Poor Noble Nord’s Adventure

Epilogue

The middle-aged man, who introduced himself simply, was the vice-captain of the Iron Dragon Knights—he called himself “Goldwin.”

He was one of the celebrated heroes of the Kingdom of Hamill, whose achievements were well known, even to Nord.

Goldwin, the vice-captain, started speaking.

“So, is that dragon your wyvern?”

Ahead of his gaze was the small, green-scaled dragonling, now fully awake and playfully nuzzling against Nord.

Nord thought to himself that it might quiet down soon, but the lively little dragon, brimming with energy from its nap on his lap, kept rubbing itself against Nord’s hand, as if begging for attention.

“Uh, yes, well, it sort of… hatched,” Nord responded awkwardly, referring to the young dragon.

Goldwin asked more questions, including about Nord’s background as an adventurer, and the conversation eventually touched on what had happened in the wyvern’s nest.

“Well, the truth is, I haven’t bathed it yet… It must be unpleasant for you. Please forgive me,” Nord apologized.

“Hahaha, you’re an adventurer after all.”

Although Nord had cleaned himself somewhat during the journey, there hadn’t been a chance to fully wash in a bath. Fresh from the trip, Nord still carried the grime of travel, and even the lingering smell of wyvern droppings clung to him.

Goldwin, being a soldier, seemed to have a high tolerance for such discomforts.

The Iron Dragon Knights, unlike the royal guard, who primarily served at the palace, must have been used to such expeditions.

Nord’s thoughts drifted back to the war that took place when he was young, where the Iron Dragon Knights had earned such great fame.

With a hearty laugh, Goldwin carried on without a care in the world.

“Hmm… but it’s become quite attached to you.”

“Huh? Oh, yes…”

At one point, Goldwin murmured something to Albert, Nord’s father. When Albert stood and returned with the steward Alex, Alex was carrying sliced meat.

“Feed it,” Goldwin ordered, and Nord followed the instruction, offering the dragon the pieces of meat.

The dragonling sniffed curiously at the meat in Nord’s hand, its tiny, green-scaled nose twitching. Then, with a clack of its beak, it pecked at the meat, eating it eagerly.

It devoured everything they had brought and half of the extra meat Alex provided before it seemed full.

With a small belch, it released a puff of air from its stomach and started to look sleepy.

The dragon wriggled a bit, crawled toward Nord, and slipped from the table onto his lap, where it began to snooze peacefully.

Nord tried to keep it from falling, but Goldwin gestured for him to leave it be. So, Nord let the dragon sleep on his lap as if it were a bed.

Goldwin, who had been observing everything with interest, nodded as if satisfied.

Then, turning to Albert, he said, “…As we discussed. Please handle it,” starting a conversation while ignoring Nord.

It seemed they had talked things over in advance.

The conversation soon ended, and Goldwin turned back to Nord.

Nord straightened under the weight of Goldwin’s gaze, sitting stiffly.

Since the dragon was sleeping on his lap, he didn’t stand, but if not for that, he would’ve leaped to his feet in perfect posture.

Goldwin spoke.

“Nord Ferris, I appoint you as a trainee knight of the Iron Dragon Knights!”

“W-what!?”

Nord was caught entirely off guard.

No one commented on how his voice cracked, and the only sound in the room was the soft yawn of the dragon resting on his lap, which melted quietly into the air.

§

In the end, things worked out well for Nord.

Selling the wyvern egg to pay off the Ferris family’s debt was no longer an option, but in exchange, Nord’s acceptance into the Iron Dragon Knights was secured.

Though only a trainee for now, his pay was better than that of an average knight.

While he hadn’t paid off the debt or come into a fortune, the fact that Nord, a member of the Ferris family, had joined the kingdom’s most elite knight order was well received by the bridegroom’s relatives.

There were probably many motives at play, but in any case, his sister Hanna’s marriage was arranged successfully, and it was decided that the wedding would take place in spring, after the snow melted.

Hanna cried with joy, and their mother Maria was moved to tears as well.

The rest of the family gave their blessings, and everyone looked forward to seeing Hanna as a happy bride in spring.

As for Nord…

“Trainee Nord! Move it!!”

Every day, Nord endured harsh training from his superiors as a new recruit in the Iron Dragon Knights.

“Yes, sir!”

Having neither attended nor graduated from a military academy, Nord now found himself among the elite knights, learning the fundamentals from the ground up.

While he knew etiquette fairly well, thanks to his noble upbringing, most of his training focused on military knowledge and combat skills.

Despite being a crystal-rank adventurer, the Iron Dragon Knights—where even the weakest members were silver-rank—treated Nord like a fledgling dragon with eggshells still clinging to it.

“Haah… haah… ugh…”

Although he prided himself on his physical fitness, that pride was shattered quickly.

During the endless long-distance runs, which were only part of the “basic” training, Nord found himself gasping for breath as his superior shouted at him.

“Don’t slow down, damn it! You’ve got a hundred more bouts of sparring after this!!”

The bellow from his superior struck Nord like a physical blow.

You’ve got to be kidding… Just kill me already…

Swallowing his frustration, Nord gritted his teeth and replied, “Yes, sir!” as he forced himself to run faster.

After the run, he would have to endure brutal sparring sessions. The motto of the knights seemed to be, “As long as you don’t die, it’s fine.” Even if his arm were severed or his stomach pierced, the knights showed no mercy, relying on healing magic to fix any injuries.

“Kyui! Kyui!”

At the training grounds of the Iron Dragon Knights, Nord, now half-dead from exhaustion, heard what sounded like encouragement.

It came from the dragonling, now much larger than before, which had grown to the size of Nord’s torso and sparkled under the sunlight with its deep green scales.

“Get off! You’re heavy!”

“Kyukyu~♪”

The dragon, now capable of gliding with its small wings, playfully perched on Nord’s head.

The added weight made it even harder for Nord to continue, and he tried to shake the dragon off. But the dragon seemed to think it was a game, cheerfully clinging to his head and chirping happily.

“What the hell are you doing…”

One of Nord’s fellow knights, watching the scene, muttered in exasperation.

It seemed that Nord’s journey to becoming a fully-fledged dragon knight was still a long way off.