A Knight Gets the Autumn Blues (2)
"The marquis did give me permission to use the Tristan name, but somehow that didn't feel right. I may be his adopted daughter, but I don't share a single drop of Tristan blood, do I? They're already seeing to a place for me to sleep and to my comfort, and taking the family name on top of that felt like it would be too shameless. So I received a different surname. Ordinarily you could only obtain one by being knighted, but the marquis went out of his way to pull strings for me. Ah, it isn't without conditions. He said that if I fail to be knighted, the surname I was given will be confiscated and I'll have to use Tristan's. ...The terms are so good for me that it's almost unsettling, you know? Hehe."
Levi was chirping like a sparrow at first light, and the fact that she was talking more than usual made plain how excited she was. Well, of course she was. For the first time in her life, she had a surname of her own—one that proved who she was. For a girl who had always been toyed with by others against her will, receiving a name could only be a joy.
And so Lee Han listened in silence, nodding along. It really was something to be glad about.
Only—
"Still, though. There are plenty of other surnames. Why Jeanne d'Arc, of all things?"
"...It is a rather unusual name, isn't it? Does it not suit me?"
"No! Absolutely not! It's a great name!"
At the faintly embarrassed, pitiful look on the girl's face, Lee Han shook his head at once, as if there were nothing strange about it in the slightest. He denied it with everything he had and lavished praise on her new surname.
"Th-thank goodness. I thought it was strange again..."
Whether the sincere praise had done its work, Levi smiled brightly once more, looking relieved. And then—
"It was a name that suddenly came to me! I was putting out a candle and accidentally burned myself a little, and in that instant it flashed through my head. As if I'd received a 'revelation from heaven'..."
"......"
Turning over the moment that had come upon her like fate, she told the story of the name's birth with a face still caught in the afterglow, as if it had truly been a miracle.
"Hehe. Is this what they call inspiration flashing up out of the unconscious? Strange things really do happen, don't they?"
"Y-yeah..."
"Anyway, please call me Levi Jeanne d'Arc from now on. ...You may just call me Levi, or Jeanne, Master."
"Do you have any idea the talk I'd get if I addressed a student that familiarly?"
"Would you?"
"...I can see you doing it on purpose even though you know. Don't go around lying. It shows all over your face."
"...Hehe."
Levi laughed as if embarrassed, and Lee Han laughed with her, proud of a disciple who had grown more playful and affectionate. On the surface, that was all. Inside, he felt as if he were burning up.
'Horribly ominous...'
The part about nearly burning her hand on a candle made him flinch even harder. Why, of all things, did it have to be fire? The thought rose on its own.
'Hey. Is this a coincidence?'
'I-it must be a coincidence...? ...Probably.'
'Why do you sound so unsure!?'
'...Because I can't be certain of anything either. Whoa. Don't tell me this is the reversibility of fate?'
'Watch your mouth!'
'Hup!'
He didn't believe in superstition, but this was a world where fairies and Mystery lived side by side. Say one wrong word, and there was every chance it would take root.
'She hasn't learned Holy Law, but the moment she does, she has the talent to be called a Saint...'
Hmm...
'This kid's a sniper aimed straight at the temple, isn't she?'
Let her get caught, and she was nothing less than the one existence that could ruin every plan the temple had. And the moment she got tangled up with the temple, a life of strolling through flower fields was bound to turn hard.
'...Our Bear-Girl, honestly...'
It was a master's heart, left with nothing to do but hope the name was nothing more than coincidence.
BOOM!
Not five minutes after Lee Han sent word, he arrived, and the moment he appeared the restaurant door spectacularly shattered. He had come in such a rush that the black-haired young master forgot even to control his strength and kicked his way in, and the owner was aghast.
"Wh-what do you think you're doing! The door of our Maple Tree Restaurant, two hundred years of tradition—how could you...!"
"My apologies. I will compensate you."
"Do you think compensation is what matters right now! This is—!"
Thud!
"......"
A pouch of gold coins dropped onto the table. It landed hard. How heavy did a thing have to be to make a sound like that off a dining table?
"Khh-hmm!!"
The owner, however, had his pride. Startled he might be, but he was still in no mood to forgive—least of all an attitude that tried to settle the matter with money. This, no matter what, called for a proper scolding...
Thud!
THUDDD!
"—From today, you are the owner of this restaurant! Do as you please!"
"I have no desire to be the owner. I would simply prefer the surroundings quiet."
"I'll drive out everything from the ants to the mice, yes indeed!!"
If the other party refuses your gold, consider whether that gold simply wasn't heavy enough... As if to teach that very lesson, pouches that looked twice as heavy as the first came crashing down one after another, hard enough to split the table, and the owner swore his loyalty to the black-haired young master, Roen.
The whole thing happened in a flash. From where one sat watching, it was beyond absurd.
"You got money rotting to spare? What even..."
"I do. Considerably. Those who could fight me with wealth are likely only Galahad or the temple."
"...So it really was rotting to spare."
"I could even show you diamonds falling like rain."
"N-no, I'll pass..."
For the first time, Lee Han felt a regressor's dignity coming off the boy. Until now, nothing he saw had surprised him—but the moment he caught the scent of gold without end, he understood what dignity meant.
'A regressor, as expected.'
An invincible investor who would have pierced, down to the last detail, every scrap of information there was: which land would rise in value, which merchant company would prosper in the future, where the gold mines and other precious wealth lay. Perhaps, just as in the world of his previous life, that colossal talent for investment was the true cheat even in this barbaric medieval world. Lee Han found himself impressed all over again.
