How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 98

Living as the Third Son of a Failed Novel – Chapter 98

Chapter 29. Knight Exam

After meeting with the Count, I didn’t leave my bed for two days.

It felt like I was catching up on the rest I hadn’t been able to enjoy for half a year.

Of course, it wasn’t like I didn’t wake up at all during those two days. However, when I woke up, I only took care of urgent matters and went back to bed, resting my head on the pillow, and inevitably, sleep would come again.

Knock, knock!

In the midst of that, I heard a knock that woke me from my sweet sleep.

“Young Lord!”

It was Ruth’s voice.

Half-rising from the bed, I allowed him to enter, and Ruth burst through the door.

“Are you hibernating or something?”

“What’s going on?”

“The knight exam has been moved up.”

“I knew that from the hints I got.”

“To tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

It was moved up faster than I thought.

I thought it would be at least a week, but as expected of Count Lindayer, his speed of action is the best.

“It’s good if it’s moved up quickly.”

“That’s true. With your skills, Young Lord, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“You probably didn’t come just to tell me that.”

At my question, Ruth shrugged and sat down at the table in the room. Then, he took out his bag and began to spread out the materials.

“I don’t even want to see letters for a while.”

Remembering the document hell I experienced in Leydin, Ruth shrugged.

“What are you going to do if you don’t like the work you ordered, Young Lord?”

“The work I ordered?”

Ah, right.

Because the Count told me to help Dane, I asked Ruth to do a brief investigation.

Since it’s the work I ordered, I can’t say anything. I got up and sat at the table in my pajamas.

“Young Lord.”

“Yeah.”

“You have sleep in your eyes.”

“Leave it.”

Ruth smiled at my casual appearance and handed me a piece of paper.

“The First Young Lord, Dane Lindayer, is currently dispatched to the Sky Fortress.”

“Sky Fortress?”

“Yes. Sky Fortress.”

My interest was piqued. The Sky Fortress, wasn’t that the fortress whose fame had spread far and wide across the continent?

“Let me see.”

After unfolding the map Ruth brought, I followed my finger to find the Sky Fortress.

Sky Fortress.

The place where the fortress was located was special.

At the northernmost part of the continent, several mountain ranges between the abandoned lands and the Lindayer County formed a natural barrier.

One of them is located in the northwest and is the Volum Mountain Range where Kerwin resides, and the mountain range extending to the northeast, opposite to it, was called the Blue Mountain Range.

And the Sky Fortress was located right in the northeast, in the Blue Mountain Range.

The Blue Mountain Range is covered with perpetual snow all year round, and even the relatively gentle plains are too barren to grow crops.

Still, if you were to make a living by hunting, it wouldn’t be impossible, but that person would probably meet yetis much more often than prey.

In the end, compared to the Volum Mountain Range, where even a small number of shifting cultivators lived here and there, the Blue Mountain Range was a place where the proposition of ‘a place where people cannot live’ was true.

And the Sky Fortress was a citadel located near the summit of that Blue Mountain Range.

‘Just looking at it makes me feel cold and lonely.’

The reason for the fortress’s existence is clear.

It is installed in a military strategic point to monitor the enemy’s movements.

Therefore, the significance of the Sky Fortress is even more special.

Because no one can live there, but someone has to protect it.

The rangers can protect the Volum Mountain Range because of the stable supply routes and the climate, which is barren but still livable.

But can such a unit be operated in the Blue Mountain Range, which is very far from the central city of the County?

Just looking at the supply routes would cost an astronomical amount.

‘Therefore, the troops stationed in the citadel are truly the elite of the elite, living for loyalty and honor.’

It’s to the point where, as a joke, the troops under the Count express it as ‘going into exile’ when a dispatch order to the Sky Citadel is issued.

“So, what’s the reason Dane was dispatched to the Sky Fortress?”

“Recently, the lord of the Sky Citadel passed away. Therefore, the Count seems to have judged that there might be a problem with the command system temporarily, and he was dispatched to confirm whether the Sky Fortress is in a situation where it can continue its mission.”

“Passed away?”

“Yes.”

“Was there anything unpleasant?”

“No. The cause of death is ordinary old age. He was old, and the environment there makes it almost impossible to take care of one’s health, so it’s not strange.”

“If he was that old, he would have been forcibly retired through a retirement review. Even if the Count is the type to squeeze his subordinates, he keeps the line.”

“That’s right. But he was a person who adamantly expressed his will to die in the Sky Fortress even if he died.”

“Die in the Sky Fortress even if he died?”

“He passed the knight exam and immediately requested to be dispatched to the Sky Fortress as a formal knight.”

“Voluntarily?”

“Yes. By his own will.”

“Not due to external pressure?”

“Yes. I was also uneasy, so I investigated it for the past two days, but it was clearly his own will. His family didn’t owe any debts, and he was a talented person with great potential, so the knight commander and the head of the family at the time persuaded him to stay in Windnest.”

“He rejected that persuasion and insisted on heading to the Sky Fortress?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the lord’s information?”

“Here it is.”

As soon as I received the paper Ruth handed me, I skimmed through the contents.

“The lord is Coles Nide.”

Coles Nide.

The Nide family is a very ordinary minor noble family with nothing particularly good or bad.

At the time of his death, he was 61 years old and his skill was Expert beginner.

However, since more than ten years have passed since he reached Expert, it would be right to see him as being close to intermediate.

There is no problem with his status, and if his skill is Expert, he is capable enough to serve as the backbone of the Wind Knight Order. Moreover, he is a knight who has endured decades in the harsh Sky Fortress, so there is no doubt about his loyalty.

