Chapter 255: The Obvious Story He Wanted To See (3)

Even after Lee Han’s blunt rejection, the argument continued.

“I don’t need it.”

“P-please don’t do that.”

“I told you already, I don’t need it.”

“But why?”

“What use does a sunfish have?”

“What is a sunfish?”

“Someone like you.”

“!!?”

Maybe, a battle between a spear and a shield would be like this. But when it was seen from the perspective of an observer, the battle was quite ridiculous.

Even though he had been given a promise form an Aura User, he felt like it was not serious and quite empty. But at the same time, the person who offered the promise had absolutely no intention of deceiving. On the contrary, she was only spitting out her true feelings.

But In Lee Han’s mind, he firmly believed that An Aura User who had transformed herself back into her younger days was nothing but a ticking bomb. She was a pure evil, an overwhelmingly dangerous object.

“Let’s just say I am refusing because I am tired of being involved with you, then.”

“…You’re such a cruel child.”

“It’s not me who’s cruel, it’s you.”

“…”

“…Why are you crying again? Are you trying to paint me as a bad person?”

Lee Han clicked his tongue as he watched her sobbing again. Ordinary nobles or knights would have given in to the tears of a lady, but Lee Han couldn’t find a reason to give in to tears unless it was his woman (his friend).

He tried to be firm on his stance, but…

“Elza said that too. She called me cruel. It’s because I’m useless, so damn useless that this happened…”

“?”

A sudden, wet lament poured out, and Lee Han could only tilt his head.

He wondered why the traitor’s name was suddenly mentioned here.

“I-I’m sorry, Instructor. My grandmother’s emotional instability has gotten worse because of this incident….”

“Emotional instability? Is that also a side effect of her rejuvenation?”

“Yes…”

“She’s worse than a sunfish then.”

Lee Han took a step back.

He really didn’t want to have anything to do with her anymore.

“I never thought Elza would harbor such feelings for our family. To me, she was just my friend and comrade.”

I don’t really want to know.

“After she owed me her life when we first met, she kept following me and diligently protected my back. She still supported me when I left the battlefield and became an adventurer. She also helped me a lot after I returned to the family. Do you know? This family has many disciples of that girl. She was good at her job as a maid, but she was even better at wielding a sword. In terms of skill and qualifications, she was on par with Gardin.”

Seriously… I don’t want to know.

“Ah, now we are talking about Gardin, I remember that he wasn’t that corrupt when he was young. Although he hated me, he was just a good-natured rival. Sometimes he even supported me. If I hadn’t become famous on the continent, Gardin would definitely have become Offen’s successor… Thinking back now, I feel like I inherited Offen for nothing. I didn’t want to take Gardin’s place or be greedy. I just wanted to live peacefully and practice my sword diligently. Phew…. Thinking about it, I have a lot of regrets.”

What should I do, then?

“Also, two of the kids who betrayed us this time were cute when they were young…”

…When will this end?

“Is she always like that?”

“When she starts having emotional instability, she will be like that for a while. I think she’ll be like that until she comes to terms with the source of her stress.”

“That bad? Should I run away now?”

“You don’t have to do that. Although she talks a lot, she doesn’t cause any harm. In fact, the rejuvenated grandmother is quite mischievous, a bit tactless, and lacks determination, but other than that, she doesn’t harm others. She just talks too long.”

“…Wolf cub, do you hate your grandmother?”

“I respect her, but, on a human level…”

“…”

…It seems that it’s possible to not unconditionally be objective even when it comes to family.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“I don’t think so, Instructor.”

“But you have a grandmother who’s a pain in the ass, a father who makes a mess because he eats food that other people give him, and a relative who rebels?”

“…Now that you say it, it’s true that I’ve worked hard.”

“Sir Lee Han, I’m here too, you know?”

Iliad, who was called a father who made a mess after eating food given by others, reacted awkwardly, but they didn’t react and just continued their conversation in silence.

“What are you going to do now? Take a leave of absence? Or drop out entirely?”

“Me?”

“Are you going to continue attending the academy when you have to take care of the family as well as have to take care of many other things?”

