Ch.374EP.78 – The Knight’s Return to Farming is Wise (2)

The stew made from venison was surprisingly tasty.

Maybe it was because of the homegrown crops that went into it, or perhaps it was the maid’s skill.

Or perhaps…

“Today I found some wild grapes. I tried them, and they were quite sweet and delicious. I’m thinking of making some wine with them.”

“I was running low on wine for cooking, so that’s fortunate.”

“I also found some rock salt. I think there’s enough for the two of us to last a thousand years.”

“Then we’ll have to live a long time.”

“…That’s quite an original opinion?”

Maybe it was this conversation itself that was seasoning the meal like a spice.

“Hehe.”

“That wasn’t a compliment… No, it was a compliment.”

“Ahem.”

Starting with finding wild grapes, all sorts of small talk emerged.

Finding fiber crops that could be used for textiles, her making clothes from the hides of wild animals he had caught, and other everyday stories, even a promise to go on a picnic together in a safe place tomorrow.

Though their conversation flowed randomly with the stream of consciousness, even such dialogue was nothing but heartwarming.

“How is your training going?”

“It’s not as grand as ‘training.’ It’s more like I’m refining what I’ve learned so far. And if you ask if it’s going well, probably…”

Ihan answered her question with a slight boast, lightly swinging his knife.

The next moment.

Whoosh!

Swish.

“Wow!”

“Fortunately, my efforts have paid off.”

Ihan succeeded in creating two types of flowers.

Plum blossoms and lotus flowers.

The two flowers blended appropriately as they scattered, quickly filling the small house, creating an indescribably abundant feeling and a beautiful, mysterious scene.

“…They’re beautiful.”

“……”

Somehow, Ihan’s eyes were drawn more to that bright smile than to the flowers.

And he thought to himself.

‘I’m glad I made the effort.’

Because he could make her smile.

In front of that smile, which felt like a reward for his days of effort, he was simply content.

* * *

The day before, that is, during the battle with the Brass Knights, Ihan had been unable to control his technique.

…More precisely, an unintended technique had been released on its own.

He had intended to use an ordinary area attack, but suddenly an ultra-large area attack came out instead.

However, despite this occurrence, Ihan hadn’t had time to figure out what was happening to his body.

Shortly after the battle, he was called here and there, and later he even beat up the king and ended up in prison, so where would he have had time for proper training?

In that sense, becoming unemployed now was good because he had more time.

Last year, whenever he tried to start training in earnest, troublemakers would come and interrupt his smithing or swordsmanship, but now there were no interruptions.

So for three months.

Ihan devoted himself to finding the source of his problems, including the lotus flowers that had appeared during the previous day’s battle.

And then-

‘Huh, when did it grow this much?’

…He realized that the “resident” he had forgotten about was building up power on its own.

The Hyurang fighting technique.

It was the technique engraved in his body last autumn and the culprit that had caused his power to go berserk.

In the past, Ihan had received the fighting technique from Lac de Duron, the champion of Galahad and a knight called a genius.

He needed power to defeat the Tower Master, and they had learned from each other in a give-and-take situation, but unlike then, Ihan’s fighting technique still remained at a beginner’s level.

At that time, he had demonstrated amazing abilities thanks to receiving it like [Combat Specialization], but after the battle ended, the level of his fighting technique had quickly deflated like a balloon that rapidly inflates and then shrinks.

It was natural if you thought about it.

After all, it was power obtained through a shortcut.

It’s only natural that what is easily gained is easily lost.

Still, the sensation of that battle and Lac de Duron’s insights remained in his body, so depending on his efforts, it wouldn’t be impossible to demonstrate the same prowess as back then.

Knowing this, Ihan planned to train the fighting technique gradually and at his own pace, rather than rushing it.

…But.

“During the Wales battle, when I used the holy relic received from the Grand Saint, something strange happened in my body.”

“What was it?”

“The vessel for the fighting technique. In other words, a peculiar ‘Core’ was formed when the holy power of the relic and my life force got entangled.”

“A core?”

“In normal fighting techniques, the core element is usually something like a magic stone from a monster, but some weird thing has taken its place in my heart.”

He had realized this about two days ago.

Meaning he became certain of what it was only after three months of pondering and investigation.

“I can understand why this phenomenon occurred. The spearman who taught me the fighting technique probably used his innate ‘killing intent’ instead of a magic stone as his core. So, the fighting technique that resembles the spearman looked for a substitute for killing intent in my body and greedily took my life force and holy power to use as it pleased. After all, this phenomenon occurs because the personality of the one who taught it is so twisted.”

