I Possessed the Heroine’s Teacher

In the ancient Eastern scripture, Mencius, there’s a famous passage that even made its way into a drama OST.
It says, “There’s no difference between killing someone with a sword and killing someone with politics.”
This teaching is deeply engraved in my heart, ranking among the top 1000 teachings in my personal ranking. I can’t tell you the exact order, but it narrowly lost to the teaching, ‘Eating more than three shrimp burgers will make you feel bloated.’

I bring up this battle between two geniuses because of my current situation. If someone tries to kill me with a sword, I can just use magic to defeat them. If some incompetent noble tries to harm me, I can use magic or my connections to overpower them with greater authority.

But the royal family is different. They employ assassins who have reached the pinnacle of killing with swords, and they also have subordinates who have reached the pinnacle of killing with politics, or at least close to it.

So, they’re not easy opponents. I wanted to quote the Buddha’s teaching, “Vengeance is meaningless. It won’t be resolved through revenge but only by letting go of the grudge.”
I also wanted to quote Jesus’ teaching, “If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”
While I’m at it, I might as well add Confucius’ teaching, “Repay kindness with kindness and repay evil with justice.”
What if I add the teachings of these three great sages? If they go against the will of these three sages, divine punishment will befall them.

“Master.”

As I was thinking about the will of heaven, Iris suddenly spoke up.

“Where are we going now?”

Lorcha only prepared a carriage to her magic tower. After that, I had to go to the person Melchior contacted and get another carriage. It’s so inconvenient, like a bus transfer.

“I’m going to meet a brother I know.”

“But my legs hurt…”

Iris pouted to express her dissatisfaction. I snapped my fingers and released the air from her puffed-up cheeks. Then, I pulled her cheeks, making her cry out in pain.

“Don’t you know how much I hate cuteness?”

“But isn’t my cuteness special?”

“No, it’s not.”

Honestly, I didn’t want to walk either. It’s not that my feet hurt or anything. In the ‘facility’ where I grew up, we were trained to walk dozens of kilometers without water, so it was like eating rice.

What I hated about walking was the gazes of others. The women I accompanied were all outstanding in appearance, regardless of their personalities or intelligence.
So, many men, especially uneducated adventurer bastards, stared at them with lustful eyes. I wanted to punch them with Confucian punches, throw the Bible at them, or kick them with Buddhist kicks.
Or maybe I should just use a wide-area lightning magic to get rid of them.
But I decided to let it go. I couldn’t use violence just because of their gazes, even if they were disgusting. If they dared to flirt or touch them, I’d unleash the full power of Confucian punches with the help of the Constellation Sage.

There were also many gazes directed at me. The shop owner, the water-drawing girl, the muscular man with tanned skin, the chatty grandmothers, the black-haired male adventurer with a long beard, the plump-looking aunt, and even the pretty female monk were all staring at me. It felt like there was something disgusting mixed in, but I decided to ignore it. However, Iris and Glacies seemed to be glaring at those who were staring at me, as if threatening them.

Anyway, ignoring most of the lustful and some of the disgusting gazes, we finally reached the carriage and person we were looking for.

The carriage had the emblem of a shield and a spear, the crest of the Carben family, who had served the royal family for generations. Standing in front of it was Ricardo Carben, the current head of the Carben family and one of the great heroes. He was also one of the older brothers who cared for Werner.

So, nobles have family crests. Now that I think about it, Glacies’s family, the Winterheart family, also had a white lion as their crest. But I’m not intimidated. Although I don’t come from a noble family with a crest, I’m a chosen one who possesses multiple crests. I have the crests of courage, friendship, love, knowledge, purity, sincerity, hope, and light. I have no reason to fear their family crest.

I expected Ricardo to be wearing armor, like in the game, but he was dressed casually in a white shirt and black pants.

Speaking of costumes, I remember how annoying it was when people posted screenshots of the DLC swimsuits for the male characters in the game.
In the past, I would have cut off those who posted such images without hesitation. But now, I think… they were really annoying. I couldn’t just ignore them because they were game images, but they didn’t cross the line either. At the time, I wanted to find and kill them, but now I think… they were really annoying bastards. Meeting the characters in those swimsuits made me feel 500 times more annoyed.

The person in the disgusting image came towards me and offered a handshake.

“You’ve grown a lot, Werner.”

“Haha… I’m not at an age where I should be hearing that.”

“You were still acting like a child at 17, and now you’ve become a respectable adult. Of course, I’m surprised.”

“I’ve always acted like an adult.”

“… How old were you when you beat up five adult men, causing them to be hospitalized for 32 weeks, during a festival because they cut in line?”

“… 17, but it was because they cut in line and provoked me…”

“Do you understand why I’m saying this?”

“Yes.”

Damn, he didn’t lose a single argument. In fact, I wondered if Ricardo was a civil official rather than a knight. He seemed like a hybrid weapon, a civil official with exceptional combat skills.

Camellia chuckled and greeted Ricardo.

“It’s been a while, Ricardo.”

“It’s nice to see you, Camellia. I thought you’d follow them, but I was surprised to see you taking care of Werner.”

“Nothing could be more surprising than your marriage news.”

“My loyalty, my commitment to order and principles, remains unchanged. But I have the right to choose my own marriage.”

“That’s true, you’ve always been like that.”

Ricardo turned his gaze to Iris and greeted her.

“You must be Iris. I’ve only seen you when you were so small that your knees didn’t even reach the ground, so it’s awkward. I’m Ricardo Carben, the captain of the royal knights, your father’s friend, and… your master’s brother.”

Iris, as always, responded with a cheerful smile.

“Hello! I’m Iris Reyes! Wow, are you the embodiment of chivalry that my master always praised? It’s nice to meet you in person!”

Iris deliberately made up that story, even though he never said such a thing. Ricardo, impressed by the praise, gave me a thumbs up. Iris knew how to maintain my dignity as a master. She wasn’t stupid at all. By being attentive and making up stories, she must have increased Ricardo’s favorability towards me. After all, a disciple is the best, isn’t it?

Then, Ricardo saw Glacies and made a ‘swoosh’ sound before carefully greeting her.

“You must be Glacies… I assume you’ve heard about me.”

“Yes, I have heard about you from my father, so there’s no need for a formal introduction.”

Ricardo’s family, the Carben family, and Glacies and Melissa Melchior’s family, the Winterheart family, were now sworn enemies.

Ricardo’s father was the one who killed Glacies’s grandmother and grandfather. It was more of a victim-perpetrator relationship, but in the noble society, the wrongdoer often makes the loudest noise.

In every country, grandmothers would feed their grandchildren, saying they were too skinny. But because of Ricardo’s family, Glacies never had that experience. Poor girl.