Chapter 2

“It’s definitely Lysquare Academy.”

About thirty minutes had passed since this absurd situation had unfolded.

By that point, I had finally started to accept reality and grasp the situation I was in.

The very first thing I checked was where I actually was.

And surprisingly, that answer came to me faster than expected.

‘This room is one of the dormitories at Lysquare Academy.’

I had been playing Valiant’s Legacy for years.

Thanks to that, I could recognize the layout of the academy and even the dormitory rooms at a glance.

‘Alright, so this is Lysquare Academy… Let’s say this place really is in the Arium Empire, not Korea.’

It made absolutely no sense, but for now, I decided to assume that was the case.

However, one question still lingered in my mind.

“Who am I?”

I muttered as I stared into the mirror.

No— that question wasn’t quite right.

To be exact, the question should’ve been who the person I had possessed was.

“Gideon Kyrgram. Gideon… Gideon Kyrgram.”

As I mentioned before, I was one of the most hardcore veterans of this game.

Not just Lysquare Academy— I was confident I could name every notable NPC and even the named monsters in the entire game’s world.

But no matter how hard I tried to remember, the name Gideon Kyrgram had never once come up.

‘Kyrgram must be the family name, right? That means he’s a noble… but was there ever a noble family by that name?’

I couldn’t recall a single thing.

No— it wasn’t just that. The entire situation itself made no sense from the start.

How did an ordinary gaming addict like me end up in a place like this…?

— Have you calmed down a bit?

“…Huh?”

— At least you look a lot calmer than you did thirty minutes ago.

“…What the hell?”

Once again, an incomprehensible situation unfolded before me.

Suddenly, I heard someone’s voice echoing inside my head.

For a moment, I thought I had completely lost it. But since there was nothing to lose, I decided to respond.

“Who are you? And why are you in my head…?”

— Hmm… let’s just say I’m the one who brought you here. For now, think of it that way.

“Uh… I see. Then can you tell me why you brought me here?”

I asked the voice as calmly as I could.

If the owner of that voice really was the one who had transmigrate me into this world…

— Because the conditions were just too perfect.

“…What’s that supposed to mean?”

— You wouldn’t understand even if I told you now. Still, it’s amazing when I think about it. A swordsman who uses only the most defensive techniques, blessed by the spirit of water… wow, it all fits together perfectly. This isn’t coincidence— it’s fate. Pure fate.

“…What are you even talking about?”

— See? I told you that you wouldn’t understand yet. Anyway, you— you want to go back to your original world, right?

“I mean… yeah, obviously.”

This world might’ve been far more technologically advanced than the typical medieval setting, but still, it was a medieval world.

I wanted to return to the comfort of the 21st century, to the modern life I’d known.

‘I was doing perfectly fine as a rich unemployed guy… of course I want to go back.’

I had a life with nothing to complain about— and now, out of nowhere, I’d been struck by a bolt from the blue.

A world of magic, swordsmanship, and monsters sounded romantic, sure, but it was only fun when experienced through a game.

— Then uncover your family’s secret, and restore your fallen house. That’s the condition I’ll set for you.

“You want me to restore the Kyrgram family?”

— That’s right. And reveal the family’s hidden secret. Fulfill those two conditions, and I’ll grant your wish.

“What’s the standard for ‘restoring’ the family…?”

— I’ll decide that myself after watching you. If I like what I see, I’ll talk to you again, just like this.

“Heh, that’s pretty one-sided of you.”

— But what can you do? Even if I act selfishly, there’s nothing you can do right now, is there?

Her teasing tone irritated me for a moment, but I let out a sigh and dropped it.

Because, as she said, there really wasn’t a damn thing I could do at the moment.

“So, since you said it’s a fallen family… does that mean the Kyrgram family is completely ruined now?”

— Exactly. You’re the only surviving heir and current head of a ruined noble family. You’ll have to rebuild it from scratch. Once you complete that mission, I’ll send you back to your original world. Of course, if you grow fond of this world in the meantime, you can choose to stay.

“I’ll think about that later. For now, all I have to do is rebuild the family, right?”

— That, and reveal the family’s secret to the world. Those two things— that’s all you need to do. I’ll be watching quietly until you achieve them. Do your best.

With those final words, the voice in my head vanished completely.

I let out another long sigh and stood up.

“So, I have to restore a fallen noble family, huh?”

I slowly walked toward the dormitory window.

Outside, I could see the vast view of the academy spread out before me.

It was a sight I had seen countless times in the game.

“…To think I’d actually see this for real.”

After seeing it as a 3D render on a screen for years, witnessing it in person felt strangely moving.

But setting aside that moment of sentimentality, I began analyzing the situation again.

“I’m a fallen noble…”

I began thinking about the surname Kyrgram.

Throughout the years I played this game, I’d encountered many nobles— including quite a few fallen ones.

But no matter how deep I dug into my memory, Kyrgram just didn’t ring any bells.

“Let’s check it properly.”

I picked up a crystal orb lying on the nearby desk.

To explain it in terms of my original world— it was basically a kind of smartphone.

It could make calls, send messages, and handle things like finances and notes.

Seeing something I’d only ever known as an in-game item in real life was surreal.

Well, anyway.

“Let’s see… maybe there’s some information about my family.”

It was my first time using one in person, but I somehow instinctively knew how it worked.

“I touch this, then press here…”

After a few taps on the glowing letters inside the orb, information about my family appeared.

