Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Disappointing, Airen
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Erje stormed off after fuming for quite some time.
She must have really taken a dislike to me. Satisfying.
The imperial family values etiquette above all else.
No matter how skilled someone might be, a vulgar, ill-mannered person could never set foot through the imperial gates.
For example, even the barbarian mercenary king, the Silent Reaper, who shone brightly in a later war, was treated the same way.
His crude speech and attitude were so bad that the imperial family never opened its doors to him until the end.
'I probably won't be any different.'
But there was cause for concern.
If the imperial family had taken notice of him, the other families would step back and watch from a distance.
The question was whether the Lady's family, the Ban Pellion Ducal Family, would make a move.
'The Ban Pellions have always been a powerful house, close enough to marry into the imperial family.'
Still, they wouldn't covet the exclusive knight of an emperor candidate.
'What to do.'
The best outcome would be for the First Prince's exclusive knight to be firmly decided.
Then, naturally, requests from other families would follow.
'From what the Lady said, and considering the original story had some element of compulsion.'
Ision was an extra.
In contrast, the Lady and the First Prince had roles as the villainess and sub-male lead.
That's why he'd assumed there was some force drawing people to them.
So he'd vaguely thought he'd end up as the Lady's exclusive knight, but this was how it turned out.
The situation had gotten a bit tricky.
'Fine. If there's no compulsion, I'll create it myself.'
All he had to do was drop out of the First Prince's exclusive knight candidates.
And set up another candidate in his place.
Just then, footsteps approached from ahead.
He looked up to see a familiar face.
It was Airen.
"Airen."
"Ision, huh."
It looked like he'd just finished the candidate exam too.
"Heard you made it as a candidate for His Highness the First Prince. Congratulations."
Not something worth congratulating at all.
What was with fanning the flames of a burning house like it was obvious?
Airen's eyes held genuine congratulations, but to Ision, it was just annoying.
More importantly, perfect timing.
Airen was originally supposed to be the First Prince's exclusive knight.
So handing it off to him now was the way to go.
"Where'd the offer come from for you?"
At Ision's question, Airen looked surprised.
"Didn't expect you to ask me that."
"Isn't it natural to be curious?"
"You've never shown any interest in me before."
Of course.
All his attention was focused on the Lady.
Still, he realized he'd been too indifferent to Airen all this time.
In his efforts to be the stepping stone for a genius, he'd demeaned himself too much.
Ision felt a twinge of guilt.
"So, where?"
But then he heard the answer.
"Not good enough for you, but it's the Ban Pellion Ducal Family."
Any guilt in Ision's heart vanished completely.
His eyes turned bloodshot.
Words nearly spilled out impulsively but stopped at his throat.
The Ban Pellion Ducal Family.
The offer from the Lady's family that Ision had so desperately wanted had gone to Airen.
"The Ban Pellion Ducal Family is plenty good as an exclusive knight position. Best option right now, in my opinion."
Airen continued, oblivious to Ision's state.
He didn't even notice his own hands trembling.
"So if they call for me, I'll go to the Ban Pellion Ducal Family..."
"Disappointing, Airen."
But at those next words, Airen slowly raised his head.
Their eyes met soon after.
Ision gazed at him with clear, serene eyes.
Airen's shoulders twitched once.
It was a look Airen had never seen from him before.
Why was he suddenly looking at him like that?
A question floated across Airen's face.
"...Disappointing?"
He honestly had no idea what that meant.
What was there to be disappointed about?
To Airen, there was nothing disappointing anywhere.
But then his eyes slowly widened at the next words.
"I thought you'd aim for the imperial family with me."
Aim for the imperial family.
Share the same goal and stick together to the end.
At those words, lightning seemed to strike in Airen's mind.
"But to think you'd settle for the Ban Pellion Ducal Family."
Regret and resignation filled Ision's eyes.
It froze Airen's body.
Airen had always seen Ision as his rival.
Long ago, their ancestors had a lord-knight relationship.
But now, they were both from the same land, both aiming to become exclusive knights.
Airen had been at odds with Ision for a long time.
So both of them had always competed fiercely in everything.
But recently, Airen had suffered a crushing defeat to Ision.
A miserable loss that taught him what it meant to be utterly overwhelmed.
After that defeat, Airen had trained hard in his own way and grown stronger.
But Ision had advanced even further beyond him.
An uncrossable gap.
Facing that, Airen had quietly decided in his heart at some point.
I can never beat Ision.
He'd gone from being a rival marching forward together to someone he admired from afar.
But not for Ision.
Ision had always seen Airen as a rival and believed they'd chase the same goal forever.
Until today.
Seeing him compromise for a ducal family, he'd become disappointed.
It wasn't that no imperial candidate offer had come.
Ision had thought Airen would definitely aim for the imperial family.
But he'd compromised without even trying.
Ision's disappointed eyes laid the current situation bare.
Airen felt like lightning was crashing down on his head.
What have I done?
Since when did I start compromising so easily and thinking Ision was above me?
Airen Morblu.
How shameful was this?
