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The Duchy of Widia gave a fair chance to those with talent, that’s why they showed overwhelming results among the dukes of the Empire.

But I knew what future awaited the Duchy of Widia.

'It's doomed.'

It was a cruel story, but the Duchy of Widia stood at the forefront of the Empire against the unidentified enemies and was then brutally defeated.

The main reason for their failure was they mistook it for a normal battle.

'No one knows those bastard's method of attack yet.'

At the time, I was the last person to deal with the monstrous creatures they brought with them, so I didn't know what their identity was.

However, I heard rumors that the strong people who ruled the continent had died, so I doubted even the leaders had figured out their identities.

Standing at the forefront against such enemies, it was probably self-evident the Duchy of Widia would perish.

There was a saying in the mercenary world:

'If you don't know the monster's identity, the only way to survive is to give up on the request and run away.'

Mercenaries lived hand to mouth.

As a result, safety was their top priority, and I had to move as quickly as possible.

Due to my absence of innate talent, I had to experience more and more dangerous things, and since it wasn’t hard to see my head rolling on the ground, I had to quickly absorb the knowledge of other mercenaries.

The Duchy of Widia must have known this, but they weren’t in a situation where they could retreat.

<The King of Heroes wonders if the chosen one will save the duchy.>

'No. I’m going to run away.'

<The King of Heroes says that a hero should also know how to run away.>

‘…Really?'

<The King of Heroes says that a hero is a being who overcomes adversity, not an ignorant one.>

<The King of Heroes says that even if you run away due to fear, you can try again later.>

<The King of Heroes says that by fighting, instead of running, when you know you’ll die, you’ll act like a loser.>

<The King of Heroes says the important thing is the ‘courage’ to face the situation again, even if it is painful.>

‘…Courage.'

I was scared of the duchy and ran away.

However, the reality I ran away into was more dangerous than the duchy I feared most, and every day was chaotic.

I had to survive somehow in a reality that could kill me if I took even one step forward.

<The King of Heroes says it’s okay to run away, but since you’re back in the past, it's good to change the direction a bit.>

<The King of Heroes states that they do not object to living as a pushover at least once in one's life.>

'No, I don’t want that. Still, you brought me back to my senses. Thank you.'

<The King of Heroes says they will do anything for the chosen one.>

I didn't want to become a pushover from the start, but the King of Heroes' words helped me confirm it.

Honestly, even if I had to return to the past alone in front of those powerful enemies, there was nothing I could do right away.

The current me was only a single person with no companions and, above all, no place within the duchy.

'This has to change.'

Initially, I intended to get away from the duchy after getting revenge on Hals to gather allies.

But I couldn’t guarantee that we could stop… no, kill them all in the next ten years.

If it were the Duchy of Widia, they could protect me until I became an adult, and I could gather allies under the name of the Duke's son.

"Young Master?"

“…It’s nothing. I'm pausing for a moment's thought. Please introduce them again.”

Tessrun repeated the name of the middle-aged man in front of me.

“Sir Colorance.”

“…”

“Huh?”

Colorance, one of the 72 strongmen who fought in ten years, looked at me with amusement.

***

Among the tutors, elves boasted the greatest expenses.

However, it was impossible for elves, who hated humans to the extent I had never seen one, to be my tutor.

Only half-elves descended from a human and elf heritage ever interacted with humans.

Half-elves were highly paid as tutors because they were generally intelligent, lived longer than humans, and boasted an extensive knowledge of history.

“My name is Ashley, and I am in charge of language for the first class.”

A young woman wearing stylish glasses bowed her head at me.

In terms of age, she looked at most 5-6 years older than me, but the fact that an elf, whose eyesight was typically several times better than a human's, was wearing glasses meant she couldn’t be that young.

Initially, an elf’s eyesight would be good until they died, but given she was half-human, that keen vision would degrade as she grew older.

“Do you know the letters of the Ryzen Empire?”

"Yeah."

Even though I naturally talked down to her, she continued as if nothing was wrong.

“Then this explanation will be quick. The Ryzen Empire is made up of a total of 25 nations and 12 ethnic groups. At the time of its founding, there were a total of 20 dialects and 7 full languages, but the Ryzen Empire united them into ‘Catlistrado Language.’”

"Right."

“Then do you know what all 7 of those languages were?”

If it were me from this time, of course, I wouldn't know.

No one had taught me.

“The letters were created by combining the Kart, the Lli, the Smu, the Tua, and the Ado languages, and the grammatical components are a combination of the language of the Lycanose Kingdom and the language of the sun. Am I right?"

“…You're right. How do you know that, sir?”

Ashley's expression was visibly agitated.

She was likely told I was an incompetent bastard who never learned anything.

