Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: The First Night
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Evan immediately protested.
“Th-that’s ridiculous. Are you saying we can't even eat if we don't have points?”
“Who said you couldn’t eat? I believe I told you. You just can't set foot in the dining hall for dinner.”
The knight said in a relaxed tone.
“Shovel it in tomorrow morning.”
“……”
Such… such crude language…!
Evan’s face flushed red.
Although Evan was a noble of simple sensibilities, his father had told him never to tolerate insults, no matter the situation!
He took a deep breath, ready to give this rude knight a piece of his mind…!
“Cut the bullshit!”
…But that shout wasn’t Evan’s.
Behind him, another aspirant was being held back by a different knight.
‘That guy is…’
He was definitely one of the guys who got his points deducted earlier.
Was his name Hans Vander?
“Even for a Bednicker, you can’t treat Hans Vander like this! If you don’t serve me a meal right this instant…”
*Smack!*
The sentence was never finished.
Hans went flying and tumbled across the ground with a thud.
“C-cough…!”
Hans didn’t seem to realize what had just happened.
But Evan saw it.
He saw the knight in front of him kick Hans.
“If you don't serve you, what.”
“…H-how dare you do this to me…”
“Didn't you sign your name with your own hand, agreeing that we could do this? Aspirant Hans, if you're hungry, go chew on some grass. Don't cause a scene here.”
“……”
Then Hans shot up from his spot and said.
“I quit…!”
“……”
“I’m quitting this damn training camp! Send me back right now!”
“…Haa.”
The knight sighed and said.
“I'll be in charge of this moron from now on. Hans Vander, my name is Rogers. I’ll be. looking. after. you. during the training camp.”
As the knight strode toward him, Hans stumbled backward, his face pale.
“St-stay away! Don’t you come near me! If you lay a single finger on me… Gack!”
Afterward, the desperate squeal of a stuck pig echoed across the training grounds.
“……”
Having witnessed the entire sequence of events, Evan turned his gaze forward again.
The knight standing in front of the dining hall spoke.
“Aspirant Evan, do you have something to say?”
“……”
Evan looked at the knight with a distant expression.
“Not a single complaint, Instructor.”
* * *
After the mealtime ended, an instructor gave them a few simple warnings.
“Evenings are basically free time unless there’s a class. Of course, you are forbidden from leaving this clearing. The same goes for approaching the instructors’ building. Any disadvantages incurred for breaking these rules will be your own responsibility.”
Only then did Evan realize that the gleaming building to his right was the instructors' quarters.
‘Ours is a three-story building on the verge of collapse…’
Theirs was six stories tall, with a design so elegant it was breathtaking.
The facilities inside must be incredible…
“For your information, basic clothing and necessities will be distributed this evening. We’ll hand them out in the clearing, so line up to receive them.”
The clothes they received were called the aspirant’s uniform. The design itself was plain, but it was strangely shabby and had a musty smell.
“Instructor, none of these are my size.”
“Just grab one and wear it.”
“Yes, sir.”
The one saving grace was that the fabric was extremely durable, so it seemed unlikely to tear no matter how much they roughhoused in it.
“…But isn't the fit of this uniform terrible?”
“Is this really the time to be worrying about the fit?”
The layout of the aspirants’ building was simple.
First floor: a lounge.
Second floor: the female aspirants’ area.
Third floor: the male aspirants’ area.
Naturally, unless there was a special reason, entering the area of the opposite sex was forbidden.
Perhaps because of that, most of the aspirants gathered in the first-floor lounge.
It was called a lounge, but it was just a collection of old wooden tables and chairs around a fireplace… The only entertainment was a wrinkled deck of cards and a few books with bent corners.
Still, it was much better than being cooped up in their shabby, cramped rooms, which was why most of the aspirants were here.
Evan was no exception.
He and a friend had claimed a table and were staring blankly at the fire.
“By the way, Karis, how was the dining hall?”
Karis Earthman was Evan’s friend.
They lived near each other, and their parents had been close since they were young, so they had grown up together like brothers.
