Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 57

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 57

I headed to the main building where my father spent most of his day.

Since not much time had passed, the atmosphere of the main building hadn’t changed significantly.

“Not that way today, but this way, Young Master.”

“Yes?”

Butler Choi smiled and guided me to the back of the main building.

‘That place is……’

It was the area with the head of the family’s private training ground, attached to the side of the main building.

A place where no one would dare to set foot without my father’s permission.

The training ground was ordinary.

It didn’t have any special training equipment, nor was it paved with various weapons or special flagstones.

In a way, it resembled the first training ground, Sungmu Hall.

My father was standing in the center of that training ground.

He seemed to be lost in thought, gazing into the distance as if contemplating something.

‘It’s not even surprising anymore.’

I had grown a lot in Cheonwisan, but I still couldn’t even guess my father’s level.

‘What a grateful family.’

It had always been like this.

The family never allowed me even a moment to rest.

The moment I tried to be satisfied with what I had achieved, they showed me the realm above it.

I felt like running to the training ground right away.

“It’s been a while, Father. Have you been well?”

“……You’ve come.”

My father turned his head and looked at me.

But he just stared at me silently.

‘He’s changed.’

Lee Tae-shin looked into Lee Cheol’s eyes.

Although only a year had passed, he now had a body and eyes that no longer suited the description of a child.

Lee Tae-shin could guess from them the arduous training his youngest son had undergone in the past year.

“A decent achievement.”

Decent.

Coming from a father who was stingy with praise, this was the highest praise imaginable.

But I couldn’t feel satisfied with that praise.

“I felt it was lacking. Seeing you just now, Father, made me want to train immediately.”

“Did you learn to flatter after going outside for a while? If so, I’m disappointed.”

It was a monotonous voice without any emotion, but I widened my eyes at my father’s expression.

‘Is he…… joking?’

He wasn’t usually one to make frivolous remarks.

But my father’s expression was too calm to be scolding someone. Rather, it was closer to a satisfied expression.

“Tea is prepared, Head of the Family.”

“Thank you. Come this way.”

My father led me to a small table on one side of the training ground.

The fragrant scent of tea was wafting from the teacups placed on the antique table.

My father took off his sword sheath from his waist, leaned it against the table, and picked up a teacup.

“How have you been?”

A tone as if asking about my recent activities.

And with the fragrant tea placed in front of me.

If it weren’t my father saying this, I would have answered comfortably, but I couldn’t help but have other thoughts.

‘Does he want to hear about what happened in Cheonwisan?’

I organized my thoughts and was about to open my mouth.

But then my father spoke first, as if reading my mind.

“If I were going to listen to a report, I wouldn’t have called you separately. Tell me what you felt.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

My father’s brow furrowed.

“It takes too long just to hear a story. Do I have to wait longer?”

“Ah, no.”

I should answer first.

I soon cleared my throat and began to speak.

The training in Cheonwisan. As expected, it was a story of training and more training.

Lee Tae-shin listened to his son’s story.

‘It’s the first time I’m hearing my son’s impressions of training, not a performance report.’

In fact, Lee Tae-shin was looking forward to Lee Cheol’s return.

What would he show this time, and how much would he have grown?

Whenever such thoughts popped up, Lee Tae-shin felt quite a fresh emotion.

So at this moment, Lee Tae-shin was even feeling pleasure for the first time in a long time.

‘……It’s an unfamiliar feeling.’

But it’s not a bad feeling.

It wasn’t that he had never felt curiosity and anticipation towards his children, but now it was different from then.

Soon, his son’s story ended.

“That’s all.”

Since I spoke excluding the part I promised the mountain god, the story ended shorter than I thought.

“You didn’t waste your time.”

“I couldn’t possibly waste the time you gave me, Father.”

My father put down his teacup and asked in a calm tone.

“But what’s going on today? Your return was later than scheduled.”

