Chapter 40

Serpens moved through the crowd with practiced ease.
They had returned to Oratio once again.
Before he knew it, even in the empire’s capital, there were a few signs that had become familiar.

After getting a room at an inn with Lucas,
he passed through the crowd and moved to the front of a massive fortress.

“It’s ridiculously huge.”

Serpens’s head rose higher and higher the closer he got to the castle.
A golden flag hung at the top of the magnificent fortress.
Looking at it made his head rise on its own.

“How difficult is the knight examination?”

Serpens asked.

“The examination you will take is the wandering knight examination. Even among those, you will take the lowest-level examination, so it will not be that difficult.”
“Why am I taking the lowest level?”
“You only need proof that you are a knight. There is no need to waste unnecessary time or strength.”

The boy stuck out his lips.

‘Even examinations are divided into levels.’

Inwardly, he had been looking forward to the examination.
The knight examination.
In any case, if he passed it, didn’t that make him a knight?
A dream he had held, even if only briefly, when he was younger than now would come true.
The boy who had been an orphan would become a knight.

“……The treatment naturally changes depending on the level, right?”
“It does. If you become a knight, the range in which you and I can move will become wider. At the same time, it will also become a token that proves your status.”
“A token?”
“It means we can reduce nuisances like the matter with the Quantums Merchant House.”
“……Aha!”

Then he wanted to avoid the lowest-level examination even more.
If he thought about the future, when he grew stronger and tried to achieve his goal of helping children.
Would it not be better to take at least a somewhat higher-level examination?

“As long as you are qualified, you can take the knight examination every year. You can challenge a higher-level examination when you have time to spare.”

Lucas said, as if he had read the boy’s mind.

Sometimes, Serpens found Lucas strange.
There were often times like this when he seemed to have read his mind.

‘Do my thoughts tend to show on my face?’

Serpens felt around both his cheeks.

“I understand. If you say that is what we should do, Lucas, then there must be a reason.”

The boy slowly nodded and continued walking forward.

When they reached the fortress, the pressure of the magnificent structure felt even stronger.

Quite a few people had gathered in front of the castle gate.
Most seemed to have come to take the knight examination like Serpens.
Some were fully equipped in armor, and there were also a few wearing coats that made them look like magicians.

“Have you come to take the knight examination?”

Just before they entered the castle gate.
An armed soldier stopped the two of them.

“He is a candidate for the wandering knight examination.”

When Lucas answered, the soldier looked him over.

“Not me. This one.”

Lucas pointed at Serpens.
The soldier examined the two in turn.
A gaze as if asking whether they were joking.
Serpens was thirteen years old.
He was about half the average age of the candidates taking the knight examination.

Lucas handed him Frost’s recommendation letter.
As he read the document, his eyes became quite serious.

“Please enter and move that way.”

They moved in the direction the soldier pointed.
After only a few steps, they saw a counter registering candidates.
A somewhat long line.
People of various ages stood there.

“Please write your name and origin.”

A short while later, the official filling out documents at the counter said in a dry voice.
Serpens hesitated slightly, then opened his mouth.

“Serpens. I’m from……”

His origin was Satus.
Although there was no certainty that he had been born there.
The oldest memory the boy had was, in the end, from Satus.
But he did not want to say he was from there.

“He is a wanderer.”

Lucas answered for him.
Hearing his words, Serpens blinked.

The official nodded without any particular reaction.

“I heard he is a recommended candidate. Please enter through the door on the right in the back.”

The two nodded at the same time.

When they opened the door and entered, they saw people who had already come in.
Arms and armor relatively lighter than those of the people outside.
As befitted the name wandering knight, most had only the minimum equipment.

“Is it all right to list my origin as wanderer?”

Serpens asked.
He was grateful that Lucas had considered him.
But he wondered if it was all right to deceive the official.

“It is, because you received a recommendation letter.”

Lucas said impassively.

As if gaining strength from his words, Serpens let out a deep breath.
The boy’s eyes moved busily.

There were many people looking at him.
No, it seemed everyone in the same space had looked at him at least once.

