30 Years After Reincarnating, It Turns Out This World Was A Rofan?!-Chapter 260: A Knight Never Forgets a Grudge (3)

"......Impressive."

Simon couldn’t hide his admiration.

When he first took on the request, he had thought of it as nothing more than an easy way to make some extra money. But now, he couldn’t help but feel like a complete fool for having such a careless attitude.

"If I had taken this more seriously from the start, the money I made would’ve been entirely different... I want to go back and punch my past self."

"You’ve said that at least thirty times already, Simon."

"Thirty? No, forty-one times. If you’re my secretary, you should at least remember that."

"...The fact that you’re keeping count just proves you’re not normal."

"I’ll take that as a compliment."

Huff.

A lighthearted chat with his secretary helped settle his lingering regrets.

But the moment he glanced at the documents on the table—his stomach twisted again.

Day 1 – [Identified that the head of Greenbell Trading Company is an illegal mage. Greenbell itself was a major financial channel for the heretical organization, and they were secretly raising private soldiers.]

Day 2 – [Delivered the information to Sir Rihan (alias). Half a day later, the entire organization was annihilated.]

Day 3 – [Illegal mage captured. Body in critical condition, but information extraction remains possible.]

The file contained detailed records of events spanning just three days.

And yet, the thickness of the file was absurd.

Greenbell was a massive mid-sized trading company. There was so much to document, and as a result, the report had grown into a dense tome.

But more than anything, the speed at which this happened sent chills down Simon’s spine.

Even if someone was exceptionally skilled, wiping out a trading company of this scale should have taken at least a month.

But it took less than three days.

And when he reached the section detailing how the knight handled the illegal mages—

Even in his sleep, he might start having nightmares.

But compared to the real nightmares that awaited those on this list—

[- Slave traders: annihilated.]

[- Drug cartel: annihilated.]

[- Assassins’ guild: annihilated.]

[- Mercenary group: annihilated.]

Those who had been wiped out were probably too traumatized to even dream at this point.

"......Is this guy even human?"

Simon’s gaze drifted over the ever-growing list of organizations that had been erased in just two weeks.

Some of them had ties to the heretics, but others had simply been caught committing atrocities—like raiding villages or kidnapping women—and had the misfortune of being discovered by a knight.

The ones who survived had been so severely beaten that they couldn’t even recognize their own faces in the mirror, and most of them had completely lost their sanity—left drooling, broken shells of men.

"...Who could have predicted that the entire underworld of the southern regions would change this drastically in just two weeks?"

"It’s not just the underworld. Even the corrupt elites in high society are shaking in their boots."

"I should’ve moved faster. The amount of money I could’ve milked from these trash heaps before they collapsed..."

"That’s your forty-second time saying that, Simon. Focus on the future."

"......Yeah, yeah."

Simon’s complaint was mostly a joke at this point.

He was a guildmaster. There was no way he would actually waste time regretting the past.

Instead of whining, he preferred to work on something more productive.

And so—

"...What’s our VIP client up to right now?"

"Resting in the warehouse."

"Are we treating him properly?"

"Of course."

"That’s good to—"

"—Well, I would say that, but unfortunately, he refuses most of our hospitality."

"......."

"He’s frugal. So frugal, in fact, that there’s nothing we can even do for him."

"...So he won’t even let us get close."

Simon felt a deep sense of regret.

Not as a businessman, but as someone who wanted to build a closer connection—

Yet, the man didn’t leave any room for that.

Still...

"At least he treats us as equals. That’s rare."

"I agree."

Even though he had no desire for wealth, the way he acknowledged and respected them made Simon and his secretary genuinely like him as a person.

***

...And yet, Ihan felt suffocated by this situation.

"Here’s some tea."

"We’ve also prepared a meal. Ah, and there’s a dish made from Eastern grains—it’s called paella. We hope it suits your taste."

"How about some wine?"

...This is suffocating.

"...I’ll say this again—you really don’t need to do this. Just give me the ingredients, and I’ll cook for myself. If I need help, I’ll ask for it."

Despite his firm refusal, the servants only smiled.

"Oh, but how could we?"

"The Guildmaster has told us at least a few hundred times to take extra good care of you."

"This is our job, so please, don’t feel uncomfortable, Sir Knight."

"......."

The fact that they were so polite and considerate made it even harder to push them away.

...Honestly, I’d rather just be fighting.

Some men might envy his situation—being surrounded by beautiful maids.

But for Ihan, this was pure torment.

Was it because he was shy around beautiful women?

