房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"I know exactly what you mean... Those weren\'t just your run-off-the-mile hired thugs, just someone who disguised themselves as bandits... Their technique was great, way better than mine, but they were using equipment that they weren\'t used to at all..."

Mizoe nodded, nudging the closest body with his foot.

"...like this one... he swung that mace as if it was a shortsword and threw himself off balance because of its weight, giving me a chance for a clean hit. Or that one with the bow. I am willing to bet that the only time he held a bow was during some mandatory practice – if at all – even if you didn\'t show up, he was more likely to wound one of his comrades than me."

The light-blue-haired man shook his head before motioning at the man taken down by Zoemi\'s initial ambush.

"Hmm...? Law of Sagittarius..."

The black-haired boy nodded before furrowing his brows, replacing the battle-related star powers and activating the support one that enhanced his hearing even further.

Dad, more people are coming – but it is from the direction of the village.

Zoemi pointed out, backing off behind Mizoe.

"..."

The light-blue-haired man straightened his back and faced the rustling sounds that he also picked up on, without sheathing his weapon.

Was it a group of villages who picked up on the ruckus of battle and bunched up to check what was going on, or was it a bandit returning to their camp after checking out the village?

"Sir Mizoe! Is that you? Is it safe to show up?"

A voice called out from between the trees and a few local hunters whose faces were known even to Zoemi came out from hiding after one of them asked with worry.

"...friendly..."

"...ok..."

Seeing them, Mizoe breathed out and nodded, to which Zoemi whispered back and stealthily handed the heavy dagger back to his father and clung to his leg like a scared child that certainly didn\'t take part in any of the killings.

"It is now, but I think my knight training will have to wait. There was something suspicious about those bandits."

Mizoe hid the dagger behind his belt and sheathed the shortsword before motioning at the scared hunters to approach.

"Umm... sir Mizoe, madam Tallaran sent us out to check what was going on and told us that in case you would encounter and deal with either monster or more bandits, she still demands you to go on your way. She seemed adamant about that."

The hunter whose face became ghastly pale at the sight of all the corpses surrounding the light-blue-haired man and his cared child stuttered and spoke in an apologetic voice as if he was worried that he would get shouted at for contradicting Mizoe\'s plans.

"..."

Mizoe bit his lips and his expression turned grim, he certainly didn\'t like the sound of that. There were too many suspicious things going around lately.

"Madam also instructed us to remind you that lord Modari is supposed to come back today with the young Misses and bring a few mercenaries with him to help with the safety of the village until you can return with the knight title and take charge."

The hunter added hurriedly terrified that Mizoe might accuse him of making things up to endanger the budding territory.

"...we will leave after thoroughly searching the camp..."

In the end, Mizoe breathed out, shaking his head in annoyance, and motioned at his son to help him out.

After fifteen minutes they were basically done, the bandits this tie were far more thorough with hiding any evidence linking them to their potential employer and the search ended up yielding no result.

After giving some more instructions to the hunters, Mizoe and Zoemi left the area, returned to their horse, and went on their way – their destination, the Victureo territory.

Not only it was the closest territory that provided nights training, but it was also one that provided the best instructors and training program of them all – the Victureo family head being the general of the kingdom\'s army from generation to generation had put a lot of pressure on them to uphold the highest standard.

A week-long journey went by with no blood-pumping encounters like the one within the initial hour, so the father and son could spend the time leisurely enjoying the scenery and food along the way – but that was also something that made the two feel uneasy.

There were bandits and monsters around the Tallaran territory, but the neighboring areas were safe as if all the bad things were concentrated on the small border village.

The answer seemed to be obvious – the mountainous city-state calling itself the Marigottie kingdom, in the previous timeline they were the ones responsible for destroying the village that the twins lived in, and in the current timeline they were clearly plotting to achieve a similar outcome.

Zoemi didn\'t even have to hint Mizoe about the danger from their neighbor like he did to Ludier back in the day – the light-blue-haired man figured it out himself immediately after searching the belongings of the first band of bandits that he, lord Modari, and Zoemi encountered while overseeing the process of creating farm fields.

Mizoe might have been dense when it comes to love and romance, but it seemed that thanks to that, his intuition when it comes to battles and intrigues had been heightened to a ridiculous degree.

Hence, the uneasiness that both the light-blue-haired man and the black-haired child felt while arriving at their destination and going straight for the registration area for the knight training area had a lot to do with how the events played out from there...

"The knight training in the Victureo territory upholds the highest standard in the entire kingdom, the brave men and women who complete it are sure to find their place in the personal guard of the nobles no matter if they possess magic aptitude or not! But that\'s also why we take only the best candidates! It has been decided that from this year onwards, everyone who wishes to participate must prove their strength in a duel against an instructor instead of just paying the fee upfront as it was up until this point! The payment would be taken only after the participant would be approved! There is bound to be danger involved and many will end up injured! Because of that, a rule about the age of the participants had been implemented! Anyone below the age of fifteen is forbidden from participating except for special exceptions that have a referral from one of the noble houses!"

...was the announcement that Zoemi and Mizoe were greeted by at the gate in front of the training area on the city\'s outskirts.

The two of them looked at each other with confused expressions – Mizoe did a fair bit of research to confirm that there would be no age limit preventing Zoemi from participating in the training too, and Zoemi himself certainly didn\'t remember any sort of restriction preventing anyone from enlisting being a thing in the previous timeline.

Before, everyone could attempt to complete the course after paying the fee, but most would quit to being able to keep up and only a few would actually get to the end of it and receive the title of a knight.

Not having an age limit and allowing everyone to enlist was also a good way of earning a fair bit of money as the fee they would pay upfront would not be returned if they would drop out or quit...

All in all, it was a bizarre decision to say the least.

"If I knew this would be the case, I would ask lady Eother for the referral for you... I doubt they will accept the referral of some expelled reject like me... although I will try to think something up."

Mizoe furrowed his brows before sighing and shaking his head apologetically.

"It\'s not your fault, dad."

Zoemi patted the light-blue-haired man\'s side and smiled reassuringly.

"I do wonder though, what made them make such a change... it doesn\'t make sense if you look at it objectively."

The boy looked back towards the gate and the man on the podium making the announcement and his face darkened. Honestly, he was somewhat expecting this turn of events to be related to him directly, although he did not say it out loud.

"Eh? Wait, you wanted to become a knight? Aren\'t you, like, six or something?"

"...?"

"...?"

Out of nowhere, someone behind the father and son duo gasped, causing the two to turn around.

The person turned out to be a teenage blue-haired girl, thirteen or fourteen years old at most.

"There were no rules against that before. I don\'t see your point."

Zoemi raised his brow and shrugged his shoulders feeling something familiar from the girl but not recognizing her. If the girl wanted to stir him up to get some sort of an angry reaction, she chose the wrong target for sure.

"Kids like you should play in the mud or something. Knights\' duty is to their master and their territory – which involves killing people. Children should stay out of this... No matter how much you look up to your older brother!"

The girl puffed out her chest and put her hands on her hips to make herself more respectful while declaring.

"And you, mister older brother – taking a boy so young to the..."

"I am his father. Not older brother, Miss."

The girl looked at Mizoe, looking as if she was about to give him a whole lecture, but the light-blue-haired man cut her off with a cold glare that froze the words right in the girl\'s throat.

"I appreciate your concern, but it is wasted on the two of us. Please leave us alone. Goodbye."

Mizoe nodded at the stunned girl and moved towards the gate, reaching out his hand and pushing at Zoemi\'s back to make him walk alongside him.