episode_0392

“All cities with the name Burg are walled cities. The lord of the walled city cannot collect taxes on the village outside the castle, and has no obligation to protect it. Thanks to this, public security is incredibly bad.”

“If you become a knight, you must never, no matter what, cause friction with Dragonia. The moment you become a knight, you become a public figure of Habstenburg.”

“If you participate in a battle, you must store all magical tools you have in your dorm before participating. Just having it is considered a sin.”

“And···.”

I didn’t pay attention because it was a story that didn’t interest me.

But that woman must know so much, and she rambles endlessly.

How much time did I spend, completely absorbed and not listening?

The Grand Duke Widow glanced at me a few times, but did not say anything in particular.

“Arthur. Don’t lose your mind and focus.”

Isabelle looks in my direction.

Why are you calling my name like that── “I’m just sleepy.”

Jean yawned, wiped away his tears, and began to doze off.

─Arthur?

“And what will you do if you fail?”

“Is that possible?”

why are you answering Why are you Arthur? Not me?

All kinds of thoughts started exploding in my head.

They may have the same name, but their hair and eye color are the same as my father’s.

no way···?

“By any chance is your father’s name… Abel de Arthur…?”

Jang’s head, which had been dozing off, jerked towards me.

His eyes were wide open and he looked embarrassed.

“How do you know that?”

truth.

My heart was beating wildly.

The father and mother moved to Habstenburg, beyond the Great Wall, to raise Stella, Damian, and the pregnant child.

While pregnant.

If you think about it, now is when you are exactly twenty-two.

“Why? He’s famous. I heard that 20 years ago, he was such a legend that no one knew about him.”

─He is my younger brother.

The late child of father and mother!

Jean smiled pitifully, but shook his head.

“Not now.”

“···Why?”

“Because you are retired. Others may not know, but my father was a man more suited to being a watchman than a knight.”

The mind goes back and forth, feeling excited and depressed.

My floating emotions felt like I was exposed to weightlessness, and I couldn’t even fathom them.

“So you received early education to become an engineer from the beginning?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

lie.

Jean… My younger brother is hiding something from me.

Most likely it’s about this woman.

If you ask right away, it will definitely arouse suspicion.

“But, my father wasn’t that famous?”

I showed the necklace.

“He was someone my father knew. I heard that there was an instructor who had one arm that was long and long. ”

When I told him about the ‘monkey arms’ I admired, Jean smiled and expressed admiration in his voice.

“That’s right! My father only has one arm!”

“It’s because you’ve been using the longbow for a long time. For an archer, it is a medal in itself.”

A look of embarrassment appears on Jean’s face at the compliment.

I’m glad that my family relationship was good and that I was pleasantly embarrassed.

‘The world is such a small place.’

“I’ve never seen anyone better with a bow than my father. How much did he cherish the bow he received from a saint…”

“Over there.”

Isabelle laughed and ended the rhyme.

“Could you please concentrate?”

ah.

“Yes.”

The thought of arrogance cannot leave my head.

That woman… Why did the Grand Duke Widow bring my younger brother to me?

‘Why are you pretending not to know me?’

The Grand Duke Widow and his hallucinations can easily brainwash ordinary people.

However, the widow Grand Duke must not appear.

Because Dragonia can see gaps in memory, ‘purple lines’ or ‘eyes’ that I cannot see.

‘Are you threatening me with my younger brother?’

why? Why did you send me my brother?

The Grand Duke Widow and I are not on particularly bad terms.

In other words, the Grand Duke Widow respects me as the ‘head’.

As I continued to think, time continued to pass.

“If you know just this much, you will probably have no problem passing the exam.”

Henry and Susan look happy in the purest sense of the word.

Susan hid her smile, like an animal that doesn’t show pain from a predator.

“Wow! Thank you!”

“······The investment of time is worth it.”

About half of the contents of the answer sheet that Edeline drew out came out of my mouth.

It’s only about half, but it’s a huge amount.

This is because there is almost no place where you can learn this kind of thing.

I came and found out.

Korea is a country with an impressive education system.

Of course, cramming education was useless.

“Good to hear.”

“Thank you all for your hard work.”

Isabel smiles satisfied.

“I have to keep studying for articles. So, don’t just pass the test and pass it, it’s better to study little by little.”

The Grand Duke Widow looks at me again.

Those meaningful eyes gave me a headache.

Meanwhile, I gently shook Jean, who had fallen asleep again, and he was startled, raised his head, looked around, and looked at me.

