Chapter 23: Irene Windler Is the New Neighbor (4)

…So, why are we fighting so hard again?

Lee Han felt like the two of them just somehow decided to fight to death the moment they meant. It all started because both of them just didn’t want to lose in a fight of spirit, or rather, things just happened to develop this way because of their pride.

In other words…

This is all because of this fucker.

Lee Han glared at his opponent fiercely, while the other answered in kind.

After his opponent took off the black clothes covering his face, what appeared was a face that looked like a nobleman’s. Though one side of his cheek was scarred—a testament to the rough life he got—he still had the face that looked like it would evoke sympathy from women and would make them approach him first.

…That made me dislike him even more.

Lee Han growled at him, but that only prompted the other person to growl louder. Others would find their actions weird since they weren’t dogs, but to them, they already grew to hate each other enough. It was natural for them to growl and glare at each other to assert dominance.

And so, their glaring contest continued as their fighting spirits rose once again. Then, both of them took a stance, prepared to go at it at any moment. Just this time, it was clear that it wouldn’t be a fistfight, but an actual fight with their blades drawn.

[Stop! How many times do I need to tell you two to stop?!]

“…”

“…I apologize.”

[This is why you knights are so bothersome to deal with…!]

But, that rebuke from someone who possessed an overwhelming authority was enough for them to calm their fighting spirits down.

“…I greet Your Excellency the Duke.”

[Finally you’ve greeted me. I never knew that the neck of the Silver Lion was so stiff.]

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Thank you.”

[…Actually, I’ll take that back. Your neck is the only stiff part of your body.]

“My neck…? Huh, and here I thought that my neck is quite flexible…”

[…]

“You commoner bastard! How dare you speak like that to His Excellency!”

“The fuck you’re on about? I treated him politely enough.”

“You dareeee!”

Right when it seemed like another fight was about to break out, the other men in black grabbed Lake and subdued him before he could do anything.

Seeing the other person in that state, unable to move, Lee Han sneered at him, prompting the other man to grind his teeth in frustration.

[…Ugh, my head…]

Meanwhile, the duke placed his hand to his forehead after seeing this spectacle.

A certain man’s appearance was reflected in the mirror. Of course, it wasn’t a normal mirror that anyone could use to see their own reflection, but a mirror to show what was happening in a far away place. It was a mysterious treasure that was said to have an extremely low chance of being created while could only be created by a very small number of mages.

To put it simply, it was an artifact.

If one were to put a price tag on the mirror, it would probably be worth as much as a castle.

Which meant, only a very small number of people would have the wealth and power to own such a thing.

And now, Lee Han was standing right in front of one of those few people.

…I thought the information said that he’s in his 60s…

But, his appearance…

I swear if someone says that he’s younger than me, I’d believe them.

Lee Han looked at the other person with a different kind of fear than before. Meanwhile, the other person, being unaware of this, slowly opened his mouth.

[Before we start, please accept my apology. After all, we were the ones who disturbed your peace first.]

“Your Excellency…! How could you say such things to a commoner!”

[We have to admit what we have to admit.]

He was one of the people who sat on the pinnacle of power in the Pendragon Kingdom. The lord of the Galahad, the one who could be considered as a real duke as he was the true ruler of his territory, not just a duke in name.

For such a person to willingly show his ‘expression of regret’ to a knight of a lowly origin, it simply wasn’t the right thing to do. Common sense aside, his authority and status was far above that of a commoner. As someone with such a status, one must always be lofty and imposing.

However…

[Enough. How can expressing regret be considered a flaw?]

Duke Blake waved his hand, as if such remark was nothing big. Then, he scolded his followers and told them to stop doing such embarrassing things.

However, what his followers did when they looked at his own actions was…

“Your Excellency, how can you be so generous…!”

“Keuhuuuk! As expected of Your Excellency!”

“Indeed, your existence alone is enough to showcase your authority, Your Excellency, the Great One…!”

[…Haa.]

Their praises were beyond excessive even to the duke—it was as if they were part of a cult who worshiped a new God or something. Once again, the duke was reminded that excessive loyalty wasn’t a good thing and he let out an extremely long sigh.

Meanwhile, Lee Han could only see what was happening in front of him with a bewildered expression.

This is the ‘Psychopathic Murderer’…? But he…looks like a normal guy…?

The tone of his speech couldn’t exactly be described as normal since it sounded as if he was looking down on others, but that was just how nobles usually speak, so it wasn’t something to be offended by. Lee Han’s concern was the fact that this guy had been acting ‘normally’ and it made him feel a little uncomfortable.

He’s just a normal nobleman, not a madman or whatever…

Lee Han even began to doubt whether the guy in the mirror was really Duke Blake or not.

[—There’s no need to doubt me. I am the ‘the same’ Duke Blake you’ve probably heard of.]

“I-I didn’t say anything though.”

He blurted out words that couldn’t really be passed up as an excuse, but obviously that much wouldn’t help him avoid the eyes of someone who had been doing politics his whole life.

The duke started to laugh.

[You can’t hide your irreverent gaze from me. In any case, I believe you’ve heard all those rumors about me. Which means, you should know that I’m a mentally ill person suffering to fight against my madness.]

“U-Uh…”

He really just said that out loud, huh…?

Still, with this, Lee Han was completely convinced. Duke Blake wasn’t mentally-ill.

On the contrary, he was more sensible than expected. He even showed some aspects that one could only see in a great man. If their first meeting didn’t happen under this exact circumstance, Lee Han would probably end up respecting him more. After all, he seemed like a pretty decent person at least.

Ah, wait, is it that thing…?

