Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Who the Hell is Yan?
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Ever since that day, Gunther had holed himself up in the prayer room, refusing to come out.
He ate and slept in the prayer room, rarely stepping outside.
When I asked if he was trying to become a Holy Knight again, he said that wasn’t it.
He simply said there were people whose futures he wanted to bless, and since he didn’t know any other way, he was praying for their happiness like this.
Whatever the reason.
If it brought him satisfaction, that was all that mattered.
In any case, Gunther was a completely changed man.
To me, the change looked as if he had finally shed a burden he had carried for a long, long time.
The occasional gloomy look in his eyes suggested he still had a few more burdens to cast off, but he seemed much more at ease than before.
With Gunther cooped up in the prayer room, I was left alone in my guest room.
“Again? Another failure?”
After leaving the confessional, I had tried to connect to the Stars’ Channel right away, but it wasn’t easy.
Signal is weak. Connection failed. Out of range. And so on.
“This is starting to get on my nerves.”
I had lived just fine before getting involved with the stars, but for some reason, I felt unusually anxious.
It was a different feeling from being in the confessional, where connecting was completely impossible.
I tried to access the Stars’ Channel whenever I had a spare moment.
“Oh!”
And finally, I succeeded.
[The Curious Sloth] It’s because this area is under a Sanctuary Declaration~~~
[The Emperor Who Abandoned His Country] Sanctuary Declaration, my foot. It’s just them being territorial.
[The Elegant Left-Hander] Is that really something for you to say, Your Majesty? Don’t your descendants use something similar?
[The Emperor Who Abandoned His Country] My children only use it in one place. But those bastards, it’s like they’re claiming every piece of land that isn’t theirs. A sanctuary here, a sanctuary there. In another thousand years, the whole world will be a sanctuary.
[The Elegant Left-Hander] Ah, so you’re mad about them claiming territory.
According to the information I gathered after the difficult connection, the entire monastery was within someone’s domain.
Apparently, a certain star watching over this place was fundamentally blocking the interference of other stars.
“Ah, again!”
Before I could have a proper conversation, the connection was abruptly severed.
“Now what should I do?”
Wandering around the monastery was fun for a day or two, but now I was bored of it.
Trying to strike up a conversation with the people coming and going wasn’t easy either.
The members of the Iron Cross Order weren’t the best conversationalists to begin with.
Still, there was no better lodging than this place.
Thanks to the monks sweeping and wiping day and night, there wasn’t a single speck of dust in the guest room. The kind of trouble that would inevitably arise in other inns in the capital, crowded with all sorts of guests, was not a concern here.
The meals were plentiful and well-prepared, too.
Most importantly, I didn’t have nightmares here.
Following my time in the confessional, I continued to enjoy deep sleep in the guest room.
And to top it all off, this excellent accommodation was even free of charge.
Everything was so satisfactory that I even considered mooching off the Order indefinitely.
Of course, that was just a thought.
The day I had to leave this place was not far off.
In two weeks, the Cradle’s entrance exam would begin.
By now, the other new students must be in the final stages of preparation for the exam.
That had nothing to do with me.
Recommendations from the Free Knights’ Guild and a 5-star knight, plus a letter of recommendation from the Crown Prince.
With all this, it would be stranger if I *didn’t* pass.
Of course, some might call it unfair.
If anyone were to say such a thing to my face, I planned to respond like this:
“If you’re so salty, go catch a mage yourself.”
This was nothing but a just reward for what I had accomplished so far.
I had slain a mage (though luck was on my side).
I had driven off a sorcerer (though it was thanks to Barisada).
I had protected the Crown Prince (though the stars had helped).
These were feats not easily achieved even by a knight, let alone a squire.
No matter how high the Cradle’s standards were, it would be more unfair if they didn’t acknowledge this level of experience.
Therefore, this was not a fraudulent admission.
“Definitely not.”
It was merely an acknowledgment of my experience as a squire.
“…My ass.”
It seemed I had been overconfident in my recommendation letters.
After lazing around the monastery for a while, I visited the Free Knights’ Guild in the capital to catch up on the news.
“They say this year’s exam will be conducted under the same conditions for everyone, regardless of origin or background.”
The Forsaken Dogs, who happened to be there, delivered the devastating news.
“Apparently, there are too many applicants from prestigious families this time. So, they had to make this decision.”
“Something about how accepting all the recommendation letters would make the exam meaningless.”
In short, the recommendation letters I had worked so hard to obtain had all become useless scraps of paper.
