It had been over ten minutes since the standoff with the knight began.
The situation still wasn’t looking good.
My stamina was steadily declining.
The only thing to be grateful for was that I wasn’t the only one whose stamina was being drained.
The knight who was relentlessly attacking me, and the mage trying to pin me down from behind, were in similar straits.
However, there was one crucial difference—the difference in mana.
“Honestly, I’m so scared I could die right now… and yet I can’t help but laugh.”
A faint smile appeared on my face.
Chuckles
A slight laugh escaped my lips.
The knight facing me flared up and shouted.
“Are you laughing?”
I responded to the question with utmost sincerity.
“Oh, yes.”
“You bastard!”
Whether he was satisfied with my answer or not, the knight just kept shouting. I could only laugh as I watched him.
After all, the mage who’d been keeping me in check seemed exhausted; his spells were weak, and the frequency had dropped off drastically.
It wasn’t just the mage.
The knight’s aura, once so clear and blazing when I first saw it, had now dimmed considerably.
“Still, it’s terrifying all the same…”
Aura was aura, after all.
I did my best to dodge attacks and employed every distraction tactic I could.
And I racked my brain for a plan.
If time dragged on like this, I was 100% sure I’d win.
But there was a more pressing problem than my own situation—Jenny.
Jenny, who was dealing with two knights, was in rough shape.
Clearly, the knights she was facing were skilled—blood was trickling from her arms and thighs, dripping onto the ground. Thankfully, the enemy knights were also bleeding just as much.
“Hang in there just a little longer.”
I prayed inwardly for Jenny to endure and quickly started thinking.
Among my Skills, the most powerful was Call Lightning.
But the problem was, the enemy wasn’t giving me enough leeway to prepare it.
Crash! Crack! Snap!
Even now, the knight was swinging his sword at me with such force he felled another tree.
“Hey, watch it!”
The enemy mage, startled by the falling tree, jumped aside.
Luckily, he wasn’t in the middle of casting; otherwise, he could have been crushed by the tree during mana backlash and died.
“Well then—”
That gave me an idea.
A way to deal with the mage.
“Haste.”
I used the Skill to enhance my movements.
The knight looked a bit flustered, but only for a moment.
The aura that had been focused on his sword loosened, and instead, he came at me with faster movements.
I hurriedly raised my sword and shouted.
“Enchant, Fire!”
Mana surged into my sword and set it ablaze.
With my flaming blade, I lunged at the charging knight.
Clang!
Our swords collided.
His aura-infused blade clashed with my fire-imbued sword.
“…!”
I was a bit surprised.
I’d expected my sword to be sliced clean through, but it held up just fine.
“Good, just as planned.”
I moved quickly as planned, drawing the knight’s attention.
I used every Skill I had to keep him focused solely on me, swinging my sword here and there so he couldn’t look away.
Meanwhile, I kept checking the mage’s condition out of the corner of my eye, circling around him.
“You bastard…”
As the knight followed me, he began to get agitated.
The fact that the fight was happening in the forest, not on open ground, meant there were countless obstacles.
From trees to massive boulders, I took advantage of every possible thing, and eventually, the knight, beginning to tire, started showing signs of irritation.
He was so agitated that he focused solely on me.
“Now’s the time!”
I realized this was my chance.
I could see the mage casting off to one side.
So, I hurried in that direction, hiding behind a tree perfectly positioned near the mage.
“Hiding is useless!”
The knight swung his sword at the tree I was hiding behind.
Crack.
The tree was felled, and just as it toppled toward the mage, I used another Skill.
“Blink.”
Pop.
In an instant, I disappeared from where I was and reappeared behind the knight.
Normally, the knight would have noticed and followed my movement, but not this time.
Because even the knight could see the tree falling toward the mage.
Startled by the falling tree, the knight tried to rush to the mage.
Thud!
But the knight hadn’t made it halfway before the tree crushed the mage to death.
“Damn it!”
The knight raged at the mage’s death.
From the start, he’d seemed quite attached to the mage, but now he’d completely forgotten about fighting me and was trying desperately to clear away the tree.
I ran toward where the two were and shouted.
“Dig, Fireball!”
I quickly dug a hole where they stood and dropped a Fireball inside.
Boom!
Heat surged up from the hole, and soon a Notification Window appeared, letting me know both had died.
-Your level has increased.
-You have received 5 additional stat points.
I immediately turned around.
Jenny and the two knights were still locked in combat.
I quickly ran over to them.
They were fighting at close quarters, making magic too dangerous to use.
So, I rushed in and stabbed my sword into one knight’s back.
Thunk.
The knight collapsed forward, and once it was one-on-one, Jenny easily took the other knight’s head.
Slash. Thud.
As the last knight fell, Jenny staggered too.
“Are you all right?”
I held Jenny in my arms to support her.
Her ragged breathing tickled my ear.
“Haa, haa… I’m fine. Solo-nim, are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m all right.”
I hadn’t suffered any major injuries.
Just a bit tired, that’s all.
