The next morning, the mansion was in an uproar.
All the servants inside were moving about busily.
Evan observed the commotion for a while, then called for Alburton.
“Why is everyone so busy?”
Alburton replied with a grim expression.
“There have been dimensional rifts appearing in all four cities within the Count’s territory. The damage could be severe.”
“What?”
It was a report of gates appearing simultaneously.
Evan asked with a curious look.
“Do they usually occur in such large numbers all at once?”
Alburton shook his head.
“Maybe in the kingdom as a whole, but this is the first time it’s ever happened within the Count’s domain. That said, some strange events had been reported leading up to this.”
“Really?”
Evan reflected on memories from his previous life.
It wasn’t common for multiple gates to appear at once.
This, too, must be a precursor.
‘There could be several causes, but this sort of event usually precedes the appearance of high-level gates. I’ll know more once I look into the other signs.’
This seemed to be connected to the hidden quest Evan had received.
A Quest of Calamity: a forewarning of a major gate appearing within the Kerthen territory.
That was the only reasonable explanation right now.
‘No idea how big it’ll be… but this must be the signal flare.’
There might be more gates to come.
In fact, it wouldn’t be strange if a large-scale gate appeared at any moment.
Of course, no one could predict such things.
This wasn’t the ignorant life of Lee Han anymore.
Now, as Evan, this second life meant that every disaster in this world was a chance for growth.
Whether or not he cleared it would determine his future.
It was an opportunity he couldn’t afford to miss.
Evan decided to ask about Hilton.
“I’m guessing Delian and Hilton went out to suppress the dimensional rifts too?”
Alburton nodded at Evan’s words.
“They’re currently gathered at the public training grounds for an emergency assembly. All high-ranking knights are participating without exception.”
“Is that so?”
Just as Evan, looking intrigued, was about to head outside the mansion—
One of the butlers ran over to Alburton in a hurry.
He whispered something urgently into his ear.
Alburton’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What, all of a sudden?”
As the butler stepped back, Alburton quickly turned to Evan.
“Y-Young Master!”
His face looked alarmed.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
“It’s serious! You’ve been ordered to participate in the emergency assembly!”
“…What?”
Evan was baffled by the sudden news.
‘Why would a no-good delinquent like him be summoned to such an event?’
Even Alburton didn’t seem to know the reason.
All he could do was urge Evan to go quickly.
“Alright. I’ll head over for now.”
Evan nodded and stepped out of the mansion.
***
The family’s crest flapped in the wind.
Clyd Knights in silver armor stood in perfect lines, aligned with military precision.
Even though it was a gathering of only high-ranking commanders, the training ground was completely filled.
At the center stage, Clyd was seated, while Delian and Hilton stood before him holding a set of orders.
“All commanding officers, listen. Effective immediately, the alert level is raised. Units will be reassigned and reorganized. All knight orders are to focus solely on the dimensional rifts…!!”
Delian began the mission briefing, relaying Clyd’s orders.
‘Incredible.’
Evan arrived late and stood at the very back of the formation, arms crossed, observing the scene.
Seeing it all firsthand made him realize just how vast the Kerthen Knight Order truly was.
Delian opened the scroll wide.
“From now on, I will begin calling names and assigning missions. Each commanding officer must fulfill their given duties with diligence.”
He began reading out the names listed in the orders and assigning tasks one by one.
There were many changes, so the list of names was quite long.
But as Delian continued, an unexpected sound slipped from his mouth.
“Huh?”
A brief silence fell over the grounds.
Realizing he had made a mistake, Delian quickly continued reading.
“Patrol duty for District 3 will be assigned to Evan Kerthen. Team composition is at his discretion.”
The moment his words ended, murmurs spread throughout the crowd.
Delian subtly turned his head to glance at Clyd.
‘Father? Why…?’
His eyes were filled with confusion.
He had always thought he understood his father’s intentions.
But this time, he couldn’t.
Until now, Clyd had never even mentioned Evan’s name—let alone assigned him a mission.
Of course, patrol duty might seem like nothing.
But considering Evan’s notorious past, even that was a massive deal.
Delian turned his gaze back toward the formation.
He wanted to confirm whether Evan was actually present.
“…Brother…”
There he was.
Standing at the very back with his arms crossed.
Delian couldn’t see his face clearly.
He wondered what Evan was thinking right now.
***
Evan set out immediately to carry out the mission.
He was now walking through the forest, accompanied by Alan and Reynold.
‘Why was I assigned a mission?’
There was no time to feel pleased about the sudden notice.
It was the first mission ever assigned to him.
Of course, Delian had also taken on fieldwork and missions before officially becoming a knight.
But Evan never imagined such a chance would be given to him.
‘Is this his way of giving me a chance? Why the sudden change of heart?’
Clyd’s unpredictable behavior was giving him a headache.
Still, since the result wasn’t bad, he’d see how things played out—for now.
