Chapter 252: What an Absolutely Amazing Place!
The Turian Kingdom is a country beyond the Seiron Kingdom where Claude was. It may have been a small kingdom like Seiron, but it was renowned for its exceptional knights, earning it the title ‘Land of Knights.’
It wasn’t just the knights who were remarkable; everyone in the kingdom was strong and valued martial skills.
There was a good reason for this. Countless monsters lived in the ‘Shadow Mountain Range’ that spanned the kingdom.
Just as Perdium had long fought against the barbarians, the Turian Kingdom had been engaged in an endless battle against the monsters for ages.
However, it was hard for them to face the numerous monsters descending from the mountains all by themselves. The more they fought the monsters, the more resources and manpower the kingdom would inevitably consume.
Thus, the Turian Kingdom devised another method.
[Anyone is free to come here and hunt the monsters. We won’t discriminate based on social status or identity. Whether you are a criminal, adventurer, or mercenary, it doesn’t matter. If you catch a monster, you can keep all the rights to the byproducts!]
Once the royal decree was announced, countless people flocked from all over the continent. Just by paying a small tax, one could make a fortune.
It was a strategy that minimized damage for the kingdom while allowing others to earn money, benefiting both sides.
Those who specialized in hunting monsters in the ‘Shadow Mountain Range’ were called ‘Monster Hunters.’
Ghislaine was also planning to head there to hunt monsters and acquire leather.
Claude agreed that Ghislaine’s proposed method was the best course of action. However, it was not ideal that the lord often left his position unattended.
“How long do you plan to be gone? I heard Count Desmond is seriously summoning troops and checking their readiness. Seems like they’re planning to solve things by force now.”
“What about Amelia?”
“She’s still in a siege war with Baron Valua. But it seems like they’re being cautious with the damage and are only maintaining a standoff, being passive in their attacks.”
At that, Ghislaine smirked.
Amelia was the type to strike hard enough to leave her opponents dizzy. There was clearly something she was aiming for by being so passive.
And Ghislaine had a rough idea of what that was.
“For now, I’m keeping an eye on both sides. I’ll just go for a bit and come back quickly.”
“But you need to supply leather continuously. Wouldn’t it be pointless to go just for a moment? It’s not like there are plenty of barbarians to yield a lot of leather at once either. You planning to steal the leather from the hunters there?”
“I’ll guide them a bit at first, and then leave it to others. I’ll take about 50 knights with me—those who are least experienced.”
“Who are you planning to leave it to?”
Claude tilted his head. The only person capable of managing the knights on behalf of the lord was Gillian.
But surprisingly, Gillian was extremely busy, handling not just the knights but also the troops’ military training.
It wouldn’t do to have such a person away for long. The lord could step in for training, but he was busier than Gillian.
Instead of training, the lord is busier than Gillian.
Still, he couldn’t just assign such dangerous tasks to the rookie knights.
After some thought, Claude surprisingly came up with a suitable candidate quickly.
“Aha! Someone who can do nothing but fight and is currently of no great use in territory development! Perfect to assign to that guy!”
Ghislaine chuckled at Claude’s assessment.
“Yeah, that’s who I was thinking of assigning.”
*
“Ugh, damn it! This is so annoying.”
Kaor kicked a stone with his foot, expressing his annoyance. The fortress was just getting on his nerves.
“Ah, it was fun when we fought the barbarians. Are we not going out to fight again?”
Muttering to himself a few times, he sat down and scratched his head.
To be honest, Kaor was feeling quite anxious these days.
His rival, Gillian, whom he believed was his equal, seemed to get stronger day by day. When they fought the barbarians, it was a whole different level. Honestly, if he fought Gillian now, he felt he would lose.
Was it just Gillian? Belinda was the same. If she stabbed from behind like during the war, he would probably just take the hit.
That alone made him uneasy, but on top of that, even the guys who were weaker than him were rapidly improving. Especially Lucas, who was showing an unbelievable rate of growth.
“Sigh, am I going to end up being the weakest? I can’t let that happen!”
He was definitely stronger than before, thanks to Ghislaine’s help. And he was still getting a little stronger bit by bit.
But the lack of rapid improvement was worrying him. At this rate, he felt he would even lose to Alfoy later.
