-I merely did what any knight should have done. I do not know whether it is right for me to ride in the carriage.
-Even an elderly man who may pass away at any moment is walking. I would feel uneasy being the only one allowed to rest.
-However, as a probationary knight, disobeying an order would also be disloyal. Though it breaks my heart, I will obey your command, my lady.
As Radon and the other knights recalled what Ron had said, they remained dumbfounded throughout the journey back to the count's house.
He spoke endlessly of a knight's honor, but his actions contained not the slightest trace of remorse.
‘What was that about it being a knight's natural duty?’
‘Then he should not have refused in the first place!’
‘That's rich coming from the bastard who practically leaped into the carriage!’
Normally, even if only out of shame, he should have refused or stopped riding after the first rest break. Ron refused only the first time. After that, he entered the carriage before anyone could ask.
Then he had the nerve to say—
-Sir Ternoar, walking becomes extremely beneficial to your health as you grow older.
It might have been tolerable if he had at least kept his mouth shut.
Every time Ron spoke, the morale of Radon and the other knights plummeted.
Despite the uncomfortable atmosphere, Ron calmly accepted the young lady's invitation.
The hostile gazes lasted only a moment, while the carriage was reasonably comfortable by medieval fantasy standards.
Still, he missed German luxury sedans too much to call it excellent.
‘Improving the ride could be put to use. What do you think?’
-Progress: -78%
The Progress rose or fell only when an actual change occurred. It had fluctuated every time he lowered the morale of Sir Ternoar and the other knights. Still, perhaps because their resolve had united them, the overall trend was upward.
‘Start with springs.’
This was a fantasy world overrun with magic and spirits, but the gap between it and modern civilization remained vast. Yet it could not simply be called backward, since its strange methods had allowed certain fields to become exceptionally advanced.
However, devices such as magic tools offered little help in everyday life. It was a civilization whose benefits reached only a small number of people.
This world lacked widespread distribution and mass production. The privileges enjoyed by a minority had to be made available to everyone within a universal framework.
‘That will be difficult for now.’
Ron's intellectual level was only slightly above average, hardly enough to benefit the entire world. He had taken up a sword instead of science and mathematics, so even he did not fully understand the benefits of modern civilization.
For example, he merely understood suspension as a type of spring. He did not know what sort of technology or engineering went into it.
All he possessed was the most general knowledge.
“What are you thinking about so seriously?”
“I was considering whether there might be a way to make the carriage more comfortable.”
“It is not because I forced you to ride with me and made you uncomfortable?”
“Of course not. However, every time the carriage catches on a stone and jolts, the impact travels through it. A trained knight like me is fine, but the longer the journey, the more exhausting and difficult it must be for a delicate young lady such as yourself.”
“There are people walking outside. If I complained about that, I would be fortunate if they only cursed me for talking nonsense while drowning in luxury.”
“That is true.”
Ron did not deny it.
Once people grew accustomed to comfort, they often forgot their place and began voicing dissatisfaction. They did not even realize how spoiled their complaints were.
‘She is unusually realistic for a noble.’
Adelia was unlike the widely known image of a sheltered young lady raised like a flower in a noble house, ignorant of how the world worked.
What if this journey was not merely the whim of an immature girl who wanted to tour the territory?
She might have intended to inspect the atmosphere within the domain.
‘She is an unusual person.’
To Adelia, Ron was also unlike anyone she had known before.
He was one of the few people before whom she had revealed her true thoughts, and the first person who took her invitation to act comfortably as permission to behave without restraint.
She could not tell whether he was fearless, bold, or simply shameless.
Yet because none of it seemed affected, it felt refreshing.
‘And his personality is far from ordinary.’
One might say that he was naturally unconstrained by social status, but considering how long he had gone without revealing his abilities, he possessed a degree of caution unusual for a young knight.
‘If he is an Expert at that age, his ability is unquestionable.’
Ordinarily, one had to reach thirty before becoming an Expert. Even that was considered fast, for raising one's aura to such a realm required both talent and fortune. There was a reason anyone who became an Expert within the Dawn Knight Order was called a mid-ranking knight.
The Dawn Knight Order might have less combat power than those of other count's houses in the Empire, but Sir Ron could probably rise to senior knight in the shortest time imaginable.
“Is there really a way to improve the carriage's ride?”
“It may be difficult to understand through words alone.”
“Explain it freely. I will try to understand it in my own way.”
“In that case.”
Ron explained the principle of elasticity: hammering iron thin, winding it into the shape of a pig's tail, placing it on the floor, and pressing it so it sprang back. If he had even a piece of wire, he could have coiled it to demonstrate, but as the saying went, even dog shit vanished when one needed it for medicine. Nothing useful entered his sight when he actually needed it.