This was the first time that not only Ashley but all my tutors had heard the Duke had another son.

I smiled at Ashley's reaction and replied.

“No matter how much this place is ostracized, I have a certain amount of common sense.”

Of course, that was bullshit.

This was where only the outcasts resided, and the common sense I spoke now was something I learned in the future.

Since the knowledge of a group of mercenaries traveling the world was vast, I picked up many things.

The mercenaries considered ignorant were just fools drunk on their own power, while those that fought for survival despite lacking in authority knew the value of knowledge.

I tried to earn a little more money by exploring a country's geography, economy, history, and language.

Because I especially lacked physical strength, I focused on expanding my knowledge.

“I… see. So, let's raise the difficulty a little. How many speaking languages are there in total on Haytons?”

“1,320.”

“How many alphabets are there?”

“Twenty-four.”

“How many of these languages do they speak in the East?”

“Nine. And ten in the West, four Southern, and one Northern.”

The Empire in the north unified their language.

The Ryzen Empire was located in the East, and all nine countries, including the Empire, used different alphabets.

“Ahem. You know all the basics. Then, from the historical record of language...”

“Are you talking about the Sangdeboranio alphabet, the primordial language? I heard it was created by elves using pictographs of animals.”

“…”

Ashley was speechless for a while.

At this level, I knew about most languages, but she decided to continue a little more, wondering about the extent of my knowledge.

“Sangdeboranio letters were made from pictographs of animals. Then… do you know what the alphabet using plants is?”

“Are you referring to Afendacini?”

“…!”

Ashley looked shocked.

'Ah. Am I not supposed to say that?'

Afendacini was an alphabet that probably only became famous about three years ago from now.

“H-How… do you...?”

Five years from now, all information about the Afendacini alphabet would be revealed.

The general public knew about it openly then, so there was no way I didn't learn about it.

"Well… I heard it somewhere.”

As my voice faded, Ashley slammed the table with both hands and jumped up.

“There’s no way! This alphabet is unheard of unless you are a linguist...”

Even as she spoke, Ashley felt something strange.

Why had she asked the Young Master something that only linguists would know?

No, more than that, how did he know?

“I recently read the Language of Ellen, and it was there.”

“…That book must be written in the Hipposta alphabet.”

“I’m pretty bored since I can’t leave. I’ve read several books.”

Of course, the books kept here were just children's stories to pass the time, and the Hipposta alphabet was also called the most difficult one to learn.

A word could hold a dozen meanings depending on the length of one stroke in a character.

So, linguists especially wanted to master it.

“…It can't be. It must be just a coincidence.”

It was confirmed that the book the Language of Ellen was relatively easy to obtain; the Duchy of Widia would probably have a couple of them by now.

However, Hipposta wasn’t a language a mere 14-year-old could learn.

Ashley would think it was just a coincidence I found out about the Afendicini in there.

It couldn't be a coincidence, but I saw she wanted to think it was.

Indeed.

“I barely learned it after living for 300 years.”

It was such a difficult language to learn, at least in this day and age.

"Why don't you test me then?"

“…All right."

She picked up the thinnest of her books and held them to me.

The book was written in relatively neat ink, using Hipposta.

“Can you read this part?”

I looked down and smiled.

“Lena came down from the white horse into my arms, tears in her eyes.”

“…What?"

“It’s a romance novel. Is this a book you’ve been working on recently? If possible, I would like to recommend another.”

She froze at the fact that I had really read the text rather than the fact the book she was holding was a romance novel.

“H-How…?”

Five years later, along with Afendacini, the method of reading the Hipposta alphabet would be revealed to the world.

'The Hipposta, which seemed so difficult at first, was, in the end, a cipher someone made by mixing the letters of Afendacini and Sangdeboranio.'

When two identical letters appear, you do not read the letter; you should look at the length of the stroke.

If the same letter appeared, proceed without reading the one with the longer stroke.

In other words, they made 3,000 ‘new’ letters to hide their messages.

In reality, there were only 32 actual letters.

‘Hipposta was a code used by lovers from the start.’

The story behind the Hipposta alphabet was discovered in some ruins, and once that spread to the public, reading it became easy.

"Unbelievable..."

“Is class over? That's lame.”

“W-Wait! Tell me how you read it!”

“Hmm, why should I tell you that? If you’re here as a tutor, shouldn't you teach me?”

“That...”

“Tessrun. Today's language class is over. Let the next teacher in.”

“…”

“Tessrun?”

"What? Oh… yes. All right."

Tessrun, who had been quietly watching the class from behind, was also shocked and came to his senses after a moment.

‘Is it really… talent?'

The Young Master was now so different from what he knew that Tessrun wondered if he was dreaming.