The Hero’s Disciple Has Returned

“Hmm. Come to think of it, I didn’t tell Sera about that Balik guy.”

When I ended my mercenary life and started living in seclusion, I cut off all past connections. Since I started it wanting to live quietly alone, it could be seen as a natural decision for me to cut off past connections. Cutting off mercenary connections was very easy. Since parting is routine in a mercenary’s life, it was naturally easy.

But there was just one person who wasn’t easy

It was that guy Balik, who always seemed to have his emotions running wild rather than thinking and acting rationally despite being a mercenary.

I really taught that guy a lot of things. It was really hard to teach him because he was dumb, but despite that, he was physically strong and had genius combat sense, so although teaching was difficult, in the end, Balik was the one who best learned how to survive among those I taught.

I never imagined he would end up occupying the Mercenary King position, which requires both strength and intelligence.

“Does he still not have a disciple? Well, it would be difficult.”

I recalled the last conversation I had with Balik.

-Brother Jade! Next time we meet, I’ll definitely make my own disciple and bring them to greet you! It’s a promise!
-Then I guess we’ll never meet again. It’s impossible for you.
-Really! Just wait and see! I’ll definitely make a disciple and have them greet you! I won’t come looking for you until then!
-I wasn’t planning to tell you where I’d be living in seclusion anyway…
-Just you wait! I’ll definitely come to greet you!

“With that guy’s personality, he’s probably still looking for a disciple, saying he’ll keep that promise. But considering that even I got a hero candidate, for the Mercenary King too… Do the officials have at least a minimal conscience?”

No matter how close I was with Balik

Even if blood is thicker than water

Considering that no matter how I think about it, I can’t help but give a negative answer about Balik having a disciple

If the officials are human, they wouldn’t have sent a disciple to him.

“Anyway, if I say it’s my disciple, that guy would probably help a lot… No. I can’t ignore the possibility that he might try to teach strange things, saying it’s his disciple.”

In the end, I concluded that not talking about Balik was really a good decision.

But I wonder if that guy is living well?

A guy who’s become the Mercenary King wouldn’t be getting beaten up somewhere…

He must be doing well!

♧♧♧

“Hahahahaha! To think you were Brother Jade’s disciple!”
“……”

Sera had to feel an emotion that was hard to explain. To think that one of Master’s acquaintances was the Mercenary King! Sera knew the Mercenary King well. Although she had never lived as a mercenary, she had many occasions to be involved with mercenaries. But clearly, as a hero candidate, it was natural that the mercenaries she had the most connections with were high-ranking ones, and among them, especially the Mercenary King.

Honestly, knowing him well didn’t mean they were close.

The Mercenary King had many complaints about not having a hero candidate as his disciple. In other words, from the Mercenary King’s perspective, it was like seeing someone who might have become his disciple becoming someone else’s disciple and doing great things. So whenever he saw Sera, who was always a hero candidate, his mouth would pout and grumble, maintaining an awkward relationship. Still, although he talked a lot, he always ended up granting Sera’s requests, so Sera didn’t feel it was entirely a bad relationship.

But Sera couldn’t agree at all with the part about disciples. That’s because Sera knew well about the Mercenary King’s disciple education plan. It wasn’t that she was particularly interested, but because the Mercenary King would talk about his disciple education plan whenever he drank, she couldn’t help but know even if she didn’t want to.

Even for Sera, who had gone through all sorts of bizarre training under all kinds of severe masters, she could never agree with the Mercenary King’s method. The Mercenary King himself claimed, ‘If you just do this, you can become the strongest, so of course this is how you should raise them!’, but the difficulty was so severe that it was impossible for a human body to achieve. To begin with, making a plan that can’t be done with a human body and shouting ‘You can become the strongest if you achieve this’ is no different from giving a 9th circle magic spell to a magic aspirant who knows nothing and saying ‘You can become the strongest if you can just handle this’.

For reference, the moment a magic aspirant who hasn’t even properly built the basics of magic looks at a 9th circle magic book, their brain burns out. What the Mercenary King was trying to do was no different from that. As this was the conclusion of Sera, the disciple expert, its credibility was very high.

Once, she had heard these words from the Mercenary King:

-A ‘senior in this industry’ who taught me many things told me that I wouldn’t be capable of teaching anyone. When I parted with that person, I boasted loudly. I said I would introduce a proper disciple I raised. Because of that promise, I still haven’t been able to go meet that senior, which is a regret. …Huh? You ask why don’t I just go if I miss them so much? When you become a man, you should stick to your useless stubbornness to the end. Kuk kuk.

“Brother Jade taught me so many things. He was such a grateful senior that I want to go greet him somehow… But I ended up boasting loudly, ‘Next time we meet, I’ll definitely make a disciple and come to greet you!’ To think that Brother Jade, who said he would never take a disciple, would appear before me with such an excellent disciple even before me! Kwahahahaha! Alcohol! Bring more alcohol!”

…To think that the ‘senior in this industry’ was Master.

Thinking about it, considering the period when Master was active as ‘Jade of Steel’, it perfectly overlapped with the time the Mercenary King Balik was talking about. But even in the same industry, how many mercenaries are there, and how many areas do mercenaries operate in… To think that the senior Balik kept talking about was Jade…

Even for Sera, who had a lot of knowledge, experience, and intuition, it could be seen as not strange at all that she didn’t know this.