“I understand that iron bends when hammered thin, but for it to possess this elasticity, it would have to return to its original shape without breaking. The manufacturing difficulty seems quite high.”
From the explanation alone, Adelia understood both the shape and the principle. She possessed a sharp mind and a way of thinking unburdened by prejudice.
“It may be difficult for someone unfamiliar with the work, but would a skilled blacksmith capable of making chain mail not be able to turn the theory into reality?”
“If it could be completed, certainly. Connecting it between the carriage and the wheel fittings would allow it to absorb the shocks rising from the ground. Wait, it could be used for other purposes as well. Beds, for example. However, the production cost would not be insignificant.”
“That may be true at first, but considering the people who purchase carriages, it has more than enough commercial value.”
Adelia was deeply impressed by Ron's idea.
She had not expected much because she had not asked the question in search of a real answer. Yet his proposal actually seemed feasible.
Nobles possessed an obsessive desire to own objects that distinguished them from others. If this degree of convenience could be achieved, it would sell more than well enough.
‘Amazing.’
Ron shattered Adelia's preconceptions about knights. Knights were usually loyal, but their perspectives were narrow. Most dismissed other fields and dogmatically believed that only they were right.
Ron, by contrast, displayed an impressive ability to produce various ideas even about blacksmithing rather than swordsmanship.
It was simple, yet enormously important.
His thinking was flexible and open.
It was astonishing that no one had noticed him despite such a person existing within the count's house.
Even so, she could understand why.
Ron stood far from the chivalry House Leonard pursued.
‘He is someone the house needs.’
Regrettably, rather than developing over the past several centuries, her house had stagnated. It could barely preserve its existing wealth. By now, it lacked even the strength to protect its former glory.
The fact that a mere viscount's house had issued a challenge was itself a glimpse of House Leonard's decline.
Her father and brothers were good people, but they had many flaws as leaders responsible for governing the house.
If they wanted to preserve the customs of the past, they should at least have mastered the house's swordsmanship perfectly. The gap between them and other sword families that had continued developing for centuries was only growing wider.
‘No. He is someone I need.’
To change a house bound by rigid thinking, she needed someone with a flexible mind capable of accepting anything.
However, her father and the rest of the house's leadership might fail to recognize Ron's importance.
Leaving a person like him as a probationary knight was practically a sin.
‘Without the attack, he might never have revealed himself in his entire life.’
Luck had played an enormous role.
Had he not been there, something too horrific to imagine would have occurred, and the house would have suffered an indelible humiliation.
Even so, Adelia did not accept his idea immediately. The concept was remarkable, but they needed the practical ability to execute it. Unless she addressed that point, this would remain nothing more than an interesting but meaningless conversation.
“Producing it according to your design would require a great deal of money, Sir Ron. My spending allowance would not come close. We would have to use the house's finances, but I do not have the authority to allocate those funds.”
“Then we need not do it.”
Seizing the opportunity, Ron immediately withdrew his suggestion. Work increased because people created work. If one never attempted anything in the first place, one could leisurely fall behind.
Was it not said that peace in life was completed through obsolescence? Improvement, development, and growth always caused conflict and upheaval. To escape the center of the raging waves, he recommended taking ten steps back and becoming a spectator.
Ha.
He had presented a creative and commercially viable idea, only to withdraw it in a single sentence.
Adelia was bewildered.
Normally, when a conversation reached this point, the other person would propose a solution.
Even if she disliked it.
For him to retreat without another word was almost absurd.
“You are saying we should abandon something profitable?”
“You said you could not touch the finances.”
“That is why I am saying we should find a way together. Is it not too great a waste? If someone else does it first, we will become the dog left staring at the roof after chasing the chicken!”
Ron understood.
By subtly referring to them as “we,” Adelia was trying to shift responsibility onto him.
She said they should do it together, but because he had suggested it, she was effectively demanding that he take responsibility as a man—an act that violated gender equality.
When “do it for me” became rampant, the world showed signs of ruin.
Her shameless tendency to demand things for free needed correction.
In his current life, Ron could easily endure watching others suffer, but he could not endure suffering himself.
“Trying to answer on an empty mouth has left my throat terribly dry.”
Adelia hurriedly brought up the grease she had already applied to his palm.
You took it, and now you are acting shameless?
“You already have the 170 gold that belonged to me until a few days ago.”
“I will use it for a worthy cause.”
Ron emphasized that the pettiest trick in the world was asking for the return of money one had already given.
“Then I may check what worthy cause you use it for, correct?”
Demanding to inspect how he spent money she had already handed over was an atrocity capable of enraging both heaven and humanity. Money was meant to be spent freely and without anyone's knowledge. Requiring him to report every use was a tax audit worse than anything the National Tax Service could devise.
