The Game Difficulty Is Crazy
Chapter 9
Late at night on the same day.
Jaber was sitting in front of the desk in his office, wearing a serious expression as he pondered something deeply.
Perhaps because it was an unusual sight for him, the young attendant knight spoke up.
“Sir Jaber. What brings you to the office for so long?”
“It’s just something that’s been bothering me.”
“What would that be?”
Jaber lightly tapped the paper lying on the desk with his index finger.
“Isn’t that the paper the Second Young Master gave you earlier?”
It was something Glen had handed to Jaber right after receiving the declaration of support.
“What does it say that has you like this?”
“Do you want to read it?”
When Jaber pushed the paper forward, the attendant knight stepped closer.
“Seventy barrels of oil, one thousand arrows. Five hundred kilograms of gunpowder, and then—”
The attendant knight frowned.
“Isn’t this all siege defense supplies?”
“That’s right. He said it would be good to prepare these items quickly.”
“Is it for the Holy War?”
“Most likely.”
About half a month ago, news had already come through the carrier crows that the lord had left the territory to attend a Holy War council.
“But do we really need this much material? The defenses of Ovenue Fortress are already excellent, aren’t they?”
“I think so too.”
Even if a Holy War council was being held in the capital, it would still take several months before troops actually moved.
With no immediate danger, it was hard to pressure the soldiers to stockpile even more siege supplies.
“Perhaps the Young Master doesn’t know the situation here in Ovenue and is just frightened by news of war.”
Otherwise, there was no way to explain such unreasonable numbers.
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t be sitting here this late.”
At the very least, the Glen Wordsworth he had seen today was neither a coward afraid of demons nor a fool.
He showed no sign of shrinking back even after entering the wolves’ den. Instead, sharp light shone in his eyes as he carefully observed every corner of Ovenue Fortress.
Before that, he had even anticipated that this rude knight order might turn him away, and had shown the meticulousness to steal meat from the family storehouse in advance.
That man, who had shown abilities far from ordinary, making the rumors of him being a fanatical executioner seem laughable—
To make such an irrational suggestion immediately after receiving the knight order’s declaration of support was deeply meaningful.
“Damn it, my head’s starting to hurt!”
Ruffling his hair, Jaber stood up from his seat.
“Are you heading in?”
“Yes. What good is forcing a brain I barely ever use to work? Sleeping is far better use of my time.”
“Then what will you do about the note the Young Master gave you?”
“Huh?”
Jaber grinned, showing his teeth.
“Thinking about it, is there really any need to overthink it? I can just ask the Young Master for the details tomorrow, can’t I?”
“That’s true, but…”
The attendant knight wondered why he hadn’t thought of that earlier.
‘He’s sharp when leading the knight order, but oddly dull at times like this.’
Simple yet deep.
Sharp-minded yet strangely slow in unexpected places.
Even after serving beside Jaber for years, he still felt like an impossible man to fully understand.
“If there’s nothing else, you should head in too.”
“Nothing else… Ah, earlier the Young Master left for Mount Rivero with a trainee knight.”
“At this hour? For what?”
“He said he was going to offer late-night prayers at Ronian Monastery.”
“Hmmm…?”
Jaber tilted his head in thought for a moment, then shrugged.
“Alright. Since the mountain path is dark, if they’re gone too long, take a few men and go escort them back. Good work.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Leaving the attendant knight’s salute behind, Jaber left the office.
As he walked down the corridor, he kept stroking his beard.
‘He really is a strange one.’
Past midnight.
The higher they climbed the mountain, the more sharply the temperature dropped.
They had only been climbing for about an hour from the fortress, yet snow was already visible.
Considering that the first snow hadn’t fallen yet this year, it must have been snow left over from last year that hadn’t melted.
‘If we go higher, won’t we freeze to death?’
At least there was a path leading to the monastery.
Just who was the lunatic who built a monastery halfway up a mountain like this?
“And I’m just as strange for heading to the monastery that lunatic built at this hour, right?”
Glen let out a self-mocking chuckle and looked back at Tasha.
“That is correct.”
“…You’re agreeing again.”
“You stated a fact, so I simply agreed. My personal feelings are not involved at all—”
“Yeah, yeah. Good for you.”
Her calm, expressionless delivery of facts was oddly irritating.
“A person should know how to say a few empty pleasantries, you know.”
“Is there a need to say things you don’t mean?”
Or wouldn’t silence be better?
She tilted her head, looking genuinely confused.
He had tried to make conversation so the walk wouldn’t be boring.
“…Forget it. You’ll manage just fine. Let’s just keep going.”
There was no point joking around with someone as stiff as a block of wood.
The silent climb continued.
Crunch, crunch—
Only the sound of snow being stepped on and the wind blowing across the snowy mountain could be heard. It was an awkward silence, different from when he was alone.
Unable to endure the boredom, Glen spoke to Tasha again.
They had already talked about swordsmanship and training an hour ago.
So the conversation drifted to unimportant stories about noble families.
Then, by chance, Glen learned something quite interesting about Tasha.
“You’re not from House Alien?”
“Yes. Baron Alien merely adopted me as his foster daughter.”
Glen remembered the trainee knight registry he had seen before.
Based on that, he had naturally assumed Tasha was a daughter of the Alien family.
Since it wasn’t a family worth special attention, he had forgotten about it.
“My original family is Pelebin. A baronial house that has now fallen, with no one left.”
A completely unexpected name came from Tasha’s mouth.
House Pelebin.
In the original story, it was already a fallen house, yet Glen knew the name for a reason.
‘Ganymede Pelebin.’
The last head of House Pelebin, and a knight who fought at the vanguard for Wordsworth.
After dying in battle, he was resurrected by the demons as a Death Knight and turned his blade against the Papal State he had once sworn to protect—a tragic man.
‘I remember him because his story was tragic, and he was strong enough to give me real trouble.’
The scene where he regained his memories at the very end, repented, and pierced his own core with his sword had been deeply memorable.
Of course, Ganymede appearing as a Death Knight would be far in the future.
At the current point in time, Ganymede was simply a brave noble who had died fighting for Wordsworth in the last war.
‘The important part is that this girl is Ganymede’s child.’
That meant Ganymede’s blood flowed in her veins.
In other words, there was a high chance that Tasha possessed the same unique potential ability he had.
‘In the original story, children usually inherit unique potential abilities similar to their parents.’
Ganymede’s unique potential ability was none other than Ruthless Vanguard Commander.
If that same unique potential was dormant within Tasha—
‘That’s a massive win.’
He had already been keeping an eye on Tasha and was thinking of making her a commander or adjutant in the future.
But if she had a command-specialized unique potential ability?
That would be nothing but pure profit for him.
Of course, there was no guarantee yet that she possessed Ruthless Vanguard Commander.
Still, just knowing there was a possibility made him feel reassured.
‘I’ll look into it when I have time later.’
Glen cheered inwardly.
