Chapter 133: The Knight Is Being Tricked!? (1)

…When will I get to rest…?

How long will I have to live like this?

The guy couldn’t even remember the last time he slept properly. He never had the time to relieve his fatigue, as he had to work through the night every single day. Even after his work was over, he had no time to rest. There was always something else he needed to do, or something that came up suddenly.

“…Hahahahaha.”

Crazed laughter finally burst out of his mouth. He remembered the time when he used to attend the Academy’s middle school. Back then, summer vacation was a time for him to enjoy his break at the villa owned by his family. The maid was taking care of him, he didn’t need to bother himself with annoying chores. He could also enjoy three nutritious meals every day thanks to his family’s cook.

But now…

“Just how did I end up like this…?”

The guy, Damien Paulet, lamented his current situation.

“Assistant Instructor!”

“…”

“Here’s your food! You should pack your meals!”

“E-Excuse me, Lady Leila. I appreciate you packing my meals, but the bowl…”

“Oh, this? Sir Knight insisted on giving your food in this bowl! He said the bowl is specifically for you, so I should only serve you with it!”

“…Crazy bastard.”

“Yes?”

“…I’m not talking to you, Lady Leila. Dammit!”

“Huh?”

The maid blinked, not knowing what was wrong, and Damien realized once again that this maid was just as bad as that guy.

There’s not a single normal thing in this place!

That fucker really gave me a dog bowl! At least treat me like a human!!!

Assistant Damien Paulet, who was living in a 0.5-pyeong¹ dog house—no, a boarding house with [Made in Yihan] engraved on it, looked up at the sky with tears in his eyes.

Why the hell is the sky so clear?!

I hope he gets hit by lightning!

…He prayed so, but then he realized that the monster wouldn’t die from getting hit by mere lightning. It made him remember once again why he didn’t just rebel against him.

Damien’s heart was once again, clouded by a deep sadness.

Damien Paulet.

He was a resident of the small kennel, or rather a somewhat(?) modest boarding house that was set up in the yard. Originally, he was supposed to spend his days off at the Academy’s dormitory, but for fucked up reason, he had to live here instead of the dormitory.

The reason?

…I’d elaborate, but I’m so pissed off that I can’t even begin!

Back then, he thought the instructor was away, resting, but then he suddenly came back, approached him, grabbed him by the back of his neck, saying, ‘Why the hell are you slacking off? You need to work during the vacation too!’ and dragged him all the way here.

…It was definitely the most terrifying moment of his life.

But even that moment was topped by a whole different moment entirely.

This is hell! Hell I say!

Damien Paulet muttered through his teeth. ‘That guy has no conscience!’

Fucking hell! Why am I working in this kennel?!

With tears in his eyes, Damien Paulet—the sole resident of the cozy kennel, or rather, the boarding house that was set up in the yard—was drowning in the sea of paperwork.

This was originally the instructor’s job. Whether they were instructors or lecturers, all the staff that were working at the Academy were always busy, even on holidays. The reason for that was because they had to prepare for the next semester’s lectures. On top of that, they had to submit 10+ pages of documents, and there were various requests that needed to be made for each department.

Because of that, lecturers, instructors, professors, everyone really, had to run around the Academy frantically, trying to make requests here and there.

Since Damien had done this thing for the instructor for the longest time, he had become an expert at writing such paperworks—something he never thought he’d become good at. He even found out that he became more skillful at handling various things at once.

However…

THAT DOESN’T MAKE ME HAPPY AT AAALLLL!!

He wanted nothing more but to vent his anger. Long gone was the old Damien, who knew not a single curse word, and was armed with elegant dignity, replaced by the potty-mouth overworked civil worker..

Damien was pushed to the point he wanted to run away, but unfortunately…

“Assistant Instructor.”

Flinch-!

“Y-Yes! Instructor…!”

He stood up quickly, gulping down the dissatisfaction that was about to leave his mouth. The pitiful guy didn’t have the guts to show his dissatisfaction in front of this person.

The man, Lee Han, slowly approached, his whole body drenched in sweat. Soon, he looked at the mountain of documents Damien was processing.

“You’re doing a good job. Guess the good air made you more efficient than before, huh?”

“…”

“I was kidding. Finish those quickly then rest.”

“…This is supposed to be your job, Instructor.”

“So what?”

“…”

“What’s with that glare, hm, Assistant?”

“…I’ll finish everything.”

“As expected, you’re really perceptive. Smart guy.”

“…”

“Don’t swear at me in your heart.”

“…I can’t do anything about my feelings.”

“You can’t, but I can. Want me to do that for you?”

“…Damn it.”

“What an arrogant punk. Is it because you’re a noble?”

“Please stop discriminating against nobles!”

Half a year had passed since he started rolling around under the instructor. During that time, the most common sentences Damien heard were:

‘Is it because you’re a noble? You are so…’

‘Rude bastard. Is it because you’re a noble?’

‘Your eyes are dirty. Is it because you are a noble?’

And so on.

He felt like he was going to have Anger Disorder at such a young age.

With his blood pressure that kept on rising, at some point he became a regular at the Academy’s recovery room.

But that wasn’t even the most shocking thing.

It was the fact that he had to do this for another two and a half years that was.

Just the thought alone kept him awake at night, and made him shiver throughout the day.

Perhaps because of that stress…

The recovery room’s priest told this to him:

-Hmm, have you been dealing with massive stress these days?

-W-What’s the problem…?

-You are showing symptoms of stress-related hair loss. How did you reach this point at such a young age…?

-…-

-A-Are you, are you okay?

