Chapter 199: The Knight Rides the Autumn (5)

“Aren’t you cold…?”

The pond was a recent addition to the surrounding of Lee Han’s house. A while ago when he made the tunnel, he accidentally broke through a bedrock, that was where the groundwater that filled the pond came from. Thanks to that, he no longer needed to buy water as he could just drink the water from the pond instead. Also, since the water came from the bedrock, it was incredibly cold.

It wasn’t as cold as ice, but when he put a fruit in it, it just froze. As expected of the mystical ground of Pendragon, even the groundwater wasn’t ordinary.

In any case, the pond could be both used as a natural drinking water and a freezer. And that was why…

“I never expected someone would jump into this pond…”

“Hehehe! Well, Instructor, my element is water and wind, so I can create a warm air barrier around me while I’m underwater! Can you see it? The fluffy thing?”

“…You really are talented…”

“Huh? This is something all mages could do, though?”

“I don’t think so.”

At the very least, among the magic freaks he had killed, there was no one with such a talent. He remembered one who claimed, ‘I am the master of water!’ but even he couldn’t fight underwater.

It’s either that guy was bluffing, or she’s just that crazy talented.

Lee Han let out a wry laugh.

Seriously…

This is what wasted talent looks like.

Regardless, seeing the girl using her extraordinary talent to take pictures of him felt absurd.

What on earth is she trying to do by taking pictures of someone like me…?

Though he gave her his permission, even until now, he still couldn’t understand why she did something like that.

The paparazzi girl who only took pictures after getting permission was someone who hailed from the most powerful family in the kingdom, or rather, the whole Southern Continent.

Irene Windler.

She was someone who had the talent that’d get her to become an Archmage in her twenties. Even though she was an adopted daughter of the duke, from his perspective, who had no blood relatives, she was someone who was in the leading position to be Galahad’s next monarch.

If she willed it, no one in the kingdom would be able stop her from doing anything, or have anything she wanted.

And yet, such a girl was…

“Instructor, would you believe me if I tell you that the duke’s ‘real daughter’ will appear in the entrance exam?”

“…?”

Spouting nonsense that was not even funny.

“Did you come to me for counseling or to fix your mental illness?”

Fuck, what do I do? I don’t know any psychiatrist in this world…

As he thought so, Lee Han wondered if he could fix her with Divine Power or not.

“Instructor, I’m not crazy!”

However, as if to prove that she wasn’t crazy, Irene Windler’s eyes were clear.

“Well, I’d also think it’s nonsense if I heard someone else say it, but I swear that I’m not lying, Instructor! It’s the truth!”

“…Hmm.”

“I swear on my Mana-”

“Hey, you Little Chick, stop that!”

“Hmpf!”

Lee Han quickly moved to cover her mouth.

Oath on one’s [Mana].

It was an oath that was comparable to a promise on the name of River Styx in Greek Myth for mages. If a mage ever broke that oath, the mana in their body would run wild and tear their body apart.

Seriously, little kids these days are so reckless! Do they not know what fear is!?

“Don’t do anything crazy, I’ll believe you even if you don’t do that. Seriously, don’t make me use violence on women, please.”

“Y-Yes…”

With her face slightly tinted red, Irene answered obediently.

Was my hand that hot?

“Hehehe… Such a big hand… I want it…”

“…”

Swish-!

What did she mean by that?!

Did she want to cut off my hand and take it with her?!

Lee Han hid his hand behind his back as he thought so. The girl’s affection was too different from an ordinary person’s.

If he may be honest, she actually scared him.

“You know, Instructor? The duke used to have a wife. Though, she’s already passed away…”

I know that.

“They said that his wife left behind a child when she passed away, and I know the child is still alive! Also, it isn’t by coincidence that I know about this…”

That daughter is you.

“There’s a possibility that the duke’s real daughter, who was said to be dead, will appear soon!”

THAT DAUGHTER IS YOU!

“Haaa.”

Lee Han let out a long sigh.

Is this what that chivalrous thief who couldn’t call his own father ‘Father’ feels?

Seeing his disciple’s eyes trembling with tension, as if she was telling a huge secret, made Lee Han pity her a little. Unbeknownst to her, he was probably the only one in the kingdom who knew the relationship between her and her father well.

He didn’t even need to dig into it to find out, he just knew that Duke Blake and Irene Windler were blood related. After all, the ‘energy wavelength’ and the ‘unique body odor’ that they had was [the same], indicating that they had the same blood.

However, this was something that he found out with his senses, and there was no way to prove it logically.

Even if I tell you two, ‘You guys are blood related, so just treat each other like a proper father and daughter already!’ you won’t believe me.

This world didn’t have DNA testing or something similar to that. It would be nice if there was a way to find out someone’s bloodline through magic, but unfortunately, that sort of magic didn’t exist yet.

Well, officially, that was.

Unofficially, though…

The royal family could probably find out about someone’s bloodline.

