IWTGHFW CHAPTER 20

Episode 20

“No way.”

There had been something like a trigger, but still—I thought there was no way. Even if you could imitate the shape of a gun, what would you do about the bullets? It’s not like you could load it with pebbles and shoot them like a slingshot.

While I was caught up in my confused thoughts, the bell signaling the start of the test rang.

Daaang—

With the clear chime, the participants in the arena all drew their weapons and began clashing with one another. None of them had Narein as their target. Apparently, they thought the strange weapon-wielding, weak-looking boy was no threat.

While they were busy locking swords, axes, and spears with each other, Narein lifted what looked like a gun. Casually swinging it up to rest on his shoulder, he slipped his index finger onto the trigger and aimed the muzzle at another candidate.

I was just thinking, That actually looks pretty convincing, when—

Bang—

With a crisp sound, a bullet shot out of the muzzle and struck the other candidate squarely in the arm. The man cried out and clutched his arm.

“No way!”

While I screamed, the others were equally shocked. In a world where ranged weapons usually meant bows—and the next step up was catapults or cannons used in war—the sudden appearance of a gun was nothing short of revolutionary.

In the chaos of cries and gasps, Narein was the only sniper in the entire arena. Within seconds, he would choose a target and pull the trigger, the bullet unfailingly hitting its mark. He aimed only at arms or legs—places that weren’t directly life-threatening.

The knights standing by the arena looked toward Ron. At his signal, they rushed in, removing the injured from the field.

I jumped down from my seat and ran to the medical tent set up beside the arena, where physicians were tending to the wounded.

“Excuse me, let me see for a moment!”

With the physician’s permission, I examined a bullet he had just extracted from an arm. Made of metal, it was sharp at the tip and overall rounded—matching exactly the description I had given before. Compared to the bullets from my previous world, it was crude, but here, it was plenty dangerous.

“He made this just from hearing about it?”

There was no gunpowder inside—just solid metal. For it to shoot out and pierce flesh like that, the propulsion must have been immense.

I needed to see the gun itself.

The bullet wasn’t that interesting on its own. The real trick would be whatever mechanism inside the gun gave it such power. I had to look at that.

Well, not that I’d necessarily understand it even if I did.

“What do you think that is?”

“I don’t know. I did hear he’s been making something lately, though…”

At Sean’s question, Ron recalled a report from the steward—Narein had gone to the blacksmith’s, claiming he wanted to make something. Ron had assumed the boy just wanted a decent sword and had told them not to spare the money if he needed it.

Who would’ve thought it would be such a monstrous weapon.

While Ron stared down at Narein, the sole figure left in the arena, Sean’s attention was elsewhere.

“A catapult… no, a cannon, maybe.”

A cannon you could hold in your hands.

Right now it seemed to be just hurling chunks of metal, but if you added gunpowder—that would be a cannon.

Sean’s eyes gleamed at the thought that it could become a mass-producible, devastating weapon. If every soldier carried one into battle, who could possibly stand against them?

That weapon would be a fresh shock to an empire softened by long years of peace.

After the first test ended, there was a waiting period before the second.

While Narein was counting his bullets, a shadow fell over him. Looking up, he found several candidates who had also passed the first test surrounding him.

“What is it?”

“You dishonorable bastard. You think you can become a knight using that kind of sorcery?”

“Sorcery?”

“Yes! What else would you call it? A real knight should fight fair, man to man!”

Narein’s deep blue eyes went cold as he looked up at them. Some of them shivered at the killing intent in his gaze, but they tried to hide their fear with fiercer expressions.

“How ridiculous. In a life-or-death fight, do you really think chivalry will save you?”

“Don’t you insult chivalry!”

“Chivalry is…”

Narein set down his gun and stood. Though still growing, he barely reached the shoulders of the other candidates, yet the pressure he exuded was overwhelming.

The man who had been most vocal against him couldn’t withstand the killing intent and drew his sword. In that moment, Narein’s eyes slowly closed and opened again.

Then—

Thud—

With a speed too fast to follow, his fist slammed into the man’s abdomen. The much larger man crashed into the wall with a loud bang.

The area fell silent. Everyone could only gape at what they had just seen.

“Chivalry is garbage.”