“Isn’t being from a prestigious family a foul in itself? Why leave their perfectly good families to come to the Cradle and steal someone else’s opportunity? Where’s their conscience?”
“The competition is going to be insane. This won’t be easy.”
“Esquire, will you be alright?”
The Forsaken Dogs, who had been chattering amongst themselves, turned to me.
“You idiot! Do you know who our Esquire Yan is? As if a measly exam would be a problem for him!”
“He’s the type to look before he leaps. He must have prepared for this, of course.”
Watching the mercenaries declare this so confidently before I could even respond, I fell silent.
“……?”
The mercenaries, noticing my expression a moment later, widened their eyes.
“Don’t tell me…?”
“You didn’t prepare at all?”
I couldn’t answer.
Far from preparing for an exam, my recent daily routine had consisted of getting a good night’s sleep at the monastery.
“I heard some people spend years preparing for this exam.”
“And of all times, you’ll be competing against scions of noble families who’ve trained for a decade, from page to squire.”
I squeezed my eyes shut at the mercenaries’ worried words.
Just my luck.
I thought things were going too smoothly for once.
* * *
In the end, I had no choice but to cram for the exam.
“This compiles the expected subjects and their respective evaluation criteria based on past Cradle exams. It’s an exam guide, a rather famous item among those taking the Cradle’s exams.”
The Free Knights’ Guild, not wanting the talent they had recommended to fail the exam so helplessly, handed me a book.
At that moment, the blessing of “Morbid Curiosity” bestowed upon me by “The Curious Sloth” activated.
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【Siegfried’s Exam Guide, Copy (☆)】
*Original title: [The Challenge is Beautiful]. Now it is simply called the ‘Exam Guide.’
*It contains a detailed account of the author, Siegfried, who began knocking on the Cradle’s doors at the age of thirteen and took the entrance exam a total of seven times until he reached the age limit of twenty.
*The latter part has been lost, so it is unknown whether the author passed the Cradle’s exam.
*The publication date of the book is also unknown.
*This is the only existing document that deals with the private exams held at the Cradle of Stars.
*Reading it completely slightly alleviates exam anxiety.
*The effect disappears after one day.
*Possessing it for a certain period may result in a certain curse.
*There is a strange rumor that the content differs depending on when it is read.
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It was a peculiar item, imbued with both a faint blessing and an unknown curse.
Though the effect was subtle, it was still an artifact. I wondered if it was okay for them to give me such an item for free.
“It is an artifact, but there are many of them. There are at least 200 copies whose locations are currently known.”
When I asked, a guild employee answered nonchalantly.
“Oh, and by the way, I recommend you return it after you’re done reading. If you keep it, you’ll have bad luck. It’s a superstition, but there have been quite a few cases where people who kept the book saw their thriving businesses or family fortunes suddenly decline or collapse.”
It seemed the “certain curse” mentioned in the information I confirmed through the blessing was a type of bad luck.
From the sound of it, it seemed quite potent.
In any case, thanks to the guild’s cooperation, preparing for the exam itself wasn’t too difficult.
The problem was that this exam guide was standard issue for the other students, and they had had ample time to prepare according to it.
My situation, having to prepare everything in just one week, was completely different.
“Let’s see.”
Returning to the monastery, I immediately took out the exam guide and began to read.
『I, Siegfried, in order to succeed on my own without relying on my royal father’s authority and honor, traveled across the sea to the Empire…』
『But the world was far harsher than I had imagined, and for those without, opportunity was nothing but a fiction…』
I skipped past the author’s uninteresting background.
“Oh, this is more substantial than I thought.”
Although it was full of ramblings, the content of the exam guide was far better than I had expected.
I read the entire guide right there on the spot.
The first thought that came to my mind was,
“So did this guy pass the Cradle or not?”
I wondered if this Siegfried fellow who wrote the guide had actually succeeded in getting into the Cradle.
But as the blessing had confirmed, the latter part of the book was missing, so I couldn’t determine the author’s success from the contents alone.
Anyway, regardless of the man’s success or failure, the guide’s content was quite thorough.
“Hmm.”
I reviewed the contents again.
The first thing that caught my eye was information about the expected exam subjects.
The “Basic Knowledge Assessment,” which checked skills necessary for serving a knight, such as weapon management, mount care, navigation, and composition.
The “Individual Skill Assessment,” which evaluated abilities as an individual combatant, such as physical strength, martial skills, tactical understanding, and sparring.
