[Training, incessant training... No matter how many times I attempt it, I am destined to fail. I will never pass the selection...]
[Why do you look at me with such hopeful eyes, Father?]
[Once again, it is July of the Holy Era 824, the third knightly selection...]
[Defeated by Thilar in twenty-seven seconds, once more... Do you despise me, Ivina? I understand your feelings, a worthless individual usurping the opportunity that rightfully belonged to you...]
[If only things could be reversed, why not?]
[Perhaps I should never have existed...]
Time passed slowly, and the bonfire in the cave gradually extinguished after consuming its last piece of dry wood.
The sudden darkness interrupted Lynn's thoughts. With a wave of his hand, the branches and fallen leaves piled beside him began to levitate, reintegrating into the flickering pile of firewood.
The crimson flames leapt back to life, and Lynn resumed flipping through the diary in his hands.
No, in fact, calling it a diary might not be entirely accurate.
It was a record of a young noble, ordinary and lacking exceptional talent, pouring out his fears, insecurities, anger, and pain that he could not express to others.
"Lotte Pedrell," Lynn read aloud.
Undoubtedly, this was a case of someone driven mad by excessive expectations.
However, what he saw was even more complex.
Lotte's father was a baron of the Sekas Empire, a relic of a fallen noble class with no lands to speak of. He relied on constant extravagance to barely maintain the facade of nobility.
Like every parent who hopes their child will achieve greatness, Baron Pedrell had pinned all his hopes of reviving the family on his son.
For nobles like them, if one could pass the knightly examination before the age of twenty and demonstrate unwavering faith, it would qualify them to become a priest or cleric. This was undoubtedly the best way to alter the family's fortunes.
Therefore, Lotte underwent the strictest training from an early age, with the goal of passing the knightly examination to become a cleric of the church.
Baron Pedrell even invested heavily in hiring professional knights to hone Lotte's combat skills.
However, Lotte's talent was not exceptional, and no amount of rigorous training could remedy that.
Only three positions for priests and clerics were available each year in the Nordland territory, while countless others shared the same aspiration, many of whom were more driven, more talented, and even more influential than Lotte!
Thus, starting from the age of sixteen, he faced one disappointment after another. Under the weight of his family's expectations and the harsh realities, Lotte gradually became withdrawn, taciturn, and intensely introverted.
His sister Ivina, on the other hand, was a counterexample, possessing considerable talent. By merely observing Lotte and the professional knights' daily training, she mastered a swordsmanship not inferior to their own.
Yet for Baron Pedrell, Ivina's talent was merely a minor surprise.
In the Sekas Empire, there were precedents for women holding noble status, but these were always in dire circumstances. Otherwise, daughters were typically used as tools for political marriage to enhance family influence.
Investing significant resources in their development was deemed imprudent.
After all, preserving the bloodline was fundamental to nobility, and choosing a female heir carried the risk of the family's wealth being absorbed and disappearing.
Unable to bear the pressure and expectations, Lotte perhaps intended to force Baron Pedrell into a choice through his own death.
To Lynn, Lotte's choice seemed undeniably foolish.
His understanding of these nobles' nature, combined with the diary's depiction of Baron Pedrell's character, suggested that upon learning of Lotte's death, the baron would only consider whether he could father another son or adopt a competent heir from a collateral branch.
Ivina would always be the last resort.
Bastards like Karl had even worse fates; unless the family was entirely extinguished, they would inherit nothing...
The diary, over a hundred pages long, soon reached its final page. Lynn was somewhat moved by the young noble's experiences, but what truly caught his attention was a term mentioned in the diary.
"Worthless?" Lynn murmured to himself, his fingers gripping the pages turning pale. He had thought that upon arriving in this otherworld, he would never encounter this term again.
After all, even a farmer working the land here had some value for exploitation.
Lynn exhaled slowly, reorganizing his chaotic thoughts, and turned his gaze to Lotte's corpse. Since he had taken the deceased's belongings, he would need to ensure the body was properly buried.
"071, what is the current energy reserve?" Lynn inquired mentally.
[Remaining energy at twelve point three percent. Energy concentration is steadily declining, with an expected increase of one percent per ten hours.]
Indeed... Lynn glanced at the faintly illuminated sky, unsurprised by this.
As he had guessed, Monday's influence on magical energy levels meant that after a night's rest, his stamina and magical energy from the previous battle had nearly fully recovered.
From Lotte's diary, Lynn had acquired crucial intelligence—the location where he found himself was indeed the port town of Nordland!
This meant that the hidden underground river within the castle led directly to the Misty Sea!
Unfortunately, in dealing with Archbishop Antrik, he had already sent away the troublesome Joni and the dove.
Lynn could not determine where these two witches had drifted to. If they were proficient swimmers, they could have landed anywhere, unlike him, who could only drift and slowly learn to swim.
Without communication, finding two living people across the entire Nordland territory would be challenging.
Avoiding the church's pursuit was also a significant issue.
Lynn pondered for a long time before a name suddenly sprang to his mind—Lame Laud!
Regardless of Joni and the dove's location, as long as they intended to reach the land of witches, they would inevitably come to the port town. He needed to find a way to contact Lame Laud.
Thus, he needed to locate this person first!
Lynn stood up, looking at the towering city walls in the distance. The remaining question was how to safely enter the port town.
"071, retrieve information on disguise and transformation techniques, preferably ones that can be accomplished with simple materials!"
Lynn glanced at Lotte's physique and hair color, which closely resembled his own. Perhaps he could temporarily use Lotte's identity to pass through the port town's defenses.
If he remembered correctly, aside from basic disguise techniques, the *Basic Magic Compendium* also contained a spell suitable for such situations...