Liam immediately knelt down after hearing Zeke's words.
"Mr. Zeke, please give me one more chance."
Zeke slowly approached Liam.
He said, looking down at Liam.
"Why should I do that?"
"I will follow whatever you command, Master Zeke. Just give me one chance."
Zeke said to Liam like that.
"If it were really my order, would you listen to everything?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Then cut off my right arm."
For a moment Liam looked up and saw Zeke.
Zeke said with a cold expression.
"Didn't you say you would follow anything?"
At those words, Liam looked down at his right arm.
Even if you cut it off, you can quickly get it reattached by going to a therapist, but recovery potions aren't a panacea.
Especially in the worst case scenario, if it was your right arm, you might not be able to hold the sword because of a single nerve malfunction.
Liam picked up the fallen sword, trembling.
He gripped the sword while sweating coldly.
Liam looked at Zeke and said.
"If I follow your orders, will you take me in?"
"okay."
"All right."
In an instant, Liam's expression changed.
He held the sword in his left hand with a hardened face and struck his right arm.
Crunch!
An unpleasant sound pierced my ears.
Liam looked at his right arm.
"uh?"
I clearly swung the sword at his arm, but he was fine.
This time he looked at his sword.
Surprisingly, it wasn't his arm that was cut off, but his sword.
The half-broken blade was in Zig's hand.
"You idiot. If your arm is cut off and I don't accept it, what are you going to do by striking down with your sword without thinking?"
Zig threw the severed blade away.
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The blade was deeply embedded in the solid stone wall.
Such a feat was at least possible for a Purple Knight who could load Aura into his weapon.
'Mr. Zik has already crossed the purple wall.'
Zeke spoke to Liam in a low voice.
"If you do something as foolish as this again, there will be no loyalty oath or anything. Do you understand?"
Liam said with the aforementioned expression.
"So, are you saying you will accept it?"
"I will watch."
"Thank you! Thank you, my lord! I will be loyal to you!"
Zeke smiled bitterly as he watched Liam willingly bow his head before him.
After he took Liam back to the living room, he had his servant bring him some hot tea.
He said to Liam as he sat on the sofa.
"So what is it?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Liam, here's why you have to do this."
He said, looking at Liam with sharp eyes.
"Is there anyone in your family who is unwell?"
Liam looked at Zeke in surprise at those words.
"Oh, how about that."
It was an inference made by synthesizing various circumstances, but even Zeke himself did not know that it would be correct so quickly.
Zeke nodded.
"I see. There are many benefits to entering Valhalla. Medical benefits are one of them."
Those from Valhalla are treated the best on the continent.
And of course, they and their families also benefit from it.
Among them were medical benefits.
The medical expertise of the Draker family, who owned the largest general hospital on the entire continent, was one that the proud Empire of Rome coveted.
Liam said, bowing his head.
"I recently received news that my mother collapsed."
"So that's why you went to Valhalla to get medical care."
"Yes. My mother has had a hard time raising me on her own. The family is in financial difficulty and we can't even afford to take proper medicine, so I definitely want to go to Valhalla and get her proper treatment."
I didn't know that the future mercenary king was such a filial son.
But apart from that, he was ignorant of the ways of the world.
"You idiot. When are you going to go to Valhalla to cure your mother's illness?"
Since I was still a freshman, even if I graduated early, it would take two more years before I would be eligible to enter Valhalla.
Not everyone could go to Valhalla just by graduating there.
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Liam clenched his fist at Zeke's rebuke.
"It was a disease that did not respond to general treatment, so there was nothing we could do. The healers we called right away did not know what the disease was. It seemed like it would be impossible to treat without the Draker family's medical technology, and since it did not seem to be in critical condition at the moment, we came to this conclusion after much thought."
When he heard those words, Zeke's expression changed subtly.
"Do you have that disease? Do you have red spots on your body and have a high fever periodically?"
Liam was surprised by Zeke's words.
"How did you know?"
