Chapter 205: Turns Out Everyone’s Plotting Something (3)

“Sometimes I have this thought. I think you’re a ‘genius’, Instructor.”

“???”

Crack-!

Lee Han was lightly stepping on the head of the guy who spouted the bullshit about bloodline and whatnot when he heard those ridiculous words.

Genius…?

Me?

That was the first time he had ever received that compliment in his entire life—no, in both of his lives.

Even his grandfather from his previous life who raised him said, ‘I’ve never seen a fool like you before in my life,’ while his middle school teacher always taught him reality by telling him, ‘Han don’t bother studying, you won’t get anywhere with it anyway,’ due to him always having bad grades in that teacher’s class.

And now, someone who was always hailed as a genius called him a genius for some reason.

“Are you trying to pull my leg?”

Lee Han picked up an iron club that one of the templars dropped. A child who made fun of adults needed a loving spanking.

“I’m not, Instructor! Really, I genuinely admire you!”

However, the guy didn’t show any sign of panic, and instead showed what seemed to be a sincere expression.

“I’ve been fighting the temple since ‘a long time ago’. However, I was always swayed by their schemes and ended up experiencing the bitterness of defeat. But, you didn’t only see through their schemes, but also crush them, Instructor. In such ease, no less…”

“?”

“Anyway, I meant it when I said that you’re a genius. After all, you were able to do something I couldn’t do.”

“You are overreacting.”

“I’m not.”

It was amazing enough that he caught that woman, Hayes Roche—no, in the first place, it was crazy that he could tell that woman had the genes of a Dream Demon.

“I mean, she gives off a similar vibe as Pierre, no?”

“…That isn’t something a normal person could tell, Instructor. You’re the only one who has that kind of talent.”

“?”

“…This is pissing me off.”

Is this how others feel when they see me?

Experiencing what Mirror Therapy felt like, Roen could feel his blood pressure rise.

“Ahaha…”

Meanwhile, Derrick could only scratch his cheek while laughing awkwardly—he understood Roen’s feelings a little. He then tried to lighten the awkward atmosphere by telling him what had happened before they came here.

“…Anyway, let me report, first of all. Thanks to the instructor ‘quietly’ resolving everything, the Academy didn’t need to react much. Young Miss Karin was enough to deal with it.”

“I know your woman is competent. You don’t have to rub it on my face.”

“T-That’s not—!”

“Forget it. You’re pissing me off. Anyway, you caught all the spies, right?”

“…We caught all the suspicious ones, for now. One thing that I need to report to you is that many of them tried to kill themselves right after their identities were revealed. They seemed to have been thoroughly trained.”

“Vicious fuckers…”

“Yeah, seriously…”

That was when Lee Han noticed the burn marks and blood stains all over the two boys’ bodies—proof that they had been running around busily. Of course those weren’t their blood but their opponent’s. It seemed like they had been through fierce battles and chases.

He clicked his tongue. This wasn’t anything new, but he now truly felt that the temple was filled by a bunch of lunatics. They’d use every trick in the books to get away.

However…

“Now that we’ve caught these guys, they will have no way to escape.”

“Yes. These guys aren’t just anyone, they are the Templar Knights. On top of that, we also have someone from Lohengrin.”

“Lohengrin?”

“Oh, you didn’t know, Instructor? This guy is Erhin de Lohengrin, leader of the Templar Knights.”

“…This fucker is?”

That revelation shocked Lee Han and his expression made it clear. He didn’t understand how someone so weak could become a leader of a knight order.

Noticing his expression, Derrick could only let out a bitter smile.

…He doesn’t seem to notice that he’s the one who’s abnormally strong.

“You may not know Instructor, but Lohengrin is often called the Family of Templars. They’re famous for listening only to the temple’s orders. The templars would be strong enough evidence to pressure the temple, but Erhin is a decisive one. They won’t have a way out of this.”

Even though there were a bunch of templars here, Derrick believed that capturing someone from Lohengrin would be a more decisive move. Because even if the temple tried to shift the blame to someone else, they wouldn’t be able to.

Derrick was so sure about this.

However…

“Do you think things will go that well?”

“…Is there something bothering you, Instructor?”

Derrick sent a cautious gaze at Lee Han’s meaningful reaction. He knew from experience that when his instructor reacted like that, it meant that there was something bothering him.

