Chapter 4 - Raising the Count's Family (2)
After finishing his conversation with Adelia, Ron returned, found a spot in a corner of the campsite, and continued to ponder.
'May I seek your counsel in the future as well, Sir?'
'Will I be of any help?'
-Progress: -81%
'This is a situation where every hand is needed.'
'I am lacking, but I will try my best.'
-Progress: -79%
The difference between refusal and acceptance was reflected in the progress rate, making the cause and effect clear.
'So the young lady was the source.'
She was the one who put the final period on the end of the tutorial.
From now on, the progress rate would rise and fall depending on her actions.
'Should I call this a high degree of freedom?'
The notification only stated the objective; the method was left entirely to his own choice.
If they were going to do this, they should have at least given him a custom function.
This was like being thrown into a wasteland and told to survive on your own.
Even if they weren't going to give him a status window or skills, they should have at least provided a mission.
'In these kinds of novels, it should be possible to clear it just by doing push-ups and running.'
Honestly, most progression fantasy munchkin novels were overly easy and convenient, following an all-purpose narrative.
Logically, does it make sense for stats to rise immediately just from running, push-ups, and sit-ups?
It's just granting the protagonist excessive omnipotence.
Still, Ron found that kind of omniscient protagonist's point of view....
'Envious.'
This wasn't even starting from scratch; the tutorial's difficulty was pretty much the worst.
Of course, to say it was the absolute worst would be an exaggeration, as the direction was clear.
All he had to do was raise the count's family.
'They didn't say by when.'
Though judging by the way things were going, it seemed likely there would be a time limit.
And the biggest problem was something else entirely.
'Why me?'
Not just once, but twice.
He had burned himself out completely, leaving not even ashes behind.
Two times living a tiring, pursued life was enough.
He felt a sense of rejection, as if someone was constantly forcing him.
This current life was a rest period to heal from burnout.
You could call it taking ten steps back to take one step forward.
If he had his way, he'd seriously consider taking a hundred steps back.
People aren't machines; they need to rest as much as possible for their future path to be smooth.
In any situation, if you're tired, things get complicated, and you're bound to make repeated mistakes.
'There's no need to be proactive.'
To discuss loyalty as a knight, his affection for the count's family wasn't deep.
Although the count had a good reputation, he hadn't built up enough loyalty to risk his life for him.
Of course, he doesn't show it.
If you betray your master as a knight, your life can't be smooth.
Nobles will tolerate anything else, but they will never let betrayal slide.
If you let one slide, you have to let ten, a hundred, a thousand slide.
They had to make a clear example to reduce the risk of betrayal.
'If things go south, I should at least take care of the old man.'
They say a person who forgets a debt of gratitude is worse than a beast.
Before he remembered his past lives, if it weren't for the old man, he might have lived a difficult life or might not have survived at all.
The welfare policies of this era were far too harsh for a child to live alone.
And reality was too barren to afford to take care of others.
Given the old man's personality, the possibility of him abandoning the count's family to follow him was slim, but still, you have to live first.
He would surely bring up chivalry, but if he put his wife and Eshula at the forefront, the old man would have no choice.
People, especially fathers, were weak when it came to family.
If he were to whisper from behind that he'd never seen anyone who abandoned their family succeed, it would be 100% effective.
'That is cowardly.'
But just being alive and breathing wasn't everything.
If the purpose of his life disappeared, the old man's life would be no different from being dead.
He'd put aside running away as a last resort.
He looked at reality with a cool head.
He hadn't been interested before, so he didn't know much about how the count's family was run.
It wasn't his family, so it would be strange to be interested. If a trainee knight was overly interested in the family's internal and external affairs, he could be seen as suspicious.
Based on the information he had now, he examined the biggest problem first.
'It means the sons of the count's family are idiots.'
The evaluations of the eldest son, Lesius, the second son, Taelon, and the third son, Alex, weren't really important.
As long as the tutorial didn't end when he met them, they were just trash mobs compared to Adelia.
In this case, it would be proper to pass the title to the wisest child, but this era was rampant with gender discrimination.
Adelia would be respected as the daughter of a noble family, but becoming the head of the family was another matter.
Everywhere you go, a daughter is an outsider once married.
To carry on the family bloodline, you had to be a man.
The curse "If you're so resentful, you should have been born a man" didn't come from nowhere.
'It's a father's heart to want to pass on the family fortune even if his child is an idiot.'
The fact that there's a finger that hurts more when you bite it and the preference for the eldest son were eternal truths.
Historically, the emperor who founded an empire may have been brilliant, but the succession was always unstable.
Because an idiot might take his place.
No matter how talented Adelia was, in a normal structure, she was finished in terms of becoming the head of the count's family.
But if the trash mobs below Adelia became the head, the collapse of the count's family would only accelerate.
'This is a headache.'
He didn't feel particularly motivated, but he had been settled in the count's family for a long time.
There was no guarantee that moving elsewhere would be comfortable.
Isn't there a saying, "Leaving home is a dog's life"?
The house he had worked so hard to build was also a waste.
If he were told to build it again, he wouldn't be able to do it.
The house was truly a fruit of his labor, built one stitch at a time.
The count's family can fall, but not my house.
'It doesn't seem like they'll let me go quietly either.'
Not the count's family, but whoever initiated this scenario was bothering him.
It could be an unnecessary suspicion, but he needed to consider the what-ifs.
Ignoring it wouldn't change anything, and he needed to be prepared.
He'd rather not get stabbed in the back while being complacent.
