A servant comes to tell me that Epona is calling me.
　While preparing myself, I open my mouth.

'Tart, will you come with me?'
'Yes!　Leave it to me.
I'll stay here.

Tart and I leave the room together.
　Apparently Epona uses her skills and lends me some of her skills.
　...I'm suspicious of too much good bait, but I'm not sure I can say no, and I trust Epona a bit.
　Determined, I stepped out.

◇

The upper levels of this castle are used by the more exalted ones.
　The top floor can only be used by royalty, while the floors below it are used by those who are second in line to royalty, such as dukes.
　We were led to the second level from the top.
　It was a place that I, only a child of the baronial family, would never set foot in.
　That's how important being a brave person is, I guess.
　As I walked down the corridor, I received many curious looks.
　They seem to know who I am.

''Is there a sketch of me going around?''

........Even though the disguise will change the color of your hair and the look of your face when the assassination is carried out, it's not a very gratifying situation.
　And so, what I was brought to was a garden prepared as if it juts out of the castle.
　The floor and ceiling are made of special glass, and it looks like a flowerbed in the sky.
　At the center of it all was the brave Epona.
　When she found me, she ran and bowed her head.

'Lug, I'm sorry!　He told me to keep my mouth shut, but I got carried away and started talking. Now I'm in a bit of a panic.

Epona bows her head repeatedly.

'Don't worry about it. I don't care.'
But I'm sorry.
'I don't really care,'

I understood that Epona was the kind of person who talked about those things with emotion, and I decided to deal with it on that basis next time. I won't make the same mistake again.

''Well, so, you see, I decided to use my skills because I didn't think saying sorry wasn't enough. The name of the skill is [Knights Following Me].

You're getting to the point.

What skills are those?

I'll ask again, because that's the natural reaction.

'Well, I can lend my strength to a maximum of three people in my lifetime. I'm not going to lose the power I lent you, but I can keep my strength and make someone else stronger. To be specific, my magic and physical abilities will increase, and then I will be able to use some of my skills.
'That helps. We're going to fight the demon race, so we should be as strong as possible.
''But there are a few conditions. If you disobey my orders, the effects of [Knights Following Me] will disappear, and if you lose the battle with something important at stake, you lose your power. Also, even if I die, it's no good. Once it disappears, it can't be used on the same person.

Just as I remember.
　If you disobey an order, the borrowed power disappears, so it's troublesome to have to listen to Epona even if she's a bit overwhelmed.
　But the main problem with this would be that it loses its effectiveness if you are defeated.
　Once you get this skill, at the end, you can't lose.
　........I just didn't know that it was a battle with something important at stake.
　If what Epona says is correct, then it seems to be fine for training and simple fights.

'Have you ever used that on anyone?'
Actually, there was one time. One time when I was just waking up as a brave man, near the border with Suoigel, by a man with very big blue hair.

The one with the big, blue hair?
　There's only one person I can think of, but is that him?

I'm sure the man is doing well, since his strength hasn't come back yet.
What skills did you do, by the way?
It's like [Berserk] and some, [Knights who follow me], you can't choose which skills to pass on, but the one that fits the person is chosen.

.... only hypothetically, but wasn't Setanta, who fought to protect Dia, empowered by Epona?
　He must have been ridiculously strong to begin with, because he said he had never been able to fight properly, not even once.
　It was under Epona's power, and he became strong like a monster.

When I confronted him, I thought the perfect combination of [Berserk] and the skill to maintain reason even in a state of berserkness was too much to do.
　Maybe it was the opposite. It's possible that [Berserk] was chosen by [Knights who follow me], who had the skill to maintain reason at any time and in any situation, to choose and give the right skill to that person.
　If that's the case, it's not good.
　Somehow, he's alive and hasn't lost his power.
　Sooner or later, we might meet somewhere.

...and in that duel, I had something at stake. And he hasn't lost his power because he knows he wasn't defeated in the duel, but because he was caught by surprise?　If that's the case, then it seems to be a pretty loose condition to lose power in this defeat.

I see. So that's why. But are you sure?　I guess it's a skill that can only be used by three people.
Good. You know, Lug saved my life. Lugue is the reason I'm a hero. And he's going to keep that promise to me.