“I stopped by Sungmu Mountain to pay respects to the ancestors. I couldn’t pay my respects this year during the holidays because I was in Cheonwisan.”

“There’s no need to apologize. Rather, it’s something to be praised.”

Now, even the elders don’t visit the ancestral graves unless there’s a special occasion.

But what Lee Tae-shin wanted to ask wasn’t that.

“What made you think of visiting the ancestral graves?”

“I wanted to pay respects to the ancestors. I thought it was something I should do as a descendant of the Sungmu Lee family.”

“Is that all?”

I stared at my father.

And answered slowly.

“And I also wanted to show it to the elders.”

My father’s brow narrowed slightly.

“Did you become a little arrogant after gaining some petty achievements? Are you daring to say in front of me that you used your visit to the ancestral graves for your image?”

I took a moment to catch my breath.

This was important.

‘I could just let it go, but I had to reveal it this time. I’ll have to visit often because of Heukya, and I can’t keep doing this every time.’

Reverence and respect for the ancestors of the Sungmu Lee family certainly existed.

They were, after all, my roots.

But I couldn’t deny that Heukya played a big part in visiting the ancestral graves.

“I wanted to show it through actions rather than just talking about tradition and etiquette.”

“What?”

“They may call me a bastard, but I also inherited the blood of the Sungmu Lee family. I dared to be an example.”

My father stared into my eyes for a brief moment.

“You speak well. I’ll forgive you this time. But you must be wary of it not becoming indulgence.”

After finishing his short words, my father silently picked up his teacup again.

I felt that he was going to let this matter pass.

I inwardly sighed in relief and picked up my teacup.

But then, my father spoke again.

“And one more thing. There’s something you haven’t told me.”

“Yes?”

Something I haven’t told him?

Could he be talking about Heukya’s seal? Or the matter with the mountain god?

But those were all things my father couldn’t possibly know.

“I allowed you to go to Cheonwisan, but I don’t remember allowing you to enter the Bloodless Dream [a high-level training simulation]. In the requirements you mentioned, you said you would train in Cheonwisan.”

“…….”

Ah.

I swallowed hard.

My father stood up from his seat.

“You deceived your father, so I must punish you. Take up your weapon. I will test what you have gained.”

* * *

My father had called me to the training ground for this.

My father and I stood facing each other in the center of the training ground.

Doo-geun!

My heart was racing like crazy.

‘This is the first time.’

It was the first time in both my past life and this life. Showing what I had in front of my father.

I took a deep breath and reached for my waist.

But.

“Can you show everything you’ve learned with that?”

Heukya was hanging on my waist right now.

‘……He knew after all.’

I carefully took off Heukya and placed it on the weapon rack in the training ground, then took out Mujin.

Wooong-!

The moment magic power was injected, Mujin’s form began to change.

Even seeing that, my father’s eyes didn’t show even a hint of change.

I turned Mujin into a sword and drew up my aura.

“Come.”

My father said, casually letting his sword hang down.

Slowly, I activated the Evil Eye.

‘……!’

I couldn’t see it.

Not even one thing.

The Evil Eye only reflected my father’s appearance.

‘I can’t see it with my current Evil Eye, huh.’

Then there was no need to unfold the Evil Eye, which consumed concentration.

I deactivated the Evil Eye.

Exploratory moves or warm-ups were meaningless against my father.

I put all my power into the first strike.

Mujin First Style, Cheokma.

I even included an aura skill that combined sharp wind and cold air, intending to put all my power into the first strike.

One step forward.

I gritted my teeth.

‘I may not reach my father’s feet yet.’

My father, whom I had only been able to estimate with my eyes from afar, was standing in front of me with his sword.

An opportunity that I didn’t know how many times would come.

I wanted to truly feel it.

The distance between me and my father now.

“…….”

My father’s eyes shone as he watched the sword strike.

Jjeo-eong!

But that strike was deflected by my father’s light sword strike, which wasn’t even imbued with magic power.

“Keuk!”

