Chapter 126: The Knights Called Themselves the Losers (3)

─The moment the blade of the sword and the spearhead of the battle axe met, he—no, he wasn’t the only one, his opponent probably also lost consciousness for a moment.

It was just his gut feeling, but for some reason, he was sure of it.

As for how long that happened, it probably was for 1 to 3 seconds.

He didn’t know for sure because he didn’t count it, but it was probably close to that.

This was another guess, but the reason why Lee Han thought so was because both of them were unable to withstand the strong shockwaves created by the collision between Boundless Swordsmanship and Breaking the Sky.

Then, the thing he saw the moment he regained his consciousness was…

“The sight of my sword breaking and the intact spearhead.”

“…”

“But, even though the situation was in his favor, that guy just pulled away. You’d think it was because he got injured, but I didn’t see any in his body.”

“…Why do you think he did that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe his judgment was clouded during that short moment when he lost his consciousness? Or maybe there’s some other reason? Whatever it was, that was how the fight ended. That’s why I feel like shit because of it. Then, that guy rattled about how I won or something and ran away… That’s all.”

“Ahaha…”

Lee Han grumbled, feeling that the situation was unpleasant, while Derrick found himself laughing. It was because the boy knew the reason why the instructor was kindly explaining all this to him, even though it wasn’t something he’d usually like to talk about: this was just a ‘build-up’ for something.

For what exactly?

“…I’m sorry. I broke your precious sword.”

“It’s fine…”

For an apology, of course.

Lee Han, who had personally experienced the reason why debt collectors had to resort to extortion, avoided eye contact with the boy, whereas the boy just let out an awkward smile.

He apologized, holding out the shattered Gladius, or rather, ‘what was once a Gladius’. If it were up to him, he’d have shamelessly left without saying anything, but he hadn’t thrown all his shame away to the point he could just walk away without feeling anything after breaking a Renowned Sword.

However, the person receiving his apology just waved his hand, saying his apology wasn’t necessary.

“I-It’s fine, Instructor. That sword isn’t that valuable.”

“If a Renowned Sword isn’t valuable, what is?”

Lee Han asked, thinking that the boy was just saying that so that he didn’t feel burdened, but the status window guy just shook his head.

Indeed, the boy didn’t say all that so that he didn’t feel burdened or anything. He was just expressing his true feelings.

Because unlike what Lee han thought…

“A Renowned Sword… Right, all the swords in that ‘warehouse’ are of that quality, aren’t they…?”

The boy nodded, as if he just realized something he hadn’t thought of. Seeing that, Lee Han asked reflexively.

“…Warehouse?”

“Yeah, so there’s a warehouse called [The Dwarfs’ Trash Can] where the failed works of dwarves and hobbits are stored. It was abandoned around 200 years ago, so I use it as ‘Warehouse Number 5’.”

“…”

“That sword is one of the swords I brought from that warehouse. It’s probably just a little stronger than most swords.”

The status window guy added that the reason why he brought it was because it was the cleanest one among the weapons that were rolling on the ground of the warehouse.

That was when Lee Han realized the gap between the rich boy and the poor him.

“I see… So I’m in the presence of the richest person in the kingdom…”

“I-I’m not that rich, but… I should probably be in the top ten?”

“…I’ll stop talking.”

With this reveal, Lee Han convinced himself that he really didn’t need the regressor, or the transmigrator.

Because the status window guy is the ultimate boss—!

This enviable punk!

He felt jealousy that he had never experienced before. In fact, he didn’t even feel this way when he first saw Maximus’ talent.

“So, who won, Senior?”

“Huh?”

Hearing the unexpected question from his junior, Lee Han blinked. At the same time, that junior—Yord—closed his eyes, misunderstanding his reaction. He thought that his senior was angry at him.

However, that couldn’t stop his curiosity. Hence, after overcoming his fear, he…

“Didn’t you fight Sir Maximus? The Black Lion of the north…?”

Mustered up his courage and asked that question. Finally understanding his junior’s question, Lee Han laughed. He let out a soft smile—an expression that was incomparably kind to his usual demeanour.

“Junior, do you really need to ask that while I’m eating? Do you want me to bite you or what?”

However, he still let out that light warning.

“…I apologize, Senior.”

The moment he heard his senior’s warning, Yord bowed his head.

There was a saying that said you shouldn’t bother a dog in the middle of its meal.

