Outside the royal castle, Argus asked Jin why he had pulled such a dangerous stunt. Jin did not answer. In truth, he had felt a strange presence coming off Terris, and he sincerely hoped it had only been his imagination.
Instead, Jin thanked Charlotte for helping him. She gladly accepted, then apologized for Terris's actions and said she hoped they could remain good friends. Jin agreed warmly.
Argus asked why Terris would do something so reckless. Charlotte admitted she did not know his exact motive, but she knew her brother was dangerously ambitious. Once Terris ascended the throne, he intended to wage war on other nations and expand the kingdom's territory. She guessed that Jin's existence looked like an obstacle to him.
Still, Charlotte assured Jin that she would not let Terris lay a hand on him again. By now Harden should be reporting the incident to the king. With the king's restrictions in place, Terris would not be able to move against Jin so easily.
But that was not what Jin was truly worried about.
Charlotte then revealed that she had no intention of yielding the throne to Terris. She asked whether Jin was willing to trust her. After judging her character, Jin decided she was good enough, and agreed.
After that agreement, Argus asked where they were heading. Charlotte replied that it would be disgraceful not to reward the hero who had saved the royal kingdom. Then she asked whether it was true that Jin had been living at an inn. When he confirmed it, she decided to fix that problem immediately.
Charlotte rewarded Jin with a huge mansion. She explained that it was an old noble villa, abandoned long ago when its owner left the royal capital, so Jin could use it however he wanted.
When he opened the door, he found a clean, spacious interior with an expensive chandelier hanging above. The place was honestly far too fancy for someone who had recently woken up naked in a ruined lab. Jin nervously asked whether it was really all right for him to accept something this huge.
Charlotte cheerfully said yes. She explained that the villa had originally belonged to someone with the title of count, but that it had not been used for a long time. Jin asked whether the original owner might suddenly come back, but the moment he saw Charlotte's grin, he decided not to dig any deeper. Some royal problems were better left untouched.
Jin thought the reward was too much, but Argus explained that this only showed how highly they valued him. Then he pushed Jin inside, officially telling him that from this day forward, this was his home.
Jin looked around excitedly, then pointed out that the mansion was far too big for one person to live in. Hearing that, Argus suggested arranging servants to manage the place. More specifically, he said that Nino and Poire would gladly accept the job if it was for Jin. Jin asked whether that was really all right, but Argus reminded him that he already owed Jin a great deal. To make sure Jin did not feel burdened, Argus asked him to grant one request in return.
At the seventh unit training grounds, Karina was sparring with a fellow knight, and easily caught him off guard before defeating him. Ria stopped the match and praised her improvement, but Karina knew she still had a long way to go.
During the recent chaos, all she had been able to do was handle small fry while Jin casually killed the giant Corruptor by himself. Just remembering that made her angry. She still could not accept how someone from an inferior race could be that ridiculously strong.
Then Argus and Charlotte arrived at the training ground, which only annoyed Karina further. She immediately wondered what he was doing there.
On Jin's side, he asked Argus what he wanted him to do. Argus replied that Jin should already understand by now. Jin guessed that Argus wanted him to train the Holy Knights, and Argus confirmed it.
Argus reminded Jin that he had personally experienced Terris's complete lack of restraint earlier. Terris and Charlotte were both contenders for the throne, and nobody knew when or how Terris would move next. The only ones who could protect Charlotte were the seventh unit, who had sworn loyalty to her. Since the critical moment could arrive at any time, Argus wanted Jin to train them for that day.
Jin quietly observed the knights. Their fundamentals were solid, and they clearly trained hard on a regular basis. But from his point of view, something important was missing.
He smiled as memories from a hundred million years ago returned to him. Back then, to become an official agent serving the nation, Jin had trained as though his life depended on it, because for him it literally had.
Argus called everyone's attention and announced that they had invited a national hero as a special instructor to strengthen their training. He told them Jin would teach them what they currently lacked, and asked whether they understood. The knights answered in unison.
Jin looked over the group and thought that obedient students were easy to train. The difficult ones, however, might become a hassle.
He started with a simple order. He wanted to assess their stamina, so he told them to run laps around the outer perimeter of the training ground.
Karina immediately objected. She said they already did this every day, so there was no need to check, because they had more than enough stamina. Then she mockingly asked whether Jin had come all this way just to make them do something pointless.
Ria and Argus tried to stop her, but Jin apologized instead, and decided to change the test. He removed his jacket and walked toward the wooden weapons. He asked Karina whether her weapon was a spear. When she confirmed it, Jin picked one up and told her to try landing a single hit on him. There was no time limit. If she could land even one clean hit, she would not have to run.
Jin smiled, already knowing that Karina would never accept training from someone she considered weaker.
Karina smirked and asked whether he could even use a spear. So Jin answered without words. He spun the spear around as if it weighed nothing, rolling it through his hands like a toothpick while releasing so much force that everyone in the training ground went silent. When he finished, he confidently told Karina that there was no weapon he could not handle.
A hundred million years ago, Jin had been training his spear skills when Kagura appeared with a drink and asked whether he had any hobbies besides training. Jin said he used to watch hero shows as a kid, but Kagura pointed out that he was asking about the current Jin, not the child from the past.
Kagura reminded him that he was already the top agent of their country, and asked whether he did not think it was fine to take a break once in a while. But Jin replied that he did not have time for that. He was often assigned to infiltrate enemy organizations, and sometimes he was sent in with nothing. That meant he had to produce weapons on site, and if he picked up any random weapon during a mission, he needed to know how to use it well enough to survive. Even a tiny increase in survival odds was worth training for.
Kagura was left speechless. Then he sighed in frustration and promised that someday he would invent something so that Jin would never have to worry about weapons again.
Back in the present, Karina accepted the duel and charged forward with her spear. Jin blocked her attack effortlessly. When their spear blades clashed, he pushed her weapon aside and pointed his spear near her face, defeating her instantly.