Starting from when I recalled my past life memories, I had matured in various ways, my perspective broadening and my thoughts deepening. Thanks to this, after persistent effort, I fortunately became a soldier in no time.
However, not long after I became a soldier, a war broke out.
It was a war against a hostile nation that had always had poor relations with the kingdom, and this war lasted for a short—if it could be called short—period of three years.
Of all things, it was a war that broke out right after I became a soldier, and I had to bite the bullet and participate in it.
I desperately wanted to run away, but becoming a deserter would only make my life miserable, and I couldn't live my whole life as a wanted man, so I had to grit my teeth and participate in the war.
A three-year war, short if one could even call it short.
But anyone who participated in the war would say this.
That it was a fierce and devastating war that felt like fighting for thirty years rather than three.
And fortunately, the victor of this devastating war was the kingdom's faction I belonged to. As a result, the kingdom, while not quite an empire, found the opportunity to rise to the ranks of a great nation.
A soldier of the kingdom was now a soldier of a great power?
I heard the pay increases by about three times, and as a war participant, there's some tax exemption as well.
At this rate, having my arm nearly severed and my belly gouged open could be somewhat overlooked...
‘Damn it, as if they would.’
If it weren't for a real troll's regeneration, I would have died dozens of times over.
For the first time, I felt grateful to the spellcaster who routinely tortured me under the name of experiments during my childhood.
I realized once again what a shitty thing war truly is.
Well, anyway, I took comfort in surviving with my body intact and decided to stop caring whether the kingdom became a great power or not.
Above all else.
‘I'm quitting because it's so damn filthy!’
Perhaps because I faced the insane difficulty of participating in a war right from being a rookie soldier, I was utterly sick and tired of everything—civil servant status and all.
So I planned to immediately submit my resignation, take my severance pay, and just run an inn or something.
Even if the income wasn't great, a small expectation arose that living like that would be easier on the mind.
Unfortunately, it is a rare thing in this world for matters to go as planned.
“Hoh, was it you?”
“Pardon?”
“You saved the princess! Thank you, truly, thank you! Haha!”
“...?”
The remnants of the hostile nation suddenly raided the camp, and I just fought recklessly, but somehow the story goes that I saved the kingdom's princess...
Anyone who heard it would curse, telling me to at least make up a believable lie, and I felt utterly wronged to become the protagonist of such an absurd story.
I intended to live quietly without standing out, but I saved the princess?
Where in the world does such nonsense happen?
But unfortunately, reality is reality.
“I didn't know a talent like you was rotting away as a soldier.”
Suddenly, that man threw a sword along with a necklace resembling a military dog tag.
“From now on, you are a knight.”
“??”
I found out later that the old-fashioned-looking middle-aged man was the Knight Commander, and I also found out later that the Knight Commander had the authority to appoint knights at his discretion.
That was how I unintentionally obtained the position of a knight.
...Truly out of nowhere.
‘Is this for real?’
“You're capable.”
“I-I'm a former slave, you know?”
“The kingdom doesn't care about your origins as long as you have the ability.”
“A-Actually, I also have a history of being in an assassination organization...”
“Hoh, you have a unique background? But that's rather good! Experienced hires are welcome-!”
“......”
I really hated it so much that I even came out as an assassin, but it didn't work on this man.
I felt it then.
That this man was also a formidable madman.
‘...This is absolute bullshit.’
* * *
Afterward, I became a knight at the late age of twenty-seven.
To be exact, a parachute knight.
Because the other guys were either of noble descent or from prestigious academies, whereas I was a commoner and originally a soldier.
For a guy like that to gain a knight's title thanks to the Knight Commander, calling it a parachute was only appropriate.
Also, as is the case in any organization, the existence of a parachute...
“You lowly bastard, do you know where you are...!”
“Draw your sword. I'll send you to where you belong.”
“It would be in your best interest to leave on your own two feet.”
...Outcast, ostracization, bullying, and so on.
I was bound to face harsh treatment through various means.
This is the fate of a parachute hire without backing.
‘Knight Commander, you heartless bastard!’
What's the point of making me a knight?
Far from backing me, he's just sitting in the commander's office sipping black tea!
If you put someone in this situation, you should at least protect them, but he doesn't even do that.
I got so furious in that moment that I just had to relieve my stress.
Thus.
“Do you guys think I'm a pushover too-?!”
My eyes rolled right back, and the next moment, my memory blacked out as if I were dead drunk.
When my memory reconnected, what lay before my eyes were ten Order knights beaten to a pulp and sprawled on the floor, alongside the Knight Commander who had subdued me.
“Haha, you're an amusing talent as expected. You don't seem to have a proper master, yet you instinctively know how to fight. A beast-like fellow, truly.”
“...Stop playing with people and just accept my resignation. Just so you know, this isn't a request, it's a warning. If you don't accept it, I don't know what I'll do to you, old man.”
“Is that so? I'd really love to see that. What kind of warning.”
“I clearly warned you.”
