“‘Master,’ you say? Do you recognize me as your Master?" I asked.

  Tristan smiled, clasping his fingers together behind his head. "Wasn’t that what was promised? Master fulfills our mission, and we serve Master."

  I shrugged and pointed to Percival. "As soon as Percival woke up, he said something to me about being evil.”


  "Hahahaha! The Captain has an inflexible personality. He probably inwardly dislikes having to serve someone other than the Holy King."

  Percival glared at Tristan, who spoke brazenly. "What a load of rubbish! Don’t say things that hurt our solidarity, Tristan!"

  At Percival’s warning, Tristan hit himself on the forehead. "Kihya! Look how old-fashioned you are. I commend you, my Captain, for your character that never changes even after death."

  Percival put his hand on his face as if he had a headache, and I nodded and said, "Well, it’s fine. I didn’t think you guys would be loyal from the start, and I’m not going to ask for it. That’s a problem that time will solve. If you follow my orders, I’ll guarantee you some degree of freedom."

  Tristan held my hand. "As expected! Master is knowledgeable because he’s a descendant of Modred! The Holy King was so formal that it was stuffy."

  "Tristan! Don’t speak so lightly of His Majesty the Holy King!"

  When Percival got angry, Tristan hid behind me with effortless footwork and said, "Ayy, what’s the problem? We’re already dead, aren’t we? If you’re too wound up like you used to be, you’ll become an evil spirit. Aigoo, it’s a demon. I’m scared, Master."

  Percival sighed deeply at Tristan’s playful appearance. "As I thought, I should have asked for Gwalchavad to be woken up, not you."

  At Percival’s grumbling, Tristan smiled cheerfully as he approached Percival again and put his arm on his shoulder. "Iya, Captain, did you recommend me to Master instead of Gwalchavad? Wow, so touching. I didn’t know Captain thought of me like this."

  "Who cares about you!" Percival smacked away the arm off his shoulder.

  "Hahahaha, the Captain is still a miser." Tristan winked and sat on a nearby stump.

  "So, since you woke me up and not Gwalchavad or Boaz, you need to fight in complex terrain or act in secret, right?”


  I affirmed Tristan’s guess and pulled out a sofa from my pocket space, sitting down. "Yes, I woke you up expecting a potential guerilla situation.”


  "Guerrilla in the woods, there is not a more suitable mission, Master. By the way, does Master carry such a sofa in his pocket space?

  As Tristan looked at me, amazed, I smiled and pulled out a table, a kettle, and a teacup. "It’s a necessity for a comfortable life.”


  When I answered by boiling water with magic and making black tea, Tristan clapped and enjoyed the display. "Ahahaha! Usually, magicians carry magic materials and complain that there’s not enough space, but it was all an exaggeration!"

  "How could that be possible! Master is unique!" Percival shouted dumbfoundedly, and I took out another sofa and suggested that they sit.

  "This is employee welfare,” I said.

  Tristan smiled cheerfully and accepted the teacup as I poured him tea. "Khahaha! I like Master more and more. I like this welfare very much. Have a drink, Captain. It’s the first cup offered by Master!”


  Percival let out a small sigh, sat on the sofa, and took the cup of tea.

  "Captain, no matter how unhappy you are that it’s not alcohol, you don’t have to sigh.”


  Percival was livid when Tristan spoke playfully. "Do you think I’m like you! I’m sighing because of you! Tch, I thought you were getting more serious through the war, but you’re back to your original self."

  "Hey, it’s a peaceful world, so there’s no need to be so down and heavy.”


  Percival snorted at Tristan’s sly smile. Tristan spoke casually at Percival’s expression. "But considering that we revived like this, I don’t think the Great Madosa Merlin’s prophecy was wrong either.”


  I was interested in the prophecy Tristan mentioned. "Tristan, can you elaborate on the prophecy that Merlin made? Percival remembers it so vaguely.”


  Percival flinched at my glare.

  "Hahaha, Captain is famous for being like that."

  "Khmm!" Percival coughed dryly, but Tristan sipped black tea and ignored him. Soon, he slowly recited Merlin’s prophecy.

  "The giants will be tempted by witches and start a war. The Starlight of Fate will, in turn, take the lives of great knights, and among them will be a traitor. King, watch out for the betrayer who you believe in the most.

  "On a day when the mute makes sound, those who you love will disappear to the other side of eternity, and when the king realizes love, the fate of the country will be over, so be careful."

  In general, the prophecy was similar to the ancient writing in the ruins or historical books. In history, the traitor would be referring to my distant ancestor, Modred.

  "Up to that point 500 years ago, the Holy Kingdom was already destroyed. There was a prophecy about the distant future, but I don’t know because I wasn’t there. Do you want me to tell you what I heard from Gwalchavad instead?”


  As I nodded, Tristan frowned as if to bring back memories of a distant past. Then, he spoke in a gentle tone as if someone else were talking.

