Chapter 319

Rod met all kinds of people and built various connections in his life.

One thing he learned was that backgrounds and innate tendencies are different for everyone.

Even among the nobility, some people could have trashy personalities while others were the complete opposite.

Ironically, in extreme situations, it often happens that people switch roles—selfish folks becoming altruistic and vice versa.

Having witnessed countless such situations, he no longer judged people at face value. After all, it all depended on the context.

“That’s, that’s, that’s dangerous!”

“Come down quickly! Why are you climbing up there?!”

“··· ···”

Rod stared blankly at the monument, specifically at its central part.

The monument was warded with special magic that rendered magic power unusable upon contact.

Also, being a significant facility, most people wouldn’t even think about approaching it. Well, ideally, at least.

‘Why on earth…’

And then there was Sivar, the wild man, climbing the monument with fervor. Rod couldn’t understand it.

From the first time they’d met, Sivar gave off an unusual aura. He often displayed more beastly traits than human ones.

If you poked him while eating, he would unintentionally snarl, and he had a weird habit of breaking swords with his mouth when sparring with Elvin.

Now, he was scaling the monument with his bare hands while Rod was staring off in a daze. This was a type he had never seen before in his life.

“Ugh…”

As Sivar reached the top, Rod sighed and stayed back. He didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention.

Then, with a fluid motion, Sivar wielded his sword and made a hole in the air. He inserted his hand into that hole and pulled.

Suddenly, Sivar, who had been at the top, got dragged along by Rod’s hand, looking utterly confused.

“Ha! I was just thinking I was avoiding trouble when this happened.”

“?”

Following this, Sivar was thoroughly checked at the hospital. Physically, he was fine, but his sociability was a different story.

Well, given that he had lived in the wilderness, it was natural for him to struggle with social skills. Rod could understand that.

*Ding!*

“Dammit!”

“··· ···”

Seeing Sivar hit the bell tower with a rock, Rod could firmly resolve to just try and turn this kid into a decent person.

Ultimately, he found himself reluctantly taking on the role of educator. Even though he left early, the experience of raising a son helped immensely.

Though there were some hiccups with language acquisition, he was patient and waited it out. Plus, he wasn’t doing it alone.

“Eli is always working hard.”

“Yeah? Oh, heh heh. It’s just a part of the job.”

Eli answered with her signature bright smile. Rod smiled warmly and sipped his tea.

He heard that Sivar had saved her life at one point. If that’s the case, their bond was more than understandable.

The only thing that worried him was Sivar’s education on matters of the heart. Just looking at that explosive physique, it was bound to steal a man’s heart.

Men, by nature, are always weak to women, but that sometimes leads to some outright dirty behavior.

In such cases, they were often regarded as worse than beasts and were usually expelled from society.

‘That might be the most urgent issue.’

It wasn’t just empty talk. First off, Sivar was unusually strong.

The mere fact that he survived deep in the Chaos Forest was a testament to his strength.

Additionally, he had completely taken down a student who was renowned for being a promising candidate. Rod took this point seriously.

It wouldn’t be impossible to forcibly subdue someone. He might not even recognize it as “wrong.”

“Eli.”

“Yeah?”

“Come hug me.”

“Hehe. Come here.”

But as time passed, Rod’s thoughts began to shift slightly. He looked at the two with a puzzled expression.

The instincts of a man were undoubtedly there, but nothing went beyond that. Even if he was clinging, he didn’t use force.

Could that be called a pure heart? Rod watched the two with a satisfied face.

Rubbing his face against Eli’s large chest could be dismissed as mere childish affection.

Furthermore, Eli seemed to enjoy it too, so there was no need to point it out.

‘He has a good heart.’

Thanks to that, Rod realized that Sivar possessed an exceptionally kind heart.

Having lived in the wild, he was likely ingrained with the concept of ‘survival of the fittest.’ Yet, he was considerate of the weak.