The fragments of aura that burst out stirred the surroundings.

Seogeok! Kagak!

Changing Mujin’s form, I rotated it and stretched out the sword in another direction again.

A glaive when cutting.

A sword when stabbing.

A spear when widening the distance.

But all those attacks were blocked in front of my father’s sword.

“Stop.”

Kaga-ga-ga-gak!

Several deep grooves had formed on the silent training ground flagstone.

“Heo-eok, heo-eok…….”

I had only swung Mujin a few times, but each strike was with all my power, so I was out of breath.

Seureureung- Tak!

My father sheathed his sword with fluid movements.

“Is that the answer you got from seeing the founder?”

“Yes. That was the answer I got.”

My father guessed the enlightenment I had gained with just that short confrontation.

‘He walked a difficult path.’

Lee Tae-shin looked at his youngest son, who was panting.

‘He didn’t break or bend.’

He didn’t think about how.

In the Sungmu Lee family, they speak with results.

If he did it, he just did it.

Lee Tae-shin saw the light in his youngest son’s eyes.

That burning light had become stronger, and it never deteriorated or weakened.

He had overturned his expectations once again.

“How was it?”

Lee Tae-shin looked at his son.

Lee Cheol, who was struggling to catch his breath, opened his mouth.

“I can’t…… explain it well in words.”

He saw a wall.

And he also broke that wall.

He could say it with words like basics or essence, but he also gained and felt something that couldn’t be explained with just that.

“I was the same. The founder was strong. Perhaps even more than I was at that age.”

I heard the same words from my father that I had heard in the past.

Looking only at what was revealed, I had finished the Bloodless Dream much earlier than my father, so it meant that I had gone ahead of my father.

But.

“I didn’t think the Bloodless Dream was a place where age differences were important.”

“That’s also right. If you faced him properly, you would know that it’s not a place to judge with such things.”

This moment of exchanging opinions with my father made me feel a strange feeling.

For some reason, I didn’t feel my father was so difficult.

It felt like I had become a horizontal relationship with my father, not a vertical one.

As companions walking the same path.

I even felt a strong bond of exchanging thoughts on the martial arts that each other had gained.

“The fact that you haven’t been able to express it in words yet means that it hasn’t become completely yours. In fact, those movements were not the best that you could unfold in your current state.”

“Yes, I know.”

My father had completely seen through it as expected.

As my father said, I hadn’t completely established my enlightenment yet.

My father stared at me.

“If you had entered the Bloodless Dream on your own and showed a ridiculous appearance, you would have received a proper punishment.”

I felt a chill down my spine.

Those words were my father’s true feelings.

I hurriedly bowed.

“I’m sorry.”

Lee Tae-shin looked at his son for a moment.

The sight of the guy, who seemed to have a few water snakes in his stomach [meaning he’s cunning or mischievous], sweating and apologizing was even felt quite cute.

‘Anyway, it was quite impressive.’

And he recalled what he had shared just now.

The magic power technique created with his youngest sister, Lee Kyung-hwa, the establishment of his own combat method at that age, and the application of the enlightenment gained from the Bloodless Dream.

It had already far exceeded the appropriate level.

“What are you planning to do in the future?”

He had far surpassed the level of a cadet.

If he was a third-year cadet, he would enter the Yukmun [an elite martial arts academy], an educational institution, or the Musadae [a military academy] as an apprentice, but that would be a waste of time.

‘He has already awakened on his own the contents of studying at Yukmun, and he is much higher level than the mediocre warriors to enter Musadae as an apprentice.’

There was no way that thorough personality would waste such time.

“……Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you, Father.”

A request, a request.

He didn’t even remember when he had received a request from his children.

But it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.

“Tell me.”

“From now on, I have to go through the third-year cadet course. But you already know about me…….”

“I don’t like beating around the bush. Just get to the point.”

“I want to experience the world.”

I paused for a moment and immediately continued.

“I want to start the life of a warrior.”