Earlier this year, the princess had asked him to keep an eye on a man and a woman. One of them, Irene Windler, was stated to ‘possibly be the duke’s real child’.

At a glance, that sounded like a prediction, but Lee Han didn’t think so.

The princess that Lee Han knew wasn’t the type of person who’d make her move based on a mere prediction. Since she told him to keep an eye on the child, it meant that she had a certain amount of confidence in her conjecture.

For example…

Who knows, she might’ve invented a blood test kit or something like that.

Considering that she succeeded in making a mythical elixir like Ambrosia…

Lee Han wouldn’t be surprised if she had found a way to determine someone’s bloodline.

But there was a problem.

She’s not the type of person who’d tell the person involved even if she knows.

Lee Han knew. That woman wouldn’t even consider helping the duke. After all, the duke and the girl had the power to threaten her position—they were practically political enemies.

So frustrating…

Hence why this wasn’t an issue he could carelessly interfere with.

Even though he had a connection with all three of them, ‘right now’, he was closer to the princess than the other two.

And so…

“…That’s quite a surprising story.”

“Right?! You’re surprised too, right, Instructor?!”

He could only respond as such—as if he had never heard this before—while pretending to think about it deeply.

…While he did feel sorry for her, what could he do?

I don’t wanna get involved in a power struggle. Hell no.

He didn’t want to make his life miserable for nothing, after all.

“M-Maybe you think that everything I say is a lie and don’t understand how an orphan mage like me knows such truths, Instructor.”

“No, I understand.”

“Yes, I knew you wouldn’t. But when you hear this story—H-Huh?”

“I believe you.”

“…”

“So just get to the point, Irene Windler. What do you want to say to me?”

“…”

However, he would still give her his advice.

Even if he refused to get involved in their business, that was one thing that he could do.

“Instructor….”

“…Ahem.”

Seeing Irene Windler’s moved expression, he could feel his heart ache.

Irene Windler was touched.

She never expected that the instructor would believe such nonsense.

‘As expected, Instructor is the best, hehehe~’

[Arin, you dummy…]

‘Shut up! Whatever you say, Instructor is the best!’

[That part is true.]

The ghost nodded.

Even the ghost girl expected that he wouldn’t believe everything Arin said.

If anything, she suspected that…

[He probably knew it already, to some extent?]

‘Huh? What did you say?’

[…No, nothing.]

‘??’

[Stop looking at me, look at the instructor! He’ll look at you strangely!]

‘Oh, right, right!’

The girl soon turned to look at the person she was in love with and chattered away. She spoke with so much vigor, as if she was pouring out all the sorrow she had been hiding. However, the ghost girl, the girl’s fateful companion, could only look back and forth between the two meaningfully.

Then…

[Arin, does this world still seem like a rofan manhwa to you?]

The ghost girl felt sorry that the girl still thought of this world as a mere virtual world, and still harbored a wish to return to her ‘original world’. She felt sorry for the girl, not Irene Windler, but someone whose life ended while being a ‘high school 3rd year test taker’.

[Do you miss that place that much?]

There was a certain sadness in the ghost girl’s voice, but Arin’s gaze was completely locked on the knight she had feelings for.

[Instructor, please, protect Arin.]

[On behalf of me who couldn’t do anything for her…]

Although…

“If the duke’s real daughter shows up, I won’t know what will happen to me! At that time, could you… Take me in, Instructor?”

…No matter how idiotic she was, what she just said was a whole different level of idiotic entirely.

[Haa.]

The ghost girl sighed and shook her head.

Both the duke and the girl…

[Why can’t they just talk?]

[Are most father-daughter relationships like that?]

The ghost girl grumbled in frustration.

What a frustrating relationship.

After listening to Irene Windler’s question, Lee Han shook his head.

These two still haven’t talked to each other properly yet…

On one hand, the duke believed that Irene was his real daughter, but at the same time he suspected that she was part of the fanatics’ trick to attack him. On the other hand, Irene was ‘convinced’ that she was not the duke’s real daughter, as if she knew the real daughter was somewhere in the world.

She’s trying to say that his biological daughter will be among the test takers…

Isn’t that one of the cliches of rofan novels?

It was a cliche that was so common that Lee Han had seen it so many times back when he was still a non-commissioned officer.

There were various stories about how the girl a noble thought to be his biological daughter wasn’t actually his biological daughter. Later on, he came to know that a girl who lived in poverty was actually his biological daughter.

I’ve seen this way too many times.

However, the important thing here was that, even though their case was a cliche, there was still a little [variation] in it.

And in cases where there were variations like this…

The story will drag on a lot…

As a ‘reader’ who had read many of such cases, he knew that it’d take a long time for the truth to be revealed, so he couldn’t help but feel a sense of uneasiness.

And since he hated to deal with that kind of frustration…

What if an accident happens during the exam? That’d make a good story, right?

He decided to overturn everything.