Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.27 – The Knight Doesn't Want to Return to Duty (2)
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"Air treading isn't just about exploding with power. What you need is advanced concentration and sensitivity."
Lee Han explained it in a way that was as easy to understand as possible.
He kept his promises.
It was his motto, not quite a motto, and once he decided to teach, he gave it his all.
"Kicking off the air isn't the important part. Instead, you need to quickly gather your energy at your toes and spread it out wide to create a foothold fast. You're all experts at handling fighting energy, so I figured it'd be easy for you..."
But despite his best efforts to teach...
"...Hmm, you're all disastrously bad."
Lee Han clicked his tongue at the sprawled-out knights.
"...Is this really even possible?"
"Ughhh!"
"M-Motion sickness is killing me."
These were a hundred elite knights whose long-standing orthodox training and skills were renowned even in foreign lands. Yet here they were, pathetically rolling on the ground in agony.
Failures of air treading, perhaps?
They weren't dead, but they all looked utterly wretched.
'Even their failures are spectacular, these guys.'
The hundred knights had failed in all sorts of ways.
One leaped high into the air like he was jumping 15 meters just to tread air, then plummeted straight down.
Another flipped upside down out of nowhere while trying to walk on air.
And the funniest one of all...
'The guy who did a somersault in midair and smashed into the cliff—that was hilarious.'
He'd provided a full year's worth of laughs.
It must've hurt for the guy who hit the cliff, but to everyone else, it was quite the spectacle.
The rest were much the same.
They self-destructed with similar failures, and as Lee Han watched all hundred fail, he analyzed the problem. Within ten minutes of pondering, he realized the cause of their failures.
"It's the fighting technique that's the issue..."
As he'd said the day before, fighting techniques amplified internal energy by exploding it within the body.
It was like detonating a bomb inside yourself—the energy from that bomb converted into physical prowess. The higher your level, the more powerful the explosion.
...But how difficult was it to handle that explosive energy with finesse?
'I thought it'd be easy, but this might take more time than expected.'
Not a single one of these knights lacked the title of genius or prodigy.
He'd assumed they'd pick it up quickly, but who'd have thought such a hurdle would arise.
"...Does that mean we can't learn to walk on air?"
One knight asked after reading Lee Han's expression, but Lee Han shook his head.
"It's not that you can't learn it. You just need to master handling fighting energy with precision. In short, refine your fine control."
"I thought my control was decent..."
Vail muttered, and the other knights nodded in agreement.
If they were mere novices wildly swinging their fighting techniques around, that'd be one thing. But these were warriors who'd honed their energy control to the extreme for sustained combat.
So they grumbled in protest, and to them, Lee Han said...
"Damn it, that's nothing— even my kids could manage that level. What I'm after is... Ha! Forget explaining; better to show you."
What was the point of a hundred explanations? As mentioned earlier, not one of them lacked genius or prodigy status.
And geniuses and prodigies always had sky-high pride—they never listened to anyone else.
Even as students, some wouldn't buy his explanation or would outright doubt it.
Unconditionally.
So Lee Han gave up explaining and scanned the surroundings. He spotted a leafy tree and...
"This'll do."
"?"
He picked up a fallen leaf from the ground near the tree and floated it on the lake surface.
The knights blinked in confusion, wondering what he was up to.
But soon...
"Watch closely."
Whoosh!
Like he was demonstrating, Lee Han did a somersault dive toward the lake. What followed was...
Plop...
"......?"
It defied the laws of physics.
"W-What the heck is that...?"
"Where do you even learn something like that?"
"...Am I dreaming?"
Feeling like fools themselves, the knights gaped slack-jawed as they witnessed it.
They'd expected a splash upon diving in, but the lake remained eerily still—no splash at all.
And atop that lake...
"See? This is what I mean by controlling your power."
...stood Lee Han, balancing on one foot with the single leaf as his foothold.
One Reed Crossing the River.
Crossing a river on a single reed leaf.
...Unfortunately, no reeds were around, so he'd substituted with a tree leaf.
Anyway!
The key point wasn't the reed.
"What you need is delicacy and concentration. Delicacy to adjust even your body weight to the extreme, and concentration to hold this for over thirty minutes. Once you have those skills, then you can talk about control."
"......"
"Any skeptics still? Step up. Nail this, and I'll call you 'big bro' on the spot."
"...Ha ha."
As if any would.
The knights couldn't even argue, left dumbfounded at how it was even possible.
And they thought to themselves.
"We're gonna have drownings left and right for a while."
The knight order was about to be full of guys splashing around like it was a pool party.
Even Vail, who said that...
'Gotta try imitating it right now!'
...was overflowing with the urge.
......Making the marquis lose his mind as the entire order caught colds from constant dunkings—that came four days later.
Lee Han hadn't even suggested practicing One Reed Crossing the River, but he chuckled at the sight of knights grabbing leaves and leaping into the river.
Men were all the same, no matter the world.
Hmm, similar, anyway...
'I practiced this one a ton myself.'
Recalling his past life, he'd acquired many techniques after learning kyung and practiced them extensively. But no one knew how much effort he'd poured into One Reed Crossing the River.
...Nearly drowning countless times.
Don't ask why.
It just popped into his head, so he tried it. But those attempts and efforts weren't wasted.
In fact, the foundations for his perfected Divine Arrow Flight and Indestructible Training traced back to One Reed Crossing the River.
