episode_0001

The title of a knight seems noble and honorable at first glance.

It was no different in the medieval fantasy world. The word “knight” clearly held a sense of romance.

Respecting and helping the weak.

Preserving honesty and loyalty and upholding honor.

Not turning one’s back on enemies and fighting for just causes.

In my childhood, storytellers who occasionally appeared on the streets would spin tales for a few coins.

Books bound in parchment were precious, and those who could read them were even more precious.

To the children eagerly gathered for new stories, knights and literature served as excellent moral textbooks.

One could say that knights were the idols of this era. It was not strange that children’s aspirations were to become knights.

And as a knight who had endured hardships and earned respect, I could finally face the truth behind the curtain.

“Welcome! Do you need anything?”

“Are you alive?”

“Stolen.”

Watching two knights boldly plundering goods from a stall in broad daylight, I was convinced.

Without more or less, knights were the ruffians of this era.

*****

The desire for success is something everyone possesses.

However, achieving it is difficult even for modern individuals without noble birth.

Moreover, in a medieval fantasy world where kings, emperors, nobles, and peasants coexist openly, the challenge is even greater.

Yet still, I wanted to succeed. It was a thought that remained unchanged in my second life.

One could attribute it to greed in my past life. But the reason for my urgent desire in this life was different.

Not being able to succeed meant a life of exploitation as a peasant, toiling for a lifetime.

My name is Lavender.

I am eleven years old, and an orphan.

That was my childhood profile, starting a new life without knowing the reason or language.

I had no family, no money, not even the status window usually given in a second life.

Even as an orphan, if I had mastered a professional skill, I could have become an apprentice to another expert.

Knowing how to forge iron and having the ability to read and write would at least allow me to survive by working.

But in this medieval fantasy world, magic had rendered classical mechanics useless, and advanced 21st-century physics knowledge was instantly obsolete.

The knowledge accumulated through hard work in graduate school in my past life had completely disintegrated.

“Oh, what’s this?”

“Oh, don’t you know? This is static electricity.”

“Static electricity… what’s that?”

“So, to put it simply, it’s electricity at rest.”

“Wait, what’s electricity?”

“…let’s just forget about it.”

The knowledge from my past life was literally of no help.

The highest esteemed studies were theology, followed by philosophy and law. So even if I tried to show off to other children at the church, I lacked the necessary knowledge.

In the end, I had to admit that I was just a healthy and strong preschool child with nothing else to rely on.

And like all children who had nothing, I had to face the reality that becoming a peasant was becoming closer and closer.

If I didn’t want to give up my freedom and fall into serfdom, if I wanted to strive for higher goals, I had to make a decision.

Fortunately, there was not a complete lack of options.

In this world, there were three main paths to success.

The first was being born as a nobleman’s child from the start.

If one patiently waited, they could inherit noble titles and land before dying. Of course, the premise was not being assassinated by competitors.

The next was entering the priesthood.

Although there was a restriction that one must dedicate their remaining life to asceticism and charity, even the most naive child in the neighborhood knew that it was not being properly observed.

However, in order to become a clergyman, one had to study theology, and in order to study theology, one had to know how to read and write.

Therefore, this method was something that could be attempted in a somewhat relaxed household.

So, if an ordinary person wanted to succeed, there was only one way left.

That was to become a squire, and after training and gaining practical experience, to walk the path of being officially appointed as a knight.

This was not an easy path either, but at least the criteria were more lenient compared to the other two choices.

“Excuse me, are you a knight?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Perhaps, are you looking for a squire to run errands for you?”

Even an orphan with nothing to their name could dare to try.

One day, a middle-aged sturdy man passed through the village. A sword was strapped to his waist, and the armor gleamed from the pouch hanging from the horse he was leading, revealing his presence.

Approaching the man, I wiped my palm and put on a salesman’s smile.

What other profession could have these characteristics?

One of the romantic figures in medieval fantasy, alongside wizards and the great mountains. That would be a knight.