It was shame enough to make him want to crawl into a rat hole right then.
At the same time, his fists clenched tight.
Ision still saw him as a rival.
That fact ignited a fire deep in his heart.
A warmth lingering in the center of his chest, stinging faintly with every breath.
He didn't know what it was, but in that moment, Airen felt something change.
A courage that made him feel he could accomplish anything.
That courage blazed fiercely.
"Sorry, Ision."
So he wouldn't disappoint him again.
"You're right. I was giving up on my own. I set a ceiling for myself."
He never should have done something like that.
It was so shameful.
That's why, from now on, he'd change.
"I'll challenge the imperial family with you too."
Airen's eyes blazed bright blue.
His will manifested in his pupils.
An apology to his disappointed rival.
Ision quietly looked at Airen.
Then, as if no more words were needed, he turned away.
"Yeah. I'll be expecting great things."
Expecting great things.
What joyful words.
Airen's eyes trembled.
Gazing at Ision's departing back, he clenched his fists alone.
'Ision, I won't let your expectations down.'
From today, no matter what trials came, Airen wouldn't give up.
He'd use the training and sweat he'd piled up as fuel to soar even higher.
Like a lantern that never went out in the darkness.
Airen resolved to become a brilliant star adorning the sky alongside Ision.
Meanwhile, the one he'd thought of as a star clenched his fist for entirely different reasons around the next corner.
'Good thing he's simple.'
Ision knew how Airen had been looking at him lately.
That's why a few words and some acting were enough to ignite his will.
Survived.
This should fill the emperor candidate spot as originally planned somehow.
'You handle the imperial candidate.'
I'll take the Lady's spot.
With a sense of relief at last, Ision shrugged and walked on.
If Airen knew the truth, he'd be furious, but oh well.
Airen simply lacked the ability or skill to read his true intentions.
Ision saw a woman walking ahead with someone.
She was the Lady he cherished.
"Lady?"
He called out to her, but she didn't glance back even slightly.
Instead, she was being escorted by someone.
A man with blue hair.
The moment he saw him, Ision's eyes went wide.
Airen.
That bastard was escorting the Lady.
Ah, aaaah.
This was...
This was a nightmare.
"Kwaaaagh!"
Ision screamed as he opened his eyes.
The kids in the training ground flinched and backed away.
He stared blankly at them and covered his face with his hands.
Maybe because he'd upped the intensity lately, he'd dozed off while trying to train during lunch.
"That was just a dream, huh."
It had been a week since the candidate exam.
Maybe because of that incident, he'd been having nightmares lately.
With the candidate still undecided.
His anxiety must have manifested as a dream for no reason.
Even thinking back, it was a horrific nightmare.
He shook his head to forget it.
"Ision."
Then a voice called out.
At the training ground entrance stood a bald bandit.
"...A bandit?"
"What'd you say?"
Ah, slipped out.
"Are you a bandit, sir?"
"Yeah, I'll crank up the training intensity starting today."
What? It was Training Commander Macdram.
Ision loosened his stiff neck from sleeping and stood up.
"Feel free to raise the training intensity. Were you looking for me?"
Macdram looked at Ision with exasperation.
The other kids would lick his shoes to get even a slight break from training.
Yet this one always asked for more intensity with that attitude.
Where did he learn such brazenness?
Sometimes his excessive obsession with training made him seem a bit broken.
"Yeah. You dropped out of His Highness the First Prince's exclusive knight candidates."
"I see."
Ision let out a deep sigh of relief inside.
Good.
No more nightmares now.
"Not disappointed?"
"A bit."
He didn't look disappointed at all.
Macdram found it puzzling.
A guy obsessed with strength like that had strangely little ambition for advancement.
What was he even chasing strength for?
"So who got the other spot?"
"Airen."
But for Ision, this was the most desired outcome.
As expected of the original First Prince's exclusive knight.
He'd believed he'd take it right away.
"Airen protested about getting it."
What nonsense was this?
"Is he crazy? It's the First Prince's exclusive knight."
"You dropping out seems crazy too."
Unfortunately, he was perfectly sane.
"Sigh. Anyway, Airen seems to think he got it because he's a noble."
Ah, he could think of it that way too.
The imperial family was the most classist society in the world.
Even entering required at least noble status.
They wouldn't assign just anyone as the First Prince's exclusive knight.
Airen's Morblu baronet family was fallen nobility, but still nobility.
Whereas Ision's family was a knight house in name only.
Naturally, society viewed them differently.
"He's overthinking it. He should just be happy."
"Stubborn guy."
That's why they didn't mesh well.
"So what about me now?"
There was subtle anticipation in his voice.
Following this flow, as expected...
"Another noble house sent a candidate exam. The Ban Pellion Ducal Family."
Ision clenched his fist tight.
"This time, I won't drop out..."
"You'll pass."
Ision's eyes blazed more fiercely than ever.
"I'll definitely pass."
Seeing that, Macdram had nothing more to say.
It was the first time Ision had shown such resolve.
"Yeah, got it."
A year after regressing.
Finally, the chance to meet the Lady had come.