Knock knock

“Professor, it’s Elysia.”

After a light knock and a brief wait, I heard a response from inside.

“Come in.”

As I opened the door and stepped in, my advisor, Ferrent, greeted me with a smile as he rose from his desk.

“Great. Have a seat.”

Ferrent suggested I sit on the sofa in the middle of the room while he made tea from a kettle behind his desk and began to speak.

“As you know, student consultations are mandatory every semester, so I called you in.”

Ferrent brought over two cups of tea, placing one in front of himself and the other in front of me before sitting down.

“Well, I’ll call in other students too, but I wanted to meet with you first.”

Slurp

Having nothing much to say, I lifted the cup in front of me and took a sip. The clean taste of the tea clearly indicated it was made from high-quality leaves. It was a luxury I couldn’t have imagined during my assassin days.

“So, how’s your academic life going lately?”

“Yes. It’s still manageable.”

In reality, both my notes and practical skills are still largely fine. It might get tougher as I advance to higher grades and learn more specialized subjects, but for now, a bit of self-study is sufficient.

“Hmm. Elysia, you’re doing well anyway, so you don’t need to worry too much. Have you decided on a specialization for your second year?”

“Not really. I’m still contemplating that.”

Ferrent took a sip from his cup and then continued speaking.

“Well, with your talent and diligence, you’ll surely do well no matter what you choose to specialize in. Still, if I were to add a personal note, I wouldn’t particularly recommend the military. You seem better suited for action than tactics.”

Soldiers and knights. The distinction isn’t very clear. Choosing the military path and becoming an officer means leading troops.

On the other hand, knights are more individualistic. They’re like special forces, with each knight representing unmatched power compared to regular soldiers.

Of course, from the head of the knight order onward, the narrative changes. At that point, the distinction between an officer and a knight essentially disappears. Therefore, to rise to the position of head knight, one must excel in skills, tactics, strategy, achievements, reputation, and even politics.

Of course, not all knights belong to orders. There are wandering knights and free knights, among others, but except for a very small number of exceptions, most couldn’t join an order simply due to lack of skill.

While Ferrent advised against the military, I had no intention of becoming a soldier either. I had just gained my freedom, and I had no desire to waste my bright future tied down by the military. If anything, it would be as a knight. After all, knights tend to have more freedom. And more importantly, it just looks cooler.

“I’m also considering becoming an adventurer.”

And if we’re talking about freedom, adventurers definitely take the cake. An adventurer is basically a mercenary. Under the central adventurer guild’s system, they take on quests as long as they have the ability to survive. Although some look down on them for only chasing money, one can easily ignore such opinions. After all, not all knights hold true to chivalry, and not all adventurers are without it. It’s merely an individual character issue.

Griffin Academy, being the best in the continent, guarantees a minimum level of safety no matter which path one takes after graduation. While scouts reach out and make contacts even before graduation, there are still many graduates who either go unnoticed or postpone negotiations until the last minute, which is why every year, many influential figures and representatives flock to the graduation ceremony.

In the military, one is usually guaranteed at least the rank of captain, and with a good background, one can become a general immediately. The knight orders reportedly engage in almost war-like rivalry to scout the best talents. In the case of adventurer guilds, simply graduating from the academy entitles you to a minimum silver rank adventurer badge.

“Hmm. Really? It’s good that I prepared in advance.”

Ferrent stood up from his seat and returned with several documents he had from his desk. After thumping a stack of papers neatly onto the table, he placed it in front of me.

Looking at Ferrent with puzzled eyes, he extended a hand and encouraged me to read. It wasn’t hard to read, so I picked up the documents and perused them one by one.

“I was initially going to suggest this later, but I thought if I waited too long, someone else might snatch you up, so I hurriedly prepared this. What do you think?”

The documents Ferrent handed me were straightforward. A scout offer for the Imperial Third Royal Knight Order. Of course, it’s less famous, lower in level, and less influential than the First Royal Knight Order. But even so, a royal knight order is still a royal knight order. The First Royal Knight Order holds the Empire’s elite. Comparing the two is simply impossible.

