This knight is too perfect

Chapter 1 Slaves and Knights

Duchy of Morton, Territory of Thorns, Baron's Castle.

At dawn, the castle welcomed the first light rain since the beginning of autumn.

Rhine kept his biological clock and slowly woke up in a pile of straw.

As the lowest-ranking "slave" in the castle, Rhine had neither his own room nor his own bed.

Therefore, he could only sleep in this dirty, cold and smelly empty stable with other 'horse slaves' like him.

In the darkness, Rhine looked at his companions who were still sleeping, and got up quietly without disturbing them.

After all, similar situations have been happening in the two years since he was sold to the castle, and he has long been accustomed to it.

"call……"

Rhine let out a breath and then rubbed his hands vigorously.

After getting used to the cold rainy day, Rhine walked past his companions who were still sleeping and tiptoed towards the only oil lamp in the center of the empty stable.

The oil lamp is filled with lamp oil made from animal fats.

Although this type of lamp oil is cheap, it has a major disadvantage: it solidifies very easily and is difficult to ignite when the weather is extremely cold.

The oil in the oil lamp in front of Rhine had now solidified and stuck to the fuse, and the flint in his hand was unable to light it at all.

To do this, Rhine had to hold the exposed fuse in his hand, standing alone in the cold, empty stable, waiting for his palm to melt the solidified lamp oil on the fuse.

After a while...

Snapped!
With a flash of sparks, the dark empty stable was soon illuminated by a dim firelight.

Rhine looked around at his 'companions' who were either sleeping or pretending to sleep, and did not try to wake them up.

After all, as "horse slaves", their only role is to help the knights in the castle take care of the horses.

There will be no reward for doing well.

If you do a bad job, you will be beaten and scolded at the very least, or beaten to death and thrown out of the castle, and no one will care about you.

Such a dark future has made the horse slaves adopt the idea of ​​muddling through, living one day at a time.

However, Rhine, who was also a horse slave, was an exception...

Knowing that others would not get up so early, Rhine directly took down the hanging oil lamp and walked to the stable next to him alone.

In this stable, there were three war horses and several ordinary pack horses.

The Duchy of Morton is a country built on cavalry, in which everyone is proud to be a knight.

Once upon a time, Rhine, who had just traveled through time, also longed to become a 'knight'.

I feel like I might be able to carve out a niche for myself in this strange 'other world' and leave behind my own legend.

But all this came to naught after a group of horse thieves broke into the village and looted everywhere.

It was also after that night that Rhine understood two things.

First, a person riding a horse is not necessarily a knight.

Second, the things that the knights guard may not include civilians like them.

Because on the armor of one of the leading horse thieves, Rhine clearly saw a pattern similar to a "family crest".

Although he couldn't recognize which family this "family emblem" belonged to, nor did he know what the pattern represented, he knew that these guys were definitely not ordinary horse thieves.

After all, ordinary horse thieves cannot afford to wear expensive armor, let alone be qualified to wear family emblems.

After that, Rhine, who was captured by these people, was finally sold to the Baron's Castle in the Territory of Thorns after a series of twists and turns, and became a horse slave who specialized in taking care of horses for the knights.

"The man who dreamed of becoming a knight, ended up being a slave who is not even as good as a horse..."

Rhine lowered his head to feed the horse while muttering softly.

And the facts are indeed as he said.

If a horse dies, the knights will be heartbroken for a long time.

But if Manu died, the knights might just say coldly, "I know," and then nothing would happen.

These are the slaves in the Principality of Morton, like weeds on the roadside, no one cares about them.

In the dim stable, after Rhine poured all the feed into the trough, he sat alone on a large stone next to the stable, staring absentmindedly at the open space in the castle yard not far away, waiting quietly.

As the rain stopped, a ray of morning light shone into the thorny territory.

A group of militiamen soon began training in the courtyard of the castle under the leadership of an apprentice knight.

This time is also a rare "learning time" for Rhine.

Rhine didn't want to be a slave all his life, and he didn't want to raise horses for others all his life.