The text was written in unfamiliar characters, but for some reason, I could read it effortlessly.

“The Kyrgram Family… a baron’s house… located in the outskirts of the Serenus region. Serenus, huh…”

The capital of the Arium Empire was Lysquare.

And Serenus was a remote region quite far from Lysquare.

If I remembered correctly, Serenus wasn’t even part of the main storyline— it was practically insignificant.

‘No dungeons, no good farming spots, no major trade routes… it was one of those places I barely ever visited in-game.’

The only thing that made the Serenus region special was that it was a protected area for other races.

That was it.

There was nothing else particularly special about that region.

‘But wait— were there even nobles in Serenus? I’m pretty sure that area was inhabited almost entirely by non-humans, with hardly any humans living there.’

Questions continued to pile up, but I decided to keep digging into the details about the Kyrgram family.

‘Family members… what? None at all? No relatives either…? Seriously? I’m completely alone?’

That voice earlier had said I was the only heir and current head of the family.

And that wasn’t an exaggeration— it was the literal truth.

I was the only remaining member of the Kyrgram family, both heir and head.

No other relatives, no distant kin— I was the only person left with the surname Kyrgram.

“Ha, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

If I’d at least had a family, I could’ve hoped for some kind of help, but that faint hope was shattered beautifully.

So I tried to look for something else— any sign of hope— but the information displayed by the crystal orb crushed even that.

“There’s a mansion, but no residents. No cooks, gardeners, servants, or retainers at all… damn it.”

This wasn’t a noble house; this was worse than being a commoner.

If I had something— anything— to work with, maybe I could’ve managed, but with just the title of baron…

“…Hm?”

I almost sighed again out of sheer hopelessness.

Almost.

Because I happened to read the section about my assets right before doing so.

“Wait, what? Why do I have so much money?”

My account— if you could call it that— was loaded.

According to the records from the Imperial Bank, my wealth was considerable.

And when I traced the source of that wealth through the crystal orb…

“Taxes from the non-human races?”

Apparently, the Kyrgram family— still technically a noble house— governed Serenus, which was designated as a non-human protection zone.

Meaning the non-human residents there paid taxes to my family. And instead of using those funds, it seemed the taxes had simply accumulated for years.

Thanks to that, the Kyrgram family’s fortune— in other words, my fortune— was massive.

‘This is about the level of an earl’s wealth. Considering the economy here… I could probably live as a shut-in just fine.’

For a brief moment, I was tempted by the idea of resuming my familiar, idle lifestyle.

But then I scrapped that plan almost immediately.

After all, being a shut-in in a medieval fantasy world wasn’t exactly practical.

If I at least had a gaming console, maybe… but this wasn’t that kind of world.

“Well, whatever. At least I’ve got money, so I can probably do something. Anyway…”

I reread the information about my family.

And the more I read, the stranger it all seemed.

“There’s absolutely no record of family members or history.”

The lack of information about the Kyrgram family was suspiciously thorough.

Rebuilding the family?

Since I already knew almost everything about this world, I was confident I could somehow manage that.

But the real problem was…

“She told me to reveal the family’s secret, too.”

The family’s secret.

Something told me that uncovering that secret would have to come before restoring the family.

There was no particular reason for that thought.

It was just a gut feeling.

But I set that thought aside for now.

“Anyway, today’s date is… yeah, just as I thought.”

According to the crystal orb, today was the day of the Lysquare Academy entrance ceremony.

And the current time was 7 a.m.

Having gone through countless entrance ceremonies in the game, I knew perfectly well that the ceremony began at 9.

‘Still got some time left. Guess I’ll check my belongings.’

I walked over to a large box in the corner of the room.

Something told me my personal belongings would be inside.

And sure enough, when I opened it, I found all sorts of items neatly packed inside.

Clothes— both uniforms and casual wear— textbooks, cash, and then…

“Huh? What’s this?”

There was a single sword resting at the bottom of the box.

A very familiar one.

“Isn’t this… Mistcatcher?”

A black hilt, black guard, the entire blade a sleek obsidian shade.

A sword shaped like a katana— one I knew all too well.

Of course I recognized it.

It was the weapon used by my own defensive swordsman character— the one I had been playing before I transmigrate to this body.

“Why is this even here?”

That sword could only be obtained from a nation located far east of the Arium Empire, at the very edge of the continent.

I had gone through hell to acquire it for my character. So how could it possibly exist here, in this world?

If I had possessed my own in-game character, that would’ve made sense. But this Gideon guy had absolutely nothing to do with that character.

“Hm.”

I stared silently into the box, my mind spinning with questions.

And then, just as I was examining it closely—

“…Huh?”

A strange force began to seep into me.

I didn’t know what it was—

“…Wait. What’s this?”

—or at least, that’s what I thought at first. But soon enough, I realized exactly what kind of power was flowing into my body.

‘Predictive Counter skill, ten defensive sword techniques, two offensive techniques…’

There wasn’t any kind of status window or system display in front of me.

But as that mysterious energy entered me, I could instinctively feel it.

The techniques and skills of the defensive swordsman I had trained— they were merging into me.

And at that moment, though I didn’t know why, I suddenly knew what path I had to take.

‘A knight. I need to become a knight.’

It was pure instinct— an overwhelming conviction.

Only by walking the path of a knight could I restore my fallen family… and uncover the hidden secret of the Kyrgram line.

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