Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.1 – My Story
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From the moment I recalled my memories of my past life, my perspective broadened, my thoughts deepened, and I matured in various ways. Building on that foundation, through persistent effort, I fortunately managed to become a soldier in no time.
However, not long after becoming a soldier, war broke out.
It was a war with a hostile nation that had always had poor relations with the kingdom, and it dragged on for a period that was short if you could call three years short.
Of all the bad luck, the war broke out right after I became a soldier, so I had no choice but to participate, swallowing my tears.
I desperately wanted to run away, but deserting would make life hell, and I couldn't live as a wanted man forever, so I gritted my teeth and joined the war.
A war that lasted three years—a short time if you call it short.
But anyone who participated would say the same.
It was an intense and brutal war that felt like it had lasted thirty years, not three.
And fortunately, the victors of that brutal war were the forces of the kingdom I belonged to. Thanks to that, the kingdom rose to the ranks of a great power, if not quite an empire.
Me, a kingdom soldier, now a soldier of a great power?
I heard our pay was going up about threefold, and as war veterans, we even got some tax breaks.
With benefits like that, they might cut me some slack for nearly getting dismembered and having my gut pierced...
'Like hell they will.'
If I hadn't had real troll-level recovery, I would've died dozens of times over.
For the first time, I felt grateful to those spellcasters who tortured me in the name of experiments during my childhood.
War really is a bitch, I realized anew.
Anyway, I decided to put meaning in surviving unscathed and not care whether the kingdom became a great power or not.
More than that...
'I'm done because I'm sick of it!'
Maybe it was because I'd gone straight from rookie soldier to insane war difficulty, but I was fed up with being a soldier or whatever.
So I immediately submitted my resignation and planned to pocket my severance pay and run an inn somewhere.
Even if it didn't pay well, I had a small hope that it might let me live peacefully.
But sadly, the world rarely goes according to plan.
"Oh? Was that you?"
"Pardon?"
"You saved the princess! Thank you, truly, haha!"
"...?"
Remnants of the enemy suddenly raided our camp, and I just fought blindly, but somehow I ended up saving the kingdom's princess...
If anyone heard that, they'd call it bullshit and curse me out, and I felt utterly wronged to be the protagonist of such a ridiculous tale.
I planned to live quietly without standing out, and yet here I was, the guy who saved the princess?
How the hell does something that absurd even happen?
But sadly, reality is reality.
"I never imagined a talent like you wasting away as a mere soldier."
Suddenly, the man tossed me a sword and a necklace that looked like a dog tag.
"From now on, you're a knight."
"??"
I later learned that the old-fashioned-looking middle-aged guy was the Knight Commander, and that he had the authority to appoint knights at his discretion.
And so, I unexpectedly gained the rank of knight.
...Out of absolutely nowhere.
'Is this for real?'
"I can do that."
"B-but I'm from a slave background."
"The kingdom doesn't care about origins if you have ability."
"A-actually, I even have a history in an assassin organization..."
"Ho ho, quite the unique background? But that's even better! We welcome experienced hires—!"
"......"
I even came out as an assassin because I hated it so much, but it didn't faze the guy at all.
That was when I realized it.
This guy was no pushover—he was a crazy bastard too.
'...What a dogshit situation.'
After that, I became a knight at the late age of twenty-seven.
To be precise, a parachute knight.
The others were either noble sons or graduates of prestigious academies, while I was a commoner who had been a regular soldier.
So when a guy like that gets a knight's title thanks to the Knight Commander, "parachute" fits perfectly.
And in any organization, parachutes like that...
"Lowborn scum, do you even know where you are...!"
"Draw your sword. I'll send you where you belong."
"It'd be best for you to leave on your own two feet."
...Faced all sorts of ostracism, bullying, and harassment.
This is the fate of a parachute without backing.
'That Knight Commander is worse than a joke!'
What good is making me a knight?
The guy has no backing for me—he's just sitting in his office sipping tea!
If you're gonna put someone in this position, at least protect them a little.
I got so pissed off in that moment that I needed to vent my stress.
And so...
"You think I'm a pushover—?!"
My eyes rolled back, and the next thing I knew, my memory cut out like I was blackout drunk.
When my memory resumed, in front of me were about a dozen knight squad members beaten to a pulp and the Knight Commander who had subdued me.
"Haha, what a fun talent. No proper master in sight, yet you instinctively know how to fight. A beast through and through."