“I will indeed get busy. But I have no intention of taking a leave of absence or dropping out. No matter what happens to the family, as long as my father and grandmother are here, things will be taken care of quickly. Offen’s strength comes not from one genius, but from countless disciples of the family.”

“Huh?”

“It might sound arrogant, but with Offen’s influence, more than ten thousand people will help at once. There are about 150,000 people who were registered as Offen’s swordsmen.”

“…Seems like you guys aren’t that easy either.”

“Well, since they’re all scattered all over the continent, they won’t be reflected in our military power.”

Lee Han nodded as he thought that the only way for him to be comfortable was to not worry about the nobles, or rather, the prestigious families of Pendragon.

There are no easy nobles.

How come all the great families except the royal family were so fearsome?

Does that mean that the rumors that the real military power of the Pendragon comes from the great families are true?

Well, the royal family must be hiding something themselves.’

No matter who it was, nothing could be discerned fully by seeing only the outside.

“Also…”

“Huh?”

Lee Han, who was lost in thought, saw a determined look in Arno’s eyes that caught his attention when he looked at him.

“I want to learn more from you, Instructor. Your way, not anyone else’s.”

“…”

“Because of that, I will call you ‘Teacher’ from now on. I want to call you Master, but if I do that, I think Miss Levy will get jealous.”

“…I’m not someone who deserves to be called Teacher.”

“For me, you are the most ideal and greatest knight.”

“…”

“My goal is you, Teacher.”

“…Seriously.”

He was really good at making embarrassing remarks.

Was it because he’s a noble?

However,

“Instructor, are you laughing?”

“Stop saying nonsense and just stand up.”

As Status Window said, Lee Han’s lips curled up without even him knowing.

To have someone set you as a goal was…

Satisfying.

Once again, Lee Han came to understand that becoming someone’s teacher enriched the heart.

While feeling proud because he had a student who declared that he wanted to become his formal disciple and thinking about making him kowtow to him,

“What a joyous occasion! My son finally has a teacher. Moreover, that teacher is someone I want to have as a teacher.”

“You really know how to praise someone for nothing, aren’t you?”

“I’m not just praising you for nothing. It’s my true nature.”

“…The rich are exactly the same.”

He really knew how to embarrass people.

Lee Han’s face flushed at his sincere praise, but he also felt a sense of doubt.

“You’re talking as if you’ve never had a teacher?”

“I didn’t really have a teacher. I only learned the basics of Combat Technique, but other than that, I was mostly self-taught.”

“That’s why geniuses are…”

“Haha, I won’t deny it, but if I have to make an excuse, I learned most of the basics just by reading the swordsmanship book, and the person who tried to teach me gave up after less than two days.”

“Oh…”

“In that sense, I wasn’t a good student. I think I was more of a bad student.”

“…It’s not that you were bad, but rather you were just too good.”

Lee Han thought he must have absorbed everything so quickly that even the teachers got tired of him and ran away. He must have been too good and overwhelming to be taught by anyone else.

But that…

“It’s not your fault. It’s the teachers’ fault, actually. As an educator, no educator should give up just because a student is good.”

“…?”

“I realized this after working as an educator. No matter how high the student’s level is, an educator still has to teach. If I taught you, I would have driven you crazy.”

“Drive me crazy?”

“I will drive you crazy so much that you resent me. I will teach what’s called irrationality.”

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

“N-no. I just feel the chills.”

“You’re overthinking it.”

He’s a man with good sense. If Lee Han had taught Iliad, he thought Iliad would have become someone who curses a lot instead of being the polite person he was now.

But one thing was clear.

“I may not be able to teach you to become the best swordsman in the kingdom, but I think I could make you someone who ‘gets back up’ even in desperate times. That’s something I emphasize to all my disciples.”

“…”

“My teachings are honestly nothing special. They’re not too difficult. I just let them experience the world’s absurdity firsthand and teach them how to overcome it. It’s an ignorant way. If you look at it that way, I’m definitely not a normal teacher.”

Lee Han laughed as he thought of the 80 disciples who suffered because of his teaching methods.

Still,

“Even if a desperate situation comes knocking on my disciples’ doors, they will quickly get back up since I always taught them how to get back up even in the face of something absurd.”

