How to Live as a Genius Knight in a Fantasy World

43.

The destination for the Viscount was a land close to the border, where dark sorcerers could attack at any moment.

Although Rohan had done nothing wrong, it was natural that he found it difficult to speak the truth comfortably.

“Madam, let’s have a moment to chat over tea.”

Sensing Rohan’s dilemma, Lute offered a helping hand.

“Oh, yes. After coming such a long way, we can’t just leave you standing.”

As Lute went to prepare the tea, the remaining three found suitable chairs in the reception room and sat down.

Before long, warm tea cups were placed in front of them, and after mentally preparing himself, Rohan finally spoke up.

“Madam, have you heard about the recent battle with the expeditionary force?”

“Yes, Lord Adam wrote a detailed letter about it. The situation seems quite serious…”

Unlike her usual gentle demeanor, the Viscountess’s face now showed a clear sign of worry, causing Rohan to unknowingly swallow hard.

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He worried about how much shock she would experience, whether she would blame him for not stopping the Viscount, or if she would hold resentment.

But she was the Viscount’s wife, after all.

He was more qualified than anyone to know about his whereabouts.

Rohan gathered his courage and began a long story.

Starting from the encounters with the horses during the expedition, the divided opinions among the nobles after the expedition, and the fact that Viscount Izell chose to head north.

There was not a single light-hearted story, and intense reactions like sighs and groans burst forth endlessly.

“…That’s how it happened.”

As Rohan finally finished the story, he glanced at their faces and let out a shallow sigh.

At a glance, a complex mix of sorrow, worry, and anger was evident, intertwined haphazardly.

A moment of silence passed, and finally, the Viscountess spoke.

“Rohan.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“You tried to stop it, didn’t you?”

Faced with the Viscountess’s question, which even felt alive, Rohan couldn’t dare to tell a lie.

“I tried several times. Not just Viscount, but even Sir Adam…”

Although he was clearly speaking only the truth, a sense of guilt crept in as if he were betraying them to save himself.

Upon hearing Rohan’s response, the Viscountess took a deep breath.

With Rohan gradually shrinking in the face of the Viscountess, who seemed on the verge of a sudden outburst.

“Well, then, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

With a deep sigh, the Viscountess unexpectedly responded.

Certainly, she felt deep anger towards her husband who had entered the war without a word.

But she, too, was a woman who had lived as a noble all her life.

She was as well-versed in noble principles as anyone, and she had enough insight to understand why her husband had made such a choice.

With Rohan as the heir, it might have been a more comfortable choice, but even so, she did not particularly want to blame Rohan.

Thanks to the Viscountess’s gentle response, the tea time of that day could end with quite a warm atmosphere despite the heavy subject.

The four of them sat with smiling faces.

However, they all keenly felt that difficult days were approaching.

The first day in Izell passed like that.

The next day.

Rohan opened his eyes to the sunlight filtering through the curtains.

As soon as the drowsiness wore off, Rohan thought about what he had to do today.

Feeling that there would be many places in need of his help, as it was his first time in the Izell territory in a long while.

But Rohan soon realized the truth.

‘There is… nothing to do today!’

Surprisingly, despite being a noble’s disciple and the fiancé of a noble’s daughter, and one of the few knights in the territory, Rohan did not have any obligatory tasks to perform.

No, in fact, just being a knight meant receiving treatment entirely different from that of ordinary soldiers.

No matter how long a knight trained or how good his armor was, ultimately, the core remained nothing more than a mere human.

No matter how powerful a hero was, he could not slice through a steel armor as if it were paper with a thin sword.

On the other hand, the knights in this world were truly like symbols of superhumans.

Having physical abilities several times that of a trained soldier was not enough; they could even handle steel as easily as cutting tofu.

As individuals with high martial prowess directly linked to the combat capabilities of the entire territory, most of their work was carried out through autonomous individual training.

Of course, the treatment of a knight as an individual member in organizations like the Knight Order was a bit different, but in the first place, the Knight Order itself was an organization that could not be established without national investment.

