Chapter 81: Twist in the plot (3)

After resolving the burden that had been weighing on Rigrid’s heart, I didn’t stop there. We shot a few more arrows together.

Now that I knew there was no need to humor him, I could shoot comfortably.

Ah, seriously, why won’t it hit?

In a typical story, this would be the moment where I finally show my true skills, only to be completely overwhelmed by the archery genius.

I guess novels and reality are different after all.

But some things were the same in both.

“Ha ha!”

Maybe the counseling session had worked wonders.

Rigrid, now completely thrilled, was shooting arrows with a genuine smile.

His skill was still impressive no matter how many times I saw it.

Earlier, he had been calmly shooting one arrow at a time, but now he was loading three or four at once and still hitting every shot with pinpoint accuracy.

Seeing that in reality was mind-blowing. Maybe it was just because this was a fantasy world.

‘This cheating b*stard.’

I was the one who encouraged him, but it still annoyed me a little.

With talent like that, how could he go around in the novel acting pitiful, claiming he had no skill, and then causing all that trouble?

I had the sudden urge to smack him in the back of the legs, but I held back.

Maybe I wouldn’t be this irritated if I were actually good at archery myself…

‘Yeah. He’s a Northerner too, and not just any Northerner—he’s a direct descendant of one of the Five Great Houses. There’s no way he wouldn’t have any combat talent.’

If a villain gets mentioned in a novel, it means they aren’t incompetent.

If Rigrid had been a complete fool, the North wouldn’t have been shaken just because some noble brat was acting up, and Dorgon wouldn’t have had such a hard time dealing with him.

Of course, in the novel, his talent for archery was never mentioned—probably because of his stubborn pride, he never picked up a bow until the very end.

But his ability to draw people to his side was the real deal.

Anyone who’s dealt with people in society knows how exhausting it can be.

So, a reformed Rigrid…

Maybe he really could live the dazzling life he always dreamed of.

“Ha ha! Luke, look at this!”
“Wow.”

Everything was great, except now that his mood had improved, his humility had disappeared.

Now that I thought about it, I was actually a year older than him. Should I have established the hierarchy from the beginning?

…Forget it.

Bringing up hierarchy would only put me at a disadvantage. This world had a strict class system, after all.

He must have been ecstatic to finally let go of his burdens. The best thing to do now was to just watch over him with warm eyes.

I was wrong.

A one-year age difference doesn’t mean anything.

The real big brother is the one with money and who buys the food.

“You seemed to really like these cookies earlier.”
“!!”
“This is my gift to thank you for spending time with me today. Come visit again sometime. Ha ha, or maybe next time, I’ll be the one assigned to escort you?”

His social instincts were as sharp as ever.

He must have noticed how I kept pausing in thought every time I ate those cookies because he packed some up for me.

Thanks to him, I now had a present to give Elaine.

Ah, Rigrid. My friend.

I’ll never call you a traitor again.

Our friendship shall last forever.

The traitor was the novel’s version of Rigrid.

This one was the real Rigrid, the one in reality.

Blaming someone for the actions of their alternate self in a parallel world was just making a hasty generalization.

Movies always show that, don’t they?

The same person can have both a good and an evil version.

This Rigrid was the good one.

After parting ways with my dear friend, I headed straight back to the escort knights’ barracks.

It was late afternoon, so the deputy commander evaluations should be over by now.

I wondered how they went. I’d ask about it over dinner.

As I made my way to the barracks, a thought crossed my mind.

‘I need to get stronger too.’

My swordsmanship was still barely mid-tier among the northern knights, let alone on Elaine’s level.

Even though I had absorbed the power of frost energy, I still couldn’t control ice magic.

Of course, I was consistently training in the Frostblade technique and practicing my magic control.

I was steadily getting stronger.

‘But it’s also true that I haven’t made any significant progress since becoming a knight.’

It wasn’t that I was content just because I had achieved my goal of becoming a knight.

However, when I compared my growth before and after the knight exam, it was clear that my progress had slowed.

Back then, I had a strict time limit and a clear goal I had to reach, so I had no choice but to push myself relentlessly.

But now, while I had the larger goal of preparing for war, I found myself unable to focus as much on my personal growth.

At least the traitor incident had been twisted in my favor.

Now, I needed to dedicate myself to my own improvement.

Changing the course of the novel’s events to prepare for war was important.

But ultimately, what mattered most was my ability to survive when the time came.

And just like during the Snowflake Tower incident, the only thing that would allow me to deal with the unpredictable consequences of altering the story was my own strength.

Meeting Rigrid had been a good wake-up call.

Thanks to him, I realized I needed to take a step back, reevaluate my own talents, and do everything I could to make use of them.

I wondered where Elaine was right now.

Then again, if I just waited, she’d probably come here eventually.

Thinking that, I headed to the escort captain’s office and stretched my shoulders, sore from shooting arrows all day.

Now that I thought about it, Rigrid must have prepared for the knight exam seriously if he had enough stamina to be a competent archer.

Just how bad was he with a sword, though?

‘Well, the knight exam… it wasn’t exactly easy.’

I had breezed through the most important part—the combat evaluation—and I had been lucky with my teammates in the second test.

But when I faced Lieutenant Rine in the first evaluation, I had been genuinely terrified.

If Rigrid had walked into his exam and encountered the same situation I did…

Phew. Just thinking about it made me shake my head.

“What’s so amusing that you’re smiling like that?”

I was lost in thought when I heard the door open. Sure enough, Elaine had come in.

Of course. Our connection was just that strong.

“Welcome back. It seems the deputy commander evaluations went well.”

“Mm! The results were excellent. You should’ve watched—it’s rare to see duels between the squad leaders.”

Judging by Elaine’s bright expression, everything must have gone smoothly.