They might look like simple power bursts, but instantaneous power control and concentration were paramount.
So Lee Han didn't stop the knights from repeatedly dunking themselves.
He'd experienced firsthand how it all helped in the end.
'Worth teaching them.'
They had passion and overflowing talent.
As a teacher, nothing beat sharp students—it was as satisfying as it got.
And moreover.
'I'm gaining from this too.'
Not some cliché about learning while teaching.
'These guys don't shy from fights—love that.'
Whether sore from losing to him yesterday or not, the knights approached Lee Han first for spars.
Sometimes 1v1, sometimes many against one, but any matchup was welcome to him.
No amount of solo strength training or technique drills could build real combat prowess.
Constant sparring with varied opponents was a huge opportunity.
Especially since in both lives, decent sparring partners cost money—yet these guys came to him for free?
Incredibly grateful.
Thanks to that?
Lee Han, who'd been in and out of the marquis's estate for nearly a week, was in peak condition.
Anyone else doing such relentless sparring might bruise up and break down, but with potions, few in this world wrecked themselves from too much dueling.
Especially not Lee Han.
'They've all got fun techniques. Especially that Sword Thread? Really coveting that one.'
A technique spreading sword energy like threads...
Versatility-wise, it seemed far more flexible than Plum Blossom Swordsmanship.
'Can't control Plum Blossoms at will.'
With Sword Thread, you could manipulate it freely at the swordsman's will.
But wanting to learn it? Those techniques demanded extreme talent and intellect—way beyond him.
'Not learning it anytime soon.'
Lee Han chewed on his regret.
"Why the long face, Sir Lee Han?"
"Worry about your own sorry state instead of my face. You look like a soaked kitten."
Vail had failed One Reed Crossing the River six times in a row and crawled ashore looking like a drowned rat. He shook off the water with a wry smile.
"This is ridiculously hard. How do you even float on a leaf?"
"This is nothing. One guy crossed a river on a single reed leaf."
"A river's not that impressive..."
"FYI, it was the Nineveh Grand Canal."
"......Rather say he crossed an ocean."
The Nineveh Grand Canal.
A massive waterway under Duke Galahad's oversight. First-timers mistook its waters for the sea.
A river vast enough to fool for an ocean.
And crossing that on one reed leaf?
"Was the guy some fairy or Aura User?"
"Dunno about fairy or Aura User—just a monk."
"A monk? ...Like a monk? Hmm, maybe a saint-level monk? Someone like that might pull off such miracles..."
"......"
Vail was turning the Dharma Master into a cleric in a shocking twist, but Lee Han didn't bother correcting him.
In a kingdom that treated all but the monotheistic [Light of Glory] as heretics, mentioning Buddhism would just make him a heretic too.
Not keen on inquisitors or exorcisms, Lee Han let the misunderstanding slide and changed the subject.
"Anyway, I've got a question—what's that Sword Thread thing, exactly..."
"—Sir Lee Han! Sir Lee Turtle, are you here?!"
"......?"
He was about to ask about Sword Thread when a marquis's servant suddenly called out. Lee Han glanced at him impassively.
But Vail beat him to it.
"What's with the racket? Don't you know this is a training ground?"
"Ah, Sir Vail. S-Sorry. It's just so urgent..."
"Urgent matter?"
"Yes, um..."
"Heh heh, hello."
"...?"
A royal maid.
A royal servant beamed and greeted him. Vail forgot his anger in an instant.
Seeing Leira Winter made his rage vanish like magic.
Lee Han eyed the stupefied Vail curiously and turned to her.
"Maid?"
"Knight~."
Leira's arrival made Lee Han blink.
This was hammock-nap time in her cabin. He knew her recent habit of dozing in the cool shade, so why skip it for here?
"Nothing major. Someone asked me to deliver this!"
"...?"
The maid handed over an ornate letter sealed with elegant wax bearing a lion's emblem.
Seeing the White Silver Lion crest, Lee Han's face hardened.
Somehow ominous.
'Wanna burn it...'
From his old workplace, the knight order—trouble brewing.
But with everyone watching, he couldn't torch it. He'd just take it from Leira and deal with it later.
Stash it away, handle discreetly.
But.
"Oh, and she said read it right away. Worried you'd burn it on the sly."
"That damn woman...!"
Like mind-reading his every move.
Only one person pulled that off, wrinkling Lee Han's brow.
"......Tch."
Lee Han scowled as hard as he could but unfolded the letter and began reading.
A feast of flowery, convoluted language.
Head-spinning already, but poring over it revealed...
"What kind of bullshit is this?!"
He crumpled the letter in his fist.
[Temporary reinstatement ordered for Lee Turtle.]
The gist, and it pissed him off.
Like training a mutt or something...!
Kick him out when she wants, call him back now!?
Ridiculous.
Who did she think he was...!
'This time, I'm not letting her off!'
Lee Han resolved.
Sister or not, he'd give her a proper thrashing today.
Just as he mentally sharpened his hand axe...
"Oh, right. The princess sent this too!"
"......"
"Heh heh, she said you'd love it—looks like she was right."
"...Maid."
"Yes?"
"......You should've led with this."
"Sorry."
"No, it's fine, happens! Ahaha!"
Lee Han laughed heartily.
Who wouldn't? The gift from her bosom cooled his boiling rage like a bucket of ice water.
An iridescence that melted away anger like nothing else.