Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Squire. No, Slave
What is a knight's squire?
A knight's squire is commonly treated as an apprentice knight under the name "Squire," but in reality, it's an extremely arduous profession where one takes care of all manner of chores and dirty work for the knight they serve.
Basically, from maintaining the master's equipment to managing horses, running errands, assisting with training, accompanying on expeditions, and so on...
Until reaching adulthood or being acknowledged by the knight as capable of fulfilling a full person's role, the squire risks their life to accompany the knight and build up their skills.
Well, from the description so far, it might be considered just another name for a slave.
But unlike slaves, squires accompany their knight masters into battle and also get opportunities to improve their skills under their master's protection.
If a squire gains the master's favor, they might learn a few sword techniques, and if lucky, there's a possibility of being taught parts of secret arts.
Ah, of course, the above story was about the squire profession in general.
In my case, Rudian, the story is a bit different.
***
SLAP!
Along with a burning pain on my left cheek, I felt slight dizziness.
"How on earth did you handle this matter that it reached the Count's ears?"
"......"
The lady of the Iskar family, Countess Louisa, glared at Rudian with a twisted expression like an evil spirit.
"Didn't I hire a commoner like you as Calline's squire to prevent such things?"
"...I'm sorry."
"If anything happens to Calline, I will surely grind you up and drink you!"
One might find the dramatic speech pattern amusing, but if things go wrong, Rudian will truly be made to take all the blame by Louisa.
Rudian quietly turned his head to look at the root cause of this situation.
FLINCH!
A young man about his age, turning his head away and pretending not to know.
He wanted to give that detestable face a knee kick, but if he did, this second life he had fought so hard to survive would immediately come to an end.
'Sigh, should I just quit?'
Usually, knights' squires don't experience such things.
But the knight Rudian was serving now was not an "ordinary knight."
Calline Iskar.
He is the eldest son of Count Iskar, the young master, and the man who would rule this frontier territory in the future.
And he was also a notorious good-for-nothing, known to everyone around here.
***
It had already been three years since Rudian fell into the world of <The. Chro. Seven.>
Though he started his second life without any foundation, surprisingly, Rudian was thriving as Calline's squire, being called a dragon risen from a small stream.
There were three reasons why Rudian, who had absolutely nothing, could become the squire of the Count's heir.
First was that Rudian's age was similar to Calline's.
Second was that Rudian, despite being a commoner, could skillfully write "letters."
And lastly, all the senior squires had quit without exception, not lasting more than three months.
Rudian was proud that if he were to compile all the hardships he had experienced into a book, it would be as long as the total number of chapters in <The. Chro. Seven.>.
What those hardships mainly consisted of were...
"Young master, a letter has arrived from Baron Hamar's house. They say that you and your friends have stolen three of the Baron’s finest horses….”
“Take care of it.”
"Young master, Lord Theor is pleading for the return of his family's treasured sword."
“Take care of it.”
"Young master, the heir of the Bolton family is at the front of the castle with a sword. He says he'll make you pay for messing with his younger sibling..."
“Take care of it.”
"Young master, the Count is furious about your recent contact with those underworld figures."
"Handle it you wish... W-what did you say!"
The main content was cleaning up after a master who kept causing trouble like this.
Well, in reality, the master caused trouble every other day, but usually, it was at a level that could somehow be handled.
'That was the usual level, but...'
Today, the situation was a bit different.
"Ah, damn. This is big trouble."
Today, Calline was fidgeting and watching Rudian nervously.
"Looks like they found out, huh?"
"...Of course, don't you think?"
Rudian covered his face with both hands and muttered dejectedly.
Just this month, it was already the fifth time.
Of course, this number five refers to the number of incidents Calline had caused.
"What did I tell you? I said nothing good would come from getting involved with those guys. But while I was away handling business... You caused trouble during that time?"
"Ah, no. That's..."
Normally, he would have answered with something like "what are you going to do about it," but today was different.
While he was away resolving trouble his master had caused, the guy couldn't wait and caused another major incident.
Rudian let out a hollow sigh.
"Not content with mingling with underworld figures, you had to..."
The imperial nobleman and heir to the frontier territory had a wild time with criminal gang members who were no different from the empire's cancer.
Actually, this itself wasn't such a big problem.
This is Iskar, and Calline is like the king's son here.
The real big problem was that the scene had been spotted by an outside nobleman staying at the Iskar main castle, and rumors had spread all the way to the capital.
Calline hesitated and then mumbled an awkward excuse in a crawling voice.
"But aren't I the young master? If I mingle with them directly..."
