Chapter 231
Chapter 231
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.51 – The Knight Visits Home (3)
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I felt a sense of incongruity after seeing the cross-section of the bronze statue.
‘…No signs of melting?’
Bronze is metal too.
To shape it, you have to melt it down in intense heat first.
Yet there were no melting marks on that thing.
What was visible instead...
‘Carved?’
It only showed traces like it had been whittled away with a chisel.
‘No, not a chisel...?’
What had made those marks?
‘…A thin sword?’
The cross-section of the bronze statue, and the faint blade marks left on it.
Those were unmistakably the kind left by a rapier or similar fine blade.
How could he be so sure?
‘Back in my mercenary days, I saw plenty of guys with chunks of flesh sliced off like that.’
He’d seen men get cut by rapiers, and even taken a hit himself once.
Of course, the attacker had died by his hand.
Anyway, Lee Han had the experience and insight to recognize it, so deducing that it had been carved with a rapier wasn’t hard.
But the moment certainty hit...
‘A monster, huh?’
It was only natural for admiration to spill out.
‘With my grip strength, I could probably compress metal or shape it while forming a statue somehow.’
Or use sword aura to whittle it down.
…But that would just be brute-forcing it with raw power. No way it’d come out that naturally.
‘That cross-section wasn’t carved with sword aura. It was just sliced clean.’
Like cutting tofu or modeling clay.
An absurd feat—no, a realm of swordsmanship beyond belief?
“……”
Click.
Lee Han touched his sword and gauged it.
Could his blade block strikes from someone who wielded such pure skill without sword aura?
‘…No way.’
Yeah, impossible.
If someone with that level of swordsmanship attacked him, blocking wasn’t the answer—evade.
…But.
‘Hmm, taking a hit without dying might be doable...?’
─Lee Han suddenly wanted to feel that sword skill firsthand.
The Ophen family mansion, reached after passing through the village.
Unlike typical noble estates that claimed entire swaths of distant forest for mansions and gardens, the Ophen place was right in the city—and remarkably modest in scale.
Not small, exactly. More practical and spartan.
It was packed with facilities better suited to a massive dojo or training ground than a mansion, and that alone highlighted how the Ophen family differed from other nobles...
“You’re here? Kunta welcomes the guest!”
“?”
“If you need anything, just say! Kunta will fetch it and guide you!”
“…Ku, Kunta? Wh-what are you doing here?”
“Socializing! Kunta earns pocket money at young master’s mansion!”
“???”
Seeing a barbarian acting as a servant in a place like this made it less “differentiated” and more outright alien.
“Didn’t you get a hefty allowance every month as an exchange student? I hear it’s quite a sum...”
Lee Han wondered if this was some noble scam exploiting a foreign student and placed a hand on Arno’s shoulder.
“Come clean and find salvation, little wolf pup. I don’t wanna cuff my own disciple.”
“Sigh, is that my new nickname? …I get the misunderstanding, but it’s real. Kunta seriously asked me to hook him up with a job.”
“Why?”
“He blew through his allowance.”
“Huh?”
“Said he spent it all on books and food to send back home. Wants to help his village.”
“Oh...”
Lee Han glanced at Kunta with quiet admiration.
The black panther still wore that innocent expression.
‘Sending books, huh? This guy just acts dumb in action—he’s the type who devours self-improvement books on the sly.’
The quintessential barbarian exchange student.
Sending what his people needed most.
“Commendable, but you gotta keep money for yourself.”
“Kunta reflects. But young master gives lots of money! So it’s fine.”
“…Little wolf pup.”
“I never told him to call me that. He just picked it up from the staff. So please stop looking at me like that...”
He considered laying down the educator’s rod, but the pup’s vehement reaction seemed genuine.
“Master, aren’t you teasing him too much?”
“His reactions are fun.”
The one girl who knew he only teased the boy like this whispered mischievously, while Lee Han kept poking fun at the pup’s entertaining responses.
Then.
“Young master, you’ve arrived.”
A maid emerged from behind Kunta, and Arno greeted her warmly.
“Long time no see, Elsa. You look healthy—glad to see it.”
