Little Knife

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Little Knife (小刀)
Alias(es)	Knife-in-the-Butt; Knife 53 73 80
Species/Race	Human player character 567 570
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Mountain Tiger Warband; Kingdom of Bagnia; formerly a veteran player of Protectorate 53 179 448
Occupation/Role	Warband commander; interim mayor of Ankandela; commander aboard the Storm during the Revenge Fleet expedition 179 444 521 522
Status	Active during the World Tree crisis 579

Power Progression

The documented level advancement belongs to Little Knife’s warband, rather than an individual character level.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Warband upgrade granting access to a level-two base	117	Earned after capturing Bolas Fortress. Mountain Tiger could occupy eligible enemy holdings and exchange warband merit for territory, with privileges including taxation, resource ownership, and recruitment of servants and auxiliary troops.

• Level three remained a future requirement: Chris offered a path to making Ankandela Little Knife’s fief if he obtained a noble title and raised Mountain Tiger to level three. This would increase the warband’s tax share from 20% of commercial revenue to 50% of the city’s taxes and grant limited lawmaking authority 179.

Background

Little Knife entered the story as an experienced Protectorate player who had fought Demon Army troops and Elf Swordsmen hundreds of times. Although not considered a T0 fighter, he had developed his own distinctive combat techniques and aggressive style 53.

He and his longtime gaming companions also practiced in climbing simulators. That experience later enabled them to move rapidly through steep, overgrown mountain terrain during reconnaissance missions 73.

His real-world occupation is undisclosed. Other players do not know what he does for a living, and he never tells them 250.

Appearance

• Casual bearing: In Doro Town, he sits in armor with his legs spread, looking careless and unkempt rather than like a warband leader 121.
• Tiger Armor: His conspicuous black-and-yellow striped armor combines plate and mountain-pattern armor made from high-manganese steel 217.
• Later heavy armor: Another suit combines thick steel plates, leather, and chain mail to balance protection with mobility 363.
• Reconnaissance clothing: Uses green silk protective clothing, climbing gloves, hiking boots, and a camouflage cloak assembled from branches, leaves, and weeds 73 80.
• Gas mask: Wears one during the later fighting in elven territory, giving his voice a muffled, rasping quality 573.

Personality

Little Knife pursues combat for its own sake. The possibility of killing or being killed makes him feel intensely alive, and he prefers leading the vanguard to holding a more prestigious corps command. He actively seeks formidable opponents, greeting a heavily armed Griffin Crest knight as “a worthy opponent” 250 363.

His enthusiasm does not eliminate tactical judgment. He can halt a pursuit, abandon territory, or end an expedition when the risks outweigh the gains. However, his appetite for fighting also leads him to ignore serious wounds and undertake assaults without informing colleagues who might restrain him 143 251 258 444 530.

He is competitive, envious, and ambitious. Home Alone’s spectacular haul irritates him enough to inspire plans for a greater achievement: controlling Ankandela and its artisans. He is willing to spend personal funds on supplies to make that ambition possible 166 173.

His treatment of NPCs varies sharply. He dismisses Ye Ao Nai He’s account of dying refugees, endorses eliminating influential prisoners as political liabilities, and later orders collective punishment of Ankandela’s slum population. Yet he also funds work relief, helps rescue civilians, and cares for wounded comrades. His decision to spare General Dude’s adjutant comes from finding surrendered opponents uninteresting to fight, not from a stated humanitarian principle 117 122 173 183 218 392 393.

Despite his interest in rewards and spoils, he later distinguishes revenge from war driven solely by greed. After the Revenge Fleet’s profits are divided, he leaves rather than participate in its renewed pursuit of plunder 538.

Abilities & Skills

Close-Quarters Combat

Little Knife specializes in overwhelming offense, using powerful strikes, rapid transitions between targets, and attacks on exposed vital points 53 258.

