Chapter 249
Chapter 249
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.55 – A Knight Does Not Speak Lies (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
When he was barely five years old, he remembered saying something like this to his father, who had given him a piggyback ride.
"Father, I want to become a hero like Mother!"
Looking back now, it was childish.
He should have said he wanted to become like his father, but he'd foolishly said he wanted to be like Mother.
However, the young him at the time hadn't noticed his father's wry smile.
"Is that so? That's a splendid goal."
Still, his father had affirmed his naive self.
"Hehe!"
He seemed to have been delighted by those encouraging words.
Back then, when he was pure and full of dreams.
He had clearly set 'her' as his goal.
"Hmm, does my son like your mom that much?"
"Yes!"
"Haha, well, she does shine. But remember this, son. Chase the light too fervently, and you'll suffer great heartache."
"What does that mean?"
"You'll understand when you grow up. Someday."
...
Yes, now I understand, Father.
'You were worried that I'd end up like this. As expected, you were a wise man.'
His father's teaching, understood only now at this age.
Like an adult reminiscing childhood innocence, he smiled brightly, recalling the past, and hummed a tune.
'You knew. That I might break someday. Indeed, my creativity and financial acumen seem like blessings from you. Thank you, Father.'
Expressing gratitude and respect toward his father, who had passed away long ago, he looked up at the sky and opened his mouth.
"Do you remember, Mother? Father loved days like this. Clear skies with vivid stars and moonlight."
"......"
"Haha, not even going to respond?"
"...My son doesn't smile like that."
"Did you have the wits to notice such differences? This is news to me, haha!"
"Insolent...!"
Shing!
Felicia flew into a rage, and merely raising her aura sent the chilling sword intent slashing through the surroundings.
It felt like everything would be cleaved apart at any moment—the fury of a sword sage was nothing less than terrifying...!
"-You still can't hide your emotions. Rejuvenation really has severe side effects."
"...!"
He instantly saw through the anger Felicia was emitting as a facade.
"A fatal flaw for a swordsman."
To put it plainly, for superhumans, rejuvenation was undoubtedly not a blessing but a curse.
The reason?
"Your 'will' is wavering, isn't it? Without the maturity befitting your age, it's a pathetic sight. ─Mother."
"You bastard!"
Felicia, in her fury, drew forth countless swords.
Dozens—no, hundreds of blades soared high into the sky at her will, moving like a meteor shower.
"-Hand over my son."
Kwaaaang!!
And they rained down.
"Hmph!"
In that dizzying, life-threatening moment, the man swung his sword.
Like a ripple.
But the next instant, the sword that Iliad had unleashed was...
"Not like you at all, Mother. Too feeble a strike."
Slash-!
It cleaved through the meteor shower.
Suppressing the rebelling swordsmen was easy.
Clang...
"I surrender."
Most surrendered quickly.
Not only had many seen Gardin, the ringleader of the rebellion, surrender without even drawing his sword, but they had also witnessed Lee Han overwhelming a legendary vampire, shattering their will to fight.
The aftermath was straightforward.
The imprisoned Offen swordsmen were freed, suppressing the half-demons or locking them up again, and pursuit teams were quickly formed to catch the fleeing ones—the incident was wrapped up swiftly, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the situation had ended... but
"Any guesses where those folks might be?"
To him, he had little interest in how Offen proceeded; he simply asked where the rotting yokai and the fairy tale author were frolicking.
"Hmm..."
Arno pondered Lee Han's question for a moment, divining likely locations.
The family heads whose whereabouts remained unknown despite such a massive commotion.
With no presence felt anywhere, one might guess they weren't nearby... but
"...They're close by."
"This close?"
"Yes. Probably in the Monster Forest."
"No one was there?"
He himself was the one who had flown through the Monster Forest's skies.
Yet he hadn't sensed the sword sage's presence at all, making it a puzzling remark that had him tilting his head.
"'Space Concealment.'"
"?"
"Fancy name, but it's essentially a barrier made with aura. You spread aura in all directions to conceal all presence and power. It hides your existence so thoroughly that no technique affects the surroundings, minimizing any damage caused by yourself. Grandmother said it's a useful skill."
"I see..."
Lee Han understood the technique's purpose from the part about concealing power and minimizing surrounding damage.
An Aura User going all out would cause unprecedented nuisance otherwise.
No wonder they had such a technique.
"So that auntie's hiding on purpose right now?"
"Y-yes, but we should be able to find her."
Arno looked slightly flustered at his grandmother being called "auntie," but Lee Han had no spare mental energy to mind his wording.
And why not?
'Isn't it this?'
'...I-I'm not entirely sure.'
'There's gotta be a hunch.'
'Hmm...'
Lee Han and Derek communicated solely through eye contact, displaying an astonishing rapport.
Not because they were particularly close, but simply because their thoughts aligned.
Derek had said it before.
'Iliad was someone who should have died.'
Viewing the situation under that premise, the ominous feeling surging up was only natural.
