episode_0025

A sharp blade.

Sharp enough to cut if you drop a piece of paper on it.

On that blade, two characters meticulously engraved by a master are written.

‘Suho.’

Yes.

This is the sword of the royal knight who protects this black country.

It’s also the sword I received as a gift from Ilyana in my past life.

A few days ago, she sent this to me as a gift along with a sunstone.

Perhaps it’s her way of thanking me for the protection stone incident.

It holds the wearer’s mana well and its strength is remarkable.

Everything is just like the old days when I fought alongside many knights.

I firmly grasped the sword.

With a serious gaze as if I were fighting with them.

Mia, my senior, swallowed deeply at that gaze.

And silently waited for my next move.

In response, I raised the sword.

And decisively swung it.

A red lump fell with a thud.

—

“Do you have to cut it with such form?”

Mia neatly gathered the watermelons that had fallen on the plate.

“Of course. This delicate sense saves lives on the battlefield.”

I proudly said to the clumsy her.

Then I briskly brushed off the fruit juice-stained sword.

“You’re probably the only one who cuts fruit with the sword given by the princess.”

Mia shivered and brought a fork.

She picked one slice and put it in her mouth.

“Mm-.”

The sweetness spreading in her mouth.

Even a refreshing texture.

“It tastes good.”

She half-closed her eyes in ecstasy while savoring the taste.

There was definitely a reason why expensive things were valued in the market.

“But is it okay for you to be here? What about Ruper?”

“Oh, it’s fine. That brat went to his family today.”

Went home during work hours?

Seeing my displeased expression, she smirked as if it were obvious.

“It happens all the time. This time, did his dad call him to go horseback riding? Offering some connections.”

She grabbed the watermelon rind like a cup.

And started pouring alcohol into it.

“Haha, some people skip work to make connections with dads-.”

She looked at me challengingly.

Then she made a cynical expression as if pitying.

“Some refuse promotions and cut watermelons with swords!”

“You too will come to appreciate the peace of everyday life over climbing the ladder someday, senior.”

I replied as I drank the alcohol from the watermelon rind.

“What are you saying, old man…?”

At my appearance, the senior chuckled.

And together, we looked out the quiet window.

Sweet wine.

And a peaceful vegetable garden.

In that garden, a tiny sprout was blooming.

The first leaf conjured with the help of a magician on a sunstone.

Raising the glass to that leaf, I drank contentedly.

Imagining the fresh vine that would bloom someday.

But…

That imagination was soon shattered,

Two men in military attire seen in the distance.

Clad in uniforms with red cloaks, they approached the garden.

“What are those kids up to…?”

Frowning, I walked towards the window.

Mia, her face flushed, joined me.

“Oh, them? They’re Eastern Knights.”

Mia pointed to the red cloaks draped around their necks.

“Are they here to deliver the sunstone?”

If so, they should come straight to the office.

Why did they go to the backyard?

With my hands in my pockets, I went downstairs to meet them on the first floor.

Meanwhile, the two knights arrived at the garden.

They began to scrutinize the empty garden as if on a reconnaissance mission.

“This cursed Bastion Knight’s workshop.”

“Yes, senior. According to our investigation, he’s always here after patrol.”

“Then he must have grown the poison ivy here.”

Soh, the junior, trampled the field with his military boots.

And carefully observed the barren garden.

“We found it.”

The junior pointed to the lone sprout.

Being from the East, they eyed the unfamiliar Southern plant with suspicion.

“A sprout blooming in winter….”

“Exactly, as you can see, except for the Magic Grass, other plants don’t bloom in winter.”

Taewoo deeply swallowed his saliva and stared intently at the plant.

“Yeah, it’s definitely not an ordinary plant.”

The two Eastern Knights looked at each other seriously.

And they reached out to secure the sprout.

However, at that moment.

Their hands abruptly stopped in their tracks.

“What are you doing there?”

I arrived suspicious of them at the field.

“Indeed, when attacking the scene, people tend to come out on their own.”

The two knights looked at me simultaneously.

And they put on a serious expression like knights who came to arrest the culprit.

“I’m Taewoo, from the Eastern Knights Vanguard. I’m here about a command issue.”

“Oh, really? Then come up to the office. Don’t waste time here for nothing.”

I pointed towards the building and took the lead.

However, instead of following, they firmly stomped their feet on the vegetable garden.

“But before that.”

And with an intense gaze like an interrogator, he glared at me.

“What exactly are you growing here?”

His serious expression.

The moment I saw that expression, I felt it.

‘These guys… could they be competitors?’

Normally, royal knights show little interest in vegetable gardens.

They usually focus on martial arts and self-discipline.

In such circumstances, to show such a serious expression and interest in a vegetable garden is quite welcoming.

“It’s a crop called watermelon.”

In fact, I don’t remember well whether it’s a fruit or a vegetable.

