‘He wants to select his own knights.’
Ikael's request was audacious, but it was reasonable in its own way.
Ikael knew exactly how important knights were.
Having confirmed that fact, Kairon had no need to see anything more.
Kairon turned to his attendant knight, Zen.
“Zen.”
“Yes, Family Head.”
“You will have nothing to do at this knight examination, so you will be bored. Is that all right?”
“What are you saying?”
In other words, Kairon was allowing Ikael to oversee this examination.
‘Good.’
Ikael smiled in satisfaction.
After paying his respects to Kairon, Ikael turned away.
But just as he flung open the door to the study.
SMACK!
“Urgh!”
An unexpected scream from Isitor came from behind the door.
Ikael stared at Isitor with a dumbfounded expression.
“What are you doing, Brother?”
Isitor, who had been hit by the door, was clutching his nose, and the demonic beast crow bones scattered from his arms.
‘That bastard Isitor, did he bring the crow bones because he thought I was really going to tattle on him?’
Isitor would sooner bite his tongue and die than admit his fault to Ikael, but it would be different before their father.
Understanding what had happened, Ikael burst into laughter.
“Pfft.”
“W-what, bastard!”
“You're cute, Brother.”
Ikael gently pressed down on Isitor's head, then left.
He did not forget to take back the demonic beast crow bones.
“Since you brought them, I'll gladly take them. If you hide another rat, know that you'll die by my hand, Brother.”
“Grrr…!”
Isitor's face reddened with rage he could not contain.
This was in front of Kairon's study.
He could not dare make a disturbance.
Watching Ikael walk away, Isitor ground his teeth.
“Urgh, just you wait, you bastard Ikael…!”
***
‘I'll have my own Knight Order.’
Ikael's eyes flashed.
At the same time, a certain tension constricted his heart.
By saying that he would select the knights himself, he had practically leaped onto Kairon's testing ground.
‘I don't intend to disappoint him.’
Bronze Castle's rules were simple.
All power came from Kairon.
And anyone who borrowed that power stood on Kairon's testing ground.
There was a reason Ikael had willingly leaped onto a path of responsibility and burden.
It was because he knew well how powerful the strength of a single knight who gave his complete loyalty could be.
It was an experience Kairon had carved into his bones in his previous life.
-Kairon is my benefactor.
I will serve him with my life.
Loyalty was what blinded one's eyes, just as it had blinded Ikael in the past.
‘And when you're cast aside, loyalty is what makes you look elsewhere.’
Ikael knew the weight of the word loyalty to the marrow of his bones.
***
Not long afterward, notices were posted across the continent.
- A knight selection will be held for Recrit's seventh Young Master, Ikael Pui Recrit.
That one short sentence stirred the entire continent.
From the capital of the empire to remote tribal villages, there was nowhere the news did not reach.
Recrit's knight selection was that great an event.
“They are selecting knights for Young Master Ikael?”
“But I don't understand. Does that mean even commoners like us will be given a chance?”
The people were pleased, but they tilted their heads in puzzlement.
Meanwhile, a notice bearing the same words was also posted at Ikael Palace.
- A knight selection will be held for Recrit's seventh Young Master, Ikael Pui Recrit.
“What does this mean?”
The Ikael Palace Knight Order stirred uneasily.
“We're already Young Master Ikael's Knight Order.”
“Is he telling us to take the examination again?”
“That is absurd!”
The knights of Ikael Palace had only just begun to think they would benefit from Ikael, when a bolt from the blue abruptly struck them.
‘For those who considered Ikael Palace a grave and neglected to improve themselves, this time it'll truly become a grave.’
Ikael had no need for such knights.
He wanted to select those who could truly devote their loyalty.
Ikael decided to hold the examination for everyone: not only junior knights, but also knights already in Ikael Palace, even commoners and lowborn.
The condition was simple.
- Those who pass three trials will become knights of Recrit.
***
Amid the joy of some and the sorrow of others, the day of the examination finally arrived.
Commoners and lowborn, junior knights, and knights of Ikael Palace gathered together below the northern snow mountains.
Whoever they were, today they were merely examination candidates with a sword held close to their chest.
“What will the examination be?”
“They will probably tell us to spar, like at the last intermediate knight examination.”
“I was afraid of that, so I brought my best sword.”
“I had a famous blacksmith make a new one for me!”
While everyone chattered.
CREEEAK—
The gates of Bronze Castle atop the cliff opened.
With everyone's attention fixed on them, a senior knight stepped out beyond the gates and shouted.
“The examination will now begin!”
A voice-amplification spell had been placed on the senior knight's throat, and his voice boomed out.
Everyone listened with tense attention.
But the subject of the examination was so simple that it was absurd.
“Run to the front gate of Bronze Castle! The limit is 300 people. Begin!”
“W-what?”
People murmured, but the knight went back inside without another word.
The gates of Bronze Castle had already shut tightly.
“Did we hear that right? The examination is just running?”
“What kind of knight examination is this?”
But half of them were already running.
CRUNCH, CRUNCH—
Snow scattered with every step.
But the examination candidates paid it no mind and ran on.
“Bronze Castle is right before us!”
The dream title of a knight of Recrit was right before them.
The finest swordsmen raced with speed as their only goal.
Before long, people began throwing aside their weapons in droves.
They got in the way of running.
“Ugh, I paid so much for this!”
“I can buy another sword, but who knows when an opportunity like this will come again!”
Some also voiced their complaints about the examination.
“What in the world is Young Master Ikael thinking?”
