Chapter 2: My Story (2)

After I regained the memories of my previous life, I became more mature in various ways. More specifically, my perspective was broadened and my thoughts became deeper. After acquiring that newfound perspective and putting in a lot of thoughts into it, I decided to become a soldier and succeeded in doing so quickly. However, not long after that, war suddenly broke out. The war lasted for a short period of three years, the kingdom I served was going against a hostile nation that it wasn’t on good terms with.

Since the war happened right after I became a soldier, I had no choice but to participate in it. Of course, I did it reluctantly, with tears in my eyes and mustard in my mouth.

I wanted to run away so badly, but I’d turn into a deserter if I were to do that; not only would my life become more difficult, I’d also have to spend my whole life as a wanted criminal. So, I gritted my teeth and participated in the war.

The three years war could be considered as a short war, but I guarantee you that anyone who participated in that war would say that rather than fighting for three years, it felt more like they were fighting for thirty years due to how fierce and gruesome it was.

Fortunately, the kingdom I served came out victorious in that terrible war, and that victory gave the kingdom the opportunity to elevate their rank. Though it had not become as big as an empire yet, its status had risen into that of a powerhouse.

My status was also elevated, from a new soldier who had just joined when the war started into a soldier of a powerhouse. From what I heard, my salary would be tripled and as a war veteran, I got a certain amount of tax exemption. Let’s say that this was enough to make up for the fact that my arms were almost cut off and my stomach had been impaled…

Fuck no, it wasn’t.

If it wasn’t for the troll’s resilience in my genes, I would have died dozens of times back there. For the first time in my life, I felt grateful to the magic freak who tortured me in the name of an experiment when I was young. Also, once again, I realized that war was nothing more than a shitfest.

Anyway, since I survived the war with my limbs intact, I decided to not worry about what the kingdom would become in the future.

Rather than that…

Fuck this, I quit this shitty job—!

Maybe because I experienced the craziness of a war as a new recruit, I became sick of being a civil servant or whatever. So, I immediately submitted my resignation and aimed to run an inn with my severance pay. I knew the income wouldn’t be that great, but at least I would be able to live comfortably. Surely.

But unfortunately, things rarely work out as planned in this world.

“Ho… Are you the one who did it?”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re the one who saved Her Highness the Princess! Thank you! Thank you so much, hahaha!”

“…?”

So what happened back then was, remnants of the enemy nation suddenly attacked our camp. I just fought blindly when it happened, but somehow, I ended up saving the princess of the kingdom…

If anyone heard this story, they’d probably hit and curse at me, accusing me that I was lying before saying shit like how unfair the world was for me to become the protagonist of such a lie. I mean, I was planning on not standing out and just living quietly, but then I saved the princess? How on earth could anyone experience such a nonsensical turn of events?

But unfortunately, this was my reality.

“It’s hard to believe that such a talented person like you is rotting away as a mere soldier like this.”

Suddenly, the man in front of me threw a sword and a necklace that resembled a dogtag towards me.

“From now on, you will become a knight.”

“??”

Later, I found out that the old-fashioned looking middle-aged man was the knight commander himself. I also found out that he had the authority to appoint knights at his own discretion. Thanks to that, I was titled as a knight out of a sudden.

How the fuck did it turn out this way…?

Does this even make sense?

“I have enough authority to do it.”

“B-But, I used to be a slave?”

“The kingdom doesn’t care about your background as long as you’re capable.”

“A-Also, I used to work in an assassin organization…”

“Huh? You have an unusual background. That’s even better! Someone with experience like you is more than welcome to the Order!”

“…”

I even told him of my previous identity as an assassin, that was how much I wanted to refuse his offer, but the guy wasn’t phased even a little.

At that time, I felt it. The guy in front of me was a lunatic that would be difficult to handle.

What kind of bullshit is this…?

At the age of 27, I became a knight. Well, to be exact, I became a parachute knight¹. Yes, other knights were either nobles or graduates from prestigious academies, but I was merely a commoner; a commoner who used to be a soldier, even. Since the only reason someone like me was able to become a knight was due to the knight commander, the word parachute knight suited me well.

Also, just like in any other organization, a parachuted worker was always–

“You lowly bastard, are you even aware what kind of place this is—?!”

“Take out your sword. I’ll send you back to where you belong.”

“It will be better for you if you leave this place on your own volition.”

–Excluded, ostracized, bullied, and so on.

Everyone tried to make those who were parachuted into their workplace live miserably. This was pretty much the fate of a parachute without any backer.

In that sense, the knight commander is worse than these bastards!

Why the fuck did he even turn me into a knight?! He didn’t even bother to help me to be accepted by those punks! Instead, he just sat in his office while drinking tea!

Fucking hell, if you place someone into this position, at least protect them! But no, that guy didn’t even do anything! Fuck, I’m so annoyed.

I figured that I’d relieve my stress, so…

“You fuckers. Are you looking down on me, hm~?”

My eyes rolled back and from the very next moments onwards, I didn’t have any recollection of what I did as if I was drunk. When I finally came to my senses, I could see around ten knights lying on the ground in a pool of blood while the knight commander was subduing me.

“Hehehe, as expected, you are an interesting prospect. You don’t seem to have a proper teacher, but you know how to fight just by sheer instinct. Just like a beast.”

“…Stop playing with me, just accept my resignation already. Please note, this is not a request, but a warning. If you don’t accept it, I don’t know what I will do to you, Mister.”

“Oh, really? Let’s see what you got then.”

“I’ve warned you.”

