Ch.133EP.33 – The Knight Get Cracked Down On? (1)

……He wanted to rest.

‘How long do I have to live like this?’

He couldn’t even properly remember when he last slept, and there was never time to relieve his fatigue.

Every day he had to work through the night, and even after work was done, there was no time to rest.

There was always the next task prepared, or one would suddenly appear.

“…Haha.”

Finally, the laughter of a deranged person burst from his mouth.

In his teens, when he attended the middle academy, summer vacation days were spent enjoying summer at a villa owned by his family.

He didn’t need to do any bothersome tasks while receiving the care of maids, and the family chef prepared nutritious, balanced meals three times a day.

But now.

“How did I end up like this……”

…Damian Pollet looked at his current situation and let out a sorrowful lament.

“Assistant.”

“……”

“Here’s food! You need to eat properly!”

“Um, Miss Leira. I appreciate the meal, but the bowl…”

“Oh, this? The knight insisted I use this bowl! He said it’s your special bowl and that I must only serve your food in this one!”

“…That crazy bastard.”

“Pardon?”

“…I wasn’t talking to you, Miss Leira, that rotten-!”

“Hmm?”

She blinked her eyes, not understanding what was wrong, and Damian was reminded once again that this maid was cut from the same cloth as that man.

There’s not a single normal person in this household!!

‘A dog bowl! At least treat me like a human!!!’

Assistant Damian Pollet, residing in a 0.5-pyeong doghouse—no, a boarding house with “Made in Ihan” meticulously engraved on it—looked up at the sky with tears in his eyes.

Damn it all, why was the sky so clear today?

‘May you be struck by lightning!’

……Though the fact that even lightning wouldn’t kill that monster was probably the main reason he couldn’t rebel.

Damian was miserable.

* * *

Damian Pollet.

The resident of a slightly(?) modest boarding house—actually a doghouse of less than 0.5 pyeong—set up in the yard.

Originally, he had planned to spend the school break in the academy dormitory, but he was forced into this mandatory boarding house life instead.

The reason?

…Just thinking about saying it aloud makes him feel like he’ll burst from anger.

He had been enjoying a rare break while that damned instructor was away, when suddenly the instructor returned, roughly grabbed him by the back of the neck, and said, ‘You have to work during vacation too, where do you think you’re going to rest?’ and took him away—

…Without a doubt, it was the most terrifying moment of his life.

However, now, what he thought was the most terrifying moment of his life had changed.

‘This is hell.’

Damian Pollet ground his teeth, thinking that his instructor clearly had no conscience.

‘Damn it! Why am I working in this doghouse!’

With tears in his eyes, Damian Pollet, the sole resident of the cozy doghouse—no, boarding house—set up in the yard, was busy filling out paperwork.

It was originally work that the instructor should have handled.

Whether instructors or lecturers, staff working at the academy are busy even during school breaks.

The reasons for being busy include preparing for next semester’s lectures, but also because they have to submit at least ten documents as standard, and each department has various additional requests.

Because of this, whether professors, lecturers, or instructors, they were all frantically going in and out of the academy with a mountain of requests to fulfill.

This is why Damian was becoming a master at paperwork that wasn’t even in his job description, and the more he did it, the more skilled he became at handling the work.

But he.

‘I’m not happy about it at all, damn it!’

All he felt was rising anger.

Once a noble youth who knew no profanity and was armed with elegant dignity, Damian was now becoming a proper laborer.

Filled with such complaints, Damian wanted nothing more than to run away, but unfortunately.

“Assistant.”

Flinch!!

“Y-Yes! Instructor…!”

He automatically stood up straight and immediately swallowed his complaints.

He couldn’t dare show any sign of dissatisfaction in front of that man.

The man, Ihan, approached slowly while sweating profusely, and soon after seeing the mountain of paperwork Damian was processing.

“You’re doing the work quite well. Working in a place with good outdoor air really improves efficiency, doesn’t it?”

“……”

“Just kidding, finish that quickly. Then you’ll have time to rest too.”

“…This is originally your work, Instructor.”

“And?”

“……”

“Your eyes look disrespectful, Assistant.”

“…I’ll fix that.”

“Yes, you’re so perceptive. Wise.”

“……”

“Don’t curse me in your mind.”

“…I can’t control my own thoughts.”

“Shall we test that?”

“…Damn it.”

“Haha, that kid. So incredibly insolent. Is it because you’re a noble?”

“Please stop that noble discrimination already!”

It had been half a year since he started working under the instructor.

During that time, the sentences Damian heard most often were like these:

‘Is it because you’re a noble? Your work efficiency is…’ ‘Is it because you’re a noble? You have no manners.’ ‘Is it because you’re a noble? Your eyes look dirty.’

-And so on!

At his young age, he felt like he was developing an illness from anger.

Damian’s blood pressure kept rising, and at some point, he had become a regular at the academy’s recovery room.

But do you know what’s even more shocking?

That he has to do this for another 2.5 years….

That was truly horrifying, a nightmare that made him shudder day and night.

Perhaps because of this stress?

The recovery room priest said:

– Hmm, are you under a lot of stress lately?

– Is, is there a problem…?

– I see symptoms of stress-induced hair loss. How did this happen at such a young age…

– …….

– A-Are you okay?

– *sob*

– A-Are you crying?

