HTSAADK 02

How to Live as a Disaster-Class Knight – Episode 002

2. The Gray Bear and the Knight

What is the most important thing for a person living their life? When you think about it, there are many things. Broadly speaking, there are things like clothing, food, and shelter, but what I had overlooked was money.

‘Had I known it would be like this, I should have brought at least a few coins from the village.’

It wasn’t difficult to recover the money from the village, as the bandits had died while fleeing, leaving their plundered goods behind. The problem was that back then, a few days ago, I had been swept up in the moment.

Instead of touching that money, which felt like the villagers’ relics, I divided it exactly according to the number of graves and buried it with the bodies, treating it like a final offering. But now, starting my journey and arriving at the first village, I felt that something had gone terribly wrong.

“Work that pays? Hmm, I’m not sure if there’s any work suitable for a mercenary in a small rural village like this.”

“Well, Hanson next door said his son lost a cat. He said he’d give a basket of potatoes as a reward if it’s found. It’s probably dead. It seemed to have gone into the forest. Ah, it was such a cute cat…”

“Even if you ask me, the village chief… it’s hard to create work where there is none. My, my apologies.”

I might have thought of the world too simply. I had mistakenly assumed that after leaving the slash-and-burn village, if I visited other normal villages or cities, there would be an abundance of work of any kind. In novels, fantasy dramas, or games, they always made money that way. Work was always plentiful, and what was always lacking was manpower. But reality was different.

“……This is troublesome.”

The villagers glanced at me furtively and passed by with bowed heads. They seemed wary of getting involved at all. My appearance, bare-bodied without a proper weapon, not even wearing common leather armor, must have looked very suspicious. They likely regarded me with caution, as either a mercenary who had betrayed a large mercenary band and was now a wandering outlaw, or simply a real wanted criminal.

It wasn’t an unfair reaction. It was largely my own fault for leaving the village without a plan. Instead of making unreasonable demands for work, I visited a nearby general store and asked the trembling bald shopkeeper.

“Can you purchase the corpses of animals like wolves, deer, or bears?”

“W-wolves, you say, sir mercenary?”

As if my question was unexpected, the bald shopkeeper looked me up and down. The shopkeeper was fairly large himself, but the difference was about a head in height, which seemed to make him tense. Despite his rough appearance, he swallowed nervously. Was I that suspicious? Perhaps. Even if this were the modern era and not the Middle Ages, if someone like me met him in an alley, he would stick to the wall and slink away. But he was also a true merchant.

“For a wolf carcass in good condition, I can give you at least 20 silver. The meat has little value, but I’ll add something for it.”

“20 silver?”

“Oh, don’t misunderstand. From my perspective, that’s a generous offer. In a larger village or city, you could get over 70 silver for a top-quality pelt… but I have to buy it here and go to other villages to sell it.”

I nodded at the merchant’s hurried excuses. For a moment, a look of relief flashed across his face, so it seemed he wasn’t entirely lying. Well, even if he were, I wouldn’t have thought he was trying to swindle me. The value of goods naturally varies by time and place. In this small village, the value of a wolf pelt was somewhat limited—it was hard to see it as more than just a warm blanket. That’s just the kind of village Milford was.

If there’s no work, I should think of things that could serve as work, handle them myself, and earn money. That was the conclusion I reached, and hunting beasts was an example. There might be magical beasts around here, but my chosen prey were wolves, bears, and deer. I had hunted beasts before. While climbing mountains to cut trees, I often encountered wild animals. Each time, I beat them to death. I killed them with thrown stones, with the firewood I was carrying, or by hacking them with an axe. For me, hunting was familiar.

The only difference from then was that now I was seeking them out, not waiting for them to approach me. Step— step— The summer mountain path was muddy. Due to the overnight shower, it sank deeply with every step. Considering that leaving tracks in the mountains wasn’t very wise, it wasn’t a good start for a hunter. But for now, it couldn’t be helped. It’s not like I learned footwork like real knights to hide my footprints, nor could I use magic to lighten my body.

‘Come to think of it, they called me a knight, didn’t they?’

The memory of the bandits who had ravaged my village two days ago surfaced. They called me a knight. A wandering knight, at that. Even though I lived in a remote slash-and-burn village, I had heard of those monsters called knights a few times. Beings who use magic magic users. Basically, anyone who could use magic was called a knight. Those from noble families were simply called knights, while those without affiliation, roaming freely, were called wandering knights. Honestly, wandering knights were rare. It was only natural—what madman would abandon the guaranteed wealth and honor of being a formal knight to wander the wilderness?

Lost in such thoughts, I found myself already halfway up the mountain. “Phew, it’s hot.” The summer mountain was quite warm. Even though the tall trees blocked the sunlight, the hot rays filtering through the leaves heated the ground. The sweltering heat was stifling, not to mention the unpleasant humidity enough to make sweat pour down.

Just then, something caught my eye as I scanned for prey. A squirrel jumped down, picked up an acorn from the ground, and scurried away. Instantly, saliva pooled in my mouth. Though it was a size not even worth a bite, to me who had been hungry for two days until finding the village, that was precious protein. But I soon shook my head. Considering the hassle of catching it, cleaning it, and building a fire to roast it, what was the point of catching that tiny squirrel?

Instead, I cast my gaze beyond the squirrel’s nest. My sharpened senses caught something. Dozens of meters away from the trees, behind a large rock—though not visible, I felt something was there. What a mysterious body this was. Despite an unbalanced diet, it had grown to a stature close to 190 cm, and it maintained a sturdy, muscular physique. What was more astonishing was that this body’s growth hadn’t stopped there. It’s not that the muscles became bulkier or I grew taller. Biological growth had already ended when I turned 15.