"If you mingle with them?"
"I, I thought... Maybe the body, not just the tail, would emerge..."
"...Were you thinking of achieving merit with that?"
"......"
Calline's gaze avoided Rudian and turned sideways.
Recently, the appearance of those who made illegal slavery, drugs, and usury their business had been gradually increasing in this border area.
Naturally, the central government demanded that Count Iskar strictly manage his territory, and Count Iskar had dismissed the central government's interference, saying not to worry.
"And in that situation, you had to give them a pretext!"
"......"
"Now the central government will surely interfere with this and that, right?"
"Ugh...!"
Calline shrank his shoulders and turned his head away.
It wasn't the first or second time this good-for-nothing had caused trouble, but this time he had clearly crossed the line.
Calline, who usually showed a "who cares" attitude while causing all sorts of trouble, was now as docile as someone rejected by a new bride—wasn't that proof enough?
Rudian held his still-tingling left cheek and sighed.
The wound left by Louisa still stung.
'Damn woman.'
In truth, to become the squire of a Count-level heir like Calline, one should at least be from a noble family that received a fief.
But how long could those who receive princely treatment in their own territories endure this environment where both their master and his mother were causing trouble like tandem?
Of course, they couldn't endure for long and resigned one after another, and finally, the turn came to Rudian, a commoner.
'...What should I do?'
Honestly, I could endure Louisa's abuses as much as needed.
This was a world where one couldn't survive if they insisted on concepts of human rights.
I could easily endure the physical abuse from a non-knight commoner.
But the real problem was that if something happened to Calline, there was a high possibility that Rudian would be ground up along with him.
'Absolutely not! How have I endured until now!'
It had already been three years since he was incarnated as a commoner who couldn't even be an extra.
Out of those three years, he had been employed as Calline's squire for about two years.
During that time, he had been frugally saving money to prepare for the end times that would unfold in the main story...!
'To think that the crisis I would have faced after the main story starts is already here...!'
Rudian sighed and mentioned the future that awaited Calline.
"Since having your position as young master revoked is a certainty, you should prepare to enter some religious order."
"Ru, Rudian? W-wait...!"
"I'll at least provide you with personal food out of old friendship."
"UWAAA!"
Calline clutched his head and rolled around on the bed.
Well, he said this, but the possibility of Calline actually losing his position as young master was low.
After all, he was an only child who received plenty of love from the Count, and he had at least caused trouble within his own territory.
'If he had been caught in the capital, his head would have been lost without fail.'
If he had caused such trouble in the capital where the Emperor's influence was 100% effective, the basic punishment would be beheading, and in the worst case, the entire Count Iskar family could be destroyed.
In that case, Rudian, as his squire, would have had his neck cut off too, so it was a bit regrettable that he couldn't be purely happy about it.
'Hmm....'
Rudian pondered.
Despite appearances, over the past two years, he had accumulated all sorts of know-how from cleaning up after Calline and had become a veteran.
From such a Rudian's perspective, there was almost no way for Calline to safely overcome this crisis.
A way to resolve both the anger of the Imperial family and Count Iskar.
'It's not that there's absolutely no way.'
The problem was that one had to risk their life, but still.
'Even if I tell him the method, would Calline be willing to do it?'
He felt deep skepticism about this point.
***
KNOCK KNOCK!
"Enter."
A mature, dignified voice came from inside the door.
Calline gulped and pulled the handle of the office door.
"......"
"Have you come?"
In the room was a long-haired middle-aged man with neatly trimmed beard down to his earlobes, and beside him stood a middle-aged knight with three streaks of scars on his face as a guard.
The middle-aged man was Rickart von Iskar, the Count of the Border, the owner of this vast Iskar territory, and Rudian's employer.
And the knight was Sir Derrick Winhousen, the captain of the Lion Hearts, the private knight order under the Count.
The moment he stepped into the lord's office, Rudian briefly made eye contact with Sir Derrick.
'You've been through a lot.'
'Thank you for understanding.'
Derrick was one of those who knew well how much Rudian was suffering.
'Still, this mistake is a big one.'
'The bastard caused trouble when I wasn't watching, what could I do?'
'You should have done better.'
Rudian avoided Derrick's gaze, which contained both sympathy and reproach, and turned his attention to Margrave Rickart sitting at the end of the office.
As expected, the Count's mood seemed quite displeased.
"I heard from the head butler that you caused quite a stir this time?"
"Ah, Father. That wasn't a mistake but..."
"The guys you made contact with were part of one of the organizations that the Imperial direct 5th Knight Order has personally set out to eradicate. Of course, all eyes and ears were focused here."
