chapter_0010

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
10

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
10

Possell looked at Karl, who
had his head bowed, and massaged the back of his neck.

“Are you saying the Miss
has been blessed?”

A blessing—a special power
bestowed by the gods to help humans fight dungeon monsters.

Right now, Karl was implying
that he had made his mistake because he was influenced by this power.

“…Yes, that’s correct.”

“Or are you just hoping
it was something else? Because you want there to be another reason
for what you did.”

Karl couldn’t respond to
Possell’s sharp words.

He knew he couldn’t justify
his wrongdoing by blaming it on any kind of influence.

Yet, deep down, he wished it
wasn’t entirely his fault.

He wanted to believe that
Lucy’s power had somehow forced him to commit his wrongdoing.

Otherwise, he would be nothing
more than trash who couldn’t control his emotions and ended up
striking his master.

The prolonged silence was
eventually broken by Possell’s sigh.

“Ha. Until your
punishment is decided, you’ll have to stay here.”

“I understand.”

“Behave yourself.”

After Possell left, Karl
looked at the handcuffs binding his arms and then buried his face in
his hands.

“They’re all just minor
wounds.”

“Really?!”

“Yes. There’s no need to
worry.”

“Miss, that’s such a
relief!”

Lucy frowned as she watched
the maid breathe a sigh of relief at the doctor’s words.

I told you from the start they
were just minor wounds.

There was no need to see a
doctor. These injuries will heal in a day or two.

When I openly showed my
irritation, the maid started to be more cautious around me.

Seeing the maid shrink back
like she did when we first met, I felt sorry for her again.

Sigh.
Yeah. It’s not like she did anything wrong.

Of course, she was worried
that something might be wrong with the person she serves.

With a sigh, I averted my gaze
from the maid and asked the doctor a question.

‘Then I can go back now,
right?’

“Sloppy doctor, it’s fine
if I leave, right?”

“Yes, Miss Lucy.”

After getting permission, I
left the infirmary and found Benedict leaning against the wall next
to the door, tapping his arm with his fingers.

What’s he doing here?

‘Benedict.’

“Foolish father.”

“Lucy! Are you alright!?
Are you hurt anywhere!?”

“I’m alri—”

“Oh my, why do you have
so many cuts on your skin? Doesn’t it sting? It must hurt so much.”

“Alri—”

“I hope they don’t leave
scars. I’ll have my doctor get some medicine right away!”

Why is he so worked up? It’s
normal to get a few scrapes here and there while doing stuff.

It’s not like I’m seriously
injured. From the way Benedict was fussing, you’d think I had been
run over by a truck or something.

“I heard Karl caused your
injuries. I don’t know why he behaved that way, as it’s not like him.
But since he hurt you, he should face the consequences.”

‘Excuse me. Calm down a bit,
will you?’

“Foolish father, that’s
enough.”

When I cut him off in a cold
voice, Benedict, who had been babbling uncontrollably, shut up and
watched my reaction.

I know he’s concerned about
me. And I do appreciate it. But there’s a limit to how much worry is
reasonable.

What does he mean by face the
consequences? It’s true that he could face some punishment for
hitting the person he’s supposed to serve, but aren’t consequences
going too far?

Besides, it’s not entirely the
Sloppy Knight’s fault. I provoked him a lot with my Mesugaki tactics
because I wanted to land a solid hit on him.

If we get down to it, we’re
both at fault. It’s not fair to hold only the Sloppy Knight
accountable.

‘Benedict. As you can see, I’m
perfectly fine.’

“Foolish Father, are your
eyes blurred? I’m perfectly fine.”

He’s just too overprotective
of his daughter.

No wonder Lucy turned out to
be such a brat. No matter how precious your only daughter is to you,
this isn’t right.

‘If you give the knight an
excessive punishment, I will hate you.’

“If you do something
unnecessary to him, I won’t even look at you anymore, Foolish
Father.”

“But Lucy.”

‘Do you understand?’

“Foolish Father, answer
me.”

“…Alright. But for the
sake of the knights’ discipline, he has to face some punishment. I
hope you understand that.”

‘That’s fine with me.’

“That’s okay.”

If someone who deserves
punishment doesn’t receive it, there might be unnecessary gossip,
so that’s inevitable.

Did I speak too harshly?
Benedict noticeably shrank back. Seeing such a massive person
slumping his shoulders was pitiful beyond words.

Oh, really! This man is so
annoyingly exasperating.

‘Benedict, have you had
dinner?’

“Foolish Father, have you
eaten?”

“Huh? No, not yet.”

‘Then let’s eat together.’

“Then let’s eat together.
I’m hungry.”

“…Alright! When you’re
injured, you need to eat well to recover! Let’s go to my personal
chef.”

‘Please calm down a bit.’

“Foolish Father. You’re
being disgusting, so moderate yourself.”

Karl, who had been looking
down at the stone floor in self-reproach, lifted his head at the
sound of heavy footsteps from a distance.

In the Allen Family, there
were only two people who could produce such heavy footsteps. One was
Possell, the captain of the knights, and the other was…

The head of the Allen Family
and a man renowned for his feats on various battlefields, known as
the Iron-Blooded Knight—Benedict Allen.

As soon as Karl saw the
massive figure walking towards him from a distance, he hurriedly
stood up and saluted Benedict.