“Tsk, I’m no good at anything but fighting.”
Even he thought that his only advantage was that. And it would really feel awful if even that got caught up to.
He was no help at all in territory development.
While everyone else was busy with training and development, he was just bossing around the “Labor Assault Corps” guys. Other than that, he occasionally helped with the public order task.
It seemed like everyone was busy finding their place while he was lost.
As that situation continued, the feeling of alienation just got bigger and bigger.
“I’m bored; is there anything else I can do to help the territory…? I wish I could be of some help…”
Kaor was startled to find himself blurting out such words and quickly shut his mouth.
The “mad dog” of the North, the handsome adventurer he was, how could he say such a soft and kind statement like that!
Having lived by the motto that “bad men are cool,” he could never admit to becoming such a diligent person.
“Ugh! I guess I should just go and drink.”
Kaor jumped up and started shouting at the members of the Labor Assault Corps.
“Hey! Aren’t you done yet? Why are you so slow? Especially you three! You’ve got good bodies, so why can’t you work for shit, you idiots!”
The three spies, who were clearing a big rock, tried to sneak away, sensing the mood. But Kaor was quicker.
Kaor dashed over like lightning and started hitting the three.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Ah! Why are you doing this again!”
“What’s wrong now?!”
“You crazy bastard! You can’t just act like this out of nowhere!”
As the three cried out, Kaor huffed and said.
“I just don’t like you guys for some reason! It just feels really bad! You’re spies, right? Right? That’s it, it’s gotta be! Your eyes don’t sit well with me, and everything about you just feels off. So you guys are definitely spies from today! Got it?!”
Kaor just made an unreasonable fuss to blow off steam. The three, feeling a bit guilty, insisted they weren’t spies and emphasized their innocence until the end.
“We’re not like that!”
“We’re just honest workers trying to live!”
“You crazy bastard! Isn’t this a bit much?!”
“Shut up!”
Kaor pretended not to hear.
“Ah, shut it! If I say so, then it is!”
His annoyance only grew day by day. The main reason was that his skills weren’t improving as quickly as he had hoped.
The stress of possibly falling behind in skill competitions and feelings of inadequacy over not being helpful in territory development began to torment him.
“That idiot Alfoy is working his butt off too!”
In reality, if it were another territory, he wouldn’t be under this much stress. In other territories, knights simply trained and practiced every day, costing money without giving much back.
But in Penris Territory, it was a place where capable individuals did multiple tasks at once.
The other knights didn’t think much of it, but Kaor considered himself a key figure in the territory. So he couldn’t help but compare himself to Belinda, Gillian, Vanessa, Claude, and others.
“Ugh, should I go ask the lord for more guidance?”
After taking out his frustration on the three in his mind, Kaor fell back into thought.
He had already received special benefits. Asking for more would be a blow to his pride.
Still, he didn’t want to lose to Gillian, who joined around the same time. The newcomers trying to rise through the ranks irked him too.
Ultimately, Kaor haphazardly made his way to Ghislaine’s office. He stood there silently as if holding a protest.
“……”
“Why?”
“……”
“Speak.”
“……”
“I guess it’s time for some special training.”
As Ghislaine rolled up his sleeves and rose from his seat, Kaor finally spoke up.
“……Have you got nothing?”
“Nothing?”
“Like, something good…”
He had come confidently to Ghislaine, but now that he needed to explain himself, his words wouldn’t come out.
Kaor had been surviving solely on tenacity and pride in the North. It felt embarrassing and pride-denting to ask for something good.
“I wish it was like last time, where he’d just hand me something.”
But, cruelly enough, Ghislaine replied.
“If your body feels off, go ask Claude for some mandragora root. Or better yet, ask Piote for divine treatment. But do you really need it? You look perfectly healthy.”
“Ugh…”
Kaor pouted and turned his head away.
He was annoyed. He didn’t want to ask, yet he felt so pent up inside.
As Kaor sulked without making a move or speaking, Ghislaine chuckled softly.
“What? Feeling frustrated?”
“……?”
“Is it because your skills aren’t growing as fast as you thought? But saying it makes your pride hurt, right?”
“Wow.”
