Chapter 210
Chapter 210
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.47 – Knights' Nocturnal Escapade (3)
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"......Why is there no one here?"
After struggling for thirty minutes to swim his way in and successfully infiltrating the temple, Lee Han blinked in confusion.
One might think that getting in safely was all that mattered, but having seen just how tight security was on the outside, he couldn't help finding the complete lack of guards inside downright suspicious.
'Did they pull back inside, relying on the outer forces?'
Did that even make sense?
Lee Han tilted his head in bewilderment, but at the same time, he counted his lucky stars.
His stamina had taken a serious hit from maintaining the Turtle Breathing Technique while swimming and subduing giant crocodiles and water snakes.
Seriously, what kind of river had that many crocs and snakes...?
He'd had to take them down without spilling blood—just in case—and with the breathing technique active, it had been the toughest fight he'd faced in ages.
So yeah, the emptiness here felt like a strange blessing.
It was a brief respite, at least.
Not that he had time to kick back.
'No time to rest.'
There was zero room for slacking.
Night was running out, and even this pause felt like a luxury he couldn't afford.
But there was one tiny issue...
"So... where the hell am I?"
To reiterate, even the royals didn't know the full layout of the Great Temple, and not even the king knew what its interiors looked like.
He'd infiltrated it, sure, but finding his way around meant starting from scratch.
The lost knight wandered around for a while, grappling with the challenge of first figuring out where he even was.
...
To reveal it now, the reason he'd snuck into the temple wasn't to assassinate anyone.
As he'd prayed to the fairy, it was for some "righteous thievery."
What he needed was...
- [Holy Relic].
To be precise, a holy relic that would serve as his get-out-of-jail-free card. And for reference, the intel source was...
'What should I get old man Raphael as a gift?'
Priest Raphael.
The only true adult Lee Han trusted in this medieval backwater—and the benefactor who'd given him this tip. Thanks to him, Lee Han knew about the relic assigned to him and planned to steal—er, "borrow" it temporarily before returning it.
And the spark for this plan had come from...
- Brother, hypothetically speaking, what do you think would happen if the holy relic meant for you suddenly vanished from the Great Temple?
- ...Pardon?
...It was absurd, but that was Raphael for you.
- Ho ho, no need for alarm. It's just a "hypothetical," you see. A mere example. Don't take it seriously—just dismiss it as the ramblings of an old fool, ho ho.
- ......
...As if he'd buy that as mere rambling.
At first, Lee Han doubted his ears.
It felt like the priest was indirectly suggesting, "How about nicking a holy relic?"
Why would the next pontiff-in-waiting float something like that to anyone?
Did I screw up somehow, and this is payback...?
It was a perfectly reasonable suspicion.
His shock soon turned to doubt, and perhaps it showed on his face, because Raphael kept emphasizing "hypothetical" as he continued.
- Haha, this is just another example, but if the relic designated for you were to disappear, it would cause quite the uproar inside the temple. The Great Temple has many relics, true, but each one is priceless—whether for their historical value or the mystical powers they hold. They're all treasures. Thus, the temple's paramount duty is to guard these relics with their lives. Protecting ancient artifacts is the covenant that allowed the temple of light to take root in the south. But if the Great Temple lost one? ...That would shake its very authority.
- !?
For a split second, it felt like lightning flashed through his mind.
He suddenly understood Raphael's intent in even mentioning relic theft.
What he was saying now was...
- So if the relic vanished...
- The entire temple would lock down for a while, followed by a fierce investigation for heretics. Especially since it would be the one "conveniently" meant for you—and only I and a few cardinals know that. We'd face intense scrutiny, no doubt.
- ......
...Just like his counterpart had done, he planned to flip the board.
With aggressive measures.
- ...You sure that's okay? At your age, getting dragged to the basement might be the end of you...
But it was a highly dangerous gambit.
Not for him—for Raphael...
In truth, if a relic vanished, Raphael would be the prime suspect.
He knew about the one assigned to Lee Han and was the only one pursuing an independent path from the current Great Temple leadership.
A missing relic would give the heresy inquisitors all the excuse they needed for a brutal interrogation.
- This is a bit...
Lee Han started to voice his objection, but...
- Ah, no worries there. This worthless old man happens to have an [indulgence].
- ......
- Living this long comes with perks like that, ho ho.
- ......Oh.
Come to think of it, this guy was a living legend of the temple, wasn't he?
- Ho ho, that's all there is to it. I've done nothing, nor have you, Brother—so when would I ever need to use an indulgence? Right?
- ...Ha.
No wonder he'd survived over a century in the temple.
He wasn't just diligent; he knew how to play the game.
- You've got it all planned out, old timer.
- Whatever do you mean?
- ...Ah, yeah, got it. Hypothetically speaking then, is something like that okay? It'd feel pretty good for me, sure, but you could just sit back and become Holy King automatically. ...Not that I'm implying anything. Just talking risks if it happened.
- I know, ho ho ho!
Raphael chuckled merrily at the question laced with curiosity, answering without a second thought.
- Could something like that save even one lamb?
He dismissed becoming Holy King as "something like that."
...With an intensity that left even a knight speechless.
- I'd rather be a shield for the lambs with these two legs than sit stamping papers or schmoozing.
- ......
