Chapter 375
Chapter 375
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.78 – The Knight's Thrifty Farm Life (2)
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The stew made with deer meat was surprisingly good.
Whether it was because it included crops we grew ourselves, or because the maid's skills were good.
Or perhaps.
"Today I found some wild grapes. I tried them, and they were quite sweet and tasty. I was thinking of trying to make some grape wine."
"We were just running out of cooking wine anyway. What luck."
"I also found some salt. I think it's enough for the two of us to eat for a thousand years."
"We'd better live long lives then."
"...That's a brilliant idea?"
This conversation itself might have been acting like seasoning to whet the appetite.
"Hehe."
"That wasn't meant as praise..., no, it was praise."
"Ahem."
Starting with finding the wild grapes, all sorts of little stories came up.
Things like finding fiber crops that could be used for textiles, her making clothes from the hides of wild animals he caught—ordinary stories of daily life—and even a promise to go on a picnic together tomorrow in a safe spot.
The conversation flowed freely following the stream of consciousness, but even that made his heart feel endlessly warm.
"How's your training going?"
"It's not something as grand as training. It's more like refining what I've learned so far. And if you're asking whether it's going well..."
Lee Han answered her question while lightly swinging his knife as if showing off.
The next moment.
Whoosh!
Swish.
"Wow!"
"Fortunately, my efforts have paid off proportionally."
Lee Han had succeeded in blooming two kinds of flowers.
Plum blossoms and lotus flowers.
The two flowers mingled perfectly as they scattered, filling the small house with petals in an instant. It created an indescribably bountiful feeling, an utterly beautiful and mystical sight.
However...
"...It's pretty."
"......"
For some reason, Lee Han's eyes were drawn more to that bright, innocent smile than to the flowers.
And he ended up thinking.
'Good thing I put in the effort.'
Because of it, he could make her smile.
In front of that smile, which felt like a reward for his days of hard work, he simply felt contented.
The day before—meaning, during the battle with the Bronze Knights—Lee Han had lost control of his techniques.
...More precisely, an unintended technique had activated on its own.
He had meant to use a normal area-of-effect attack, but suddenly a super-sized one came out.
However, even after this happened, Lee Han hadn't had time to figure out what was going on with his body.
He'd been summoned here and there right after the battle, and later he beat up the king and ended up in prison. Where would he have found time for proper training?
In that sense, his current unemployed state was great because he had plenty of time.
Even just last year, whenever he tried to seriously train, interrupters would show up, forcing him to stop weight training or sword practice. But now there were no interrupters.
Like that, three months passed.
Lee Han had poured his heart into analyzing the lotus flower from the previous battle and pinpointing his issues.
And then—
'Huh, when did it grow this much?'
...He realized that the 'resident' he had forgotten about had been growing its power on its own.
The Fighting Technique of the Fierce Wolf.
It was the Fighting Technique engraved into his body last autumn, the culprit that had made his power rampage wildly.
Lee Han had learned the Fighting Technique from Lark de Duron, Galahad's champion and a genius knight.
He needed power to defeat the Magic Tower Master, and they had exchanged it with give-and-take. But unlike back then, Lee Han's Fighting Technique was still stuck at beginner level.
At the time, he had received it like acquiring [Extreme Body Technique], displaying astonishing ability, but after the battle ended, it deflated like a balloon that swells and shrinks rapidly—his Fighting Technique proficiency vanished in an instant.
It was natural, if you thought about it.
After all, it was power gained through a loophole.
It's only right that what comes easy goes easy.
Still, the sensations from that battle and Lark de Duron's insights remained in his body, so with enough effort, it wasn't impossible to recreate that former glory.
Knowing this, Lee Han wasn't rushing to train the Fighting Technique hastily. Instead, he planned to take it slow and adapt it properly to his body.
...However.
"-During the Wales battle, when I used the holy relic from the Great Saintess, something strange happened to my body."
"What kind of thing?"
"The vessel for the Fighting Technique. In other words, the holy power from the relic tangled with my life force and such, creating a peculiar 'Core'."
"Core?"
"In normal Fighting Techniques, the core element is usually something like a magic beast's magic stone. But something utterly bizarre took root right in my heart, replacing it."
He had realized this about two days ago.
Meaning, after three months of pondering and investigation, he finally confirmed what it was.
