Ch.192EP.44 – The Knight Hate Romance Fantasy Events (4)

It’s not even funny.

No, to be precise, it’s so absurd that it does make me laugh a little.

But if anyone thinks I’m laughing because I’m enjoying this, they’re either incredibly oblivious or have a death wish.

“When someone suddenly knocked on the door, I thought it was a maid or an instructor. Honestly, people don’t usually pass through here, right? So I thought it was someone I knew and opened the door, but there was this strange man standing there. Then he suddenly started preaching, which confused me, and I didn’t know what was happening… I was quite bewildered.”

“Why didn’t you chase him away from the start? Did you learn magic just for show?”

“W-well, using magic on a priest seemed a bit…”

“…”

“Ah, I’m not particularly religious, but my parents were Chris… tian—no, I mean! The orphanage where I grew up had many devout people, so I felt uncomfortable treating religious people rudely… I’m sorry. But thank you for helping me.”

“…Huh.”

…What am I supposed to do with this ambiguous creature?

Ihan wanted to smack his forehead.

This kid was truly perplexing.

‘She has such a vague understanding of her own power.’

Let’s take a moment to understand the blonde, blue-eyed beauty, Irene Windler.

First, the girl is the adopted daughter of Duke Galahad.

She’s the adopted daughter of Blake, the current head of the Galahad family—a great house that even the royal family dares not trifle with.

Therefore, treating Irene Windler lightly would be disrespecting Galahad, making even the royal family and the Grand Temple break into a cold sweat.

Bluntly speaking, if Galahad were to declare independence and designate the Grand Temple as an enemy, the kingdom might split in half.

Unlike Ihan, they aren’t just individuals but have established enormous power. Perhaps they’re the only force that could actually stand against the Grand Temple, unlike the current royal family that maintains a symbiotic relationship with it.

Yet, the fact that the adopted daughter of such a powerful family doesn’t understand her own power and status was the first thing that raised his blood pressure.

However…

‘Her power isn’t limited to just Galahad.’

The next thing raising his blood pressure was that this so-called genius magician didn’t know how to properly use her own strength.

The girl possesses power.

Overwhelming power to protect herself.

A magical prodigy with the potential to become an archmage.

With talent not yet fully bloomed, she had threatened even the Demon King—a skilled individual whose abilities and skills even Ihan acknowledged, despite his dislike for magic.

In other words, if the girl had wanted to, she could have easily driven away the priest and wouldn’t have had to hear such “rude remarks” just now.

Yet, despite hearing all those words, she only wore a troubled expression…

‘Damn, she really is a romance fantasy heroine.’

Ihan inwardly clicked his tongue, convinced that while he wasn’t sure about the others’ genres, this little magician was definitely a romance fantasy heroine.

Having such immense power yet acting like a pushover, unable to properly use the strength she possesses—an ambiguous romance fantasy transmigrator.

Truly…

‘She’s an S-tier waste.’

That was his assessment—the highest praise for a romance fantasy heroine.

*

*

*

Boom!

“…”

-The interns could personally understand what it meant to face a disaster that approaches without warning.

And for good reason.

“Confess willingly. It’ll be better for your well-being.”

Weren’t they being engulfed by a disaster they couldn’t resist?

They broke into a cold sweat.

At that moment.

“E-excuse me, c-could you please explain what this is all about? I-I don’t understand what’s happening…”

One of the interns gathered great courage and asked.

He had suddenly placed an unconscious priest on the floor and ordered them to “confess,” but the intern who asked didn’t even know who this priest was!

Moreover, he didn’t know what wrong the priest had committed against this monster to end up in such a state, and he understood even less why they were being implicated.

…The intern’s question was reasonable in a way, expressing his sense of injustice.

“-Cowards.”

But the eyes of the one who received the question were ice-cold.

“You, or someone hiding their true intentions among you, must be truly cowardly and sinister.”

“?”

“What did this priest do, you ask? He was preaching to my neighbor.”

“??”

“He openly insulted Galahad and spouted nonsense, picking on the fact that she was born a magician.”

“!!!”

The interns were horrified as they heard these statements following their fleeting thought of ‘Isn’t preaching allowed?’ They immediately glared at the unconscious priest as if they wanted to kill him.

As if asking what the hell this madman had done.

…There are two forces that even the Grand Temple dares not confront.

One is Galahad, the guardian of the lake, and the other is Lionel of the fierce northern blizzards.

Forces that don’t bow to the royal family or the Grand Temple, and could declare independence from Pendragon if they wished.

They also have the power to destroy the Grand Temple regardless of what the people might say.

And he insulted such a powerful house as Galahad?

…This is practically begging to be killed.

‘This crazy bastard.’

‘What’s wrong with him?’

‘Could he be a heretic…?’

The interns, or rather, those now showing their Inquisitor side, observed the unconscious priest with hostile eyes.

They judged that because of him, the Grand Temple could potentially be in danger.

However,

“You know what? Very few people know that my neighbor is Irene Windler. So how did this madman know and come all the way here?”

“—”

…Their expressions soon turned serious at his next words.

If they couldn’t understand the implication, they should quit being Inquisitors.