“Though I stepped down from being the head of the knight order, my successor was whining so much that these days, they seem to be really short on manpower, so they asked me to recommend any talented individuals from the academy.”

Come to think of it, Ferrent was a former head of the Third Royal Knight Order.

“This… is really surprising. I never expected someone to reach out to me from the first year, let alone with such conditions.”

The conditions listed in the documents were incredibly attractive. While attending, cash is provided under the guise of maintenance of dignity, and on top of that, dorm fees, tuition, and food costs are all covered. Also, the starting salary given upon joining the knight order after graduation was beyond my imagination. In fact, it seems they don’t even consider the possibility of failing to graduate, as there’s no related item at all. This suggests they only present these conditions to trusted individuals.

“And you’re definitely a survivor of House Frentz, right? If you become a royal knight, I guarantee that reclaiming your family’s honor will become significantly easier.”

Being part of the royal knight order implies being associated with the royal family. In other words, while they won’t handle it directly, you’d receive the Emperor’s support. In such a situation, raising your family from the ashes would be considerably easier than just saying it’s a piece of cake.

I had already decided to restore House Frentz, so Ferrent’s offer was very appealing to me.

“Thank you for the suggestion. But I’d like to think it over some more.”

However, I declined Ferrent’s offer and gently pushed the documents back in his direction.

I’m still a first-year. There are over three years left until graduation. I have no idea what path I’ll take as I move forward, but I’m confident I can double my worth before graduation. I plan to either get recruited into the First Royal Knight Order, or receive an even better offer than the current one.

“Heh. Good choice. Honestly, as a former head of the royal knight order, I would love to recruit you right now, but as your professor, I want to support your choice. Still, when the time comes for you to make a decision, I hope you remember that the Third Royal Knight Order was the first to recognize your value.”

“Yes. Thank you. But the fact that you made such an offer to me means… do you have the same or even better conditions for Selian?”

It’s a bit embarrassing to say it myself, but I am indeed an outstanding talent in my first year. However, I’m not the best. I’m barely above Selian, really.

“No. I won’t extend an offer to her. Besides, I doubt she’d accept it even if I did. Since House Deretia expects to produce a hero in this generation, there’s no need for us to offer her first and risk offending House Deretia.”

Well, regardless of whether it’s knights, officers, adventurers, or whatever, in the end, a hero becomes utterly useless. A hero is the only adversary of the Demon King in the world. Chosen by the world and the goddess, there’s no time for such a person to be part of a mere knight order. Unless they successfully defeat the Demon King and return, by then, the order won’t be recruiting heroes; instead the hero will choose the order.

“Selian will surely become a great hero and defeat the Demon King.”

“Then will you join Selian as a party member to hunt the Demon King?”

No matter how much a hero is the only adversary of the Demon King, they can’t traverse that perilous journey alone. Therefore, past heroes are known to have ventured to hunt the Demon King with the best colleagues in each field.

So when Selian becomes a hero, who will she first consider as her party member? It sounds self-praising, but wouldn’t it be me in this situation? To be honest, my skills are decent, and more than anything, I’m now ‘close friends’ with Selian, so I believe she would definitely invite me. Defeating the Demon King isn’t easy, but with high risk comes high return.

“That part is a no comment…”

But I didn’t provide a definitive answer. Honestly, I don’t want to concern myself with hunting the Demon King at all. The risk is just too great. Regardless of how dangerous the world becomes, the failure wouldn’t be solely on my shoulders. There are countless others scattered throughout the continent who can take my place. However, my feelings have been wavering a bit lately.

Initially, I sought to get close to Selian out of obligation, but now I genuinely consider her a friend. So if Selian were to ask me to join her, I couldn’t guarantee I’d say no.

“Well, it’s not something to consider just yet. It’s good to ponder things on your own, but if you ever need advice, don’t hesitate to ask. You are my student, after all.”

Ferrent said that and gathered the documents back up.

“Or how about working under me as a teaching assistant? I’m sure you could earn your degree in no time…”

“Th-thank you for the tea. Goodbye.”

I placed the empty cup down, bowed to Ferrent, and stepped outside.