'...We need to find them fast.'
If only to soothe his disciple's anxious gaze.
It was at that moment, tinged with slight urgency.
"Instructor, Kunta speaks!"
"Means you've got something to say?"
"Correct!"
The sturdy worker—no, exchange student barbarian who had been helping the family with cleanup, suddenly rushed over declaring he had something to say.
Wondering what it was, they turned their attention, and he pointed toward the forest.
"Felt something weird from there earlier. Kunta scared."
"There?"
"Body was shaking that much. Felt presence like the 'white-feathered serpent' from when I was little."
"...I see."
To some, it might sound like nonsense, but after nearly a year together, he wasn't so foolish or indifferent a teacher as to not understand his disciple's meaning.
Especially the 'white-feathered serpent'—it was undoubtedly the earth spirit worshipped as a god by the barbarian tribes living in the mysterious forest far beyond civilization.
Comparable to the Northern Black King.
In other words, the white-feathered serpent was a transcendent being on par with an Aura User in terms of presence alone, lending credibility to Kunta's claim of sensing something similar.
One might question how he could sense what even Lee Han couldn't, but
'Mysterious races aren't mysterious for nothing.'
Mysterious races.
Beings who harbored mysteries beyond ordinary human comprehension.
Their senses were surely empowered by an unprecedented force that even Lee Han's exceptional faculties couldn't match.
Thus.
"...Can you play guide?"
"Kunta was the best guide in our family."
Lee Han felt no shame in relying on his disciple.
On the contrary, he showed unreserved trust.
"Hehe! Kunta helpful!"
And it was only natural for the disciple to get excited by his teacher's genuine faith.
"This way!"
Kunta chose the path without a hint of hesitation, as if the forest were his own home, despite it being his first time there.
He was guiding purely on instinct, and a professional scout watching would have cursed him for being suicidal.
After all, plunging blindly into a monster-infested forest.
Yet Lee Han followed Kunta without complaint, just as before.
If there was one gripe,
"Why are you all following?"
Was it that his disciples trailed behind him like a line of ducklings, courting trouble?
"Isn't it my family matter?"
"Gotta run errands for Master."
"We might be useful? Healing skills... or medical knowledge could come in handy..."
"...Such busybodies."
From what he'd heard at faculty meetings, cadets were supposed to be insolent types who ignored every word and treated teachers worse than the dogs they raised.
But his kids were...
'Being too diligent is a problem too.'
Who would think well-behaved, earnest children could cause issues?
'Can't send them back when they're so commendable.'
They were even showing resolute determination to lend a hand; he couldn't bring himself to coldly say, "You won't help, go back."
As he barely concealed a wry smile,
"Here, Instructor!"
"...Here?"
"Yeah, here."
"......"
"R-real..."
"Not silent from doubt."
To reiterate, Lee Han trusted Kunta—precisely his abilities.
Even though all that lay before them was utterly ordinary foliage, with nothing amiss...
─.
Lee Han scrutinized the forest obsessively, and in that instant...
Chill!
"-Everyone, get behind me."
"Y-yes?"
"Now."
"O-okay! Kunta, over here!"
Lee Han shouted firmly, positioning his disciples behind him.
If it was just a hunch, they'd be lucky, but if not, what lay ahead was...
Crack!
"!!?"
Before he could finish the thought, the forest warped abruptly, and Lee Han swung his sword in urgency.
Whoosh!
Plum Blossom Sword─.
Blooming plum blossoms enveloped him and his disciples like buds just before flowering.
The moment the plum bud fully formed,
Fwoosh!
─Blade rain pierced the forest, engulfing them—even the bud.
"!"
Lee Han felt a dizzying shock.
An immense impact crashed over him; even blocked by the Plum Blossom Sword, his skin burned fiercely.
'It hurts even though I blocked it?!'
Lee Han was bewildered, but as if mocking him for having no time to be flustered─
Crackle!
The Plum Blossom Sword shattered, and the moment he confirmed the shield disintegrating, he unleashed a sword beam.
Whoooosh─!
The sword beam, laden with terrifying destructive power, didn't just offset the blade rain—it erased it entirely. The next moment, everything was obliterated...
Fwoosh...
"─Ah, Instructor? What are you doing in a place like this?"
"......"
'He' stood before Lee Han.
"This is a surprise, isn't it? Almost sliced you up too, Instructor."
"......"
"Good thing you blocked it. Impressive skill. To think you'd parry even a casual swing."
"......"
"Ah, I should apologize first. Sorry for swinging again─."
Whoosh!
"......You seem pretty angry."
"...Not particularly."
Lee Han swung without the slightest hesitation, and he failed to fully block, blood trickling from his cheek.
Even seeing that, Lee Han felt no remorse.
How could he?
"F-Father...?"
Grab!
"...Derek?"
"D-don't go near. Arno. Th-that person... isn't your father."
"What...?!"
"The skin is your father's, but what's inside... isn't anymore. That's......"
Gulp...
──A complete 'Demon'.