Teddy Knight

In the end, Garen did not successfully carry out justice, because that Big Teddy was indeed exceptionally clever:

It keenly sensed Garen's "special fondness" for its flesh, then, through human-like expressions and flexible body language, conveyed vital information to Garen that was enough to save its life.

"Speak."

Garen slowly sheathed his sword, standing proudly:

"You have food for me?"

Big Teddy nodded frantically.

"Where?"

When Garen said these two words, his eyes were practically glowing green.

That green gleam was born of sheer starvation.

Starved to this point, Garen no longer had the strength to consider whether the food a dog offered might be dog food.

Big Teddy quickly wagged its tail and, under Garen's intense gaze, slowly walked over to a patch of tall grass nearby.

Then it cheerfully bit off a clump of grass and swallowed it.

After that, it picked up another clump of grass and brought it to Garen.

"You—"

Garen's veins bulged with anger: "A dog as big as you, and you eat grass?!!"

Big Teddy nodded sincerely.

"Bastard!"

"I want human food! Food like me!"

Garen could no longer hold back and raised his greatsword again:

"Looks like you're forcing me to carry out justice!"

"Woof woof~"

Big Teddy once again yielded under the oppressive might of Garen's Greatsword, barking without any backbone.

It stretched out a paw, pointing in a direction and waving it incessantly.

"There's food over there?"

Garen ventured a question.

Big Teddy nodded with a low whine.

"Is it food for humans?"

Garen added a follow-up question, not reassured: "Food like me!"

"Woof woof!"

Big Teddy gave an affirmative answer.

"Then let's go!"

Garen said impatiently; he was truly seeing stars from hunger.

With that, Garen shouldered his greatsword and urged Big Teddy to lead him toward the unknown location of the food.

"Wait."

Big Teddy's just-lifted paw froze mid-air.

Garen, meanwhile, rubbed his chin and carefully examined Big Teddy's broad back:

"I am, after all, a noble knight—how can I be without a horse?"

"I'll trouble you to carry me."

Samwell Island in the East Blue was not a place of great renown.

But as a transit resupply point on a popular East Blue route, it still gathered enough popularity.

Traveling merchants, pirates, Marines, Pirate Hunters—all sorts of people together built a bustling town on this island.

This island also had a feature: its vast area.

Despite the town's considerable size, the island still held enormous forests that ordinary people never ventured into.

This was also the reason Garen had gotten lost in those woods for a whole day and night without finding a way out.

But with Tai Ri Tian as both guide and mount, Garen didn't take long to emerge from the layers of forest, encountering this new world for the first time.

"So there are humans."

Garen, riding atop Big Teddy, let out a huge sigh of relief.

In that strange, vast forest earlier, Garen had briefly thought he'd traveled to some primitive, savage world.

Now he took a closer look at the town before him:

Horse-drawn carriages, brick-and-stone roads, Western-style retro villas, gas lamps.

If it weren't for the three-meter-plus Big Teddy between his legs, Garen would have thought he'd traveled back to the European continent two hundred years ago.

But looking closer, there were plenty of interesting details.

Though the people of this other world spoke a language that, thanks to the system's built-in translation, sounded like Chinese to Garen's ears.

The shop signs on the streets were all blatantly in English, and some storefronts even displayed calligraphy works in Chinese characters.

As a native Chinese speaker who had passed CET-6 for English, Garen found this oddly familiar.

Yet it also left him baffled—

When had Earth already successfully invaded another world?

And even more curious sights kept flooding into Garen's view.

On the streets walked elite gentlemen in suits and ties, alongside common youths in short-sleeved shirts;

Swordsmen carrying Eastern katanas, and gunslingers shouldering Western flintlock rifles;

Unkempt burly men, and plainly dressed women.

The strangest part was this:

Not to mention the riot of hair colors on display, These burly men on the street—average ones were about Garen's height, but the tall ones stood a full three or four meters high.

Those "giants" strode freely down the avenue, making Garen, who prided himself on being tall and sturdy, suddenly feel quite small in comparison.

And the women were equally bizarre:

Some were ugly enough to apply for a Guinness World Record, while others were as beautiful as celestial maidens.

Especially those extreme S-shaped body curves that defied all ergonomic logic—Garen genuinely worried whether those delicate young women's slender waists might suffer from herniated discs due to the excessive upper-body weight.

