Chapter 26
Chapter 26
The morning after talking with Conrad about Boongboongi.
“Come out to the training grounds.”
Those were the first words Sir Raccoon said to me.
The moment I heard them, I felt like the day had finally come.
It was the first time the old man had ever said something like that to me.
I hurried over to the large tree standing at the edge of the training grounds.
This was the place where Eden had first learned the sword from Sir Raccoon.
It was from a distant time before I had ever arrived in Bellark, so I had never seen it myself, but still.
Anyway...
‘...Is this old man sleeping?’
Several dozen minutes had already passed since I arrived, yet the conversation had not progressed at all.
Sir Raccoon sat motionless on the wooden chair.
It looked like he was deep in thought.
Or maybe he really was sleeping with his eyes open.
‘Come to think of it, he’s already in his mid-nineties...’
Considering his age, it would not have been strange if he started nodding off at any moment.
“Brat.”
“Eh?”
Jesus, that startled me.
Old man, you can’t just suddenly jump in like that.
“You really are persistent. Most children would have given up by now.”
“...Maybe I’m not a child then.”
“And you still try to joke around in a situation like this?”
...That wasn’t a joke.
“Enough. Let us put aside childish banter for today.”
It seriously wasn’t a joke!
“Do you know why I never taught you the sword?”
Hmm.
After getting rejected countless times, I knew the answer very well.
Sir Raccoon had already told me before.
“Because the lord of Bellark does not wish for me to wield a sword.”
My attitude had always been stubbornly firm, so Eden never outright stopped me, but that did not mean his worries had disappeared.
The path to becoming a knight, and the life afterward, were both harsh roads.
A knight existed to carry out the will of their lord.
So Sir Raccoon was standing firmly on Eden’s side.
“Then answer me this.”
“Yes?”
“Even so, why must you insist on taking up the sword?”
Ah, so that was what he meant.
In that case, my answer was obvious.
“...Because becoming a knight is the only way I can think of to repay Lord Eden’s kindness.”
“And what if, in your attempt to repay that kindness, you only burden him with an even greater debt?”
“Ugh...”
His words hit a nerve.
I immediately remembered the incident with the centaur.
The guilt of leaving Eden with that scarred eye still weighed heavily on me.
No excuses could change the fact that it had been my mistake.
“T-That’s exactly why I want to learn the sword from you, Sir Raccoon.”
What, was I supposed to just lock myself inside the castle and do nothing forever?
That would basically mean leeching off Eden until the day I died.
And if someone ever seized the silver mine, even that future would collapse.
“And besides... I don’t understand why wanting to repay kindness is such a bad thing...”
It was better not to overreach.
I understood that much too.
But when I considered Bellark’s grim future, I always reached the same conclusion.
I needed strength.
“Tch. What could a brat like you possibly understand...”
Sir Raccoon clicked his tongue, and for a moment I worried I had gone too far, but—
“Well, your resolve is not bad.”
Fortunately, he did not seem displeased.
The faint smile at the corner of his lips carried more approval than criticism.
“Regardless, your answer is correct. The reason I refused to accept you as a page was indeed because it was His Majesty’s will. However, there is one more reason I never told you.”
Hmm?
That was new.
There was another reason?
Unexpected, but now that I thought about it, something did come to mind.
Despite his prickly attitude, the old man was fundamentally a tsundere.
He genuinely worried about me.
Meaning he probably shared the same concerns as Eden.
His reactions were so rough that I once mistook them for dislike, but I knew better now.
He probably wanted to say something like:
You grew up in far too comfortable an environment for a harsh life like knighthood.
But should I really say that out loud?
With how stubborn the old man was, I doubted he would ever admit something like that openly.
Tsunderes usually hated having their true feelings exposed.
...Wait.
Maybe that wasn’t it at all.
If that were the answer, he would not have asked this question in the first place.
“Whatever you are imagining, you are wrong.”
Yeah, figures.
Then I truly had no clue.