To do this, he must seize every opportunity to "rise".

Getting up early to peek at the militia's training was almost Rhine's only 'chance'.

If you want to become a 'Knight', you can't just watch.

Horses, equipment, martial arts, and even some other things that Rhine could never have imagined, ultimately established the outstanding status of the "Knights" in the Principality of Morton.

Therefore, even if some militiamen noticed Rhine's abnormality, no one cared.

After all, who cares what a slave thinks?
There was a time when Rhine also felt that he could not break free from the slave shackles imposed on him.

But when he arrived at the Baron's castle on the second day, changes occurred...

[Soul connection completed, Knight's protection takes effect...]

[Note: Those who follow the Eight Virtues of Knighthood will be protected by the Knights and receive glory.]

'Knight's Protection', this was the message that popped into Rhine's mind the second day after he arrived at the Baron's Castle.

The effect is very simple. As long as Rhine strictly abides by the 'Eight Virtues of Knighthood', he can obtain different degrees of 'protection', which is the so-called talent.

But it is not easy to activate these talents.

Two years have passed, and Rhine has only activated two protections in total.

They are 'humility' and 'honesty' from the Eight Virtues of Chivalry.

[Humility (absolute focus): If you remain humble, you will have the best learning and analytical abilities.]

[Honesty (sense of truth): If you remain honest, you will have the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood.]

If it weren't for these two blessings, Rhine didn't think he would have learned anything from watching this training.

But with these two protections, the situation is completely different.

After all, Rhine’s subjects of study have never been ordinary militiamen.

Instead, the one standing in front of the militia was the burly apprentice knight of the castle, Fergus.

Although Fergus rarely took action, he would occasionally select one or two militiamen to practice against him in order to demonstrate the strength of the apprentice knight.

Therefore, by chance, Rhine relied on the terrifying learning ability brought by "Humility (Absolute Concentration)" to observe something different from ordinary people from the other party.

For example, when this apprentice knight of the ancient castle is in battle, his breathing method will change immediately.

As a result, his strength and speed improved visibly, which made Rhine astonished.

After this discovery, Rhine would take advantage of Fergus's training of militiamen every day to secretly observe his breathing patterns and other details.

Thanks to the terrifying blessing of 'Humility (Absolute Concentration)', Rhine had basically mastered Fergus's special breathing method in just the third month after arriving at the Baron's Castle. However, after Rhine secretly tried it once, he never used this method to breathe again.

Because in that attempt, Rhine felt for the first time what it meant to be "on the verge of death."

The feeling of his whole body bursting and his internal organs stinging made Rhine stop his reckless behavior immediately.

After that, Rhine had a high fever for three days and it took him nearly half a month to recover. It was like he had a near-death experience.

However, although this attempt cost Rhine a considerable price, he also gained something.

Because after that, Rhine clearly felt that his appetite had increased a lot.

Physical fitness seems to have improved a little.

However, his identity as a Rhine slave meant that he could never have enough to eat at all times.

Naturally, they would not dare to use this special "breathing method" to exercise their bodies at will.

But Rhine did not give up.

For this reason, Rhine did not hesitate to get up early every day, and then sit here rain or shine, to watch the militia training regularly.

Rhine didn't want to learn anything from this, but to seize a tiny, fleeting "opportunity".

Hard work pays off, and today, that almost impossible opportunity... appeared.

"Hey, little slave over there, I see you've been here for over a year now, so I guess you've had some thoughts about becoming a knight."

"But if you want to be a knight, you can't just stand there and watch. Come over and try it out."

Fergus's cheerful voice instantly interrupted the militia's training and drew everyone's attention to the thin figure beside the stable.

Faced with Fergus' invitation, Rhine naturally would not and could not refuse.

In the early morning of the castle grounds, Rhine was allowed to walk out of the dirty and dim stable for the first time and step onto the flat and green grass of the castle.

When Rhine approached, he had an indescribable odor because he stayed in the stable all year round. His coarse cloth was visibly stained with weeds and some stains that could not be identified.