  "If the prophecy comes true in the future, His Majesty the Holy King will not be able to escape death. So, Merlin tried to twist the Starlight of Fate to prevent his death. I don’t know if that means resurrection after death or disguising it as death by falling into a deep sleep. But the twist of fate can cause cracks in the world and bring in those who have been expelled, just as a small ripple from a butterfly’s wings can become a storm. Yes, the demon king. Merlin hoped that after we died, he could send our souls to the future to help stop the demon king from arriving. What are you going to do? If you agree, then I will nominate you, Tristan.” [1]

  Tristan laughed jokingly as he relaxed his frowning forehead. "Well, I was tempted by Gwalchavad, and now Master has captured my soul as collateral.”


  Even though he said this, from having read his memories, I knew that Tristan cared about and loved his colleagues more than anyone else.

  "You must have suffered a lot thanks to your generous colleagues,” I said jokingly.

  Tristan laughed playfully. "Ohh, you understand? As expected, Master is smart. I can talk about my hardships for all eternity. Do you understand, Captain?"

  "Khmm! I know you’ve gone through a lot. Isn’t it because he believed in you that Gwalchavad nominated you?" Percival avoided Tristan’s eyes and coughed dryly.

  "Eh-heng! Captain always knows what to say." Tristan crossed his legs and leaned back against the sofa.

  After hearing the prophecy from Tristan, I said what was on my mind. "Then, did Merlin make this suggestion to the knights that weren’t most likely to be trusted by the Holy King?"

  In other words, this was evidence that those whose souls laid in the stone statues were not the ones that the Holy King trusted the most. Of course, this was because the Holy King would not send someone he primarily believed to be the traitor to the future.

  "Huh? Can it be interpreted like that? Haha haha! That makes sense, doesn’t it, Captain?" Tristan burst into laughter at my words, and Percival smiled bitterly.

  "It was obvious who His Majesty believed in the most," said Percival.

  Tristan continued Percival’s words. "Modred, Master’s distant ancestor, was worthy of not only the Holy King’s trust but for all of us to depend on. For Merlin, the great madosa, he would have suggested this to anyone but Modred.”


  You mean Modred was the least likely to be trusted? This was very ironic.

  "Well, that’s enough small talk. I’ll give you the weapon you’re going to use.”


  I handed Tristan a bow and a quiver full of arrows from my pocket space. Tristan lightly nocked an arrow and pulled. "Oh, this is pretty good? Is there magic in the bow and quiver?"

  "Yes, the bow has magic that adds tension, and the quiver has space expansion and weight-reducing magic on it. I put about 10,000 arrows inside, so tell me when they are almost all gone."

  I cast the magic on the bow made by my hometown’s craftsmen, but the consumable arrows were acquired through Milpia. Milpia asked dumbfoundedly what kind of war I was about to start, but she gladly found me some high-quality arrows.

  "Mmm, with this, it’ll be able to produce enough power even without Fail-Not."

  The Fail-Not that Tristan used in his lifetime was a relic and should be well-kept in the palace in St. Percival, where the pope was now.

  "Is there no weapon for me?" Percival held out his hand proudly, and I squeezed a little dagger out of my pocket space.

  "Puhahaha! That dagger suits Captain!"

  Percival cried out at this injustice as Tristan teased him. "This is too much! You give Tristan a proper bow, and you give me a dagger! This is absolute discrimination! Give me a proper sword, too!"

  I took the teary-eyed Percival’s hand and infused mana. Then, the dagger’s handle grew longer and became a spear.

  "You normally use a spear. That’s why I gave you a magic spear to make it easier to carry around, but if you don’t like it, give it back.”


  "No! Hmmhmm, I can’t ignore Master’s sincerity!" Percival retreated from me and lightly swung the spear around.

  "It’s a pretty good spear. It increases and decreases in length, but the weight is still the same and remains heavy,” he said.

  "If you get used to it, you’ll be able to adjust the length while fighting. Then the opponent will find it difficult to judge the distance."

  Percival reduced the length of the spear back to a dagger, hung it at his waist, and spoke. "Thank you. This will be the spear of Master; I will defeat the enemy at any time."

  I put the table and sofa back into pocket space and said, "Really? That’s great. Since you two are not done adjusting your mana control yet, let’s just work on fine-tuning it tonight. There’s nothing like a real battle to learn control. Go in there and capture some big monsters.”


  Employee welfare is now over. Work, slaves!

  "Wow, it hasn’t even been long since I woke up, but you’re getting me to work right away! It’s an evil master!"

  I smiled refreshingly at Tristan’s jeers and pulled out a whip from my pocket space. "Work, slave 1! Slave 6! Hunt and offer me the by-products!"

  Now that I gave them amazing weapons as a carrot, it was time to whip them. I was going to have a pretty busy schedule because I had to teach them how to lead the dragon tooth soldiers without an ego within three days.

  1. Referring to the butterfly effect where seemingly small actions in the past/present can lead to a chain of events/reactions to greatly change the course of events in the future.