Chapter 77: The Knight Teaches (2)

“This is how you do it.”

Lee Han swung the dagger in his hand gently.

Swish-!

Then, flower petals bloomed at the tip of the dagger.

Looking at the pretty-looking flower petals, the cadets’ eyes widened. Prior to this, they had made sure that the dagger was not a magical item, but an ordinary dagger. Yet, flower petals still spread out from the tip of the dagger.

It was truly a magical moment that looked like something that came out of a fairy tale.

The chick’s eyes became moist like young girls who were fascinated by the fairy tale they heard for the first time, while the bears and the young masters recalled the old stories of knights that old bards would tell whenever they visited their estates or villages, making them reminisce about their childhood.

Scattering flower petals with his dagger and using them as a means of attack…

It’s exactly the kind of skills that knights would show in the bards’ poems!

Swish-!

The moment the flower petals touched the ground, it melted like snowflakes. However, as it disappeared, it left a hollow gap in the ground that had the shape of the flower petals. Which meant, beauty wasn’t the only thing that was going for it, as it also had considerable strength.

Because of that, the boys and girls looked at the Plum Blossom Sword with longing eyes.

“Wow, how is that possible?”

“So pretty…!”

“Please, Instructor! Show us again!”

The cadets shouted for an encore.

“…Can’t we stop here?”

Except that this was already the tenth encore, and Lee Han was starting to get tired. Though it looked easy, performing the move was actually physically demanding.

However, the audience never cared about how tired the clown was.

“Just one more time, please…”

“…Ugh.”

Meanwhile Lee Han couldn’t bring himself to be a cold-hearted adult who refused the pleading of the crying chicks.

“Haa… My life…”

Lee Han, who had unexpectedly turned into a performing clown, made the plum blossom bloom again with his dagger.

Maybe I should perform this on the streets. I’d probably get a bank out of it.

Also, he realized that he had unexpectedly awakened a talent that could bring him a lot of money.

The reason why Lee Han acted like a clown was none other than…

-I-Instructor, can you teach us that technique?

His disciples, who desperately wished to learn the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship.

Even the elite guys who said they only needed their Combat Technique showed their desire to learn the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship.

That was just how attractive that swordsmanship was to others.

After all…

A technique that could make plum blossoms bloom with a sword was simply irresistible.

Making flowers bloom with a sword and using that to attack?

The concept itself already sounded extremely cool.

There was a reason why most of the main characters in the novels Lee Han had read in his previous life came from Mount Hua Sect.

Unfortunately…

-Sorry, I can’t teach you guys this technique yet.

Of course it wasn’t because his disciple lacked the martial arts root that he jokingly ranted about before. Rather, it was because the technique was still incomplete, he couldn’t teach it to anyone yet.

Indeed, it was an unfinished technique.

If this was something he had learned through a manual, it would be one thing, but this was something he awakened through his special sense and intuition. He hadn’t managed to establish the theory behind it yet, and he still found it awkward when he used the technique.

Besides…

-This technique uses too much energy.

If the sword energy that Roen showed the other day was a work of art that was created through a complex combination of techniques, Lee Han’s sword energy was simply a manifestation of a sword’s power that utilizes all of the energy of his body and the sword’s. In other words, it was a disposable technique.

In addition to that, it was also a risky technique. Because, after using the sword energy, they would inevitably lose their sword.

It went without saying that losing one’s weapon on the battlefield wouldn’t lead to anything good, but the bad thing didn’t end there. In addition to that, they’d also completely exhaust themselves after using the technique.

Considering that even Lee Han was forced into exhaustion, there was simply no way that the cadets could handle it.

To put it in perspective, Lee Han, who boasted stamina ten times that of an average knight, found the technique to be exhausting. If the cadets were to use it, who knows what kind of disability would occur in their bodies. It would be fortunate if they just fainted because of it, as the risk to their life was simply too great.

That was why, even though he never had any qualms about teaching techniques to his disciples, he had no choice but to refuse their wish this time.

After hearing that reasonable explanation, the cadets easily relented, although…

-Alright, but can you show it to us, Instructor?

-Y-Yeah! I-I want to see it!

When Lee Han heard those words, he couldn’t help but think that the concept of vicarious satisfaction was present in any world.

Even though they couldn’t learn the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship right away, they still wanted to see it.

Since he couldn’t just refuse another request of the punks he had grown attached to…

He started to demonstrate the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship to his disciples.