[Reward]
-1 Coin
-Shop Open
Along with the end of the tutorial, 1 coin had flown into his inventory.
He didn't know the specific mission, but it seemed there would be a reward upon clearing it.
'Can't open it here.'
He didn't know the value of 1 coin yet, and he also needed to find out what would happen when he opened the shop.
The system was structured so that you couldn't check the item's information inside the inventory.
If he opened it where others could see and was mistaken for a mage, it would be troublesome.
Especially since subspace magic was known to be usable only after reaching at least the 6th Circle.
An Aura Expert and a 6th Circle mage.
He'd look like a follower desperate to stand out.
He wouldn't go out of his way to hide it, but he'd pass on being an attention seeker.
Unless it was revealed unavoidably.
It would be more effective to praise and lift others up instead.
'Let's be careful when opening this.'
As with all things, hasty actions brought disaster.
If he didn't want to regret it later, caution was essential.
But he didn't want to live every matter so seriously either.
Two tiring lives were enough.
Ron stopped his train of thought.
The back of his head was prickling.
'Why are that guy's eyes like that?'
It was a classic example of how treacherous humans can be.
The guy who couldn't even meet his eyes and was fumbling around just a while ago now had the eyes of someone audaciously turning the tables.
He'd seen it so many times that those kinds of audacious eyes were all more or less the same.
Dein Barut.
As the son of a baron, he was at the center of a faction within the trainee knights of the Dawn Knight Order.
He wasn't selected for this journey, but he had volunteered.
The flustered look he had during the unexpected attack was gone without a trace, and he was now showing the naked treachery of a human.
'He was only interested in the ulterior prize.'
You should climb a tree after looking at it; not all nobles are the same.
For a nobody from a lower noble family to aim for the daughter of a count.
The difference in weight class was so great it was absurd.
Could it be that he has a sense of superiority, thinking he's different from others?
'Especially with those skills.'
Even with swordsmanship talent like a crane among chickens, it wouldn't be enough.
The words that you can change if you try are nothing more than cruel hope torture.
In truth, ability is largely dependent on genetics.
The spoon you were born with proved your future.
Even if you denied your bloodline, reality rarely changed.
A change in life was only possible, maybe, if you had an indomitable spirit to push through without giving up, and a stroke of heavenly luck.
What's more, an unattainable dream was a waste of life.
Seuk!
Ron just let it be.
He's like that because he doesn't know me yet.
If he knew, he would have shut his mouth and avoided me.
'It's not easy to be solitary.'
To live a life of isolation, you need to be backed by fitting stubbornness and skill.
It would be a mistake to think that no one had touched him until now.
When the time comes, it seems there will be a need to renew the unspoken rules of the trainee knight order and establish discipline.
'Still, he won't be able to give up.'
Here or there.
Guys like that were all the same.
Do they think they're the goddamn ruler?
Acting like there's not a single inch of error.
***
Dein frowned.
If things had gone as planned, he should have been the center of this journey.
That way, he wanted to create a point of contact with Lady Adelia through perfect mission execution.
But, Ron had become the center of this group.
Moreover, unlike him, who ended up doing menial chores, that guy was summoned by the young lady.
'How dare you!'
Dein had a sense of superiority that he was different from Ron.
He hadn't paid him any attention until now, thinking he was an insignificant guy, but now things had changed.
He could not tolerate a mere commoner receiving the young lady's attention.
Nevertheless, the reason he couldn't move rashly was because the image of Ron cutting down the attackers came to mind.
Ron had cut down the enemies without a hint of hesitation, as if they were rotten trees.
Dein didn't want to admit it.
Perfect, even on the first try.
A natural-born genius.
He should have been the one to show such a performance.
Not some lowly commoner orphan.
He doesn't believe it.
If he was going to stand out, he should have done it long ago.
'He must have used a magic tool to pull some wicked trick! Does it make sense for him to suddenly show such skills!'
He didn't have a special status or an amazing master.
He hadn't shown any particular excellence within the knight order either.
It was also strange for him to suddenly reveal his hidden skills.
Dein's self-justification, riddled with jealousy and envy, was increasingly denying reality.
'It's a scheme targeting the young lady! I will definitely unmask your loathsome facade and protect the young lady!'
If he could just do that, it would more than make up for his failure to perform during the attack.
This was a matter not just for the young lady, but for the count's family as well.
If it goes well, he can build up merits.
However, the afterimage of the attack remained, making it difficult to do it alone.
Fortunately, Rotan and Zenon had followed his cause.
They too seemed unable to believe Ron's performance.
Envy and jealousy are our strength.
They joined forces.
Just as their sordid gazes met and they quietly nodded.
Seuk!
Hwadeuljjak!
Ron, who had approached them closely, was staring at their faces.
His eyes said he knew what they were thinking.
Anxious that their inner thoughts might have been exposed, the pupils of Dein, Rotan, and Zenon shook.
Regardless of their resolve, reality is a different matter entirely.
They had concluded that he had used a trick, but it was also a fact that Ron had cut down the attackers without hesitation.
"You guys, I need to see you for a moment."
"...What is it?"
"I think there's a misunderstanding. Let's go over there, to a cozy place where people can't see."
"...Why should we?"
Faced with a predator, the prey's survival instincts kicked in, and Ron whispered softly.
The content was that of a neighborhood thug, though.
"Wanna get beaten up here? I don't mind. It's better to follow when I'm asking nicely, right?"
"...You!"
"If you make a sound, your little conspiracy will be exposed. Besides, if you try to hold out, it's only a loss for you guys."
"...You crazy!"
"Scared?"
"...How dare you!"