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Chapter 36: Switching Games (1)

Emilia’s eyes shone like a summer lake. A white snowflake passed by and signaled the start of winter.

Almond stood against the piercing wind and wore a complete set of armor in front of Emilia.

Clank.

He knelt before her and prepared to be honored. Their eyes met as he placed his sword in his hands.

Emilia smiled and reached out when they made eye contact.

“I appoint you to be my knight.”

***

Soft winds accompanied the warm sunlight and greenery surrounded the colorful flowers. Spring must’ve arrived and some time passed since he became a knight in the winter.

“It’s suddenly spring?”

Almond could finally move according to his will and interacted with his viewers.

— You must’ve skipped time.

— Oooh.

— Is this the end?

— Emilia’s smile was so pretty…

— Emilia…

— But what’re you supposed to do now?

‘What to do…’?

First, he needed to assess the situation. Almond checked what he was wearing.

“My clothes changed. It seems more luxurious…”

He wore different clothes from his days as a mercenary. The texture felt different too.

Du Dun.

A familiar drum rang out and he received a mission.

[Complete the final challenge to become a knight!]

Was he not a knight yet?

Almond stared at the floating text in confusion. He couldn’t quite grasp the situation due to the time skip.

“Sir Almond!” Someone called him from far away. “You’ll be late for your competition!”

It was a little boy. All knights were accompanied by one.

But Almond wasn’t an official knight yet? Then it didn’t make sense for one to accompany him.

“What competition?”

“Sorry? Did you smoke some plants last night?”

“No.”

“Then did you drown yourself in wine? The feud regarding your knight title is supposed to be settled today!”

“Right.”

“Not right,?Lady Emilia will be furious if she found out! Let’s hurry…”

“What would happen if I knew?”

A lady’s voice could be heard. It was Emilia.

“Hiiik! Lady…”

“Sir Almond.”

Emilia brushed past the boy and approached Almond.

She stared at Almond quite strangely. It seemed different from before.

Smooch.

— Wow.

— A gift from the start!

— I’ve used up all my wishes…

— You can stop playing Kingdom Age now…

Emilia kissed him.

It surprised Sang-Hyeon, but not Almond. Some time passed and their relationship further developed.

‘It was probably like this since the seven days they spent together in the castle.’

This situation would be natural from Almond’s perspective.

“You know our future will become bleak as well if you don’t do well in this competition, right?”

“Of course.”

“I believe you’ll do well.”

“Thank you.”

What was this competition to become a knight?

Sang-Hyeon, who had no experience with video games, could sense that the end was near. This process would finally tie the knot with Emilia. He headed towards the final challenge.

“Let’s go.”

Emilia grabbed Almond’s hand and brought him somewhere.

***

They arrived at an arena prepared for battle.

‘Are they going to make a knight fight?’

A competition most likely meant fighting and he thought so too, judging from the surroundings.

“Hmph.”

A lazy-looking royal snorted and asked while looking down, “You there? I don’t know why the Jeannerets wanted you to be a knight. The title of a knight is not so light.”

He played with his mustache and scolded Almond as if the promotion had been a mistake.

“He must prove himself unless the title was passed down.”

“Almond proved himself countless times. He defeated the Talorant castle alone and defeated a large monster all on his own,” Emilia argued back.

“Hmph, those rumors are not enough proof!”

“Then what about you? The only honor you have is your words. Do you have anything to show for it?

“What?! Hey, Emilia!”

As the old man grew upset, the surrounding royals held him back. Each individual looked like an important royal. The viewers recognized their faces from different progressions in the game.

— Alberto, that guy…

— Forbes picked Alberto as the #1 worst NPC!

— I hate that mustache guy.

— Gotta beat the mustache out of him.

Almond smirked and headed for the stadium.

“Don’t worry, Emilia. I’m the one who proposed this competition.”

Emilia placed her hands on Almond.

“I’m not worried. I just hate that you’re being belittled.”

“I won’t be belittled starting from today.”

Almond shrugged off the royal’s comments and stood in the stadium.

“Woah!!!”

“Almond! Almond! Almond!”

The audience cheered. They were peasants who gathered to support him. This alone was evidence of Almond’s influence on the people.

Almond showed his appreciation for their cheers and faced the royals who sat as judges.

“So, what have you prepared?”

The mustache royal, Alberto, responded as if waiting for him to ask. “There’s a saying from long ago that true knights can face trolls alone.”

‘Trolls?’

As Almond thought about what a troll was in his mind…

Kraaaank!