I was so sick of it all, Knight Commander or whatever, that I wanted to at least break his jaw even if I didn't kill him.
I didn't care about the consequences.
Whether I die here or there, it's all the same.
However.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“W-Wait a moment!”
“Haha, when will you show me that warning?”
“N-No, I made a bit of a mistake...!”
This old man was fucking strong.
It wasn't like I won the Knight Commander in a gamble; I learned by taking a beating that he was the commander simply because he was the strongest of the knights.
He was on a different level from the other guys.
I was beaten endlessly, like being thrashed until the dust flew on a rainy day.
Just when I thought I might be beaten to death at this rate, the Commander stopped punching.
“Hehe, you have quite a sturdy body. Look, I'm even sweating.”
“C-Crazy old man...”
“You can still move your mouth. Truly a talent!”
“I-I'm going to turn in my resignation...”
“Don't. I won't accept it. If you want to quit, try beating me. Then I'll accept it.”
“...Son of a bitch.”
I clearly realized that I had gotten entangled with a bizarre but insanely strong freak, and for the first time that day, I even shed tears.
But from then on, instead of shedding tears, I ground the sword in my heart and made a vow.
‘I will definitely quit!’
A gentleman's revenge is not too late even after ten years.
‘...I can win, can't I?’
Still, I couldn't help but lose a bit of confidence.
* * *
After this day, the guys who bullied me disappeared.
No, to be precise, the majority of them turned pale and ran away just from making eye contact.
Well, some of the guys I beat up were still receiving treatment at the temple, and among those who recovered, there were some who retired because they were mentally incapable of recovering.
‘Did I beat them up a bit too hard?’
Still, it can't be helped.
Who told them to piss me off in the first place?
They were the ones who first messed with someone living quietly.
Well, with things turning out like this, I was forcibly alienated from the knight Order and silently did only what I had to do.
My goal was ultimately to take down the Commander old man.
Therefore, to achieve this, I had to accelerate my efforts to take down the Commander old man, and I trained day and night, something I hadn't done much of since my assassination guild days.
...Even if I called it training, there wasn't much I knew.
“Isn't that the kingdom's basic swordsmanship?”
“I-It seems like it?”
“...Can he beat the Commander, an [Aura User], with that?”
“Impossible.”
The only training I knew was stealth and assassination techniques I learned during my time as an assassin.
But I could absolutely never beat the Commander old man with that, and even if I did win, I wouldn't be satisfied.
So, aiming for a head-on confrontation, I started training in swordsmanship, and I only practiced the basic swordsmanship, the only one I knew and one that every citizen knew.
For someone like me who knew nothing of the advanced sword techniques taught by prestigious knight families, it was an inevitable choice.
It wasn't like I had any acquaintances to teach me.
...I felt like the Commander old man would gladly teach me, but I would never do that.
It felt like begging, and I absolutely didn't want to become anything resembling his disciple.
Because of that.
“Hey, you. Let's have a sparring match.”
“W-What did I do wrong to deserve this!”
“Whatever, here I come.”
“D-Damn it!!”
Fortunately, the place I was at was the knight Order.
It was packed with elite bastards who had learned high-tier swordsmanship, and I sparred with them several times a day, picking up their swordsmanship by sight and filling in my own shortcomings.
I won mostly with my physical abilities, but there were some real deal bastards in the Order too. Against guys like that, I sometimes lost.
It was a blunder to charge in relying solely on swordsmanship, but rather than feeling humiliated, it was only welcome since there was plenty to take from them.
Days of persistently clinging to sparring matches.
Whenever I saw some results, I consistently...
Kwaaang!
“You are still no match for me.”
“Ughhhh!!!”
I charged at the Commander old man.
Rather than charging, it felt more like the Commander old man was gladly watching my clowning around, but instead of taking it as a humiliation, I only nurtured the fierce resolve to definitely win.
Like that, I repeated fighting, and fighting, and fighting and fighting, and as a result, I achieved a hundred battles and a hundred defeats.
I fought a hundred times and got crushed all hundred times.
“...A man who doesn't seem human.”
“Did you think Aura User was some mutt's name? Hehe, if it displeases you, you just have to become an Aura User yourself.”
“......I'm going crazy.”
Aura User.
Those who became superhumans with human bodies.
Humans who wield a mysterious power called Aura, reaching a realm that can barely be attained by defeating even those called geniuses among those who received systematic yet insane training since childhood.
And it is common sense on the continent that Aura can only be faced with Aura.
Therefore, an Aura User is a monster in human form.
And the man I had to defeat was one of the only three 'genuine' Aura Users in the kingdom.
This was about the point where anyone would despair.
Because there was absolutely no way to win in sight.
Shring.
“Hoh, you're going to charge again?”
“They say there's no tree that won't fall after ten strikes.”
“I don't think that'll work on me, though.”
“...Then I'll just strike a thousand, ten thousand times, whatever.”
“That sounds quite entertaining.”
Boom!
Three years after that.
I was still.
“Haa, I really want to quit.”
Remaining in the knight Order.