How to Live as a Knight After the Ending - Chapter 15
Only Noblemtl
Episode 15. The Road to the Industrial Age (2)
“her.”
Ossian couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he heard Ronan’s words.
“You’re putting in a request for me? Does that mean you’re planning on getting rid of me with a very dangerous request that I can’t handle?”
Ronan shook his head and lightly denied Ossian’s guess.
“It’s the opposite.”
“You object?”
“What I meant was that you purely placed the request because you highly valued Mr. Ossian’s abilities.”
“I interfered with their work?”
“You proved your skills with that.”
Only then did Ossian understand what Ronan was trying to say.
“I see. Even if you were interrupted, if the opponent is truly skilled… … .”
“Yes, just like turning over the palm of your hand, you change your attitude.”
“Is that what a company is like?”
“A company is a group that operates solely for ‘profit.’ If the other party is a problem solver that they can hire and pay for, they will try to join hands, forgetting even what happened in the past.”
Ossian still didn’t understand what he was saying.
I thought that even if it was a company, it couldn’t help but act with emotions.
‘Aren’t companies the best places to retaliate?’
When Ossian looked unconvinced, Ronan added an explanation.
“Of course, if the public reputation is damaged, the company will retaliate. Companies value their image.”
“Public, honorable, you know.”
Ronan nodded his head as Ossian’s words got straight to the point.
“What Mr. Ossian experienced this time was an unofficial, shady incident in the company. His reputation cannot be damaged by having his work interfered with there. Rather, if they try to use that as an excuse to touch Mr. Ossian, then that would be the opposite of admitting that they are plotting something bad behind his back.”
“I see. I understand.”
Even taking that into account, it seemed like the businesses of this world were run quite rationally.
No, rather, it was to the point where I doubted whether he was really a human being with blood flowing through his veins.
Even those who were at odds with them would be the first to extend a helping hand if given the chance to use new power.
“The company is more amazing than I thought.”
They were so calculating that I could understand them in my head, but it was hard to accept them in my heart.
Usually, they would become emotionally angry or try to retaliate in some way.
If you think about it, it’s going well for Ossian.
But from the perspective of watching it, I couldn’t help but feel something that was hard to describe in words.
“Because companies don’t care about things like honor. They only follow practicality. They pursue profit. That’s why they have grown beyond a mid-sized company in the harsh world of survival of the fittest called Tirna.”
Is that what a mid-sized company is like?
Then I wondered to what extent the places in Tirna are classified as large corporations.
“It’s actually a good thing for Mr. Ossian. He might get a new client. If this goes well, he might even get a regular client.”
“What is a fixed client?”
“It’s like a regular customer who literally only entrusts his work to one person.”
“It doesn’t seem like a very attractive option.”
“Problem solvers are freelancers. They can work when they want to, but there are also times when they can’t even if they want to. And usually, the latter is the case.”
The problem-solving industry is purely meritocratic.
If you don’t have the skills, you won’t get any requests.
Because clients want to entrust work to experienced people, not beginners.
But if you are a beginner like me, you want a promising player.
In terms of before the price went up, there were also some advantages over experienced workers.
So, most clients place their requests by designating skilled people.
“In the industry, we call it a ‘designated request.’ Usually, veterans who have built up a reputation and have a nickname or something like that are eligible for these designated requests.”
If you successfully complete these ‘designated requests’ and build up trust, the next step becomes possible.
Companies, the city of Tirna, the tower, associations, etc.
When applying for an important commission in a large organization, only one problem solver is selected.
A request made in this way is called a ‘fixed request.’
Fixed requests were requests that only special A-class people could receive among the countless problem solvers in Tirna.
And this fixed request could be said to be the beginning of ‘stability’, which is the problem solver’s dream.
If you go further, you can become affiliated with the organization that made the request and work under their business card.
He retired from his job as a problem solver and became an external advisor to a company.
You can earn a lot of money and have stable income.
This was the most classic route that all problem solvers hoped for.
Ossian wasn’t very pleased with it, though.
‘A life where you do whatever you’re told from above. It’s terrifying to even imagine.’
If you belong to a certain place, your earnings will be stable, but on the other hand, your freedom will disappear.
A life of dependence where one must do as one is told from above.
For a ‘wandering knight’ who yearned for freedom, there was nothing more terrible than this.
“Anyway, Mr. Ossian, you don’t have to worry. Everything will be fine.”
“I wasn’t particularly worried.”
“If that’s the case, then that’s good.”
Ronan smiled broadly.
“I wonder when a company will suddenly ask Mr. Ossian for a job.”
“Are there any other suspicious organizations besides the company?”
“A suspicious organization?”
“Just tell me briefly what kind of people are in this Tirna.”
“That’s not difficult.”
Ronan explained that there were vicious wanted men flowing in from outside the city, retired soldiers, criminal organizations and cults growing in power within the city.
Ossian nodded as if he understood the explanation.
‘Almost everyone I knew is gone.’
In the game, there are many hostile groups, such as evil warlocks, heretics who serve foreign gods, and corrupted contaminated monsters.
