Chapter 6.1 – I’m a Smart Guy, You Know

The Beastkin who’d killed the deserters handed over their severed heads.

He took them, preserved them, and headed to the castle where Count Borick awaited.

A suspicious-looking man entered the castle carrying twenty preserved heads.

It was a tidy setup, tolerated only because of the Count’s indulgence.

“Count-sama, here they are. They’re a bit rough, so they’re… damaged.”

“Hmm, just the heads… They’re battered, but you can still barely make out their faces.”

“…”

“Very well, I’ll let it slide.”

“Oh, thank you for your generous heart!”

Count Borick accepted the heads with exaggerated ceremony.

He grinned as he handed over a somewhat skimmed payment.

(Kuh kuh kuh…They don’t suspect their reward is being skimmed… For a miser, he sure can’t do math.)

(Kuh kuh kuh… He hasn’t paid a single cent of taxes and yet thinks he’s come out ahead… For a crook, he doesn’t even keep books.)

By the way, considering the taxes he could’ve squeezed out, he was losing a lot.

“And now…”

Ahem.

Count Borick cleared his throat.

“In fact, a most exalted guest will soon arrive at this castle.”

“What!”

Under normal circumstances, the Count himself would be considered the noble one.

If Count Borick calls someone a noble, they must be of truly high birth.

Someone so august you couldn’t even speak their name in front of Gaikaku.

“And so…”

“Oh, please, don’t say any more! This Gaikaku has already caught on… gehihihi.”

Gaikaku let out an outrageously sleazy laugh.

“Someone as lowly as I am has no right to loiter nearby. I shouldn’t exist within sight—makes sense, yes?”

“…Well, yes. If that person saw you, their eyes would be tarnished. You can be useful, but… well, that’s the point.”

“In that case… I’ll take my leave for a while.”

“Very well. Go wherever you like for now.”

Saying that, Count Borick placed a modest stipend into Gaikaku’s palm.

Gaikaku, ever the miser, shoved it into his pocket.

A deliberately vulgar gesture, but the Count only laughed as he looked down on him.

“Then… forget about us lowborn folk and return to your noble society.”

Gaikaku bowed and swiftly took his leave.

“Hmph… just a small fry after all.”

Once Gaikaku was gone, Count Borick’s face twisted into gleeful delight as he returned to his chambers.

He then retrieved a tightly guarded letter.

It was the request that had arrived days ago, asking for Count Borick to be welcomed as a Knight.

“I’m not like that… No, I’m different!”

Borick had already replied that he would accept.

The noble arriving in a few days would be those coming to formally confer his knighthood.

“If one is to become a Knight, those of good lineage, diligence, and high rank—people like me—are the proper candidates…!”

In his mind flitted a dreadful possibility.

That Gaikaku and the others, who had actually produced results, might be discovered by the Knight Order.

If that happened, the heroic myth he’d crafted would crumble.

It would be a terrible blow to his pride.

“Yes, it mustn’t happen… It simply mustn’t…!”

He was panicking.

Until moments ago, he’d nearly concealed his agitation.

That in itself proved he wasn’t completely incompetent.

Even as a villain, he had enough cunning.

“If Gaikaku learns of this… he’ll definitely claim he was behind it!”

But no matter how clever one is, one cannot escape desire and self-interest.

“If that happens… he might actually become a Knight himself! That would disgrace the Knight Order! No, more than that, the mere act of stepping forward…!”

A Knight is a living hero.

An organization composed solely of elites, the nation’s pride.

Nobles and commoners alike worship them.

A group of top-tier individuals, human or other races.

Everyone dreams of joining.

Count Borick was no exception.

He was intoxicated by the prospect of this dream and obsessed with protecting it.

“There’s no real problem… If I just delegate the work to him, everything continues as before… I’ll keep doing what I’ve always done and become a Knight…! Once I’ve received the knighthood, Gaikaku won’t be able to interfere!”

He knew the risks.

Indeed, the chance of failure was high.

Even so… wrongdoers are ever optimistic.

In short, he believed things would somehow work out.

※

A common image of the Elf race is that “their magic is amazing” and “they’re skilled with bows.”

This stems from confusing Elves with Dark Elves: true Elves can’t use bows, and Dark Elves only have average magic.

In combat abilities, they’re entirely separate races.

But beyond appearance, they share social and mental similarities.

Both Dark Elves and Elves differ greatly from Ogres and Beastkin.

Specifically, in their views on chastity.

Ogres and Beastkin generally have no concept of marriage. They understand the idea, but society doesn’t recognize it.

Plus, they can have multiple partners at once. So infidelity is rare, and the tribe feels like one family.

This is due to being a different species with stronger desires.

In contrast, Elves lack those intense desires.

They value such acts greatly and dislike group relations.

When told this, Elves say, “Humans are the same.”

But Elves frown, saying, “We’re more fastidious than humans.”

In reality, Elves have very low rates of infidelity and remarriage after a mate dies.

Not zero, but rare.

So you might think the Elves under Gaikaku would feel the same…

But they couldn’t afford that luxury.

They longed for romance themselves.

They wished for a wonderful partner, children, and a happy family.

But as cast-offs, they couldn’t expect that; they were sold into slavery under Gaikaku.

They didn’t hate their own kind as the Ogres did, but they’d resigned themselves.

Even these Elves felt the urge to be embraced at least once a year.

And since Gaikaku was the only one here—and they didn’t truly resent him—they let him have them.

But they hated the mechanical transaction; as a courtesy, they arranged for one of them to be with him each year.