“You look confident.”

Jang shook his head, cleared his face, and burst into laughter.

“Ugh… But his father was the commander of the Royal Knights…”

The leader of the royal knights.

······I smashed the head of the former leader.

“I knew he was a great person… but I didn’t know that he rose to the position of Commander of the Royal Knights.”

“It’s not that great. He came down quickly because it didn’t fit the article.”

It’s not that it didn’t fit the article, but it probably just didn’t suit the tastes of the higher-ups.

This is truly ironic.

A knight is a fighting machine that knows a lot, and a machine only needs to be able to do the given task efficiently. However, when I first met my father, he was wielding a sword rather than the bow he was accustomed to using.

Although it is a weapon that clearly has less utility compared to a sword or a bow, it is the weapon that looks the most plausible to an ordinary person who does not know anything about it.

It must have been forced to change due to external pressure.

“Thank you for your help.”

“No.”

Peridot colored eyes stare at me.

I still can’t read it, the look in its eyes gives me goosebumps.

‘I can’t read your expression.’

At some point, after I started feeling all the emotions through the eyes, I gradually began to forget what a person’s facial expressions meant.

Brain functions that are not used are degenerated.

“Let’s go get ready for roll call.”

I left those gazes behind and headed to the men’s dorm with Jean.

* * * * * *

Edeline’s prediction was accurate.

All of the 50 questions were written on the answer sheet without missing a single one. Because of the stimulants I took when memorizing 100 questions, the correct answers still remain clearly in my memory.

However, most of the carnivores were tearing their heads out or even showing their fangs while swearing.

‘Thanks to you, I felt relieved.’

Everything in the technician test is a relative evaluation.

This meant that even if you got 30 points, it didn’t matter as long as there were many people who got less than 30 points.

“Wow… it was really difficult.”

Henry stroked his chest and let out a deep breath.

Isabelle looked around with leisurely eyes, and Jean didn’t seem to be interested in the first place.

Susan also has a relaxed expression on her face, perhaps because she reads people’s moods.

“Why are you so scared? It’s a relative evaluation anyway.”

······Carnivores with good ears are glaring at Susan at the thoughtless provocation.

‘He’s going to bleed a lot someday because of his mouth.’

“But you might be a bit dangerous. I don’t know if I can do the physical fitness test properly.”

Susan, seemingly not paying attention to all the attention, laughs at Henry.

“···Is that so?”

Henry laughs weakly.

Even though Henry was a man, he was thinner than Susan.

“Did you hear? I heard all three drivers have to grade today, so the morning is for personal improvement?”

Jean shook his head at what Isabel said.

“That damn free time. I’m getting tired of free time now.”

Everyone listening to Jean also lets out a sigh of relief and stretches.

Still, he yawned loudly.

Isabelle looks at Jean, but then glances at me and avoids her gaze.

“I should go in and sleep.”

I couldn’t sleep because of Isabel.

Thanks to the answer in my head, I was promised a senior position, so I wasn’t as desperate as others.

This is especially true when it comes to handling the body.

Is it because I can’t read emotions?

Or is it because I am suspicious of Isabel?

Isabel also appears to be an artificial intelligence pretending to be a human.

“The results will come out later, right? Sleeping too much will mess up your biological clock, so don’t sleep too much.”

“I will take care of it.”

I ended up answering in annoyance without realizing it.

······Isabel is looking at me with round green eyes.

Holy shit.

“Sorry. I think I’m sharp because I’m tired. ···Let’s go in first.”

I don’t know when the identity will be revealed, but I hope they don’t look at me like I’m an ordinary person.

Because it’s really hard to deal with.

* * * * * *

I got chills and opened my eyes.

It’s like the kind of foresight that opens your eyes right before an accident.

I looked at the ceiling with wide eyes, wondering if I was going to get there.

Boom!

” All trainees should pack their bags, change into comfortable clothes, and gather in the auditorium! Led by a representative of an apprentice engineer!”

The Terup driver burst through the door and came in.

He seemed quite excited to hear the loud voice.

‘Was it Ki?’

I jumped up.

“Representative of the apprentice engineer! What are you doing?! Did you come to sleep on the wall of the colon?!”

“No! I will lead you right away!”

Jean, who was also sleeping next to him, stood up in a half-asleep state.

Knight Terup left for the auditorium first, saying only what he had to say.

I had no choice but to spread Dantalian’s power very weakly.

