Chapter 2

"That bastard... I went through hell."

I’d taken a carriage away from the city where the Edvaughn estate stood and come to Rondarm, the neighboring city, in case someone recognized my face and caused trouble.

I was still within the County of Edvaughn, but my face wasn’t particularly well known among the people of the neighboring city.

Traveling a long distance by carriage takes time and money.

I’d probably be using this city as my base for a while.

I sat on the bed in the inn I’d found in town.

I really had gone through hell.

If my memories from before reincarnation hadn’t returned, I might never have recovered from it.

But now that the memories of my previous life had returned, I honestly wanted nothing to do with a noble’s life.

The nobles of this world wield great power, but that’s because they bear the duties expected of the strong.

I’d have a much easier life if I could travel freely and live as I pleased.

"I’ve finally gotten the chance to enjoy the world of Magic World... I’d better savor every last bit of it."

That said, the game’s setting was completely different from this world’s history and geography.

None of the country or place names matched. The cultures were quite different, too.

I’d have to look into all that in due course.

...But before that, I needed to test out my Class and Skills.

This was what I was looking forward to most. But if the system here had changed, that would be a serious blow.

If the game had been updated without my knowing and the Heavy Knight’s broken abilities were gone, I’d be in a real bind.

If I’d remained the heir to a noble house, I couldn’t have gone around doing bizarre things I couldn’t explain to anyone.

"There’s no shortage of things to do. Well, isn’t that convenient?"

Besides, I hadn’t thought my father was that kind of man, either.

No, now that the memories of my previous life had broadened my perspective, I could see he was selfish, always making unreasonable demands, harsh toward others and easy on himself.

Perhaps it was because no one in the House of Edvaughn dared to disagree with its head.

I’d known Malice, now the heir, was an oddball, but I hadn’t thought Malice was like that.

Malice had looked at me and sneered.

I couldn’t remember doing anything to Malice, but maybe I’d earned Malice’s resentment somehow.

But if they wanted me gone, then I’d gladly leave.

I was honestly relieved to have an excuse to get out of that place.

I looked out the window and sighed.

"...Goodbye, Mother. Father."

Of course, I still had mixed feelings.

Even a man like him had been my father in this life.

But I had no choice but to keep moving forward.

If I let myself drift, I’d simply starve to death on the roadside.

I slapped my cheeks.

"All right, enough moping! I’ll get a thousand times stronger than that bastard and show him!"

After all, I had knowledge on my side.

"Status."

At my command, light gathered and projected my Status into the air above me.

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【Edvaughn Elymas】

Class: Heavy Knight

Lv: 1

HP: 10/10

MP: 4/4

Attack: 3+5

Defense: 3+5

Magic: 5

Agility: 3

【Equipment】

〈Foot Soldier’s Sword〉

〈Iron Armor〉

【Trait Skills】

〈None〉

【Normal Skills】

〈None〉

【Title】

〈None〉

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I checked my Status again.

The Foot Soldier’s Sword and Iron Armor were things I’d picked up along the way to the inn.

They were enough to make me look presentable, at least.

Weapons far stronger than my own Status were too heavy for me to handle properly.

For now, this was the best I could do.

They’d be useless before long anyway, but they’d do for now.

At low levels, it was easy to level up as long as you had decent equipment, so this wasn’t the time to skimp.

I touched my Status.

"Time to open the Skill Tree screen..."

There was another screen in Status.

It was the Skill Tree screen.

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【Skill Tree】

［Remaining Skill Points: 5］

〈Oath of Heavy Armor [0/100]〉

〈Defense Up [0/50]〉

〈Basic Swordsmanship [0/50]〉

――――――――――――――――――――

In short, this let me choose what kinds of Skills I wanted to learn.

By allocating Skill Points to each Skill Tree, I could acquire the Skills associated with it.

The five Remaining Skill Points were an initial bonus I’d received when I got my Class.

After that, I’d gain one point every time I leveled up.

It was no exaggeration to say that how I allocated them would determine my fate.

There were two kinds of Skill Trees: ones fixed to a Class, and ones obtained at random during character creation.

Of these, only Oath of Heavy Armor was fixed.

Oath of Heavy Armor was an exclusive Skill Tree for Heavy Knights.

It had been called the weakest joke Skill Tree in the game.

It could be fairly strong under the right conditions, but most of its Skills were incredibly cumbersome to use—or had no practical opportunity to be used at all.

Defense Up was a reasonably useful Skill Tree.

It didn’t give me any Skills, but it let me steadily raise my Defense.

Basic Swordsmanship wasn’t bad, either.

If I maxed it out, I could use a special item to evolve it into an advanced Swordsmanship Skill Tree.

Both were highly practical.

"Well... I’m going to do this."

I operated my Status by touching it.

――――――――――――――――――――

【Skill Tree】

［Remaining Skill Points: 0］

〈Oath of Heavy Armor [5/100]〉【+5】

〈Defense Up [0/50]〉

〈Basic Swordsmanship [0/50]〉

――――――――――――――――――――

Oath of Heavy Armor had only been called the weakest joke Skill Tree in the early days of Magic World.

Now that it had been thoroughly tested, it was proven to be the strongest Skill Tree.

It would take at least 【Lv: 95】 to max out the Skill Tree.

I couldn’t afford to waste points on trivial Stat boosts or Basic Swordsmanship, an inferior version of other Classes’ Skill Trees.

【You acquired the Normal Skill 〈Rampart Reversal〉 because 〈Oath of Heavy Armor〉 reached [2/100].】

【You acquired 〈Defense: +10〉 because 〈Oath of Heavy Armor〉 reached [5/100].】

There it is.

I grinned.

――――――――――――――――――――

〈Rampart Reversal〉【Normal Skill】

If you take a direct hit from an opponent’s melee attack and completely negate the damage, you can deal damage based on your Defense.

――――――――――――――――――――

Completely negating damage meant that my Defense was high enough to prevent the attack from dealing any damage.

In Magic World, the damage calculation was generally 【〈Damage〉 = 〈Attack〉 - 〈Defense〉 / 2】.

Of course, it also depended on where you were hit and which part of your body took the blow.

In short, it was difficult to completely negate damage, so this Skill only worked against weaker opponents.

But that was where the bonus Defense I’d just gained from Oath of Heavy Armor came in handy.

【Defense: +10】 was a huge boost at low levels. With proper armor, low-level monsters without any decent attack Skills could hardly break through it.

Any monster that recklessly charged in would be sent flying by the Heavy Knight’s massive Defense.

Some monsters could break through depending on the situation, but I knew the general Stats of the monsters.

If I came across one that seemed dangerous, I could simply avoid fighting it.

"I can’t wait for tomorrow."