“Damn it, he's a noble Young Master. He won't know how hard it is to roll around in the snow.”
“Right. Has he ever even walked through a snowy field?”
There was a boy who silently listened to those words nearby.
‘Who knows? All I've done is roll around in snow and sand.’
It was Ikael Pui Recrit, the master of this knight examination, who had hidden his face and mixed in with the applicants as he ran.
***
Before long, the sun had set.
An orange carpet of sunset stretched long over the northern snow mountains.
Those who had been commoners ran to achieve their dream of becoming knights of Recrit; those who had been junior knights ran to move one step closer to Ikael Palace; and the knights of Ikael Palace ran so they would not fall.
“Huff, huff. This is rather hard.”
The candidates were growing exhausted.
The cold air of the northern snow mountains seemed to freeze their lungs.
The higher they climbed, the thinner the air became.
‘I've had more than enough of the northern snow mountains, but it must be rather difficult if it is your first time.’
As he ran among the candidates, Ikael thought.
Ikael had taken a magic potion that turned his hair and eyes blue, and he had covered his face with a mask.
As long as he did not remove the mask, there was no danger of his identity being discovered.
Then a knight guarding Bronze Castle's main gate waved a flag to announce.
FLAP—
“The first contestant has arrived!”
“What, already?”
The participants in the knight examination were astonished.
Most of them were still running on the mountainside, yet someone had already reached the summit.
“What a monster! Who in the world is that?”
“Ugh, all my strength is draining away!”
Ikael's eyes flashed.
‘They are beginning to waver.’
Ikael was not particularly interested in who the first arrival was.
This examination was not being held to test their running ability in the first place.
That was not the issue.
‘Mental strength.’
At the news that the first contestant had arrived, the eyes of the candidates began to waver sharply.
One grew more tired when running with an anxious heart than when running in a calm state.
The strength of the mind ultimately affected the body as well.
FLAP—
“The fourth contestant has arrived!”
FLAP—
“The twenty-first contestant has arrived!”
Each time another arrival was announced, the candidates grew more tired.
“Ugh, I can't run any farther.”
“How many have gone in so far?”
Before long, the sun had completely set.
The examination was entering its final stage.
FLAP—
“The 280th contestant has arrived!”
The knight shouted from the main gate, waving his flag.
“Huff, already?”
Only twenty remained.
Of the three hundred first-come spots, 280 had been filled, so only twenty people could still pass the examination.
From that point, people began to collapse one by one.
“Huff, huff. I give up! I can't make it anyway.”
“Me too.”
“Me too!”
Half had broken down physically, and half had broken down in spirit.
‘This one's out.’
Ikael ran past the people who had fallen.
But he studied everyone who was still moving.
There were those who ran while limping, and even those who crawled upward with their hands because their legs had no strength left.
TAP—
“The 300th contestant has arrived!”
While observing the candidates as he ran, Ikael deliberately arrived last, as the 300th contestant.
CREEEAK—
CRASH!
With Ikael's entry as the last, the gates of the examination ground shut tight.
“No!”
“Huff, huff, I was almost there!”
Those who had narrowly failed to make the three hundred had no choice but to return with tears in their eyes.
“This is absurd! I was originally a knight of Ikael Palace!”
“Please open the gates!”
“No. Go home!”
Ikael had given everyone who wanted to join his Knight Order an opportunity.
But the opportunity was fair.
Whether they were junior knights, knights of Ikael Palace, commoners, or lowborn, they had to take the examination fairly.
Ikael set the principle that those who survived would pass, and those who did not would be sent home.
He held an even stricter standard for the lazy knights of Ikael Palace.
“Now, congratulations on passing the first trial! Get plenty of rest.”
“Yes!”
Until the examination ended, those who passed today would live and eat in the Lower Training Hall.
“Ha… I can't believe I made it this far.”
It was only the Lower Training Hall, but the commoner candidates' hearts swelled.
They had entered Recrit's Bronze Castle, which had felt as distant as the stars in the sky.
Gazing at Bronze Castle, like a giant's crown, the candidates sought sleep.
Meanwhile, in the dead of night, Ikael secretly slipped out of the training hall.
NEIGH—
“Hyah!”
Riding a horse and carrying a single lantern, Ikael set out.
‘I need to find those who fell behind.’
Earlier, while running through the northern snow mountains, he had encountered several injured people.
If he left them, they would truly freeze to death.
Normally, he could have ordered one of his knights to do it, but for some reason, Ikael came himself.
“Urgh, save me. I injured my leg, so I can't get down!”
“All right. I'll send a signal to Bronze Castle.”
BANG!
Whenever Ikael found an injured person, he set off a firework signal.
After finishing a search, Ikael was about to rest for a moment when he saw a boy limping in the distance.
‘Was there still another dropout?’
“Hey, are you all right?”
Ikael rode after the boy.
Judging by his black hair and black eyes, he seemed to be from the desert.
The black-haired boy was clearly not all right.
He was almost exhausted and limped badly on one leg.
“Take my hand. I'll help you walk.”
SLAP!
But the black-haired boy swatted Ikael's arm away.
“Don't touch me. I'm… still taking the examination.”
“The examination ended a while ago. All three hundred spots are filled.”
“I must become Young Master Ikael's knight! I have received a kindness I do not deserve…”
‘What?’
Only then did Ikael look properly at the boy's face.
He had felt the boy was somehow familiar, and now he remembered clearly.
His limbs were as thin as a spider's, but his large eyes were as stubborn as ever.
‘This fellow is that desert boy who was getting beaten up and crying in the Lower Training Hall.’