• Axe-and-sword fighting: Uses an axe to knock weapons aside while a sword in his other hand cuts or thrusts at vulnerable areas. At Bich Town, he cuts through three musketeer ranks and kills or brings down eight men in barely a dozen seconds 53.
• Dual-wielding: Fights with paired longswords and later paired battle axes, combining weapon traps, pommel strikes, kicks, and forceful cuts 258 363.
• Greatsword attacks: With the Eight-Faced Beheading Greatsword, cuts through two shields and two opponents’ necks in one stroke 217.
• Bayonet precision: Targets a gap beneath an enemy’s neck guard and leads coordinated wedge attacks 140.
• Limits: His all-out style leaves him wounded. During the Bohemian fighting, an acrobatic attack strains his back, and continued fighting produces a shoulder wound exposing bone; blood loss eventually forces him to withdraw 53 258.
• Numerical limits: Even he cannot hold off ten armored enemies alone in an open hall 92.

Battlefield Command

He combines personal leadership with terrain, coordinated fire, and flexible objectives 83 140 255.

• Prioritizes securing Bolas Fortress’s drawbridge rather than finishing an incidental skirmish 83.
• Uses narrow terrain, ranked volleys, birdshot, cannon fire, and bayonet wedges to defend Doro Valley 140.
• Disperses players among trees and rocks to reduce artillery casualties and punish densely packed infantry 255.
• Draws pursuing Bohemians into buried black-powder charges, timing the detonation while Aku acts as bait 256.
• Restores shaken troops’ momentum by personally leading the charge through Naxi Fortress’s breach 447.
• Directs rapid landings and advances, calls for naval support, and keeps Mountain Tiger moving toward Mooncrown City’s center 567.
• Recognizes that casualties and ammunition shortages can make further conquest untenable 140 530.

Reconnaissance & Mountain Travel

His climbing experience supports both infiltration and unconventional operational routes 73 121.

• Moves quickly through thorny, pathless slopes while wearing specialized protective equipment 73.
• Uses a camouflaged monocular to inspect Bolas Fortress from across the gorge 80.
• Spreads smoke signals across multiple peaks to obscure the direction of the approaching threat 73.
• Selects the Kaslo Mountains’ southern tail as a route toward richer territory, securing Mia and Aisha as guides 121.
• Limit: These routes remain extremely costly: more than half of an expedition numbering just over two hundred dies during the three-day crossing to Doro 121.

Administration & Political Judgment

As a town and city leader, Little Knife treats skilled workers, supplies, and public order as foundations of lasting power 122 173 179.

• Orders surveys of population, resources, terrain, and nearby enemy forces after capturing Doro 122.
• Identifies Ankandela’s nearly ten thousand artisans as a more durable source of wealth than treasure 173.
• Recognizes the implied economic pressure behind a formally polite merchant-and-guild invitation 179.
• Establishes work relief, militia recruitment, and a police force 180 183.
• Uses NPC intermediaries to recover hoarded grain without directly exposing players to reputation penalties for attacking neutral units 183.
• Limits: His purchase restrictions fail without enough staff or identification systems. Anger and suspicion also lead him to punish innocent residents alongside genuine criminals 180 183.

Naval Adaptation

His initial confidence at sea gives way to practical acknowledgment that land warfare experience does not replace maritime expertise 521.

• Stops the voyage to obtain an experienced navigator when the players cannot handle navigation 521.
• Reduces the Storm to half speed while crews practice balance, paired loading, and firing with the ship’s roll 521.
• Develops coordinated cannon fire and avoids a potentially compromised port 522.
• Ends the Forest Song Port raid rather than risk damaged ships, depleted ammunition, tired troops, and approaching reinforcements 530.

System-Assisted Language

• Gains access to Elvish through an updated system language pack, rather than independently learning the language 536.
• Immediately uses it to question captive elves about their identities and value as prisoners 536.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Axes and swords: Uses a logging axe and arming sword at Bich Town, an Eight-Faced Han Sword during the Bolas operation, the Eight-Faced Beheading Greatsword against Minisians, captured paired longswords against Bohemians, and paired battle axes against Retalian troops 53 83 217 258 363.
• Crossbow and ring-pommel saber: Carries both during the mountain sentry raids 73.
• Chris-Pattern Flintlock and bayonet: Used for ranged attacks and close combat; he can recognize the weapon’s distinctive report 83 87 140.
• Tiger Armor: Withstands concentrated arrows, crossbow bolts, and matchlock shots in one documented charge, although their impacts briefly stagger him 217.
• Chainsword: Tears apart a Shadow Demon’s incorporeal body and defeats a six-armed serpent demon. Its anti-supernatural effect is demonstrated, but the passage does not establish the exact blessing or enchantment responsible 569.
• Brass monocular: Used to study Bolas and Naxi fortresses 80 444.
• Storm: Warship whose navigation, gunnery training, and operational decisions he oversees during the Revenge Fleet expedition 521 530.
• World Tree leaves: Designates captured leaves as highest-priority spoils and hopes to trade them to Chris for new battleships. His suggestion that they might extend an NPC’s life is speculation 530.
• Whale Hunter Medal: Chris invents the award to recognize his killing of General Dude 218.

