Chapter 200
Chapter 200
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP. 45 – The Knight Rides Autumn (5)
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"Weren't you cold...?"
The pond had been created relatively recently.
While digging the tunnel, they had accidentally broken through an underground rock layer, and abundant groundwater—clean enough to drink—had formed the pond.
Thanks to that, Lee Han no longer needed to buy water, but since it was rock-filtered water, it was insanely cold.
As cold as ice? It wasn't just that level; if you put fruit in the water, it actually froze.
Pendragon land truly held mysteries.
Even its groundwater rejected the ordinary.
It was a natural source of drinking water that doubled as a freezer, and for that reason...
"I never imagined a person would go in there."
"Hehe, but I'm a water and wind mage, right? I made a barrier of warm air and just endured it in the water. See? I'm all dry and fluffy."
"...You're full of tricks."
"Any mage could do it."
"I'm not so sure..."
At least, among the spellcasters whose throats he'd slit, none had pulled off such a stunt.
There had been one who boasted, "I am the master of water!" but even that guy couldn't fight underwater.
'Either he was all talk, or this girl's got insane talent.'
Lee Han clicked his tongue.
What a...
'waste of talent.'
It was absurd and pitiful to see a girl with world-class potential using it for voyeuristic photos.
'What the hell does she want with pictures of a guy like me...?'
He had given permission himself, but he still couldn't comprehend her mindset.
The voyeur—or rather, the girl who had obtained legal permission for her photography—was, despite appearances, the precious jewel of the kingdom's, no, the southern continent's most powerful family.
Irene Windler.
She was a prodigy certain to become an archmage by her mid-twenties, and as an adopted daughter in a ducal house without blood heirs, she was undoubtedly positioned to become Duke Galahad's successor.
If she set her mind to it, she could do or have anything in the kingdom.
However, that girl...
"Instructor, if the 'duke's real daughter' shows up in this entrance exam, would you believe it?"
"...?"
She was spouting nonsense that was hard to even comprehend.
"Did you come for counseling because you have mental health issues?"
What to do? He didn't know any psychiatrists...
Lee Han seriously pondered if holy power could cure mental ailments.
"I'm not crazy, Instructor!"
But Irene Windler gazed at him with clear, unwavering eyes, as if to prove her sanity.
"Well, even I'd think it was nonsense if I heard it. But Instructor, I've never lied, and I swear I'm only speaking the truth."
"...Hmm."
"I swear on my mana—"
"Stop right there, fledgling."
"Eep!"
Lee Han swiftly covered Irene's mouth.
A vow on was an absolute oath for mages, equivalent to the River Styx in Greek myth.
Breaking it would cause the mana in a mage's body to riot and tear them apart from the inside.
Young people were so reckless, fearless.
"I believe you without that, so just don't do anything crazy. I don't like using violence on women."
"Y-yes, sir..."
Irene's face flushed slightly as she meekly replied.
Was his hand that warm?
"Hehe, your hands are so big. I want to take one..."
"......"
Swipe...
How was he supposed to interpret that?
Did she want to cut off his hand and take it?
Lee Han hid his hand behind his back, thinking the girl's affection veered far from normal.
...Honestly, it was a bit scary.
"You might not know this, Instructor, but the duke used to have a wife long ago. ...She's passed away now."
He already knew that.
"Sadly, she left behind a child when she died. And I... I happen to know that child is still alive...!"
That's you.
"And there's a chance the duke's daughter, who was said to be dead, might appear!"
...It's you, I said.
"Sigh."
Lee Han let out a deep sigh.
Was this the feeling of a righteous outlaw who couldn't call his father "father"?
He felt sorry for his student, whose pupils trembled with tension as if revealing a massive secret, but no one in the kingdom knew the father-daughter relationship between them as well as Lee Han did.
He hadn't dug into it on purpose, but he knew Blake—no, Duke Galahad—and Irene Windler were father and daughter.
Because their 'aura wavelengths' matched, and they shared the 'unique scent' of the same bloodline.
However, this was just something he'd sensed; there was no logical way to prove it.
'Even if I told them they're father and daughter and to have their tearful reunion, they wouldn't believe me.'
There were no DNA tests in this world.
It would be nice if there was magic to detect bloodlines, but unfortunately, no such spell had been developed yet.
