Chapter 83. It's My First Time With Royalty (1)

Three months had passed since Patrick enrolled in the Academy.

Who was it that said it?

That humans are creatures of adaptation.

Although he had caused a big incident at the Academy at first, Patrick gradually adapted to Academy life.

When he woke up in the morning, he would wear the clothes April dressed him in, go to the dining hall to eat, and participate in the morning classes.

He would swing a wooden sword around roughly, listen to the professors' words with one ear and let them out the other, and then it would be lunchtime.

After lunch, in the afternoon, he would oversee Matthew's training.

Matthew was experiencing something close to hell while being trained by Patrick, but he was gradually getting used to it…

“Oh, it looks like you can handle it now? Let's increase the weight.”

“Kraaaaaak…”

The day he would get used to it never came.

And it probably never will.

But the results were definitely showing.

Due to the training Patrick made him do, muscles began to form on his slender frame.

He could probably now do the initial body-weight Horse Stance for half a day without any problem.

After the training was over, Patrick would personally carry the collapsed Matthew back to his dormitory.

Basically, Matthew's training never ended until he collapsed.

And after laying Matthew on the bed, he would infuse qi from head to toe to fix Matthew's torn muscles and twisted blood and qi.

The collapsed Matthew didn't know, but the reason his body hadn't broken down yet despite the harsh training Patrick put him through was thanks to Patrick restoring his body with True Qi Taoist every day.

This was something Patrick didn't even do for the soldiers in his fiefdom. Why not?

How could he do this for 200 people one by one?

“You should be grateful. You're the first person I've taken care of so intensively.”

Patrick grumbled but restored Matthew's body every day.

After the recovery was finished and he came outside, April would be waiting.

“You've worked hard, Young Master.”

“Yeah. What's for dinner today?”

“I believe it is a chicken dish.”

“Chicken… Sounds good with drinks.”

“Shall I prepare them?”

“Ahem, how can one drink alcohol in the Academy's dining hall?”

After scolding April with a stern expression, Patrick licked his lips and said.

“I have to go out to drink.”

That's even worse, you bastard.

* * *

“Keeuuu…. This is nice. Life in the capital is bearable.”

It was a series of days where he would train Matthew during the day and leisurely drink with Red's money while wandering the night streets of White Town at night.

Unauthorized outings and drinking.

If Baron Schneider saw this, he would grab the back of his neck and collapse, but anyway, Patrick was spending quite satisfying days.

“Come to think of it, I've longed for this kind of leisurely life all my life.”

The Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon, the great orthodox hero who saved the Jianghu from crisis.

“Heuk…. Bullshit.”

I never wanted something like that.

The high and mighty gentlemen of the prestigious orthodox sects would at least talk about great causes and chivalry with their mouths, but the Patrick of the past life never even said such things.

Words like Great Master were just attached to him by others; he himself never asked to be called that.

Why would such a person fight like a madman at the forefront when fighting against the Unorthodox Alliance?

There was only one reason.

“Master, I… wanted to be praised by you.”

After taking a sip of the alcohol in his hand, Patrick looked up at the sky and said.

“That's all there is to it.”

Defeating the Unorthodox Alliance, helping the poor, and beating up the Demonic Practitioners who deserted from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult or the Blood Cult…

The motivation of the Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon, who worked tirelessly through such hardships, was just this.

Just like a child seeking affection from a parent, Patrick also threw himself into danger, hoping for a single word of praise from his Master.

To that extent, his Master was absolute to him.

His Master, who picked up his wildcat-like self that considered the whole world an enemy in his childhood and made him a person.

At that time, Patrick personally realized what kindness was for the first time in his life.

He could never forget the bowl of thin porridge made for a little kid who was caught stealing, even though his master had nothing to eat for himself.

To repay the grace of that one bowl, Patrick dedicated his entire life to his Master.

“Heuk, come to think of it, I had no right to curse my Master, calling him a pushover and what not.”

To have dedicated everything because he couldn't forget the grace of a measly bowl of porridge, like master, like disciple.

“Master, at the end, when I died at the Falling Phoenix Sect… were you very angry?”

He couldn't hear an answer, but it was obvious how his Master would have acted.

The war would probably be won.

At that time, the Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon had taken most of the elite forces of the Unorthodox Alliance with him to a mutual destruction.

The military power of the Unorthodox Alliance that had gathered to capture Patrick at that time was over 80 percent of the entire Unorthodox Alliance's strength.

Since most of them died along with Patrick, the war would probably have ended in a victory for the Orthodox Faction.

‘If they can't even win against the remaining 20 percent, they should just go and die.’

No matter how incompetent the leaders of the Murim Alliance were, they wouldn't be that idiotic.

So the war would be won. But…

“Are you okay, Master? Even without me?”

No matter how shameless the prestigious orthodox sect guys were and how much shady stuff they did behind the scenes, they wouldn't be able to openly persecute his Master and the Twin Dragon Sect.

So now, even without the Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon, the Twin Dragon Sect would be fine. But would his Master really like that?

“No way.”

He would be angry.

He would be sad.

He would grieve over the death of his disciple and shed tears of lament.

Patrick had no way to comfort such a Master.

What could he do when they lived in completely different worlds?

In practical terms, the Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon was dead.

“I'm sorry, Master. …I'm sorry.”

He offered an apology that couldn't reach.

With the lingering hope that it might somehow reach him.

“…Tch, what kind of sentimentality is this?”

Patrick grumbled to himself.

There was nothing more foolish than clinging to something with lingering attachment when there was no way.

Patrick knew that well, but seeing himself like this…

“Have I gotten old?”