Was it the influence of education? Rod was confident it wasn’t. After all, the time they had was pathetically short.

Moreover, even if he had more time, acceptance was a separate matter. Among the nobility, there were countless scoundrels.

He was simply kind. When it came to describing Sivar’s nature, that was all there was to say.

“I can hug too, you know?”

“No, Sivar. Come to me, not Kara.”

“If I keep getting coddled every time, it’ll be uncomfortable. I’ll take care of it now.”

Time passed, and Princess Tartar, Kara, started spending more time with Sivar. Rod just chuckled at that.

Even if Kara’s reputation was tarnished, he knew she was kind at heart. The violent incidents up to now were always the other person’s fault.

Moreover, Sivar and Kara made a surprisingly good pair. Wild man and savage—they had no choice but to get along well.

They treated each other as friends without any discrimination. Kara’s distrust of humans gradually lessened because of this.

‘Just like a cat.’

He had heard cats were excellent at healing human psyches.

After all, they were incredibly cute, and everything they did was adorable due to their appearance.

But that was all. As everyone knew, cats sometimes did incomprehensible things.

“Sivar assaulted a professor? For what reason?”

Rod was taken aback. It felt like a bolt from the blue.

Sivar had brutally beaten Professor Delphoi, and the report said he would no longer be able to act like a man.

Rod couldn’t help but feel confusion before anger at how different this was from everything he had been led to believe.

“It said… Professor Delphoi was trying to assault a student…”

“What?!”

“Sivar caught him in the act. Fortunately, the student is safe.”

“Oh.”

So that was it. Rod nodded.

Even at United Academy, it was a place where people lived. Therefore, various incidents and accidents were bound to occur.

As Chancellor, he had received quite a few reports about such cases. It was just that they hadn’t been widely covered.

However, this incident involved the noble daughter of the Duke’s Family, as well as Sivar, who was already getting quite a bit of attention.

“This incident has been requested to be handled by the Verche Duke’s Family. What do you think we should do?”

“Will Sivar be affected?”

“No. Since he has no connections or background, the atmosphere is one of wanting to keep this quiet.”

At times like these, Sivar’s background proved to be a great advantage. A wild man with no ties or background.

The Verche Duke’s Family would probably just offer a small compensation and want to bury the matter. Meanwhile, they might secretly seek out the criminal as well.

If it were any other case, it would have turned into a complicated problem; however, since Sivar’s situation was ambiguous, things progressed surprisingly smoothly.

“Chancellor, can you allow Sivar to live with me?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Well, you are the Chancellor.”

Not long after, Grace, the noble daughter who had been the victim, came to Rod to ask for a favor.

Because of what happened, every night she experienced trauma and wanted to live with Sivar.

Normally, cohabitation would require complicated procedures, but since Grace was a special case, they could bypass most of it.

‘What on earth is happening? Something feels…’

Rod scratched his head. The more he thought about it, the weirder it felt.

It felt a bit like asking for permission to cohabit before marriage. Although, the gender reversal made it amusing.

Naturally, there were numerous objections, especially from women who hung around Sivar. But Grace insisted on pushing through.

She had to take sleeping pills every night just to fall asleep and asked if they could at least allow her to do this. In any case, the cohabitation issue was settled.

“Chancellor, Sivar got into trouble again.”

“What kind of trouble this time?”

“Well, apparently, he cut off a student’s tongue because they insulted him.”

“Ha······”

This wasn’t the end. Rod sighed once more at the report of Sivar’s incident.

A cat could only be so well-behaved, after all. He thought Sivar was becoming more social, but that was clearly a fantasy.

Still, he couldn’t feel any hostility toward him. Rather, upon hearing the circumstances that led to this outburst, he felt pleasantly surprised.

He didn’t care if they insulted him. However, he could not tolerate anyone insulting others, especially those he was close to.

‘How impressive.’

What a remarkable child he was. It wasn’t that he was less civilized; he simply had a very kind heart.

