How to Live as a Swordmaster of the Enemy Nation

Brea

Brea was bewildered as to how a 2-star knight could use aura, and how he had managed to bring down that monster with a single blow.

She felt jealousy and competitiveness towards Gregory's combat skills. In other words, she felt a substantial wall between herself and Gregory, which she disguised as reverence.

He was, quite literally, a genius. He wrapped up the situation with appropriate command and judgment.

After the mental fortitude test ended, Brea composed her blurred mind and went off to take the final exam.

During the mana purity test, Brea's mind was a mixture of tension and anticipation over what results Gregory would show.

The cadets were not surprised by Ernest's results. That was because there was someone even more unusual than Ernest.

They encouraged and praised each other generously as they watched the cadets place their hands on the monument.

"It's okay. We've passed into the order of knights!"

"That's right. We've become knights, which was said to be so hard!"

Until now, whenever a cadet placed their hand on the monument, it mostly glowed blue. However, when Gregory put his hand on the monument, a red light burst forth, and the monument crumbled.

Brea was left standing blankly. The group had neither seen nor heard of red mana before, so they even missed the moment to be surprised.

Alessandro, seeing this, became captivated by Gregory. To him, red mana was as magnificent as a valiant general. Gregory became a role model to Alessandro.

"I can't help it. I'm going to join the same order as Gregory and stay with him. Isn't he amazing?"

Adrian, witnessing this, also clenched his fist and resolved himself.

"Me too. I know my mana purity isn't high and that I'm lacking, but no matter what risks I must take, I will learn from his skills."

Elisabeth voiced a similar opinion.

"That's not entirely wrong. I want to spar with Gregory, too."

Brea remained silent about their opinions, but she felt as though her pride—always bolstered by praise and favoritism—was being broken.

At that moment, Brea stood up abruptly. It was due to her low mana purity and the sense of inferiority she felt toward the exceptional Gregory.

However, perhaps because she had been so divisive all along, no one tried to stop her. The excited atmosphere continued unabated.

Inside Brea, there was already a torrential downpour, flooding her heart and tightly locking its gates.

***

After completing the order's exam, the cadets moved to their temporary quarters to await the consolidated opinions of the Commanders. Gregory and Ernest, being from the same family, shared the same temporary quarters.

As soon as they opened the door, Magnus greeted them cheerfully.

Despite being nervous all day, Gregory and Ernest felt at ease having someone who welcomed them like this.

Gregory remembered Ernest's face before entering the order's exam. Gregory naturally asked,

"Why do you want to join the Dawn Order, brother?"

The Dawn Order is the order that leads frontline reconnaissance and acts as the sword of the kingdom. If war were to break out with the Blandi Kingdom, the Dawn Order would be at the forefront.

Thus, it was an order that required risking great danger, and in fact, suffered more casualties than other orders.

Ernest made a troubled face at the question. Seeing the depth of his feelings, Gregory did not probe any further. After a while, Ernest's somber expression softened.

"When we were young, I suffered a lot at the hands of our uncle. You were too young to remember, I suppose."

Ernest seemed as poor at lying as he was gentle by nature. Just how much had he suffered to want to join such a perilous order, risking even his life?

Gregory stared at Ernest, who, realizing his lie would not work, started stammering.

"Okay. I'll be honest. It was Father's order."

To summarize his story:
Currently, Walter, Commander of the Dawn Order, was expected to step down soon. Although no official reason had been given, it was rumored that his health was deteriorating. Yet he had always maintained a strong front, never showing any sign of weakness.

With no successor in line, the Dawn Order was poised to collapse.

Hemingway had not missed this fact. He wanted Ernest, with his loyalty to the kingdom and indomitable will and talent, to become the next Commander of the Dawn Order. It was the talent and noble reputation Ernest had shown at an early age. Hemingway hoped the position of Commander would continue within House Ashborn.

Ernest could not refuse his father's unusual insistence. Moreover, he was the eldest son and heir to the Ashborn family. The reason he wanted to join the Dawn Order was to fulfill his duty as an Ashborn.
For his standing within the family, there was no other choice.

Gregory thought Ernest was still hiding more, but since he looked so troubled, he decided not to press further.

***

The next day, Gregory and the cadets gathered at the place where the monument had stood. Thanks to the attendants, the remnants of the monument had already been cleared away.

The Commanders' announcement began. When a name was called, the order wishing to take that person would simply raise their hand.

Gregory's name was called first. As a much-discussed figure in the exams, there was a lot of curiosity as to which order he would join.

With his abilities, he would have fit in anywhere.

Aside from the frontline-fighting Dawn Order and the Silver Order, which guarded the gates and the royal family, there were two other orders Gregory could choose from. The Black Cloud Order handled the kingdom's covert affairs, while the Dusk Order was responsible for rear support on the battlefield.

Gregory, with the pride of a swordsman, was satisfied enough to be appointed to any order again.

He liked all the orders, but he had a particular reason to choose the Dawn Order.
Because the Dawn Order actively fought on the battlefield, it would greatly help him recover his bodily senses. Moreover, since once chosen, the order could not be changed, he could no longer join the Silver Order, which he originally wanted.

To complete his revenge against the Blandi Kingdom, he deemed the Dawn Order the most suitable.

"Gregory."