– …

At the age of 20, he developed stress-induced hair loss.

…It was the worst.

‘I’m truly miserable.’

Damian found everything filthy and disgusting.

BANG! BOOM-!

‘Damn it! He dumps all the work on me and just does his training.’

Though complaints automatically sprang from Damian, he didn’t dare to rebel.

Not only because the man held his lifeline, but also because….

‘How could I rebel against such a monster?’

BANG! CRACK-!!

Every time the sandbag—a heavy iron bar sandbag made by chaining dozens of iron bars together—was struck, it changed shape and folded in half.

After exactly ten hits, the chains couldn’t withstand it and broke…

It was unbelievable even as he watched.

“Sigh, why is the durability so poor? I buy products trusting that old man’s quality, but this won’t do.”

“I don’t think the quality is the problem…”

“Then what is?”

“…Are you seriously asking me that?”

He was at a loss for words seeing the instructor’s genuinely confused expression.

It was also chilling on the other hand.

After all.

‘Did he get bigger? No, that’s not it… Has he just improved more?’

The man who used to toy with the vice-captain of House Pollet had become even more formidable in just half a year, and that wasn’t Damian’s imagination.

He was strong.

Immeasurably so.

‘…I don’t think even a group of our family’s knights could handle him now.’

As a descendant of the prestigious knight family of Pollet, he had pride in his family’s knights, but Damian was objective and had unwittingly developed a discerning eye through various experiences.

In that sense, the instructor’s skills were beyond what the Pollet family knights could handle.

At the very least…

‘Perhaps a great noble family’s knight order would be needed?’

Not knowing that the instructor had already fought with such a great noble family’s knight order, Damian carefully estimated the instructor’s abilities.

And he regretted.

Why did he have to run his mouth on the entrance ceremony day, getting entangled with such a monster, and now living like this?

‘It was just bravado, how could a horseman from a knight family not recognize at a glance that the opponent’s skills were extraordinary?! What an idiot…!’

And the biggest idiot was himself, who had failed to recognize a skilled person, acted arrogantly, and was now living in a doghouse.

Cursing himself, Damian once again spewed out his anger.

“…Damn it.”

“I can hear everything, Assistant.”

“……”

“Stop crying. I even made you a boarding house, didn’t I? A house with no rent and regular meals! What more could you want?”

“I don’t want that kind of benefit.”

“Tsk tsk, is it because you’re a noble? So full of yourself.”

“Please just…!”

He was a noble begging for the discrimination to stop.

* * *

‘This guy needs to be worked hard; if given free time, he’ll just scheme.’

The reason he threw that noble brat into a doghouse-like place and made him work wasn’t just for his own convenience.

…Of course, there was a desire to avoid paperwork, so he acknowledged that he was using him.

However, one of the reasons he treated him so harshly was because he knew what kind of person he was.

After working him hard for half a year, he knew that Damian was inherently a flawed type.

Therefore, he should never be given leniency or freedom. He was the type who would become arrogant and revert to his old habits if given even a little slack.

How could he be so sure?

‘I’ve seen at least a hundred people of this type.’

For someone who had seen countless problem soldiers during his previous life as a non-commissioned officer, it was a natural conviction.

However, despite being a difficult type, Damian had a few outstanding qualities.

He was perceptive and had at least a minimum of conscience and moral sense…

In other words, there was room for reformation.

Just hearing about his actions during the monster incident, it seemed his nature wasn’t entirely malicious.

‘There are typically two types of problem soldiers.’

Those who can become decent people with guidance, and those who remain beasts no matter how much guidance they receive.

In that sense.

‘This bastard can become a decent person.’

The fact that he was the former was important.

Although their first meeting was terrible, and their relationship since then has been nothing but messy, there’s a saying that even dislike can turn into affection, and as one of his students, Ihan decided to take on the challenge.

‘Keep working him hard.’

If he works him to the bone, he’ll eventually become a decent person.

They say even a bear can become human after 100 days, so wouldn’t three years be enough?

‘Hmm, after he finishes the paperwork, should I make him dig drainage ditches?’

And then say:

‘Oh, you shouldn’t dig there, fill it back up.’

Ihan had already perfectly planned a curriculum to unreasonably work one person to the bone.

Just then.

Knock knock.

“Excuse me, Brother.”

There was an intruder interrupting Ihan’s precious time.

“…You’re here again.”

Ihan made an uncomfortable expression.

As if his head was already aching at the sight of the person who had been visiting at this time every day lately.

Despite Ihan’s obvious dislike, the other person didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Might we have a conversation today?”

“…No.”

“Oh, what a pity.”

“……”

“But I really must speak with you…”

“…Please just go.”

Ihan said to the priest who kept trying to lead him down a religious path.

“A ‘Cardinal’ must not have much free time either.”

“Haha, when did I give up such an excessive position? I’m just an ordinary believer now, so please feel comfortable with me.”

“……”

…As if he could be comfortable.

It was easier to deal with someone who showed hostility from the start; dealing with such a kind person was much more difficult for the knight.

‘…Is this an Inquisitor?’

The former Cardinal-turned-Inquisitor was an unparalleled adversary.

And for good reason.

‘Just a light touch would break bones.’

Just looking at him evoked the spirit of Confucianism and respect for elders—he couldn’t help but be a ‘normal adult.’