Kaor widened his eyes and stared at Ghislaine in disbelief. How did he know without him saying anything? Was it that obvious?
After nodding a few times, Ghislaine continued.
“That’s how it usually is. I know because I’ve been through it.”
“Seriously, what have you experienced at that age?”
Though Kaor had little faith in those words, he didn’t ponder too deeply. Resolving his issue was more urgent.
“So please tell me something better!”
If the other party is aware, it makes speaking easier. Kaor found courage and shamelessly expressed his wish.
But Ghislaine shook his head.
“With your current state, even if I taught you the world’s greatest mana circulation method or swordsmanship, it would be useless.”
“Hey, if you don’t want to teach me, just say so!”
Kaor snapped back.
It was basic logic that learning something good would make him stronger. Wasn’t Gillian getting ridiculously strong right now?
He was stuck with something worse, making his growth slower.
Ignoring Kaor’s reaction, Ghislaine calmly replied.
“Gillian has already carved out his own path. He has solid skills built up over time, so with a little direction, he could easily advance. But you’re not there yet. You’re still too lightweight.”
“Beggar. But you’re not one yet. You’re too light.”
“What do you mean by light?”
“You’ve been living on improvisation without properly building your foundation. The fact that you’ve survived this long means you have some talent to carve a path, but you haven’t taken the time to build something solid. Therefore, it’s hard for you to move forward, and you’ll naturally feel anxious.”
Ghislaine had experienced a similar situation in his past life. Blinded by the desire for revenge, he only focused on improving his skills.
However, the more he did that, the more he fell into chaos and his abilities regressed. He didn’t think about building step by step but only sought quick shortcuts.
Of course, a quick route can also be a good path. There isn’t just one answer in this world. But impatience prevents you from properly finding that ‘good path.’
And right now, Kaor was in just such a state.
“That’s how conventional methods are. To break your bad habits that you’ve built up so far and start anew will inevitably take a long time. However, if you complete it, you can become stronger than anyone else.”
“I want to be strong right now!”
When he reached Gillian’s age, he might become stronger than him. No, he would definitely do so.
But what good would that do? He wasn’t someone who paid attention to age.
In a world where you might die at any moment, becoming stronger now was what mattered.
He had initially become strong quickly when he learned what Ghislaine had taught him. It filled in many of his weaknesses.
But now it was merely a tedious repetition. Thus, his skill improvement could only slow further.
He had been breaking through small walls until now, but he had finally encountered a huge, solid wall.
So Kaor yelled out again with an impatient heart.
“There must be a better way!”
“There isn’t. Even if there was, it wouldn’t help you right now. You’ll soon hit a wall again. Now you need to take your time and build it up step by step.”
“Damn it! The Lord is young, yet incredibly strong! How did he get strong without such a method? Did he get extra time or something?”
Ghislaine clicked his tongue at the poorly-mannered comment. Normally, he would have jumped into physical therapy, but this time he let it slide. He understood how frustrated Kaor must feel.
It was true he received extra time since he had regressed.
But when he reached the top seven of the continent in his past life, it hadn’t been like that at all. He had built up his skills with tremendous effort over a long time.
However, he did use one special method.
“There is a way to speed up time.”
Upon hearing Ghislaine’s response, Kaor’s face lit up.
“Right? There is! Don’t keep it to yourself, tell me too!”
“Your life.”
“What?”
“You build your skills by risking your life in real battles.”
“So… I have to fight in battlefields?”
“Yeah. But constantly searching for battlefields may not be as effective as you think. To quickly increase your skills, you need to fight non-stop without resting for even a day.”
“Then what should I do?”
“You just need to hunt a lot of monsters.”
Kaor scoffed at those words.
“I’ve hunted plenty of monsters. Didn’t we go to the Forest of Monsters together before?”
“How many have you hunted in your life?”
“Well… I’d say about a thousand!”
Kaor exaggerated a bit. Combining what he had hunted while doing mercenary work with what he had caught in the Forest of Monsters, it seemed like it would amount to several hundred.
Ghislaine looked at him affectionately and said, “That’s still far from enough.”
“How many do I need to catch then?”
With that question from Kaor, Ghislaine replied with a wicked smile on his lips.
“About… 100,000 should do?”
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