All these strange beings mingled together, yet no one found it unusual.

No wonder no one had gathered to stare when he rode a Big Teddy through the streets.

Compared to those freaks, he, the Teddy Knight, was already pretty normal.

"What kind of world is this?"

Riding on Tai Ri Tian's back, Garen couldn't help muttering to himself.

The Big Teddy naturally couldn't answer such a strange question, and Garen didn't dwell on it too long.

Because he caught a scent—the aroma of food.

Strictly speaking, this fragrance wasn't enough to rival the various Chinese delicacies from Garen's previous life.

But in this state of extreme hunger, even a bowl of fried rice could make an iron-willed man drop his pride.

"Let's go!"

Garen urged the Big Teddy beneath him to follow the scent without delay.

Before long, Garen arrived in front of a restaurant.

This restaurant was clearly no ordinary establishment—you could tell just from the entrance.

Behind the door, a crystal chandelier refracted dazzling light, and the open doors were covered in intricate gilded patterns.

On either side of the carpet woven from premium alpaca wool stood uniformed security personnel, along with two beautiful girls with unrealistically proportioned figures serving as greeters.

No matter the level of technology, the upper class always managed to create an atmosphere that intimidated the lower classes.

Just as a modern person visiting the Forbidden City would still marvel at the ancients, Garen was equally stunned by the scene before him.

This wasn't a feeling of "inferiority"—the most valuable trait of a modern person was an instinctive refusal to bow to any form of nobility, at least on the surface.

The reason Garen was stunned was that this opulent sight suddenly made him realize one thing—

He had no money.

As a freshly transported Earthling, he naturally didn't have a single cent on him.

Even the armor covering his shame was a gift from the system.

"Should I go in?"

"Not a penny to my name—am I supposed to eat and run?"

Garen was torn again.

This, too, was a trait of modern civilized people—being too bound by rules.

But just as Garen was hesitating, the restaurant staff took the initiative:

A male waiter deftly placed a step stool meant for dogs beside the Big Teddy, while the two pretty greeter girls approached Garen with sweet smiles:

"Sir Knight!"

"Please dismount and dine~"

Their voices were soft and charming, and they even shamelessly called the Big Teddy a spirited divine steed.

Garen caught their flattery and ingratiation but was left somewhat puzzled.

But his stomach was growling again, and the already hesitant Garen went along with the flow, dismounting the dog and following the scent of food through the entrance.

Once inside, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie, with the look of a manager, greeted him with a smile and escorted the somewhat nervous Garen all the way to the VIP seating.

Garen was even more bewildered.

What he didn't notice was—

Though he was now so poor that all he had left was a suit of armor and a greatsword, the original hero Garen's armor was the renowned Spirit Visage.

And the original hero Garen's greatsword was the B. F. Sword, bestowed by the royal family of Demacia.

These two pieces of equipment no longer granted stat bonuses, but worn on Garen, they still radiated an unfathomable aura of power.

The armor was thick and sturdy, a blend of white and gold that shimmered with dazzling light.

And the greatsword was clearly forged from top-tier materials through countless hammerings—its golden hilt firm, its silver-white blade broad, seamlessly fused into one perfect whole.

On both shoulder guards of the armor and the hilt of the greatsword were set sparkling, translucent Sapphires.

The restaurant manager, sharp-eyed and experienced from dealing with countless patrons, declared that in all his life, he had never seen gems of such size and clarity.

He would stake his life on his judgment—

The man before him was absolutely a true noble knight!

Even if he rode a dog.

Outside the restaurant, our knight's steed, the majestic dog Tai Ri Tian, was about to abandon his "master."

Shaking off Garen's oppressive rule, Big Teddy turned and started striding away, intent on returning to the wilderness.

"Hm?"

A loud male voice rang out behind Big Teddy:

"Captain!"

"That knight's mount looks like it's trying to escape!"

"Stop it!"

The security captain immediately shouted: "We can't let a noble's steed go missing on our watch!"

The young men of the restaurant's security team swarmed forward at once.

Though their title was the humiliating "restaurant security," in this chaotic age of pirates, being a security guard at a high-end restaurant was still a profession with a fairly high entry barrier.

"Woof woof woof~~"

Tai Ri Tian yelped miserably, and in the end, was locked up by the enthusiastic young men in the restaurant's stable.

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