Ch.260EP.58 – A Knight Never Forgets a Grudge (3)

“……Impressive.”

Simon’s voice flowed with undisguised admiration.

When he first received the request, he had only thought lightly about earning some pocket money, but now he felt like his former self from yesterday was nothing but a fool for having such a casual attitude.

“If I had taken this more seriously, the amount I could have earned would have been different…. I want to beat up my past self.”

“You’ve already said that about thirty times, Simon.”

“What do you mean thirty? It’s exactly 41 times. As my secretary, you should remember that much.”

“…The fact that you’re counting shows you’re not exactly normal either.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Whew!

Having a light chat with his secretary helped stabilize his mental regret somewhat.

However, as soon as he checked the documents on the table, his stomach started hurting again—an inevitable course of nature for any human.

Day 1 – [Discovered evidence that the head of the medium-sized trading company, Green Bell, was an illegal magician. Confirmed that Green Bell Trading Company itself was a funding source for heretical organizations and was raising a private army.]

Day 2 – [Information delivered to Lord Ihan (alias). Complete annihilation half a day later.]

Day 3 – [Illegal magician apprehended. Though his body is in terrible condition, it is judged that extracting information is still possible.]

……The file contained detailed accounts of events that occurred at 3-day intervals.

Though it was only three days’ worth, the file was unimaginably thick. Since Green Bell had been quite large among medium-sized trading companies, there was a lot to cover, resulting in the substantial thickness of the file.

On the other hand, it was also chilling.

No matter how confident one might be in their combat abilities, it should take at least a month to annihilate an organization of medium-sized trading company scale, but it didn’t even take three days—this detail sent shivers down his spine. The section describing how the knight had dealt with the magician was enough to give him nightmares.

However, as if his nightmares were nothing…

[-Slave trading organization annihilated.]

·

[-Drug trafficking organization annihilated.]

·

[-Assassination organization annihilated.]

·

[-Mercenary group annihilated.]

Those who were annihilated must be on the verge of madness now, let alone having nightmares.

“……Is this person even human?”

The list of large and small organizations annihilated within a fortnight struck him with indescribable terror.

While some were organizations involved with heretical groups, others were simply annihilated after being caught by the knight for acts like plundering or village rape.

In these cases, their faces were mangled beyond recognition, and most survivors were reduced to drooling messes due to extreme psychological trauma.

“…Who would have thought? That the southern underworld would undergo such drastic changes in just a fortnight.”

“It’s not just the underworld that’s changing. They say many of the scum in the legitimate world who were coexisting with them are also in danger and shaking.”

“I should have made my move earlier. How much money could I have squeezed out of these scumbags…”

“That’s enough with the 42nd regret, Simon. We need to look forward.”

“…You’re right.”

Simon’s latest lament was closer to a joke.

How could someone who had risen to the position of Guild Association President continue to regret past events?

Instead of regretting, he would do something more productive.

In that sense.

“…What is our premium customer doing now?”

“I believe he’s resting in the warehouse.”

“Are we treating him well enough?”

“Of course.”

“That’s good-“

“…is what I’d like to say, but unfortunately, he’s declining most of our hospitality.”

“……”

“I heard he was frugal, but he’s truly frugal. Even when we want to do something for him, there’s nothing we can do.”

“…There’s no way to get close to that man, is there?”

Simon felt a deep sense of regret.

He wanted to be more than just a client-customer relationship, but the other party wasn’t giving him any opportunity.

Still…

“The fact that he treats us as equals is quite likable.”

“I agree.”

The two couldn’t deny their personal fondness for this rare client who was without greed and knew how to be considerate of them.

* * *

…Ihan found this situation burdensome.

“Here’s your tea.”

“The meal is also ready. Ah, there’s also a dish made with unique grains imported from the Eastern Continent. It’s called paella, and I hope it suits your taste.”

“How about a glass of wine as well?”

Ah… This is really burdensome.

“…I’ll say it again, but there’s no need to treat me this well. If you just give me the ingredients, I can cook for myself, and if I need anything, I’ll ask for help then.”

Despite his firm refusal, the servants who heard Ihan’s words…

“Hoho, how could we do that?”

“The Association President told us hundreds of times to take good care of you.”

“This is our job, so please don’t feel burdened, Sir Knight.”

“……”

When they approached him so kindly, he couldn’t be more firm.

