Chapter 33
"Wow."
Jake stood before the young boy and openly praised him.
"Using such a heavy shield that freely is incredible."
The large boy scratched his head awkwardly.
Jessica watched from a distance with a stunned expression.
It was the first time she had ever seen Jake praise someone so openly.
But Jake shamelessly continued.
"Are you perhaps a Mana User?"
He lowered his voice.
"You're young, but you looked almost like a knight."
The boy hurriedly shook his head.
"N-No."
"I can sense mana..."
"But I'm only half a Mana User."
"I can't release it outside my body."
His expression became anxious.
"Please don't say things like that carelessly."
"It could cause trouble."
Jake had whispered precisely because he knew that.
Still...
As expected...
The boy had already awakened his ability to sense mana.
It was obvious if one thought about the earlier battle.
The boy had spent days carrying a metal shield several times heavier than an ordinary one.
During combat...
He had even swung it around like a sword.
Only a Mana User could do that.
Jake continued smiling his best business smile while making conversation.
The boy responded well despite his embarrassment.
His name was Louis.
The shield knight.
In the future Jake had experienced...
An impressive family name would eventually follow that first name.
But in this changed world...
That family name would probably never become his.
Count Toledo had noticed Louis's talent when he was young.
The Count took him in and made him the second son's squire.
Many years later...
Louis became known as the Count's shield.
Then...
As one of the empire's greatest shield knights.
Unfortunately...
He had eventually been drafted into the emperor's campaign to conquer the Great Forest...
And died.
But that future would no longer come.
So Jake did not need to worry about that ending.
"Louis!"
"What are you doing over there?"
The young noble's voice rang out.
Louis's expression immediately hardened.
"I should go."
"The Young Lord is calling me."
He bowed politely to Jake...
Then ran back toward Laurel.
"That's the boy?"
Jessica approached Jake.
"Yes."
"Ugh."
She rubbed her arms.
"You gave me goosebumps."
"Where did you learn that expression and tone?"
"It's called customer-service speech."
Jake replied.
"If you'd like, I can use it on you too..."
He smiled sweetly.
"Our esteemed female Mana User mercenary?"
"No!"
Jessica recoiled in horror.
"Never do that!"
Her face turned bright red.
She fanned herself for quite a while.
"Hmm."
Jessica looked toward Louis.
"Now that I can see his face properly..."
"He's actually pretty young despite his size."
"He did seem good with the shield."
"You're saying he becomes an incredible knight in the future?"
"He's already incredible now."
Jake answered.
"He can't release mana outside his body..."
"But he's already a Mana User."
"What?!"
Jessica stared.
"Another genius?!"
For a moment...
She complained about why every kid they met seemed to be some kind of genius.
Then she tilted her head.
"But that boy is the squire of that impressive young knight over there."
"How are you planning to recruit him into our party?"
"I was worried about that too."
Jake admitted.
"But after talking to him..."
"I don't think it's completely impossible."
"We still have plenty of time until we reach the southern kingdom."
"We can talk to him slowly."
Jessica frowned.
"But if he's already a Mana User, why is he still a squire?"
"Don't Mana Users immediately become knights?"
Jessica had only recently awakened mana herself.
She also knew very little about knights.
So it was a perfectly reasonable question.
Aside from mages...
Mana Users who fought physically generally used mana in two ways.
The first was reinforcing the body.
Using mana to strengthen muscles.
Lift heavier objects.
Move faster.
Enhance the eyes to see farther and follow movements ordinary people could not perceive.
It was a method of using mana to exceed the natural limits of the human body.
The second method...
Was projecting mana outside the body to reinforce a weapon.
One example was wrapping a sword blade in mana...
Giving it terrifying cutting power.
That was one of the techniques used by knights.
Combined with their superhuman physical abilities...
It explained why knights functioned almost like tanks on the battlefield.
They could move faster than ordinary people could even properly see.
Possessed strength that was almost impossible to stop.
And carried swords capable of cutting nearly anything.
Only another knight or a mage could reliably stop one.
But Louis...
Although capable of using mana to reinforce his body...
Could not project mana outside himself.
That was why he called himself only half a Mana User.
And why he could not become a knight.
"Huh."
Jessica looked surprised.
"So some people just can't do that?"
Jessica had been capable of projecting mana almost immediately after awakening.
She had never heard that others could fail at it.
"Everyone is different."
Jake's expression suggested he did not consider Louis's weakness a weakness at all.
"Well..."
Jessica shrugged.
"We aren't exactly recruiting him as a knight."
"So it doesn't matter."
"And like you said..."
"It doesn't look completely hopeless."
Both of them could see Louis being berated by Laurel.
The squire stood with his head lowered...
While the Count's son struck him across the cheek with the back of his hand.
The other knights and noblewomen all pretended not to see.
They learned the reason for Laurel's treatment of Louis that same day.
While walking...
Jessica heard it from Laurel himself, who had shown interest in her.
Jake learned the same information from Amber...
Who had known the noble family personally.
"So it's jealousy."
Jake concluded.
"That's basically it."
Amber sighed.
"He claims Louis became arrogant..."