'Oh, my. Should I call this luck?'
The disease that Liam's mother had was one that would become widespread in the Central Continent five years from now.
Although the mortality rate is not high, it is highly contagious, so many people become ill, and the deaths are mainly among the elderly and children with weak immune systems.
'It was called Hong Hwa-byeong.'
It was named after the red fever flowers blooming on the face.
It was only after many people died in their previous lives that a cure was developed and the disease was finally brought under control.
And luckily, Zig knew how to make a cure for the red plague.
Zeke said to Liam.
"Well, I don't know about that. How long has it been since you started having symptoms?"
"It's been about a week."
'If we delay any longer, it will be difficult to treat, so we need to act quickly.'
Zig immediately ordered Decker to combine the necessary ingredients to make a cure for the safflower disease and send it to Stonega.
"You'll feel better if you take medication for about two months."
It was a disease that all other therapists had given up on, but Zig not only figured out the symptoms just by hearing the situation, but he also quickly came up with a treatment.
In Liam's eyes, Zeke was like a god.
"Thank you! Thank you, my lord! I will be completely loyal to you."
"That's only natural since you made a promise. If you get in the way, I'll throw you away right away, so do it well."
In this way, future mercenary king Liam Stone became Zeke Draker's number one subordinate.
* * *
"Time has come. Everyone, submit."
The chivalry liberal arts theory exam is over.
Theory subjects were no problem for Zeke.
The real problem started with the actual exam.
The first practical exam was held outside the academy.
The test event was to combine both the special and general classes and have them enter a test dungeon in pairs to hunt monsters.
Most of the academy students gathered in front of the test dungeon had somewhat nervous expressions on their faces.
On the other hand, students who received support from their families were much more relaxed.
This was because they had already practiced with the help of their family how to explore dungeons, how to deal with monsters, and how to earn extra points.
Among the cadets who were each reacting in this way, Zeke and Liam also stood in front of the dungeon and waited for their turn.
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Then someone approached from behind.
"How unexpected. A combination of Zeke Draker and Liam Stone."
The unfortunate, narrow-minded tone of speech sounded somewhat familiar.
When I looked back, I saw Jacken Waldeck standing there with his men.
Zeke just ignored Jaken and focused on checking his equipment.
Looking at that Zig, Jacken said.
"Zeke Draker, have you ever seen a monster?"
At those words, Zeke raised his head and glared at Jaken.
"Don't be annoying and go away."
Jacken smiled with the corners of his lips raised at Zig's words.
"They say that most guys who see a monster for the first time wet their pants. Zeke, I'm looking forward to seeing how you react."
Then the instructor's voice was heard.
"Zeke Draker! Liam Stone! Get in!"
The two entered the dungeon entrance that the instructor pointed out among the dozens of entrances.
No other family would subject their thirteen-year-olds to such dangerous training.
But this was Drake.
This was possible because this was a place where such crazy things were commonly committed.
The dungeon crawling test took place over four days.
The goal of this practical test was not simply to catch monsters, but also to safely escape the labyrinthine dungeon.
Zeke and Liam slowly entered the depths of the dungeon.
And Zeke found his way by checking the traces secretly marked throughout the dungeon.
Liam was surprised to see such a Zeke.
'Have you ever explored a dungeon before, my lord?'
Liam, who had been showing his shortcomings most of the time in the cradle, was still having trouble adjusting to this sudden change.
After walking through the dark cave for several hours, a huge cavity appeared inside.
Zeke touched and smelled the moss on the walls and the dirt on the floor.
"Let's take a quick break here."
He took out the equipment he had taken from the Dragon Slayer's Tomb and created a temporary base camp.
We pitched a simple tent to keep out the moisture and ran wire around the perimeter to keep out the hazards.
Liam, who had been watching Zeke skillfully setting up camp, approached him in an awkward manner.
"Yes, I will do it."
"Okay. I'll take care of this. Just go around and gather some rocks of a suitable size. Let's make a brazier and cook something."