Lee Han believed that the hardships they endured would become a great asset someday.

“If I had to give it a name, I am teaching them to have [A mind that is unwavering and never broken]”

“…”

“It’s not a particularly special teaching.”

Lee Han said that casually, but the reaction he got was… .

“…You are truly an admirable person.”

“Huh?”

“You have completely defeated me both in terms of strength and spirit.”

A reaction that made his blood boil. But Illiad just laughed.

He was so happy and proud that the opponent who defeated him was an admirable person.

Illiad looked at Felicia, who was still mumbling in her own world, and said.

“…To be honest, I never want to be a swordsman. Others told me I was born for the sword, but I actually enjoyed drawing more than the sword. When my leg was broken, I was secretly glad. I thought I didn’t have to live up to other people’s expectations anymore… However, foolishly, I…”

Illiad opened up towards Lee Han even more at that moment.

Maybe this was the first time he had revealed this to someone else?

Even though it was embarrassing Illiad still wanted to reveal it to him. No matter what names he would called him when he finished telling him about his story, he thought he would be able to just accept it.

“You begin to miss the sword after you can’t swing it again?”

“…That’s right. Pathetic right?”

Yes, what a loser he was.

Illiad hated it so much when I had it, but now that he had lost it, he longed for it.

So…

“Mother saw through my foolishness. He saw that I wanted to walk again.”

“…”

“Do you know? The reason Mother rejuvenated herself was none other than me.”

“?”

“If she could turn her body back to her youth, she thought she could fix my body with that method, so she sacrificed her own body and experimented. However, even though she succeeded in turning her body back to when she was young, not all of her physical disabilities were regenerated. Then, the only way left for me to be fixed would be the fairy’s blessing, but since fairies rarely give blessings to humans, there was really no way to fix my body.”

“…”

“…That’s what I thought back then.”

“Huh?”

“Sir Lee Han, after hearing your story, I realized. I haven’t done anything.”

“My story?”

“Yes.”

Illiad realized it while listening to Lee Han’s story.

He thought he wanted to fix his leg, but he didn’t really ‘make an effort’.

“I should have struggled myself. Instead of hoping for a miracle or a blessing, I had to decide to walk somehow. Instead of giving up, I had to try to do something. But I couldn’t even try, and this is how it ended up.”

After hearing Lee Han’s story, Iliad thought he was just a person who didn’t know how to get back up. He was just a fool who others dubbed as genius and lived lazily.

Illiad realized that far too late.

He was so foolish…

“Look, now it’s hard to even raise my arms, let alone stand up. I’m finally paying the price for living like a fool.”

“Follishly my foot. How can a fool draw such a masterpiece? It was all possible because of hard work.”

“Haha, you are a very considerate person, Sir Lee Han.”

“Rather than being considerate, I just said what I thought?”

“Ahaha!”

“Why are you laughing?”

“I’m saying this because I think you are amazing.”

How could every single word he said be filled with sincerity?

This person… He never speaks empty words.

That’s why he felt regretful and envious of his son. If only he had a teacher like him, wouldn’t he have been able to live a less miserable life?

Illiad regretted it deeply, but he didn’t let it show on his face.

After all, his time was already ove–

“Should I teach you?”

“…”

-For a moment, Iliad felt as if his eyes were piercing his heart.

“What…”

“Something like this.”

Pat-!

“??”

Lee Han’s fingers tapped on Illiad’s chest, stomach, and forehead. It would have been an insult to some, but Illiad didn’t feel insulted at all.

Crackle-!

All he felt was a fiery heat and warmth…

“!?”

“It’s hot, isn’t it? Mind you, It’s not dangerous. I just put my ‘stregth’ into it.”

“…”

“I am giving you strength”

“?”

“Fortunately, it works.”

“…Huh?”

Illiad tilted his head, wondering what he meant, but while tilting his head, he could see it. The face of his son and his son’s friend, who was shocked as well as his mother who had finished muttering and was opening her mouth like an idiot.

And soon,

“Huh?”

Illiad had to make the same idiotic expression as them.

──His toes were moving.

“It works?”

Lee Han touched the back of his head, after seeing the result of his talent that might be strong enough to make a religion centre around him.