Night had settled over the city.
The lights outside the hospital window had dimmed, leaving only the faint glow of the streets below. Cars occasionally passed along the roads, their headlights briefly illuminating the ceiling before disappearing again.
The hospital room was quiet.
Raphael lay on the bed with the blanket pulled up to his chest, staring at the ceiling.
He had already eaten.
Elena had brought him a simple meal a little over an hour ago. She hadn’t said much about it. She had simply placed the tray on the table, told him to eat, and left after reminding him that he was supposed to get some rest.
Vanessa had disappeared around the same time.
Apparently, wandering around the hospital was more interesting to her than sitting in his room.
By now, everyone in the hospital, apart from the new patients, knew she was a summon.
Under normal circumstances, a summon wouldn’t be allowed to roam freely through a government medical facility. But the higher-ups were aware of her classification.
No one wanted to be blown to smithereens by a being with an unknown rank. So they allowed her.
Raphael, on the other hand, should have been sleeping, but his mind refused to cooperate. One word kept coming back to him.
Chosen.
He had heard it countless times that day. The system had called him a Chosen Sovereign. But chosen by whom? And for what?
Raphael turned onto his side, then sighed and sat up.
’THRONE OF KNIGHTS SYSTEM.’
The translucent interface appeared before him.
[THRONE OF KNIGHTS SYSTEM]
He stared at it for a moment.
’Let’s start with the obvious. What exactly are you?’
The screen remained unchanged.
Raphael frowned.
’Not very talkative, are you?’
No response.
He leaned back against the pillow.
’Then how about something easier? Who created you?’
A few seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
Raphael narrowed his eyes.
’How long have you existed?’
Still nothing.
He let out a quiet sigh.
Great. Apparently, the world’s greatest mystery had the communication skills of a broken vending machine.
Raphael rubbed his eyes before looking at the screen again.
’Fine. Forget the origin for now.’
He pointed toward the status window.
’Why is my compatibility with you one hundred percent?’
The screen flickered.
[HOST COMPATIBILITY]
[100%]
[The host possesses complete compatibility with the Throne of Knights System.]
Raphael stared at the message.
’Complete compatibility...’
That didn’t sound normal.
Not after everything he had learned.
The system had existed long enough to possess its own rules, functions, ranks, and unknown history. Yet somehow, Raphael was apparently a perfect match for it.
’Is that something every host gets?’
[Negative.]
His eyes widened slightly.
’So it’s unusual.’
[Confirmed.]
That answer immediately made him sit straighter.
’How unusual?’
[Information unavailable.]
’Of course.’
Raphael rubbed the back of his neck. The more he learned, the more questions appeared, but there was one thing he couldn’t let go.
’Then what about the selection process?’
The interface flickered. Raphael waited.
’Why was I compatible in the first place?’
For several seconds, nothing happened. Then a new window appeared.
[Reason for Selection: Unknown.]
’Unknown?’
[Confirmed.]
He slowly lowered his hand. That wasn’t what he expected.
’You don’t know?’
[Correct.]
Raphael stared at the message. For the first time, he genuinely didn’t know what to say. The system knew things about him that he didn’t even know about himself. It had identified his soul. It had revived his body.
It had summoned Vanessa. It knew that his race could evolve. It knew that his Authority could grow. Yet it didn’t know why he had been selected.
’Then what do you know about the selection?’
[Selection occurred.]
’That’s it?’
[Confirmed.]
He stared at the screen in disbelief.
’So you know that I was selected, but not who selected me, why I was selected, or what made me compatible?’
[Correct.]
Raphael fell silent. That was somehow worse than having no answer at all, because now he knew something important. The system itself wasn’t necessarily the highest authority involved in all of this. There could be something beyond it. Something the system couldn’t, or wouldn’t, explain.
Raphael looked toward the dark window.
Outside, Elysia continued as if nothing had happened. People were sleeping, cars were moving, the city lights continued shining, and somewhere inside that ordinary world, Raphael was lying in a hospital bed with a mysterious system that apparently had no idea why it had chosen him.
He let out a slow breath.
’This just keeps getting better.’
The system disappeared.
’Wait.’
Nothing.
’You’re really going to leave me with that?’
Raphael sighed and fell back onto the pillow. Maybe he was thinking too much. Maybe tomorrow he would wake up and discover that this had all been some elaborate hallucination caused by nearly dying.
Then he remembered Vanessa.
Yeah... Probably not. Raphael stared at the ceiling again. Before today, he had just been Raphael Matthews, twenty-one years old, non-awakened, no mana, no special abilities, no impressive family background, and nothing that would make something like the Throne of Knights look at him and say, That’s the one.
Yet somehow... It had. And that was what bothered him most.
It wasn’t the power. It wasn’t Vanessa. It wasn’t even the possibility that he could become something far greater than an ordinary human.
It was the fact that someone, or something, had looked at him and decided he was worth choosing.
Raphael had no idea what they had seen, and until he found out, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was walking toward something far bigger than he understood.
He pulled the blanket higher.
’Whatever you are...’ His eyes slowly closed. ’I’ll find out eventually.’
His breathing gradually slowed.
For the first time that night, Raphael managed to relax. But one thought remained buried in the back of his mind.
Chosen.
Tomorrow could wait. For now, he needed sleep. Raphael finally drifted off.
...
Far beyond Raphael’s understanding, however, something ancient had already begun to stir.
And somewhere, buried beneath layers of forgotten history, a throne that had remained vacant for longer than humanity could remember waited for its Sovereign to return.