At that moment, he remembered a certain cliché in rofan where the duke, archduke or emperor, who were always referred to as monsters, suddenly became normal the moment they met the female protagonist.

Is it something like that?

He thought of that possibility for a moment.

[Are you having another irreverent thought about me?]

“…No… I was just thinking that I shouldn’t just believe any rumors I’ve heard on the streets.”

[Hearing you saying that out loud makes me think that this duke’s dignity has fallen to the ground.]

“I beg your mercy, Your Excellency.”

[…Now, you just look like a disloyal retainer.]

Seeing Lee Han bowing his back deeply, Duke Blake’s anger vanished. No, actually, he probably thought that it wasn’t worth getting angry at Lee Han rather than him accepting his apology.

Then again, from that man’s perspective, someone like Lee Han would probably be no better than a piece of trash.

It’d be great if he really thinks so.

In Lee Han’s eyes, it was easier to deal with someone who was looking down on him. After all, in most cases, those people were the kinds of people who didn’t want to get their hands dirty. In other words, as long as they lost interest in him, it wouldn’t be hard to get out of their—

[—I hope that you don’t misunderstand me. I am not looking down on you, Sleeping Dragon of the Silver Lion.]

“…”

[Ever since I heard that there is a demoted knight among those who will teach my precious adopted daughter, I decided to investigate a little. At first, I could barely find anything on you, but thankfully, I have moles in the royal family and through them, I managed to learn a little about what kind of person you are.]

“Is it okay for you to say that out loud?”

This guy revealed that he had planted some spies in the royal family just like that…? Holy fuck…

Oblivious to Lee Han’s state of mind, Duke Blake continued his words. As if the matter was more serious than the absurd thing that he uttered just a moment ago.

[During the war with Britain, there was a particularly fierce situation where the lives of all soldiers were endangered, and yet we, the Pendragon, were able to win. I had heard that back then, there was an unknown soldier who managed to save the lives of over 1,257 soldiers.]

“…”

[Then, when Britain’s assassins made a move to kill that child, Isis, there was a soldier who threw himself to protect her. I heard that the hero who had saved those soldiers and the benefactor who saved that child was the same person.]

“…”

[After that, that soldier caught the eye of Sir Baltar and was promoted into a full-fledged knight without even going through apprenticeship. It was also said that he was the only person who received guidance from Sir Baltar, even though he was famous for not having any disciples.]

“What guidance?! That guy had only been beating me up—!”

Lee Han couldn’t help but get angry at that last part.

Guidance my ass!

The only thing I’ve learned from that guy were things like how to receive harder hits and how to increase the amount of bruises in my body!

Lee Han gritted his teeth as he remembered the grudge he harbored towards the man who had forced him to join the Knight’s Order. However, the duke’s reaction was more lukewarm.

[Why are you acting like that? I’m only talking about ‘a certain unknown soldier’.]

“…Surely you jest.”

[I’m not done yet. There’s still the most important part left. It is said that the unknown soldier managed to destroy 15 ‘major slave traders’ and 29 infamous ‘criminal mages’ after he became a knight. For such a person to do things that even the royal troops had failed to do, he must have been an amazing person.]

“…Is there any evidence that the unknown soldier really did that? It seems more likely that it is just a false rumor.”

[It is not. I’ve obtained this information through those who were saved by him from the slave traders and those who were tortured as test subjects by those criminal mages.]

“…”

[With enough power, money, and talented personnels, one could easily verify the truth of whatever information one heard. Remember this well, o knight who hides the fact that he is a hero.]

“…Fuck.”

Just like a monkey sitting on the palm of Buddha.¹

Lee Han lowered his head as his situation reminded him of that expression.

…As expected, I hate those in power.

After that, both the duke and all the Galahad’s troops retreated.

Lee Han didn’t know why they decided to retreat even though there were still plenty of things for them to talk about. Before he withdrew his troops though, Duke Blake just smiled meaningfully at Lee Han.

As if he had already figured out everything he was curious about just by talking to him.

And all his questions had been answered already.

…Fuck that, I know he still had a lot of questions.

Haa… Guess that means those questions aren’t important to him.

Jeez…

─It feels dirty.

Even though Lee Han knew that he should be happy that the overwhelmingly strong person who could kill him had retreated on his own accord, he wasn’t happy at all. On the contrary, he felt an indescribably unpleasant feeling as he felt that his life was not in his own hands but in someone else’s.

Once again he realized.

That he was still…

“Weak, so damn weak.”

All this time, he thought that he was better than back in his previous life, and yet he was still swayed by the winds created by others.

Stagger-!

For a moment, he staggered. He tried not to show it, but his body clearly wasn’t fine at all. His body was hurting all over and it didn’t seem that it would heal anytime soon.

That bastard’s fist was dirty. It was the best compliment one could get from the opponent, as a testament that their blows were truly remarkable.

But, there was still something that pained him even more than that.

“…He’s treating this as if it was a random medicinal wine or something.”

Lee Han looked at the vial in his hand. Inside, there was a potion. Not the low-grade potion alchemists usually made, but a high-grade one made from the blood of a troll. The blood was said to be at 50% purity.

“…”

If it was a normal circumstance, Lee Han would have happily accepted it, but now, he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable because of it. He felt like the duke was making fun of him, because he knew everything about him.

…But still…

Gulp, gulp!

Lee Han had no intention of holding onto the discomfort he felt forever.

And so, he drank the potion and made a vow.

I haven’t lost yet.

It isn’t the strong who’d end up winning.

But the one who survives until the end and reaches their ‘happiness’ who’d win.

Once again, he vowed that he would attain that happiness.

By all means, if needed to.