[Training, it's always training... no matter how many times I try, I can't make it through the selection...]
[Why do you look at me with those hopeful eyes, Father...]
[It's that time again, the July of the 824th year of the Holy Calendar, the third knight selection...]
[Against Tiral, defeated in twenty-seven seconds, once again... Do you hate me, Ivana? I can understand your feelings, a failure like me stealing your opportunity...]
[If only things could be reversed, why not?]
[Perhaps, I shouldn't exist at all...]
Time flowed slowly, and the fire in the cave flickered until the last bit of dry wood was consumed.
The sudden darkness interrupted Lynn's thoughts, and with a wave of his hand, the piled twigs and fallen leaves levitated and nestled into the firewood, which now sparkled with starry flames.
In the next moment, the crimson flames leaped again, and Lynn flipped through the diary in his hand.
No, to describe it as a diary might not be quite accurate.
This was the record of an ordinary noble youth, one without exceptional talents, who documented his hidden fears, self-doubt, resentment, and pain on these pages.
"Lotte Pedrol!" Lynn pronounced the youth's name.
There was no doubt that this was a classic case of too much expectation driving someone to madness.
But what he saw was even more complex than that.
Lotte's father was a baron in the Sekas Empire, the kind of nobility that had long since fallen from grace, with only a title to their name. They were the sort who had to rely on their dwindling savings to maintain a semblance of noble stature.
Just like every set of parents who hoped their child would rise to greatness, Baron Pedrol had placed all his hopes for family revival on his son's shoulders.
Noble offspring like them, if they could pass the knight assessment before the age of twenty and remain steadfast in their faith, were eligible to become priests or clerics, which was undoubtedly the best way to change the fate of their family.
For this reason, Lotte had been subjected to rigorous training from a young age, to become a member of the clergy through the knight's assessment.
The Pedrol baron even spent a fortune to hire formal knights to hone Lotte's combat skills.
However, Lotte's talents were lackluster, and no amount of hard work could change that.
In the entire Nordland region, there were only three slots for priests and clerics each year. Many aspired for those positions, and among them were individuals who were more dedicated, more talented than Lotte, and even more influential.
Thus, from the age of sixteen, all he received were repeated disappointments. Faced with the disparity between his family's expectations and the harsh reality, Lotte gradually became introverted, almost silent, to the extreme.
His younger sister, Ivana, was the opposite, possessing decent talent. She had mastered swordsmanship not weaker than Lotte's through continuous observation and sparring with formal knights.
However, for Baron Pedrol, Ivana's displayed talent was merely a small surprise.
In the Sekas Empire, there were precedents of noble women, but those were usually exceptional cases where male heirs were absent. Otherwise, daughters were typically tools used for political marriages to enhance family influence.
Investing significant resources in their upbringing was not a wise decision.
After all, the preservation of the noble bloodline was fundamental. Selecting a female as the heir meant the risk of losing everything the family had accumulated.
Lotte, unable to bear the pressure and expectations, was probably trying to force Baron Pedrol to decide with his own death.
In Lynn's view, Lotte's choice was undoubtedly a foolish move.
He had some understanding of these noble personalities. From the description of Baron Pedrol's character in the diary, it was clear that upon hearing of Lotte's death, he would only be concerned about whether he could still produce another son or adopt a promising heir from a collateral branch.
Ivana would forever be the last resort.
As for individuals like the previous host, Karl, who was a bastard, he was in an even more pitiful situation. Unless the family line was about to end completely, he wouldn't get anything.
The diary, spanning over a hundred pages, was quickly turned to the last page. Lynn was somewhat touched by the experiences of this noble youth, but what truly caught his attention was a term mentioned in the diary.
"Useless ones?" Lynn muttered to himself. He had thought he would no longer hear that term in this new world.
After all, even a farmer tilling the fields here had some value in their exploitation.
Lynn let out a slow breath, reorganizing his scattered thoughts, and then turned to look at Lotte's lifeless body. Since he had accepted the young man's belongings, he should take the time to give him a proper burial.
"071, how much energy reserve do we have now?" Lynn inquired in his mind.
[Remaining energy: 12.3%.
Energy concentration is continuously decreasing. Estimated increase in energy reserve: 1% every ten hours.]
As expected... Lynn checked the faintly lit sky and wasn't surprised by this. Just as he had guessed, the Moon's phases affected the activity of magic. After a night of rest, his stamina and magical energy were almost back to their peak.
From Lotte's diary, Lynn also gained a crucial piece of information - he was in the Harbor town of Nordland, which meant that the underground river in the castle directly flowed into the Misty Sea.
Unfortunately, he had sent Jenny and Dove away ahead of time to deal with Archbishop Anluke, so he couldn't be sure where the two witches had drifted to. If they were proficient swimmers, they could land anywhere, unlike him, who was left drifting along with the current, slowly learning to swim.
In the absence of communication, finding two living persons in the entire Nordland region wouldn't be easy.
Avoiding the Church's pursuit was also a significant problem.
Lynn pondered for a long time, and a name suddenly popped into his mind - Lame Laut! Regardless of where Jenny and Dove were headed, if they were planning to make their way to the land of the wizards, they would inevitably arrive in the Harbor town. Lynn needed to find a way to contact Lame Laut.
So, all he needed to do now was to find this person! Lynn stood up and looked at the towering city walls in the distance. The only problem left was how to safely enter the Harbor town.
"071, retrieve information about disguise and transformation techniques, preferably those that can be done with simple materials!"
Lynn glanced at Lotte, whose physique and hair color were remarkably similar to his own. Perhaps he could temporarily borrow the young man's identity to deceive the guards of the Harbor town.
If he remembered correctly, besides basic disguise techniques, the "Basic Magic Compendium" book also had a spell that could handle this situation.