Chapter 84: The Knight Gives a Counseling (3)

A certain girl could be seen, staring blankly at a fountain. The fountain was lavishly decorated, with jewels, gold, and marble adorning it, while water gushed out powerfully from it. It was a famous landmark of the southern street square and was accessible to everyone regardless of their social status.

Due to the generous use of such precious metals, the possibility of some thief trying their luck in stealing those decorations was high. This was why they assigned a few guards to the fountain, guarding it in shifts.

Even though this area was already one of the safest areas in the city to begin with. No one dared to think of causing trouble in such a place.

That was probably why…

“…It’s quiet.”

It was a good place for people to organize their thoughts. They could sit there and relax, no need to worry about getting into unnecessary troubles, or meeting up with troublemakers.

In fact, the place was so good to the point that the girl wished that she could stay here for a long time.

Haa… But I can’t just do that…

It was just, if someone stayed in that place for too long, they’d risk the attention from the guards. So, staying around the fountain for too long wasn’t exactly a wise decision.

In the end, the girl, who had both elegance and grace reminiscent of a rich blue hydrangea, got up from her seat and walked away.

“…Oh.”

And every time the girl passed by, the guards’ eyes were drawn to her. It wasn’t because she was suspicious. Rather, it was because of how beautiful she was.

“That girl is pretty.”

“I’ve never seen her before. There’s such beauty living in this street?”

“And here I thought the flower shop girl is the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen in this world…”

“…You said the same thing when you fell for the bakery girl.”

“What can I do? Like they said, love is like a reed.”

“Crazy fuck. What you’re feeling is not love, it’s just lust!”

There was an extremely high percentage of young, energetic young men among the guards. Even though guarding duty wasn’t something that should be handled sloppily, they still couldn’t stop their eyes from looking at her.

Then again, it was only natural for such energetic young men’s eyes to be drawn to a pretty woman’s visage.

“From her clothes, she looks like a commoner… Hm… Hey, cover me for a moment.”

“You crazy bastard. You’re on duty, where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

“What are you on about? I’m just going to check on the ‘suspicious person’ for a bit. It’s still part of our duty.”

“…You know that if something happens, it won’t end with just a written apology and explanation, don’t you? The atmosphere in this city is incredibly tense right now.”

“It’ll be okay. Don’t worry.”

Whether it was because he was ignorant and brave, or if his brain is dominated by his groin, one of the male guards approached the girl without hesitation. He was trying to use his position as a guard to at least find out about her name.

But, suddenly, he…

Grab-!

“Hey, brother, don’t cut in the line. I’m up there first.”

“You, what—”

The male guard closed his mouth.

When the stranger approached him and put an arm around his shoulder, a frown immediately appeared on the guard’s brows. But, when he turned his gaze to look at that stranger, his spine tingled.

The stranger was big. Incredibly big. He had a massive frame that was easily three times bigger than the size of an average adult.

However, if he was just big, the guard wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed.

W-What is this bastard?! H-His eyes—!

The eyes that the man had were the kind of eyes that would terrify a strong guard, even if the one who possessed such eyes were a common criminal.

This guard was no different. He froze like a rat before a snake in front of the man’s murderous gaze. It was as if, in the man’s eyes, people were nothing but meat hanging in a butcher’s shop.

“Brother, please just leave quietly.”

“Y-You dare threaten a guard? Even if you don’t have anything to fear, how dare you—!”

Still, guards had their own pride. Even though the opponent was scary, he asserted his authority as a guard, thinking that it should be enough to threaten this man.

“Your rank, is it higher than Mark, brother?”

“…What?”

“Mark. You know, your superior? The one who has one eye and loves going to pubs? That one guy who doesn’t look like a guard but is actually the captain of the guards?”

“!!!”

“Anyway, what’s your name again, brother? I never thought I’d see such a spirited guy among Mark’s subordinates. Maybe I should mention your name to him and tell him that he has such a great subordinate under him. Hahaha!”

“…”

Seeing that the giant casually mentioned his superior’s name, the guard was unable to say anything back to him.