"It's understandable why this happened. The spear wielder who taught me the Fighting Technique probably uses his innately born 'killing intent' as a core instead of a magic stone. In other words, my Fighting Technique, modeled after the spear wielder's, sought a substitute for killing intent inside my body and greedily took my life force and holy power to use on its own. Anyway, since the guy who taught it has such a twisted personality, this kind of phenomenon occurs."
...If the teacher himself, Lark de Duron, heard this, he'd probably grab the back of his neck from frustration.
He had passed on Galahad's supreme secret technique infused with unique insights, yet here was someone ungrateful enough to complain. How could he not be annoyed?
Well, since Lark de Duron had devoured most of Lee Han's insights in return—not equal exchange, but close enough.
Anyway.
"Maybe because of this 'energy', my control over my power has gone haywire."
"I see. So, does that mean you've become a holy knight now, Sir Knight?"
"Pardon?"
"You said you gained holy power. Doesn't that make you a holy knight?"
"Uh... well, it's a bit different."
"Huh?"
Holy knights are like magic swordsmen who use both Fighting Techniques and holy arts, but Lee Han's energy made that impossible.
And for good reason.
"My life force devoured the holy power."
"?"
To reiterate, Lee Han's life force was extraordinarily robust.
Even household heads would be shocked by it. Compared to a knight with a magic stone, his was at least ten times greater.
That was the minimum estimate; at maximum, it was hard to even gauge.
Therefore, it was only natural for the fragile holy power of the relic to be toyed with by Lee Han's life force.
And so...
"In the end, the holy power was completely digested inside my body. However, during the digestion process, it... seems to have 'mutated'."
"Mutated?"
"Hmm, let me show you again."
Whoosh—
Lee Han raised his knife and bloomed flowers once more.
Plum blossoms and lotus flowers.
"Can you tell the difference between the two?"
"Hmm... Huh?"
Sniff sniff.
She wrinkled her nose like a puppy and blinked rapidly for a moment.
"...Sir Knight, does this lotus flower have a scent? A real flower's fragrance."
A faint, flowing aroma.
It was truly emanating the kind of fragrance that comes from a real flower.
"As expected, your senses are sharp. Excellent."
"Hehe."
"As you noticed, the two flowers were bloomed in different ways. One through Sword Resonance, and the other by mixing Sword Resonance with the mutant one."
"Ooh, so that's possible."
"Pretty amazing, right?"
This was a fact Lee Han had discovered through various observations and experiments.
"It's not on the level of holy power, but the energy itself carries vitality comparable to holy power, and it's quite effective against magic beasts too. I learned this today while experimenting... er, subduing some ogres I happened to see. Though, I still can't use it like holy arts. After all, it's just an alien mutation mixed with my life force."
"That's amazing."
Her eyes sparkled as she looked like she wanted to poke the lotus bud, but she seemed aware it might be dangerous to touch carelessly, showing a hint of regret.
Seeing that expression.
"You can touch it."
"Really?"
"Yes, it's fine. I told you, it's a peculiar mutation."
Pok!
The bud bloomed fully and nestled right into her hand, but the lotus didn't threaten her at all.
On the contrary.
"It's warm... and feels nice!"
"That's how it is."
As long as he harbored no malice or killing intent, this energy wouldn't harm lives recklessly.
It seemed to hold compassion toward life, brimming with abundant power like sunlight.
Calling it divine power wasn't bad, but it felt too vague.
Innate True Energy also gave the image of life force gushing out endlessly, which wasn't quite right.
After pondering, Lee Han decided to name it after the incantation he recited when using the holy relic.
None other than.
"-Prajna Great Ability."
...That.
It was the name Lee Han gave to define his mutant Fighting Technique. Hearing it, the maid.
"If you like it, Sir Knight, then I like it too!"
Clapped her hands in delight, and Lee Han could only sheepishly scratch his cheek at Leira's praise.
Having someone who praised him no matter what he did was both embarrassing and gratifying.
Crunch, crunch...
[Woof...]
[Mutt.]
[Hiss...]
Orthos narrowed his eyes while gnawing on the ogre rib bone that the inhuman human had picked up somewhere and tossed him.
His two heads and snake tail each turned their gazes away, focusing intently on chewing the bone.
...It hurt his eyes, that's why.
[Whine...]
Watching the salt-curing spectacle for the third month already, Orthos felt like he might develop a frustration illness.
...Born with a hermaphroditic fate, Orthos, for whom romance or reproductive acts were impossible, felt his side ache terribly.