Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Himanshu02‘I’m going crazy. I was pushed to come here, but why did they choose me?’

Cain was the eldest son of a fairly wealthy noble family.

He had a considerable age gap with his younger siblings, so he thought he could easily inherit the title. He also had some talent, so he graduated from the Capital Academy without much trouble(?).

The problem was his talent in swordsmanship! As he didn’t have much interest in that.

At first, people praised him until their mouths were dry. But that praise didn’t last more than a month and turned into disappointment and criticism.

‘He has talent, but he lacks perseverance and motivation. He won’t achieve greatness.’

The problem was that even considering that, his talent was very outstanding for his age.

Becoming a knight was not a difficult task for him.

But when he returned to his territory, the pressure from the people around him began.

“Sir, you have talent in swordsmanship, so why don’t you try to advance in the Capital?”

“You’re almost thirty years old, how long are you going to live like this?”

But he stubbornly resisted all this pressure.

He had no big problem with inheriting the territory.

He could live peacefully and lazily for the rest of his life, why would he bother to work harder here?

If he had any habit that could be considered diligent, it was swordsmanship training.

‘I have to exercise to stay healthy and live longer!’

He would wake up in the morning and swing his sword, and spend the rest of the day as he pleased.

That was his daily life.

‘Someday they’ll give up on me, right?’

He applied for Eurius’s knight recruitment just to get away from the nagging of his family and to take a trip to the Capital.

He had heard rumors about him at the Academy, and he never imagined that he would be selected.

‘But what’s going on now?’

“These knights are not officially named yet, but they are the ones I personally selected and approved. I will not spare my support for them, so I hope you will train hard.”

“Your highness!”

‘I feel like my efforts are finally paying off!’

‘I’m confident that I can work hard if you give me a chance.’

Most of the knights had lively eyes.

They looked full of confidence and hope.

Eurius smiled with satisfaction.

He had chosen these knights after carefully checking their stats and their character and mental strength.

If he trained them himself, their skills would improve day by day. But there was one person who caught his special attention, who was still looking a bit sluggish and answering perfunctorily.

‘Why does His Highness have to make things so hard for himself? He’s the first prince, he should just give orders from above.’

Cain had a feeling that this knight’s life was not for him from the first day. But he couldn’t help being chosen.

He couldn’t say ‘I don’t want to train’ in front of the first prince.

“Then let’s start the training!”

Usually, the training of a knight order was to set a time for practice and let each one do it on their own.

Of course, there were some knights who boldly asked for advice from senior knights or commanders.

But that was not enough to increase their power in a short period of time.

But there was no choice, because the training methods of knights were usually passed on secretly among master-disciple relationships.

It was even more so for Eurius’s knight order, which mixed knights from different backgrounds.

‘But it’s different if they have the will and perseverance to work hard.’

“All knights will have the opportunity to receive personal guidance from commanders or higher-ranked knights.”

The knights in the hall all looked surprised at this remark.

This meant that he would share some of his know-how with them.

And Eurius added some more radical conditions.

“I will also conduct periodic tests through duels. If you prove that you have achieved excellent results in the test, you will receive a special reward for your training.”

A reward for training would be something they could guess, right?

Elixirs, force stones, and other things that were essential for knights’ achievements.

As mentioned earlier, most of the applicants were not very noticeable knights.

If they were outstanding talents, they would have already risen long ago.

Eurius’s words gave them hope.

It meant that he would open up a path for them depending on their efforts.

At some point, the eyes of the knights were fixed on Eurius as if they were drawn to him.

‘His highness wouldn’t lie to us.’

‘I heard that His highness is also an excellent knight with great talent.’Eurius’s achievements so far backed up his words.

Finally, Eurius made his last declaration.

“So I’m going to apply a strict ‘ranking system’ to this knight order.”

“Ranking system?”

“Do you mean you’ll divide us into ranks?”

“The ranking will be determined by duels, and to prevent excessive competition, they will be done in front of other knights.”

Eurius had selected about a hundred knights this time! He intended to give them support based on their pure skills.

The higher-ranked knights would receive better support, so the lower-ranked knights would naturally try harder to improve their training.

‘There has to be a clear reward for the effort to be effective.’

It was the introduction of a perfect competition system.

The reason why this system was radical was not only because it applied to the new knights, but also to the existing ones.

“This ranking system will also apply to the existing members. If you lose your rank due to your skills, you must accept it!”

Eurius finished his speech and smiled.

“Then let’s start with the ranking. For now, I’ll ban personal duels among the members for a week.”

Of course, there was no one who expressed dissatisfaction.

The knights who followed him from the north believed that Eurius was a fair person as if it was their faith.

The new knights were rather grateful for this opportunity.

Clang!

Bang!

For about three days, the sound of knights’ fighting and weapons clashing continued in the Eles training ground.

And at the entrance of the training ground, there was a ranking board written in bold letters.

(Temporary name) First Prince’s Knight Order Ranking Board

st – Beatrice Dios (1st Squad Leader)

nd – Heinz Brewing (Commander)

rd – Gareth Linfield (Vice Commander)

…

nd – Bernard Cain (3rd Squad)

‘Well, the rankings are not far from what I expected.’

