Chapter 23
Chapter 23
It took an entire week for Sir Rekun to persuade his wife.
Since it was meant to be their final stretch together, he had to respect the feelings of the childhood friend who wanted to spend time with her husband.
Lady Selin had spent most of her life beside Sir Rekun, so her request was more than reasonable.
The little time Rekun had left in this world no longer belonged only to him. It also belonged to his wife and children.
And from Rekun’s perspective, his knightly oath had already been dissolved by his lord.
Without his wife’s permission, he no longer had any justification to remain here.
< “…Just five years. Truly, only five years.” >
Fortunately, Lady Selin was far kinder than anyone could have expected.
Though she had clearly reached the limit of her patience with her husband’s obsession toward his lord, she still did not turn away from his desperate pleas during that week.
< “After that, the rest of your life belongs entirely to me.” >
At his partner’s sharp declaration, Sir Rekun nodded without hesitation.
As though no amount of gratitude would ever be enough for the woman who had stayed beside such a stubborn old man all this time.
And during that process, I learned another surprising fact.
Sir Rekun apparently had four children.
That also naturally explained why Selin had not stayed here with him.
Unlike the eldest son and daughter, who were already grown, the younger children were still minors.
No matter how stubborn the parents were, raising children in such a harsh environment would have been unreasonable.
It was the same as parents moving out to the countryside and worrying about ruining their children’s education.
“Today’s lesson will concern parrying. In swordsmanship, it refers to the general motions used to deflect or redirect an opponent’s attacks…”
Anyway, Sir Rekun safely returned to Bellark.
Even if there was now a fixed time limit attached to it, that alone was enough to be thankful for.
We really ought to thank Lady Luchester as well.
Me included.
And probably the remaining villagers too.
“……”
I stared at Sir Rekun with complicated feelings.
Who would have thought the day would come where I’d look at this stubborn old geezer like this?
Back then, because the territory’s situation was so unstable, I had wanted someone to protect me until adulthood.
That was why I even picked the Familiar trait.
The reason I made such reckless choices was because Bellark genuinely looked like it could collapse at any moment.
But what was the reality?
This ruined land had somehow survived purely because of a single old knight’s struggle.
Now that I thought about it, maybe I really should’ve acted more like a child, just like Sir Rekun said.
Maybe I should’ve trusted and relied on the people around me more.
If I had, perhaps I wouldn’t have owed Eden such an enormous debt.
And now Sir Rekun himself had declared he would protect this land until I reached my mid-teens.
There was a huge difference between being barely ten and being in your mid-teens.
At that point, you could at least imitate adulthood somewhat convincingly.
I knew his consideration wasn’t solely for my sake.
But honestly, who cared?
The admiration I felt toward him was this vivid already.
Still, if there was one disappointing thing…
“You’re interfering with training, so stand aside. If you’re that bored, go drink tea in the garden with His Highness.”
Sir Rekun still refused to accept me as a squire.
And as always, he continued treating me like some clueless little brat.
Of course.
I was the idiot for expecting anything from him.
‘You said you’d raise those kids into proper knights.’
And while saying that, he even looked at me too.
But now he was pretending none of that ever happened.
Not only was there no chance of becoming a squire, I was still treated like an outsider.
Sir Rekun clearly gave off the impression that he wanted to take me as a disciple too, so why?
What exactly did that look mean, old man?
Acting all hot-and-cold like those queen bees from my previous life, stringing people along without committing.
How long was I supposed to keep playing this push-and-pull game with this old knight?
“…Haa.”
Only sighs escaped me.
I looked toward the training grounds with lingering regret.
I never expected Sir Rekun to remain in this territory forever.
But now that the limit had been set at exactly five years, impatience kept creeping in.
At this rate, would I really end up reaching adulthood without even proper fundamentals?
What if I wound up becoming a maid despite having all these traits?
If that happened, maybe I should seriously consider becoming a mercenary or adventurer instead.
With the free-spirited mindset I carried over from modern times, that kind of life might suit me better anyway.
……Still, it was disappointing.
For some reason, the thought of becoming a knight simply refused to leave my mind.
How did things even end up like this?
Back then, I was satisfied as long as I could live as some kind of fighter.
Mercenary, gladiator, village guard—I had considered all of them.
The reason I leaned toward knighthood was simply because it had the best treatment among combat professions.
I never truly thought, “I want to become a knight.”
But somewhere along the way, becoming a knight had started turning into an actual dream.
Even though I had no interest in chivalry whatsoever.
The reason was probably Eden and Sir Rekun.
A person’s heart was something even they themselves couldn’t fully understand, so I still couldn’t say for certain.