"Th-that is..."
Both Calline and Rudian's expressions suddenly stiffened.
The situation seems to have grown bigger than expected.
If the Imperial Knight Order had directly intervened, it meant that the scale of the men Calline had contacted was beyond Rudian's imagination.
Even if the central government didn't raise an issue about this, the Iskar family would still owe a huge debt to the Imperial family just from that alone.
Count Rickart seemed to have already made up his mind and passed a judgment on Calline that was as good as a death sentence.
"Prepare to enter a religious order."
"...F-Father!"
"It won't be for life. But you should be thinking about at least 5 years of self-reflection."
The Count's expression was serious.
Calline's expression distorted to the point of becoming tearful.
"I'll assign Rudian to you, so you won't have any particular inconveniences in your daily life."
'...As expected.'
Rudian sighed inwardly.
After 5 years.
According to calculations, that's when the main story of <The. Chro. Seven.> begins.
By then, the continent would be engulfed in the flames of war with much blood flowing, and Rudian would be swept away like a fallen leaf to meet a miserable future.
"F-Father! Just a moment!"
At that moment, Calline desperately interrupted the Count's words, waving his hands.
"Do you have something to say?"
"I'll, I'll earn merit! I will definitely earn merit that can offset this situation and raise the name of our family!"
Count Rickart seemed momentarily intrigued by Calline's exclamation, but soon returned to his original attitude.
"But in the current situation, even if you earn merit, it won't prevent the Imperial family's interference. Unless it's an extraordinary achievement..."
"The Holy Sword Daylight!"
JOLT!
The moment the word 'Daylight' was mentioned, for the first time, the expression of Count Iskar changed drastically.
And Rudian's expression, who was listening beside him, also distorted.
'Is he serious?'
The method Rudian had thought of for Calline to avoid responsibility was military merit.
But this bastard was going one step further, declaring that he would voluntarily enter the gates of hell.
"Wasn't the reason those guys were lurking around the border area because information about the dungeon had leaked! If I reclaim the holy sword Daylight of the Delphione Duchy, I can surely receive the Duke's assistance!"
While it's unlikely that underworld figures would come all the way here for dungeon exploration, Calline was somehow twisting the facts to survive.
"Daylight...?"
Count Rickart pondered for a moment but eventually shook his head.
"That's a dungeon with unconfirmed difficulty. Even though it was discovered in our territory, we can't divert significant forces while the Kingdom of Rohans' movements are suspicious."
Obviously, Calline going on a dungeon expedition alone would be suicide, so if the exploration begins, knights and magicians under the Iskar family would be deployed for the dungeon exploration.
But Calline's expression, having grasped the last lifeline, was resolute.
"I will definitely accomplish it! Please believe in me, Father!"
Faced with his child's unprecedented show of determination, Rickart's expression wavered briefly.
"...Hmm!"
Calline is just a figurehead expedition leader, a puppet executive. The real hard work falls on the vassals deployed below.
Rudian sneered and mocked Calline.
'There's no way the Count will accept that.'
Usually, when a dungeon is discovered, the Adventurer's Guild or Information Guild first dispatches an expedition team to determine the danger level before proceeding.
In a situation where proper investigation hasn't even been conducted yet, who would take such a gamble where there's a possibility of losing the entire deployed force, including the heir?
Calline's proposal was difficult to accept, and shouldn't be accepted.
But...
"Fine. Just this once, I'll believe in you."
'What?'
Regardless of Rudian's astonishment next to him, Count Rickart continued to pour out words like a bolt from the blue.
"I'll assign thirty knights including Derrick and three magicians. Since you promised so confidently, risk your life on it. Don't even dream of returning before retrieving Daylight."
"Y-Your Excellency...!"
Before Rudian could say anything, Count Rickart spoke to him first.
"Rudian, I entrust Calline to you. If you do as you have been doing, all will go well."
'Oh, no!'
The Count turned his gaze to Calline with a sturdy look.
"I believe in you. I believe that, just this once, you won't disappoint your father!"
He wanted to say that the number of disappointments so far was close to three digits, but if he uttered those words in the current situation, his head would fly off by Derrick's sword right there.
'Are you really determined to die?'
Dungeon.
Although a dungeon itself is fundamentally designed with a difficulty that ordinary people cannot overcome.
In this messed-up world of <The. Chro. Seven.>, dungeons were equated with the word hell.
Because in this world, dungeons were places of inhuman terror where classic powerhouses like gods and demon kings, as well as planet-killer level munchkins from outer space, could appear without warning!