'Pain surged from his legs and wrists. Feeling this, Kayen opened his eyes.
What lay before him was not his home, but a horse carrying various goods. Kayen intended to look around first, but the pain in his wrists would not allow it.
He looked down, wanting to see what was causing the pain.
On his wrists were iron shackles. The shackles were connected by a chain, like handcuffs, only much thicker.
Kayen tried to raise his wrists to get a better look, but they were extremely heavy and hurt his arms.
'Why am I shackled like this? Am I in a scenario where I'm a prisoner?'
Kayen intended to crouch down to see whether shackles were also attached to his legs, but before he could do so, something tugged on his legs, causing him to fall into the snow.
"Ouch."
Startled, Kayen opened his eyes. Something dark covered his vision. He focused his eyes, trying to see what it was…
A horse's leg.
Realizing this, Kayen immediately rolled to the side. The horse's leg slammed into the snow where his head had been just moments before. It nearly hit him—fortunately, Kayen had reacted in time.
"What are you doing?!"
Kayen heard the hoarse voice of a man. Following the sound, he saw someone mounted on a horse, illuminated by light.
'My eyes… they're dazzled.'
Kayen squinted. The figure shrouded in light gradually became clearer, and after a moment, its form was fully revealed.
An old knight, not wearing a helmet but fully equipped with the rest of his armor, rode a dark brown-black horse. In his hand, he held a whip—not a sword…
'A whip?!'
The old knight swiftly swung the whip at Kayen. This time, Kayen was not as fortunate as before; he would not be able to dodge it in time. Still, he tried to assume a defensive posture.
Just as the whip cut through the air, a hand clad in an armored gauntlet caught it. Kayen was shocked that someone had helped him and immediately looked at the owner of that hand.
"Do you know what you've just done?!"
A knight clad in full armor appeared. A cloak hung behind him, riddled with holes, wrinkled, and marked with burn scars. He gripped the old knight's whip tightly. The old knight tried to pull it back, but it was futile. From within the helmet came a young-sounding voice.
"Yes, I know… but we need to get out of this forest quickly and find a safe place before sunset. There's no time to waste on things like this."
Hearing the young knight's words, the old knight felt that he was right. Because of that, he pulled back his whip, which was still being held by the young knight, and added,
"Very well."
Hearing this, the young knight released his grip. Once the whip was free, the old knight straightened it and immediately moved back.
The young knight then walked toward Kayen. Seeing this, Kayen tried to stand up. But just as he did, the young knight was already standing before him.
Kayen looked at the young knight's helmet. Inside it, a pair of blue lights—eyes, Kayen believed—stared directly into his own. For some reason, this made Kayen feel afraid.
'What is this…?'
That gaze felt like that of a monarch ready to kill him at any moment—cold, emotionless, and arrogant.
Kayen immediately averted his eyes, afraid of angering the young knight. He then felt a hand touch his shoulder. Sensing this, Kayen closed his eyes.
"Are you going to kill me? If so, please do it quickly."
There was no immediate reply. Because of that, Kayen became even more certain that he would be killed. The touch on his shoulder disappeared, confusing him.
Kayen quickly opened his eyes.
Before him, a punch was being thrown straight at his face. Seeing this, Kayen tried to dodge. But the punch was far too fast. Realizing he would not make it in time, Kayen resigned himself.
He waited for the blow to land.
Yet after a moment, he felt nothing at all.
'Am I already dead?'
Kayen opened his eyes. He saw the young knight fist frozen in midair—stopped just inches from his face.
"Are you not afraid of death?"
The knight asked.
Such a ridiculous question was asked of Kayen—the person who feared death the most.
"Of course I am."
Hearing this, the young knight immediately followed up.
"Then why didn't you dodge?"
At the question, Kayen fell silent for a moment, thinking of an answer that might interest the young knight.
"Dodge? Your punch was too fast. I didn't have time."
"So you would have dodged it if you had time?"
"i mean.. why not?"
Hearing this, the young knight stood still. After a brief pause, he walked forward, passing Kayen.
Seeing this, Kayen turned around. The young knight moved his hand, and in an instant, the caravan resumed moving. He then continued forward, heading toward the very front of the line—leaving Kayen behind.
'Am I safe?'
Before he could think of the answer, he heard a hoarse voice from behind—though it was not the old knight's.
"Can you keep walking?"
Hearing this, Kayen turned around. He saw an old man wearing a tattered robe to cover his body. Looking down, Kayen saw that the same shackles were attached to him as well.
"You do know we're chained together, right? So if we mess up the line, it'll just be troublesome for ourselves."
Hearing this, Kayen immediately looked at his legs. Between the shackles on his ankles, a chain was attached, extending forward and backward. He followed the chain behind him with his eyes, and it led to the old man's legs.
Seeing this, Kayen said nothing. He simply continued walking with the caravan. It was not because he was arrogant, but because although his eyes were facing forward, his attention was elsewhere.
Before him now was a golden interface screen, displaying characters that felt unfamiliar yet were perfectly understandable to him.
Name : [Kayen Alvaric]
Rank : [—]
Essence : [—]
Trait : [—]
Remnant : [—]
Summon : [—]
'Is this the legendary system?'
The appearance of the system before him had occurred a short while ago. At that time, Kayen had thought that, in the stories he read, there should be a system that displayed a person's statistics. And simply by thinking about it, in an instant, what he imagined appeared before his eyes.