And finally, the “Comprehensive Assessment,” where an examiner would create an impromptu test that encompassed all the previous subjects.
The exam was structured with three main parts, broken down into a total of nine detailed sections, all of which had to be passed to become a student of the Cradle.
The information in the guide didn’t just list the subjects.
It provided a clear, organized breakdown of the detailed evaluation methods and things to pay attention to.
It even included a comprehensive analysis of which examiners had which tendencies, what they liked, and what they disliked.
*Thump.*
Closing the book, I smacked my lips.
“It’s… ambiguous.”
It felt both helpful and not helpful at the same time.
With my years of experience as a squire in my past life, it wasn’t of much help on a fundamental level.
This was all basic stuff, only necessary for a novice.
Where it did help was in making me realize that my experience and knowledge as a squire were significantly different from those of the current era.
It was a fact I hadn’t been keenly aware of until now.
The horrific Great War had changed many things.
Among those changes were the virtues and qualifications of a squire.
I had no choice but to hastily acquire and read a squire’s textbook.
“Should I call this romantic, or just plain stupid?”
Many of the things considered virtues in this era were seen as idiotic actions during the Great War era I had lived in.
To give one example, it went something like this.
In this era, it was a virtue for knights and squires to wait for an opponent to replace their weapon if it broke during a duel.
But in my past life,
“Yeah. That’s the fault of the guy who didn’t maintain his weapon properly.”
That was none of my business.
Everyone pursued victory as a commander rather than the romance of being a knight.
They thought of the lives of the soldiers under their command before displaying virtue through mercy.
It was an era where the greater cause—ending the terrible war—took precedence over individual glory.
When an opportunity presented itself, taking the enemy’s head was the natural course of action.
Anyway.
“Justly, mercifully, and with fair play.”
I crammed the several virtues repeatedly emphasized in the exam guide into my head.
As I forced myself to shed the habits I had followed since my past life and inject myself with specific knightly virtues that didn’t fit me, time continued to flow.
And finally, the day of the entrance exam arrived.
* * *
“To think the recommendation letters are useless. Does this make any sense?”
“They can’t be serious about making us take the actual exam. They must be playing it safe to keep the nobodies from running their mouths.”
Around the time Yan was finishing his cram session, the upscale residential districts of the capital were abuzz with gatherings of young men from prestigious families.
The topic of discussion was, of course, the Cradle’s sudden change in policy.
While some were angered by the news that the exam would be conducted on equal footing, without regard for background or recommendations, most simply scoffed.
The prevailing mood was that the Cradle was just building a public pretense to appease the masses.
“I heard they’re really making us take the exam. Under completely identical conditions.”
“They say they won’t even look at the recommendation letters.”
But that atmosphere didn’t last long.
A few of the young men confirmed through their families that the Cradle’s policy was not just for show.
“The Cradle must be determined to break our spirit. Otherwise, they wouldn’t act so outrageously.”
“Hah. Now we’re forced to take the exam alongside who-knows-what kind of riffraff. Does the Cradle truly intend to disgrace us like this?”
The young men decried the Cradle’s measures as unfair and malicious, and it reached a point where they lodged formal protests through their families.
The Cradle’s position was clear and firm.
「Slaying a mage alone, or」
「Buying time against dozens of bandits to save refugees, or」
「Contributing to the repulsion of a sorcerer, or」
「Protecting a member of the royal family pursued by a sorcerer.」
The Cradle’s official response was that they could not accept any recommendation letter that did not list achievements such as these.
“Nonsense! The Cradle is mistaken! They need to figure out whether they’re recruiting squires or knights!”
“How can they set such absurd conditions, unless they intend to dismiss our protest entirely!”
“The Cradle is insulting us by setting conditions that even a high-ranking knight would struggle to achieve!”
The scions of the noble families naturally rebelled and sent another letter of protest.
“Where in the world is there a squire who has accomplished such feats!”
To this, the Cradle’s reply was short and concise.
-There is such a person.
Naturally, the young men didn’t believe it.
The situation spiraled.
Each family took this matter as a sort of power struggle.
They dispatched high-ranking knights to put a stop to the Cradle’s deceptive actions.
The knights sent by the prestigious families swaggered through the Cradle’s gates and reappeared a short while later.
But the confident air they had upon arrival was nowhere to be seen on their return.
Every one of them looked as if they had seen a ghost.
“To think all those achievements were accomplished by a single person…”
They all said, as if by agreement.
Who the hell is Yan?