“I’m always fit as a fiddle. Says I’ll stay that way till your kids have grandkids, hee hee.”
“…Erm.”
A woman who’d just passed her sixties, perhaps?
Hardships in youth had streaked her hair gray beyond her face’s years, but she didn’t seem frail for it.
Quite the opposite—her eyes burned with unyielding resolve, matched by her bearing.
A swordswoman.
Yes, this maid in the black uniform was surely a former swordswoman.
“Instructor, allow me to introduce Elsa. My childhood tutor who taught me manners too. She’s head maid now, but back in the day, she was a renowned female swordswoman.”
“You’re gilding my lily, young master.”
Not gilding—she looked the part of a true celebrity.
Obviously a top-tier talent.
‘Give her a sword, and she’d outmatch my kids.’
‘R-really?’
‘Vs. Sword Freak... a razor-close draw?’
‘Whoa, that caliber, and she never became a knight?’
‘Everyone’s got their reasons.’
Lee Han recalled plenty of skilled female mercenaries.
The kind who could’ve been knights, in hindsight.
Yet they hadn’t.
Honor and titles were fine, but they hated the shackles on their freedom.
‘Probably the same for her.’
‘Y-yeah, that tracks.’
Just as his guess wrapped up on why her name wasn’t on the knight rolls, Elsa asked with a gentle smile, as if on cue.
“Finished chatting? Then let me escort you inside.”
“…You personally? A head maid must be busy.”
“It’s not just anyone—it’s his disciple. Of course I’ll guide you myself.”
“…Ah.”
Lee Han pulled out his dagger.
Hadn’t he joked to the little wolf pup about it?
Free pass.
‘It’s a real free pass...’
“Instructor, that way’s the big arena. They all fight with live steel!”
“Live steel?”
“Yes. Everyone bleeds but laughs.”
“Hmm...”
“…Kunta, don’t give outsiders weird ideas about our house.”
“Just facts?”
“……”
Kunta probably meant they didn’t skimp on realistic sparring.
Swords didn’t improve from mindless swings and drills.
“Hmm, maybe have my kids fight with live steel too?”
“M-Master?”
“Kidding.”
“D-doesn’t sound like kidding.”
Chatting lightly like dad jokes with his disciples, Lee Han kept scanning the surroundings.
Trainees swinging swords, maids and servants alike.
‘All of ’em solid...’
Every last one a skilled fighter.
Not knights, but top-notch talent gathered here. Lee Han recalled the intel: no knight order or private guards for House Ophen.
Prestigious houses usually had at least a knight order, so its absence had seemed odd...
‘…No need when they could assemble one overnight.’
Snap his fingers, and trainees, servants, disciples—they’d form a full order instantly.
Plus, most dojo folk around Ophen lands were loyal to the family anyway.
Commit to it, and it wouldn’t be mere guards—it’d be a brigade.
‘This house rivals great clans, doesn’t it?’
Just hiding their power.
As he inwardly marveled—
Screech.
Wheels rolled.
“—A guest has arrived?”
“……”
“Haha, sorry. Supposed to greet you properly, but look at me.”
“…No issue. Grateful you didn’t chase off this rude intruder who showed up unannounced.”
“Haha, that’s kind of you.”
He somehow resembled the little wolf pup...
No—better: the pup took after him. Give Arno ten more years, and he’d look just like this handsome man welcoming Lee Han.
...From his wheelchair.
“Father.”
“Arno, it’s been ages. Missed seeing your face.”
“...Says the one too busy to show his.”
“Haha! Fair point!”
His refined features and wheelchair might suggest frailty, but his booming laugh proved otherwise—not forced, his true nature.
Arno flushed awkwardly as he introduced the man.
“Instructor, my father.”
“Iliad Ophen. Legs don’t work, but I lead House Ophen.”
“Father...”
“Haha, just a joke to make you smile!”
“……”
...Where to laugh?
‘Laugh here, and it’s social suicide.’
Lee Han couldn’t judge the man after barely a minute, but one thing was clear.
‘This guy shouldn’t attempt jokes.’
Playing it straight might bury him socially.
