Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.31 – The Knights Call Themselves Defeated (2)
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"I'll pursue him."
Yord kept his eyes fixed on the receding shadow as he requested permission, and Lee Han asked.
"Can you catch him?"
"At this distance, I can do it anytime."
"Confidence is good. Hmm... forget it. Just let him go."
"B-but...!"
Yord could easily guess that the burly man was the culprit who had wounded Lee Han so severely and complicated their mission, even without knowing the full details.
He expressed his dissatisfaction at just letting such a person go.
"Drop it. He's not someone you can handle."
"Senior?"
Jake grabbed his junior's shoulder to stop him.
It wasn't that he was ignoring Yord, but still.
"...Even if he's exhausted, taking down the 'Northern Black Lion' would be impossible."
"!!?"
Yord's eyes widened in shock.
The Northern Black Lion.
The giant slayer and the North's greatest champion...!
"The Black Iron Lion's Vice Knight Commander..."
"It's almost certainly him. He didn't recognize him at first glance because he's bulked up even more since back then, but it's definitely him. Is his growth spurt really still going, just like the rumors?"
"...Is he really a pure-blooded human?"
"They say he's pure human, at least."
"Uh, doesn't seem like it..."
Yord had never expected to encounter the Vice Commander of the Black Iron Lions, known only by rumor, in such a remote outpost. He forgot his complaints and felt dazed.
As the young junior stared at the man's retreating figure in stunned awe, unable to hide his shock, Jake turned his gaze to his friend, who had collapsed in exhaustion.
"...You okay?"
"Do I look okay?"
"No."
"Then why ask?"
"To tease you."
"...Rot in hell."
It was probably the first time.
The first time he'd seen Lee Han collapsed in such utter exhaustion.
And according to Jake's guess, the reason this guy ended up like this was probably...
"There's no way you'd lose to a bunch of fanatics, and you absolutely wouldn't end up like this against monsters. On the contrary, you'd wipe out both of those without mercy."
"...You know me too well."
"Yeah, unfortunately, I do. And I know this too. There are fewer than fifty people on the entire continent—no, in the whole kingdom—who could reduce you to this state. And if one of them is Lionel's Black Lion, then yeah, he could leave you in this mess. That's why I'm asking, but just maybe..."
"We fought. It just kinda happened."
"...As expected."
It was self-inflicted.
Lee Han boldly admitted the truth before he could even finish speaking.
As if he had no intention of hiding it anyway.
However.
"What do you think a mission is, you delinquent knight?"
"...Yeah, sorry."
At his friend's sincere scolding, he let out an awkward hum and offered a frank apology.
He knew it was inexcusable, even by his own standards.
Surprisingly, Lee Han still had a conscience.
...Jake scolded him but didn't ask for the reason they fought.
Anyway.
'It was probably over something trivial.'
This guy and the North's great warrior both had eccentric personalities, so it was obvious they'd turn some petty excuse into a full-blown duel.
He kept a straight face, unimpressed.
But.
'Who won?'
He wasn't uninterested.
As far as he knew, they were the strongest men in the kingdom aside from Aura Users.
If they'd clashed and dueled, any knight would be curious about the outcome upon hearing the news.
...But Jake held back from asking his friend.
And for good reason.
'If I ask now, I'll get hit, right?'
Even just seeing that displeased expression told him it wasn't a wise choice, so he suppressed his curiosity for now.
'I'll hear about it someday.'
...Hoping a chance to satisfy his curiosity would come eventually.
Whoosh! Whoooosh!
The woman ran at full speed.
Sweat streamed down her face, but she maintained her pace, covering dozens of meters per second like a snow leopard bounding effortlessly across the tundra.
Even burdened with the massive Maximus, who was more like a bull than a man in weight, if she couldn't handle this much, how could she claim to be a member of the Black Iron Lions, the North's guardian deities and strongest warriors?
To Northern warriors, gender was no excuse—only skill mattered.
"Looks like no one's pursuing us."
The tall woman with snow-white skin like the tundra glanced back cautiously and sighed in relief at the lack of followers.
It would have been a headache if the White Silver Lion Knights had chased her.
'Excluding the downed knight, the other two were no pushovers either.'
Even by Northern standards, they weren't to be underestimated.
Lilina Heartmoon was inwardly impressed.