They said that dogs would bite you if you were to touch it while it was eating, so Lee Han might just bite you if you touch him while he was eating. But, since he was an intellectual, he just disciplined the guy with his hands instead of his mouth.

“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to be bitten? I mean, if this guy disciplines you with his hands, chances are you’re going to die by accident.”

“Enough with that nonsense, tell me the situation.”

“I was just telling the truth.”

While quickly filling his stomach with the bread and sausages that the status window guy took out from his inventory, Lee Han asked about the situation. After all, he didn’t even know what had happened because he had left the Tunnel using a shortcut.

“Well, at the very least you didn’t forget about your mission.”

Seeing how he hadn’t forgotten about his mission despite his rotten character, Jake felt inwardly proud of his friend.

…Of course, if he were to express such feelings openly, he might be the one who’d get hurt instead of his junior, so he kept it to himself and summarized the situation concisely, telling him everything that had occurred.

From Arren’s feats, the number of Half-Demonic Humans they had dealt with, and the most important thing…

“Fortunately, thanks to the helper, we were able to secure the fanatics’ new recruits. Overall, the mission was a success, but… We haven’t seen the hundreds of Half-Demonic Humans that you said you saw.”

“…”

That particular news made Lee Han’s expression rapidly hardened.

He stuffed all of his food into his mouth and swallowed it.

“…Did they escape through a passage we don’t know about?”

“Or, they were all crushed to death by the dirt.”

“That would be the best outcome.”

Since Lee Han had reduced their number quite a bit, the number of Half-Demonic Humans who were unable to escape due to the Tunnel’s collapse should be quite a lot. Their number might have been reduced to a third, or maybe even a fifth of their original number.

But even if it was reduced to that point…

“Even one or two of them could be a big threat.”

“Hmm… Should we search around the area with the soldiers right now?”

“I don’t think there’s a point of doing that… They haven’t been caught for over ten years. I doubt we could find them easily even if we try to look for them.”

“You know… Sometimes, you make a sharp remark that totally doesn’t suit your appearance.”

“Can you stop saying nonsense for once?”

Both of them scratched their heads. Even though they had tried their best to get rid of the termite mound, the thought that some of the termites might have survived and headed towards the city center left them anxious.

“…Haa, there’s nothing we can do.”

Lee Han let out a sigh, while Jake just smiled bitterly, knowing what his friend was thinking.

“Well, we can try putting in more work… Why don’t we look around more for two weeks—no, maybe a month?”

The only thing they could do now was to do it the hard way. To track the Half-Demonic Humans, they’d need to extend their stay and visit the villages scattered around the Tunnel one by one to protect them.

In other words, they had to suffer.

“Fuck my life…”

Thinking about the hardships they would face for a while, they let out involuntary groans.

“…You two really are sincere, Seniors.”

Meanwhile, Yord found the two of them funny.

They didn’t even need to do such hard work themselves, yet they still volunteered anyway.

No one told them to do it, and they wouldn’t be paid for doing it.

They were doing this because they felt they had to do it; to prevent a tragedy that could just happen anywhere. Yord understood once again why their status in the order was so low.

This is why they can’t rise through the ranks.

Once they take out a task, they’d only do it the right way and do their best to do it that way—in other words, inflexible. All to prevent anyone from getting hurt.

No one worked like that these days.

They wouldn’t get praised for their efforts, so this was nothing but an act of self-satisfaction.

…But that was precisely why…

“Alright, I’ll get a map of the nearby village.”

It was worth it to follow them.

At that moment…

“The First Order will take care of that. You guys should go back.”

A man shouted those words, as if to show that Yord wasn’t the only one who was influenced by those two.

“Sir Arren? What are you…?”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to Arren Pendragon’s declaration. Seeing this, he declared again with his characteristically arrogant expression.

“I meant what I said. I’ll find the Half-Demonic Humans and the rest of the fanatics.”

“Together with the First Order?”

“That’s right!”

“…But why?”

“Argh! Why are you asking that?!”

“…”

“Answer me!”

I can’t just tell him that I don’t trust the First Order and him yet, can I…?

“What? You want me to trust those Geumjok¹ and Banpyeon²? Screw that, I’d rather leave that task to my Bears instead. How can I trust you that you guys could do it?”

