I Don’t Want To Be An Ojakgyo

"Did you hear about the incoming newbie? They said that they're an absolute monster."

The knights of the 1st order chatted about the hottest gossip as they ran laps around the training hall. The test for the 1st order was quite difficult, and because the test was only held every two years, they were all incredibly interested about the newcomers.

There were twenty new knights entering the 1st order. 10 of them were originally members of the 2nd order, and the other 10 were those who had proudly passed the exam. But there had been one particular newbie in particular who had grabbed the attention amongst all of the entries. They aced the physical, aced the written exam, aced the reflex test, aced the speed test. A monster-like newbie with skills so great that they almost sounded inhuman.

"So, did you find out anything about the newbie?"

"No. Other than the fact that they're one of those rare magic knights….."

"Tsk, why did they have to change the test this time? We don't even know who's joining."

"We know the ones coming up from the 2nd order though, right?"

"They're already familiar, so whatever. I don't want to know about them, I want to learn about the rumored newbie."

The crazy one that apparently could shatter a boulder with their bare hand. When they were asked to introduce themselves during the exam, they said, "I heard that you could join if you could break a boulder with your bare hand." and then actually did just that.

They had no idea that people actually believed that rumor, so the examiners were quite confounded. It had just been a rumor that was based on the fact that most people in the 1st order were pretty strong. There wasn't any single nutjob out there in the world who would actually break a boulder with their bare hands. Even the leader of the 1st order probably couldn't do it.

"Why can't we know who that person is?! So frustrating."

"There's nothing we can do about it. Based on the revised knighthood exam regulations, all information about the new members are hidden until introductions."

"Yeah, that's right. I heard about those regulations. Sigh. Why though? I was trying to support my cousin."

"There was a bit of a push towards nobles, after all. Our new crown prince was eager to fix that and revised it immediately. There was a lot of dissent, but he pushed for it so hard that it was no use. He's the one in charge of the knights, after all."

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In order to prevent nobles or rich families buying their way into the knights, the rules and regulations for the knighthood exam had changed. The test examiners entered the exam location wearing an illusion necklace that had been newly developed by the royal magicians. When they wore the necklace, the test examiners would be unable to see anything about the examinees other than their numbers. They would only be able to read personal information about the participants once their scores had been submitted and they had been accepted, and only the emperor and a few select others were able to read about the participants before they were admitted in. The knights would only be able to see who passed after the entrance ceremony.

This was to ensure that the participants would solely be judged by their skills instead of their gender, status, or outward appearances. Even an amputee would be able to become a knight if they had the skills, and anyone missing a limb or a finger could join if they were talented enough.

"There are rumors that the newbie is a famous mercenary. And that they're almost 6 meters tall."

"Ack. 6 meteeeers? That's incredible. But I've heard that they're a mountain bandit. That they've trained in the mountains for 30~40 years by themselves….."

"Haha. They might be a pirate next."

The rumors about the terrifying newbie only snowballed more.

"Oh, I've also heard that they're a dainty son of a noble. Apparently, the duke and marquis and more are vying to support the newbie when they were accepted. Hold on, isn't there a young lord in the Blanche dukedom? Swanhaden Blanche. Isn't he a magic knight?"

"I mean, it sounds like it can be true, but there's no reason for him to join the 1st order. He just officially took on the title of duke, so why would he become a mere knight? For the terrifying Blanche duke to join the 1st order. Don't say things like that. It's scary."

"Ugh, then who is it? There isn't a magic knight amongst the famous noble children, so maybe they really are a mercenary or something. Makes me feel iffy. But their skills are top notch, so I'm kind of excited…."

They were half-excited and half-nervous as they waited for the entrance ceremony to begin. The more they waited, the more the rumor mill went wild. At this point, it wouldn't have been weird for the rumor to state that the newcomer was a three-eyed chimera.

And then, on the day of the anticipated entrance ceremony.

"Gather!"

The leader gathered all members of the 1st order. They all lined up in two straight lines in seconds. They stood with their feet apart in shoulder-width and chest open, hands on their backs. Their chins were up as they stared into the distance.

"Our new family members are here."

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. A group marched in step towards the original 1st order. They had trained before the ceremony, so all of them were perfectly disciplined. Seeing how the exam for the 1st order had gotten significantly harder, all of the newcomers had defined, wide shoulders and intricate muscles. The air around them was something else. It was clear to see that all of them were incredibly skilled. They were all pretty big, too.

The original 1st order tried not to move as they looked around for the mysterious newcomer. First, their eyes roamed to the biggest newbie. They looked strong enough to shatter someone's skull with their bare hands. Then, they looked to a newbie who looked incredibly quick on their feet. They looked like they could slice through two or three people at once.

They had no idea how the newbie looked or what their name was, so they just bit their lips in frustration. But they passed their exams with the highest scores, so they would be the head of the new group. The royal knights were separated by their year of entry. This year's exam was the 68th exam since the inception of the royal knights, so they would be the 68th group. The rumored newbie was going to be the leader of the 68th group, so they would be the first one to introduce themselves as the leader. They would be able to learn about them even without looking for them. They gulped as they waited. Please, please don't be the Blanche duke.

Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp! They waved their arms back and forth evenly as they stomped in perfect rhythm. They turned their heads to the sides, then twisted their bodies as soon as they reached the original group of knights.

"Halt."

Then, the shortest, smallest member of the group inhaled deeply before yelling loudly. It was a powerful voice. As soon as the voice sounded, the newbies all stopped moving and turned towards the front. Their movements were so perfect that it almost felt weird. Everyone tensed at the person's voice as they moved accordingly.

"Stand in attention."

They weren't screaming, but their voice was crystal clear. They were using their aura to make their voice louder. Their tone and pronunciation were perfect.

The original group of knights widened their eyes as they stared at the small girl in front.

"My name is Shuraina West. I've been assigned at the leader of group 68 within the 1st order. I greet you all as the representative."

An orange-haired girl wearing the knight's black uniform called herself the representative and stepped forwards. Her uniform jacket had a star badge showing her representative status and an unknown rose badge next to it.

"Salute!"

Chak.

When she bowed first, the other 19 knights all bowed after her. Everyone was befuddled at how strict and well-trained the newbies were compared to the original knights.

Newcomer training was done by the group representative and a supervisor. How hard did they train for them to be so high-strung? That wasn't the issue. How did such a tiny, no, how did such a tiny woman join the 1st order? It would've made sense for an old mercenary to join.

Everyone went into full panic as they stared at the tiny girl in front of them.

After the entrance ceremony, there was a bit of time for everyone to get to know each other. There were quite a lot of nobles within the knights so they went around and forged new relationships, and the original knights would tell the newbies about what kind of hell would await them for the forseeable future.

"We want to see how much magic you have. Can you follow us please?"

The group of people surrounding Shuraina all stared at her with distrust.