“Coming to this secluded forest? Sure, that’s possible. But he came prepared to preach, certain that the little chick was here. That means he was confident that the chick lived in that house. In that sense, I’m ‘certain’ that one of you sold information about our little chick.”

He was now convinced that they had passed information about Irene Windler to the Grand Temple.

They tried to defend themselves with innocent expressions.

It wasn’t them!

However,

“-Yes, it’s you.”

Crack!

Ihan’s large palm covered the face of one of the Inquisitors, and then.

Crunch!

“Aaaaargh!!”

Along with the sound of crushing, a pain-filled scream erupted.

Whoosh!

Before the Inquisitors could stop him—no, even if they had known he would attack, they couldn’t have stopped the formidable aura emanating from his body. They trembled like lambs before a wolf.

“You dare try to deceive me by pretending to know nothing in front of me-? Did you find me that amusing?!”

Crunch!!

The more force he applied, the more the knight’s fingers dug into the other’s face, distorting it.

It looked like he was popping a balloon, and the thought that if this continued, the person’s head would be crushed like a tomato made everyone’s faces turn pale.

Though this Inquisitor had been overwhelmingly defeated when he confronted him the day before, the aura he was emitting now was on a completely different level from yesterday.

If the aura he showed then was like a cutting wind, the aura now was like the heat of a blast furnace.

…They found themselves involuntarily holding their breath.

Then.

“-Perhaps you should calm down.”

“…”

“You can kill him if you wish, but I don’t think you want the smell of blood in the house.”

“…”

“Also, wouldn’t torture extract more information than killing? Let me show you the torture techniques of an Inquisitor.”

“…Your way with words has improved.”

“Thanks to you.”

A woman who expressed her opinion and advice without backing down.

Judia Pierre bowed her head in gratitude to him as he gradually released his grip.

* * *

Catching liars is easy for Ihan.

He was already like a lie detector, but after his transformation, he could detect information that even detectors couldn’t catch.

If there was something unexpected, it was that the person he originally suspected wasn’t this nameless traitor, but the woman in front of him.

“I suppose you’ve already heard that I met with someone from the Grand Temple.”

…She boldly revealed what she had been doing.

Even though she knew she might be suspected and killed.

Whether she was fearless or still believed that God would solve everything, Ihan didn’t know, but he sat on a handmade log chair and stared at her intently.

“…Could you reduce your aura a bit? It’s painful.”

However, though she remained expressionless under Ihan’s gaze, her body was trembling.

Even she found it difficult to withstand Ihan’s concentrated aura.

“You’re exaggerating.”

“…”

…It was unlikely, but somehow she seemed to look wronged.

“…I don’t think she’s exaggerating?”

“Huh?”

“Look at the floor, the floor.”

“?”

Derrick, who had been hiding his presence, approached with a bitter smile and pointed at the floor.

What was he supposed to look at-?

“…What the hell is this?”

The grass on the floor was all dying, and the handmade table he had made was cracking and splitting.

Looking at the surrounding area that had suddenly started to desertify, Derrick advised him:

“Instructor, please stop emitting your aura recklessly. Actually, you should practice controlling it.”

“?”

“It’s because your level has risen sharply.”

“That again?”

Ihan was dumbfounded by the explanation given in a hushed tone as if sharing a secret.

Level? He wasn’t actually a game character, what-?

…Wait.

“Are you saying I’ve now reached the level of those monsters?”

Ihan tilted his head.

It was true that he had grown, but compared to those whom Derrick had mentioned as Lv.9, he was still woefully inadequate.

To that:

“That’s right, you’re not at that level yet. But your level has definitely increased. Your current level is…”

“…”

“8.3.”

“??”

…Why was there a decimal point in the level?

Ihan tilted his head.

“To explain simply, you’re accumulating experience. After reaching Lv.8, you’ve been fighting non-stop, fighting again, and again, and fighting even more like a madman. It’s natural for your level to rise.”

…Hearing it like that made him sound like someone obsessed with fighting, but he couldn’t refute it.

He had indeed fought an enormous amount.

Without rest, at that.

“…But is leveling up that easy? Seeing that I’ve already gained 0.3?”

Ihan joked that he might reach 9 with just a bit more effort, but.

“Tyr, that archmage, was at level 8.9. If you face and defeat opponents of that caliber about six more times, you might level up?”

“…”

He was left speechless by the serious reply.

Being told to fight and win against such monsters six more times was like being told to survive a skydive without any equipment.

To reiterate, he won because he was lucky, and various circumstances aligned in his favor. That monster was by no means weak.

And.

“By the way, to go from 8.9 to Lv.9, you need to complete an epic quest called [Enlightenment], not just gain experience… But that’s still far off.”

“Hmm, so you’re saying it’s a long way from Harmony Realm to Manifestation Realm…”

“…”

“What?”

“…Isn’t ‘Harmony Realm’ a bit outdated these days? The recent trend is to say ‘Supreme Master’ followed by ‘God Realm’ or ‘Absolute Master’ for a more stylish…”

“HAH…!!!”

Bang!

The martial arts world living in Ihan’s heart let out a lion’s roar.