Chapter 271 : Chapter 271
Chapter 271: That Much
To become a knight, one must be born with talent.
In terms of body, Kubel was ideal; in terms of Aura, Toremot and the Gullen father-son pair were ideal.
To become a splendid knight, one must accumulate experience.
If born with talent and grown splendid, one could become a Wall knight.
And having become a Wall knight.
One could go to the Boundary. Accumulate richer experience. Grow more splendid.
To do so.
To go to the Boundary...... one must take an examination.
Meaning: study.
Magic, at that.
"Why?"
When that order came down.
The 1st Knights' newest recruit, Jupen, said it to the air. Then was beaten by his seniors.
"Come to think of it, our rookie's never dealt with Harad."
The beating stopped thanks to Sir Pizarro.
"Ah, right."
"Well, that explains it."
Everyone lowered their fists and feet in agreement.
Not thanks to Sir Pizarro, but to the name Harad, Jupen realized at once.
In fact, the magic examination itself had come about because of a mage named Harad.
"Why should we follow a mage's orders?"
So Jupen asked.
What did this Harad even do.
"Madman."
Fists and feet flew again.
Jupen was beaten for a good while more. The swelling wasn't too bad. The Wall's cold served as a thorough compress.
"Reckless, rookie. Harad is Knight-Commander class."
Deputy Commander Derrick said.
The second-finest knight after 1st Knights Commander Toremot had recognized the mage Harad as equal to his own commander.
"Remember. Harad is our brain."
Sir Pizarro, the brain of the 1st Knights, praised Harad.
"Ignore Harad's words and there's a high chance you die."
Sir Tursten said, shuddering.
"Is Mage Harad that violent?"
Jupen's eyes gleamed from his swollen face.
If so, he could understand. A mage, yet with the temperament of a knight.
He'd heard the man was a fire-mage to begin with.
Fire was a word that evoked knights.
"What are you on about. Serzila kills you."
"Pardon?"
"He's Lady Ellen's man. I reckon Harad will be Intelligence Bureau Director before long."
Jupen's chest ached at those words.
Ellen Serzila. Every knight of Serzila had harbored feelings for her at least once.
"Nonsense."
Sir Parman, famous for bluntness, cut in.
"Harad has the Grand Duke's favor and roams the Boundary like his backyard. Harad will become Boundary Commander."
"What's a Boundary Commander?"
"Commander of the Boundary. He's not a knight, so."
"......? Is that a real title?"
"I made it up."
Jupen roughly understood.
Knight-Commander class, but unlike a Knight Commander, he'd be active in the Boundary. Because Harad was a mage.
"No, it's higher. The Grand Duke is the Grand Duke, but the Grand Heir intends to elevate Harad even further."
Sir Zambello, known for composure, said.
"The magic examination was ultimately approved by the Grand Heir. Harad proposed it, and apparently the Grand Heir stamped it without even reading the whole thing."
"The Grand Heir did?"
"Yes."
Everyone nodded along.
Meaning everything said so far was true.
Ellen Serzila's man, favored by both the Grand Duke and the Grand Heir.
"That's......"
A kept man, isn't it?
Jupen barely swallowed those words. Saying them felt like death.
"You understand, rookie. Harad's will is Serzila's will, and Serzila's will is Harad's will."
"Kept man" was the wrong term.
A mere kept man would not have these fearsome seniors obeying so readily.
The mage called Harad was Knight-Commander class in strength. And the brain of the Wall knights.
One had to experience it firsthand to know, but rumors were rumors. If they circulated at the Wall, they were credible. Jupen had heard many rumors about Harad.
But......
"Is he really that much?"
He got that the man was impressive.
"Gullen, what's the answer to this one?"
"I don't know."
"Stingy bastard. Want to die?"
But enough for everyone to sit at desks, holding pens? Not swords?
"It's 1."
"It's 2."
"I said 1."
"Bet the Fireball?"
"Sure."
"Bet Harad?"
"Why would I bet that."
Even cheating each other like this?
"Rookie, you'll know once you go out with us."
Deputy Commander Derrick grinned.
"If heaven exists, it's beside Harad. Or the Fireball."
The other knights were the same.
Every one of them looked dazed with bliss.
"But Sir Gullen, isn't tomorrow your day off?"
"I'm studying ahead."
It was the kind of grin a scholar would wear, and Jupen still remembered it vividly.
***
"Time's up!"
Grex, whose dream was to be a hunter, shouted.
"It's over!"
The knights did not put down their pens.
"It's over!"
Grex's voice was too quiet to restrain knights.
"If you don't come out now, you're disqualified!"
"Who's going to disqualify me."
"Lord Harad!"
"Out I go."
The knights streamed out of the examination hall.
"How many did you solve? A whole ten problems this time."
The patrol squad was ten strong.
The problems were exactly ten.
"I solved them all."
"You too?"
"Feeling good. Think I got them all right."
"Damn. I missed one."
Knights Groobin and Marvin were twins.
Their ability and intelligence were similar.
Unlike usual, this examination required grading.
Being the first overhaul, Harad graded the exams himself.
Harad glanced through the ten sheets Grex had collected and scored them by eye. To knights they might be something, but to Harad they were truly nothing.
"Groobin, impressive."
"I know!"
"All wrong."
"What?"
Harad called each name.
"Marvin."
"I know. Nine right."
"One right."
Zero and one.
The twin knights were eliminated.