‘…I’d rather fight.’

Some might envy this situation of being surrounded by beautiful maids, but for Ihan, it was an ordeal.

Because he was unfamiliar with beautiful women?

No. Ihan wasn’t that socially inept.

It was just…

‘Ah, if I accidentally bump into them, their wrists might fly off…’

He was afraid that if he made wrong contact with these maids, something bad would happen.

Recently, his strength had suddenly increased, making it difficult to control again. And having such fragile women around made him extremely cautious.

How should he put it?

It was like having newborn kittens or puppies nearby?

He became naturally careful in his movements, afraid that he might hurt them if he touched them wrongly.

But he couldn’t express this thought verbally.

After all, how could he say:

‘I’m afraid that if I accidentally touch you, your arms or legs might pop like balloons.’

He’d be lucky not to be labeled as a madman beyond just being crazy.

So Ihan tried his best to be considerate of them, saying they didn’t need to take care of him because it was burdensome, while the maids insisted it was their job—this back-and-forth had been going on for a fortnight at the guild’s “warehouse,” also known as the villa.

But this behavior of his, in others’ eyes…

“He seems warmer than I thought, Tina.”

“I think so too, Tig.”

In the eyes of the twins, it seemed sweet.

The small wolf-human siblings with bright eyes were chattering as they looked at him.

* * *

Although Blackie had promised to help with Ihan’s hunting declaration, unfortunately, he himself did not participate in the hunt.

– I have somewhere to go. More precisely, it’s something I promised.

What was it again?

Did he say he promised to take a dwarf back to his homeland?

As expected of a regressor, he seems to be involved with various unusual characters.

…However, Blackie didn’t just leave the vampire hunt unattended; he provided two forms of support.

One was…

– This is operating funds. Use this to place a request directly with the Information Guild, or rather, with Guild Association President Simon. With this amount of funds and the instructor’s name, the guild should not hesitate to cooperate.

According to Blackie, even with the blood of the vampire’s main body, finding the main body itself would be extremely difficult.

Therefore, he advised that it would be wiser to gather information by systematically taking down the cell organizations one by one.

Sure enough, the guild provided definite help, and thanks to that, a total of 11 organizations, both large and small, had met their end at his hands.

Some might give him a thumbs up saying he was amazing, but this wasn’t solely due to Ihan’s efforts.

Rather, what deserved praise was Blackie’s second form of support.

– These twins will be of great help.

– ??

– Despite their appearance, they are special children. You probably won’t find tracking and detection specialists more remarkable than these children.

Human resource support.

Two cute-looking twins.

Though they appeared to be only 7 or 8 years old on the outside, they were actually twelve years old, which was hard to believe at first.

Since Blackie recommended them so confidently, Ihan trusted him initially, and by now, he was convinced they were indeed extraordinary.

Their ‘abilities’ were certainly impressive.

‘Half-blood… There are many strange phenomena in this world.’

Half-blood.

It refers to a race that has blood other than human mixed in, what you might call atavism.

A race born with a rare probability if there were ancestors who received special blessings or inherited special blood.

And those twins were none other than such beings.

– ‘Werewolves.’

A mystical race that exists in very small numbers among therianthropes, famous for not revealing themselves to human society.

However, in the case of these twins, they were a special case born from the womb of an ordinary human woman.

Born from a human but not human…

Their lives must not have been smooth either.

Indeed, proving that their lives were not smooth, there was wariness toward people in the children’s behavior.

“Excuse me, young master and miss? There’s dust on you that needs to be cleaned…”

Whoosh!

“Huh, where did they go?”

They hide just from someone approaching them.

Despite having short legs, they’re incredibly quick, just like cats.

‘Ah, wolves are canines, so I shouldn’t compare them to cats, right?’

As Ihan was having these irrelevant thoughts, the wolf twins had already hidden behind his back.

“…Why do you approach me when you’re wary of everyone else?”

He didn’t feel particularly close to them, so why did they always hide behind him?

“…Your body is big, so it’s good for hiding.”

“Yes, yes.”

“…You’re cheeky little ones despite being so timid.”

“W-we’re not cheeky.”

“W-we’re good…”

“……”

Why?

‘It reminds me of nieces and nephews I don’t even have.’

Ihan realized only today that he didn’t have good chemistry with children.