Teddy Knight

In the end, Garen did not succeed in delivering justice on behalf of Heaven, because that Big Teddy was indeed exceptionally intelligent:

It keenly sensed Garen's "special preference" for its body, then used human-like expressions and flexible body language to convey crucial information that could save its life.

"Go on."

Garen slowly sheathed his sword and stood proudly.

"You have food for me?"

Big Teddy nodded frantically.

"Where?"

When Garen said those two words, his eyes practically glowed green.

That eerie green glow had been brought on by sheer hunger.

Starving to this extent, Garen no longer had the energy to consider whether the food a dog offered might be dog food.

Big Teddy hurriedly wagged its tail and, under Garen's fixed stare, slowly walked over to a patch of tall grass.

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

Next, it carried another clump of grass over and offered it to Garen.

"You..."

Veins bulged on Garen's forehead as he held himself back. "A dog as big as you actually eats grass?!!"

Big Teddy nodded sincerely.

"Bastard!"

"I want human food! Food for humans like me!"

Unable to restrain himself, Garen raised his Greatsword again.

"Looks like you're forcing me to deliver justice on behalf of Heaven!"

"Woof woof~"

Big Teddy once again yielded beneath the tyrannical might of Garen's Greatsword, barking without a shred of backbone.

It stretched out a paw and pointed in one direction, waving it repeatedly.

"There's food over there too?"

Garen tried asking.

Big Teddy nodded and gave a low whine.

"Is it food humans eat?"

Garen added uneasily, "Humans like me!"

"Woof woof!"

Big Teddy gave an affirmative answer.

"Then let's go!"

Garen said impatiently. He was truly so hungry that stars were dancing before his eyes.

With that, Garen hoisted his Greatsword onto his shoulder and urged Big Teddy onward, heading toward the unknown location of the food.

"Wait."

Big Teddy's newly lifted paw froze in midair.

Garen stroked his chin, carefully inspecting Big Teddy's broad back.

"I'm a noble knight, after all. How can I not have a horse?"

"I'll have to trouble you to carry me for a while."

Samwell Island in the East Blue was not some famous island known far and wide.

But as a transfer and supply station along a popular East Blue route, it still attracted plenty of people.

Traveling merchants, pirates, Marines, Pirate Hunters—people of all kinds came together to form a bustling town on this island.

This island had another defining feature: it was vast.

Though the town was fairly large, the island still possessed an enormous forest that ordinary people would never venture into.

That was why Garen had been able to get lost in the forest for an entire day and night without finding a way out.

But with Tai Ri Tian as both guide and mount, Garen did not spend much time passing through the dense woods before emerging and making his first contact with this novel world.

"So there are humans after all."

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

In that strange, vast forest earlier, Garen had once thought he had been transported into some primitive wilderness.

Then he took a closer look at the town before him.

Horse-drawn carriages, brick-paved roads, retro Western-style buildings, gas street lamps.

If he had not been riding a Big Teddy more than three meters tall, Garen would have thought he had traveled to Europe two hundred years ago.

But upon closer inspection, there were many interesting details as well.

Although the people of this other world spoke a language that sounded entirely like Chinese to Garen because of the system's built-in translation,

the shop signs along the streets were all written in glaringly obvious English, and some stores even displayed Chinese calligraphy.

As a native Chinese speaker who had passed CET-6 in English, Garen found it all strangely familiar.

Yet he was also completely baffled—

When had Earth successfully invaded another world?

And even more interesting sights continued to enter Garen's view.

Walking along the streets were refined gentlemen in suits and leather shoes, as well as ordinary young men in short-sleeved shirts.

There were swordsmen carrying Eastern-style katanas, and gunmen shouldering Western-style flintlock rifles.

There were slovenly muscular men, and simply dressed women.

The strangest thing was the last point.

Never mind the people's wildly varied hair colors.

Among the muscular men walking down the street, the more ordinary ones were roughly Garen's height, while the taller ones stood a full three or four meters tall.

Those "giants" strode freely through the streets, making Garen, who had always considered himself tall and powerfully built, seem instantly much smaller by comparison.

Those women were equally bizarre.

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

Especially those extreme S-shaped figures that completely defied human anatomy—they made Garen worry whether those delicate girls' slim waists would develop herniated discs from the excessive weight of their upper bodies.

These strange people walked together, yet not one of them found anything unusual.

