Chapter 6: I Am Knight Lee Han (4)

Thanks to all that, all the stress Lee Han accumulated evaporated.

It wasn’t only because he had met a new opponent after a long time, but also because of the impressive swordsmanship he saw at the end. He couldn’t help but feel refreshed that he dealt with that new guy thoroughly.

Though, to others who saw that fight, they would probably think of how dirty and wicked of a guy he was…

I mean, they aren’t wrong.

Lee Han humbly admitted. Compared to others, he indeed admitted that he had a more twisted and wicked personality. But, it didn’t mean that he was the type of person who found pleasure in looking down on others. Instead, he gained pleasure whenever he destroyed the ‘unlucky guys’ who tried to show off how strong they were using their whole body.

To him, it was a pretty rewarding feeling in its own way.

I wasn’t originally like this though.

Of course, he didn’t enjoy fighting originally. However, after being reincarnated into a medieval fantasy world and lived there for thirty years, he had seen all sorts of dirty things, so it was inevitable that his disposition changed because of it. There was also the fact that the commander had been beating him up every single day for the past three years…

That was why he couldn’t help but yearn for a ‘victory’ at times…

“Did I overdo it?”

“N-No! O-On the contrary, thank you for going easy on me!”

“C’mon, don’t mention it, obviously I’d go easy on you. If not, you’d be a corpse by the end of it, haha!”

“…H-Hahaha…”

Though it was clear that Lee Han was joking as he tapped Yord’s shoulder, that sentence still sent shivers to all the listeners’ bones. Just a moment ago, Yord’s body had bounced on the ground—like a stone skipping on the water surface—before crashing into a wall. Fortunately for him, he only suffered a few bruises and no major injuries out of that. It was partly thanks to the fact that he was someone who had mastered Combat Techniques and the fact that, as Lee Han had said, he was going easy on him.

T-That blow was something else…

Even now Yord’s body was still trembling because of it. He thought that when he swung his sword—which had resonated with him—even if he was unable to defeat Lee Han, he would at least be able to hit him once. But, as if trying to prove that was nothing but his wishful thinking, his opponent swung his sword again from a blocking posture. And the moment their swords met…

I don’t remember what happened after that…

Yes. While he still had some recollection of the moment when their swords met, he couldn’t remember anything beyond that. Just as his body flew away, his consciousness also flew away like a flickering light. But, his body still clearly remembered how extremely heavy, strong and quick that blow was.

That guy could do more than just swatting me away… He could just cut me in two if he wants to…

Not only that, his opponent didn’t even look tired at all and instead, he looked completely relaxed. A bitter smile rose in Yord’s face as he looked at him. Deep in his heart, he admitted that his swordsmanship had been completely defeated by that man, Senior Lee Han.

Before he met this man, he genuinely thought that he could make everyone, save for Aura Users, kneel toward him with his swordsmanship alone…

The world sure is wide, huh…?

Tasting the bitterness of his first defeat, the young genius swordsman made a bitter expression.

After the duel between Lee Han and Yord, people didn’t hesitate to approach the latter and showered him with praises and admiration. The fact that he achieved Sword Resonance left a deep impression on him, so it was no wonder that they did this. They also asked him about various things like his family, his school of swordsmanship, his teacher’s name and so on.

The fact that they had so many things to ask made Lee Han think that they were just like the seniors in the military. Though, not in a good way.

“Wherever it is, the reek scent of the military just refuses to leave me.”

“Don’t look at it negatively. One’s family, school, and teacher are important in the eyes of the nobles.”

“Sure, sure. That’s why you guys think that commoners without the backing of their families and school should just leave the Order, right?”

“…I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Well, I’m a wicked person, so I think of it like that.”

“Seriously, you… You know that I know you’re just provoking me on purpose, right…?”

Jake shook his head after hearing Lee Han’s words. He knew that all this self-deprecation and distasteful joke was just Lee Han’s way to bait others to attack him first. Of course, since everyone was already aware of his tricks, no one even dared to rebuke his words. Instead, they’d do their best to avoid him.

Well, there could have been some rookies who’d eaten that bait, but there was no way that they’d have enough guts to challenge him after watching the spar between him and Yord.

“You’ve warmed up quite a bit, haven’t you? Do it in moderation.”

“No. It’s because I warmed up quite a bit that I became even more itchy for a fight…”

“…Stop staring at me. I won’t do it with you.”

Facing the gaze of the wild dog, Jake promptly backed away. He knew more than anyone that if he were to indulge this guy, he wouldn’t spare his body from all the pain, so avoiding him was the best course of action here.

While he knew that it was rude to refuse a sparring request as a knight, even that had a limit. Fighting this ‘Mad Savage Beast’ surely wasn’t something that a normal human being should do.

…Maybe the barbarian warriors are full of people like him.

What Jake was talking about was the ancient tribes of barbarians that lived in temples scattered in the deserts and jungles. They were said to be natural-born warriors and they honed their skills and strength in actual combat. It was an ignorant way of training that didn’t include the process of learning from anyone, but it was said that such people were stronger than any knights in the kingdom.