Benedict, without reacting,
silently walked up to the front of the cell where Karl was standing.

“Karl.”

Karl swallowed hard at the
sound of Benedict’s heavy and solemn voice, which seemed to
reverberate through the floor.

To the knights, Benedict was
nothing short of a legend.

Although he had stepped back
from the front lines to focus on family matters, the accomplishments
he achieved when he was on the battlefield were countless.

He had single-handedly
vanquished the vampire known as the Blood Duke, who had terrorised
the continent.

Subdued a dragon that had
invaded the Allen Family territory with his sheer might.

And played a significant role
in subjugating an S-class dungeon, which was expected to bring
disaster to the kingdom—he was truly a knight among knights.

That was Benedict.

Even though it had been a long
time since he last went to war, Benedict’s majesty was still the
same.

Karl felt as if he was
suffocating just by standing in front of him. The overwhelming
pressure Benedict emitted unconsciously was crushing Karl.

“Do you have anything to
say about what happened today?”

“No, my Lord. Everything
is my fault.”

“Hurting someone you are
supposed to protect is a serious crime.”

“I understand. I am
willing to accept any punishment.”

“Usually, you would be
punished according to the discipline of the knights. However…”

As Benedict dragged out the
last word, the overwhelming pressure dissipated inexplicably.

“Since Lucy herself does
not wish for you to be punished, your sentence will be replaced with
confinement in the cell.”

The Miss?

Karl couldn’t believe his
ears. The notion was so surreal.

There was no reason for him to
receive Lucy’s leniency. Regardless of his intentions, he had
genuinely intended to strike the person he was supposed to protect.

Especially considering that
Lucy must have felt extreme fear at that moment.

The fact that the Miss wished
to pardon him was nothing short of grace.

It was an act of mercy for
Karl, who deserved to be stripped of his title as a knight
immediately.

Moreover, it was proof that
Lucy, who had lived her life tormenting others, had changed.

‘Oh, the Miss was worried
about the punishment I would face, while I wanted there to be fault
in Lucy.

What kind of knight does that
make me?’

Nobility? Virtue? Such
concepts did not exist in the current Karl. He was nothing but a
despicable human being who could not admit his own mistakes. Rather,
the one truly embodying a knight was not Karl, but Lucy.

“Karl.”

“Yes, Count.”

“What I just declared was
a decision made as the head of the family. However, as her father, I
still have not forgiven you.”

With that, Benedict opened the
iron cell door and stepped inside.

“Therefore, I’ll hit you
just once.”

“Yes, I understand,
Count.”

“Bite down hard.”

Seeing Benedict clench his
fist, Karl felt a momentary sense of doom.

Benedict was not preparing an
ordinary punch.

A fist, infused with the power
of a man who once contended with giants, was akin to a major spell in
itself.

“You won’t die.”

Benedict threw his punch.

“Miss Lucy.”

I snapped out of my daze at
the sound of someone calling me.

Harne, my tutor, looked at me
with a mixture of emotions before letting out a sigh.

“The Academy entrance
exams are less than three months away. You need to focus.”

‘I apologise.’

“Be quiet.”

As always, there was no room
for apologies in the training of a Mesugaki.

If I said sorry now, Harne
would surely call me a madwoman and scold me. Her frown deepened as a
result.

I’m sorry, Harne.

If the wrinkles on your face
are increasing, Lucy is probably half to blame.

But please understand that I
can’t help it. I don’t want to be like this either.

I’ll get you an elixir of
youth later, so please forgive me.

“Did you not sleep well
last night?”

‘Yes.’

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Did you have a bad
dream?”

Not exactly, but something did
happen.

Well, you see, I was sleeping
soundly when I heard what sounded like an explosion in the middle of
the night.

As a proud former soldier of
the Republic of Korea, I know well enough what an explosion sounds
like.

The thunderous noise and the
shaking ground I heard last night definitely felt like an explosion.

Do you know how startled I was
when I woke up?

I jumped out of bed and ran to
ask one of the attendants what was going on, thinking there might
have been an accident.

But the attendant seemed oddly
calm.

Even though I was panicking
and rambling all sorts of nonsense, she told me to calm down and
assured me it was nothing.

Yet when I asked her to
explain what happened, she remained silent to the end.

If it’s nothing, why can’t you
tell me?!

Anyway, after that one
explosion, nothing else happened, and I was eventually able to fall
asleep again after staying awake for about an hour.

When I explained all of this
to Harne, she burst out laughing.

What? Why? No way.

‘Do you know anything about
the explosion?!’

“Foolish Harne. So you do
know something about the explosion?”

“Hmm. Is it a secret?
Visit the knight’s order after today’s class. Then you’ll find out.”

The knight’s order?

Does going to the knight’s
order mean there was some kind of battle last night?

Given Harne’s lighthearted
reaction, it doesn’t seem to be a big deal. Maybe it was just some
training.

I wish she would explain
clearly, but all Harne said was that it would be quicker to see for
myself.

Oh well, I’ll have to go check
it out after class.

“Now that you’re fully
awake, shall we resume the class?”

My lips trembled slightly at
her cheerful suggestion.

Harne, this terrifying woman.

Despite a Mesugaki teasing her
so much, she continued the class without breaking stride.

Her resilience is truly worthy
of being the longest-standing teacher under Lucy.

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