Maybe the old man was right. I’m a little affectionate…

Though, unlike back when he fought the Ghost King, he didn’t need to use up all of his strength, so the dagger didn’t break straight away and he didn’t lose all of his energy in one go.

Also, this was a perfect chance for him to train the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship. By the eighth demonstration, he had succeeded in making the flower bloom with just his light hand movements.

However, that decision came with a cost. He was spent. Extremely spent.

“I-I… I’m dying…”

“Instructor, are you okay!? Here, have some water and food!”

“…T-Thank you…”

Lee Han, who finally collapsed from exhaustion, laid his body on the grass, trying to recover his energy while eating sandwiches and drinking the water he received from Irene Windler.

Looking at Lee Han’s state, Irene Windler opened her mouth.

“Y-You guys—! What are you guys doing?! How could you make someone who had already suffered so much a few days ago suffer again like this?!”

“T-That…”

“Don’t make excuses!”

“…I haven’t even made an excuse yet.”

The girl became furious like a fire, and the cadets had no choice but to look down and watch what they wanted to say.

If someone just took their time to think about it, the reason why Lee Han got so tired was because he was too excited over the fact that he found a way to train the technique. But to the girl who was blinded by love, the other cadets were the villains in the situation.

The girl growled, scaring the cadets even further.

Usually, when Irene Windler got angry, they’d treat her like a cute Pomeranian, but after the incident, it wasn’t the case anymore.

There’s no way I can stand up to someone who can cause a natural disaster with her magic…

Her spell back then was incredible.

I must never provoke her. I don’t want her to destroy our territory.

After all, they had seen it.

The girl who they thought of as someone who had no physical strength, had used magic to control the entire lake. She even manipulated the wind to create a literal tornado. Even though it was small compared to the real thing, it was still powerful enough to sweep away a small territory.

With that in mind, they realized that they absolutely should never provoke the girl.

They momentarily forgot about this because they had grown close to her, but just like Roen, she was a monster who deserved to be called a genius among geniuses.

“Stop scolding them. I did all that because I was too excited.”

“Hmph.”

At that moment, Lee Han sat up and calmed down the monster girl as if he was training her.

He still looked tired, but he still had to do his job as an instructor.

After that…

“I assume that you’ve grown sick of watching it by now.”

“…”

“No, no, I’m just saying, I’m not criticizing you. Anyway, what do you think of the swordsmanship?”

“Hmm.”

As soon as the cadets realized that the instructor had no intention of reprimanding them and was genuinely asking them that question, they were momentarily lost in thought.

They didn’t know why he was asking that question, but they knew he wasn’t someone who’d ask something for no reason, so they seriously mulled over his question.

Not long after, a certain blue-haired girl, the epitome of an honor student, raised her hand.

“…I believe the technique has a lot of weaknesses. While yes, it’s a considerably threatening technique since it would spread one’s energy into flower petals, but it isn’t like there’s no way to evade or defend against it. Of course, I’m not saying that it’s possible to do it at my level, but if it was Sir Arno, Sir Kunta, Sir Galand, or Young Master Roen…”

The girl turned her glance at the four. Immediately, the four of them opened their mouths, each wearing an expression that looked as if they found the honorifics attached to their names awkward.

“Call Kunta just Kunta. Like Female Bear said, Kunta can block it, but Kunta will lose one arm or leg.”

“Please speak comfortably, Young Miss… To answer your statement, I think I could avoid it. It does leave a lot of gaps, yes.”

“It feels ticklish to be called that— Ahem. Same with the others, I can handle it. However, I want to point out that it would probably work way better when used against monsters.”

“I feel the same as them.”

As soon as the four most talented guys in the Swordsmanship Department said so, the cadets could only blink. They thought it was a flashy and powerful technique, but after hearing those words…

“I told you already. It has no foundation.”

The technique didn’t seem very strong. Lee Han didn’t simply undermine the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship’s strength in his explanation. He also didn’t play the clown for no reason, he wanted to show them this exact thing clearly.

While the swordsmanship might work on monsters with extremely low intelligence, it wouldn’t be as effective against humans. Even though it was a really flashy technique, it was still a technique with an extremely poor cost-effectiveness.

“Whether it’s swordsmanship or martial arts, there aren’t many cases where something looks flashy and has substance at the same time. A certain martial artist that this instructor respected once said that someone who practiced one kick a thousand times is scarier than someone who uses a thousand kick techniques¹. Likewise, it is not important to know hundreds of swordsmanship, instead, it’s more important to practice a single slash until you master it completely. That’s why you need to focus on the basics and stop envying others who can use sword energy. The most important thing is following your own path.”

