A new day arrived.
Albert woke up to a knock on his bedroom door.
"Five more minutes…" he mumbled, pulling a pillow over his head.
The knocking suddenly stopped... then the door was shoved open with a loud bang.
"Wake up, Albert!" his father bellowed as he strode into the room and approached the bed.
"How long are you going to sleep? Your escort is already waiting!"
"Ugh…"
Before Albert could react, his father yanked him out of bed with surprising strength.
"Be ready in twenty minutes and head to the courtyard. I'll introduce your escort there."
With that, his father gave him a light slap on the shoulder and left.
"..."
Fully awake after the slap, Albert got up and prepared himself in the bathroom attached to his room.
Having his own private bathroom was convenient, at least.
Once he finished getting ready, he stepped out into the hallway.
"Hmm… now that I think about it, isn't it strange that I don't have any personal servants? I am the son of a Count, after all." Albert muttered to himself.
Still, he didn't particularly mind.
In his previous life he had grown used to doing everything on his own.
He suddenly stopped walking.
"Uh… where exactly is the courtyard?"
Only then did he realize the problem.
He had not inherited any of the original Albert's memories, so he had no idea how the massive mansion was laid out.
Just as he stood there stuck, he noticed a beautiful servant in her mid-twenties walking by with a basket of clothes.
He decided to ask her for directions.
"Young Master, how may this servant assist you?" she asked, her voice slightly trembling.
She looked flustered, avoiding his eyes while her cheeks turned faintly red.
"There's no need to be nervous," Albert said with a gentle smile. "I just need directions to the courtyard."
"Eh?"
She looked surprised, as if wondering why the young master would ask something so basic.
But Albert had already prepared an excuse.
"I apologize if it seems odd. I recently fell from a horse and hit my head. Some of my memories are still a bit fuzzy."
The servant's expression softened with understanding.
She kindly pointed him in the right direction.
"Thank you."
"It's no trouble at all. I'm happy to help," she replied with a warm smile.
As Albert walked in the direction she had indicated, his mind wandered.
He couldn't help noticing just how remarkably attractive the servants in the mansion were... both men and women.
'Maybe Father has some strange fetish and likes surrounding himself with beautiful people while looking like an ugly toad himself.' Albert thought jokingly.
...He had no idea he had actually hit the mark.
Behind his back, other nobles called Count Spina the "Ugly Collector."
After walking for a while, Albert finally reached the courtyard.
His father and a group of armored figures, presumably his escort were already waiting.
"Albert! Come here. Let me introduce your escort," his father called out, beckoning him over.
He began with the man who appeared to be the leader.
"This is Captain Gareth. He is a Great Knight."
Hearing that, Albert's eyes widened in shock.
Gareth looked to be in his thirties, with brown hair and a powerfully built body that radiated strength.
He cut a rather heroic figure... but that wasn't what shocked Albert the most.
'A Great Knight?!'
In the game, there were multiple paths one could take.
Becoming a Gifter, especially a Valkyrie was the most sought-after route due to their immense strength and potential.
However, not everyone had the talent for it.
Those who didn't usually chose other paths, such as becoming a knight.
The knight path was considered one of the more straightforward routes, but advancing along it required roughly ten times the effort of other paths.
It demanded relentless dedication and hard work.
The ranks went as follows:
Squire – Almost anyone who wasn't crippled could become one.
Apprentice Knight – Capable of using Aura, a type of life energy anyone could learn to control with proper training.
Knight – Able to freely coat their body and weapons with Aura.
Great Knight – Also known as a one-man army. They could extend their Aura into the surrounding area, and the quality of their Aura was ten times greater than that of a regular Knight.
'I never expected the Count's household to actually have a Great Knight serving them…' Albert thought, fully aware of just how powerful someone of that rank was.
As his father continued the introductions, Albert recalled that two ranks existed above Great Knight: High Knight and Apocalypse Knight.
In the Holy Kingdom, power was mainly divided between two factions... the Holy Church and the Royal Family.
From what he remembered, both sides possessed only a single High Knight each.
These individuals were shrouded in mystery and rarely took action, but when they did, a single strike was often enough to end the matter.
As for Great Knights, each of the two major factions only had a handful that could be counted on two hands.
Albert's view of his father shifted significantly.
Having a Great Knight under his command showed that Count Spina possessed far more influence and capability than he had first assumed.
And Apocalypse Knights? They were said to be capable of destroying the world, but most people treated the rank as nothing more than legend or myth... something created to give ordinary knights a distant goal to aspire to.
As someone who had played the game, however, Albert knew the rank truly existed.
There was even one currently alive and well.
Moreover, one of the Valkyries he planned to pursue was that Apocalypse Knight's daughter.
A limited-time Valkyrie.