Chapter 02
It was a merchant journey from the Empire to the Gamudan Kingdom.
It would take at least 14 days, and as it required crossing the border, it was a route with a pile of dangerous elements.
Any merchant group would naturally secure reliable guards when setting out on such a journey.
‘They rented nearly an entire mercenary corps.’
I sat on the horse and scanned the surroundings with eyes I tried to keep indifferent.
Just the menacing mercenaries alone numbered nearly thirty.
‘And on top of that, one knight.’
Of course, that knight meant me, Reinhardt.
Just renting the mercenary unit as a whole was large in scale, but adding a knight to that meant this journey was truly important.
A procession with over ten carriages.
I hadn't even seen the face of the merchant owner leading this journey.
Thinking up to there, I let out a deep sigh.
‘What kind of nonsense is this…….’
I tried to immerse myself in the surrounding situation, but the background underlying it made it impossible to do so.
My mood instantly became gloomy.
Feeling the rhythm of the horse walking clop-clop, I took out the mirror I had put in the pocket next to the saddle.
‘Does it make sense to be stuck inside a game?’
No matter how many times I looked, the face reflected in the mirror remained the same.
The main supporting character who always ran furiously towards death, the Knight of Light, Reinhardt.
He possessed natural talent, but that talent was a double-edged sword for Reinhardt.
‘Was that what it meant? The words about Reinhardt’s quantity or whatever?’
The scene I saw last before losing my memory came to mind.
The system message asking for consent to input a substitute for Reinhardt or something.
If that was true.
If I was put in as Reinhardt’s substitute.
“If only I didn't have the habit of blindly agreeing to terms and conditions.”
“Yes? What did you say?”
The mercenary beside me reacted to my muttering.
I waved my hand as if it was nothing.
“Don't mind it.”
“Yessir, call me if you need anything.”
The mercenary’s voice was husky.
Even his impression was so fierce that if I had met him in modern times, I would have avoided him from afar.
But now.
“I’m really going crazy.”
Because the situation was so absurd, mutterings kept flowing out.
The mercenary also just gave a quick glance this time and focused on his own work.
He just mumbled something about what kind of knight mutters to himself.
That’s right. I was a knight.
An office worker living in modern times had suddenly become a knight in another world.
And wearing splendid armor at that, with a scabbard dangling at my waist.
‘I’ve become a knight…….’
I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them.
I had to accept it for now.
Even if I chewed over it again later, right now I had to at least make an effort to accept it.
‘Anyway, it means I’ve fallen into the game.’
Trying to stay calm.
I began to chew over the given reality.
‘And of all people, to become the famous Reinhardt. Not any other character, but a sunfish that dies if things go slightly wrong.’
I looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.
‘I think I’m going to lose my mind.’
Surely just yesterday I must have been emptying a can of beer in front of the monitor after work.
I felt like crying, but I held it back for the image of a knight.
It was because there was a mercenary who had been glancing this way since earlier.
‘So.’
I returned my thoughts to the starting point.
‘What point in time is this? No, more than that, was there a quest where Reinhardt took on an escort for a merchant journey like this?’
The Knight of Light, Reinhardt, belonged to the Paganoa Knights.
That is, from the point he is welcomed as a companion.
The Paganoa Knights were one of the Empire's best armed groups, and as such, the missions they mainly took were all great things.
Like subjugating monsters equivalent to dragons, or fighting against the armies of evil.
It should have been like that.
‘What is this armor? It doesn't look like the armor Paganoa Knights wore.’
When I started analyzing calmly, there were more than one or two strange points.
Glance.
I checked the pattern engraved on the chest of the armor.
Paganoa's symbol was a ‘Roaring Lion’, but the pattern engraved on the armor right now was ‘Two Crossed Swords’.
‘Twin swords pattern. Where was the twin swords? Since it's engraved on the armor, it must be a knight order for now. Since I saw it around the time performing quests about eradicating corruption or something…… It must be a knight order on the eastern side of the Empire.’
I remembered vaguely, but not accurately.
No matter how many times one played, no one kept such trivial details in their head.
‘I don't know how things are turning out. Where did the spirit go? The Spirit of Light should have always been attached?’
Knight of Light.
The reason such an alias was attached to Reinhardt was simple.
He always journeyed with a Spirit of Light, and whenever Reinhardt swung his sword, the Spirit of Light willingly lent its power.
Something was wrong.
While the fact that I was stuck in a game was wrong to begin with, my current state as Reinhardt was also clearly strange.
‘Don't tell me.’
At a thought that suddenly surfaced, my mouth slowly fell open.
‘What if the current time is before the main story has even started?’
I narrowed my brow.
My open mouth had no intention of closing.
If right now was before the main story began.
Meaning, if it was a point in time before the Knight Reinhardt joined the Paganoa Knights.
“That is really troubling.”
“Yes?”
“I said don't mind it.”
“Understood. Yep.”
At my hand gesture, the mercenary turned his head again, grumbling.
His lips were protruding as if he was dissatisfied, but I couldn't afford to care about such trivial matters.
‘It means it’s become difficult to make a living just with the experience of playing the game.’