…If Lac de Duron, the person who taught him, had heard this, he would have grabbed the back of his neck in anger.

He had passed down a top-tier fighting technique that included higher-level secret arts passed down only in Galahad and his own unique insights, but Ihan wasn’t even grateful, which would be infuriating.

Well, since Lac de Duron had consumed most of Ihan’s insights no less than the fighting technique, they were probably even.

Anyway.

“Because of this ‘energy,’ my control of power has become strange.”

“I see. So now you’ve become a Holy Knight?”

“Pardon?”

“You said you gained holy power. Doesn’t that make you a Holy Knight?”

“Uh… that’s a bit different.”

“Huh?”

Holy Knights are those who use holy magic in addition to fighting techniques, similar to magic swordsmen, but Ihan’s energy made that impossible.

That’s because…

“My life force consumed the holy power.”

“?”

As mentioned before, Ihan’s life force was robust.

His life force, which would astonish even numerous house-level masters, was at least 10 times stronger than that of knights who possessed magic stones.

And this was just the minimum estimate; it was difficult to gauge how much it would be at maximum.

Therefore, it was only natural that the fragile holy power of the sacred relic would be overwhelmed by Ihan’s life force.

And so…

“In the end, the holy power was completely digested in my body. However, during the digestion process, it seems to have… ‘mutated.'”

“Mutated?”

“Hmm, let me show you again.”

Whoosh-

Ihan took out his knife and made flowers bloom again.

Plum blossoms and lotus flowers.

“Can you tell the difference between the two?”

“Umm… huh?”

Sniff, sniff.

She wiggled her nose like a puppy and blinked her eyes.

“…Sir Knight, is there a scent coming from this lotus? A real flower scent.”

A subtle flowing fragrance.

It was emitting a scent that truly seemed to come from flowers.

“As expected, you’re sensitive. Well done.”

“Hehe.”

“Well, as you’ve noticed, the two flowers were made to bloom in different ways. One was created through sword light, and the other mixed sword light with the mutated entity.”

“Heeh, that’s possible?”

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

Ihan had discovered this through various observations and experiments.

“It’s not quite holy power, but the energy itself contains vitality no less potent than holy power, and it’s quite effective in suppressing monsters. I learned this today while experimenting… I mean, suppressing some ogres I happened to come across. Well, I probably can’t use it like holy magic. After all, it’s just an alien mutation mixed with my life force.”

“That’s fascinating.”

Though her face showed she wanted to poke the lotus bud with sparkling eyes, she seemed to realize it might be dangerous to touch it carelessly and showed a regretful expression.

Seeing her expression…

“You can touch it if you’d like.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s fine. I told you, didn’t I? It’s a unique mutation.”

Pop!

The flower bud bloomed fully and fit snugly into her hand, but the lotus didn’t threaten her at all.

Rather…

“It’s warm… and feels good!”

“That’s how it is.”

As long as he didn’t harbor malicious thoughts or killing intent, this energy wouldn’t harm life recklessly.

It seemed to contain some compassion for life, with energy as abundant as sunlight.

It wouldn’t be bad to call it spiritual power, but somehow that seemed too casual.

Calling it innate true energy also didn’t seem right, as it gave the impression that life force would drain away.

After considering it, Ihan thought it wouldn’t be bad to name it after the mantra he recited when using the holy relic.

None other than…

“-Prajña Great Power (般若大能力).”

…That’s what he called it.

It was the name Ihan had given to define his mutated fighting technique, and upon hearing it, the maid…

“If you like it, Sir Knight, then I like it too!”

She simply clapped her hands in joy, and Ihan just bashfully scratched his cheek at Leira’s praise.

Having someone who praised him no matter what he did was both embarrassing and gratifying.

Crunch, crunch…

[Woof…]

[Woof.]

[Hiss…]

Orthos chewed on the ogre ribs that the inhuman human had picked up and thrown to him, his eyes half-closed.

The two heads and snake tail each turned their gaze away, deciding to focus on chewing the bone.

…It was so irritating.

[Whine…]

Orthos felt like he was getting sick from watching them rub salt in his wounds for three months already.

…Born as a hermaphrodite, Orthos, unable to experience romance or reproductive activities, felt an unbearable emptiness in his side.