So, I decided to call it a crop for now.

“Watermelon?”

While I was pleased, their eyes were filled with vitality, as if they had never heard of watermelon before.

“Never heard of this crop in my life.”

“Yeah, do you need permission from the Tower of Magic to grow it?”

Is watermelon a crop that requires permission…?

It’s usually well distributed through the capital.

“Was permission really necessary?”

Seeing my nonchalant attitude, the junior’s eyes trembled slightly.

He spoke with a cold voice, transitioning from doubt to certainty.

“Pretending not to know until the end. You have some nerve.”

The junior then took off his uniform jacket.

Revealing his solid muscles and rooster tattoo.

“Come along quietly and apologize to your senior.”

He approached me with a burdensome demeanor.

Thanks to that, his huge shadow enveloped my whole body.

“And clarify the truth about the poison you used at the banquet.”

A puff of air escaped from the junior’s nose.

To him, I asked in return.

“Poison? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

He raised his fist into the air.

And as his patience seemed to reach its limit, he spoke harshly.

“If you keep denying it, I’ll have to take you in myself.”

As his massive fist moved towards my head, I lowered my body.

Dodging while concentrating mana in my fist.

Before he could react, I decisively struck his abdomen.

In an instant, his face contorted.

Swinging his elbow, he overcame the strength difference by hitting his chin.

―――!!

The junior couldn’t even let out a whimper.

He just fell to the ground with a thud.

“It seems you’re not just good at handling poison.”

Despite the overwhelming size difference, seeing the junior collapse in just two moves.

Taewoo fixed his impression at that sight.

“If that’s the case, then take this!”

Taewoo focused mana throughout his body.

And with the timing provided by the junior, he charged towards me with force.

A vanguard charge.

A charging technique that pierces even elite soldiers with shields.

I concentrated mana in my legs.

And in an instant, I threw my body to evade his bulk.

Kwaaang―――!!

The carefully constructed vegetable garden fence shattered.

He casually brushed his shoulders and walked out of the debris.

“You’re quite agile.”

Taewoo focused mana throughout his body again.

Much stronger than before.

“But that’s all there is to it.”

From then on, he relentlessly attacked.

He raised his massive fist towards the sky.

And the moment he tried to strike me down.

I firmly blocked his fist with both hands.

If only he had dodged it.

The vegetable garden would have been spared.

“This brat…!”

He was taken aback by my direct block instead of evasion.

Soon, he doubled down on his punch to the point where veins bulged on his forehead.

Perhaps that was the reason.

Mana surged fiercely from the point where our arms and fists met.

Thanks to that, surrounding objects began to shake uncontrollably.

――――!!

The revenge of a junior.

The revenge of a senior.

For this, Tau, who had tried to overpower me with all his might.

“Kuh….”

However, he gradually realized.

The difference between his mana and mine.

Visibly, his mana was much stronger.

But only by clashing directly did he understand.

That 1 part of my well-trained mana overwhelmed 10 parts of his.

As a result, he was eventually pushed back and crumpled into the vegetable garden.

I approached the fallen him with a firm stride.

“You’ve been calling me poisonous since earlier, what’s that about?”

“Exactly. Didn’t you attack Senior Basu using the poisonous weed I cultivated here…?”

“What?”

His unexpected words left me bewildered.

“What nonsense. I never poisoned him.”

“You never poisoned him…? Then why did the senior’s leg go numb?”

“I just stabbed his vital spot, causing temporary paralysis.”

I leaned in close to Tau, who seemed slow to grasp the situation.

And I pressed down on his thigh with my heel.

“Khaaack!!”

“Like this.”

Tau grabbed his own leg in agony.

Twisting and writhing in pain, he groaned.

“The senior is such a drama queen.”

Even the junior who had fallen earlier crawled over.

Looking at me, he asked,

“T-then why did you try to take the Sunstone when you’re barely growing fruits like apples…!”

At the sharp question from the junior, I smiled.

“This is no ordinary fruit.”

Pointing to Miyah, who was coming out to discard watermelon rinds, I solemnly stated,

“It’s my retirement fund.”

The two fallen knights looked up at me.

Miyah, with a forlorn expression, dropped the rinds beside them.

“What in the world…”

The serious gazes of the two men softened.

They stared blankly at the watermelon rinds falling before them.

“We thought we were fellow farmers and tried to be understanding… but…”

While surveying the vegetable garden, I noticed a weak, crumpled seedling.

With a sad expression, I addressed it,

“You guys ruined my field with your strange delusions.”

I picked up a hoe lying on the ground.

Gripping it firmly, I turned to them with a stern expression.

“Well, then, you’ll have to pay for it, won’t you?”

The bulky shoulders of the two knights slumped.

Holding the hoe, they looked at me approaching with a stern expression.

“Who… what exactly are you?”

Like a cow or chicken caught just before capture.

“Me? For now, I’m your master.”