As he expected…

“I’m not trying to be a party pooper, but I don’t think we can land a decisive blow or whatever on them with something like this.”

“Huh?”

“…Why do you think so, Instructor?”

That question came from Roen whose face turned even more serious than before. He didn’t take the instructor’s words lightly as he perked his ears up.

Then, Lee Han responded in a calm tone.

“You see, I think that the temple is crazy.”

“Huh?”

“Not in a nice way, but in a bad way. Those kinds of lunatics will never admit to their own mistakes.”

“Even though we have such obvious evidence?”

“It’s exactly because we have such obvious evidence.”

“What are you…?”

“It’s like this…”

Even with such evidence, the temple would still turn the table against them.

In his previous life Lee Han was a soldier who was deployed to a region where religious wars were raging. He was well aware of just how cruel and crazy can a person who used religion as a shield become.

That was why, when the so-called forces that followed God’s words commit atrocious acts, they would…

Do it without a care. In a crazy manner that no sane human would be able to imagine.

For the first time in a while, Lee Han’s body trembled.

Not because he was afraid.

But rather…

Compared to them, sewer rats are cute.

Because he was thoroughly disgusted by them.

Rumble-!

A sky full of dark clouds.

The southern sky was famous for not raining during the autumn, and yet, right now, it looked gloomy as dark clouds filled with lightning hung tall.

Well, this didn’t mean that there was a big problem or anything, it was just a rare occasion.

“The temple’s prayer service is today, why is the weather like this?”

“Let’s go quickly and get our seats. I don’t want to walk in the rain.”

“Can we just not go today…?”

“No? Stop being disrespectful!”

To elaborate, Pendragon’s weekend was not a day of rest for the people, but a day for them to go to the temple prayer service. No matter if it was rain or snow, they had to attend it no matter what. That was why it wasn’t uncommon to see people going to the temple while bringing umbrellas or raincoats even in such weather, as they were prepared to get wet.

But…

“Hm? What’s going on?”

“Huh?”

“…A knight order?”

It wasn’t just any knight order.

Their armor was dyed in turquoise, while the [Unicorn] engraved on their shields and armor stood out. Seeing them, the people’s expressions turned as pale as a blank sheet of paper.

“T-The Order of Turquoise Unicorn?! G-Galahad’s knight order?!”

“!!!?”

Galahad.

The only ducal family in Pendragon, the one who stood at the top of the noble family.

Even though they were a family that was affiliated with Pendragon, they had the power to establish an independent nation at any time. Their size and power were already comparable to that of a small kingdom, and since their members were all elites, they were a family with extraordinary power.

Now, the Order of Turquoise Unicorn, their greatest military force was on the move. Each and every single knight on their ranks had a spirit that seemed to burn the air.

However, there was one person who exuded a tremendous presence that made even the knights’ spirits feel like children’s. He was riding a black horse that was three times the size of an average horse—which also had an aura that made the sky tremble.

At that moment, someone among the crowds mentioned his name.

“H-His Excellency Duke Blake…!!”

“!?!!!”

He was a man who bore the noble blood of a Dragon, whose face ordinary people couldn’t even dream to see. Moreover, he didn’t just have the Dragon blood inside him. Excluding the Knight King, the founding king of Pendragon, in his veins ran the blood of someone who was hailed as the greatest king of Pendragon in history.

“The God of War…”

…He was the descendant of the God of War.

Thud-!

Thud-!

As he passed by, some people knelt down. The middle-aged people who remembered the God of War, especially, bowed their heads in respect as soon as he appeared.

Those who remembered the great king in their lifetime could not help but react this way.

During the time when the Pendragon Kingdom was the poorest in the South, or rather, among all the continents, and people evaluated that it would be better to establish a new kingdom due to the incompetence of the king, the God of War was the one who rebuilt the kingdom from the ground up. He dealt with all the incompetent royal officials and royal family members, ascended to the throne himself, and stabilized the kingdom while blocking hundreds of foreign invasions and even bagging victories.

Back when he was alive, it was said that the royal families of all the continents paid homage to Pendragon, and to this day, other kingdoms still remember and honor him.

…Even though they were enemies, they still respect him.

If that was how the other kingdom treated him, then what about the people of the kingdom?

“You!! Do you know what kind of disrespect you are doing now?!”