However, my body was still gradually growing through labor and combat. The muscle size remained the same, but my raw strength increased, and things I couldn’t see before were becoming clearer. After the battle with the bandits who turned the village into hell two days ago, I felt it even more clearly. That I had become stronger. It truly was a mysterious, wondrous, and strange physique. Of course, it was a good thing. If I didn’t have this monstrous body, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of avenging my parents and the villagers. Similarly, I wouldn’t have easily chosen to leave the village and wander.

Through my heightened senses, I felt that the thing beyond the rock was of considerable size—much larger than me. “…A wild boar? No, in this case, it’s closer to a bear.” I crouched low and approached the rock, trying to muffle my footsteps as much as possible. Even so, my footsteps, untrained in stealth, were quite audible, so I couldn’t hide my presence from the thing behind the rock.

“Groar!”

The rock, as big as a house, shook, and a gray bear revealed itself. It seemed quite hungry, as its body was surprisingly lean for its size. I remembered seeing something on YouTube. Bears that are starving, looking like they haven’t eaten for a week, are much more dangerous than bears that have sufficiently replenished their energy before hibernation. The bear before me was exactly in that state.

But instead of running, I picked up a fist-sized stone lying nearby and charged straight at the bear. Thud— thud thud thud— I smashed the stone against the bear’s head with all my might. When I came to my senses, the gray bear was already lifeless, slumped over. I saw that the hem of my shirt, grazed by the bear’s front paw, was slightly torn. There was no wound. I don’t know what kind of skin this is, but it blocked not only arrows but also the bear’s claws. I recalled that skilled mid-level knights learn a body-hardening technique called Iron Skin.

“Well, I’m not a knight, though.”

For now, that was the case. I didn’t know how to handle magic. It was more miraculous that I had this body without using magic, but regardless, I wasn’t a knight. Grabbing the bear’s hind leg, its head half-crushed, I began descending the mountain. They said a wolf was worth 20 silver—I wonder how much a bear will fetch. I hope it’s enough to help with my future travels, but I won’t know until I meet the shopkeeper.

“…Should I have learned to negotiate?”

Suddenly, the words of my neighbor Mar lock, who lived a few houses away, came to mind. He once said that if I ever planned to leave the village and become a mercenary, he would teach me the merchant’s negotiation skills he learned before settling in the village. At the time, I pretended not to hear, thinking I would never leave the village in my lifetime.

I should have closed my eyes and learned it briefly back then. If I had known standing on my own would be this tough, I would have learned various things.

Northern Outskirts of Marquis Marquis Territory. The Rural Village, Milford.

In the middle of the main street of this village with barely a hundred residents, a splendid carriage stood still. The carriage was adorned with strange patterns, exuding an antique elegance and the noble’s unique, refined classicism. The place where the carriage stopped was in front of Tom’s General Store, known as the wealthiest in the village.

Milford was a village where people barely scraped by—gathering herbs, growing crops, and those who couldn’t even do that hunted small mountain game. Someone like Tom received considerable treatment here. Of course, no matter how great Tom was, he didn’t hold a status as grand as the owner of the classic carriage. Practically speaking, Tom’s position was so low that if the carriage’s owner uttered a single displeased or irritated word, he could lose his head. To nobles, commoners, especially those in remote villages like this, were little different from livestock or wild beasts.

Yet, there was one reason the carriage stopped in front of Tom’s General Store.

“…Mason. What is that?”

“My lady, that is a Gray Bear. Judging by its size of over 3 meters, it seems to have no match in these mountains, excluding magical beasts.”

Mason, a soldier wearing leather armor, bowed politely as he answered. The place he paid his respects to was where a young girl stood with a bright expression. She was a girl who exuded grace just by standing still. She wore a pure white dress made of silk and velvet with golden patterns, a small floral crown on her head, and her long, blue hair cascaded down to her waist. Her features were particularly distinct even for a noble, and her skin was as clean as a snow-covered plain, as if she had never seen sunlight.

Belina de Marquis. This girl’s status was that of the youngest daughter of the Marquis Viscount family, who could be called the ruler of this region. After checking the bear carcass lying beside Tom, who wore a dumbfounded expression, she glanced at Mason, her guard who had accompanied her. As if she were re-evaluating her own common sense.

“In your opinion, how do you think this bear was killed?”

“…Judging by the wounds, it appears to have been killed by being struck with a heavy blunt weapon. Likely a mace or a iron flail. I assume it was killed in a single strike.”

Even from Mason’s perspective, his explanation was filled with bewilderment. The wounds were nonsensical enough to feel that way. A bear’s skull was much harder and thicker than a human’s, structurally designed to withstand external impact easily. The bone thickness alone was more than double, meaning it wasn’t just twice as strong, but far more resilient.

‘…There are no signs of resistance from the bear. Meaning its skull was shattered in one strike. There were subsequent blows, but those were just confirming the kill. The Gray Bear likely lost its life from the first blow.’

No other wounds were visible on the bear. It died without a chance to resist. And possessing such force meant that the person who did this was beyond human. Watching the bear carcass, Mason smiled faintly and asked.

“…A knight who went bear hunting because he needed money. Mason, have you heard of such an unusual knight?”

Mason couldn’t answer rashly. It was because he found it difficult to say with his own mouth that this was an undignified act even a free-spirited wandering knight wouldn’t do. What kind of beings were knights? A knight who had reached a high realm could easily shatter laws and order at any time. Monsters beyond human. The knights Mason knew meant such absurd beings. Unless they were facing powerful magical beasts threatening their lives, they were not the kind to kill animals merely for lack of money. They were elegant and noble beings. At least, as far as Mason knew.

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