The most important thing in dungeon exploration is none other than stamina management.
Of course, in Zeke's case, he had an infinite stamina skill, but anything could happen in the dungeon, so you couldn't let your guard down.
As Liam picked up the stones, Zeke placed them around the stone and placed a magic tool inside that would emit heat.
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Because it was an ancient item, its performance was very good.
Zig took out the snacks he had prepared from his inventory and heated them on the brazier.
"Here, try it."
Liam drank the soup Zeke offered him.
It was so delicious that I couldn't believe it was made in a dungeon.
"It's delicious, my lord."
It was a convenient meal that was possible because it was a soup that was specially ordered at the Platinum Lounge, frozen, and put in inventory.
Since the food in the inventory can be preserved as is, you can enjoy the original taste of the soup by just heating it up and eating it.
Zeke and Liam ate a proper meal and slept for a while at the base camp they had set up.
They took turns standing guard and keeping watch over the surroundings, then recovered their stamina and explored the dungeon again.
Zeke turned on the minimap and checked that the markings on the cave matched the path.
And at some point, Zeke noticed something strange and tilted his head.
'The direction that the other cadets are going is completely opposite to the direction that we are going.'
The minimap also showed the locations of other cadets, and the red dots marking them were all clustered along the left path.
However, the road that Zeke and Liam were on was marked to continue only to the right.
Zeke sensed something strange.
'Could it be that these guys have already started doing this?'
Krrrr!
Then, suddenly, a strange sound was heard from inside the cave.
Zeke sensed it and told Liam.
"Liam, turn off the lights."
Even though it was a dark cave, Liam didn't question Zeke's words and immediately turned off the lights.
Zig turned off the lights and focused his sense of smell.
'What is this smell…? The smell of sulfur?'
When it came to hunting monsters, Zeke had experienced so many missions that he ground his teeth.
'Why are there traces of hellhounds in the test dungeon?'
Hellhounds, also known as hellhounds, were considered quite dangerous monsters even among adventurers.
They have excellent senses, and many of them swarm around, and they chase you persistently until you succeed in hunting, so it is difficult to escape.
'You're saying that you put a hellhound in there as a test monster?'
Even though the Drake family is crazy, that was too much.
Then something clicked with Zeke's senses.
"Liam, be on your guard."
Zeke warned Liam in a small voice.
He took his sword and went forward in front.
KIRUK!
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Then the gremlin hiding behind the rock popped out.
Whoosh!
Zeke swung his sword and immediately cut through the gremlin's body.
Bam!
The severed gremlin's torso fell to the floor.
Liam also didn't get nervous as he blocked the gremlins that popped up from other places with his sword and dealt with them well.
If the two of them weren't nervous about the gremlins, they could easily handle it with their own skills.
But then it happened.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Another sound was heard from inside the cave.
Zeke realized that the gremlins were running away from the monster making this sound.
At the same time, something black suddenly shot out in the direction of Zeke.
Kaang!
As Zeke had expected, a hellhound appeared and suddenly attacked.
Liam was startled and ran over to help Zeke.
But Zeke's sword struck the hellhound's head.
Crunch!
A powerful blow separated the hellhound's head and body.
At the same time, letters appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[You have defeated the Hellhound. You will receive 15 Karma Points.]
"Liam, turn on the light."
At Zeke's command, Liam immediately turned on the magic light.
A fairly large hellhound was lying on the ground with its head cut off.
That's when Zeke discovered something from Hellhound.
"this...."
"Why are you doing that?"
Zeke pointed to the hellhound's belly.
There was a mark where something had eaten it.
"I just thought your feet were a bit slow."
Kookookookookook!
The vibration rang again.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Something huge was approaching, making the entire cave shake.
Liam was shocked when he saw the identity.
"T, troll?"
A medium-sized monster with a large physique and excellent resilience.
A high-risk monster that would lightly prey on the likes of a hellhound for exercise had appeared before them.