Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Epilogue: Kim Lulu, the Knight of Justice (Scheduled)
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"Hey, Gramps!!"
"Full of energy today too, huh, Lulu?"
The boy knight steadily caught Lulu's flying tackle greeting, then spun her around in his arms.
He even dredged up an old memory to mimic the speech patterns he'd used as an elderly man. Since regaining his youth, he generally avoided phrasing that pinned down his age, but in front of Lulu, he'd play along like this.
Considering their age difference, it was like a grandfather frolicking with his young granddaughter in his arms. But given their appearances, it just looked like a pair of shorties—both around 160 cm—hugging and playing around.
Lulu buried her face in the boy knight's chest and sniffed.
Herbs and earth. He always smelled like this. She'd once asked why he always carried that scent, and the boy knight had replied, "I pick and chew on herbs whenever I spot some on the road."
It was a mystery why a guy who could go ten days without eating and stay perfectly fine would bother munching on herbs that barely registered in his system.
Lulu lingered like that for a while before suddenly glancing at the calendar. The circle she'd marked as "Gramps's visit day (estimated)" was way off in the future.
"You came earlier than I thought?"
"Yeah, early."
The boy knight crossed his arms with a displeased tsk, clicking his tongue. He'd cleaned out one city, cut down a corrupt noble and five dark wizards, but it had all been for naught in the end.
"I was hoping to uproot those rotten bastards, but they slithered away fast. Lizards, am I right? They cut off their tails like pros."
"Oh, I saw that on TV! Lizards bite their tails and snap—pop!—then run off! I was like, if Odes gets our arms grabbed, we can just snap 'em off and bolt too..."
"...What's TV? And who's Odes?"
"Uh. TV's like, this big flat thing that shows all kinds of videos! And Odes is... my friend."
The boy knight's eyes went wide. A friend?
For this poor, lonely kid who'd never had anyone to confide in until now.
Lulu was an innocent child starved for affection, and she wasn't the sharpest when it came to scheming. So this Odes guy might just be some fly buzzing around, pretending to be a friend for personal gain.
He couldn't improve her environment, but he could swat away any nasty flies. The boy knight sat in a chair and asked gently.
"Tell me more about him, then."
At that, Lulu's eyes flicked up and to the right for a split second before she mumbled evasively.
"Um, well... he's dead."
"I see."
It was obvious she was lying, no matter how you sliced it.
Though not 100% false—more like truth and lies muddled together ambiguously.
Instead of intimidating her with "Daring to lie to my face?", the boy knight opted for a gentler, more moderate approach.
He'd have his subordinates look into it.
If the guy was decent, he'd leave him as Lulu's good friend. If he was wicked, he'd quietly make him vanish. The boy knight was a busy man, but he had time to pull strings for a kid he'd grown fond of.
And plenty of time to play with her too.
"So... shall we loosen up a bit?"
"You just got back from a mission, aren't you tired?"
"Thinking of others now, are you? Good girl."
No one around her would be trying to instill social skills at this point, so this change must be thanks to that "friend." One point in his favor.
The boy knight drew his sword and let it hang naturally.
It looked as natural as a tree branch on a trunk. The tempered steel blade clung to his hand like it had grown there.
Lulu clenched her fist.
To her, the boy knight looked like a massive mountain range. Until recently, she'd thought, "If I hit it hard enough, even a mountain will crumble someday." But now it was a little different.
The imaginary Odes started nagging her.
'Use your head! Don't just charge in—figure out the weak spots first, then swing!'
Hmm...
"Hmm..."
This gramps doesn't have any weak spots.
'Nothing's perfect. The skill gap's just too big for you to see it.'
If I can't see it, where do I aim?
'If you can't read the enemy, think about what you can do... Consider your skill tree. If you've got healing, ignore the damage; if defense is tough, crank up the block.'
Okay, then.
To topple a mountain range, a pinhole won't cut it. Gotta go big—something explosive. Like TNT. Saw it in a YouTube Short.
Wooooong—!!
Lulu gathered mana into her fist. She pictured a massive explosion. As her will focused it, the mana shifted properties bit by bit. A primitive method.
Not refined technique or formulas, but raw, desperate wish-fulfillment magic. Efficiency was abysmal.
But better than no technique at all.
Crack. Crackle.