But as the world changed, they all disappeared.
Now, organizations suitable for the new era have emerged in large numbers.
Ossian suddenly had such a curiosity.
‘Come to think of it, what happened to the organizations and boss monsters from the original game?’
In the game, there were some beings that could resist the flow of time.
Ancient ghosts, sealed demons, cursed dragons, magical beasts, and more.
There was a pretty good chance that those guys were still alive.
‘Or maybe it was eliminated midway. I’m not sure since I haven’t adapted to the changed world yet.’
A factory was built where the secret dungeon used to be in the game.
The dungeon was located inside the mountain, but the mountain was completely pushed away.
The dungeon inside, the monsters inside, and various rewards, etc.
It was likely that they disappeared together.
‘I need to find out some information about this before the next request.’
First of all, gathering information was essential.
If that happens, the knowledge that Ossian possesses will be able to reveal its value again, transcending the long years that have passed.
*
Arriving at the accommodation Ronan had written down, Ossian stood at the entrance and looked up at the building.
Tenement House in the 39th Ward residential area, where many people live.
This was where Ossian would live in the future.
Ossian’s room was on the third floor.
‘It looks much better than I thought.’
Apartment complexes were originally the exclusive domain of people who didn’t have much money.
It was mainly inhabited by florists, clerks, laborers, coachmen and technicians.
Even most of them used the same house, because of the high rent.
Fortunately, Ossian was able to live alone without a roommate thanks to Ronan’s convenience.
In this area, the presence of a broker was really convenient because they took care of all the annoying things.
It also helped that Ronan was a uniquely capable person.
‘Didn’t you say that later on, when I save more money, I can move into a single-family home?’
Ossian didn’t really care as long as he had a place to sleep.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I hate money.
Because having a lot of money is good.
The rooms on the third floor were painted in light brown and soft brass.
Inside, all the furniture necessary for living was provided.
From the leather sofa to the carpet on the floor and the carved curtains on the window.
Surprisingly, the world today even has refrigerators.
‘It seems better than the studio apartment I used to live in.’
After getting a job at a company, I settled down in a studio apartment near the company for a quick commute to work.
Maybe because it was a metropolitan area, the studio apartments were incredibly small, but the monthly rent was murderous.
After paying all the rent and management fees, there won’t be much left in my salary.
So naturally, I couldn’t even dream of living another life, and when I came home, I spent the weekend playing games together.
‘Above all, this is just a house I’m passing through.’
Just looking at the house, my current life seemed better than my current life.
‘I definitely thought I had to go back.’
Ossian thought long and hard about what he would do when he returned.
There wasn’t anything special. I would have just gone back to work, done my job, and returned to my small studio apartment, exhausted.
With no family or friends, should I really go back to such a monotonous and frustrating life?
‘I don’t know.’
Ossian sat down in a seat with a reasonable view of the window and opened the book he had brought.
It was something I borrowed from Ronan, a book containing the history of this world.
‘I’ve often read descriptions of these miscellaneous items in-game, too.’
The books you could occasionally pick up in the game only had 2 or 3 pages of text, but here you could read the entire book.
When I see this, it feels very real that this world is real.
Ossian immediately opened the book and read it.
I don’t know if this world is a privileged place, but I was able to read it easily even though it was a language I was seeing for the first time.
How much time has passed since the ending of the original work, and what has happened so far.
The big event definitely needed to be remembered.
As Ossian turned a few pages of the book, his eyes lit up when he came across an interesting passage.
“The invention of the machine and the discovery of new uses for ether water?”
Ether water.
Since the Industrial Revolution, it has been an indispensable new energy source in today’s world.
And this was something that didn’t exist at all back when Ossian was playing the game.
‘It’s like oil in this world.’
The difference from oil is that ether water is, as its name suggests, ‘water’.
The only difference is that it contains high concentrations of energy, unlike regular water.
Ossian examined the entry on ether water in detail.
Ether water was discovered 400 years ago.
It all started when an adventurer discovered a huge underground cave and discovered ether water flowing within it.
Ether water is groundwater that is said to be infused with mana.
It was also called the water of God.
The book was accompanied by black and white illustrations.
It was a photo of miners getting soaked in ether water gushing from cracks in the ground.
After the full-scale development of the Industrial Revolution, people used this ether water in steam engines.
Ether water, which contains high concentrations of energy, was combined with steam engines to produce incredible efficiency, and became an indispensable energy source for the world.
In this way, the world of mystery and magic entered the age of machines and industry.
‘The pure white steam rising from all over the city was the vapor of that ether water.’
Ether water changed many things in the world.
The carriage was no longer pulled by horses.
Instead, the cars that roamed the roads were cars belching pure white steam.
The large upper row of cars was replaced by railways and steam locomotives.
It is said that flying airships spread across the world and that all races were united through the development of transportation.
Ossian scratched his head.
The world has changed, but it has changed too much.
‘But if there’s one thing that’s the biggest change in the world, it’s this.’
Ossian turned the page of the book and stared at the entry.
At the top of that page it said so in large black letters.
[The Fall of the Knight]