Knight commander or whatnot, I didn’t give a shit. I was so annoyed by him. Even if I couldn’t kill him, I’d at least hit him on the chin. After that, I stopped caring about what would happen next. Whether I’d end up dying here or wherever, it all wouldn’t matter in the end anyway.

However…

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

“W-Wait a minute!”

“Hehe, so, when are you going to show me what you warned me about?”

“I-I made a mistake…! A mistake!!”

This guy was too fucking strong.

No, I didn’t think so because I was being hit by him too many times to count. I could tell that he was the strongest one among all the knights. He was simply leagues above the rest.

Just like the droplets of rain, showering the earth on a rainy day, I was blessed by his punch, over and over again. Just when I thought that I’d die if things were to continue, the commander stopped punching me.

“Hohoho, your body is quite strong indeed. Just look at me, I’m covered in sweat.”

“You lunatic…”

“Oho, even your mouth is as lively as your body. As expected from someone so talented.”

“I’m handing in my resignation…”

“No, I won’t accept it. If you want to quit, you need to beat me first. Only then will I accept your resignation.”

“Goddamnit!!!”

That was when I realized that I was ensnared by this crazy but insanely strong monster. I even cried for the first time in my life. But after that, I sharpened the knife in my heart and made a promise to myself.

I’ll definitely quit this fucking place!

Even if it took ten years to accomplish, it was never too late for a wiseman to take his revenge.

…But, can I win…?

However, after that beating, I couldn’t help but feel a little less confident in myself.

After that day, the people who bullied me disappeared. No, to be exact, most of them would turn pale and run away everytime they came into my sight. Well, it as only natural since some of the fuckers I beat up were still receiving treatment at the temple, and some of those who recovered decided to retire since they were unable to recover mentally.

I think I beat them up a little too hard…

But hey, that wasn’t my fault. Who told them to rile me up like that? I was just trying to live a quiet life, they were the ones who went out of their way to get on my nerves.

Anyway, since things spiraled to this point, I was alienated by the rest of the order, so I just did my job in silence.

For now, my goal was to defeat that old man eventually. So, to accomplish that goal, I needed to put in some effort; mainly ‘training’ every day and night, the thing that I hadn’t done much since my days back in the assassin organization.

But, I barely knew anything about a Knight’s training course…

“Isn’t that the Kingdom Basic Swordsmanship?”

“M-Maybe?”

“…Can he defeat even the commander, an [Aura User] with just that?”

“Of course not.”

The only training method I knew was honing the stealth technique and martial arts that I learned back when I was an assassin. However, there was no way I’d be able to defeat the old man with those, and even if I did, I wouldn’t be satisfied about it.

And so, I started my swordsmanship training since I aimed to defeat him head-on. The swordsmanship style that I picked was the basic technique that all the citizens knew; well, it was also the only technique that I knew.

You could only get advanced swordsmanship techniques from a prestigious knight family. Since there was no way I’d ever get that, it was inevitable that I was stuck with this basic technique. It didn’t really matter anyway, since it wasn’t like I had anyone who could teach me.

The commander would probably be willing to, but hell no, I wouldn’t want him to. First of all, if I were to ask him, it felt like I was begging to him, so yeah no way. The second reason was I didn’t want to be that man’s disciple.

“Hey you. Spar with me.”

“H-Hii… D-Did I do something wrong?”

“Fuck it. Here I come!”

“Damn it!!”

Thankfully, this place was the Knight’s Order. It was filled to the brim with strong fuckers who had mastered all sorts of advanced swordsmanship. So, I sparred with them several times a day, learning their swordsmanship by eye and used it to make up for what I was lacking.

Due to my physical abilities, I mostly won the spars, but there were times when I lost against a few of the truly talented punks in the Knight’s Order. But, those defeats were solely because of the gap between our swordsmanship. Also, rather than feeling humiliated by it, I welcomed the result since I’d end up learning a lot from those guys.

Days passed and I kept sparring with those punks like that.

Whenever I sensed some level of improvements in my ability, I—

Booom-!

“You’re still far from being able to beat me.”

“Keuuuuk!”

—Challenged the commander.

Even though it felt like the commander was just entertaining my antics rather than fighting me seriously, I used that fact to fuel my anger and determination rather than viewing it as humiliation.

I kept on challenging him, over, over, over and over again. As a result, I was beaten by him a hundred times. I fought him a hundred times and he beat me a hundred times.

“You monstrous fuck, are you even a human…?”

“What? Do you think an Aura User is a nickname for someone’s dog? Hehe, if you’re upset, why don’t you try and become an Aura User too, hm?”

“…I’m going insane.”

Aura Users; basically those who became superhumans in human bodies.

They were those who wielded the mystical ability, Aura, and were trained methodically and madly from their childhood to the point that they could outwit, outmaneuver, and defeat anyone who were worthy to be called genius.

On this continent, it was common knowledge that Aura could only be dealt by Aura. Therefore, Aura Users could be said to be monsters in human form.

And this guy that I had been trying to beat was one of the only three ‘real’ Aura Users in the kingdom.

At this point, what drove me forward was just pure desperation. Even I myself couldn’t see a way to win against him.

Sreung-!

“Hooh? Are you trying to attack me again?”

“As they said, there’s no tree that cannot be felled after ten swings.”

“That doesn’t apply to me.”

“If I can’t do with ten, I’ll make do with a thousand!”

“That sounds interesting.”

Boom-!

However, even 3 years later,

I still…

“Fuck, I want to quit…”

Remained in the Knight Order.