The political issues related to the suppression of black magicians were to be judged by the viscountess, who was the deputy of the viscount. Rohan’s task was simply to focus on personal training like other knights.

Suddenly feeling like he had become a commoner, Rohan’s expression subtly changed.

“What’s this? Am I perhaps useless?”

It seemed like no one would say anything even if he just lay on the bed.

However, Rohan reluctantly finished washing up and left the castle.

Even though he knew very well that black magicians were gaining power, he couldn’t relax just by lying down.

Perhaps due to the long period of suffering, the tranquility of the castle felt strangely unfamiliar.

As he visited his hometown after a long time, familiar faces came to mind one by one.

No matter how urgent the situation was, it seemed appropriate to at least exchange greetings.

Roh, who had been on several battlefields together, Argen, who had gone to tournaments together, and Charles, who had passed on his vision to Rohan, met with acquaintances and exchanged greetings.

Although he wanted to have a meal or a drink with them, the current situation required him to spend time more productively.

After exchanging pleasantries, he didn’t forget to warn them about the looming threats.

While fighting was inevitable if they had to eat, if they believed Rohan’s warning, they would be more prepared.

After briefly showing his face to his acquaintances, Rohan decided to try something new instead of his usual training.

He had thought about it many times before but hadn’t been able to implement it for various reasons.

It was about wandering around the castle to find someone who could teach him martial arts.

With his elevated status, Rohan could freely roam around the castle and find skilled individuals.

There were several reasons for considering this method, but the main one was the noticeably slower growth rate compared to before.

He had succeeded in acquiring high-grade skills, but it took too long to master them.

Although the power of each skill was remarkable, and the additional effects were substantial, in a situation where he didn’t know when he would have to fight demons, he couldn’t afford to wait leisurely for his skills to improve.

For N or SN grade skills, simply mastering the movements would allow him to obtain a high level of proficiency, enabling him to quickly collect additional effects.

Rohan, who started wandering around the castle with expectations, quickly realized that reality was not as easy as he had thought.

The first place Rohan headed to was the military camp.

A place where he had stayed during his rookie days, undergoing training and even eating.

At the military camp he visited after a long time, the new recruits were in the midst of training.

Breathing heavily, clothes drenched in sweat, and awkward movements that didn’t suit them.

Seeing himself in them, Rohan keenly felt a sense of urgency.

Although it seemed trivial for him to learn the skills that rookie soldiers were learning now, there was a reason why he had come here.

Rohan, who had grown too rapidly to learn, had missed out on the basic swordsmanship that ordinary soldiers were required to master.

“The castle’s basic swordsmanship.”

In fact, as an Egil who wielded a sword, it was strange that soldiers were not taught swordsmanship.

Since it was difficult to rely on the individual skills of soldiers, priority was given to spear techniques useful in group battles, but the Egil’s basic swordsmanship was praised for laying a solid foundation.

“Although it may not be of a high grade, swordsmanship will still be a great help.”

Based on experience, a 10% additional effect was attached to N-grade martial arts.

If one was lucky enough to have an SN-grade skill, they could obtain a 15% additional effect.

From Rohan’s proficient handling of the skill to now, that level of enhancement could make a significant difference in a real fight.

Although anyone could learn the swordsmanship that soldiers knew, it was still Rohan’s small consideration to come to the military camp.

I don’t feel like learning from the soldiers working as guards, nor do I feel like stealing the time of soldiers taking a break after guard duty…

The current instructor is Clock, who took over after Viscount Priel in the siege of the castle.

Rohan, who had also worked as a guard, was well-known among the soldiers.

As the break time between rookie training sessions arrived, Rohan, who had been waiting for the right moment, finally approached Clock.

“Clock! How have you been?”

Clock, who was surprised to see Rohan suddenly appear, slightly raised an eyebrow.

“Rohan! No, Sir Rohan! What brings you here?”

“Oh, I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor? What favor could you possibly have for me…”

Clock, who until recently was just a regular soldier, couldn’t imagine being asked a favor by someone almost of knightly rank.

Slightly tense, Clock inquired, and Rohan’s response indicated his lack of understanding.