A promise to Epona.
　If Epona turns into a monster, I will kill her.
　That's the reason I was born into this world.

All right, then. All right, I'll take it. I will give Epona's power to me.
Yeah, I'm on it.

As soon as she said that, Epona popped her hand on my shoulder.
　It glowed a faint green color, and the light was absorbed into my body.

'Yes, done. Now Lug should be able to use some of my skills.''
I can't believe this is happening.

It's a bit of a letdown.

'I just used my skills. And I'll also give you this one. I was selfish and got one for myself.

Epona took out a piece of appraisal paper.
　If you use it, you can find out what skills you possess.
　It's quite valuable and hard to obtain, but I guess the brave man can be flexible.
　I'll use it right away.
　........The total number of skills increased to five.

Two of them are particularly noteworthy.
　One, [Knights who follow me].
　Of all things, to be lent this skill itself.
　But thank goodness. I can strengthen Dia and Tart.
　From now on, I'll be taking them both to the battlefield with demons. I was just thinking that normal training wasn't enough for me.

And the other highlight is [Egg of Possibility].
　It's an A-ranked skill, and it's a skill that bothered me before I reincarnated.
　It's a skill that changes into a skill based on its own nature.
　To become one of the S to B ranks, it would be profitable if he used [Egg of Possibility] in the A rank slot and turned into an S rank, but he couldn't bring himself to take such a gamble.

It wouldn't be a death skill since it was in line with his nature. I'm looking forward to it.
　The rest of the skills are also A- and B-ranked, all highly versatile and powerful, and as expected, the ones that were chosen from the brave man's hand were the ones that worked well for me.

What skills were they?
'To my surprise, it was [the knights who followed me]. Maybe because I had a lot of things to teach people?
I think it's a great fit for the rogue, too.

From what the brave man has, the one that fits his aptitude will be chosen, so it must not be a coincidence.

You know what, Lug. I'm sure the rougue would kill even a demon race. But if you can't, you can run away and call for help. I'll come running to you. I don't care what the king says.

I take my hand in a feverish hand.
　Epona seems to feel more friendship for me than I realize.

'If I have to, I will. But I'll do my best to make sure that doesn't happen. So, Epona, you just worry about protecting your country. You protect it, I kill it. That's all there is to it.

That way, the possibility of Epona becoming a disaster for this world would be reduced.

I'm probably the only person Epona can call a friend at the moment.

'Yeah, that's nice. Let's save the world together. Rouges are braver than brave, aren't they?
I don't think so. I'm the farthest thing from here.

I'm an assassin, no matter how far I go.

Well, I'd better be off. I'm going to be in a position of power. I'm sure you'll be doing a lot of that soon, but good luck to you. No, he'll do much better than me. Bye.

Epona walks away.
　Tart, who has been following behind her since she disappeared, opens his mouth.

''Master Lug, you got your powers so easily.
'Right. You could call it a ledge, if you like. And it's a lot more powerful than I thought it would be.

If this is the secret of Setanta's strength, then I should be as strong as I am.
　Strong enough to stand in line with the opponents I once couldn't normally defeat and had to assassinate.
　I want to experiment with various things.

''Tart, after experimenting for a while, I'd like to use [the knights who follow me] on you. If you do that, I won't be able to let you go for the rest of my life. Are you still willing to do that?
I can't put it down for the rest of my life. Oh, my God, that's too good to be true!　Please use it. I am Master Rouges' property!

The tart makes a clenched fist in front of his chest, looking excited.
　I can't help but find the tart cute like that.

'I guess we should get back. We're going to be busy tomorrow. I'm sure you'll remember your manners. You have to be more careful about how you behave with your opponent than usual.
You can count on me. I've practiced thoroughly so as not to embarrass Master Lugue.

He's a reliable kid.
　From the way he's been acting in school, I don't see anything wrong with that one. In fact, I'm in more danger than you are.
　The harvest has been reaped.
　I think I'm going to take one or two more souvenirs home with me. I'll take what I can get for all the trouble I'm forced to put in.