‘He owes me a debt?’
Only then did Ikael recognize the boy.
When Ikael had first visited the Lower Training Hall, he had borrowed this boy’s armor.
He had only ended up helping the boy by chance. Had the boy remembered that?
But the black-haired desert boy told an entirely different story.
“Young Master Ikael survived instead of dying. That’s the debt I owe.”
“What?”
“When I look at Young Master Ikael, it feels like even a bastard like me might someday see the sun…”
It was a rather absurd thing to say.
Yet Ikael could read nothing but immense sincerity in the boy’s eyes.
‘Should I keep an eye on this one for a while?’
CLIP CLOP-
Ikael urged his horse forward, close behind the desert boy.
“Why are you following me?”
He could hardly say it was because he was interested, so Ikael gave a suitable excuse.
“I’m waiting for you to collapse. Young Master Ikael ordered me to rescue any dropouts, so I’m only following his command.”
“Hmph.”
With every step, the boy dragged his feet along.
Blood smeared across the white snowfield.
It was painful enough to watch.
“Idiot. You’re stubborn as hell.”
“Don’t get in my way! Didn’t you hear that I’m taking the examination?!”
For a while, only the sound of hooves and dragging footsteps could be heard.
THUD-
At last, the desert boy collapsed.
“Have you given up? Are you finally letting me clock out?”
“Shut… up.”
At Ikael’s words, the boy forced himself back up.
His legs had given out, so he began crawling forward with his hands.
CLIP CLOP-
Ikael silently followed behind him.
He neither offered a hand nor urged him on.
All he could do was silently hold a lantern behind him.
‘An examination is an examination. Surviving is entirely up to him.’
At last, just as dawn broke, Ikael and the boy reached the gate to the examination grounds.
“We’re… here!”
CLANK-
“Who goes there?!”
The knights guarding the examination grounds leveled their spears.
The desert boy spoke in a voice that sounded half-dead.
“Tell Young Master Ikael. I absolutely have to become… your knight…”
“What? The knight examination ended yesterday! Get lost already.”
“No! I have to become Young Master Ikael’s knight!”
“I told you, the examination is over!”
“Arghhh! I… never!!”
The desert boy tried to force his way through, and the knights blocked him.
A commotion broke out as a result.
Ikael watched the boy quietly.
“You don’t have much talent for persuasion.”
CLIP-
Ikael, still mounted, moved his horse a step forward.
Then he called out boldly.
“I have received Young Master Ikael’s command. In accordance with his command, I have brought the 301st successful candidate.”
The desert boy turned toward Ikael with bewildered eyes.
It was the first he had heard of it.
“The 301st… successful candidate?”
Hadn’t they said that the set capacity was three hundred and that every spot had long since been filled?
“You bastard, don’t make fun of me! I won’t let this slide!”
But it seemed this was no joke.
The knights who had been unyielding until moments ago opened the gate as if they understood.
That was thanks to Ikael having issued instructions in advance, before sweeping the mountain.
CLANK-
“Enter.”
The gates of Bronze Castle opened.
“This can’t be…!”
The boy still seemed unable to understand, but Ikael smiled to himself.
‘Found him. The 301st.’
Including Ikael himself, there had been three hundred people who passed yesterday.
That meant there was one vacant place in the original capacity.
This was the true reason Ikael had personally gone out onto the snowy plains.
To find the 301st successful candidate.
‘A knight must know how to accept a result. But if someone reaches out one last time until the very end, I want to take that hand.’
The 301st successful candidate had been a number planned from the beginning for that very purpose.
Ikael smiled at the boy.
“Congratulations, stubborn one.”
“Leave out the stubborn part…”
THUD-
The utterly exhausted boy collapsed where he stood.
“Hey, don’t die yet. I need to make a report to Young Master Ikael, so you should at least tell me your name.”
The boy barely lifted his heavy eyelids and answered.
“Sishak… Rem.”
“What?”
Ikael’s eyes widened.
It was a familiar name.
‘If it’s Sishak Rem, then surely…’
Memories from long ago flashed through Ikael’s mind.
Sishak Rem.
A knight from the desert who had made a name for himself in his previous life with his unique dual-swordsmanship.
He was renowned enough to leave behind a swordsmanship manual in Recrit’s library.
Despite being from the desert, he had caught the eye of Exitor, Recrit’s eldest son, and served as an elite knight.
But Sishak had another name.
‘Murder-Crazed Sishak.’
Sishak had been in his mid-twenties at the time.
Sishak had suddenly changed, slaughtered his fellow knights, and taken his own life.
To slaughter an entire Recrit Knight Order alone. It was truly terrifying strength.
‘His end wasn’t good, but he was truly an exceptional knight.’
If Sishak had survived, he was such an outstanding knight that Ikael thought he, rather than himself, might have stood at Kairon’s side.
‘Well, at least one thing is clear. He’s been stubborn since he was a child.’
Ikael smiled.
He had a feeling that this knight examination would become interesting.
***
The next day, Ikael quietly looked down at Sishak.
‘This kid isn’t dead, is he?’
The sun was high in the sky, yet Sishak slept without moving a muscle.
‘Well, he lost that much blood. It’s only natural that he’d fall into a deep sleep.’
There was no examination scheduled for today, so Ikael decided to let him sleep.
Once night fell, Ikael went alone to find a secluded place.
He had eaten and rested enough throughout the day, so he intended to practice aura cultivation.
WHOOOOSH-
The Aura Circle whirled.
A heat spread through him, hot enough to make him forget the cold he had endured all yesterday.
‘It’s definitely changed.’
He had been able to feel it since climbing the northern snowy mountains.
Ikael’s body had changed.
When the running examination began, Ikael’s goal had been to safely place within the top three hundred.