Normally, one would think that the giant was bluffing, but there was a detail that the guard just couldn’t overlook. The fact that the captain of the guard had one eye, and he had been wearing a prosthetic eye. It was a secret known only to those who knew him personally.

“I-I’m sorry.”

And so, the guard just quietly bowed his head and stepped back.

Leaving the giant to smile in satisfaction.

The girl, Levy, approached the giant, throwing him a contemptuous look as he gave off a smile that didn’t match his build.

Has he been watching me all this time?

Levy shuddered at the thought, but she hid her feelings and opened her mouth with a calm expression.

“…What business do you have for coming here? The promised date is still far away.”

“Nothing big, I just came to escort you, Young Miss. I mean, you can’t just get involved with strange things like that idiot from earlier. After all, you’re a precious ‘commodity’.”

“…”

“Ah my bad, it’s a slip of the tongue. I used the wrong words because I am just a lowly guy! Seriously, my mouth always causes me trouble!”

“…Just go. I won’t have any problems keeping my body safe.”

Her whole body screamed in disgust, but Levy still showed her patience.

However, the giant…

“No can do. Can’t risk you running away, Young Miss.”

“!!”

Trampled on her without mercy.

“…You’d better watch your mouth. I have made a promise, even gave up everything to keep that promise. And yet you’re saying you can’t trust me?”

Even though she was currently in such a bad position, at the end of the day, Levy was still a noble. A noble’s promise always had a certain weight and trust behind it. For her, who took pride in the name of the Fault family, such suspicion was like a great insult.

However…

“Pfft, do you think I’ve only experienced the ‘honor of a noble’s promise’ just once or twice? Honor my ass. You nobles are just a bunch of troublemakers who always tell lies. Why should I trust you? In my eyes you’re just like the rest of them.”

“…”

The other party just spewed up even harsher insults on her.

The moment she heard that, Levy rested her hand on her rapier, ready to draw it at any moment.

However, the giant just let out a snort when he saw it.

“I know that you’re a talented one for your age, Young Miss, but that’s useless against me. Why don’t you put that knife away? You don’t want to lose an arm or a leg for no reason, do you?”

“I’d rather become disabled instead of standing still after receiving such an insult.”

“…Your eyes…so you are serious…”

Only then did the giant realize that the girl had a sincere personality, unlike the nobles he usually dealt with. He licked his lips in frustration, not expecting that such a pointless argument could possibly end in bloodbath.

She’s just like those boring knights. What should I do now…?

Just like he said before, the girl was a precious commodity. If he dared to hurt her…

The union leader will scold me… Yeah, I can’t let that happen.

With that in mind, the giant decided to change his way from forcing her to cooperate to verbally persuading her. It was clear that no amount of force could turn this noble lady docile.

“If you don’t listen to my words, I have no choice but to harass your younger sibling and your mother instead. Do you want that to happen?”

“You—!”

“That’s why, listen to me. Stop being such a pain in the ass.”

From his experience, the best way to deal with nobles was the gangster way. By harassing those guys’ family, friends, or lovers, nine out of ten of them would turn docile.

And as expected, this girl was no different.

“…Stop threatening me. I’ll cooperate.”

“Hahaha, you should’ve done this in the first place!”

The giant was satisfied with this outcome, but at the same time, he was also amazed. He couldn’t relate with what she was doing; sacrificing everything with utmost sincerity when her life was at stake for her family.

If it were me, I’d just sell everything I have, family or whatever. That way, at least I’d become full.

Someone who had lived a hard life like him would know that family and lovers were nothing but a huge burden. From his perspective, the noble Young Miss was just a pitiful girl.

No, in her case… This girl was just born to the wrong father.

Unlike this girl who had a noble heart, her father was a man who willingly sold his daughter.

That idiot would really sell off someone who’d become a female knight in the future under the pretext of protecting his family…

What a dumbass. Really funny, though.

The giant couldn’t help but think that this was like a tiger being born from a dog.

Tsk, my mouth is watering.

He liked this kind of woman. A filial daughter with untainted purity and nobility. On top of that, there was her status as a noble lady, someone that a commoner like him couldn’t dare to aim for.

She’s also pretty.