A steel gate opened and a heavy rumbling followed.

Thud…

“A real troll?”

“No way.”

“Isn’t that too dangerous?”

“I heard that Sir Almond only uses the bow.”

“You can’t defeat a troll using arrows!”

The crowd’s remarks could be heard across the stadium. However, an even louder roar spread throughout the arena.

“Rooooooaaar!!!”

Thump…

The earth shook once more as a giant appeared while dragging a large wooden mace.

It was truly a real troll.

“Alright! Face it if you’re truly a knight!” The mustache royal Alberto shouted and ran off to hide in the back.

“You must not be a true knight,” Sang-Hyeon mumbled.

— For real LOL

— LOL

— He really ran away?

— He’s like 400 meters away. Even that’s too close for him.

— Sprinting away haha

All the royals backed away as the troll ferociously roared.

Gulp.

Even the sound of someone swallowing their saliva seemed loud in this dead silence.

— Dang, can he really kill a troll with a bow?

— It keeps regenerating… Apparently, you have to cut it apart with something.

— You’ve got to inflict lots of damage at once and mince it apart.?

— Its regeneration grows weaker if the body parts are cut off!

The monster’s weakness was decapitation.

Almond glanced at his chat and began scouting around.

“Grrrr…”

The troll had no intentions of attacking right away. It just stared at Almond looking around.

— When is he going to shoot?

— Who knows?

— Is he going to shoot?

— Let’s slice with a knife today!

— He’s gotta slash the neck.

Suddenly…

Twang—?

The draw and release happened in one smooth motion.

Taang!!!

The arrow ripped through the silence and flew.

Thwack!

It pierced the center of the troll's neck.

Almond raised his hands in the air as if he had already won.

— ???

— What.

— The troll doesn’t die from that… huh?

Thump!

The troll collapsed with a grand noise and cracked the stone ground.

“!”

The most shocking part was that he defeated the troll in one shot.

— Ah, right!

— Perfect shot!

— Perfect shot mechanic.

— Troll or not…?

— Why regenerate? Just one shot them!

It was Almond’s specialty, the perfect shot. All enemies fell in one hit as long as he struck the center of their vital point on the first attempt. All enemies including the troll as well.

“Woaaaaaah!!!”

The crowd screamed, and praise filled the stadium.

“Almond! Almond! Almond!”

“A knight of the bow!”

“Go, Emilia! Go, Almond!”

Alberto had smirked when the troll appeared with a roar, but now he looked stupefied.

“What… what is this? How could this be? Someone must’ve poisoned it!”

The shock from the troll’s defeat made him delusional. He kept shouting that there must’ve been something wrong with the troll.

“Go immediately and check the body!” he shouted to his servants, but no one moved.

Anyone could tell the troll had died. If someone went to check… they might end up like the troll.

“What are you…”

.

“It’s over.”

Emilia went over to stop him.

“Do you want to sacrifice another life?”

“...”

Almond returned to Emilia.

“I’ll take it that I’ve kept my title as a knight,” Almond threateningly said to him.

He grabbed Emilia’s hand and turned around.

The peasants saw them and continued cheering.

Alberto and the other judges blankly stared as they walked away.

Emilia and Almond suddenly changed into a wedding dress and tuxedo respectively. The cheering peasants turned into wedding guests and the stones in the stadium transformed into colorful flowers.

And the chapel’s choir sang for them.

[THE END.]

Those six letters floated in the sky, followed by the ending credits and the theme song.

Almond finally completed his first playthrough of Kingdom Age.

— Ooooh.

— Damn, they got married??

— Wow…

— This is the ending.

— All couples can rot in hell!

Sang-Hyeon blankly stared at the rolling credits for a moment.

‘It’s… over…’

He found the fastest route to the ending, but the game hadn’t been short for Sang-Hyeon. It took him over a week to finish his first virtual reality experience. This game changed his life.

‘Goodbye.’

He waved goodbye to his virtual character, Almond.

Almond still had a faint connection with Sang-Hyeon and awkwardly mimicked his movements to wave goodbye. It felt like they were waving to each other.

Sang-Hyeon couldn’t explain his emotions and continued staring at the scene.

He turned to his viewers after some time and said, “Alright, everyone. Kingdom Age?is now over.”

He smiled and said what he had prepared, “Let’s move on to the next game.”

— Ooooh!

— Really!

— A new game!

— Wow.

— Hell yeah.

— LIL! Play LIL!

— You have to play dating simulators if you’re a real man.

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