Combining his past and present lives, he was over sixty.

His body was vigorous, but his heart seemed to have a soft spot that had formed with the passage of time.

Seeing himself wallowing in such silly sentimentality, that is.

Whooosh!

But at that moment.

As he was passing by the training ground, a sound tickled Patrick's ear.

A familiar sound.

A sound he had heard many times before.

It was the sound of a sword cutting through the wind.

“Who is it? A commendable person training at this late hour? Could it be Matthew?”

He knew Matthew had good grit, but if he was good enough to be doing self-training alone at this hour, it was something to be highly praised.

If it was Matthew, Patrick walked briskly, thinking of going over to teach him a thing or two.

And what he saw when he arrived at the training ground was…

“Ugh…. Matthew, you gritless punk.”

It wasn't Matthew.

There, a peerless beauty was swinging a sword in the air, her ebony-black hair fluttering.

A beautiful woman staying up later than anyone else to train alone in the dead of night.

The identity of that woman was Isabella Black Atronia, a third-year student at the Academy and also the princess of this country.

Patrick sat down on one side of the training ground and watched the scene.

Watching her swing her sword, her black hair, rare in this world, fluttering, he thought of his wife from his past life…

‘Nope, doesn't come to mind.’

Well, this person's wife didn't know how to use a sword.

Originally, the Sichuan Tang Clan mainly used poison and hidden weapons, and in rare cases, some of the women used whips.

However, the wife of the Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon, the Divine Doctor Saintess Dang Suryeon, used neither hidden weapons nor a whip. She…

[The feel of the hands is the best.]

With a body that could rival Shaolin's Golden Light Indestructible Body, she would charge in with her two fists clenched and smash her opponents.

In fact, like most of the people Patrick was close to in his past life, she was also far from ordinary.

“Still, she was a very peculiar woman. So much so that my father-in-law said this when we got married.”

To steal away a daughter who was born and raised delicately in a prestigious family, aren't there normal things one should hear from a father-in-law?

Live well.

Don't make her suffer.

I won't let you get away with it if you make her cry.

He had expected words like these.

But at that time, the head of the Sichuan Tang Clan and the father-in-law of the Radiant Dragon Great Master was different.

He approached Jin Cheon, held his hands tightly, and with tears welling in his eyes, said that one thing he could still not forget.

[No returns.]

[…Pardon?]

And then, with a relieved face as if his suffering was now over, he turned and left without looking back.

‘Still, we were a good match. I miss her, thinking about it. My wife.’

Just as Patrick was immersed in the memories of his past life…

“……”

“Huh?”

He realized it at some point.

That Princess Isabella was staring blankly in his direction.

It wasn't like he had hidden his presence, but…

‘What? Why? What do you want?’

Patrick, who had never once backed down from a staring contest, stared blankly back at Princess Isabella.

“……”

“……”

The two of them stared at each other from a certain distance.

And Isabella was the first to approach Patrick's side.

“You? First-year?”

“Yes. That's right.”

“……”

“Why? Did I do something wrong? Is it a crime to just be in the training ground?”

Patrick responded defiantly.

In Jianghu, secretly watching someone else's training could lead to a sword fight, but there was no such unwritten rule here.

Besides, Patrick didn't really care about such rules even in Jianghu.

So, Patrick acted confidently, as if he had nothing to be guilty about.

But Princess Isabella's pretty finger pointed at something and said.

“Is that alcohol?”

“…Uh, uh uh…”

This was a rare scene.

Patrick was genuinely flustered.

‘Ah, right. I was drinking.’

No matter what, an Academy student getting caught drinking inside the Academy by a senior couldn't not be a problem.

Here, Patrick decided to try using an excuse that the renowned masters of Murim used.

“Hohoho. This is not alcohol, but grain tea.”

“…It's alcohol, isn't it?”

“It doesn't work? You bald-headed monks.”

“……?”

Anyway, those bald-headed guys are no help in life. No help at all.

Princess Isabella said to Patrick in a stern voice.

“I will report you to the professors for drinking and bringing in prohibited items.”

“Ugh…. How petty of you to speak the truth.”

Is that petty?

Setting aside Patrick's sense of ethics, there was nothing he could do here.

“Alright. Then do that.”

What could he do, he was caught.

He would just get another confinement.

Patrick was thinking like a typical delinquent student.

To such a Patrick, Princess Isabella said.

“Is that okay?”

“What can I do if it's not okay? You're not going to expel me, are you?”

“Yes.”

“…Really?”

He didn't know this.

To the surprised Patrick, Isabella said.

“Drinking inside the Academy, bringing in items that violate school rules, and if you went out to buy it yourself, then unauthorized outing as well.”

“……”

“It's sufficient grounds for expulsion.”

“Uh…. Then that's not good.”

He was just starting to like this place called the Academy a liiiiiiittle bit.

They feed you, give you a place to sleep, and it's good for sneaking out to buy drinks.

It was true that people should play in big water, and the developed capital was indeed better than the rural fiefdom.

But if he were to be expelled now…

‘That's troublesome. If I get expelled now, my father will flip out, won't he?’

He had come to the Academy to be a filial son for a change, so this was troublesome.

Patrick glanced at Princess Isabella and said.

“Can't you just not say anything?”

“Why should I?”

“That's…”

Come to think of it, there was no reason for the princess to keep her mouth shut.

There was no loyalty to keep her quiet, and there was no benefit to be gained from it.

‘What should I do?’

Usually, in times like these, Patrick would try to shut the other person's mouth by beating them up, just as he solved most of the world's problems, but…

‘It's my first time with royalty.’

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.