Eurius exclaimed with a cheerful voice.

“Looks like the hierarchy is pretty much settled, huh? Then I hope you all focus on your training.”

His orders were obeyed by everyone.

The knights who ranked high were mostly those who followed him from the north, but he knew that could change in the future.

At first, the new knights were not very trusting of him, but after a few weeks, their eyes started to sparkle with determination.

‘To maintain or improve their ranks, they have to train with a life-or-death attitude.’

The difference in strength between the higher and lower ranked knights was significant.

And the promise that the captains and above would guide their subordinates regularly was also kept. It could have been a loss of training time for them, but it wasn’t.

“I will personally guide the captains and above.”

He didn’t need to prove his skills to them.

They were already aware of his prowess as a Superhuman.

For them, it was a great benefit to receive guidance from Eurius in exchange for teaching their junior knights.

And so, a month passed by quickly.

“The growth rate of our members is astonishing. As you said, having visible rewards really boosts their motivation.”

Heinz reported with a bright smile.

“I’m also surprised by how effective it is.”

‘Indeed, competition and rewards are essential elements for a group.’

He had consulted the player’s knowledge when he created this ranking system.

[You open the Help menu. – Leadership section]

[Related materials – Motivational leadership, Factors that make new employees grow in a company…]

‘The player’s world seems to have more equal opportunities than this place.’

He had been browsing the help menu so much that he had accumulated some knowledge about the Player.

As he understood more aspects of it, he also found more applicable knowledge that expanded his range of use.

“But there is one thing I need to tell you…”

“Is it about Cain?”

Eurius cut off Heinz’s cautious words as if he didn’t need to hear them.

“Yes.”

As Heinz feared, Cain was not taking advantage of this opportunity.

“As I told you before, he has a serious flaw in his personality.”

“Hmm…”

But Eurius’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

He had not bothered him much until now because he had given him some leeway.

‘Does he think he can live up to his reputation as a notorious slacker in this continent?’Actually, he could have let him grow at his own pace.

He was not neglecting his training completely, even though he lacked diligence.

But Eurius wanted knights who could be ready for battle immediately, so he needed him to improve his skills quickly.

He had some knowledge about this area without even needing the help menu.

He knew how to tame someone who could do it if they wanted to.

The next day.

“I greet Your Highness.”

Cain entered the inner office with a tense expression.

He thought that his laziness had finally been reported to the emperor.

‘He wouldn’t chop off my head right away, would he? It would be best if he just kicked me out of the knight order…’

“Oh, Cain? Is that you?”

But Eurius greeted him with a bright smile.

“I heard that you have a lot of talent.”

‘Ah…’

As soon as he heard those words, Cain regarded him as similar to those instructors who had tried to reform him before.

‘It’s going to be very annoying from now on.’

Cain muttered inwardly, but Eurius continued.

“I think it’s a waste of your talent, so I prepared a special training for you.”

That training was sparring.

And he had three opponents.

The first one was Heinz.

“This sparring will be different from the others. Be prepared.”

“Yes.”

He answered well, but if he could have changed his habits by being trained hard, he would have done so long ago.

He was not very enthusiastic. But from the very beginning, Cain had to admit that his smooth life had gone wrong here.

Bang!

“Cough!”

With one blow, Cain flew into the air and fell down without any strength.

“You’ll get seriously injured if you don’t tense up!”

Heinz felt sorry for him inside, but he had no choice but to follow the order.

He was faithfully carrying out Eurius’s instructions.

The second opponent was Linfield.

Of course, being from the rough north, he was even more ruthless.

“If you get injured and lie down in a real battle, you’ll go straight to hell! Get up quickly.”

He also mercilessly knocked Cain down and urged him to get up.

Until then, he could barely think of it as a harsh training. But from the third sparring, he started to feel that something was terribly wrong.

Thud thud thud!

“Aaargh!”

The previous ones had knocked him down with heavy blows, but this opponent was different.

He was beaten all over his body with relentless attacks, leaving him no time to recover.

“Get up. There’s still a lot of time left.”

Beatrix looked down at Cain with indifferent eyes.

Eurius’s order to them was very simple.

“Don’t think of it as training. Just think of it as beating him up.”

Sparring was usually meant to teach something.

Even the brutal training that Eurius had received under the name of Superhuman training had told him what he lacked.

But this training(?) was different. They just beat Cain up without any teaching purpose or explanation.

“This is crazy. I have to get out of here!”

Cain started to feel threatened for his life after the special training went on for three days. But they didn’t even give him a chance to rest.

“He fainted? Apply some medicine and give him some elixir. And let him rest for half a day or so. That should do it.”

The first prince made a generous decision.

No matter how much he was beaten up, he couldn’t die if he received proper treatment and good elixirs.

The ones who beat him up were all top-notch knights.

They could easily adjust their strength.

‘What kind of grudge does he have against me?’

Cain was going crazy.

Leaving the knight order without permission was a serious crime.

He couldn’t say anything even if his head was chopped off.

And they didn’t answer him when he asked why they were beating him up.

“The first prince must have a reason for this. It probably won’t turn out bad for you.”

Only Heinz left him with these meaningful words.

The reason why the three of them couldn’t answer him was simple.

‘We don’t know either.’