“E-Elder?”

“Don’t block His Excellency’s path!”

Facing the old man’s spirit, the young man relented.

No, it was closer to ‘loyalty’ than spirit.

“What on earth is going on?”

“W-Where is His Excellency the Duke going?”

“T-That direction… B-By any chance…?”

When they realized what stood in the direction the knight order was heading, their bodies started to tremble.

[Great Temple].

Indeed. They were heading in the direction of the headquarters of the servants of the Light of Brilliance.

The crowd’s faces turned pale in fear as they realized that.

“How can we stop that…?”

Unable to find the courage nor reason to stop Galahad, they just watched them advance quietly.

It wasn’t just the people who were keeping an eye on this rare procession of the duke’s. His knights were also keeping an eye on him.

‘His Excellency seems to be really angry?’

‘He does.’

‘Who would have thought that the temple would do something like this?’

‘They’ve crossed the line.’

Even the knights under him were terrified by this, but after that fear evaporated, fury came to find them.

It was understandable. After all, the temple had dared to create a ‘fake daughter’ of the duke’s out of all things.

Every single one of the knights was indignant and expressed their anger toward the temple at the fact that they dared to use that fake to fool His Excellency and Galahad as a whole.

They wanted nothing more than to storm the temple right away, but since the duke was still keeping his cool, they restrained themselves.

In fact, the duke still remained silent.

“…”

But it was clear that he was barely able to suppress his uncontrollable anger.

They could only imagine the depth of his anger.

“…Those guys are misunderstanding something.”

However, as he listened to the whispers of the members of the knight order, Lake muttered as such to himself, shaking his head.

They’re thinking that His Excellency is furious for some reason.

But that’s not the case.

Lake knew it because he had served him for a long time.

If the duke really got angry, he’d become even crazier than him.

The fact that he was that calm meant that he wasn’t angry.

He isn’t angry, but rather…

“…Lake, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“!!”

“You already know that I’m not that angry, right?”

“That…”

“It seems like it was worth it raising you. You’re able to read my mind now.”

“I-I’m grateful to hear that, Your Excellency.”

“Enough of that. That funny knight had said it, right? ‘The temple is not just crazy, they are downright nasty’.”

“…Your Excellency, you don’t need to mind that thug’s words.”

“Well, I believe that he’s a great strategist.”

“??”

“Hence why, there must be a reason why he said those words.”

“…”

Worry.

The duke was worried about what the temple was up to, and that made Lake feel uneasy. At the same time, he felt a sense of defeat when he heard his lord praising that thug.

But then…

Gallop-! Gallop-!

“…”

The closer they got to the temple, the more the inexplicable sense of unease that Lake felt got stronger.

To put it into words…

The air…

Is unpleasant.

It’s a mess—no.

To put it in that thug’s terms…

It’s nasty.

Lake approached the Great Temple with a stern expression on his face. When he arrived…

“──.”

“Oh my, His Excellency Duke Blake! I was just about to send someone to your residence, but you’re already here. I’m ashamed, Your Excellency.”

Whoosh-!

…The unpleasant atmosphere was extremely prevalent in the air.

“I was so shocked when I heard that there were heretics who dared to mock Your Excellency Highness and put the temple in danger… Haa, I’m in the process of ‘purifying’ the temple right now, but I still haven’t figured out how many heretics there are. But don’t worry, Your Excellency.”

Whoosh-!

“As always, the temple will catch all the heretics.”

“…C-Crazy bastards.”

Someone muttered those words, breaking the silence as his words traveled far.

But no one could deny those words.

After all…

“You guys… How many people have you killed?”

“Huh? Kill? We didn’t kill anyone, we only purified the heretics!”

“…”

In the garden of the Great Temple, hundreds of heads were skewered while the bodies were being burned in the fire.

And among the heads on the stake…

“Haa… I never thought the temple leader would do something like that. How could someone who is so close to retirement do something like that…?”

The temple leader’s head was pierced with blood dripping from it, his expression filled with pain.

Looking at this madness, the duke, Lake, and the knights remained silent. No, they had no choice but to remain silent. They could not bring themselves to ask any questions in front of the madness that was neither understandable nor incomprehensible.

“Indeed. They are crazy. In the worst way.”

“…”

Lake did not deny his lord’s words any longer.