Ah, of course…

“Chancellor.”

“What is it?”

“I think Sivar has run away.”

“··· ···”

He disappeared from the academy without a word during the vacation, which made people anxious.

“Chancellor.”

“Why again?”

“Sivar broke the hero statue.”

“··· ···”

He was playing with kids and completely smashed the hero statue.

“Chancellor.”

“Why do you keep calling?”

“Sivar jumped from the dormitory.”

“Take him to the hospital now!!”

He had eaten something strange in the forest and was in serious pain.

*Crunch! Crack!*

“··· ···”

“··· ···”

“Can you explain what the hell is going on?”

“Running away.”

“Don’t run away! Come back here?!”

He fell from the ceiling while playing with some ‘toys’.

There wasn’t a single day of peace. He was truly the embodiment of a troublemaker.

Yet, Rod couldn’t bring himself to hate him. No matter how many accidents Sivar caused, his kind heart remained unchanged.

‘My son never caused this much trouble…’

Perhaps it was God’s way of telling Rod to manage Sivar, throwing trials his way. Suddenly, that thought crossed his mind.

As time passed, he couldn’t help but grow fond of him rather than resentful. Rod couldn’t help but think of his late son.

Had he gone to class properly today? Did he cause any more trouble? Did he pick up something weird again while wandering around?

Though he was nothing like an ordinary person, the worry in his heart was no less than that of any parent. He had grown deeply attached to Sivar.

‘He keeps causing anxiety for everyone.’

It was a charm, in a way. The way he unknowingly captured people’s hearts.

Unless Sivar was cleverly utilizing this trait, he was simply going about life mindlessly.

Sometimes, when given rice crust candy, he would show an expressionless glee, faithful to his instincts.

If this were to continue, it would be one thing, but the trials weren’t over yet.

*Bam!*

A purple-tinged spear pierced through his side. Rod furrowed his brow.

Danger. He felt that instinctively. Having faced purple before made him more aware than ever.

“H-Hey, Grandpa.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a little stab to the side.”

In reality, it wasn’t fine at all. First off, he couldn’t even apply pressure to stop the bleeding.

What kind of energy was packed into that thing? The wound wouldn’t heal. It was a dangerously critical situation.

However, giving up was not an option. In a scenario where gravity had tilted vertically, only he could move freely.

He had to endure even if it meant every second was a struggle until reinforcements arrived. Rod faced ‘False’ with a resolve to risk his life.

“So, have you got any last words to leave?”

“··· ···”

It was too much. The wound on his side took a significant toll.

However, he had no intent of blaming Sivar. Rod turned his head with a smile.

‘He can show that kind of expression too.’

Sivar was looking at him with a face that was almost on the verge of crying. What a human expression it was.

Who would call that child a descendant of a ‘demon’? He was merely an exceptionally kind human.

He may cause trouble, but he was liked by everyone. He would recognize his wrongdoings and show efforts to change.

‘Sorry.’

He hadn’t really done much for Sivar. Rod slowly closed his eyes.

If he were to reopen them, he wanted to grant Sivar as many of his wishes as possible.

In that final moment, it was regretful that it came down to this.

‘Nothing else matters…’

As consciousness faded, Rod thought.

‘I want to hear you call me Grandpa… again.’

A simple yet profound wish.

******

“··· ···”

They say that when someone dies, their life flashes before their eyes. Rod found himself thinking of that.

His vision was a bit dim, but he recognized the ceiling he was so familiar with.

“······I.”

“··· ···”

“Grandpa.”

A voice pierced through Rod’s ears. It was a voice he knew all too well.

Shakily, he turned his head. The familiar face entered his view.

Though the hair had turned completely white, the face was one he couldn’t forget even if he tried.

“Grandpa.”

“··· ···”

“Do you remember me?”

At the heartfelt question, Rod smiled faintly and replied.

“Yes…”

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