At this point, the old man’s expression suddenly turned serious.
“A person cannot always control their heart.”
His tone was far too solemn for someone talking to an eleven-year-old child.
“Before I continue, promise me something. Can you swear that you will not despair after hearing this?”
“...Huh?”
Sir Raccoon, with all due respect, you sound like a scam artist right now.
You are asking for agreement before even telling me the contents?
“Yes.”
Still, what choice did I have?
I was clearly the one in the weaker position here.
And given his personality, he would never intentionally say something harmful to me.
“Ahem... the truth is... you... mm.”
The hesitation in his voice was painfully obvious.
Just what kind of topic could make him this reluctant?
Was I seriously dying of some terrible disease or something?
“...In truth, you have absolutely no talent for mana or aura.”
...Excuse me?
“I know the disappointment must be great, but it is an undeniable fact.”
Ah, I see.
So that was it.
Not exactly shocking.
“As you know, one who cannot wield aura has a clear limit as a knight.”
Sorry to interrupt your serious moment, old man, but I already knew that, so it barely hurts.
“In other words, earning formal knighthood would be nearly impossible for you.”
Still, I understood why he looked so troubled.
In this world, anyone aspiring to knighthood needed at least some talent for aura.
That was simply reality.
Even though people here possessed bodies far stronger than modern humans, there was still a limit to physical strength alone.
It was the same as martial artists in the modern world.
Train as much as you wanted, there was still a natural ceiling.
Sure, muscles and technique mattered, but what then?
Against wild beasts, against blades, against guns—human limits became obvious.
In this world, aura and mana were basically the equivalent of guns and cannons.
And knights were treated like living tanks in a world filled with monsters.
Naturally, only those with the proper potential could become one.
So Sir Raccoon’s words were essentially crushing a child’s dream before it could even begin.
Maybe this was the real reason he kept pushing me away all this time.
“I admit you possess a body sturdier than your peers, but that is all. It is almost tragic, seeing such a gifted physique attached to someone utterly devoid of talent for qi.”
I quietly nodded.
The penalty still felt unfair even now, but after living with that fact for eleven years, accepting it was not difficult.
“The page trainees beneath you right now may appear inferior, but every single one of them possesses exceptional aura talent. Eventually, they will surpass you.”
Sir Raccoon was saying it indirectly.
The path you believe yourself talented enough to walk will eventually reveal you to be ordinary. Are you truly prepared for that?
But in reality, my situation was not nearly that hopeless.
Because I possessed a power even Sir Raccoon could not detect.
See?
The moment I turned eleven—
< Trait Selection! >
The blessing appeared once again.
After a brief moment of thought, I selected the third option and lifted my head again.
Becoming Sir Raccoon’s page would be far more valuable than gaining a single trait.
So for now, I chose to focus on reality.
To give this my all.
After all, beyond everything else—
I simply wanted to become a knight.
Even if there was a gap between me and others, I had no desire to walk another path.
I wanted to become a knight like the old man I respected.
And after becoming one, I wanted to repay Eden for all the kindness he had shown me.
Then, once I repaid that debt and freed myself from those shackles—
I wanted to live for myself.
I did not entirely dislike how everyone treated me like some flower raised in a greenhouse.
Because it meant they genuinely cared for me.
But even flowers raised in greenhouses eventually needed to learn how to protect the greenhouse themselves.
No matter how fresh and green a sprout might be, if it never saw sunlight or felt rain, it would never truly grow.
Once my resolve settled, I raised my eyes and stared directly at Sir Raccoon.
The old knight’s presence was terrifying enough that most people would not even dare meet his gaze.
But it could not crush my will.
No—
It absolutely must not crush it.
I had already spent eleven years in this place.
By the time the old man finally left Bellark, it would have been fifteen.
Bellark.
A land that had taken in an orphan girl with no ties and asked for nothing in return.
And Eden Bellark, the lord who ruled it.
If I was truly human and not some beast—
Then I could never turn my back on that kindness.