"...Stop toying with me and just accept my resignation. By the way, this isn't a request—it's a warning. If you don't, I don't know what I'll do to you."
"Oh? I'd love to see that. What kind of warning?"
"I warned you."
At that point, I was so fed up with the Knight Commander and everything that even if I didn't kill him, I wanted to dislocate his jaw at least.
I didn't care about the aftermath.
Dead one way or another, what's the difference?
But...
Pow pow pow!
"W-wait a second!"
"Haha, when will you show me this warning?"
"Ah, I-I made a mistake...!"
This old man was freaking strong.
I realized then that he hadn't become Knight Commander by luck—he was just the strongest among the knights.
He was on a different level from the others.
I got pounded like dust in the rain, hit over and over, so much that I thought I'd die from the beating. Just then, the Commander stopped punching.
"Heh heh, your body's tough as nails. Look at this—I'm the one sweating buckets."
"Y-you crazy bastard..."
"Still talking, eh? Definitely a talent!"
"I-I'm resigning..."
"No can do. I won't accept it. If you really want to quit, beat me first. Then I'll let you go."
"...Damn you."
I clearly realized I'd crossed paths with a freakishly strong weirdo, and for the first time that day, tears welled up.
But instead of crying afterward, I sharpened my resolve inwardly.
'I'll definitely quit someday!'
A gentleman's revenge is never too late, even if it takes ten years.
'...I can win, right?'
Though I couldn't help feeling a bit less confident.
After that day, the guys who used to bully me vanished.
More precisely, most turned pale at the sight of me and ran away.
Well, some of the ones I beat were still recovering at the temple, and among those who healed, some retired due to mental trauma. Can't be helped.
'Did I go too far?'
Still, no helping it.
Who told them to piss me off?
They started it by messing with someone trying to live quietly.
So, as a result, I was forcibly isolated in the knight order and just quietly did my duties.
My goal was ultimately to take down the Commander.
To that end, I redoubled my efforts to defeat him, training day and night for the first time since my assassin guild days.
...Though what I knew wasn't much.
"Isn't that the basic kingdom swordsmanship?"
"Looks like it..."
"...Can you beat the Commander, an Aura User, with that?"
"Impossible."
All I knew for training was stealth and assassination techniques from my assassin days.
But I could never beat the Commander with that, and even if I did, I wouldn't be satisfied.
So I started training in swordsmanship for frontal combat, practicing the only sword art I knew—the basic swordsmanship every citizen knows.
Higher techniques from famous knight families were beyond me since I knew nothing about them.
I didn't have anyone to teach me either.
...The Commander might have taught me gladly, but I absolutely refused.
It felt like begging, and I didn't want to become his disciple-like figure.
So...
"Hey, you. Spar with me."
"W-what did I do to deserve this?!"
"Shut up and fight."
"D-damn it!!"
Fortunately, I was in the knight order.
Full of elites trained in advanced swordsmanship. I sparred with them multiple times a day, eyeballing their techniques and filling my gaps.
I mostly won with physical prowess, but there were real deals in the order too, and I lost to them sometimes.
It was a mistake to go at them with pure swordsmanship, but rather than humiliating, it was welcome since I could steal plenty from them.
Days of clinging to spars like that.
Whenever I saw some progress, I consistently...
Boom!
"You're still no match for me."
"Grrraaah!!!"
...Challenged the Commander.
Less challenging him and more him graciously watching my antics, but instead of humiliation, I just fueled my determination to win someday.
So I fought, fought, fought, and fought again, ultimately achieving a perfect record of one hundred losses.
Lost all one hundred times.
"...You're not human."
"Think Aura User is some mutt's name? Heh heh, if it bugs you, become an Aura User yourself."
"......This is driving me insane."
Aura User.
Superhumans who transcend the human body.
Humans wielding the mysterious power of aura—among those who underwent systematic, insane training from childhood, only the geniuses who overcame them all barely reach that realm.
And on the continent, aura is countered only by aura. Thus, Aura Users are monsters in human form.
And the one I had to beat was one of the kingdom's three "real deal" Aura Users.
At this point, it's reasonable to despair humanely.
I just couldn't see a way to win.
Shing.
"Oh? At it again?"
"Even a stump falls after ten strikes."
"Won't work on me."
"...Then I'll strike a thousand, ten thousand times."
"That sounds fun."
Bang!
Three years later...
I was still...
"Haah, I really want to quit."
...Stuck in the knight order.