They had even deliberately timed their Blessing Ceremonies to be at the same time and had agreed to participate in the training camp together.
“It was better than I thought. The food was self-serve, so it was nice to be able to eat as much as I wanted… But the knights were watching us with their eyes wide open, so it was a bit intimidating.”
“I see… Ah. I’m hungry.”
Evan gulped down some water for no reason.
Fortunately, there was a water jug in the lounge, so they could drink as much as they wanted.
“What about your roommate? Did you get a decent guy?”
“He’s a short fellow, not too bad. Though it seems like he might snore pretty loudly. How about you?”
“Me… I’m not sure yet.”
“Who is it?”
Evan hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Ruan Bednicker.”
“…Oh, really?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow.”
Karis made the sign of the cross with a fed-up look on his face.
“You’re really having some bad luck on the first day…”
“Mmm… Still, he seemed a bit different from the rumors. He might actually be a decent person.”
“How could that be? You know the rumors about that madman. He sold the Bednicker family’s sacred sword—.”
Karis swallowed the rest of his words.
He had just seen someone appear from the stairs.
That wasn’t all.
The boy strode right over and plopped down at their table.
“This is definitely better than being cooped up in the room. There are books, too. *The Important Thing is an Unbreakable Heart*? Is this a self-help book? Cool title.”
“……”
The two of them shut their mouths.
It couldn’t be helped, as the person who had just appeared was Ruan Bednicker.
‘Did he hear us?’
‘I don’t know, you idiot.’
The two exchanged glances, and Karis forced a vague smile.
“Ah, hello. I’m Karis Earthman.”
“Ruan Bednicker. I’m the man who’s graduated from the crazy business of selling off sacred swords.”
He heard everything.
Karis immediately bowed his head.
“I apolo—”
“Just kidding. You looked like my roommate’s friend, so I came over to get acquainted.”
“Ah, haha…”
“You’re Karis Earthman, right?”
“Y-yes, that’s me.”
“You can speak casually. We’re probably the same age. I think.”
“Uh, umm. Should I? I mean, should we…”
Karis knew.
He knew you shouldn't take the words “make yourself comfortable” from a person of high standing at face value.
The true meaning of those words could be interpreted as, “Acting too formal makes me uncomfortable, so tone it down. Oh, but you know you’ll die if you're completely disrespectful, right?”
That must be it.
“Oh, really? You guys are from the north, too?”
“You too… I mean, you are?”
“My mother is from Koland. I’ve never been there myself, though.”
“Ah. No wonder your hair color looked familiar.”
…He was surprisingly easy to talk to.
“So, what I mean is, a Blessing isn’t always a blessing. In fact, receiving too many Blessings can be a bad thing.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m telling you.”
…He was a good conversationalist.
“You guys have heard about the genius from the Max family, right?”
“Ah, I’ve heard of him. He was called a prodigy before receiving his Blessing, but he became mediocre after getting it, right?”
“Exactly. He was devoured by his own talent. That guy probably would have become much stronger if he had just focused on swordsmanship without receiving any Blessings.”
…And he was easy to get along with.
“Ah. There is one exception, though.”
“What is it?”
“Our family head. He's the only one who can handle multiple Blessings almost perfectly.”
“In the end, you’re just boasting about your family.”
“Is that how it came across?”
…He actually seems like a decent guy?
Karis found himself sharing Evan’s sentiment.
Before long, quite a few people had gathered around Ruan.
Karis noticed that most of them were from fallen noble families, other races, or commoners.
But they weren’t the majority.
At most, there were about ten of them.
It was only natural, since most of the aspirants from the Great Families were successful nobles.
“Flush! Alright, that means I win, right?”
“You idiot, are your eyes just for show? This is a diamond, not a heart.”
“Ah.”
“Pahaha!”
Like most boys and girls their age, they became friends quickly once the ice was broken.
This training camp, in particular, was the perfect environment to foster the strong bond of camaraderie.
Soon, the aspirants were casually joking with each other, laughing as they played with the old deck of cards.