“Kwahahahaha!”

Although he looked no different from a mummy wrapped in bandages all over his body, the Mercenary King was enjoying this moment, downing alcohol refreshingly. The healing magician clearly said not to drink… But no one was stopping him. Sera didn’t stop him either. Because Sera also knew well that the Mercenary King Balik was a man who enjoys doing what he’s decided to do now, no matter how much he might suffer for it later.

“I didn’t think a hero candidate would have gone even to Brother Jade. I thought he’d be forgotten in the heads of those tin can imperial officials since he retired just when his fame was about to spread throughout the empire. Well, thanks to that, I’m glad to meet Brother Jade’s disciple. Is he doing well?”
“…Yes, he’s doing well.”
“Hm? Why don’t you speak casually like before?”
“…I can’t do that.”

Speaking casually to Master’s acquaintance

Sera absolutely couldn’t do it.

She felt it was too late since she had already caused all the trouble she could, but shouldn’t this be the time to at least pretend to reflect with eyes tightly closed? Because right now, no matter who said what, the Mercenary King Balik was the superior.

‘If I think that today’s events will reach Master’s ears…’

It’s terrifying!

It would be better to fight the Demon King instead!

It was more frightening than all those numerous failures she had suffered against the Demon King, not knowing what kind of trouble that mouth might cause!

Even the time when her soul was taken by a crazy magic sword and she became a slave wasn’t this frightening!

“Hahaha! What? Did Jade brutally beat his disciple while raising…”

Ting!

“If you’re going to speak carelessly about Master, I’ll kill you.”
“…Hey. Isn’t it less pretentious to just speak casually rather than using polite speech while saying you’ll kill someone?”
“…I’m sorry. It was a mistake.”

For a moment, that mouth carelessly talking about Master looked like the Demon King’s maw, so momentarily… Or maybe a dark desire like ‘Wouldn’t it be better if that mouth could never open again?’ is taking hold inside Sera.

“Kwahahahaha! It’s a joke. A joke. I know better than anyone that Brother Jade isn’t that kind of person.”
“Is that so?”

Sera was intrigued. That’s because Jade didn’t often talk about his past. Considering that he had sat in the A-rank mercenary position that not just anyone could reach, he must have lived a turbulent life, and if he had lived such a life, it wouldn’t be strange to tell his disciple various stories, but Jade rarely spoke as if his past wasn’t something to tell his disciple. At most, he would say things like, ‘This might have happened. When I faced an opponent…’, only speaking to the extent of sharing experiences for Sera’s lacking experience (or more accurately, what Jade mistakenly thought was lacking).

Therefore, for Sera, the Mercenary King Balik could be seen as one of the few precious people who had closely observed Master’s past. Although it was still a very serious problem that it was her who had left him in a half-dead state.

Anyway, when the story of Jade’s past came up, Sera couldn’t help but react.

“I look dumb at first glance, don’t I?”
“……”
“…If you’re going to be like that, just say ‘yes’.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Forget it. Anyway, I look dumb at first glance. But maybe in exchange for that, I was strong and had excellent combat sense. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that becoming a mercenary was my given fate. The problem is that mercenary work isn’t just about strength. You might be able to make a name for yourself as a mercenary with just strength, but it’s wrong to think you can survive long as a mercenary with just that. But back then, I didn’t even know that obvious fact. I was just a youngster drunk on my own strength, that’s what I was. Then one day, I met Brother Jade.”

Sera imagined.

Balik, rampaging while relying only on his strength

Jade, discovering such a mercenary

Jade, skillfully wielding his sword and making him realize his place…

“It was on the battlefield. He gathered all the strong guys and dumped them all on me, then disappeared leisurely.”
“……”

…It wasn’t a story of beating him down.

From the disciple’s perspective, it was truly unfortunate.

“Then, just when I thought it was really a critical moment, Brother Jade appeared and cleaned everything up so easily. It was truly overwhelming, to the extent that you could tell just by looking that with Brother Jade’s skills, there was no need for such cowardly acts. So I was in an almost half-dead state… Similar to my current state.”
“……”

Sera kept silent on that part, unable to find words to say.

“Brother Jade looked down at me in that state and said, ‘A dumb guy like you who’s only insanely strong and has good combat sense can only learn by experiencing it with your body.’ Then he said, ‘You’re clearly destined to be a mercenary, but at this rate, you won’t live long and will die young.'”
“And then?”
“Hm? Then?”
“Yes, what happened next?”
“Nothing.”
“…?”
“He just left after saying that. I was really dumbfounded too. After making someone suffer so much, he spouts all kinds of curses and then just disappears. How dumbfounded do you think I was?”
“……”

At those words,

Sera quietly remained silent.

Hmm.

Did our Master also have

What young knights often go through

Something like a stormy period?

Thinking that, she blushed.

It wasn’t because she felt embarrassed as a disciple for knowing Master’s shameful appearance.

It was purely…

‘I want to see Master from that time. He must have been cute…’

…just a symptom of being excessively infatuated.

It was a situation where anyone watching might exclaim, “Ah~ youth is so nice~”.