This made the surrounding militiamen show expressions of disgust, and they subconsciously distanced themselves from Rhine.

But he was different from the militiamen who made no secret of their dislike for Rhine.

Fergus, the apprentice knight of the ancient castle, showed great interest in his little slave.

After a close observation, Fergus found that although Rhine's clothes were dirty and his hair was messy, the nails on his hands were very clean without any dirt.

This shows that Rhine is actually a very clean person, but he looks so shabby and sloppy only because of the environment.

But this little detail is actually insignificant.

Because no matter what Rhine's identity was before, he is now just a horse slave in the castle.

There was only one reason that really gave Fergus an idea and made him decide to let Rhine come and participate in the training.

That is Rhine's eyes.

Unlike the numb and empty eyes of other slaves, Rhine's eyes were clear and pure.

This made him stand out among the slaves.

After all, there are zombies on one side and living people on the other.

Not to mention an apprentice knight like Fergus, any normal person can see the difference.

It’s just that most people don’t care about what slaves think, let alone understand their past.

That's why everyone chooses to ignore this point.

In fact, if Rhine hadn't appeared at a fixed position in the stable every morning to watch their training.

Fergus would not have noticed his unique look at all, and naturally he would not have done something impulsive like today.

After all, who would care about a slave's thoughts?

In the early morning sunlight, the skinny and shabby-dressed Rhine looked like an ugly duckling among a flock of swans. The tall, ruddy-faced militiamen around him stared at him silently with looks of disdain or arrogance.

But just as the militiamen didn't care about the slaves' opinions, Fergus, as an apprentice knight, didn't care about the thoughts of a mere militiaman.

So after looking at Rhine, who was only twelve years old and whose height was only up to the militiamen's waist, for a moment.

Fergus casually took a wooden sword from the shelf next to him and threw it in front of Rhine.

"Take it, little slave, and ..."

Fergus swept his eyes among the militiamen, and finally pointed at one of them, a guy with a pointed face and a relatively thin body, and said, "...beat him."

"As long as you can do it, I will let you join my militia, how about it?"

It’s true…

Rhine, who possessed a sense of 'honesty (truth)', immediately heard the 'sincerity' and 'charity' in Fergus' words.

In this regard, Rhine gave his own answer.

He picked up the wooden sword that had become a little heavy due to the rain and said respectfully, "Thank you for your gift, respected Knight Fergus."

Hearing this, Fergus was stunned at first, then he couldn't help laughing while stroking his stubbled chin.

"Dear Sir Knight Fergus"...

What a nice and appropriate name.

Although Fergus had heard similar words from many people.

But for some reason, when these words came out of Rhine's mouth, the effect was completely different from that of others.

Because Fergus could feel that Rhine's words were not false compliments, but sincere praises from the heart.

Thinking of this, Fergus's impression of Rhine improved a lot.

And secretly made up his mind.

As long as Rhine performs well in the future, regardless of whether he wins or loses, he will incorporate him into his own militia.

After all, he was the respected Knight Fergus mentioned by Rhine, not some damn apprentice knight.

Why would a true knight be stingy with giving alms to a slave?
But unlike Fergus who looked at Rhine differently, the selected militiamen looked impatient at this time.

"You lowly, damned slave, what are you still standing there for? Come over here quickly! Do you want me to stand with you in this cold morning as punishment?"

Rhine was not angry about this.

He just silently raised the wooden sword with both hands, leaned his body down, and held the sword over his shoulder.

"Ok?"

Fergus, who was standing by, was cheered up when he saw this.

Because the starting move that Rhine made at this time was exactly the first move of the "White Dove Sword Technique" that he had demonstrated three days ago - White Dove Beak.

If Rhine was not just a show-off, then it would prove that this unnoticed little slave had learned a sword move just by "watching" in just three days.

If that's true, then Fergus might have hit upon a treasure.

Thinking of this, Fergus's expression gradually became serious.

Because he had a premonition that this originally inconspicuous little slave in front of him might bring him a big surprise.

(End of this chapter)