But the more guilt I felt toward Eden, and the more respect I felt toward the old man, the stronger my yearning for knighthood became.
I wanted to repay Eden properly, which meant I needed to rise high.
And having an incredible mentor like the old man nearby naturally sparked admiration toward knights.
Back in my previous life, I started martial arts simply because I had talent.
But what I felt now couldn’t even be compared to such shallow motivations.
This was something deeper.
Something that endlessly stirred my heart for reasons I couldn’t even explain.
If I had never met the people of Bellark, I probably never would’ve felt this way.
‘I said I wanted to live without being controlled by others…’
Yet somehow, this kind of influence didn’t feel bad at all.
In my previous life, I spent most of my time helping others.
That was why this kind of selfless devotion felt even more precious and meaningful.
Because I had almost never received help myself.
And since things seemed to be moving in a positive direction, there was no reason to reject it.
Once I repaid Eden’s kindness, I would be free anyway, so there was no need to feel shackled.
That was why there was no doubt that my desire to become the old man’s disciple was genuine.
Hm?
Already time again?
< Trait Selection! >
Right.
I was already ten years old now.
Anyway, it was basically settled that I wouldn’t be training under Sir Rekun anytime soon.
So for now, I’d just soothe my disappointment through trait selection instead.
‘These are kind of awkward.’
That was my immediate impression upon seeing the options.
Only one of them was related to combat, and even that came with restrictions.
If I planned to become a dual-wielding warrior, it would’ve been a pretty straightforwardly strong trait.
But I didn’t.
Sir Rekun himself said knights needed versatility.
And I had already picked a trait that improved proficiency with most weapons.
So it didn’t really appeal to me.
If I had to choose, the first option was honestly absurdly overpowered.
Increasing one stat and having another rise alongside it was ridiculously efficient.
But from the perspective of someone aiming to become a knight, it was disappointing that it wasn’t something like “Strength increases together with Vitality.”
You probably needed brains and instincts to handle weapons too, sure.
But compared to physical ability, those things weren’t nearly as important.
At least for someone in my situation.
After evaluating the first two choices, I shifted my gaze to the last one.
‘Insight of the Elves?’
This trait had definitely appeared because of Lady Luchester.
I felt many things while looking at her, but if I had to summarize them into two emotions, they’d be: incredibly beautiful and incredibly wise.
That didn’t mean I wanted to become her, though.
Maybe the status window interpreted even admiration like that as “longing.”
If so, it made sense.
For a brief moment, I really did think:
What kind of life would someone that beautiful live?
And if she was wise on top of that, no wonder Sir Rekun couldn’t win against her.
‘……’
…Hold on.
Sir Rekun?
Hmm, let’s think about this again.
If persuasion ability increases by thirty percent…
Wouldn’t that mean Sir Rekun might finally accept my request?
Becoming the squire of someone as skilled as him would easily be worth spending an entire trait selection on.
……Though honestly, it pissed me off.
Those bratty knight trainees were already receiving that priceless experience for free.
Meanwhile I was sitting here debating whether it was worth sacrificing an entire trait opportunity for it.
…Whatever.
People had their own fortunes in life.
Nothing could be done about that.
Honestly, I was just a spoiled bastard getting jealous.
I’d already entered Bellark as a guest seven years earlier than those kids and spent all that time eating and living here freely.
Anyway, the added Charm increase wasn’t bad either.
Not because I wanted to become prettier.
It just seemed useful as a bonus.
Whether in the modern world or this one, having a pleasant appearance brought more benefits than disadvantages.
And the Charm stat had one overwhelmingly powerful advantage over every other stat.
It reached near-adult levels even before adulthood.
Sure, it could decrease with age, but every other stat did too, so it wasn’t really a drawback.
At the moment, my Charm stat was 12.
The effect of that ridiculous title “Deep Woman” irritated the hell out of me, but regardless, it was enough to make people see me as likable.
If it increased by thirty percent, it would become 15. Rounded up, nearly 16.
I didn’t know how beauty translated numerically, but I’d definitely fall into the category of “pretty” by other people’s standards.
And on top of that came the additional effects:
30% increased favorability.
30% increased persuasion.
With that, maybe even stubborn old Sir Rekun would finally accept me as a disciple.
And if that still failed, I could always try convincing Eden too.
It bothered me a little that I’d once again picked a utility-type trait unexpectedly, but right now it was the only worthwhile choice.
Rather than a good option, it felt more like the least bad one after eliminating everything else.
Right before choosing the trait, I glared at the old man with a resentful look.
Let’s see just how far that stubbornness of yours really goes.