“Just in case, I did some more research, but in the last 10 years, the current Count Lindayer has sent Coles more than ten times his intention to return to Windnest.”

“But he rejected all those requests?”

“Yes. He was a knight with a truly extraordinary spirit of sacrifice.”

Well. Is that really all there is to it?

“I think it’s a little strange.”

“Yes? What’s strange?”

“Sometimes you seem too pessimistic.”

“Really?”

“In my opinion, he feels like an incarnation of noble chivalry who single-handedly bears the hardships that no one else wants to bear.”

“Hmm…….”

“In fact, during the 40 years that Coles Nide stayed in the Sky Fortress, the environment of the Sky Fortress has improved, not deteriorated. The number of monsters flowing in through the Blue Mountains has also decreased noticeably.”

“That’s what you mean.”

I crossed my arms and pondered for a moment.

Yes. As Ruth said, Coles Nide may have been a knight who served in the Sky Fortress with a truly noble mission.

But still, something feels a little off.

What could be the reason why he had to close his eyes in the frigid castle without returning to Windnest with his old body over sixty?

“So Dane… did he go to the Sky Fortress as a temporary lord? It will take quite a while to appoint a successor.”

“That’s not it. He’s just out to see and confirm the current situation of the Sky Fortress with his own eyes. That’s the situation where the problem has arisen now.”

“Problem?”

“The knights and soldiers serving in the Sky Fortress treat Dane like a passing dog.”

“……Like a passing dog?”

“Yes. Like a passing dog.”

“Why?”

“Well. Isn’t it because they don’t know the reason why they can’t solve it?”

“It’s hard to understand that they ignore the First Young Lord, who came out for inspection by the Count’s order, like a passing dog.”

“If it were a normal unit, they wouldn’t have been able to do that. But it’s possible in the Sky Fortress.”

“What do you mean?”

“The troops stationed there are virtually the most elite armed with the strongest mental strength and skill in the County, excluding the Wind Knight Order.”

If the most elite troops, united by self-sacrifice and nobility, ignored Dane, there must be a reason for it.

So the Count Lindayer didn’t make a big deal out of it and moved on?

“Then the reason for sending me this time is…….”

“How dare I recklessly guess the Count’s intentions.”

Ruth, who had been sparing his words for a while, carefully opened his mouth again.

“There is an unusual energy inside, and isn’t it because they are trying to send the First Young Lord Dane and the Third Young Lord to solve it?”

The hidden intention was revealed.

The Count’s weighing has begun in earnest.

* * *

The knight order’s barracks in Windnest were more bustling than usual.

Every year, during the knight exam, the gates of the inner castle are opened so that citizens can freely enter and exit.

It is said that this is to share the birth of a new knight, giving the knight the honor of being the guardian of the territory, and giving the citizens a sense of pride in their affiliated territory.

Of course, the knights are happy to be able to make their faces known, and the citizens are satisfied with the spectacle that breaks away from their boring daily lives.

“Third Young Lord!”

Ruth approached me, who was waiting in uniform.

The faces of the knight candidates around me hardened. Perhaps it was because of the appearance of Ruth, who might become their senior.

“Let’s move the place.”

There is no need to show off my friendship with Ruth in front of such candidates.

Ruth, who understood my intention, nodded and followed me.

“What about what I asked you to find out?”

“Yes. I stayed up all night researching it. I thought I was going to die from lack of sleep.”

“You’re going on a warm southern vacation anyway, so what’s wrong with suffering a little?”

“No, how is that a vacation? It’s just a long business trip with a clear path of hardship.”

Today, Ruth was scheduled to leave to gather information in the southern archipelago.

Ruth, who was making such a fuss, cleared his throat and looked at me.

“I don’t care, but are you okay, Young Lord?”

“About what?”

“You’re not going to the Sky Fortress alone. I’m worried about being separated from you.”

“Am I a baby?”

“Didn’t an incident happen when we went to Capital last time?”

Ruth was referring to the attack with Fleta.

“At least there’s nothing to worry about in this County.”

“Well, at least in the north, that’s right.”

Their descriptions had already spread widely, and especially in the Bashrun Duchy and the Lindayer County, the families that were directly attacked were full of bounty hunters who were turning on their eyes and looking around.

No matter how skilled they are, there will be many restrictions on their actions because all sides are watching.

“Even if they raid us, I’m different from then, right?”

“Well, if you make up your mind to get out of the way, you won’t be caught unless you’re very good.”

Because I’m an Expert.

Knights value honor, but if you make up your mind to run away with a certain level of skill, it’s not easy to catch them even if there are several levels of difference in skill. Especially if you have to keep them alive.

“Anyway, don’t worry about me.”

“I understand. Oh! The exam is starting.”

“Are you going to watch?”

“Of course. It’s a boring exam, but this time the Third Young Lord is taking it, right? It would be difficult for me to miss it.”

“Your words are eloquent. But don’t you have to go over there?”

I could see the people sitting on the distant platform.

Next to Count Lindayer, who was sitting in the center, were Knight Commander Gilane and Deputy Knight Commander Baleun Barangka, and behind them, the entire Wind Knight Order was lined up in an orderly manner.

The eyes of the trainee knight candidates who were looking at them were shining. The will to stand out in this place was conveyed here.

“First of all, I’m the Young Lord’s escort knight before I’m a member of the Wind Knight Order.”

“Excuses.”

“Was I caught?”

Ruth, who was joking, raised his head and crossed his arms.

“Look. The exam is starting.”