...Officially, at least.
'The royal family seems to have some method.'
Earlier this year, his princess sister had asked him to monitor two people, saying Irene Windler might be the duke's 'biological child'...
But was it just a hunch?
At least, the princess sister he knew wasn't the type to speculate idly.
That nine-tailed sister must have had some certainty to ask him to watch them.
For example—
'They might have already invented a bloodline test kit.'
She was someone who had succeeded in making a mythical elixir like Ambrosia.
He wouldn't be surprised if she whipped up a paternity test on the spot.
The problem was...
'Even if she knows, she won't tell them easily.'
He was certain.
She would never help that father and daughter.
As long as the duke and the girl posed a political threat to her position, absolutely not...!
'So frustrating...'
Lee Han couldn't intervene carelessly.
He was connected to all three, and at least 'for now,' he was closer to the princess sister.
So.
"That's a shocking and serious story."
"Right? Shocking, isn't it, Instructor!"
Lee Han responded appropriately, pretending to be grave, acting as if it were the first time he'd heard it.
He felt a pang of guilt, but what could he do?
'I'm not getting involved in power struggles.'
That would only make his life harder.
"Sigh. You might think my whole story is a lie, or that an orphaned mage like me couldn't possibly know such truths."
"No, I understand."
"I knew you would. But once you hear this... W-wait, what did you say...?"
"I believe you."
"......"
"So stop with the excuses and get to the point, Irene Windler. What are you trying to tell me?"
"......"
But he would give her counseling, at least.
He couldn't meddle in blood relations, but he could listen as much as she wanted.
"Instructor..."
"...Ahem."
Seeing Irene Windler's moved expression made his conscience prick a little.
Irene Windler was thrilled—!
To think he'd believe such an unbelievable story!
'Our instructor really is the best, hehe.'
[Our airhead Arin...]
'Shut up! No matter what you say, Instructor is the best!'
[Well, I won't deny that.]
The ghost nodded in agreement.
Even the ghost girl hadn't expected him to believe everything.
Or perhaps...
[He already suspected it?]
'Huh? What?'
[...Nothing.]
'??'
[Focus on the instructor, not me. He'll think it's weird.]
'Oh, right!'
The girl quickly refocused on her beloved instructor, chattering away as if pouring out all her long-hidden grievances.
But the ghost girl, bound in fate to her, gazed meaningfully at the two in turn.
And thought.
[Arin, do you still see this world as a romance fantasy comic?]
She pitied that the girl still viewed this world as fictional, still clinging to the wish to return to her 'original world.'
She felt sorry for the girl whose everything was still frozen at 'high school senior college entrant [Lee Arin].'
[Do you miss it that much?]
The ghost girl's voice held an inexplicable sadness as she looked toward the knight the girl admired.
[Please protect Arin, Instructor.]
In her stead, since she could do nothing.
...Well.
"If the duke's real daughter appears, I don't know what'll happen to me. So, Instructor, um, could you maybe... take me in?"
...There were no airheads quite like this one.
[Sigh.]
The ghost girl sighed and shook her head.
The duke and the girl...
[Why won't they just talk?]
Was that how father-daughter relationships usually were?
The ghost girl felt frustrated.
'What a frustrating relationship.'
After hearing Irene Windler's counseling, Lee Han shook his head.
'Neither of them communicates properly.'
The duke suspected on some level that Irene was his real daughter but also doubted her due to possible schemes by fanatics. Conversely, Irene was 'convinced' she wasn't the duke's daughter.
As if the real one was someone else.
'The real daughter appears among the examinees, huh. That's totally...'
One of the classic tropes in romance fantasies, wasn't it?
A cliché he'd seen to death during his non-commissioned officer days.
The girl thought to be the real daughter isn't, and the poor girl turns out to be the lost true daughter— that standard plot.
'A complete classic...'
But in the case of Irene and Duke Galahad, it was classic with a slight [variation], which was key.
And in cases with such variations...
'They drag out the story forever...'
As a 'reader' who knew it took forever for the truth to come out in those cases, Lee Han felt uneasy.
And as a reader who hated frustration...
'—If she dies in an unavoidable accident during the exam, it'd make for a decent story, right?'
He decided to flip the whole thing on its head.