No wonder nobody had gathered around to stare when he rode a Big Teddy through the streets.

Compared with those freaks, he, a Teddy Knight, was already perfectly normal.

"What kind of world is this?"

Riding on Tai Ri Tian's back, Garen could not help muttering to himself.

Big Teddy naturally could not answer such a strange question, and Garen did not dwell on it too much.

Because he smelled something delicious—the scent of food.

Strictly speaking, the aroma was nowhere near enough to rival the many Chinese delicacies from Garen's previous life.

But under such extreme hunger, even a bowl of fried rice could make an unyielding tough guy lay down his dignity.

"Go!"

Garen impatiently urged the Big Teddy beneath him to follow the scent.

Before long, Garen arrived in front of a restaurant.

This restaurant was clearly no ordinary establishment; one could tell just from the entrance.

The crystal chandelier behind the doors refracted dazzling colors, while the open doors were covered in intricate gilded patterns.

On either side of the carpet woven from premium alpaca wool stood security guards in matching uniforms, with two beautiful girls possessing impossibly curvaceous figures serving as greeters.

No matter the level of technology, people of the upper class could always create an atmosphere that left those beneath them intimidated from afar.

Just as ordinary modern people would still marvel at the ancients when visiting the Forbidden City, Garen too was shocked by the scene before him.

This was not some feeling of inferiority. The most valuable trait of modern people was that they instinctively refused to bow to anyone considered noble, at least on the surface.

The reason Garen was shocked was that the splendid sight before him suddenly reminded him of one thing—

He had no money at all.

As an Earthling who had just crossed over, of course he did not have a single coin on him.

Even this suit of armor covering his body had been gifted by the system.

"Should I go in?"

"I don't have a penny on me. Am I supposed to dine and dash?"

Garen became conflicted again.

This too was a trait of civilized modern people: being overly bound by rules.

But while Garen hesitated, the restaurant staff took action first.

A male waiter expertly brought a mounting stool over to Big Teddy, while the two pretty greeters approached Garen with sweet smiles.

"Knight!"

"Please dismount and dine~"

Their voices were soft and sweet, and they brazenly called Big Teddy a handsome steed.

Garen could hear the flattery in their words, yet he did not understand why.

But his stomach was growling again, so the already indecisive Garen simply went with the flow, got off the dog, and followed the scent of food through the doors.

The moment he entered, a middle-aged man in a suit who looked like a manager greeted him with a smile and personally escorted the somewhat restrained Garen all the way to the VIP section.

Garen was even more confused.

What he had not noticed was this:

Though he was now so poor that all he had left was a suit of armor and a Greatsword,

the armor worn by the original hero Garen was the renowned Spirit Visage.

And the original hero Garen's sword was a B. F. Sword bestowed by the Demacian royal family.

Although these two pieces of equipment no longer provided any attribute bonuses, they still looked unfathomably imposing when worn by Garen.

The armor was thick and solid, its white and gold surfaces interwoven and gleaming brilliantly.

The Greatsword was even more clearly forged from superior materials through countless hammerings: a sturdy golden hilt and broad silver-white blade fused seamlessly into one flawless whole.

And embedded in both shoulder guards of the armor and the Greatsword's hilt were clear, dazzling Sapphires.

The restaurant manager, whose eye for people was sharp and who had met countless individuals, declared that he had never in his life seen gemstones so large and so pure.

He would stake his life on his judgment—

The man before him was absolutely a genuine noble knight!

Even if he rode a dog.

Outside the restaurant,

our Knight's mount, the handsome Big Teddy Tai Ri Tian, was about to abandon its "master."

Having escaped Garen's tyranny, Big Teddy turned around and started toward the forest.

"Hm?"

A loud male voice sounded from behind Big Teddy.

"Captain!"

"That Knight's mount seems to be trying to run away!"

"Stop it!"

The security captain immediately shouted, "We can't let an honored guest's mount go missing here!"

The young men of the restaurant security team immediately swarmed forward.

Though "restaurant security guard" was hardly a glamorous title, in this chaotic and lawless age of pirates, working security at such a high-end restaurant was still a profession with a fairly high entry threshold.

"Woof woof woof~~"

Tai Ri Tian howled miserably and was eventually shut into the restaurant stable by the enthusiastic young men.

P.S. Please vote for recommendations~