Those words weren’t only directed to the cadets, but also to himself. The recent battle made him realize how inadequate he was. If he had trained in sword skills that could allow him to cut off a monster’s neck with a single sword slash like Balter, the outcome of that fight would probably be different.

At the very least, he probably wouldn’t have lost so badly.

I trusted this power too much…

He realized that it was time to stop on relying solely on the performance of his body and dig deeper into what he had. The basics were one thing, but he also had to increase his mastery of every skill he had.

Vajra.

Lion’s Roar.

Bending Body Launch.

Hundred Steps Divine Fist.

Energy Penetrating Attack.

Sun Piercing.

And…

The Plum Blossom Swordsmanship he just acquired.

He had to train all of those techniques to perfection, and to stop blindly increasing his power.

And when that happened, maybe…

At that time, I will be able to kill the Ghost King or whatever with my own hands.

It was a resolution to not let anyone decide his fate.

Lee Han hoped that his disciples would not make the same mistake as he did—which was putting off from doing the important thing—and passed on his most important teachings to them.

Meanwhile, Derrick—who had turned into an abandoned bundle—let out a sigh.

How did I end up here…?

I’m not athletic at all, why did I end up in the place where all the athletic people in this world gathered…?

Is this the fate of a debtor?

‘If you’re going to pay off your debt, either pay it with your body or with information.’

With that remark, the instructor forced him to enter the Swordsmanship Department. Even though he was completely caught off guard by this, he had no choice but to accept that unreasonable demand, because he was the one who had seeked the instructor’s help.

Although, that wasn’t solely the reason why Derrick decided to stay by the instructor’s side.

I have to take the initiative, too.

This incident made him realize.

He couldn’t just be a bystander anymore, and he shouldn’t keep relying on someone’s help. It would be better to have someone he could trust, and be in a place where all the main characters gathered. With that, he could at least respond if something big were to happen.

So the reason he came to the Swordsmanship Department wasn’t just to pay off his debt, but also because he had a strong determination to take the lead.

But, after he looked around for a bit…

W-Why are there so many named characters here…?

He realized that there were a bunch of named characters gathered in the Swordsmanship Department.

The Barbarian, the Heir to Swordsman Blood, the Disciple of The Mercenary King, and many more. They were all people who’d turn into either the best allies or the worst enemies.

Originally, they were the characters who would play a big role in [Villainess Young Miss – ‘Irene Windler Subjugation Battle’].

But now…

The Villainess Young Miss isn’t even a villainess anymore…

He didn’t know how the plot got twisted this badly, but with the disappearance of the Villainess Young Miss, he couldn’t be sure about how the other important supporting characters would turn out in the future.

Both the future Archduke of the North and the Villainess Young Miss…

The reality was 180 degrees different from what he knew.

Derrick could feel a headache was coming, but he tried to ignore it. He assumed that there was probably some kind of butterfly effect that caused the Future Northern Archduke to become a cadet of the Academy, while also turning the Villainess Young Miss into an innocent girl.

Although there were a lot of things he didn’t know about, there was one thing that he was sure about.

As long as I’m doing my best, I can turn my fate around.

Just like what that person had shown.

He was talking of the moment when the hero-class he had never heard of decided to rebel against fate.

After seeing that, Derrick decided not to treat this world as a game anymore. So, what he needed to do from now on was to use the information he knew wisely, while at the same time, to not get carried away by it.

For example…

Rustle-!

…I have to decide whether I should prevent the misfortune of the person who will become a big shot in the future or not.

Derrick’s eyes fell on a certain girl with blue hair that suited her appearance well. He didn’t recognize her at first because her face was so different from the one he knew, but the moment he heard her full name, he realized who she was.

The girl was probably even more important to the world than Roen or Irene Windler. After all, she had an interesting setting that made even the design team assign her as the ‘second protagonist’ during the planning stage.

…The Saintess… What should I do with her…?

After the death of the Mercenary King, the girl would ascend to become the Saintess of the Mercenaries.

The Mercenary Queen [Levy Jeanne d’Arc].

Derrick stared at the girl—who’d later earn the moniker, the Nobles’ Nightmares, the same girl who’d become the vanguard of the ‘Revolutionary War’ that would happen fifteen years in the future—with a pitiful gaze.

He couldn’t help but do so. After all, he knew that just like her name, the girl’s ending wouldn’t be a happy one².