No matter how much I try to think about it… They’re similar to this guy…

An odd guy who had never learned proper swordsmanship from anyone and who’d fight others with only basic swordsmanship to hone both his strength and skills. It was clear that his method was ignorant, but no one in the Order could overpower him, just like those barbarian warriors.

“Lee Han the barbarian warrior, huh?”

“Is that an insult or a compliment?”

“Both.”

“…I don’t know if I should be happy or offended.”

Of course, Lee Han couldn’t even rebuke that remark about him being the barbarian warrior. He clearly knew what it meant and he couldn’t help but agree to that…

…Albeit reluctantly.

“As expected, that punk is really talented.”

“Yeah, but how is that even possible?”

“I can’t even imagine following his movement.”

“…Honestly, I thought he just seemed stupidly strong and that’s all.”

“That’s amazing in its own right already.”

The Order members who evaluated Lee Han and Yord’s spar gave the former a look of admiration and jealousy.  Although they were members of the same Order, at the same time, they were competitors. Among all the members, Lee Han, who stood out like a sore thumb, was a huge wall for them and he was in a perfect position to be treated as a public enemy.

But, Lee Han didn’t care. Competitor or whatnot, he didn’t care. After all, he didn’t even have any interest to thrive in the Order.

Talent? Is that how these guys saw it?

Lee Han let out a bitter smile, thinking that those words weren’t even funny as a joke.

What talent? My life would be easier if I were to have something like that.

At least, it would have been easier than it is now.

To put it bluntly, Lee Han’s talent was just a little better than average. For example, if the average score of a math test was exactly 60, then, his score would be 70—just 10 points above the average. That was the kind of talent he had; the ‘he’d get decent grades as long as he took good notes during class’ kind of talent.

While putting it that way made it sound pretty good, in reality, one couldn’t even become a knight with that kind of talent.

Slightly better than average wasn’t the kind of talent that a knight should have. Instead, they must have great enough talent, at least as good as someone who could achieve top ten in the entire school, even though they were bad at studying and didn’t listen to the classes properly.

In other words, those who seemed to only play and sleep in classes and never put much effort, but strangely got good grades in all of their exams.

If those people weren’t talented, then they were geniuses.

That was why there was no one in the Knight Order who had not heard of others praising them for how talented they were.

Even the nobles—while they might have gotten into the Order through connections—were also a talented bunch who had received proper education, and thus completely qualified to become a knight. Meanwhile, Lee Han had none of those.

As mentioned earlier, his talent was only slightly better than average, unlike others. Instead, he had a unique constitution, the so-called ‘Trait’.

Though he wasn’t as talented as others, he had some ‘ability’. He didn’t know any Combat Techniques and he wasn’t talented enough to become a master after seeing a technique once, but the ability that he had allowed him to defeat those who had Combat Techniques.

At least that’s what the old man said.

[Your body is pretty interesting. It possesses something that compensates for your abysmal talent. But, there’s a limit to that. There are plenty of people in the Order alone who could overwhelm something of that level.]

That was the advice and criticism that Lee Han heard the day he got beaten up by the old man.

And so, he sarcastically threw a question to him.

Then what should I do?

To that, the old man sneered at him.

[It’s simple. Just strengthen your ‘ability’ a little bit more. Since it’s your body, you should know best how to strengthen it.]

And the commander was right. Lee Han had indeed learned how to strengthen his ability back in the assassin organization he was in.

To break the limits of his body.

Tearing his muscles and breaking his bones to make them tougher and stronger.

[Good, it seems like you at least know what to do. Hmm… I’ll give you one more piece of advice. Fight. A lot. Gather some experience— No, in your case, gather as much information as you can from as many people as you can find.]

People weren’t machines that he could just grind information from, but… Lee Han had to admit that the advice was indeed helpful. That was the reason why he had been picking fights with the knights every single day for the past three years. He followed the old man’s advice, he fought various kinds of people and always succeeded in finding out how to deal with them.

Although he still didn’t know how to use swordsmanship, he had become able to instinctively figure out how to move his body in order to face the incoming attack.

Even if his head couldn’t remember, his body could.

It’s funny.

It feels like I’m not even a person anymore, but a machine.

Of course he knew that he wasn’t a machine. Since he knew that all the sweat he shed from all the effort he put was not fake. But it was clear that he put in his effort in a different direction than others.

Well, as long as it’ll make me stronger, who cares.

He wasn’t someone who was trying to reach the pinnacle of martial arts or anything. If one were to describe him, Jake’s words hit the nail perfectly.

I guess I do have the mindset of a barbarian warrior.

It was enough as long as he won in the end. Development and enlightenment were things he didn’t know about and also the things he couldn’t reach.

For him, his current state was…

It’s not bad.

Perfectly okay.

Because at the very least, he wouldn’t get beaten up wherever he went.