The dense mana in her right hand solidified, forming mana crystals like a gauntlet. And with the explosive property infused, it tinted pale pink.
"Gramps, here I go—!!"
"Come at me."
Then, straight punch.
"Rodeo Impact—!!"
A ferocious blow laced with a touch of skill whipped out. The boy knight's eyes calculated the power in that fist and the precise damage output.
If it landed and detonated as-is, half the capital knight order HQ would vaporize in the blast, with the aftershock crumbling three mansions. Done.
Compared to the old Lulu, raw power had jumped at least 50% by simple math.
Has to go.
The boy knight's loosely dangling sword moved—silently, formlessly.
"Molting, Strike Object."
One, two, three.
Lulu couldn't see the boy knight's sword strikes, but she felt them—three swings. Her fully charged Rodeo Impact had been sliced apart in three parts and dispersed.
Once the near-cataclysmic mana vanished, all that remained was the girl's cute little punch.
Thud.
The boy knight casually caught it in his palm.
"You've improved a lot. Infusing that much mana with technique isn't easy."
"Kept getting nagged, so it worked out!"
"That friend taught you?"
"Yeah. Odes hounded me all day."
Lulu's old habit of brute-forcing mana stemmed partly from lacking the smarts to finesse it, but also because wrangling that much mana was just hard.
You can redirect a stream with a flick, but diverting an ocean takes real force.
Excellent instruction. Another point in his favor.
The boy knight was starting to like this Odes guy. Now for the crucial question.
"Is this Odes a guy?"
"Uh..."
Lulu pondered deeply, then answered honestly.
"...Both?"
"?"
The boy knight sank into thought too. Both?
Both meaning got both, or neither? Wait, knowing that means he's seen it? Or can it change form...?
So, add a point or subtract? Profound dilemma.
As the boy knight pictured this Odes in his mind's eye, Lulu crossed her arms, puffed out her chest, and declared proudly.
"Gramps, I've got something I wanna do!"
"What you want matters. I'll help if I can."
"I wanna be a hero of justice. Looks so cool!"
"Hmm..."
Justice.
Nine out of ten obsessed with justice die miserably. It's a value too fragile for ordinary strength to protect. Usually, he'd discourage it.
But Lulu had extraordinary power, far beyond ordinary. She'd be fine chasing justice. The boy knight nodded.
"But I dunno how to do it."
"Then ask Ronald, captain of Capital Knight Order Team 3. He'll know."
"Can't you tell me, Gramps?"
"I'm not just."
The boy knight chuckled mildly and patted Lulu's head. She inwardly thought it weird he'd claim not to be on justice's side, but kept it to herself.
If the guy smashing all the villains and bringing peace to the empire wasn't justice, what was? Lulu chalked it up to Gramps being shy.
Still, Team 3 of the Capital Knight Order.
That was the team led by the mustached uncle, as she recalled. But their image stuck as total slackers.
"They know their stuff...? Every time I visit, they're always slacking off instead of working..."
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Hidden in the building's basement: Capital Knight Order Team 3 headquarters.
As always, they were enjoying idyllic, peaceful days toiling away at punishing criminals when the scream-duty knight's bio-siren wailed.
"Emergency!!!"
"W-What is it?! Scream-duty!! Report!!"
"Capital Knight Commander visiting!! Capital Knight Commander visiting!!"
"Kyyyaaaah!!"
At that dreadful news, Team 3 HQ turned into pandemonium in seconds. Like an elephant barging into your house.
Elephants are herbivores and harmless by default, but rile one up and your house collapses. The Capital Knight Commander was the same. Worse, she was a "curious elephant"!
Facing this dire threat, Team 3 Captain Ronald once again displayed clear leadership.
"All hands, assume submissive posture—!! To the apex predator about to appear, show with our bodies that we're completely harmless, ready to forfeit any challenge—duel, arm-wrestle, dice game, instantly—!!"
"Yes sir!"
"Uh, Captain... what's the submissive posture?"
"You're the newbie, huh?! Good, watch closely. It's exposing the body's most vulnerable spot—the belly—and sprawling out—!!"
Splat.
The entire Team 3 hit the deck in X-poses.
Some capable knights even hauled out emergency pillows and blankets to fake sleep. Predators ignore sleeping beasts—they're defenseless!
