Title Knight

"M-My lord! You... appointed Vivian as captain of the guards? Isn't that inappropriate?" This time, Quick didn't hesitate.

What kind of joke was this? If his lord merely wanted to use the Daughter of Misfortune to ease his boredom, that would be one thing. But making a Daughter of Misfortune captain of the guards was simply absurd.

For the safety of the territory and his lord, Quick felt it necessary, as captain of the guards, to speak up and offer a reminder.

"What's inappropriate about it?"

"My lord, Vivian is a Daughter of Misfortune, and her ability..." Quick answered under immense pressure.

"Quick, I had a dream the day before yesterday. In the dream, the God of Glory told me that the Daughter of Misfortune wouldn't bring misfortune. On the contrary, she would bring me luck!" Nalant had anticipated this long ago and had prepared his explanation: theology. After all, in this backward world, theology could be treated as truth.

"This..." Quick and the others exchanged glances.

"Perhaps you think a dream proves nothing."

"However, I'm telling you that aside from the Daughter of Misfortune, the Purple Sprite I found last night was also guidance granted to me by the God of Glory in my dream."

"So, the facts prove that the God of Glory has bestowed his favor upon me, Nalant Berwick. As a knight of the nobility, this is my glory, and I will surely obey the will of the God of Glory! Do you understand now?"

"We understand, my lord!"

Though they were still full of doubts, the matter involved the God of Glory, and there was the Purple Sprite as proof. Quick and the others no longer dared to question him.

In this world, the favor of the God of Glory was like an auspicious omen in ancient times from Nalant's previous life. You could choose not to believe in such omens, but if you directly told the emperor they were fake, you were absolutely finished.

"Very good. Since you understand, hurry up and greet your new captain!" Nalant nodded in satisfaction.

He didn't need Quick and the others to believe completely. He merely needed to guide them enough to prevent fierce resistance. After that, he could use a lord's Intimidation to force down any objections. This was a world where lords held all authority.

"Greetings, Captain Vivian!"

The ten serf recruits had no right to speak in the first place. Upon hearing the order, they no longer hesitated and immediately greeted Vivian.

"Y-You... hello!"

Faced with the greetings of ten young men, Vivian was the one left at a loss. She nervously returned their salute, then looked eagerly at Nalant.

"Didn't you just question why Vivian was qualified to be captain of the guards? Then I'll let her prove it to you now!" Nalant walked forward slowly, took a longbow from the guard beside Quick, and handed it to Vivian.

"Vivian, shoot an arrow and show them! Use that wild fruit on the tree as your target!" Nalant pointed to a fruit tree not far from the castle.

Because no one had tended the area for a long time, quite a few small trees had grown outside the castle. One fruit tree, over two meters tall, happened to bear more than a dozen bright-red wild fruits.

"Yes, my lord... but, my lord... I don't know how to shoot..." Vivian instinctively accepted the longbow, only then realizing that she didn't know how to shoot arrows.

Quick and several guards wore strange expressions at the sight. They had no idea what had gotten into their lord today for something so absurd to happen.

"No, Vivian, you do know how to shoot. This is an ability granted to you by the God of Glory. You simply aren't familiar with it yet. Now, I'll teach you once!" Nalant wasn't surprised. He calmly stepped behind Vivian, pressed against her back, and took hold of both her hands.

"Grip the bow tightly with your left hand first. Nock the arrow with your right hand and pinch the end of the shaft. Then raise the bow toward the target, draw and aim... release!"

Thud!

Under Nalant's hands-on instruction, Vivian finally completed the first shot of her life.

However, the result was far from ideal—indeed, it was rather embarrassing.

The arrow slowly sprang from the bow, flew crookedly for only a few meters, and dropped to the ground without the slightest force behind it.

At this sight, Quick and the others lowered their heads, faces turning red as they held back their laughter. They were terribly worried they would burst out laughing and be hung up and whipped by their lord.

"Well? Did you feel it?"

What the others didn't know was that Vivian, who had previously known nothing about archery, had changed at that moment.

At the instant the arrow was released, a strange sensation arose within Vivian's heart.

She didn't know where the feeling came from, but Vivian suddenly felt a trace of familiarity with the longbow in her hands.

"I felt it, my lord!" Vivian nodded forcefully, as if possessed.

"Very good! Then you'll do it yourself next!" Nalant nodded with a smile.

Though it's terribly disrespectful to my lord, if Vivian can hit that target, I'll eat that longbow! Looking at the fruit tree over fifty meters away, Captain Quick silently joked to himself.

At such a distance, hitting a wild fruit no bigger than a fist was something even he, the captain of the guards, couldn't guarantee.

Inhale, exhale, inhale, hold...

Vivian slowly nocked another arrow, then raised the longbow and aimed at the target.

Even she didn't notice that her breathing rhythm had changed as she aimed the bow, achieving the ideal breathing pattern that only seasoned archers could develop!

Now!

After holding her breath, the golden patterns in Vivian's eyes suddenly flashed with a faint gleam. In that instant, Vivian clearly caught the moment to release the arrow.

Whoosh!

With a sharp whistle, the arrow shot out at high speed!

"How is this possible?" Quick, who had considered this a farce just moments ago, widened his eyes.

The arrow's shriek represented the speed at which it left the string. Don't underestimate that—only a skilled archer could produce it.

If one wasn't skilled enough, even a slight tremor of the wrist could weaken the arrow's force or even prevent it from flying at all.

Thud!

"She actually hit it!" What shocked Quick even more came next. Before everyone's eyes, the arrow struck a fruit over fifty meters away at tremendous speed, pierced through it, and still had enough momentum to bury itself in the dirt four or five meters beyond.

Whoosh!

At that moment, a second sharp whistle rang out across the field. Vivian had unconsciously fired a second arrow.

And once the second arrow was released, everyone's expressions changed dramatically. "Gods above, this can't be real!"

That was because the second arrow actually flickered with a faint red glow.

Boom!

As the arrow accurately struck the distant fruit, the fruit instantly exploded into powder.

"Battle Qi? The Daughter of Misfortune is actually a Title Knight?" Quick's voice trembled as he looked at his lord in disbelief.

"As expected of the Daughter of Luck. Her innate talent is in no way inferior to Battle Qi!" Amid the shocked cries, Nalant alone remained calm.

Of course, Vivian didn't possess Battle Qi yet. The reason she could inflict such damage was solely due to her miraculous talent.

However, Nalant didn't explain anything in response to Quick and the others' confusion. It was fine if they mistook Vivian for a Title Knight.

In this world, possessing Battle Qi meant becoming an extraordinary being. Whether commoner or serf, anyone who possessed Battle Qi would be recruited by nobles and become someone above ordinary people.

Therefore, people were accustomed to calling those who possessed Battle Qi Title Knights.

Bronze Knights, Silver Knights, and Gold Knights were classifications of Battle Qi strength.

By Nalant's estimation, although the awakened Vivian possessed no Battle Qi, her strength was already close to that of a Junior Bronze Knight.