The boy felt uncomfortable, but the owners of those gazes were not actually thinking much of it.
Most teenage children who could be here fell into the genius category.
Whether they had received a recommendation letter from the Academy.
Whether they had grown through another method.
Whether they had been children who had no choice but to grow.
If they had come to take the knight examination in their teens, that alone put them in the genius category.

As people sharing the same goal, it was only natural for them to be interested in geniuses.

In an atmosphere only the boy found uncomfortable.
After some time passed, a man in full armor entered through the door the people had come in through.

The crest of the imperial knight order engraved on the chest of his armor.
Serpens narrowed his eyes and examined the emblem.
A golden sword with its blade pointed downward, wrapped in a faint golden pattern.
The boy looked at that design as if bewitched.

“Everyone, attention!”

The man’s shout rang out loudly.
Everyone around him closed their mouths and stared at him.

“Candidates for the wandering knight examination, listen! I am Croxon Stone, captain of the imperial court’s Fourth Platoon, and I will be supervising this examination.”

A voice he had heard somewhere before.
Serpens tilted his head.
A massive build that could not be hidden by armor.
A face covered by a helmet.
Since he could not see his face, he could not judge whether he was someone he had seen before.

‘How many times have I even seen knights?’

Serpens rubbed his face dry and focused his mind.
Right now, whether he had seen that person before or not was not important.

“The wandering knight examination is broadly divided into three stages. Restricted wandering knight. Permitted wandering knight. Free wandering knight. Gather in front of me in the order I said!”

When his words ended, the people headed in front of him.
In the order of restricted, permitted, and free, around six, fifteen, and three people gathered.

“You all know that even among wandering knights, grades are divided according to each individual’s skill.”

Serpens diligently looked around with his eyes,
but just as the supervisor had said, everyone seemed to know that fact.

Except him, that was.

“For any idiots who might challenge the wrong grade and waste a year, I will explain it once more.”

Serpens flicked his tongue over his dry lips.

“First, restricted wandering knights. This grade, also called apprentice knights, can hold the status of a knight only when accompanied by knights affiliated with the imperial court or people of equivalent standing.”

As the name said, it was a rank with restrictions.
Looking at the six challengers, the level of their equipment seemed relatively low as well.

“Permitted wandering knights possess the status of a knight only within the capital, Oratio, and within the territories of nobles of viscount rank or higher.”

Serpens glanced to the side.
The permitted wandering knight challengers.
And beyond them, the free wandering knight challengers.
All of them gave off a neatly refined sense of strength.

“Free wandering knights are recognized for their skill and loyalty, and can possess the status of a knight anywhere on the continent.”

The boy, who had been quietly listening, tilted his head.
Restricted, permitted, or free.
Each had its own conditions, but how would anyone know whether they followed them or not?

Even if it was the lowest level, a restricted wandering knight,
they would be difficult for ordinary people to deal with.

He thought they would have to be monitored with something like magic.
Otherwise, even if they went to some remote region and threw their weight around, no one would know.

Like the knight who had come to Satus.

“Those taking the permitted and free examinations, three steps back. The examination will proceed with restricted wandering knights first.”

Among the people moving in perfect order.
Only Lucas watched the situation with his arms crossed.
Originally, he could not have entered this place.
Even this was a privilege of the recommendation letter.
Under the pretext of protecting minors, one guardian could accompany them.
Here, protection did not mean protection from the danger of the examination itself.

What was more dangerous than monsters, and more dangerous than nature, was humans.
Sometimes, those who envied talent threatened children.
A guardian referred to someone who could suppress such people.

Kugwagang-!

A roar erupted not far away.
Lucas’s gaze turned there.

‘Was there someone like that in the imperial court?’

The roars that continued one after another were sounds caused by the use of Aura.
On the opposite side of the fortress, the examination for knights affiliated with the imperial court was being held.
It seemed this year’s examiner was quite a harsh person.

‘The pass rate will be low.’

Most examinations consisted of facing monsters.
Or else they were made up of combat against human opponents.
Average applicants hoping to become imperial-affiliated knights were used to combat against human opponents.
Because most of them had received expensive training, they had grown by sparring with people rather than monsters.