The boy, however, wore a face so blank that showing off what amounted to pocket change (?) didn't even seem worth boasting about. ...To correct that: the face was blank, but the pupils of his eyes were shaking like mad. Tension was written all over him, urgency clinging to every line.
"Has Jeanne's— no. Is it true that Lady Levi's new name has become Jeanne d'Arc?"
"It's true. No need to ask us. Ask the person herself. She hasn't been gone long; you could catch her easy."
"...No. The instructor would have no reason to lie, so it must be the truth."
He said as much, but Roen looked desperate to chase after Levi that very moment. Well, Lee Han would have been shocked too. It would feel like an old comrade, once dead, had come back to life.
And at the same time—
'He'd be suspicious, too.'
Wondering whether Levi, just like himself, might have come walking backward out of the future... All sorts of feelings crossed his face. Suspicion, joy, sorrow, anger, despair, denial. ...Countless emotions flickered past in an instant, and Lee Han understood. The conclusion.
'...He gave up.'
Sharp as the kid was, reaching a conclusion must have come easily.
'If Bear-Girl had known the future, she would have made contact with Geomdung right away—but there wasn't even a hint of that. So he decided it was coincidence.'
He wouldn't simply write it off as pure coincidence, though.
"Instructor, by any chance......"
"...Why'd you stop halfway?"
"It is not something I can... say easily, so I cannot speak it carelessly."
"......"
Roen still would not open his mouth, and Lee Han waited in silence.
Slurp.
Eating the waffles and coffee the delighted owner had brought out on the house, grateful for the unexpected pouches of gold, the instructor leisurely waited for the boy's deliberation to run its course. He looked entirely at peace. Wasn't he even a little impatient?
"...You aren't pressing me."
"Pressing you won't get me an answer. If you want to talk, talk. If it's awkward, or something you don't want to say, just let it go. Way I see it, you've got a habit of trying to live life on hard mode."
"...Ha."
Roen laughed, just for a moment—out of the certainty that, in all the kingdom, this man was probably the only one who would appraise him that way. In more ways than one, here was someone who could make even his grinding deliberation feel light. Was that why?
"Hoo!"
Breathing out a sigh that felt a great deal clearer, Roen decided to take out one of the most important secrets he had hidden until now. There was only one reason to reveal it: so the conversation might run smooth and untangled, slick as oil.
"If I told you I possess the ability to see the future, would you believe me?"
Of course, he would not lay everything bare. He would mix seven parts truth with three parts lies. It was also, in its way, not quite a lie, and Roen prepared his response while predicting how the man would react. He wouldn't believe it right away, but if they talked it through, step by step...
"—Now, of all times?"
"...?"
"Is this the moment where I'm supposed to figure out how to react?"
"......??"
...Somehow the reaction was nothing like what he had predicted. If Roen was not seeing things, the man looked purely dumbfounded. And the moment the next words followed, Roen had no choice but to understand why he had reacted that way.
"You went around advertising that you know the future so hard, and then you ask if I'd believe you? What am I supposed to say? Should I at least act surprised?"
"...Did I give myself away that much?"
"I thought you were telling me on purpose."
"Ahem."
"Way I see it, you're the sloppiest of the lot. If you had even a shred of intent to hide it, maybe I wouldn't know—but you're the type who blabs it all over town every single day..."
"I-I've never spread rumors..."
"Oh, is that so?"
"......"
...At a scoff that all but called him ridiculous, Roen shut his mouth at last. They said that if you kept still you at least landed in the middle, and Roen, realizing that not making excuses was the answer, smiled a bitter smile. ...And yet, bitter though it was, one corner of his mouth held a cool relief, as if a frustration that had refused to come undone had finally loosened.
'Didn't see that coming.'
He had spoken as if scolding him, but inwardly he was surprised that the disciple would reveal a secret of his own. This was a boy like a wounded alley cat, who would trust no one—and for the first time, he had shown trust. ...There was even a faint tenderness to it, like a stray cat allowing a hand for the first time.
'Say it out loud and he'd get angry, wouldn't he?'
Content that they had grown a little closer, Lee Han decided not to go tugging at the kid's nose hairs for no reason. He was proud. And so—
"Nothing you're curious about?"
"?"
"You must be curious too. Like why I called you the moment I heard Bear-Girl's new name... that sort of thing?"
"......"
He carried the conversation on, and Roen's expression hardened. And his gaze—
"...I have found you somewhat suspicious for some time, but now I am certain. You, too, are an existence akin to myself."
"Haha..."
The boy's eyes went straight to Taechang. Good instincts, as expected—seeing how he seized the source of the information at once. Right then—
"...I will ask only one thing. Then have you, too, met an angel?"
"...H-have you as well, young master...?"
"As I thought!"
"Whoa..."
...A piece of information that didn't belong anywhere had popped out, and Lee Han blinked. The two of them were growing rapidly closer, like classmates who had just found each other, and looking at Taechang, Lee Han was startled in spite of himself. And no wonder.
'It wasn't a truck?'
He had been certain it was a truck at the very least—a Dodge, or a Retona.
'Hsss. So these days it isn't trucks?'
Thinking the trends had changed a great deal since his reincarnation, Lee Han wore a lonely look. ...In his day, the fundamentals were a truck, or death by overwork.
'They've got it easy now.'
Angels showing up, and everything. Well, at this rate—
'Next they'll get possessed mid-comment and reincarnate, haha!'
Lee Han laughed to himself that, even so, that was too absurd to be real.