022 The Commoner, Allen

My hometown was Karel Village, a place blessed with an abundance of nature. It was tucked away deep in the mountains; we had nothing there, yet in a way, we had everything.

My father, my mother, my younger sister, and me—the four of us lived together in peace. I would wake up rubbing my sleepy eyes, then toil in the fields until the sun went down. That was my life. On our days off, we played in the nearby rivers and mountains, and on special days, the village held festivals. It was the kind of ordinary, happy village you could find anywhere.

Some of my friends dreamed of leaving for a life of adventure once they grew up, but I never shared that ambition. I’d heard stories of terrifying monsters in the outside world and endless conflicts between people. For someone like me who only knew peace, the fear of the unknown was overwhelming.

Then came that day. It happened when I went out alone to check a trap I’d set.

I spotted a rare rabbit and followed it deep into the mountains, only to realize I’d lost my way. By the time I finally managed to find my way back, the village I knew was gone.

Human remains were scattered everywhere.

I was paralyzed by a shock so great I couldn't even breathe. That was when the monsters—giant, ferocious beasts—attacked. I was beaten, and just when I thought it was all over, a man from the Kingdom saved me. I later learned that a nearby dungeon had suffered a collapse, and the monsters had spilled out into our valley.

After that, I was raised in an orphanage. The teacher there was kind. I made plenty of friends and eventually came to understand the reality of the outside world. But the wounds in my heart never showed any sign of healing.

"Poor Allen."

That was the phrase I heard more than any other in my life. Eventually, the brunt of my hatred naturally shifted toward the monsters. I decided I would become strong and exterminate every last one of them.

But I wasn't strong. Even when I got into scuffles with my friends, I’d get beaten immediately. If I wanted to change, I had no choice but to change my entire way of thinking.

If you want to gain something, you have to sacrifice something else.

That was something my teacher at the orphanage used to say. He told me that righteousness alone couldn't save people. I eventually learned that there were countless dungeons in this world, and that other villages had suffered just like mine. I wanted to become strong—strong enough to ensure the same tragedy never happened again.

But I didn't even know where to start. Whenever I tried to learn martial arts, people treated me like a pariah because I was an orphaned commoner.

"No." "Get lost." "There’s no telling what a kid like you might do."

I had no choice but to teach myself. Every single day, I swung a stick, blindly desperate to grow stronger. By the time I finally reached the point where I could take down a minor monster, several years had already passed.

I’m not going to make it in time. At this rate, I’ll never be good enough. I won’t be able to save anyone. I’ll be useless.

In the midst of my despair, I had a chance encounter with the man who had saved me. He was the Knight Commander of the Kingdom.

"Please. I want to become strong!"

Knowing full well how rude I was being, I pleaded with him over and over. I begged him to teach me the sword, magic, and the way to fight. At first, he refused—no, he refused me dozens of times. But I had nothing else to cling to. I had to keep asking.

On the twenty-fifth attempt, I finally secured a master. He was far too blunt and gruff to be a Knight Commander, but he taught me the meaning of true strength. He taught me what combat was supposed to be.

"Allen, doing the right thing in this world isn't some easy task," he told me. "If you want to brandish justice, you’ve gotta become strong enough to crush the very concept of absurdity. That’s what you’re after, isn’t it? Destroying dungeons, abolishing slavery, exterminating monsters... those aren't the kind of dreams a mere commoner gets to talk about."

"I know... but I... I don't want to compromise."

"Haha! You can't even use magic properly, yet you’ve got the ambition of a king. Fine. Then don't waste a single day. You don't have time to spare. Just know that after you've put in a hundred times more effort than everyone else, you'll finally be 'average.'"

For several years, my master watched over me every day. Thanks to him, I grew strong. I had no talent for magic, but a Gift eventually awakened within me. I never got the chance to tell him, though. My master suddenly resigned from the Knights and vanished.

Later, I saved a girl from a group of thugs and met Shari. She was the daughter of a viscount, and though she looked down on commoners at first, the more time we spent together, the more she began to realize that rank was meaningless. She was a wonderful, kind person who truly tried to understand others. It was Shari who told me about Nobless Academy.

"If I go there... can I get a peerage?"

"If you graduate, yes," she explained. "You'd be allowed to enter dungeons all over the world, and moving between countries would be easy. That's what you want, right? But the exam difficulty is—"

"I’ve decided. I’m taking the entrance exam for Nobless Academy."

Shari was strictly against it, but my mind was made up. It was a stroke of luck that, through her, I met my second mentor, Darius-sensei. Despite all that, my actual exam performance was a total disaster.

Weiss Fancent.

He was terrifyingly powerful. I couldn't lay a finger on him. Every move I made was countered; it felt like he could see through my every thought. I was forced to realize what a true "genius" looked like.

"Why didn't you use your Gift?" Shari had asked me afterward.

"Because... it feels like cheating. I didn't want to use something like that at the Academy."

"Honestly, Allen, you're way too serious for your own good."

I was certain I’d failed, but somehow, I passed. The Point System was a shock, but I have no intention of giving up on graduation.

[Upperclassman No. 15, Gibit: Incapacitated. Underclassmen Weiss Fancent and Carta Wiore are currently the point leaders.]

"That's Weiss for you..." I muttered, looking at the notification. "Shari, what should we do? The upperclassmen are waiting for us further ahead."

"...We won't get enough points just fighting other freshmen. We have to aim for the top. I don't want to lose to Weiss... not again. From here on out, I'm using my Gift. I can't afford to worry about it being 'unfair' anymore. I... I want to win."

"I see... I understand. Then let's win this, no matter what. Allen, I'll be the one to protect you."

I'm done with a life where everything is stolen from me. I'm going to take it all back.

If you want to be righteous, you have to be strong. Isn't that right—Master Zebis?