Too bad there were no video recordings in this fantasy world.

“What was the outcome?”

“His Excellency said it wasn’t an easy decision, so he’ll take some time before announcing it. It was a very close competition.”

“Hearing you say that only makes me more curious.”

The competition had been fierce, but just how intense was it for Elaine to say that?

Still, the process didn’t matter as much to me as the result.

‘It’s not Loron, is it?’

Maybe it was because of what Weasel had told me, but I couldn’t help being conscious of it.

One of the reasons I wanted to get stronger was because of competition.

Who wouldn’t be bothered if an extremely capable and good-looking man was always hanging around their woman?

This wasn’t insecurity.

Any guy would understand.

“So, what was so funny that you were grinning like that? Now I’m curious too.”

I had been imagining Rigrid getting grabbed by Lieutenant Rine and tossed around like a cat or mouse in an American cartoon.

No wonder I was smiling.

“Ta-da!”

“What’s that?”

“I visited the Deep Snow estate, and their cookies were amazing. I asked Young Master Rigrid for some to bring back.”

Well, technically, I didn’t ask—Rigrid just packed them up for me on his own.

But if I wanted to earn points here, I had to spin the story a little.

Besides, if I hadn’t shown interest, he wouldn’t have given them to me in the first place. So in a way, I did contribute to getting them.

“I-I see? It’s a bit early for a snack, but since you went through the trouble of bringing them, and I was just craving something sweet…”

Elaine smirked and grabbed one, popping it into her mouth.

“Mmm!”

Her eyes widened in delight.

I knew she would like them, but seeing her react like that made me even prouder.

Elaine glanced at me wordlessly.

I casually held out the bag.

Chomp.

She took another one.

“It’s really delicious. If they sold these, I’d be willing to pay to buy them.”

“I had a feeling you’d like it as soon as you took a bite. What do you think?”

“You thought of me while eating this, huh?”

Elaine’s lips curled up, and then—

“Let’s go out to eat!”

We had already shifted from a secret relationship to a public one.

“But this armor makes it frustrating that I can’t hug you properly.”

It seemed Elaine wanted to engage in more affectionate gestures beyond what was typically allowed.

Just like before, for us, “going out to eat” was code for heading home and spending time together.

“Lord Rigret had such a talent? I had no idea.”

Elaine, who was sitting behind me with her arms wrapped around me, listened curiously as I told her the story.

I reached back and fed her a cookie as I continued speaking.

“I heard he even managed to catch a bird once. With that level of skill, it’s certainly possible.”

“Unlike his older brother, Lord Isaac, I thought he had little interest in combat, but this is unexpected. So it’s in the Deep Snow bloodline after all.”

Then, tilting her head, she mused—

“I’ve never heard of Lord Lionel being particularly skilled with a bow either. So that means this talent is unique to Lord Rigret?”

“Seems that way.”

If I suddenly recommended Rigret for the guard corps, even Elaine, who is usually favorable to my words, would find it too abrupt.

So I was laying the groundwork little by little.

And right now, I was literally feeding her a treat from the Deep Snow household.

Elaine was strict when it came to work, so this wouldn’t count as blatant flattery, but even a small decimal point of persuasion could make a difference.

By the way, Elaine munching on cookies was seriously cute.I finally understood why adults used to playfully pretend to feed kids only to poke their fingers in their mouths.

Well then, let me try—

Pop.

“?”

Elaine blinked in surprise as my finger, instead of a cookie, entered her mouth.

“It’s coated in sugar… it’s sweet.”

With a smile in her eyes, she sucked on my finger and even licked the tip at the end.

Holy sh*t.

The sudden stimulation made my entire face and body heat up, and Elaine, noticing my reaction, grinned mischievously.

“I’m not going to let you be the only one in control forever, you know.”

“…You really learn everything physical so quickly.”

She used to be purely innocent and adorable, but lately, she had been showing a dangerously seductive side, making things increasingly difficult for me.

Even in bed, I used to be the one leading and teaching, but now Elaine was starting to make requests, making things even more intense instead of me getting used to it.

One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we locked lips in a heated kiss before finally returning to our conversation.

“Elaine, do you know how to shoot a bow?”

“I learned it alongside His Grace a long time ago, but neither of us was any good at it. His Grace eventually mastered flying sword techniques, and I just focused on cutting things down quickly, so we never saw much need for it.”

“What about in the guard corps?”

“We don’t have dedicated archers. Northern forces mainly rely on melee weapons.”

“I was thinking…”

Feeling that I had laid enough groundwork, I finally got to the point.

“Wouldn’t Lord Rigret’s archery talent be valuable for the upcoming battles? If there were a sniper by His Grace’s side, it would be a great advantage.”

I observed Elaine’s reaction as I spoke.

“Hmm, for you to personally recommend someone for the guard corps, he must have really impressed you.”

“Not just impressed—I think it would be a waste not to recruit him. You’ll understand once you see him in action.”

“I would normally grant any request of yours, but you do understand that when it comes to the guard corps, I can’t just agree lightly.”

“Of course.”

“Yet you still suggested it… Very well, I’ll take a look at him.”

“Thank you!”

Luckily, Elaine had taken an interest in my proposal and agreed without much resistance.

“But it won’t be easy. You should know by now that His Grace doesn’t accept just anyone into the guard corps, even if they are from a noble family. Moreover, Lord Rigret isn’t even a soldier, so his evaluation will be extremely rigorous.”

Yeah, that part worried me a bit too.

The most I could do was push for him to be considered.

If Grace asked about him during the selection process, I could put in a few good words, but that was about it.

The rest was up to Rigret himself.

Don’t screw this up, buddy.

I trust you’re not foolish enough to waste the opportunity you’ve been given.