Global Game: Developing a Knight Clan

Chapter 451 - 74: Player Power Spreads, Ghost-Slaying Alliance

The Andrews Kingdom.

Within Andrews Palace, in the chambers of Princess Trish—the royal heir with the weakest claim to the throne.

A female knight, clad in armor and serving as a guard, looked with a resolute gaze at Princess Trish, the one she was sworn to serve.

"So, Danielle, is this all you have to tell me?"

Princess Trish was dressed in light armor, her long, golden hair tied up to resemble a short cut.

"Your Highness, is this not enough?"

"Our world is being devoured, ravaged by those Shadows. If I had never known, it would be one thing. But now that I do, as a member of the Knight Order you lead, Your Highness, I believe I must inform you."

"For the sake of the Kingdom, for the sake of our knightly path, I feel we must do something, no matter what."

A Knight Order composed entirely of women.

It was a unique sight, not just in the Andrews Kingdom, but in any other kingdom as well.

From the very beginning, the entire Kingdom’s nobility had found it absurd that Princess Trish used her authority as the last in line for the throne to create her own all-female Knight Order.

But what did it matter how absurd it was?

After all, what noble family didn’t have daughters?

Though women who considered themselves no less capable than men were rare in this era, it was hard to resist a call to arms led by a princess.

And so, a group of young noblewomen, filled with longing and a rebellious spirit against their families, followed the princess to learn martial arts and even the ways of a knight.

Of course, the beginning was difficult.

Even with Princess Trish’s summons, only a dozen or so young noblewomen from the Kingdom initially joined the fledgling Knight Order.

During training, that initial dozen or so soon dwindled to just five.

But Trish did not give up. She even had her five remaining followers help her recruit girls from commoner families and even the slums of the Royal Capital to join the Knight Order.

And so, after nearly eight years, with Trish now twenty-six years old, the Knight Order she had built had finally developed into a competent fighting force, one that on some occasions proved to be no weaker than the Kingdom’s official garrison.

As such a force began to take its place on the Kingdom’s stage, it was naturally assailed by the many ministers and nobles who had been waiting to watch the spectacle unfold.

Unfortunately for them, the aging King paid the matter no mind at all.

No matter how the ministers criticized her, he remained silent. Sometimes, a single glance was enough; the formidable authority the Old King had established in his youth was enough to silence many ministers and nobles.

It had to be said, the Old King was truly fond of Trish, his youngest princess.

Thus, by now, nearly every minister and noble in the Kingdom was aware of one fact.

Though the King had many children, the final right of succession would actually be decided between the Eldest Prince and the Little Princess, Trish.

Consequently, the covert powers within the Kingdom soon split into two factions.

One faction consisted of the traditional ministers and noble houses that supported the Eldest Prince’s ascension.

The other consisted of the new generation of young nobility who supported Trish becoming queen.

However, the traditionalist faction was vastly more powerful than the Queen Faction.

Because of this, the Eldest Prince himself never openly took his younger sister seriously.

’Just a child’s tantrum, nothing more.’

Even with a capable Knight Order at her command, how could she possibly compare to him, a prince supported by the majority of the Kingdom’s traditionalist nobility?

In the Eldest Prince’s eyes,

the Old King was simply getting old, showing a bit too much favor to his somewhat unruly little princess.

The Eldest Prince of the Kingdom didn’t even hold much animosity toward Trish.

He felt it was impressive enough that a woman could hold herself to a man’s standards for so long.

So, even when the ministers and nobles who supported him occasionally advised him to find a way to disband his sister Trish’s Knight Order, the Eldest Prince would simply offer a knowing smile and tactfully refuse, never taking the matter seriously.

It was precisely because of the Eldest Prince’s attitude that Trish’s Women’s Knight Order was able to continue growing stronger.

In fact, Trish’s all-female Knight Order had now reached a strength of three thousand members.

A total of six corps.

And what of Trish herself?

She had never actually thought about becoming a queen.

In fact, because of the Eldest Prince’s attitude, her relationship with him was still very close.

Therefore, Princess Trish’s only wish had always been to prove she was no less capable than a man, and to promote the belief that women, too, could defend their homes and country.

Princess Trish had been fiercely competitive her entire life.

She did it to avoid becoming a tool for a political marriage, to avoid becoming a weak woman swept along by the currents of fate.

This was the only thing she could do.

This was the real reason she was still unmarried at the age of twenty-six.

And so, a princess this competitive, this upright in character, and this devoted to the knightly path would naturally not dismiss her subordinate’s story about the so-called Shadow Race as ridiculous nonsense, as any ordinary person might.

’Shadows? They feed on the negative emotions of mortals?’

’They’re the ones who instigated the frequent wars in our world?’

’And they’re also responsible for spreading so many terrifying plagues and natural disasters?’

’All to make the Human Race feel despair, so they can draw the Power to grow from that despair?’

’And mortals normally can’t even see them in their true form?’

Had it been anyone else, they truly would have thought this female knight was spouting nonsense.