Ch.17Introduction (1)

A powerful and strong morning! I am Camille de Alzar!

It’s been five years since my first real battle, and now I’m 15 years old, an age where I can be recognized as somewhat near adulthood.

During these five years, I’ve grown through various experiences totaling about 57,000 characters worth of events. Along the way, when I was 13, I awakened my Aura power following “that incident,” which was shocking in many ways.

And now, two years later, I’ve reached a state where I can be considered sufficiently mature at the intermediate level.

Naturally, having awakened my Aura and reached the intermediate level, thus fulfilling the requirements, I was knighted as Sir Camille de Alzar. Through this process, I gained enough experience to now be recognized as a proper knight.

Additionally, by awakening my Aura and reaching the intermediate level, I am recognized as a “formal knight or one with equivalent military power” as defined by the laws of the Frank Kingdom, and as a bonus, I was officially appointed as an heir eligible to succeed the title.

Of course, being appointed as a viscount, the true position of the next lord, was still ahead of me, but knowing that showing impatience would be politically disadvantageous, I was simply waiting calmly.

Ah, and during these five years… it might be somewhat shocking, but I haven’t acquired many factors.

The fundamental reason for this is that I became strong too quickly, making it impossible to obtain factors in many cases due to level differences.

Before reaching the intermediate level, I didn’t have many opportunities to gain factors because I hadn’t experienced proper battles. After becoming intermediate, the level difference meant I couldn’t acquire factors unless they were from other intermediates…

And since this intermediate level isn’t very common, acquiring factors became an even more difficult reality.

But fortunately, if there’s one consolation, it’s the physical abilities and maximum mana capacity I’ve built up by absorbing these leftover scraps that couldn’t become factors.

Honestly, the increase in physical abilities and maximum mana from killing just a few creatures is truly insignificant, but when accumulated in the hundreds, the result can’t be dismissed as trivial.

To compare, it’s about 1.5 times the average value of those at the same level, and when combined with Aura enhancements or traits like “Strong Build,” this difference becomes even greater.

On top of that, it’s not like I haven’t acquired any factors at all.

In total, I’ve gained three factors over these five years: “Troll’s Brute Strength,” “Bar Brawler,” and “Goblin’s Dexterity.”

First, “Troll’s Brute Strength” was obtained after defeating the zombie troll that served as the catalyst for my Aura awakening… essentially the last factor I acquired.

At that time, I had ventured outside the castle alone and accidentally got caught up in an underground necromancer organization’s plot. After experiencing an adventure worth about 20 web novel episodes, I defeated their secret weapon, the troll zombie.

That underground organization of low-level necromancers treated it as their secret weapon, but they couldn’t even control it properly, and ended up being eaten by it instead.

Anyway, the troll zombie I faced lacked the regenerative abilities of the original and was in a mediocre state of preservation, with decreased physical abilities and durability. Nevertheless, it was far too strong for me, who was merely a low-level at the time.

The brute strength emanating from its decaying body could turn a boulder the size of a house to dust with a single blow, and combined with its four-meter height and abnormally long arms, the result was devastating.

Of course, after somehow surviving and awakening my Aura, I was able to defeat the creature, which was somewhat mediocre for a proper intermediate level. During this process, I had three choices.

It would have been perfect if I could have gained regenerative abilities, but unfortunately, this was a zombie troll that had already died, so all regenerative abilities were gone.

No one could deny that “Troll’s Brute Strength” was a much better choice than “Undead Physique” or “Decaying Flesh.”

On the other hand, “Bar Brawler” is a talent-type factor I obtained after defeating a highway robber, presumably a former soldier or mercenary, whom I encountered during a patrol to a nearby village.

The effect is essentially a correction for melee situations or combat in environments where proper weapons are hard to find.

Since chaotic melees are quite common on battlefields where knights operate, this talent has been quite useful in practice.

And finally, “Goblin’s Dexterity” is a special ability I acquired after defeating an unusually strong goblin that I encountered by chance while traveling on the road, like randomly encountering a monster.

Though it seems close to a skill, it’s more like an innate ability of the entire species. After defeating the goblin, whose skill level was not inferior to mine at the time, the result was disappointing compared to what I had hoped for.

The “Dagger Proficiency” skill was nothing more than an inferior version of my “Sword Ghost,” and “Goblin Skeleton” came with the somewhat risky effect of decreased body size and increased agility, so I had no choice but to choose this one.

…But honestly, it’s surprisingly useful.

Currently, I’m following my father’s orders as a knight-errant of the domain, patrolling the territory without a separate attendant to gain experience. In this situation, where there’s no one to manage my equipment, “Goblin’s Dexterity” is extremely useful.

When Gus’s stirrups or saddle breaks, I can repair them without much trouble as long as I have dexterity and a basic crafting kit. The leather straps that secure weapons break quite often, making it convenient to repair them on my own.

With just a whetstone, I can easily maintain my weapons, allowing me to wander around the territory leisurely without a separate servant.

…Though I wish I could have acquired that goblin’s unique line-of-sight evasion technique.

Anyway, having grown into a proper formal knight, I’ve recently been traveling around exterminating magical beasts and undead that appear in the territory, as requested by my father.

In these chaotic times, it’s a perfectly reasonable reason not to let an intermediate-level fighter idle about, even if he is his own son.

And today, as usual, on my way back after completing a mission to exterminate magical beasts that had appeared in the area, I happened to meet people being attacked by a pack of werewolves. After rescuing them, we headed together toward the capital of the domain.

‘Hmm… it’s tough.’

I was getting hungry anyway. Roasting and eating one of the werewolf’s hind legs that I had just killed, I slowly moved forward along the road with my slightly increased luggage.

Fortunately, after moving to a road with a decent flow of people, there were no further attacks, and thanks to that, this temporarily formed group was able to walk for about 2 hours and finally arrive at our beloved hometown—the capital.

“Ah, Lord Alzar… thank you sincerely!”

“You’re welcome. Be careful next time.”

And at the gate of the wall (outer wall) surrounding the capital city, we parted ways cleanly since our business was done, and I leisurely entered the inner castle to report the completion of this mission.

“Good work, soldier. Here’s your pass.”

“…Yes! Thank you for your service, Lord Alzar!”

Having become acquainted after carrying out several missions, I simply presented my pass and proceeded. Now I headed back to the castle to report the results of my mission.

“Gus, good job. Now we can rest a bit.”

‘Snort….’

Gus is already 7 years old this year. By Earth standards, he might be considered a bit old for a warhorse on the battlefield, but by the standards of this world’s chimera warhorses, he’s right in his prime.

Since these warhorses typically live easily for 50 years if they don’t die in battle, despite being at an age where a normal horse would start to physically decline, he still maintained his vitality as he naturally led me to the inner castle (the baron’s castle).

After returning like this, I naturally headed to my father’s office to report on this mission.

However, when I visited my father’s office for the report as I always had… I ended up hearing a completely unexpected proposal.

“Son, now that you’ve become a proper… adult, I’ll present you with a choice.”

‘…A choice?’

“Will you join His Majesty’s royal army for a while, or would you rather take on a task in the undeveloped frontier?”

“…What?”

Having been born as the heir to a relatively wealthy and powerful noble family in this other world for nearly 15 years now.

I suddenly found myself in a position where I had to choose between voluntary military service and becoming the lord of a pioneer village.