Guardian Knight

The Main Castle, Regal Kingdom

The atmosphere of mourning pervaded the throne hall. The Queen wept loudly next to the King's body. Prime Minister Austin also mourned beside the queen.

The Knight Commanders and five Guardian Knights also rushed over when they heard that the king was dead. Except for the grieving Queen, everyone bowed their heads in silence.

Heero and his family remained in the corner of the throne room. The children were affected by the mournful atmosphere and circled around Heero in silence.

It had been three hours, and Heero had killed all the specters in the royal residence. The royal residence was safe from the specters, but the kingdom was still under attack.

"Should we leave?" Heero did not want to stay here any longer. He thought about offering his help, but these people needed more time to mourn the dead king. He did not want the children to be affected by the mourning atmosphere.

But just as those words came out of his mouth, Alexa and Benjamin walked over to them. Apparently, they heard him.

"Can you stay and help the kingdom face the crisis, Master?" Benjamin bowed his head at a ninety-degree angle.

Alexa followed her brother-in-law, "Please help the kingdom. We beg you, please!"

Gerard himself was still somehow unconscious. The kingdom was under the command of the Queen and the Prime Minister in the absence of the King. The words of these two people echoed in the throne hall.

Except for the queen, everyone in the throne hall turned in Heero's direction. The Crown Prince's wife and the Second Prince bowing to a young man in his early twenties, that was the image in everyone's mind.

Before Heero could reply, a man in his early fifties with a gold plate armor walked towards them.

He stood next to Benjamin, "Second Prince, we don't need help from outsiders! We can face the crisis together without the help of outsiders!"

His tone was aggressive, and the man did not bother to hide the fact that he did not like Benjamin's decision to ask for an outsider's help.

The old man had a rough face, with heavy lines on his forehead and cheeks. But he exuded strength for someone of his age, and his eyes were sharp. This old man was Guardian Knight Frei, one of the twelve Guardian Knights of the Regal Kingdom.

"We will leave then," Heero nodded and expressed his desire to leave.

"No! Wait!" Prime Minister Austin shouted. Prime Minister Austin rushed over, his breath ragged.

Completely different from the Guardian Knight Frei, Prime Minister Austin was short and thin. He was about 1.7 meters tall with a bald head and lighter skin.

"Wait, Sir Heero!" Prime Minister Austin called. He was more respectful than the Guardian Knight, calling Heero with an honorific.

"We need your help! Please don't leave!"

"I know the Knights are strong enough to fight the specters, but Sir Heero is the head of the SES. He knows the weakness of the specters, and with his help, we can resolve this crisis faster and with fewer casualties!"

Prime Minister Austin tried to clear up the misunderstanding and explained. The Guardian Knight should have known the information about the specters and the SES.

"Fine! I'll help, but I will not enter the battlefield!" Heero pointed at his family behind him, "I have them and I will not leave my family behind! If you want, I can protect all the people here while all your knights go into battle!"

Heero's unexpected answer surprised the old man, even Alexa and Benjamin were surprised.

"You should have called the Hero League of Star City, not me! I will not help you fight the specters while risking my family's safety!"

A direct refusal from Heero. He refused to fight the specters outside the royal residence. In addition, Allen accidentally told him that reinforcements would be coming.

"But you are a Hero Instructor, you should help us. Besides, you can leave your family under the protection of knights!" Prime Minister Austin was not convinced and tried to convince Heero.

"You're right, I am a Hero Instructor. But you seem to have misunderstood the job of a Hero Instructor. I train heroes, but I am not a hero! Besides..."

Heero looked at the dead body of the king and shook his head. They could not even protect the king, how could he leave his family under their protection?

Prime Minister Austin was silent. He could not even argue back. He understood Heero's concern. They could not even protect the king, so there was no way Heero would leave the safety of his family to them.

But Heero's two wives were heroes, Emperor Class Hero and Gold Class Hero - Rank 2. They could protect themselves without Heero. But then he met Heero's fixed gaze and realized that persuading Heero was not possible.

Prime Minister Austin sighed and replied dejectedly, "I've asked the Hero League of Star City for reinforcements! They sent all the SES squads as reinforcements and they will be here in an hour!"