"You two are excluded from today's patrol. Draw two replacements from the reserves."
"Me, me! I volunteer."
"I volunteer too!"
"I'll do it."
At the elimination news, off-duty knights watching from the side rushed in like hyenas.
They dragged Grex into the examination hall.
"Rakani, you're out too. Two points isn't enough. Grex! Draw three."
Harad shouted toward the hall.
Taking away what one has makes people angry.
Eiga had said so, but it didn't hold for the Wall knights.
These men did as Serzila told them.
The magic examination was a system approved by Grand Duke Aratus and the Grand Heir. If they were angry, it would be at themselves for failing.
"The rest are safe."
Three of ten had fallen.
Seven would go on patrol as-is, and the three empty spots would be filled now.
The seven didn't care who the three would be.
They felt no great thrill at being safe, either.
"Who's first?"
Only first place could enjoy Harad or the Fireball.
"Second?"
But today was an exception.
As the first overhaul, first place would receive Harad, and second place the Fireball.
"First is Tursten."
"Yes!"
Tursten ripped his Magical Beast leather armor in celebration.
Clothes were unnecessary anyway. Harad's side was warm.
"Second is, oh, Jupen."
Harad's eyes glinted toward the 1st Knights' new recruit. Perhaps a clever talent had joined.
"Ah...... yes."
Jupen took it in stride.
Enough to celebrate like that?
He didn't understand Tursten.
"Lies!"
Someone among the knights shouted.
"It's true."
Harad shook his head firmly.
The knights didn't believe him.
"No, it's a lie."
"Right. I can't possibly lose. Fireball, Fireball. You like me too, don't you?"
-BEEEEEP!
When the senior tried to hug it, the fire-beast fled skyward.
"Harad, you too, deep down, me more......"
"I dislike you lot."
Harad drew a line on the ground with fire.
It seemed to mean he'd burn anyone who crossed it.
Unrequited love, in other words.
Those lofty Wall knights were desperate to win the favor of one mage and one beast.
'Is he really that much?'
While Jupen watched the groveling knights with a complicated gaze, the supplementary exam ended. Three newcomers joined, and the Wall's gate opened.
"First time on patrol?"
Harad asked Jupen at the gate.
"This is my third."
In his previous two patrols, Jupen had come through uninjured. Rookie or not, he was already a proper Wall knight.
"My. I hear the aftereffects are considerable once you've experienced it."
"Pardon?"
"There's a thing. Here, meet the Fireball. It'll circle your vicinity only, so don't touch it."
No need.
Jupen swallowed those words without meaning to.
His seniors were staring at him with faces that said they could die of envy.
If they loved it this much, there had to be a reason.
Jupen thought so. Beep! The Fireball struck its own breast with a wing. As if to say: trust me.
'Is it really that much?'
...... That much.
Jupen thought it involuntarily. The instant he stepped into the Boundary. Despite being the Boundary, it felt like a spring outing.
'My Aura isn't draining.'
Just by having the Fireball beside him.
"It's warm! No! It's hot!"
Sir Tursten, assigned to Harad, had stripped to his trousers and was sprinting across the snowfield.
A sight that should have meant instant freezing, yet Tursten was sweating from the heat.
"I've got Aura to spare!"
Tursten ran.
"Whoa!"
Before he knew it, Jupen was running beside him.
'Should've studied more.'
If second place was this, what would first place -- Harad -- be like?
"Can't make a habit of this."
Jupen pretended not to hear Harad's murmur.
This system had to run for life.
***
'Not ready for absolute grading yet.'
If it were, the only knight receiving the prize would be Gullen.
The average level was still abysmal.
"You mustn't provide Lord Harad and Fireball too often. It cheapens their value."
The reward must be scarce.
"True. Otherwise knights will just brute-force it by volume."
Someday even the worst scorer would luckily hit first.
"Correct! If you tell the knights you're reducing Lord Harad and Fireball's availability because of such knights, the guessing culture will die."
Don't guess -- solve.
Eiga knew how to teach people.
"And for the time being, let me be the reward. Not as good as the two of you, but I can provide fire well enough."
Eiga pointed to himself.
He couldn't bear to see the Sun and his Divine Beast used for such work.
Harad stared at Eiga.
"No real reason to meddle, I suppose."
"Right? From the Otherworld's standpoint, it's just a few knights."
A suspicion-laced joke, yet Eiga accepted it with a smile.
As Eiga said, if the infiltration were genuine, the target would be the Inner Fortress or the Wall, not a few knights.
"Let's go out together now and then. Build rapport. We're family now."
"I'll build it eagerly!"
Sending Eiga on occasional patrols wasn't a bad option.
For the time being, Eiga seemed here to stay.
"What do you think of spurring competition between the knight orders? A tournament, say."
"A class battle. An excellent event, I think. Then within each order, they'll try to shore up each other's weaknesses."
Competition was good, but must not overheat.
In the end, the Wall knights had to be one body.
Order-scale magic examinations would bind each individual order tighter.
"Have you ever taught before?"
"Yes. Before doctor, I was a teacher."
No wonder.
"So where are you headed now?"
"The tunnel."
It was about time for Laash's survivors to attempt asylum.
"That thing actually exists?"
Eiga, who had let himself be captured by Earthquake mages just to find the tunnel, lit up.
"Didn't I mention? I'm the tunnel's owner."
"As expected of Lord Harad!"
Eiga clapped.