Remove anything that might pique the Capital Knight Commander's interest. Don't tempt the battle maniac. That's the answer.
This formation had proven effective against her before. While other departments suffered unavoidable "remodeling," Team 3 defended their HQ.
So this time too—utterly defenseless.
Whirr.
"Um, I came to ask something..."
When Lulu opened the auto-door into Team 3 HQ, every knight was playing dead-fish eyes on the floor. Some had spread mats and blankets to nap.
Always like this. Every visit, Team 3 was deep in slacking.
Now she had a one-word summary for them.
"Salary Lupins..."
"........."
Justice?
Shouldn't they study professional ethics first?
Lulu sighed and perched on an empty chair. Gramps wasn't one for empty words. Pointing her to Team 3 meant there was reason.
Nothing to lose by asking. Even if Captain Ronald—with his eyepatch and snoring—might not hear.
"Hey, I wanna be a hero of justice, but I don't know how, so I came here."
"........."
Twitch.
"Gramps told me to come to Team 3. Said the mustached uncle knows best."
".........!!"
Twitch twitch. Ronald's eyelids fluttered.
As Lulu kept poking Ronald's "happiness button," silent knight comms buzzed under the radar.
It's a trap, Captain—!! The Commander suddenly saying that is suspicious! She's disrupting the fake-sleep to duel you!
But the boy knight—Empire's Sword Saint—personally shouted it out...!!
Fake news, Captain! Don't fall for—!!
"I... don't know much about justice. Don't even know what it is. Just... thought it looked cool. Saving people, making 'em smile most of all. My friend said that."
"........."
"So... I wanna stand side-by-side with my friend. Don't wanna be the shameful one. If we meet again someday, I wanna boast proudly: 'Look, I saved this many people too...'"
Ronald couldn't hold back the budding spark of justice anymore. If it was a trap, honor demanded he take the hit.
Spring! He kicked off the blanket and roared.
"Then you've come to the right place—this is justice's front line! We are executors of ironclad law—!!"
"...Weren't you sleeping?"
"A righteous soul woke me! Capital Knight Commander, I'm profoundly moved... Justice is, yes, bringing smiles to others..."
He'd been fixated on punishment. Myopic. But law's essence is smiles through enforcement!
Ronald trembled with teary-eyed感動. Sometimes, enlightenment comes from a passing elephant.
Lulu felt a bit burdened.
Ignoring that, Ronald flashed a toothy grin and clapped her shoulder.
"Our justice isn't the absolute answer. But for learning it, no better place! Everyone here wrestles with it fiercely!"
"Uh, y-yeah... Got it."
"With the Commander's cooperation, stalled ops become viable... But shoving work on a budding sprout is cruel! Let's build your justice picture step by step!!"
"Y-Yeah... I get it, so back off a bit?"
Lulu shoved Ronald away. Bam! He tumbled, seamlessly rolling backward to stand and point at a whiteboard corner.
"Recently, an incident posed profound questions... The vigilante at Crown Hall!"
"Vigilante...?"
"Yes! Outside public authority, operating beyond law's bounds! Blue hair, skirt fluttering, meting private sanctions on villains!! Her courage and justice are praiseworthy, but pondering law's essence—"
"Hold up."
Too much to brush off. Her heart raced. A lot.
Lulu gathered mana in her fist. Heavily. Team 3 went dead silent like magic.
"That... blue-haired girl. Tell me everything you know."
"Report-duty Erwin, speaking! Sightings started a week ago. Wields rapier as main; primary stage 'Outside the Circle,' but escape routes suggest base 'Inside the Circle,' so tasked to Capital Knights..."
"I'll handle that... No. Calm down, Kim Lulu. I want to resolve that case. Meet that vigilante girl. I'll arrest her. Who'll tell me what to do?"
"Trying dialogue first...!! You've changed, truly. Even the Commander ponders law and illegality's irony...?!"
Thump thump.
Captain Ronald's heart raced at the thought of nurturing a justice newbie. A top-tier asset, opting for talk over force!
Kim Lulu quelled her pounding heart—no way, has to be coincidence—chanted to avoid disappointment, but hope wouldn't fade.
Different dreams, same bed.
Thus, the tactical-bomb-written-as-Capital-Knight-Commander Lulu teamed up with Capital Knight Order Team 3.