-…Heuk.

-A-Are you crying?

Indeed. He got hair-loss due to stress at the age of 20.

…It’s the worst.

I want this suffering to end…

And yet he kept telling me that I’m dirty and filthy—!

Bang-! bang-!

He kept giving me all this work, even though he’s just been training all day!

At this point, his complaints came out naturally, but he couldn’t bring himself to rebel.

After all, that guy was the one who was holding his lifeline. And also…

What will it accomplish to rebel against such a monster?

Bang-! Crackle-!

The sandbag, made by tying dozens of heavy horizontal bars together with chains, changed shape and folded in half every time it was hit by the monster.

Then, Damien saw how the thing broke after the monster hit it exactly ten times.

“Haa… Why is this thing so weak? I bought it from him because I trust his goods’ qualities, but… This won’t do.”

“It isn’t the thing’s quality that’s the problem…”

“Then what is?”

“…Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

Seeing the instructor’s oblivious expression left him speechless.

But at the same time, he was scared.

Then again, it was understandable.

Did he get bigger? No, that’s not it… He got even stronger?

Indeed. The guy who had treated the deputy commander of Paulet Family’s Knight Order had grown so much stronger within half a year.

He became so strong…

That it was unimaginable.

…Even if our family’s knights were to attack him in droves, they wouldn’t beat him.

As a descendant of the Paulet Family, a prestigious knight family, he had pride in his family’s knight order. However, after experiencing things, he had grown to be able to see things more objectively and strictly. Hence why he could tell that the instructor’s skills were not at a level that the Paulet Family’s knights could handle.

But, even if they couldn’t…

The Great Noble Families’ Knight Order should be able to. Right…?

Damien, who didn’t know that the man had already fought against a Great Noble Family’s Knight Order, carefully gauged his skills.

As he did, he came to regret his past actions more. It was because of his stupidity of talking smack on the day of the entrance ceremony that he had to get involved with such a monster and lived like this.

I was stupid! How could a descendant of a knight family fail to recognize the opponent’s skills at a glance?! So stupid…! Stupid!

Indeed. The most foolish person was himself, who had failed to recognize the skilled person and was now living in a dog house.

Damien cursed himself again and again.

“…Damn it.”

“I can hear everything, Assistant.”

“…”

“Stop crying. I even made this boarding house myself. You don’t need to pay for rent and meals here! Do you know how lucky you are?”

“I don’t want this kind of luck.”

“Tsk, tsk, you’re so hard to please. Is it because you’re a noble?”

“Please…!”

Though he was a noble, he was a noble who wanted this discrimination to stop.

I need to work this guy to the bone. If I let him have time to himself, his thoughts will start to wonder.

Indeed. Lee Han didn’t make the dreg of a noble kid work in a doghouse just because he wanted to make it easier for himself.

…Yes, him not wanting to do paperwork was part of the reason, so he was perfectly aware that he was using the poor guy.

But, one of the reasons why he treated him so harshly was because he knew what kind of guy the punk was.

Lee Han had known him for half a year, Damien was an idiot by nature.

That was why he couldn’t just let him off easy. If he were to do that, he’d grow arrogant and go back to his old ways quickly.

How could he be so sure?

While I’m not good at handling the likes of him, I’ve seen over a hundred of them.

Because he had seen such a guy turning into failures countless times during his previous life as a non-commissioned officer. Although, he didn’t deny that there were a few things that stood out about Damien.

He was quick-witted, and had at least a modicum of conscience and morality…

In other words, he had room for reform.

Just from hearing his performance during the Ghost King Incident, it was clear that he wasn’t all evil by nature.

Usually, there are two types of bad guys.

Those who become human after you try to talk to them, and those who’ll stay as beasts even after you try to talk to them.

In that sense…

This punk’s the former.

That was an important point.

Even though their first meeting was atrocious, and their relationship was messy afterwards, he still held some affection for him. Moreover, since he was one of his students, he decided to give him a chance.

I’ll keep pushing him.

If I keep doing that, he’ll eventually turn into a human.

They said even a bear could become a human in 100 days, so he should be able to in 3 years.

Anyway, I should make him dig the drain after he’s done with the paperwork.

Then, when he’s done…

I’ll tell him, ‘I told you not to dig there! Fill it up again!’.

Indeed.

Lee Han had already perfectly planned a curriculum to turn the punk into a better person.

At that moment…

Knock-! Knock-!

“Excuse me, Brother.”

An intruder interrupted his precious time.

“…He came again.”

His expression turned serious in an instant. It was as if the thought of this person visiting him at this hour was already enough to make his head hurt.

He made such an obvious expression of disapproval, but the other person didn’t even care.

“Can we please talk today?”

“…No.”

“Oh my… That is too bad.”

“…”

“Still, I wish we could have a talk later…”

“…Please leave.”

Lee Han said as he was staring at the priest who kept trying to lead him to the path of religion.

“A ‘cardinal’ isn’t someone who is supposed to be so free.”

“Hehehe, I have given up such an excessive position a long time ago. Now, I am just one of the ordinary believers, so please treat me comfortably.”

“…”

…Oh, I will do that alright.

It would be easier for him to deal with someone who showed hostility first, but the man in front of him was showing kindness instead, which made it hard for him.

…This is the heresy inquisitor?

The former cardinal-turned-heresy inquisitor was a formidable opponent.

Nevertheless…

It feels like I could break his bones easily with a light hit.

Just looking at him, he couldn’t help but turn into a ‘normal adult’ who embodied the spirit of Confucianism and had respect for elders.