“Oh, even though I’m a knight of Izell, it’s absurd that I don’t know a sword technique used by soldiers.”

Even though he didn’t fully agree with Rohan’s response, Clock couldn’t refuse a knight’s request without reason.

Since the basic sword technique was not particularly difficult, it took less than 10 minutes to demonstrate all the moves.

Rohan’s reaction was simple.

‘Easy.’

The movements were already incredibly simple, almost feeling like they were just snippets of Izell’s advanced swordsmanship.

From the angle of the sword to the position of the arms, even the technique of withstanding impacts by gripping the blade was familiar beyond belief.

Just as he was about to digest the skill easily…

– Unable to register skill as you already possess skills of a higher grade.

A strange message appeared in front of Rohan.

“What…?”

In disbelief of the unexpected result, Rohan let out an astonished sound unintentionally.

“Yes? Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no. It’s nothing. Thank you for showing me.”

Surprised by Rohan’s response, Clock hurriedly asked if something was amiss.

Since there was no reason to reveal the existence of a status window, Rohan simply thanked him and left the barracks without saying anything else.

Of course, he didn’t forget to slip a silver coin into Clock’s hand.

Leaving the barracks, Rohan muttered with a puzzled expression.

“What? So, should I have collected all the lower-grade skills first and then synthesized them?”

Though complaints involuntarily surfaced, Rohan couldn’t really do anything about it.

There was no customer service like in the games he used to enjoy, so he had no way to raise his concerns.

Actually, compared to what Rohan had gained, this was nothing.

‘Well, maybe it’s for the best.’

Rather, the thought helped calm his anger.

If each trivial sword technique provided additional effects, gathering third-rate sword techniques that were easy to learn could potentially give him power close to that of a master.

Although he felt regretful about the difficulty of obtaining skills related to his main sword style, he was not ready to give up on finding new skills.

Even a skill that seems meaningless right now could become useful at any time, and just the fact that you could obtain feathers gave it some value.

It had been three days since Rohan had been tirelessly exploring the Easel Territory.

Thanks to the knights’ fast pace and Rohan’s determination, they were able to scout around all the places near the Easel Castle.

Back in the days when he was just a country bumpkin, no matter how hard he wandered around the Easel, he wouldn’t have been able to learn martial arts worthy of being registered as a skill.

The “martial arts” they possessed were not just mere techniques; they were means to sustain their livelihood.

Despite being naive, he didn’t want to do something foolish like creating competitors with his own hands.

However, under the halo of being a knight, along with generous silver coins, they quickly taught Rohan skills to the point where he was surprised.

Just threatening would have been enough to make them talk smoothly, but with money added to the equation, there was no reason to hesitate.

They never even thought of becoming competitors.

They simply thought that the young knight had a peculiar taste.

That’s how Rohan acquired two skills.

One was the “crude archery” he obtained from a young hunter, and the other was the “crude swordsmanship” he got from a man who showcased his talent at a tavern.

Although these skills were unrelated to the weapons Rohan primarily used, just the fact that he didn’t completely waste valuable time made him satisfied.

“Acquiring skills is harder than I thought.”

Of course, part of the reason was that the Easel was in a remote area, but in Rohan’s opinion, that wasn’t the only reason.

A world where most commoners didn’t even properly know how to read.

Items like books could only be found in fortresses, and the transfer of knowledge could only happen in close relationships like priests or wealthy families.

Those who possessed useful skills had already shown excellence and attained high status, and even mediocre skills were being transmitted in a closed-off manner, so Rohan couldn’t easily find martial arts worth learning.

After experiencing difficulties by trial and error, Rohan felt even more grateful to those who had passed on martial arts to him out of kindness.

“Let’s stop here for now.”

Even if he continued searching, he might acquire other skills, but just by mastering the skills he had acquired so far, he had enough feathers to synthesize two R-grade skills.

Continuing to wander around the Easel Castle wouldn’t guarantee him four more feathers, and there were still tasks that Rohan had to carry out in the Easel.

On the fourth day since arriving at the Easel, Rohan started walking towards a different place than before.