Five years had passed since that day.

For those five years, I spent every single day rigorously training myself.

Three or four times a week, I had to meet with a tutor for lessons on social etiquette and academics. But all my remaining time was devoted to defeating monsters in the forest and sneaking into nearby dungeons.

I sold all the materials obtained from monsters during the leveling-up process, spending the money on equipment and recovery potions.

Thanks to that, my childish sword had been upgraded to a magnificent longsword, and my training clothes were replaced with agile, highly protective attire.

And today, I was diving into a dungeon as well.

From the moment I entered, I sprinted through its depths at full speed.

I sliced through all the monsters I encountered with my longsword, and even the floor bosses were cut down in one strike as I advanced without collecting materials.

Reaching the deepest level, the 70th floor, I stood before the boss room.

I had decided to challenge the floor boss only after I was capable of effortlessly defeating the regular enemies on the 70th floor, so it took quite some time to get to this point.

“Well, the treasure inside is probably already taken by someone anyway,” I muttered.

Even knowing that, I still wanted to challenge the floor boss once I had come this far. That’s just human nature.

Resolving myself, I opened the door to the boss room and stepped inside.

Waiting for me within was a headless armored knight—a Dullahan.

And not just any Dullahan.

It was equipped with Mithril armor, wielding a Mithril lance, and riding a pitch-black warhorse that spewed flames—a mid-to-late game enemy in the original game, the “Dullahan Lord.”

Together with the warhorse, it stood nearly four meters tall, and the lance in its hand was nearly five meters long. In terms of visual impact, it was more intimidating than any monster I had encountered so far.

As soon as it spotted me, it whipped its warhorse and charged towards me at full speed.

The Dullahan Lord closed in with terrifying speed and power, thrusting its lance the instant I entered its range.

I dodged by twisting my body to the side and slashed at the warhorse’s legs.

The warhorse, having one of its legs severed, lost its balance as it couldn’t stop the momentum of its charge.

The Dullahan Lord hastily leaped from its mount—but a floating suit of armor in mid-air was nothing more than easy prey for me.

The distance between me and the Dullahan Lord was roughly ten meters.

It was too far to reach with my longsword, but I positioned the blade at my hip, then used my entire body like a spring to unleash a flash of steel.

With a satisfying ++slash++ sound, the Mithril armor of the Dullahan Lord was sliced in half at the waist.

A vacuum blade generated by the slash, capable of cutting down distant enemies—one of my secret techniques, [Zanku].

Using the same technique, I unleashed [Zanku] three more times.

The Dullahan Lord’s armor was shredded like paper, and it stopped moving entirely.

After finishing off the steed, I sheathed my longsword and scratched the back of my head with a puzzled expression.

“The Dullahan Lord wasn’t this weak in the game… Could it have been a fake?” I wondered aloud.

If the armor wasn’t actually made of mithril, it would make sense that my sword could cut through it.

I searched the boss room, but as expected, there were no valuable spoils to be found.

I was reluctant to return empty-handed, so I decided to take the Dullahan Lord’s lance with me.

Even if it was fake mithril, it could still fetch a good price if I sold it. If I could melt it down, it might even be useful as crafting material.

Shouldering the lance, I left the dungeon.

!next

The following morning, I was summoned by Alfred, the butler of the Serenife family, to the courtyard of the castle.

Alfred was already in the courtyard, and as soon as he saw me, he bowed politely.

His white hair was slicked back, his monocle-adorned face etched with the wrinkles of age.

Slightly taller than me at 180 centimeters, he was dressed in a tailcoat and had a rapier at his waist.

“I apologize for summoning you at such an hour, Kyle-sama,” Alfred said.

“It’s fine. But what’s the meaning of this ‘come to the courtyard armed’ summons?” I asked.

“Actually… Lord Wald has ordered me to test whether you are worthy of the Serynaif name.”

I knew this day would come, but I couldn’t help but feel nervous now that it was actually here.

“Alright. Then let’s get this over with.”

When I responded calmly, Alfred raised an eyebrow in surprise.

But he didn’t comment on it and instead drew his rapier.

“Then, Kyle-sama, please attack me as you see fit.”

“With pleasure.”

Without even drawing my longsword, I kicked off the ground.

In a single step, I moved right next to Alfred, drawing my longsword from its sheath in a swift, iaido-like motion, and swung it towards his side.

Alfred instinctively tried to block the blow—then, in a split-second decision, he pulled back his rapier and leaped backward, narrowly avoiding the attack.

He had created distance between us, but it didn’t matter. I unleashed [Zanku], pursuing him relentlessly.

Alfred wore a stunned expression as he dodged my [Zanku] with a sideways leap.

I couldn’t let my father receive a report that said, “Kyle is not worth keeping alive.”

I decided to strike Alfred with my full power.

I held my longsword high, channeled all my strength into my muscles, and swung it down with all my might as I stepped forward with my right foot.

With a thunderous ++GOO++ sound, a vacuum wave exceeding the speed of sound ripped through the ground towards Alfred.

Just before the vacuum wave could hit him, Alfred rolled across the ground to evade it.

The ground in the wake of the vacuum wave was left with a crevasse about five meters deep and thirty meters long.

[Kūhadan]—my strongest long-range attack.

I needed to get serious if I wanted him to acknowledge me.

As I was about to ready my longsword again, Alfred raised his voice in a panicked tone.

“W-wait, Kyle-sama! The test is over!”

Hastily waving his hands, he said, and I couldn’t help but protest.

“The test is over? Don’t be ridiculous. It’s barely begun!”

“N-no, I’ve seen enough of your abilities, Kyle-sama! There’s no need to continue!”

“That’s nonsense! I haven’t even shown you my true strength! I can do much more, so please watch properly!”

“If we continue, the castle won’t remain intact!”

“Then let’s change locations! We can fight freely in the forest outside!”

“T-that’s why… the test is already over! I will report to Valdo-sama that you are worthy of the Serenife house!” he declared.

“Don’t joke with me! I trained desperately for this day… Wait, what?”

“As I said, you’ve passed the test! Starting next month, Kyle-sama, you will be attending the military academy!”

Regardless, this was a relief. It seemed I would be able to enroll in the Military Academy next month and keep my promise to Elisha.

Feeling delighted, I approached Alfred and patted him on the back.

“Thank goodness you were a lenient grader, Alfred. I’ll treat you to a meal sometime. By the way, why are you sweating so much?”

“…Hahaha. As they say, an old man should know his limits. Perhaps I shouldn’t have pushed myself so hard.”

I tilted my head in confusion, but Alfred, seemingly exhausted, simply walked back into the castle without explaining.

!next

“…So, Kyle will be kept alive, then.”

In the audience room of the castle, Alfred was reporting the results of the test to Valdo.

Valdo’s face displayed clear disappointment upon hearing the news.

“Valdo-sama, to be frank, Kyle-sama surpasses all of his siblings in terms of martial talent. His physical abilities have grown abnormally to compensate for his lack of magical aptitude.”

“But he can’t use magic at all, can he?”

“Yes. However… during my fight with Kyle-sama, I wasn’t even given the opportunity to use magic.”

“What…?”

“To be honest, even if I had enhanced myself with support magic beforehand, I doubt I could have defeated Kyle-sama.”

“You, who are among the top five knights in the Empire?”

“He is that much of a prodigy.”

Hearing this, Valdo furrowed his brow in a bitter expression.

“That brat… I can’t tell if he’s a valuable find or a troublesome burden… He’s become even more of an enigma.”

!next

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