“Yes. I hope you are healthy and in your early twenties.”

“Well, then you’ve come at a good time.”

“You seem confident. What is your name?”

“I am Raven. No surname, so just call me that.”

“Alright, let’s travel together for a few days and see.”

Looking back, wasn’t I already a knight in my past life?

Although I couldn’t find a lord to pay me a salary, I was a formally appointed electric attribute knight by the Industrial Labor Bureau.

The job of a knight allowed one to receive land in their own way, and even if not, they could capture loot on the battlefield and aim for a windfall.

In addition, due to the hard work involved, I did not pass it on to my children. Instead, they accompanied me, a squire training and running errands for a dozen years.

I caught a wandering knight and accepted him as my squire, and almost ten years later, the reason for becoming a knight was laid out.

And so, my newly updated profile had reached its current state.

Name, Raven.

Age, twenty years old. A formally appointed knight.

With just a few more characters added, it looked much better than my preschool years.

The name of a first-rate hero, a knight, exuded a noble feeling and the smell of money just by its presence. Honestly, until I was appointed as a knight, I didn’t have much to expect.

When people ask what a knight does, they generally explain it in three categories.

Even though they use the same name, not all knights are the same.

The first is a regular knight who lives serving a lord.

A knight who receives land from the lord or receives a regular salary while rushing into battle, and if they fit here, they were considered successful.

The second is a freelance knight who dreams of one day becoming a regular knight.

They run to fight whenever there is a battle, receive a certain amount of compensation, and live by scraping by.

Economically unstable, they were not above openly extorting money from the people or collecting tribute through threats if their income was insufficient.

Lastly, there are bandit knights.

Having abandoned faith and dignity, they have nothing to lose and are the most terrifying group.

Falling into despair at not advancing as quickly as they thought, they extort their entire fortune as tolls on the roads connecting cities.

And in this world, I found myself in the second category.

Ability to fight, willpower, but no lord to serve, a knight wandering alone. Commonly referred to as a wandering knight or a freelance knight.

Therefore, if one does not wish to abandon their humanity and resort to pillaging, they are destined to constantly roam in search of battlefields.

I was heading north, towards the land where the last remaining speck of conscience I had left was not lost, as the barbarians had descended in droves to raid.

“Hehehe!”

“Wait, let’s change direction a bit.”

And in the midst of all this, it was not uncommon to come across ruins that the barbarians had already looted and passed through on their journey.

In a place where there should have been a thriving village, I could only find a ruin emitting smoke.

This was the world for knights like me, always in need of work.

Safety was not guaranteed, but something to be fought for. Salvation, as preached in the church, had turned from a desired existence to an object of longing.

So, bitter as it may be, such sights were not uncommon.

“Is there anyone alive here?”

“….”

Even after shouting loudly several times, there was no response.

My voice only echoed back, disappearing into the void.

It was a small village to begin with, with no signs of resistance, but it seemed that it had not made much of an impact.

Was there nothing left? As I looked around to see if there were any survivors, I stopped for a moment to catch my breath.

As I surveyed the surroundings, I saw a figure moving among the burnt and crumbling houses in the distance.

I cautiously approached, thinking it might be a scavenger picking up what was left after the looting, but as I got closer, I saw that the figure was small in stature and did not seem like a thief.

Upon closer inspection, I could see a young girl sitting in front of a collapsed house.

I approached quietly so as not to startle the girl and asked, “Can you hear me?”

“….”

Heavy silence settled over the sound of rain.

Not having any experience in comforting children, I didn’t know what to do in such a situation. I couldn’t ask about her family or if she had somewhere to go, as that would be insensitive.

After much contemplation, the only thing I could eventually muster to say after a long while was, “Should I take you to the nearest city?”

“….”

Only then did the girl turn to look at me.

After a moment of silence, she nodded slightly.

In my third year as a freelance knight, I had found a girl in the ruins.