- I'll spread the light's teachings tirelessly until these legs give out—then collapse into the earth as fertilizer. ...No regrets there.
- ......Isn't that a bit too cool?
- No need to gild this old face.
- No, I mean it.
He was sincere.
......For the first time in a while, Lee Han truly admired the old man.
And now.
"Ah, so the layout's roughly like this?"
Lee Han was methodically following the steps to steal the relic.
Not for Raphael's sake. This was his own resolve.
His face showed no resentment; he worked diligently in silence.
"━━!"
Lion's Roar.
Not the ear-shattering roar that could rip eardrums, but a gentle ripple echoing through the vast space.
The sonic technique he'd used against the holy knights the day before.
In technical terms, "echolocation."
He'd acquired a peculiar skill, but peculiar or not, more tools meant more options. Lee Han repeatedly emitted sound waves, mapping the surroundings by their reflections—structures, paths, potential traps.
"...Got a rough idea now."
Not everything, just the basics: where paths led, viable routes.
Apparently, combat and detection were worlds apart in difficulty.
Still.
'If I comb every suspicious spot, something's bound to turn up.'
Whether this counted as a specialty, Lee Han's true forte wasn't combat or assassination.
'Been a while since I did some good old grind.'
He had supreme confidence in boring, repetitive tasks.
At the same time, as the knight slaved away at his grind, a gray-haired boy was scribbling furiously at his desk.
Some busted their asses in the field; others racked their brains at desks.
In other words, Derek was giving it his all, no less than his mentor.
'Who is it?'
His desk was buried under hundreds of pages, each crammed with dense writing.
He'd jotted down every scrap of knowledge he had until his wrist ached, then reviewed it obsessively for omissions.
...But despite the effort.
'...No clue.'
The lack of breakthroughs gave him a splitting headache.
In the end, Derek threw in the towel on identifying the mysterious schemer his instructor sought.
"Haa!"
His sigh carried deep stress: 80% self-loathing, 20% despair.
If the instructor saw, he'd call it pathetic, but Derek would've countered with some science about long sighs reducing stress—typical STEM nerd response. The instructor might've replied, sweetly, "How about I beat pi's first hundred digits out of you?"
"...Heh."
Thinking of his mentor chased away the gloom with a smile.
The most cheerful guy he knew.
At the same time.
'I feel useless...'
The smile faded fast; he sensed his info growing obsolete.
"......Time to face it."
'...Most of my info's useless now.'
The final nail? Hayes Rocher's appearance.
Instructor said Irene Windler was the duke's secret daughter, but yesterday, Lady Irene had tilted her head like, "Not her?"
Meaning her intel was mostly wrong too.
And Derek's was no different.
'The heroine... is gone...'
All of it, worthless.
The heroine.
The main love interest, the world's core.
From the start of his second year, the one meant to drive the main story... was nowhere.
For Derek, who'd eagerly awaited her debut since "dropping" into this world, it was a thunderbolt.
A year ago, he'd have panicked, face paling.
But...
'Good thing Instructor's here.'
A hero-class Irregular.
His most trusted mentor and guide.
With him around, Derek's mind reeled but didn't break.
Plus.
'Deep down, maybe I saw it coming?'
...He might've predicted it.
The heroine's absence.
After all.
'I can't remember her face...'
She definitely existed.
But her face, her name—they wouldn't clarify.
Like shrouded in fog...
'Is the heroine so plot-convenient she got deleted from this world?'
Instructor often said: Don't treat this like a game; it's a real world of living people.
If so, the heroine was a [bug].
Her mere existence disrupted the ecosystem, forcing the genre into [romance].
Her disappearance...
'This isn't romance fantasy anymore?'
Just straight "fantasy"?
'...Or maybe [Dark] or [Dystopian] fantasy...?'
Derek knew.
What happened if the story progressed without its heroine buffer and solver.
─Romance fantasy formula: No heroine, and it turns apocalyptic horror-fantasy.
And then.
"...Should I really emigrate with Instructor?"
Imagining that grim future made leaving tempting.
Anywhere but the south might be livable.
As that thought crossed his mind...
"-Lost in weird thoughts again, Derek?"
"...Lady Karin?"
"Pondering's fine, but don't obsess. It'll just torment you."
"......"
"Hehe, feel better now?"
"Th-that's..."
"Seriously, you look all innocent like a bunny, but you're a guy through and through, huh? Hehe."
"L-Lady Karin!!?"
Karina's teasing blew his worries away in an instant, leaving Derek's face beet red.
But she...
"Ah, now that's the Derek face I like. You look better all flustered than serious. It's cuter that way."
"......"
"And I told you to call me Karin. You never listen."
"Uhmm..."
Derek swallowed hard, struck by how cute her cheeky expression was.
......Emigration plans scrapped.
He'd dreamed of it briefly, but now? Nah.
She'd never abandon this kingdom.
So he...
"Derek, eyeing my lips? Your gaze is intense."
"N-no, it's not—!"
"Come here. Quick. I wanna try something."
"W-wait...!?"
......Time to steel himself.
Even in war, children are born.
Thus, no matter how doomed the future, "romance" always lingered.
Of course...
"-What the? Why am I suddenly so pissed?"
...Some knights were grinding away at midnight like a live show, far from romance.
His instincts screamed to thump the gray-haired kid; scratching his head, the knight wondered why.