They propped a ladder against the second-floor window of Gaikaku’s lab and slipped inside.

Gaikaku would accept it with a resigned, “Fine,” and handle it accordingly.

That day too, one of the Elves visited, spent the night, and greeted the morning.

“Mmm… Ah, what a fine morning! What’s so fine about it? Not having to see that Count’s face for a while!”

“They told us not to come because it’d be bad if a guest saw you, right? Normally you’d be mad, but Sensei, you’re not.”

“Do you think it’s fun to see that face that says, ‘I’m smart, you know’?”

Gaikaku got out of bed and began stretching.

He cheerfully insulted his employer, but that much could be forgiven.

“Work’s been busy lately, what with that elite Elf… Looks like I’ll have time to dive into research and development. The Beastkin have been using the Sea Runner, so we’ve got data. I want to tackle improvements to the Fresh Golem too…”

“…and our lessons for them…”

“…Well, when I get the time.”

[Creak… creak…]

Gaikaku cheerfully laid out his plans, cracking his neck.

“By the way, Sensei, may I ask… what do you think about that rumor concerning the lord?”

“Rumor? About being summoned as a Knight?”

The elite ex-knight Elf they’d defeated the other day.

Why he’d resigned from the knights was unclear, but his skill was genuine.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Royal Family called on the Count who’d defeated him.

“Ridiculous, that story’s impossible.”

“…I feel they might actually try it.”

“Listen… you’d be sunk if they just said, ‘We want to see your skills demonstrated right here right now,’ wouldn’t you?”

“That’s true, but fools don’t think of that.”

“If the Count were truly a fool, he’d have us create a random corpse, report, ‘This is the culprit,’ and gotten rid of me.”

“If he did that, he’d pocket the entire reward without even a skim.”

“But what about the ex-knight Elf being at large?”

“True, that’d be a problem if someone found out. But then he’d just prepare another corpse and say, ‘This one was lying,’ and be done.”

“Will it end there?”

“Maybe not. But if Count Borick truly is a fool, that’s the kind of story he’d tell.”

Naked, Gaikaku began dressing.

He handed a cup of water to the Elf still in bed.

“Indeed, that Count is a fool. But fools have levels. If he were that much of a fool, he wouldn’t be using me.”

After she drank, he took a gulp himself.

“If someone’s really smart, they’d grab me by the scruff and make me work. If they didn’t want me causing trouble, they’d make me work harder.”

“That would be even worse…”

“Right? Depending on the case, they’d force me to spill all my illegal techniques.”

Being smart doesn’t mean being righteous.

Gaikaku himself proved that.

“Well, that’s why I work for a moderate fool. If that fatty ever goes off the rails, I’ll beat a hasty retreat.”

Seeing him laugh like that, the Elf couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

Because the sight of him laughing—was exactly the face that said, “I’m smart, you know.”

※

Now, the Knight Order.

It’s an organization of a Knight Commander, several full Knights, and about a hundred squire Knights.

There are five across the kingdom, overseen by the Supreme Knight Commander.

Even at the squire level, they’re elite.

They’re generally all human, and only those with exceptional ability and training are allowed.

However, the full Knights and the Knight Commander are drawn from the absolute best of each race—super-elite, even compared to the elite squires. These are generally what people mean by “knights.”

As for the Supreme Knight Commander, that role is reserved exclusively for human elites.

Though the gates are open, entrusting leadership to another race’s elite is deemed unwise.

The current Supreme Knight Commander is a woman named Tistria.

As a human elite, she excels in all abilities prized in humans.

Her strength surpasses most Ogres, her speed exceeds most Beastkin, and her magic eclipses most Elves.

The human’s greatest strength—learning—she masters weapons, magic, and arts in a tenth of the time it takes ordinary people to reach mastery.

Furthermore… her beauty and charm are said to be ten to twenty times that of ordinary people.

This can’t be quantified, but those who’ve seen her insist it’s still not enough.

Tistria had come to see Count Borick.

She arrived with full ceremony—a parade and throngs of spectators eager to behold humanity’s pinnacle of beauty.

She was beautiful from afar and blinding at close range.

The fact that such a stunning woman had visited “that fatty” became the talk of every tavern:

“Even a man like that can meet her if he’s strong.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Count Borick-sama. I am Supreme Knight Commander Tistria.”

With golden hair, silver eyes, pale skin, slender limbs, and a full figure.

It’s hard to believe this is humanity’s strongest body, but if beauty and strength combined make sense, then it does.

She was in the Count’s study, meeting with him, his wife, and their heir son.

At her side stood several full Knights assigned to her, human men of equal strength.

They too were strikingly handsome, but to the Borick family they might as well have been invisible.

That was how utterly beautiful Tistria was.

Count Borick and his son, who looked just like him, stood there mesmerized.

Just seeing her made them feel they’d been born for this moment.

Borick’s wife, however, did not take umbrage; not at all.

Though she did not have a taste for same-sex attraction, she found herself wishing Tistria would embrace her.

“…Now then.”

Such attention might make some people uncomfortable.

Indeed, Tistria’s full Knights, craning their necks at the Borick family—looked thoroughly displeased.

But to Tistria, it was nothing.

It was everyday truth to her, and she even thought, “So this is what humans look like.”

That’s why she conducted the meeting entirely businesslike.

Even her matter-of-fact demeanor—without forced smiles—was enchanting.

“Count Borick, thank you for accepting our request to become a full Knight despite your duties as Count. We are grateful you’ve granted this wish.”