He had not wanted to overexert himself.
But things had not gone as expected.
The blazing Aura surging from his heart kept Ikael’s body from tiring.
It was as though he held the heat of Bakuba Volcano in his heart.
‘The strength of the demonic beast crow bones and all the training I’ve done must have added to it as well.’
As a result, Ikael had been able to pass the running examination with ease while regulating his stamina.
‘It hasn’t even been long since I returned from Bakuba Volcano, yet I’m already this much stronger.’
But he could not let his guard down.
He was still taking an examination.
‘The next examination is going to be truly grueling.’
For that reason as well, Ikael decided to keep accumulating Desert Aura whenever he could.
Just as he was deeply focused—
“Hey.”
A voice suddenly called out.
The desert boy, Sishak, was looking in his direction.
‘When did he wake up?’
SWISH-
Ikael quickly withdrew his Aura.
There was nothing to gain from letting Sishak discover it.
‘I’m infiltrating this examination. I need to conceal my strength as much as possible.’
But Sishak’s next words were unexpected.
“I’m hungry. Do you have anything to eat?”
“Ah…”
It was fortunate that Sishak had only just woken up.
***
“Shh.”
In the middle of the night, Ikael and Sishak sneaked around the training hall.
While Ikael kept watch, Sishak picked the lock on the storage room door, slipped inside, and brought out food.
“You look like you’ve done this more than once or twice.”
“I had to survive like this, whether in the desert or the Lower Training Hall.”
Ikael and Sishak sat in a shadow untouched even by moonlight.
Sishak stuffed his mouth full of sausage while using his other hand to cut bread into manageable pieces.
“Mmph, thanks for helping me.”
“Forget it. I didn’t help because I wanted to aid your theft. I only thought this would be fair.”
“Mmph?”
“Today, everyone else ate, drank, and rested. It would be unfair if you failed the examination just because you were the only one who didn’t get to eat.”
Ikael had no intention of giving Sishak special treatment just because Sishak had been an outstanding knight in his previous life.
But neither did he want him to suffer the hollow fate of failing the examination because he could not eat his fill.
“I see. Anyway, thanks for helping me. What’s your name?”
“…Fel.”
When Sishak suddenly asked his name, Ikael gave a random answer.
“Right. I’m Sishak. I’m twelve.”
Fortunately, Sishak did not seem to recognize Ikael.
That was thanks to the helmet that had covered even his head while he searched the mountain yesterday.
“Fel. What did you do for a living?”
Ikael made up another answer.
“I was a mercenary in the back alleys, then came to apply to become a knight.”
“Mmph, I see.”
Sishak hurriedly shoved more food into his mouth.
‘He eats an incredible amount.’
Sishak ate far too much for a boy with a body as skinny as a spider.
It made Ikael wonder where all that food was going.
Sishak offered Ikael a chicken leg.
“Fel, you eat too.”
“I’m fine.”
“Quit putting on airs and eat plenty. Starting tomorrow, it’ll be hell.”
“You talk as though you know everything.”
“Of course. I was part of the Recrit Knight Order too! A junior knight, but still.”
The desert boy’s eyes shone as he said it.
Ikael could not understand.
Why did Sishak, who had been ostracized and beaten relentlessly, speak of Recrit so fervently?
“What’s so good about Recrit? Eating meat that’s gone completely cold in this snowy field.”
“It’s good because it’s Recrit.”
“It looks like you’re suffering yourself to death.”
“Hmph, this much hardship is nothing compared to the desert. You’ve never been to the desert, have you? It’s a place where you dry to death if you can’t find even a single sip of water with your own hands. Every day is survival.”
“Then join a mercenary group and earn money. You’ll have a much easier life. You’ll be able to eat all you want, too.”
“No.”
Sishak clenched his teeth hard.
“I want to be a person.”
“What?”
“Once you leave the desert, desert people aren’t even treated as people. Just because we come from the desert. Our hair is black, so it’s hard to hide it, too.”
“……”
“People don’t live on food alone. That would make us nothing but livestock. I’ll make it so no one can look down on me. I’ll earn the name of the Recrit Knight Order.”
“…What an unpleasant bastard.”
“W-What?!”
Ikael brushed himself off and stood.
The more he listened, the more Sishak reminded him of his former self.
“You’d better not die.”
“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“It means this is Recrit.”
That was the best advice Ikael could give Sishak.
Meanwhile, someone watched the two from beyond the examination grounds.
‘Why is that damned desert bastard here? I definitely smashed that bastard Sishak’s leg.’
It was Gopen, the knight expelled from Ikael Palace.
***
Not long ago, as soon as Gopen was expelled from Ikael Palace, he contacted Isitor.
Then came the brief order he received from Isitor.
-Ruin Ikael’s examination.
If he succeeded, Gopen would be accepted into Isitor Palace.
Isitor had even actively stepped in and secretly infiltrated Gopen into the examination grounds.
‘It was a good thing I made connections with Lord Isitor in advance.’
At the same time, Gopen gritted his teeth.
‘Ikael, I’ll make you regret expelling me!’
Gopen had relentlessly attacked the other participants during the running examination.
One of them had been Sishak, the desert bastard he had never liked.
But seeing Sishak sitting there unharmed filled him with rage.
‘That desert bastard and Ikael—I’ll smash them both to pieces.’
Gopen twisted his face into a vicious scowl.
***
The next day, the participants stood in formation, taut with tension.
The second examination was about to begin.
SHFFK-
A senior knight unfolded a letter bearing the seal of Ikael Palace.
“From this moment on, the second examination begins! The subject of the examination is…”
Then the participants were stunned.
“What? It’s this easy?”
The subject of the examination was far easier than they had expected.