When they heard that this year’s examination would be combat against human opponents.
Many would have smiled.
But if their examination supervisor was a skilled person with strict standards……
a low pass rate was the natural result.

“The method does not matter. Anyone who lands even one effective hit on me passes.”

And at the moment Lucas’s attention was focused on the opposite side of the fortress.
Serpens’s examination began.

‘This side is combat against people too?’

Lucas looked at Serpens.
He had surrounded the examination supervisor along with the other candidates.

“Then! We will begin the restricted wandering knight examination!”

Lucas looked at Serpens’s stance.
He didn’t look nervous.
Rather, he was staring at the tip of the supervisor Croxon Stone’s sword without even blinking.
A posture as if he would rush in at any moment.
But the boy did not move first until the end.

Croxon Stone silently looked around at the candidates, his massive build on full display.
A white longsword was held loosely in his hand.

‘The method doesn’t matter, and anyone who lands even one effective hit passes…….’

Serpens repeated the condition to himself.
The simpler the condition, the more careful the boy became.

The opponent was a skilled knight.
Meanwhile, this side was made up of people whose skills were still incomplete.

“If you are ready, come at me.”

When Croxon Stone’s low voice rang out, the surrounding candidates moved first.
At the front was a young man holding a sword.
He approached at high speed and lowered his stance.
Behind him, the other candidates also rushed toward Croxon.

But the moment Croxon’s sword swung once in a large arc, the flow of air changed.

Takwang-!

The young man’s sword was knocked away, and he rolled across the ground as he was sent flying.
At the same time, the attacks of the remaining candidates were also blocked easily.
Croxon had only moved his massive longsword lightly.
But the candidates were sent flying as if they had collided with a massive wall.

Serpens didn’t move even in that situation.
One of the candidates even sent him a fierce glare.
But Serpens maintained his initial stance without wavering.

‘An opening……. An opening…….’

Serpens’s vision focused only on Croxon.
The attacks of the candidates who stood back up.
Croxon blocked them easily, and even provoked them with a flick of his hand.

Serpens gathered the senses of his entire body and raised his concentration to the maximum.
It seemed one of the candidates was shouting at him.
But it only sounded faint.
It could not shake the boy’s focus.

Around the time the young man who had stepped forward first was sent flying for the third time.

Pat-

Serpens’s feet moved quickly.

Whoosh-

The boy leapt over the young man staggering on the ground.
Croxon had his back turned as he faced two candidates at the same time.

Serpens moved quickly and dug into his opponent’s side.
He judged that when Croxon was using strength in one direction, digging in from the opposite direction would create a momentary opening.
The boy put strength into both arms and swung his sword.

Clang!

The sound of swords scraping followed.

“……!”

Croxon blocked the boy’s attack.

He had not expected this much.
Serpens twisted his hand and changed the trajectory of his sword.

Kagagak.

Serpens’s sword slid down along the longsword.
The sword drove down quickly and struck the ground right in front of Croxon’s heel.

Whish!

The boy’s sword slashed upward as if soaring into the sky.

Whoosh-

A diagonal slash followed as the finish.

When the attack he had planned didn’t work.
Serpens stepped back several paces.

“……Look at this guy.”

The silver helmet Croxon wore.
The eye slit of the helmet looked down at the boy.

“So there was an interesting one here.”

Boom!

“Kheuk!”

Croxon closed the distance in an instant and swung his sword.
Serpens laid his sword flat and blocked the attack.

He had expected the impact and tried to deflect it, but his opponent’s speed was too fast, and instead his movement became tangled.
The tangled movement created an opening, and the opening created an opportunity for his opponent.

Tak.

Croxon hooked Serpens’s leg with his foot.

The boy’s center of gravity wavered.
He tried not to fall, but it was already too late.

“Ugh!”

And the moment the boy’s back touched the ground, a massive shadow fell over him.

Sssshk-

Croxon’s longsword stopped in front of Serpens’s neck.

“You’re interesting, but still far too young.”