Chapter 246
Chapter 246
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.55 – A Knight Does Not Speak Lies (1)
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……Lee Han had many questions.
What had happened in the mere five hours since he'd left the mansion?
And why was his wild disciple in such a ragged state?
"...why are you so beat up, huh."
"T-Teach, treat gently, Kunta hurts a lot."
"Such a baby."
After roughly bandaging his body and soaking the bandages thoroughly with potion so it could seep in, Kunta's face relaxed considerably.
These weren't the kind of wounds that would heal from a bit of treatment, but as expected of the mysterious barbarian race.
True to their innate physical prowess, he showed rapid recovery.
"Better now?"
"Kunta fine. But must go back to Arno and Bearsoon quickly. Those two in danger."
"...First, tell me in detail what happened?"
"Kids in danger now. All captured. And those guys said if don't bring instructor, they'll do terrible things to those two!"
"Those guys?"
"Weird guys. Eyes pupils weird, skin strange too. Above all, super strong!"
"……."
Lee Han somehow knew who those guys Kunta mentioned were.
The features Kunta pointed out resembled half-demons.
Guys who gained the power of 'demons' through special hallucinogens made from monster flesh.
Lee Han's expression hardened sharply, but something felt off.
Namely.
"Where's the Sword Sage?"
"Don't know. At least when Kunta was threatened by those guys, didn't see Sword Sage."
"...What is that auntie doing?"
Even with the great superhuman Sword Sage there, half-demons rampaged and captured Arno to threaten Kunta—it didn't make sense.
Even if she lacked humanity, her strength didn't just vanish.
"……."
…Suddenly.
"Iliad, what about that guy?"
"Hm? Arno's dad? Don't know. Di-didn't see…?"
"……."
Thwack!
Lee Han unwittingly smacked his own forehead.
An ominous hypothesis flashed through his mind.
If—and it was just if—those guys had taken the yokai bloodline hostage?
Then…
"Haa, crazy bastards. Do they all want mutual destruction?"
Lee Han thought the half-demons—no, the cultists behind the half-demons—were truly insane.
Quiet for a while, only to pull a stunt this mad…
"Lower than beasts…."
Lee Han was furious.
Oppen House attacked?
Not much concern.
Only met them a little over half a month ago—what did it matter if they were attacked?
…But the ones captured there were different.
Levi, temporarily training at Oppen House; Arno and Kunta helping her.
These three were his disciples, his people.
The moment they touched his disciples, irritation and displeasure surged in Lee Han's brow until veins bulged.
"T-Teach…."
"…Instructor scarier…."
The aura he emitted instantly made the surrounding air heavy, pressing down to the ground.
"Which bastards? The ones who hurt you like this."
"……."
"Those bastards die first, no question."
"Instructor…."
Lee Han remembered Kunta wounded and bleeding; Kunta's voice trembled, seemingly moved…
"Th-this wound from rushing shortcut, rolling off cliff. K-Kunta not really attacked."
"……."
"St-still, thanks instructor angry for Kunta. Even cliff Kunta fell, teach…?"
"……."
"Instructor?"
"…Hit head."
"??"
"Smack head, you punk!"
"…Kunta patient?"
"So?"
"……How to smack?"
Barbarian slow on uptake, but quick when forced.
Meanwhile, the Oppen mansion was quiet.
According to Kunta, it should have been a state where battle could erupt at any moment, but the eerie silence was unsettling.
Like the calm before the storm.
An unpleasant, deadly silence where battle breaking out wouldn't be surprising.
And in this silence.
"Sir Ali, Sir Mohan. Never thought you'd fall so low."
Arno glared at his surrounding foes with wolf-like fierce eyes.
"Hoho, still calling us Sir?"
"Proof you're calm even now. Hoho, splendid. At your age, young master, I was just a reckless punk, yet you control emotions so well. True qualities of a great swordsman—Oppen House's blessing."
Grit!
Hearing them dare praise Oppen House, Arno ground his teeth unwittingly.
Ali and Mohan.
Usually away from the mansion, they were captains of the Oppen House hunting unit, blocking monsters in forest danger zones.
Skill at master instructor level—upper knight grade—and descendants of loyal vassal families who'd served the house for ages.
Thought they were loyal, great swordsmen, yet…
"Why touch such vile things? Why with those heretics…."
Ali and Mohan's appearances were grotesque.
Eyes whitened like albinism, skin covered in bumpy protrusions.
They looked to have transcended humanity, like monsters—and clearly, they'd accepted monster power.
No doubt [Demonic Transformation], and Arno knew once it progressed, it was irreversible, so his anger mixed with pity.
That they—swordsmen who'd devoted their lives to the blade—had crossed an irreversible river and fallen.
"…Pitying us? Even now?"
"Young master still so soft. Well, the house head wasn't strict."
"……."
"Young master?"
Arno stayed silent.
As if he had no mind to continue talking with them. Instead.
"Sorry, miss. Showing my family's ugly side before a guest."
"No, I'm fine. I came to train at Oppen House—this is my choice too, right? Rather, is your mood okay, Arno? Your family swordsmen betrayed…."
"Worrying about others even now?"
"Not dangerous, just confined? This much? Happened a lot back with Polt House, hehe."
"…M-my fault."
Arno quickly apologized for unwittingly touching her dark past, but the girl receiving it even let out a low laugh.
As if it were all in the past.