Mountain Tiger Arsenal Rockets

Little Knife presents three rocket weapons to Chris. The demonstration emphasizes low cost, disruption, and disposable construction rather than precision 314.

Weapon	Configuration	Performance and limitations	Quoted price
Hundred Tigers Charging Rockets	Wheeled wooden launcher firing 100 rockets over 16 seconds	Approximately 100-meter range; can penetrate chain mail and leather within 50 meters. Intended to disrupt formations through noise, smoke, and the smell of tiger dung, especially by panicking cavalry horses. Disposable launcher 314.	100 silver dollars 314
Ten Tigers Leave the Forest	Handheld box launching ten rockets together	Similar range and penetration to the larger launcher, but extreme dispersion beyond 20 meters. Disposable 314.	20 silver dollars 314
Tiger Descending the Mountain Rocket	Shoulder-fired rocket in a sealed bamboo tube	Accurate to 50 meters; inaccurate reach of 120 meters; stated lethal blast radius of 3–5 meters. Disposable and usable in rain 314.	50 silver dollars 314

Relationships

• Prince Chris — Sovereign, quest authority, and supporter of his territorial ambitions. Little Knife praises Chris’s modest living conditions and work ethic; Chris approves his Ankandela application and rewards his battlefield achievements 71 179 218.
• Call Me Aku — Recurring tactical partner, marksman, and subordinate commander. Provides firing calculations, acts as bait for an explosive trap, and insists that the badly wounded Little Knife retreat 140 256 258.
• Barbarossa — Mountain Tiger’s scoutmaster. Supplies intelligence and bluntly corrects Little Knife when he mistakes him for the adjutant 80 121.
• Alibaba — Mountain Tiger’s adjutant, involved in securing Doro’s artisans 121.
• Home Alone — Fellow player leader and competitive rival. Participates in Doro operations, while his lucrative convoy ambush provokes Little Knife’s envy and city-building ambitions 122 140 166 173.
• Mia and Aisha — Guides for the Kaslo crossing. Little Knife negotiates for their help; he later accepts Mia’s warning and abandons Doro before being trapped 121 143.
• Alex — Mayoral secretary hired for 100 silver dollars per month. Organizes the city’s paperwork and grain accounts, relieving Little Knife’s administrative burden 179.
• Marlow — Surrenders Ankandela and recommends Alex. Later avoids intervening against Little Knife’s crackdown despite losses suffered by his own family 179 184.
• Black-and-White Bear — Fellow warrior with whom he shares blunt familiarity. Helps with the Tia rescue, checks his wounds, brings him water, and requests his quest log to warn other players about the mission 380 392 393.
• Ye Ao Nai He — Requests Mountain Tiger’s help clearing bandits after witnessing refugee deaths. Little Knife refuses and reacts impatiently to his account 117.
• Colonel Marko Vigo — Leader of the Self-Rescue Army, whose rear attack complements Mountain Tiger’s frontal assault at Naxi. Afterwards, asks Little Knife for admission into Bagnia 447 448.
• Polka — Initially encountered as a dangerous enemy mage at Bolas; later a Bagnian magic advisor who saves Little Knife from demon ambushes 94 569.
• Aether — Elven ranger who supports the battle against serpent demons and subsequently questions Little Knife about the humans’ objective 569 570.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Bich Town and Bolas Fortress

• Bich Town: Breaks through musketeer ranks with axe-and-sword attacks and kills McDonald’s adjutant, though McDonald escapes 53.
• Mountain reconnaissance: Leads veteran players in eliminating lookout posts. His additional smoke signals confuse the fortress’s surveillance, but clashes involving newcomers create friction with Call Me Cool Bro 73.
• Gorge crossing: Begins with more than two hundred players; only about one hundred complete the perilous five-day journey. New intelligence changes the plan from supply-convoy impersonation to outright capture 80.
• Fortress assault: Pushes for the drawbridge, clears the Outer Keep, assigns bridge defenders, and changes tactics when the spiral staircase proves impractical. Smoke bombs, scavenged armor, and a Crouching Tiger Cannon support a renewed gate attack 83 87 88 92.
• Third-party intervention: The loss of the bridge and Polka’s armor-piercing magic force him to reassess the battle and divide his remaining players between delaying action and an urgent gate assault 92 94.