'I heard the white cats were all idiots, but there are some decent ones after all.'
Was this the kingdom's strength?
But soon, her attention shifted away from the cats.
Glancing...
Perhaps feeling a bit more at ease?
Lilina looked at her vice commander, who dangled limply like wilted spinach.
Maximus Lionel.
The Grand Duke of Lionel's youngest brother, but called the "North's Great Warrior" far more often than that title.
The knight who had brought all Northern warriors to their knees through innate talent, unyielding effort, and endless drive for improvement was none other than him.
Lilina herself had once challenged him out of rivalry, and that day she learned to her bones that giants could take human form.
Maximus was that strong, and Lilina couldn't imagine him losing to any human except His Excellency the Grand Duke.
She had experienced firsthand his bottomless stamina and mountain-shattering strength.
Yet now.
'This is the first time I've seen him this exhausted.'
He hadn't even had a scratch after fighting a frost giant alone long ago.
So it was inevitable that Lilina's gaze filled with curiosity...
"—Lilina, what's on your mind?"
"......"
"If you have questions, I'll answer them."
"...How did you end up like that? You, the North's champion."
She asked directly when the opportunity arose.
The bold straightforwardness of a Northern warrior woman.
And at that question, Maximus, slung over her shoulder like baggage, gave a satisfied smile.
"It was a magnificent duel. Truly exhilarating and passionate."
"......"
Lilina's eyes rounded.
It was the first time she'd seen their vice commander look so satisfied.
Then he continued.
"Lilina, the continent is vast, haha!"
"...That's an uncharacteristically humble answer from you."
"Is it? Maybe you're right."
Maximus didn't deny her words.
As Lilina said, he was more arrogant than humble.
But now was different.
He said.
"If you don't change after experiencing 'defeat,' how can you call yourself human?"
"!!!"
"Why? Is it that hard to believe I lost?"
"...D-did you really lose?"
It was the word that least suited her vice commander, Maximus.
Defeat. The idea of him losing to someone didn't connect at all.
He always seemed to emerge victorious from duels.
But Maximus.
"Have you forgotten, Lilina? I've never lied in my life."
"......"
"Not now either. And I'm not ashamed or uncomfortable with my defeat at all. In the North, I've always been the defeated."
He always lost to his brother the Grand Duke's mysteries, and to the blizzards sweeping from the North.
The North's other mystery, the eternal snows, brought no chill but overwhelmed him with their grandeur and presence, always delivering utter defeat.
Thus, defeat was familiar to him.
"Losing to the Black King and great nature—why call that defeat? Can humans even win against them?"
Lilina Heartmoon was dumbfounded.
The things he mentioned.
The Black King of Lionel, the "Fragment of the Lion King," god and master of the Northern lands.
The eternal snows, frozen for millennia, said to hold the remains of snow fairies.
None of these were things a mere human could oppose.
Who would think to fight nature—no, disasters—and call losing defeat?
"You have to aim high."
"...You're just out of your mind."
"Hm, maybe."
Maximus readily nodded in agreement.
Everyone had their own standards, after all.
And in that sense.
"By my standards, I definitely lost this time."
"...Even after breaking that knight's sword?"
"Haha, you saw everything, huh."
"I just saw that knight chuck the hilt away in a fit."
It was a common sight in the North.
Countless warriors had lost their beloved weapons to Maximus's specialty: weapon destruction.
However.
"Lilina, look at my neck."
"Pardon?"
"Quickly."
"......"
Lilina tilted her head, wondering why he'd say that so suddenly, but obediently looked at his neck, and then...
"Eek...!"
She let out a scream.
She rarely startled at anything, but now she was trembling in horror, her pupils shaking as she came to a halt.
......A red line.
He was suppressing the wound on his neck with sheer force.
"That light—I'm really glad I learned it."
Otherwise, a fountain of blood would have erupted, and he'd be dead by now.
Well.
"As a knight, you'll get your neck slashed sometimes. Not a bad experience, ahaha!"
"D-don't laugh! I said don't laugh, you idiot! You're bleeding!! Why didn't you say you were hurt!?"
"Ahaha!!"
Maximus just laughed it off as no big deal, but Lilina's face paled, and she knew she had to treat this lunatic quickly.
"Damn human!!"
Lilina Heartmoon glared at her vice commander...
who was also her husband.
She might have become a widow at this rate.