But unlike me, Jenny looked worn out.
She’d had to rush out without armor, so her whole body was cut up and she’d lost a lot of blood, leaving her face pale.
She wasn’t in critical condition, but the wounds were severe.
I quickly took out Potions from my dimensional bag, gave her one to drink, and poured another over her wounds.
Slosh.
As the two Potions spread over her, her complexion improved markedly.
But she still wasn’t fully healed.
She needed rest.
“I need to find a Healing Skill, or a Skill that boosts Recovery.”
I realized that I couldn’t just rely on Potions.
Especially since Jenny didn’t have any special Skills.
If I got more Slaves in the future, or owned a Garrison, having such Skills would help win over Domain Citizens as well.
I resolved to spend money to learn them no matter what.
“Rest. I’ll handle the cleanup.”
“But, still…”
When I said I’d take care of it, Jenny tried to get up in surprise.
But I forced her into the carriage and spoke firmly.
“Hurry up and get stronger so this doesn’t happen again.”
At my words, Jenny looked a little down.
Having used the stick, it was time to offer the carrot, so I added,
“But thanks to you, I was able to survive. Thank you, Jenny.”
I went outside the carriage and started gathering the spoils of battle.
Jenny seemed like she wanted to say something, but I didn’t bother to listen.
I felt like I already knew.
“Let’s see, how much are these guys worth?”
I quickly gathered up the loot, and though it was still early morning, I hitched the carriage and moved out.
I had no desire to sleep beside corpses, and any hint of sleepiness had vanished; all I wanted was to get into town as soon as possible and treat myself.
As I drove the carriage, Jenny immediately fell asleep.
Clatter, clatter.
The carriage wheels rolled on energetically.
***
Leaving the wounded Jenny in the back, I drove the carriage toward the Capital, lost in thought.
One thought kept coming back to me.
“If I learn the Education Skill, can I actually teach?”
Currently, Jenny was registered as my pet.
She was improving her abilities through Swordsmanship Books under my Trait’s influence.
So I started wondering: what about skills I personally taught her?
In the game I used to play, it was easy to teach a few techniques.
It was standard to teach other users, and even hired mercenaries could learn from you if their loyalty was high enough.
If that was the case, maybe I could teach people here, too.
Upon arriving at the Capital, I quickly dropped off my things at the inn and headed outside.
Jenny tried to come with me, but I told her it’d help me more if she rested and recovered, and left her in the room.
My first stop was a bookstore likely to have books related to Education.
There were all sorts of books.
After sifting through them, I picked out several volumes.
[Basic Swordsmanship Book Anyone Can Learn]
[Theories of Magic and Education]
[With Just This, Anyone Can Apply Themselves]
[Even Fools Can Understand]
In total, I bought about seven books.
After checking out, I went to a quiet spot and read each book one by one.
-You have acquired the Skill ‘Education’.
Once I finished all the books, a Notification Window popped up.
“Phew, so now I’ve finally got the Teaching Certificate I dreamed of when I was a kid?”
It was a profession everyone fantasized about at least once: being a teacher.
I felt a bit of excitement.
A line came to mind that I hadn’t thought of in ages.
“You’re the student, and I’m—”
But something else started to stir in my mind even faster.
“Ugh…”
I unconsciously tilted my head back, feeling like I was about to get a nosebleed.
The kinds of things I’d seen in those R-rated videos came to mind.
The folder deep in my computer, now left behind, popped into my head.
“Dear woodpecker… are you doing well? I guess you’re living somewhere I’ll never see you again.”
I remembered the bird I’d never see again.
The faint excitement faded, and I headed for my second destination: the Administration Office.
***
The Londinium Empire Administration was located in the northern district, where the Noble mansions clustered.
There was a reason the administration building was there.
When Nobles visited the Capital, they needed to handle tax payments and various official business nearby.
Especially since tax matters were extremely sensitive, direct assignments and minimizing the distance one had to carry tax money helped keep the Nobles in a good mood.
When I arrived, I was initially blocked by the guards and not let in.
Normally, as a Noble, you’d at least ride a horse or come by carriage, but I’d walked there.
However, when I showed my Noble Ring and gave my name, the guards quickly stiffened and apologized.
“We’re sorry we didn’t recognize you!”
“It’s fine. Carry on.”
I walked past them.
They hadn’t done anything wrong—they were just doing their jobs.
As I walked through the entrance, I overheard their whispers.
“Isn’t that the one they call the Battlefield Butcher?”
“I heard the rumors, that he shows no mercy…”
“We almost got in real trouble just now.”
“He only became a Noble recently, so it’s not strange for him to come on foot. Didn’t they say he might stop by sometime?”
“Lucky we made it through alive.”
Their whispers were meant for each other, but my ears caught every word.
There was something surprising about what they said.
“Still, I thought I’d gone pretty easy on them.”
No mercy, they say.
I actually made a point to be careful with my magic in battle.
Of course, it probably didn’t feel that way to the enemy.
Leaving them behind, I stepped inside.