Spat out like an insult, his words went unchallenged. No one dared speak as they looked between the unconscious man crumpled against the wall and Narein, standing still like the eye of a storm, radiating killing intent.

In the crown prince’s golden eyes, a spark of interest lit.

“Did you see that?”

“Yes. Incredible.”

“I’d love to fire that at some of those noisy nobles’ heads.”

At the crown prince’s chilling remark, Mishi gave an awkward laugh and nodded.

At the moment, he was accompanying the crown prince to watch the entrance exam. Since the crown prince and the second prince were known to be on bad terms, they couldn’t be seen together in public, so Mishi wore a dark green robe to hide his identity.

He often went out this way with the crown prince—a kindness to allow his younger brother a change from the western annex.

Of course, having a mysterious robed figure among the prince’s entourage was suspicious, but no one here was bold enough to question the crown prince about it.

“Yen, go find out that boy’s name.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The crown prince gazed down at the arena with great interest.

A boy with water-colored hair and blue eyes… quite the unusual combination.

The crown prince, who had only planned to use the exam as an excuse to catch a glimpse of Ail, now found himself smiling at this unexpected bonus.

The second test was dueling with knights. Candidates who passed the first test each chose one of the surrounding knights to spar with.

Of course, the results weren’t decided purely by victory or defeat. It was impossible for new recruits to beat fully trained royal knights. The evaluators took into account all the skills shown during the duel when deciding the final pass list.

Unlike the first test, the second required both candidates and knights to use wooden swords. Whatever weapon a knight might favor, their training began with the sword—so this test measured pure swordsmanship.

“Five of the first-round passers can’t participate?”

“Yes. Looks like that Narein kid caused a ruckus during the break.”

“That’s troublesome.”

“Exactly. That damned brat…”

I bit my lip in frustration. The exam rules clearly stated that fighting during breaks was forbidden.

If it had been one or two people, maybe we could’ve overlooked it, but Narein had taken down five. By the rules, that meant he should be disqualified from the second round.

Ron considered briefly after hearing this, then announced the start of the second test anyway. When I asked what he planned to do, he just grinned and told me to trust him.

Once the test began, he gathered the candidates and pointed at one. The chosen boy started in surprise, then bowed deeply, honored to be addressed.

“What’s your name?”

“R–Rika, sir.”

“Rika, can you give a detailed account of what happened during the break?”

Wow. I hadn’t expected him to just ask outright.

The gathered candidates and knights watching from the sides murmured. It seemed everyone already knew Narrein had knocked out five other candidates.

Assuming that this would get him disqualified, several candidates stepped forward in protest.

“This is unfair! No matter how strong he is, rules are rules—he should be disqualified!”

“That’s right! A knight order must uphold its rules!”

While they raised their voices, most of the watching knights clicked their tongues and shook their heads.

What was with that reaction?

I tapped Lionolf’s arm, who was sitting closest to me, and mouthed, Why?

With an expression much like the other knights, he answered, “Of course the rules are important in the order. But they don’t know something.”

“Don’t know what?”

“That in the knight order, the rules are…”

Lionolf trailed off, glancing toward Ron. Ron sat with one leg crossed, chin resting on the armrest, looking down at the candidates with an insufferably arrogant gaze.

Oh. So Ron could make that face.

Not directed at me, but still—it was extremely obnoxious. The perfect “aristocrat” expression.

Then, leaning back, Ron spoke in a bored voice.

“Fine. Let’s follow the rules.”

“Yes, exactly! As expected of the commander—”

“You’re all disqualified.”

“…What?”

As they stared dumbly at him, Ron smirked, one corner of his mouth curling up in wicked amusement.

“You didn’t know? The commander’s word is the rule of the knight order.”

The protesting candidates were expelled, and Rika testified that during the break, the five had attacked Narrein first, accusing him of using sorcery.

Ron declared that Narein’s second-round eligibility would not be revoked, and this time no one objected.

I turned to Lionolf in a daze.

“Has the knight order always been this much of a dictatorship?”

“Yes. Always.”

“…Always?”

I had been expecting something like, No, it’s just that the commander’s mad today. Instead, his firm answer left me as dumbfounded as the expelled candidates.