And naturally, not all the aspirants looked upon such a scene favorably.
“Hey. You vulgar lot over there, can't you shut your traps?”
One of the nobles scowled and chided them.
The blatant remark cast a slight chill over the atmosphere, but Karis didn't want to cause a scene on the first day.
“…We’ll be careful.”
“Your words are a bit short.”
“……”
“Listen here, commoner. Just because we're roughing it together in a place like this, do you think we're your equals? Know your place.”
Karis’s expression hardened.
First, because the guy had spat in their faces even after they had tried to be conciliatory.
Second, Karis wasn’t a commoner to begin with.
Though his family wasn't famous enough to be known throughout the capital like the other boy’s.
“And what is our place?”
“Do I really have to explain that to y—.”
But the noble swallowed his words mid-sentence, his expression turning ambiguous.
It was because he saw the face of the person who had interjected.
‘Ruan Bednicker.’
The owner of a lineage that, by any stretch of the imagination, could not be called common.
Of course, he had heard the rumors about Ruan’s infamy and his position within the family…
But still, he was a Bednicker.
That surname had a strange power that made it difficult to treat anyone who bore it with disrespect, no matter how frail they seemed.
“By the way, what’s your name?”
“…Hans Vander.”
“Hans? Ah. The one who threw a tantrum at the dining hall and got beaten by a knight.”
“Guh…!”
Hans’s face turned beet red, but Ruan continued without a care.
“I know you’re on edge because you missed dinner, but don’t be so prickly. We’re going to be seeing these faces for the next six weeks until we’re sick of them, so it would be nice to get along.”
“Hah— A noble should be able to distinguish who is worthy of friendship…!”
Hans felt a surge of pride for maintaining his informal tone even with a scion of the Bednicker family.
That pride soon turned into courage, lending more power to his voice.
“And as for the riffraff over there, once this training camp is over, I'll never see them again in my life!”
“…Hmm.”
Ruan’s brow furrowed for a moment, then he nodded.
“Right. I've never heard the name Hans Vander, so I suppose you swim in different waters than the rest of us here.”
“……”
Hans’s face flushed red again at the seemingly sarcastic tone.
And another characteristic of boys and girls this age.
They had no tolerance for insults.
“You… you incompetent fool of the Bednicker family…!”
Hans flinched after spitting out the words, glancing at the other’s face…
But Ruan’s expression didn’t change.
At that, Hans’s face brightened considerably.
‘He’s all talk…!’
Hans spoke again, a sneer on his face.
“Are the talentless losers sticking up for each other? Haha. How fitting. That must be why you can only receive one or two Blessings!”
It was at that moment.
The main door swung open, and a man appeared.
“Ah.”
“That person is…”
Black hair, rare in the empire, and a chiseled face—it was Hector Bednicker.
Hans’s face grew even brighter.
He didn't know the internal affairs of the Bednicker family, but he knew that Hector treated Ruan like trash.
“Welcome, Lord Hector!”
And Hans was someone who had gladly aligned himself with Hector.
This young man would achieve great fame throughout the empire within a few years, and he might even become the head of the Bednicker family…
Hans felt that level of certainty from Hector.
“Is something wrong?”
Hector asked, looking around.
“Ah—well… there was a bit of trouble with your younger brother.”
Even Hans couldn’t speak ill of Ruan right in front of Hector.
Regardless of how pathetic Ruan was, he couldn't openly disrespect the Bednicker bloodline.
“…What kind of trouble.”
Hans wracked his brain, trying to figure out how to spin the situation to his advantage.
In his haste, he failed to notice the slight chill in Hector’s tone.
“…It seems your younger brother lacks awareness of the weight the Bednicker name carries. I mean, look at him, consorting with such lowlifes. As his older brother, you should say something, Lord Hector—.”
“Hans Vander.”
His words were cut short.
Only then did Hans feel a sense of confusion.
“Yes?”
“How surprising. I was unaware the Vander family's influence had grown so great.”
“…Pardon?”
“So great that you dare to meddle in the affairs of a Bednicker.”