Mouth agape, face pale.

A middle-aged man, drenched in cold sweat, stared at me blankly before rubbing his eyes.

Then he looked at me again.

But that didn’t change anything.

That guy, Datrikh or whatever, didn’t just get cut in half—he couldn’t withstand the shock and turned into a puddle of blood.

A clean-cut severance.

Before my very eyes, the mountain was being cleaved apart.

Honestly, I couldn’t help but think how absurd this was. But this was undeniably happening in reality.

“W-What the hell…?”

The man mumbled, his dazed expression fixed on the gruesome sight.

As for my response to his question? Well, it could have been something like, “I combined a body enhanced by mana with the World Tree’s energy and disregarded swordsmanship to just pump out raw power.”

But saying something like that in such a public place wouldn’t be wise.

So, I decided to keep it simple.

“I told you, I may not know much about swordsmanship, but I can swing a sword with all my might.”

Totally illogical words.

But honestly, who cares?

At this point, with the mountain sliced apart, common sense and logic were meaningless.

“Wh-Who are you, exactly?”

He asked, his voice trembling.

But instead of answering Black-Haired Uncle’s question, I just flashed a meaningful smile and shot back a question of my own.

“You must’ve grown tired of being a mercenary and decided to enlist, right?”

“…!”

His expression went from pale to agog by a whole notch. To be fair, I had just spotted the mercenary badge hanging from his waist.

At times like this, it’s all about the attitude.

I kept talking.

“You’re a kind-hearted person, so being a mercenary probably doesn’t suit you. That’s why you’re putting yourself through this ordeal to become a knight, right?”

A mercenary with a silver badge wouldn’t be struggling for cash, so that’s the only logical reason I could think of.

“But, how about taking a moment to reconsider? If you take a little time to sort your thoughts, you might find something that truly suits you.”

Embarrassingly basic reasoning.

But hey, it’s cool.

‘Just looking impressive is enough for me.’

Soon, an examiner would rush in, monitoring the mountain with some magic engineering device. If things don’t go well, it could become troublesome.

I didn’t want to get dragged into something unnecessary.

‘Honestly, I don’t really want to recommend you become an imperial knight either.’

With that personality, he’d truly not fit in.

Unless she cut off a limb like Lucy, he wouldn’t voluntarily leave.

I couldn’t just let someone who had shown me a bit of kindness walk into something like that without a word.

The Black-Haired Man stood there, still in shock, before suddenly zoning out and heading down the mountain.

Not long after, more hurried footsteps approached, as if to fill his absence.

Before I knew it, that earlier woman appeared before me.

The examiner was aiming her bow at me, her face filled with suspicion.

“…Identify yourself.”

The hostility was palpable.

She was tense but definitely not backing down, clearly marking me as an enemy.

Come to think of it, that was a given.

After making such a ruckus, it would be more abnormal if she didn’t keep her guard up.

“If you don’t clarify your identity and purpose for being here within a minute, I’ll consider you a foe and initiate execution procedures.”

I calmly observed her demeanor.

She appeared rigid and uptight.

But the trembling hands told me she was scared.

She knew she couldn’t handle this situation but still felt compelled to stand her ground.

Given that, there were two possibilities.

Either this examiner was a person with a strong sense of justice who was scared yet determined to stop me…

Or there was some compelling reason she simply couldn’t back down.

“Execution procedures? I’ve just taken the entrance exam as instructed by your examiner.”

I feigned innocence, putting on a pitiful expression while keenly watching her reactions.

A ridiculous scenario where I claim I’m just taking the exam without any ulterior motives.

But no matter how long I waited, she didn’t respond.

No demands to stop lying, no requests for me to reveal my true motives or where I came from.

If anything, it felt like she was anxiously trying not to provoke me.

That lent strength to the second hypothesis.

It was quite odd for someone intoxicated by a sense of justice to be so timid and careful in their actions.

There had to be some reason behind it.

‘From the get-go, this exam felt off.’

This wasn’t some hunter exam or anything.

Why would they bring in a prisoner for a survival test to hire bureaucrats?

And why was there a stockpile of mana dolls that wouldn’t even be used?

Especially with evidence suggesting that everything had been prepped for today’s use.

It seemed clear that the plans had been changed abruptly.

Considering there are only a few people capable of pulling off something like this, the answer was…

‘Some kind of bigwig must be behind this.’

It had to be that way.

The whims of someone important had morphed this exam into this chaotic mess.

In that case, the examiner’s extreme behavior and her obvious urge to flee while pretending to be a patriot suddenly made sense.

…Even if I didn’t know who that bigwig was.

They must be watching this situation unfold somewhere.

After all, there’s no way they’d have experienced cleaving a mountain. I figured the summit that had flown off was probably vaporized by mana.

Looking back, it was oddly strange that there were no signs of an avalanche whatsoever or even a handful of rocks falling.

That guy who was supposed to be behind this must have handled it.

It led me to see things could be getting a bit tangled.

‘Well, you could call it an opportunity too.’

Becoming a sword master in an instant is unnatural. Thus, achieving it would require similarly bizarre feats and accomplishments.

Whatever it takes to draw attention.

With that in mind, I had excessively suppressed Datrikh.

Just like in those hunter stories where the mana measuring device explodes and an S-class hunter appears, causing chaos.

I was attempting to create an incident that would catapult me into a high position instantly. So, I figured this bigwig here might help with that ambition.

Of course, there was a chance things could become overly complicated.

‘In the end, it’s up to me to handle it.’

And I was confident I could manage it adequately.

“I understand there’s been a misunderstanding. However, I’m not a spy sent from another country.”

I spoke to the examiner, who was still cautiously aiming her bow at me.

Of course, I didn’t expect that to get through.

A minor child sword master appearing out of nowhere seemed way less believable than an undercover agent.

My own country definitely wouldn’t buy such absurd claims.

Yet, if I added one more line, it could slightly change the narrative.

“I swear on my mana that I am not a spy sent from a foreign nation, nor have I come here to harm you.”

The shock in the examiner’s eyes was clear.

And rightfully so.

A swear on mana.

The penalty for breaking it is death.

Not to mention, that rule is vague enough that every year people end up dying for it—making it a dangerous act.

Plus, the mana I’d bind to maintain that oath would be entirely lost for good. It’s an act particularly frowned upon among knights and mages.

And here I was, willingly invoking it myself.

But for her, the weight of that was a whole different ballgame.

The examiner hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“We have confirmed your lack of hostile intent, but there are still too many unclear aspects. For now, you must relinquish your weapon and surrender. I will report this to the higher-ups…”

“No, let’s put that on hold.”

Yet just as I said that, a voice broke through.

Someone was approaching us from a distance.

Victory.

I’d successfully lured in the bigwig, who had been observing us from afar.

Now what I needed to do was straightforward.

Since someone of that power would definitely assist in hiring a guard knight, it’d be a no-brainer.

If I could somehow butter this person up, I could open some new paths. I focused on the man coming into view…

“……!”

I froze on the spot.

No wonder.

The higher up they were, the easier it should be to get a guard knight position, but I never wished for something on this level!

This was far beyond what I could easily smooth over!

Cold sweat dripped down my back as I stared at the man.

His hair shone bright like the sun.

His deep blue eyes.

In other words, the symbol of the imperial family.

Even the cigar he was holding in his mouth.

“A little intrigued, you see.”

The second prince of the Empire.

Renya was watching me.