By now, his desire had started to sizzle. The girl was wearing old clothes to hide her status, but she still possessed an unmistakable elegance and beauty. Even though she was still young, and her beauty hadn’t fully bloomed, a flower was still a flower.

It was still something worth picking.

We’ll be sticking together for a while anyway… I should try to coax her.

He already figured out the girl’s weakness. If he kept picking on her by putting her family on the line, he might be able to push her into bed. The union leader only told him to protect her until the time came, and he never told him to not touch her.

And so, the giant…

Just a little bit…

Decided to enact his plan by lightly leaning his arm on the girl’s shoulder.

“I’ll take that as a sign that you don’t need your arm anymore.”

Crack-!

Unfortunately, the giant would soon know what kind of misfortune, or rather ‘disaster’, that would befall him when he decided to prioritize his uncontrollable desires.

But, it would only be a belated realization.

“Kuaaaaakkk…!”

“Stop barking, you bastard.”

I’m going to die—

Slap-!

The giant’s screaming mouth was forced shut by a vicious hand.

“——!”

The giant tried to struggle, squirming his body, but from the hand that was covering his mouth… He could feel it. The terrible feeling of his entire body being crushed by the powerful pressure emanating from the person’s ‘arms strength’.

However, little did he know that it was just the beginning.

Crack-! Crack-!

“!?!!!”

His body then was folded in a direction it should never be able to. An ominous cracking sound echoed from his spine.

The ‘fear’ for the fact that he couldn’t turn his back around enveloped him. Finally, the giant showed his desperate attempt of resistance.

Whenever they felt that their lives were at stake, sometimes people would showcase some kind of superhuman strength.

However, unfortunately for the giant…

“That was it? That was your full strength? Too weak. What a waste of your size.”

His opponent was someone who had fought against a real superhuman countless times, rendering his desperate resistance useless. Such was his first ‘misfortune’.

Bang-!

Then, the giant’s opponent—Lee Han—slammed him onto the ground, over and over, as if he was playing ddakji¹, with eyes that were as cold as ice. Normally, when playing ddakji, people would throw the paper to the ground before picking it back up. In Lee Han and the giant’s case, he just kept slamming the giant into the ground without releasing him.

Once, twice–

Bang-!

…Ten times.

Even after being slammed exactly ten times, the giant still couldn’t escape from Lee han’s grasp. Although, even if he did…

Trickle-!

It was meaningless.

At this point, the giant had already turned into something akin to a pounded piece of meat. He no longer looked like a human.

A truly horrible sight.

“Keu…Ugh…”

However, he was still alive.

Lee Han kept him alive on purpose because he wanted to teach the fucker why people sometimes said that death was an easy way out.

Turned into a pounded piece of meat. This was the gangster’s second ‘misfortune’.

“…Tsk, dirtying my clothes like that, you fuck…”

Lee Han showed his displeasure as he shook off his blood-splattered clothes. He showed so much disgust in his gesture, as if the gangster was such a despicable ‘thing’ that he shouldn’t have touched to begin with.

“I-Instructor…”

Levy Fault looked at her master, who had suddenly appeared and dealt with the giant, with eyes filled with affection.

Five days. She hadn’t seen her master in just five days, but for some reason, she felt this much happiness the moment she saw him.

While feeling a torrent of indescribable, complicated emotions, Levy tried to open her mouth, but…

“Rogue ninja—no, I meant, rogue disciple, I’ll talk to you later.”

“…Huh?”

“I’m ‘a little’ angry right now, you know?”

“…”

Indeed, as he stated, he looked quite angry.

This was the first time Levy had seen him this excited, or rather ‘angry’. Because of that, she was afraid to even attempt to talk to him.

Then…

“This bastard is a member of the guild, right?”

“…Why are you asking that, Instructor?”

“I was right then. Alright, let’s go.”

“W-Wait a minute…!”

Levy tried to stop the instructor, but as she wasn’t enough to stop him, she ended up getting dragged along by him.

With a sad face, Levy thought as such…

N-No, this can’t be happening…

‘Fucking Gnoll.’

That was one of the bad slang words she learned from Lee Han.

Only now did Levy realize the significance of that word.

Even though knowing it didn’t make her happy in the slightest.