…Ironically, there was someone who could openly say something disrespectful to the royal family and the First Order. Moreover, since what he was spitting was completely reasonable, Arren couldn’t help but get furious.

Also, even though he didn’t know what Geumjok meant, he could tell that from the nuance that it was a derogatory remark.

So, Arren raised his finger.

“Say Geumjok one more time…!”

“You want me to pull that finger off your hand?”

“I… I will… I didn’t raise it at you. Don’t misunderstand.”

Though he was angry, he still valued his life, so he stopped raising his voice at Lee Han.

This was why his fist was scarier than his bite.

“…B-But, I-I still want you to leave it to us.”

Even though it seemed like it was pointless to push through with his proposal, Arren still gathered his courage.

And…

“I also know that the First Order is lacking, however, how can we just sit back and let them create havoc despite that? Letting them idle around is a waste of manpower and a betrayal to the nation—it’s no different from mutiny. Hence why I, Arren Pendragon, the commander of the First Order, will take it upon myself to lead them to fulfill our duty and responsibility.”

“…”

Lee Han blinked as he heard his speech.

Since when could this brat talk like a normal person?

Seeing how the spoiled brat had matured was a shocking sight to Lee Han.

Regardless of Lee Han’s surprise, Arren continued to push his proposal.

“Of course, I know that the First Order is incapable of handling the Half-Demonic Humans, and I know that they won’t faithfully carry out their mission, but if we also mobilize the Second Order and push through with numbers, we might at least be able to capture the Half-Demonic Humans, even though we can’t defeat them. Besides, I believe that they could carry out the assigned missions because of their mutual resentment towards Half Demonic Humans.”

“…Do you think that makes sense?”

That would be the best outcome, but at the end of the day, the First and Second Orders were opposed to each other. They were like oil and water, they wouldn’t merge together no matter what.

What are you gonna do if they were to fight or kill each other…?

“If that were to happen, I plan to immediately ‘execute’ them for disobeying orders.”

“…”

“Sure, they might be political enemies and whatnot, but the Silver Lion is still a Knight Order. In other words, they are soldiers that belong to the military. If they dare to disobey orders and act for the sake of personal grudges and glory, it would be right to execute them. Of course, I can’t watch over anyone, but I will execute any knight who’d dare to let their fellow knights die on the spot.”

“T-That’s going too far, don’t you think?”

“I’m just doing what’s necessary.”

“…Haa.”

Yord, who had raised his objection, backed down, defeated. Not because he was impressed, but because he was dumbfounded by the prince’s boldness.

“The backlash you’ll receive is going to be huge.”

“I know, but it can’t be helped. The First Order is half-baked, the knights are lacking in skills, and overall useless. The Second Order is even more so. Useless knights are like rotten roots of the kingdom, and…”

Clench-!

“Pendragon doesn’t need rotten roots.”

“…”

Hearing that, Jake also backed down.

Overbearing.

Extremely so.

Maybe because he had a certain degree of arrogance to begin with, Arren’s idea of kingship was full of extremities. If he had become the successor to the throne, it wouldn’t be strange if the nobles rebelled right away.

However, he had nothing to do with the throne, and he was in a position where it wouldn’t matter even if the nobles hated him. With his nickname that was created for propaganda purposes—the White Lion—even if he were to execute the knights as much as he wanted, the royalists and the nobles couldn’t do anything about it since they were the ones who gave him such power.

They probably thought that no matter how much power they gave him, he would stay as an incompetent guy and didn’t think much of it.

Of course, that meant they never expected that such an incompetent fool would suddenly turn into a whole new person overnight.

“Why did a Geumjok like you act like that all of a sudden?”

“…”

Huh…? Now that I thought about it, yeah, he didn’t just become a new person overnight. He was forced to change…

Recalling this tidbit, Jake and Yord gazes turned to him—the guy who could be called an expert on character education, Lee Han. He was the one who successfully made the incompetent prince do his job properly with his whip of love (?).

“Geumjok, did you hurt your head?”

“Stop calling me Geumjok!”

“…You’re still the rude guy from before. How did you come up with those grand-sounding stuffs?”

“Y-Youuuuu…!”

But, he was completely unaware of what he had accomplished, so he just gave Arren a curious look.

“…So this is what a real educator looks like.”

“I know, right…?“

The two knights couldn’t help but think that maybe this guy was more fit to be an educator than a knight.