them.

According to Marston's records, it was an accidental natural disaster, but it was not the case for the holy knight squad that faced formidable enemies.

The fire meteor was not a meteorite, but a terrifying Holy Rank powerhouse.

The holy knight squad was ordered to sally out of the city for battle, but they had no idea what kind of outcome awaited them.

Not to mention that even the Space and Time laws at the basic level of Holy Rank were enough to render any expert below the Holy Rank helpless, and the Holy Rank itself possessed the magic proficiency to cast fire Forbidden Spells, which was enough to bring disaster upon the holy knight squad.

Although in terms of initial motivation, Bliss had the thought to flee, the result showed that there was not much difference between escape and charging forward.

It was a Holy Rank, and furthermore, a Holy Rank in a deranged state. How could a group of knights who had never even heard of the concept of world laws escape if they wanted to kill?

However, Bliss was lucky. After most of his companions' bodies and armor were reduced to ashes and molten metal, reinforcements arrived.

An old sage with white hair, an elegant mature woman, and a man who wore glasses and had a serious demeanor.

"Musebel, it's about time you woke up, isn't it?"

These were the last words Bliss heard before losing consciousness.

The initial disaster of the fire meteor did not actually hit the capital. The collapse of the city walls afterward was solely the result of the battle involving those three individuals.

This was what Bliss was told by the man with the serious expression when he woke up amidst the scorched earth.

"Unfortunately, we came too late. Fourteen of your companions are still alive, and you are the first to wake up. Also, although I tried my best to heal you, my proficiency in healing magic has its limits. Regarding the burn on your face... that scar is beyond my ability to repair."

"Burn?" Bliss tried touching his left cheek. The recently healed area still had some lingering pain. Although it would leave a scar, compared to his companions who were reduced to ashes, he was incredibly fortunate.

Thinking of this, Bliss looked around in astonishment. Apart from himself, there were thirteen companions still unconscious, and surprisingly, he didn't feel much sadness.

"Who are you?"

Although it was clearly a question, Bliss's tone was flat, as if he was stating something.

"Mirt, the Watcher of the world."

Glasses Man - that's what Bliss called him in his mind. After waking up, he quickly left, and Bliss spent a long time contemplating while looking at his companions.

What do I really want? He asked himself a question. Until now, his life's purpose was to uphold justice and defend the light, according to the teachings. But he had never judged what justice and light truly meant.

Afterwards, the Maston Holy Knight Order lost a high-ranking knight, and Mirt Academy gained a permanent teacher who often went on missions.

After completing a certain mission, Bliss, one of the strongest among the Watchers, came to Milt Academy City for a rare occasion. He once again met the Glasses Man who had saved him in the past.

"Your scar is still there." Lucius still remembered this former holy knight he saved.

"I never came across a good doctor, so I just left it. It doesn't bother me anyway. Sometimes, it can even intimidate enemies, though occasionally it scares ordinary people too."

Sitting at the bar, Bliss downed a glass of cold beer in one gulp and let out a comfortable breath. There were benefits to not being a holy knight, such as no longer having to abstain from alcohol.

"Should I treat it for you? I've also studied healing techniques, so I can remove the scar tissue and use healing magic to restore it to its original state."

"Cut it again? I don't want to suffer again. Let it be like this." Bliss touched the scar and chuckled bitterly. "It can also serve as a memento, reminding me of the difference between me and the Holy Rank."

"I don't mind if you want to." Lucius shrugged, then picked up the glass of beer on the table, filled with a smile. "Cheers, knight - no, I mean, friend."

...

"Hmph...you're not a knight anymore?" Bliss laughed from the depths of his heart. "You're right, I'm no longer a holy knight, and there's no need to abide by any so-called justice."

"Right?" The boy also laughed, but his smile didn't last long.

"But my actions are not for some justice. They're merely entrusted by a friend!"

Bliss acted without warning, fiercely plunging the blade into the ground and triggering the Chi contained in the sword. The series of movements flowed seamlessly, not allowing the boy enough time to stop him.

Boom!

The compressed Chi of a ninth-level knight exploded, creating a shockwave similar to a super bomb. A circular shockwave rapidly expanded in all directions with Bliss at its center, lifting up clouds of dust, even uprooting trees and plants centuries old.

Everything became blurred in the dust-filled sky.

That's right, Bliss didn't expect this full-force attack to harm a Holy Rank at all. He only wanted the obscuring effect it created.

Fighting or running away was pointless, but this time was different from ten years ago. He still had other things he could do.

Watchers always carried magitech devices for emergency communication. As long as he could transmit the message back... it would be enough.

Bliss was stunned.

He pulled the hand holding the magitech device out of his pocket and spun it halfway in the air, causing both the hand and the magitech device to fall to the ground, raising two clouds of dust.

"Well, that's unfortunate, Mr. Bliss."

Behind him, the young man shook the knife in his hand, shaking off the blood droplets that had stained it.

"Tsk... I guess... I didn't accomplish anything after all."