"It is the past. No more days for them in my life. More importantly, who's behind this? Seems mixed with that heretical organization from the recent rumors, but doesn't look like just that."
"I think so too. Probably family higher-ups colluded with the heretics to plot seizing the house."
"Suspects?"
"Yes."
"Uh, young master? We're right here, you know…?"
Despite the two half-demons right in front of them, the pair treated them like air and bluntly voiced their guesses.
It wasn't fearlessness.
Rather, since they'd only confined the two without threats or harm, they could act so boldly.
"They can't attack us with Grandma there. They'd want to avoid the Sword Sage's wrath."
"She's probably already furious?"
"So they're risking their lives for it? And… that person wouldn't hesitate to raise the stakes with lives on the table. Just a senile 'cockroach' with few days left anyway."
"Oh…."
Levi unwittingly pursed her lips.
First time seeing Arno's diction so rough.
Of course…
"Who's that cockroach?"
Levi showed empathetic gentleness to her peer's anger, gladly matching his words.
Arno smirked in response.
"There is one. A swordsman should pursue the blade, yet still plays power games—a filthy one… isn't that right, little grandpa—?"
Bang!
Arno provocatively hurled the question at the closed door, and instantly, it roughly swung open in response.
Who emerged.
"…Insolent brat, head not even dry with blood yet, dare provoke me."
The stubborn old man took slow steps, and seeing him, Arno smirked.
As expected, that old man.
"Allow me to introduce, miss. Shamefully, the 'predictable' adopted son of my great-uncle who once led Oppen House in Grandma's stead: Gardin de Oppen. Our family's—"
…think of him as a 'wraith'.
A brutal evaluation from Arno.
Thud!
The old man roughly slammed his cane into the floor.
An vigor unimaginable from his bony frame surged forth, and he glared at Arno.
"Shut that impudent mouth, wet-behind-the-ears pup."
"Blood drying on your head means death. Please spare the ignorant talk, little uncle."
"Vile mouth habit. You once knew manners."
"Manners are for those who deserve them, aren't they? Above all, my teacher said, 'Manners are only for worthy opponents.' For the unworthy, rough is fine."
"Ha! Death-hastening teaching. Sometimes you bend to live."
"That's politician logic, not a swordsman's. How long will you play politics, little uncle?"
Clearly just a verbal spat, yet it felt like sparks flew between them.
Sharing the Oppen name and blood, yet somehow worse than strangers.
"Gardin—ah, perhaps that… the one who once reached the kingdom's top 100 swordsmen?"
Gardin: adopted into Oppen House in place of young Felicia, deemed talentless; a side branch, but a genius that belied the name.
At thirty, rose to grand instructor—Oppen House's pinnacle. Had Felicia not returned to the kingdom, he'd surely be house head.
"All past talk, miss. Now just a living cockroach that won't die."
"Want to test if that fame is past?!"
Whoosh!
The aura surging from Gardin was no joke.
Sealed room all around, yet it felt like sword winds blew, skin stinging with lethality.
Proving the moniker of one of the kingdom's representative top 100 swordsmen wasn't empty.
"Ha, compared to my instructor, it's a mere breeze."
Yet Arno showed no fear.
The opponent was far superior, but since entering the academy, he'd daily felt far fiercer, more savage auras.
Thus.
"Grandma spared you—stay quiet in the back room. Why crawl out and cause this mess?"
Arno was relentless, and Gardin's eyes gleamed.
Impressive, more than expected.
"Not bad. Hard to believe you're that bitch Felicia's bloodline. Tsk, well, she always had freakish luck."
Gardin gritted his teeth uttering Felicia's name.
Open hatred, even laced with contempt and disgust.
"…Asked why you crawled out of the back room to rot? Obvious. Finally, chance to reclaim my seat—only fools would miss it."
"Where's your seat?"
"Nonsense!"
Swipe!
"This place was mine originally."
"……."
…No obsession like this.
Didn't expect someone past ninety still burning with power lust…
Arno was utterly sickened.
The old man, decades later, still couldn't abandon power—colluding with heretics, demonizing family members. Sickening anew.
Vicious. Could a person reek so rotten?
"…You picked the wrong opponent."
"Ha! That bitch Felicia? Yes, scary. No Aura User isn't scary in this world. But she can't move now. Locked in her self-made prison—how could that wench?!"
"……."
"Of course, she'll have to choose someday, but I know. That hag's indecisive without her sword. It'll take years just to decide. And years? Time to change everything."
Gardin was confident.
Tone certain the Aura User disaster couldn't move anytime soon; he even smirked.
Just imagining despair on that foolish woman's face filled him with joy…
"—The opponent I mean isn't Grandma."
"…What?"
"Grandma knows limits, but don't expect restraint from him."
"?"
"He's more like a warrior than…"
Rumble!!
"……Yes, like this."
"???"
Sudden massive vibration.
Like an earthquake—the mansion shook.
And the next moment…
BOOM─!
…A meteor-crash echo engulfed the mansion, half-destroying it as the ground quaked.
Everyone tumbled repeatedly; only a few kept their footing.
And even those who did weren't safe.
Because…
[WHERE ARE MY KIDS──!!]
An ear-shattering roar resounded through the mansion—no, the entire territory.
"……."
"Told you—wrong opponent."
"……."
"By the way, we can't stop him like that. So…."
Hoo.
Arno performed a preemptive rite for the wraith.
With a refreshing smile.