Chapter 23: The Diary of the Inept

Chapter 23: The Diary of the Inept

[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, in 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, Ivina? 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.nôvel binz was the first platform to present this chapter.

But what he saw was even more complex than that.

Lotte's father was a baron in the Secas 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.

"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 Jonny 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 Loude! Regardless of where Jonny 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 Loude.

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 "Foundations of Universal Magic" in the book also had a spell that could handle this situation.

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