As soon as the instructor called his name, every order Commander raised their hand. Gregory, without hesitation, chose the Dawn Order.

Seeing this, the expressions of the cadets who had stuck around Brea changed noticeably.

'That's it.'

The cadets wanted to join the same Dawn Order as Gregory.

However, due to the order exam system, unless a Commander selected them, they would be eliminated.
If the Commander of the Dawn Order didn't pick them, they would have to join another order instead.
And even if, by some chance, they did join the Dawn Order, the risk remained that senior members would ignore them due to their overwhelming difference in ability.

Considering this, except for Ernest, the chances of anyone else entering the Dawn Order were very slim.

Soon, it was Ernest's turn. Thanks to his outstanding ability, all the Commanders raised their hands for him as well. Of course, Ernest chose the Dawn Order.

Gregory was already thinking of ways to slowly destroy the Blandi Kingdom from within the Dawn Order, together with Ernest.

Next, Alessandro's name was called. The Commanders watched him closely. He had murky mana and low purity.

Although he contributed to defeating the troll, his attack had missed the mark.

Even Alessandro himself was blaming himself internally, making it a difficult choice.

Gregory thought to himself,

'He's out.'

At that moment, the Commander of the Dawn Order quietly raised his hand. No one had expected this.

Alessandro must have been silently pleased, and he naturally entered the Dawn Order.

Elisabeth, thanks to her precise swordsmanship and pure mana, was chosen by three order Commanders.

She confidently chose the Dawn Order.

Adrian was picked by two Commanders.

The Black Cloud Order and the Dawn Order.

Adrian was from a poor noble family and had low mana purity.

Nonetheless, his selection was due to his incredible effort. The House of Valencia was on the verge of collapse under debts, and Adrian had worked like mad to revive it. Thanks to his effort, he had reached the rank of 3-star knight at a young age and was excelling.

The two Commanders held him in high regard for his effort shown in the order tests.

Brea had not achieved good results in mana purity.

Even so, her prior experience as a leader before Gregory and her third-place ranking in physical strength meant she was chosen by all the order Commanders.

Alessandro looked at her with sparkling eyes.

Seeing him, Brea coyly chose the Dawn Order.

The truth was, it was her competitiveness and jealousy against those stronger than herself that fueled her growth. As all the strong-willed physically and mentally cadets went to the Dawn Order, it had become her only choice.

Out of a total of 32 cadets, 23 were admitted into the orders. The nine who were not chosen had to leave.

The surprising point was that, except for those who had faced the troll together, none joined the Dawn Order. It was only natural, given that cadets are not immortal. These six were exceptional cases.

Alessandro, in high spirits, approached Gregory.

"Gregory, could you teach us swordsmanship? We followed you because we want to learn from you."

In fact, Alessandro admired more about Gregory than just his swordsmanship.

Gregory found the situation annoying and thus answered even more bluntly.

"I don't know. Do as you please."

Amid the commotion, Hemingway appeared before the cadets.

Not as the head of a family, but as the leader overseeing all orders, the Grand Commander of the Aurora, Hemingway spoke in a booming voice.

"As announced in advance, once an order has been chosen, it cannot be changed."

This was an unspoken warning to those who had chosen the Dawn Order.

However, the cadets nodded silently, revealing their strong resolve.

Hemingway personally pressed an order insignia onto the cadets' arms, confirming their induction as official knights.

"You may go now."

After the order's exam concluded, the cadets waited for someone.

That someone was Brea.

As members of the same order, they would often see her, and since she seemed to be sulking, they waited to coax her.

"Hey, Brea, are you free tonight?"

"I am.... But why?"

"Aha... You're free? Good."

The cadets grabbed her with mischievous smiles.

"You're going to the festival with us for dinner, right?"

"Wait, let go. What are you doing? I'm not going."

Though she acted as if she didn't want to join the festival, inside, she was actually pleased.
In the end, Brea was dragged into joining the festival.

Meanwhile, Gregory, upon becoming a knight, immediately planned to head to the Dawn Order's headquarters.

As he was about to head to the temporary quarters with his insignia, the cadets blocked his way.

There was no way the cadets who joined the Dawn Order because of Gregory would let him be. Even the usually reserved Ernest joined in.

"Gregory, where do you think you're going? You have to come with us."

"There's a big festival in Arcadia tonight...."

"Well, then it's settled. Tonight, we party there. Let's look around until then."

The cadets, celebrating their passing the exam, goaded each other to attend the festival.

Gregory, still scarred by the betrayals of his past life, hadn't wished to have companions again. Yet, strangely enough, companions who followed him appeared once more.

Though it frightened him, this time the atmosphere was different from his past life.
For the first time, he felt that someone truly cherished him and willingly drew close. It was the first moment he genuinely considered them comrades.

Yet, the wounds of betrayal are not easily healed.
While Gregory appreciated their kindness, he tried his best to feign dislike and maintain a cold demeanor.

"No, I have to train. Let me go."

"Guys, grab him!"

"Trying to skip the after-party?"

And so, Gregory and Brea were dragged off to the festival along with the other cadets.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
This novel feels like the Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble...
Not the deadbeat part.
It's the Knight Order part...
To be specific, the training part where the MC gains friends in the knight order.
The story is setup for him to have a clique or group...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】