Recalling the memories of my former life broadened my horizons and deepened my thinking, and I matured in many ways, and fortunately I quickly became a soldier.
However, not long after I became a soldier, war broke out.
It was a war with a hostile nation with whom the kingdom had not always been on good terms, and it lasted a short three years.
It happened to be a war in which I became a soldier, and I was forced to take part by crying and eating mustard.
I wanted to run away, but I had to grit my teeth and participate in the war, because if I became a deserter, my life would be difficult and I would be a wanted man for the rest of my life.
Three years of war is a short time.
But anyone who took part in the war will tell you.
It was a fierce and bloody war, like a 30-year war, not a three-year war.
And fortunately, the winner of the war was the faction of the kingdom to which I belonged, which resulted in the kingdom becoming a great nation, if not an empire.
A soldier of a kingdom and now a soldier of a great power?
I've heard that my salary will be tripled, and as a war veteran I'll get some tax breaks.
It's enough to make up for having my arm almost cut off and my stomach pierced. ....
"Fuck, no way.
If it weren't for the resilience of a true troll, I would have died dozens of times.
For the first time, I was grateful to the sorcerer who tortured me as a child in the name of experimentation.
For the first time, I realised that real war is a shitty thing.
Well, as long as I was alive and well, I decided I didn't care if the kingdom became a great power or not.
Above all.
"I quit because I'm dirty!
The madness of joining the war as a new soldier, I'm a government employee, I'm a Nabal, I'm all jingles.
So I resigned immediately, took my severance pay and tried to run an inn.
I had a little hope that even if I didn't make much money, I could live in peace.
Unfortunately, the world rarely works as planned.
"Hao, did you do this?"
"Huh?"
"You saved the princess, thank you, thank you so much, hehe!"
"...?"
The remnants of the enemy nation suddenly attacked the camp, and I was just fighting randomly, but somehow I ended up saving the kingdom's princess... ....
If anyone heard it, they'd probably call me a liar and tell me to make it up, and I'd feel terrible for being the one to tell it.
I wanted to keep a low profile and just live quietly, but I saved a princess?
What kind of nonsense is that?
But unfortunately, reality is reality.
"I didn't know a man of your calibre could be so rotten as a soldier."
Suddenly he threw me a sword and a necklace resembling a military sash.
"From now on, you are a knight."
"??"
I later found out that the old-fashioned looking middle-aged man was the head of the Knights Templar and had the power to appoint knights at will.
And so, unexpectedly, I was knighted.
Very unexpectedly.
"Is this right?
"I can do it.
"I am a former slave.
"The kingdom doesn't care where you come from, as long as you're capable."
"Actually, I also have a history of working for an assassination organisation..."
"Hmph, an unusual background, but I like it! Career positions are welcome!"
"......."
I hated it so much that I even came out as an assassin, but it didn't work on this guy.
That's when I realised.
I realised that this guy was as crazy as I was.
"He's a real asshole.
__________________
After that day, the bullies stopped bothering me.
Or rather, most of them turned white and ran away.
I'm told that some of those I beat up are still being treated at the temple, and some of those who recovered are mentally incapable of fighting again and have retired.
"Did I beat them up too badly?
But I can't help it.
Who says you have to be angry?
You were the one who touched the nerves of someone who lived a quiet life.
Well, as it turns out, I was forcibly marginalised from the Knights and have been quietly doing my job.
My goal is to eventually defeat the Master.
To do that, I have to step up my efforts to defeat him, and I've been practising day and night, something I haven't done much of since my days in the Assassin's Guild.
...although I hardly knew what training was.
"Isn't that the Kingdom Basic Sword Art?"
"Uh, I think so."
"Do you think you can defeat [Auror User] with it?"
"Impossible."
The only training I knew was the stealth and dark arts I had mastered as an assassin.
But I could never defeat the master, and even if I did, I wouldn't be satisfied.
So I began to train in swordsmanship with the idea of hand-to-hand combat in mind, practising the only swordsmanship I knew, the basic swordsmanship that every citizen knew.
I didn't know anything about the higher sword techniques taught by the prestigious knightly schools, so I had no choice.
Nor do I have any acquaintances who could teach me.
A master swordsman might be willing to teach me, but I never did.
I felt like begging, and I didn't want to be one of his students.
So.
"Hey, you. I want you to play with me."
"My goodness, what did I do wrong?"
"Forget it, I'm coming."
"Damn it!"
Fortunately, I'm with the Templars.
It's full of elite bastards with advanced swordsmanship, and I duel with them several times a day, learning their skills by eye and filling in the gaps in my own.
I won most of my fights with physical prowess, but the Templars had some real badasses, and there were times when I lost to them.
It was a sword-and-sorcery affair, and far from being humiliating, it was a welcome distraction from the fact that they had so much to take from me.
So it went, day after day, duel after duel.
Every time I saw some progress, I kept going.
Kwah!
"You're not good enough for me yet."
"Out!!!"
I lunged at the master.
It was more like he was willing to watch my antics, but I didn't take it as a humiliation, just a reminder that I had to win.
I fought, and fought, and fought, and fought, and fought, and fought, until I finally won.
I fought a hundred times and broke a hundred times.
"You're not even human."
"Did you think Auror User was your dog's name? You'll be an Auror User when you grow up."
"...... This is crazy."
Auror User.
A superhuman in a human body.
Aurors are people with mystical powers who have undergone systematic and insane training since childhood, to the point where they can outwit, outmanoeuvre and outthink even those who sound like geniuses.
And it is common knowledge on the continent that an Auror can only be defeated by an Auror.
That's why Auror users are monsters in human form.
And the man I had to defeat was a 'real' Auror user, one of only three in the kingdom.
This is the point of human despair.
I can't see a way to win.
A sigh.
"Ho-o, are you going to try again?"
"I've done it ten times and there's no tree I can't climb."
"I don't think it's going to work for me."
"Well, let's try a thousand times."
"That would be fun."
Bam!
Three years later.
I'm still thinking.
"Haha, I really want to stop."
I stayed with the Knights.