“Everyone. Looks like the test scores came out. This will be an important announcement, so I hope everyone gathers in the hallway.”

Dozens of pairs of eyes are all on me.

I got up from my seat and headed straight to the women-only office.

Knock- Knock- Knock-

One Terub suddenly sticks out his head.

“Representative of apprentice engineer?”

“I think the test scores came out. Please gather in the hallway as quickly as possible.”

Terub’s face lit up.

“Guys! The test scores came out!!!”

what.

Why are you so lively?

As I recall, the male quota is fifty-six and the female quota is forty-nine.

···.

When are you checking this?

“No one should be left out.”

How long did we wait like that?

In less than three minutes, everyone gathered in the hallway.

I asked Jean to check the number of women, and I counted the number of men.

“How many people?”

“Forty-nine.”

Me and Jean are fifty-six.

That’s right.

“Let’s go. Watch out for anyone derailing from behind.”

“Surveillance? I knew why you were being monitored.”

Jean looked at me with a shocked expression and then walked back.

Many of the apprentice technicians were illiterate or had very backward ways of thinking.

The test questions could be guessed to some extent, so they weren’t that difficult.

Or maybe I was able to guess it because I knew the answer in advance. Those people will probably all be expelled today.

“Let’s go.”

I led the messy crowd and headed to the auditorium.

When we enter and salute the training director, he roughly gestures.

It was a look in his eyes as if there was something holding me back.

‘What kind of pressure did Seth put on?’

That is highly likely.

Thanks to this, my head has already started to hurt.

“Are you sure they all arrived?”

“Yes. The number of 105 trainee technicians for the 452nd class has been confirmed.”

“Good. Instead of sitting frantically, sit together according to your race.”

A low growl, characteristic of the Sajok, echoed through the auditorium.

As I roughly sat down on a nearby chair, the demi-humans began to sit in groups of twos and threes.

Director Yang glances at the papyrus in his hand and then looks in this direction.

“If your name is not called, you are rejected. Anyone who fails can roll around like a bean bug for two years as a soldier without a second thought.”

I guess so.

“Isabel Laphobia, Dwin Lee, Jean de Arthur…”

Is calling your name in order of score?

There’s no way I got the questions wrong, so I’m probably tied for first place.

The next most successful applicants were elves, followed by terubs.

The race with the most rejections was Hosott.

Most people seemed quite dissatisfied with the results.

Seeing half of the crowd leaving, it looks like my office will be quite empty.

“Is there anyone in bad health?”

The training director takes a look at the apprentice technicians.

When no one answered, I soon adjusted my posture.

“No!”

Reflexively, I ended up shouting out loud to myself.

“If something is said, answer like a representative of an apprentice engineer. Maggots.”

─I understand!!!

“Good. Let’s start the physical fitness test right away. The instructor will hand over those whose names are not called to the soldier training center, and the rest should gather at the parade ground.”

“I have an objection!”

···One of the hosots that was leaving was looking this way with its eyes wide open.

“Why do all those humans pass, and so many other demi-humans fail?!”

“I don’t understand the point of the question.”

“Isn’t this test itself advantageous for humans and elves?!”

Director Yang Yang tilted his head.

“How is it advantageous?”

Did he not like that attitude?

Hosott grits his teeth.

“Don’t those guys stay in their closets and just read books?!”

“Wouldn’t you have read the book too?”

“Isn’t a knight’s job to go out and fight on the battlefield?! I don’t understand why people like that need to learn history and politics!”

However, as happened often, the expression on the head’s face did not even move.

Even in the eyes, there is just the feeling of looking at a child.

“So, I don’t understand why someone who is being trained to go to war with Yunaira has to do something like this?”

“Yes!”

“All soldiers, knights, and commanders are gathered here to protect and repair the country. The essence is not combat, but ‘protection’. If you want to fight, live as a mercenary. All you want to do is fight and fight for the rest of your life, then die.”

Director Yang Yang answers roughly.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not annoyed.

“As you think, a knight needs physical strength. If what you said is true, most of the humans and elves who lived in closed rooms would fail the physical strength test.”

“······.”

The eyes of both those who passed and those who did not pass are directed to Hosott, who spoke.

“I like questions. Everyone is bound to be curious. But I hate people who ask questions like that. Please know that from now on, anyone who asks me questions like that will get their pay cut and be sent to solitary confinement.”

Director Yang Yang came down from the podium.

“The rest follow me.”