No.

Ihan wasn’t that pathetic.

It was simply—

‘If I accidentally touch them, I might break their wrists...’

If he accidentally exerted even a fraction of his strength, something terrible would happen.

His strength had recently skyrocketed, and controlling it had once again become difficult.

And now, delicate women were hovering around him—forcing him to constantly be hyper-aware of every little movement he made.

It was like...

Keeping a newborn kitten or puppy near a fully grown warhorse.

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He was terrified of hurting them.

But how could he explain that to them?

What was he supposed to say?

"I’m afraid that if I accidentally touch you, your arm or leg might explode like a balloon?"

That was a one-way ticket to getting labeled a lunatic.

And so, the awkward standoff continued.

For two weeks, he remained in the Guild’s warehouse—or rather, its luxurious villa—engaging in a daily battle of rejection against the ever-smiling maids.

But to some people, his behavior...

"Hey, Tina. He’s... a lot kinder than I expected."

"I think so too, Tig."

...Came across as sweet.

Two small wolf-children—twin siblings—chatted as they watched him from afar with curious, sparkling eyes.

***

The Black Dog had promised to assist in Ihan’s hunt—but unfortunately, he wouldn't be joining the hunt himself.

"I have somewhere I need to be. More precisely, it's a promise I must keep."

What was it again?

Something about escorting a dwarf back to his homeland?

As expected of a regressor, he was always getting tangled up with the strangest of people.

However, it seemed that he couldn’t just ignore the vampire hunt, either—so he left two forms of support.

The first:

"Here’s funding. Use it to hire an intelligence guild—or better yet, go directly to Guildmaster Simon. With this amount of money and your reputation, the guild will have no reason to refuse cooperation."

According to the Black Dog, tracking the original body of a vampire was extremely difficult, even if you had a sample of their blood.

So rather than aiming directly for the main target, it would be smarter to eliminate the smaller branches of their organization and gather intel gradually.

As expected, the guild had been extremely helpful—

And thanks to that assistance, eleven different criminal groups had already fallen by Ihan’s hand.

Many had praised him for the accomplishment—but in reality, the credit belonged elsewhere.

Because if anyone deserved to be praised, it was the Black Dog’s second form of support.

"These twins will be of great help to you."

"??"

"They may look ordinary, but they are far from it. You’ll be hard-pressed to find better specialists in detection and tracking than these two."

He had sent reinforcements.

Two adorable-looking twins.

At first glance, ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) they looked no older than seven or eight.

But in truth, they were actually twelve—something that Ihan had struggled to believe at first.

Still, the Black Dog had personally vouched for them, so he had chosen to trust his judgment—

And now, having worked with them for a while, he was forced to admit it.

These two were no ordinary children.

Because when it came to their abilities—

They were the real deal.

"Half-bloods... The world really is full of strange phenomena."

A half-blood—a term used to describe those whose bloodline contained something other than pure human ancestry.

In many ways, they were the result of genetic atavism.

If an ancestor had once carried a powerful blessing or a unique bloodline, there was always a rare chance that it could manifest generations later.

And these two twins were living proof of that phenomenon.

They were werewolves.

A mystical race among the beastkin, so rare that their kind barely even existed in the world.

They were also known for avoiding human society altogether.

But these twins were an exception—

Because they had been born to a human mother.

"Born from a human, yet not human..."

Their lives must have been far from easy.

And sure enough, their behavior made it clear that they had suffered rejection before.

Even now, they instinctively avoided people.

"Excuse me, young master and young lady? There’s a bit of dust on you—would you like me to wipe it off...?"

Woosh!

"H-huh? Where did they go?"

Just approaching them was enough to make them vanish.

Despite their short legs, they were as fast as lightning—

Practically no different from cats.

...Wait.

"No, that’s not right. They’re wolves. Wolves belong to the canine family, so I shouldn't compare them to cats, right?"

As Ihan absentmindedly continued his train of thought, he suddenly realized—

The werewolf twins had somehow snuck behind him again.

"...Why do you two keep hiding behind me?"

They avoided everyone else, but when they were scared, they instinctively ran straight to him.

Why?

"...Because your body is big. It’s a good place to hide."

"Yeah, yeah."

"...You two are awfully bold for a couple of scaredy-cats."

"W-we’re not bold...!"

"W-we’re good kids...!"

"......."

For some reason—

Something about them reminded him of nonexistent nieces and nephews.

And that was how, on this very day, Ihan finally came to realize something.

"I’m just not good with kids."