It was a game I had been holding onto for a whole month.
Therefore, I roughly knew all the general incidents and accidents, but now I could not guarantee survival with just that.
Surely, the world I was familiar with had transformed into a completely unfamiliar world from this moment on.
“…… Inventory. Talent. Status Window.”
Then, I had to change as well.
If I couldn't adapt somehow, the result was as good as predetermined.
[Inventory]
*No contents.
[Talent]
*Mounted Combat, Composure, Courage, Chivalry, Weaponry, Indomitability, Charisma, Beauty…….
The game system was being applied as is.
The inventory was empty, and the talents were not much different from when I played in the past.
‘No wonder I wondered why I was so calm in this situation.’
Numerous talents born as a protagonist's companion character.
Skills like Courage, Composure, and Indomitability were clearly exerting a massive influence on the current me.
‘Mounted Combat too. Since it's my first time riding a horse in my life.’
My skill in driving the horse right now was incredibly proficient.
As if I had spent time with horses for a very long time.
Next was the status window.
[Reinhardt]
*Class: Knight
Strength: 13 Sense: 13
Will: 11 Stamina: 11
The stats were crude.
Main abilities were at a level that didn't deviate much from the average value of 10.
However, the reason Reinhardt received the love of countless users was exactly because of the exclusive skill called [Justice].
[Justice]
*Reinhardt’s Exclusive Skill
*All stats significantly increase when confronting injustice.
*Skill effects increase every time evil is punished.
*Skill effects decrease every time evil is ignored.
It was a description I had seen several times in the game too.
I selected the ‘Detailed Effects’ below it.
[Detailed Effects]
*Buff-type skill. Provides a powerful buff upon effect activation.
*Growth-type skill. Buff effects become more powerful upon meeting conditions.
*Stackable skill. Can utilize buff effects up to a maximum of 3 stacks.
*Effect per stack: All stats +22
If he discovers a villain, Reinhardt becomes stronger.
It was a very simple description, but the effect was sufficiently powerful.
‘This is why he has to be strong. Furthermore, other talents are being applied together.’
He was already a character whose eyes rolled back just seeing injustice. To the point where control functions didn't even work.
Because of that, there were cases where he became stronger than the protagonist character along the way.
‘Up to here, it’s the same. Then.’
Once again, I returned to the fundamental worry.
‘What do I do from now on.’
I fell into a game.
I haven't grasped the time period, and all I know are the privileges given to this character named Reinhardt.
‘Can I escape?’
A supernatural phenomenon has already occurred.
Even if there is a solution, something equivalent to it would be needed.
After pondering for a while, I shook my head.
The composure granted by the skill led me to reality.
‘First, to a safe place.’
Finishing this merchant journey safely was the priority task.
Only after that could I hide my body in a safe place or look for clues to return to reality.
“…….”
My gaze moved to the side.
I looked at the mercenary busy chatting with his colleague.
“Hey there.”
“So I…… Yes?”
“How long is left until the Gamudan Kingdom?”
It was the mercenary with the fierce impression who had kept asking questions to me earlier.
The mercenary raised his gaze as if recalling memories, then lowered it.
“Well, if no problems arise like this, about ten days remain.”
“What are the goods we are escorting?”
“You don't know? Well naturally…….”
“Shut up, you idiot.”
At that moment, the mercenary’s colleague nudged him and shouted.
Then he looked at me and spoke with a firm expression.
“We cannot say due to the contract. It’s a contract that applies to our entire Vermon Mercenary Corps.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. You must ask the merchant owner directly.”
And then he even dragged the mercenary he was speaking to initially and widened the distance from me.
It meant they would absolutely not talk about the goods of this journey.
I stared at them intently. The way they bickered was deeply suspicious.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
In this world, mercenary corps were practically legal bandits.
There was only one grand principle applied to them.
Not to betray the client.
Other than that, there were no rules particularly binding them, and thus mercenaries were invariably involved in all sorts of shady incidents.
‘And this worldview isn't exactly a bright place either. Did he say Vermon Mercenary Corps just now? It’s a place I’ve never heard of.’
I lacked the experience to know the names of minor mercenary corps.
‘It’s not like I can search for it.’
I smacked my lips in regret.
If only I could search, I could obtain all sorts of information just by inserting keywords.
‘Wait a minute.’
I blinked.
I brought up the interface again. I brought up the status window, the skills, and even checked the traits.
It was a form completely identical to what I saw on the monitor.
So, meaning it’s identical is.
[Community]
Bottom of the interface.
It meant even the icon to access the community was hanging there as is.
As if possessed, I brought my hand to the button.
With a click sound, something popped up in front of my eyes.
A white screen filled with nothing.
And.
[Doing a legend run but where did this get twisted??]
[Gargoyle, can you not hunt this manually?]
[Newb help!!!!! Help!!!!]
[Cleared hidden ending on 8th playthrough lol]
On the page that finished loading, I ended up letting out a vain breath.
‘This opens?’
As always, a feast of meaningless posts was unfolding before my eyes.
If filtered well, a repository of information that could maintain meaningful help better than a strategy guide.