He could not suffer alone.
Was it not said that burdens became easier when shared? Push your work onto someone else—those were the golden words of a sage.
“If you lack authority, then create it.”
“How?”
“Become the Young Head of the House.”
“What about my brothers?”
“It is said that power is not shared even between parent and child. If you wish to accomplish something great, you must not cling to familial affection.”
Ron subtly examined Adelia's expression.
Those were not light words.
Though the siblings got along well, their relationship could be shattered in an instant.
Now, what would she do?
“That is easy to say.”
“You are not angry.”
“I was the one who asked. They say people even curse the emperor when he is absent. If I became angry over something like this, how could the conversation continue?”
Ron was inwardly impressed.
One might touch anything else, but family was usually forbidden.
Was she saying she would be the one to touch them if necessary?
‘She has extraordinary nerve.’
He did not know whether Adelia could truly cast her family aside, but she possessed a desire to change House Leonard.
The Progress evaluated her aptitude for doing so.
-Progress: -76%
Merely revealing her intentions had raised the Progress of Raising the Count's House by 2%. She was on an entirely different level from specks of dust like Dane, Rotan, and Zenon.
On the other hand, the fact that Adelia was the house's sole hope for revival made its future look exceedingly bleak.
‘It is blatantly telling me to raise Adelia.’
The more they spoke, the more understandable that seemed. Even so, Ron disliked the feeling that everything was being piled onto him.
The world did not tolerate one person standing out alone. In the end, that person inevitably got stuck carrying the entire burden.
In that case, he needed to split the burden so two people were stuck with it.
“Is there any other way to obtain authority?”
“That is the problem. Father grants me almost everything else, but persuading him about the succession will not be easy. Still, if I take my time and persuade him calmly, he will eventually listen.”
“His Excellency will never permit it.”
“You do not need to be so certain.”
“The moment you announce that you wish to become the Young Head of the House, you will be forced into a political marriage.”
Ron had never met His Excellency, but the state of House Leonard told him more than enough about the man's disposition.
Persuade a head of the house as stubborn as ox sinew through logic?
It would be easier for a dog to give up eating shit.
The head of the house was an old-fashioned man who prioritized the eldest son and men. He might be a doting fool who cherished Adelia, but he could not break free of the house's customs. To alter principles preserved by the family for centuries, she would need, at minimum, something exceptional that set her apart from others.
Logic and reason would not work on the head of the house.
To persuade him, Adelia herself had to change.
If he continued seeing her only as his lovely, cute, and beautiful daughter, she would become excellent prey for a political marriage.
No matter how fiercely he sheltered her, a daughter ultimately became an outsider once married. Rather than allowing her to cause conflict, marrying her off would be far more effective.
Moreover, even if she persuaded the head of the house, they could not ignore the opinions of the countess, the young masters, and the house's leadership. Whether they would accept Adelia's sudden transformation was uncertain as well.
In many respects, this was a harsh world for a woman who wished to take the lead.
“I cannot stand by when the tragedy is so obvious. I will persuade Father somehow.”
“Some trees do not fall even after ten chops. The head of the house will never permit it through ordinary methods.”
A doting father might be completely won over by his beloved daughter's charms and conspicuous intelligence.
Even so, he was the head of a count's house. Nothing short of a fairly shocking treatment would work.
Though Ron's phrasing seemed indirect, Adelia searched for a path from another angle.
Diversifying one's perspective was easy to describe, but required enough insight to recognize the central current.
“That sounds as though you have a method.”
Ron paused deliberately.
He could tell from her eyes alone. Once Adelia bit down on something, she possessed the tenacity never to let go. She would probably obtain permission by any means possible. The problem was that even such resolve had little chance of working on the head of the house.
“If you are prepared to risk your life, my lady, I will tell you the method.”
“You will not frighten me into giving up.”
“Good. Then first—”
“What must I do?”
Ron closely examined Adelia from head to toe as she sat in the carriage.
SWEEP. HMM.
Depending on how one looked at it, his gaze could easily invite misunderstanding. Worse, his narrowed eyes made him appear to be leering.
As though proving that point, Adelia crossed her arms over her chest in an X.
“You are not planning to do anything strange, are you?”
“Of course not. What exactly do you take me for? I prefer a body with more curves.”
“……?”
Ron spoke honestly to dispel the misunderstanding.
No matter how beautiful the face, a small and petite build was troublesome.
It was said that one should never approach a cliff in the first place. Moreover, a knight should never tie the laces of his combat boots beneath a plum tree.
SNAP—!
Adelia's face turned as red as a ripe persimmon, and veins stood taut on her forehead.
-Progress: -79%
Hm?