"A few hundred people? What can a few hundred people do? With or without them, we can defend our kingdom!" Guardian Knight Frei remained aggressive and stubborn with his thought of not needing outside help.

"I hope you understand, Guardian Knight Frei! The kingdom is in crisis, and we must use everything we have to solve the crisis faster! I hope you will understand and cooperate with the SES later!" Prime Minister Austin bowed slightly to Guardian Knight Frei before bowing to Heero.

Then he turned and walked back in the direction of the Queen. As Prime Minister Austin walked past Guardian Knight Frei, he said something.

"If the Knights could kill the specters as efficiently as the SES, I would never ask the other force for help!"

The Prime Minister's tone was authoritative, and it put a lot of pressure on Guardian Knight Frei. It was impressive considering that Prime Minister Austin was someone with no power.

These words also had a hidden meaning. Basically, the Prime Minister was telling Guardian Knight Frei that the Knights were incapable of facing the Specter compared to the SES.

As the Prime Minister returned to the Queen's side, a series of footsteps could be heard from outside the throne room.

Three Guardian Knights and a hundred Black Knights were heading toward the throne hall. The three Guardian Knights entered the throne hall, while the hundred Black Knights remained outside.

Guardian Knight Frei turned away from Heero and rushed towards the three Guardian Knights, "How is it?"

The urgency could be heard in Guardian Knight Frei's voice.

The Guardian Knight in the middle took off his helmet, revealing the face of a man in his forties with gray hair behind the helmet. The middle-aged man showed a dark expression and shook his head.

"The Duke Knight's household betrayed our kingdom! The residence was empty, but we killed four filthy creatures in their residence!" The grey-haired Guardian Knight replied.

Not long after he spoke, four black knights entered the throne hall. Each of them brought a dried corpse.

Prime Minister Austin and the other knights walked over to the newly arrived Guardian Knight. They looked at the dried corpses, and were frightened at the sight of these corpses.

"See! Our black knight can handle the specters, too! We don't need any outside help!" Guardian Knight Frei said arrogantly, his words directed at Prime Minister Austin and Heero.

Unfortunately, the grey-haired Guardian Knight disagreed with Guardian Knight Frei.

"No, we need help! It took half an hour and ten knights to kill one specters! We need help, call the Hero League of the Three Cities!" The grey-haired Guardian Knight spoke to Prime Minister Austin.

"I did! Star City answered our call and sent full SES squads! Still no response from the other two cities!" Prime Minister Austin replied, approaching the gray-haired Guardian Knight.

The Prime Minister whispered something that could not be heard. After that, the gray-haired Guardian Knight looked in Heero's direction. His gaze remained on Heero for a while before he shook his head.

"He will not fight with us! I read his profile and he did not even join the battle when the specters attacked the core region of Star City. Do you think he will fight for us even if we beg him?"

The gray-haired Guardian Knight answered the Prime Minister in the negative.

"But let's do what he said, let him protect the main castle and have all the knights evacuate the people outside to the royal residence until the SES arrives! We will work with SES later with them as our core operation!"

The gray-haired Guardian Knight explained the plan in his mind. Surprisingly, the Prime Minister and the other Guardian Knights agreed with the gray-haired Guardian Knight. 

Guardian Knight Frei was an exception. The old man still believed that the knights were enough. Nevertheless, the old man had to follow the instructions of the Grey-haired Guardian Knight.

The gray-haired Guardian Knight was the king's younger brother, Adrian Shelton Kingsman.

"Get your men ready! We leave in five minutes. Our objective is to evacuate the people, not to fight the specters. Avoid the battle as much as possible!" Adrian Shelton Kingsman gave his order.

Soon, the Knight Commanders and Guardian Knights left, including Guardian Knight Frei.

After all the Knights left the Throne Hall, Adrian Shelton Kingsman left with Prime Minister Austin.

"Uncle! Let me join the battle!" Benjamin suddenly appeared next to Prime Minister Austin.

"No! You must stay here and protect your unconscious brother! That's your job!" Adrian was firm in his decision and Benjamin had to obey his uncle's order.