Doro Territory

• Surprise capture: Leads the costly Kaslo crossing to seize lightly prepared Doro Town. The capture itself causes no player deaths, though two are wounded 121 122.
• Occupation: Supports releasing ordinary residents without taking their property, while proposing a ruthless voting procedure for politically significant prisoners 122.
• Defense: Repels Republic attacks in Doro Valley through coordinated gunfire, artillery, and a bayonet counterattack 140.
• Withdrawal: Accepts Mia’s warning of a coordinated attack. With workers concealed and livestock moved into the mountains, abandons the town rather than risk the warband’s remaining strength 143.

Ankandela’s Interim Mayor

• Ambition: Weighs the burden of feeding a starving city against the value of its artisans. Marlow’s surrender allows him to apply successfully for interim control 173 179.
• Relief crisis: Merchant rumors and manufactured queues exhaust half his grain stock in one day. His silver-dollar-only decree ends the buying frenzy but damages his reputation 180.
• Crackdown: Builds a police force, recovers hoarded grain through NPC raids, and destroys the Beggars’ Guild. The slum operation devastates half the district and becomes collective forced labor that includes innocent people 183.
• Consolidation: Breaks the city elites’ supporting networks and threatens remaining opponents with forced labor unless they surrender. Chris’s messenger interrupts his next move 184.

Field Campaigns and the Tia Rescue

• General Dude: Nearly kills the Minisian commander during an earlier charge, then beheads him during the army’s collapse. Chris awards him major merit and creates the Whale Hunter Medal 217 218.
• Bohemian encounter: Leads five hundred players through a mountain ambush, dispersed firefights, explosive traps, and a chaotic nighttime melee. The surviving warband is too wounded to advance afterwards 251 255 256 258 261.
• Arsenal demonstration: Presents Mountain Tiger’s three rocket designs to Chris 314.
• Tia survivors: Helps deliver aid, rescue civilians, and escort them south. Later leads players toward the White Rock City dungeon, rescuing Count Tia and seventeen or eighteen relatives after many prisoners have already been killed 380 392 393 398.

Naxi Fortress

• Assault plan: Orders a midnight attack with explosives and Siege Spears despite uncertainty about the fortress’s fall and defenses 444.
• Breach: Leads the charge after a Snake-Man volley wounds the leading flamethrower troops. Vigo’s Self-Rescue Army attacks from the rear 447.
• Aftermath: The Snake-Men are annihilated by dawn, but more than half of the roughly two-thousand-strong Mountain Tiger force is killed or wounded. Vigo’s request to join Bagnia surprises Little Knife and introduces consequences beyond the battle itself 448.

Revenge Fleet and Elven Territory

• Learning at sea: Replaces failed player navigation with professional help and organizes naval gunnery practice 521.
• Revenge expedition: Bypasses Casarina Island because he suspects Makon involvement in an earlier attack 522.
• Forest Song Port: Ends the raid rather than attack the neighboring town. Verifies intelligence about the elves’ teleportation spell and prioritizes captured World Tree leaves 530.
• Departure from the fleet: Returns toward Ankandela after becoming alienated by the expedition’s shift from revenge to profit-seeking 538.
• Mooncrown City: Leads Mountain Tiger’s landing and advance against demons. With Polka and Aether’s support, survives a Shadow Demon ambush and kills a six-armed serpent demon 567 569.
• World Tree crisis: Treats preserving the tree as a main-quest obligation, while angrily criticizing the elves’ inability to defend it 579.

Notable Quotes

“You know, even by modern standards, Chris's character would qualify him as a good person.” 71

“A worthy opponent! Clear a path for me!” 363

“Your Highness, behold! A masterpiece from the Mountain Tiger Arsenal: the Hundred Tigers Charging Rockets!” 314