However, once Evan became aware of his surroundings, he noticed an odd silence hanging in the air.
It didn’t take him long to figure out the reason.
Alan and Reynold were both staring at him.
Blatantly.
“Do you guys have a problem or something?” Evan asked.
The two hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up.
“Are you really the young master?”
“Y-Young Lord, how did your appearance change so much in just a few days?”
Evan’s body had transformed into a perfect shape in just a matter of days.
Even if someone changed, it was hard to believe such drastic changes could happen in such a short time.
Of course, as Evan had already explained, he’d used Darwen’s name to gloss over the situation.
He claimed that it was all thanks to the Marquis Darwen’s magic that he was able to lose weight.
“Do I need to say it again? Stop with the nonsense and focus on the mission. This is my first task.”
Reynold scratched his head, then answered with determination.
“Understood!”
Alan still looked dazed and replied with a small voice.
Evan looked over the map he had received for the mission and examined the patrol zone.
‘Patrol Mission: Sector 3. I need to touch each mana tower along the patrol route to mark that I’ve completed it.’
The mana towers were used to verify patrols and to check if the previous patrol had done their job properly.
It was a simple task, but if something went wrong, he would be held entirely responsible, so he had to be thorough and careful.
‘There could be monsters along the patrol route too.’
According to the map, the monsters in Sector 3 were generally low-level.
‘So there shouldn’t be any major problems, but Evan had been looking forward to doing some hunting along the way and felt a bit disappointed.’
‘There are apparently some dungeons near this patrol route. I could ignore them, but… wasn’t there a gremlin nest nearby? It was just marked for subjugation but never taken care of, right?’
Evan recalled the sub-quest he had received from the Mediator.
‘15 Gremlins. 1 King Gremlin.’
Since he couldn’t leave the domain, he had practically given up on the quest.
But now, it seemed like luck was on his side.
“Anyway…!!”
He had just left the city and was walking through the nearby forest.
There was still plenty of time left.
In fact, even after completing the patrol, he would still have time to spare.
Evan decided to make use of the extra time and ask Alan about a few things he needed to know anyway.
“Alan. How can someone take the knight order entrance exam?”
Alan, who had been walking in the lead, looked back in surprise at the question.
“The knight order exam?”
“Yeah. I think it’s time I became a knight too, don’t you think? Now that Father’s given me an official mission, it’s about time I started acting like the heir of the family.”
At that moment, Alan’s eyes began to sparkle.
“Really? Young Master, you’re finally…!”
“Yeah, yeah. Just tell me about the exam and the knight order.”
Alan nodded and began to explain.
“The Kerthen Knights are different from other knight orders. They’re built around advanced magitech, so the exam is especially rigorous.”
“The exam takes place in a city called Kelutan…”
He paused for a moment, as if trying to recall something from long ago.
Then he raised a hand to his forehead, and finally began speaking again.
“In that city, they hold knight promotion exams and entrance exams every month. You could say the whole city is built just for the exams. I’ve even heard that the income from all the visitors coming for the exams is a huge part of the count’s estate revenue.”
“A city just for knights, huh? Must’ve cost a fortune to build.”
Alan held out his hand and continued.
“There are six total exam facilities. You can take promotion exams up to Rank 4 there.”
“Huh? Aren’t there ten total ranks?”
“Yes, but exams for Rank 4 and below are held there. From Rank 3 and above, you have to go to the royal capital to take the test. At that point, you become a knight officially recognized by the kingdom. You can even try to join the Royal Knights if you want.”
“Got it. That’s for later. So what’s the knight order entrance exam like?”
“It’s fairly simple. You’ll be transported to a magically generated training area called the Batrand Field. Inside, you’ll face wave after wave of monsters, and it won’t stop until about half of the participants are left standing. Of course, you won’t actually die. If you fall, you’re immediately transferred out of the facility and disqualified.”
At that moment, Reynold, who had just been listening so far, chimed in.
“I know all about that! Just thinking about it still gives me chills!”
He grinned, showing his teeth.
Alan nodded in agreement after thinking for a moment.
“Reynold probably knows more than I do, since he recently took the Rank 10 exam.”
Evan turned to Reynold.
And Reynold began to speak again.
“The last group took their exam in some ruins, I heard. But my exam was in a volcanic region. The monsters swarmed at us in packs, and I barely survived by running for my life. That’s how I passed.”
“So the exam location changes every time?”
Alan nodded in response to Evan’s comment.
“Exactly. That’s why you can’t really prepare in advance. But that’s the point—being able to survive and fight monsters in any environment is the foundation of knighthood.”
A faint smile appeared on Evan’s lips.
‘If that’s what the exam is like, then I’m actually confident. Surviving in a harsh environment…’
In his previous life, he had done exactly that—with his life on the line.
Evan made up his mind.
As soon as he finished this mission, he would apply for the knight exam.