30 Years After Reincarnating, It Turns Out This World Was A Rofan?! novel Chapter 135

“You lucky bastard...!”

“...What?”

“Cardinal Raphael! Do you have any idea how many believers would give anything just to speak with him? There are people who’d spend fortunes for a chance to share a meal with him! And here you are, someone who doesn’t even care about religion, casually spending time with him...!!”

“Really?”

When Jake, who had come to relay news from the tunnels, heard about Ihan’s recent interactions, he reacted explosively, leaving Ihan to blink in surprise.

Ihan had already heard that Raphael was impressive, but he hadn’t realized just how high his standing was.

To Ihan, Jake’s outburst seemed excessive.

“But why do they still call him a cardinal? Didn’t he retire ages ago?”

It seemed strange to make such a fuss over someone who was already well past retirement age.

“...That’s a statement that would turn believers’ worlds upside down if they heard it.”

Jake pressed his fingers to his temples, as though trying to suppress a headache from Ihan’s outrageous remark.

“He only stepped down because he chose to decline the position. His potential rank is still far beyond that of a cardinal. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange if he became Pope, and if he wanted to, over forty percent of the temple clergy would back him.”

“...So he’s not an ordinary guy.”

“......It’s baffling that someone in this kingdom doesn’t know who he is.”

Jake’s incredulous reaction was akin to someone hearing a fellow citizen admit they didn’t recognize a national hero.

“I’m not some temple fanatic like you.”

“...Fanatic? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means someone like you.”

“...Why does that sound like an insult?”

“It’s not. Now hurry up and dig. The day’s wasting away.”

“Hmm...”

Jake was helping to create a garden around Ihan’s yard.

They were clearing out weeds, removing rocks and debris, overturning the soil, and mixing in fertilizer before watering the ground—all to make the land viable for planting.

Though this process would normally take days, Ihan, in less than half a day, had singlehandedly cultivated over 80 pyeong (about 265 square meters) of land.

“Phew, finally done.”

“...Did we really need to go this far?”

“It’s self-sufficiency. Over there, I’ll plant radishes. Next to that, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and peanuts. That section will be for lettuce and cabbage.”

“...Quite serious about this, aren’t you? What’s that big empty section for?”

“For peppers.”

“Peppers? You mean the spicy ones recently brought in from the west? The ones they say are used for torture...?”

“...They’re spicy, yes, but what’s this about torture?”

Ihan was genuinely confused. He had simply bought some seeds being sold locally, and now this bizarre misunderstanding had cropped up.

But Jake, apparently convinced, continued:

“You cruel man. Who are you planning to torture by growing those?”

“...I’m growing them to eat, you medieval simpleton.”

Ihan felt unfairly accused.

If only these people could witness the stress-relieving effects of capsaicin in countries where spicy food was a staple.

However, to the medieval knight who thought eating something spicy equated to death:

“You’re going to eat them? ...Are you trying to build pain tolerance? Huh, now that you mention it, it does sound like a decent training method...”

“......”

It seemed he’d misunderstood in a completely different direction now.

“Let’s just go with that...”

Deciding it was easier to let the misconception stand, Ihan shook his head. There was no point in arguing further.

For a while, the two continued working on the garden, planting various crops.

The sight of knights—one a commoner and the other a destitute noble—engaging in farming instead of honorable combat was a rare spectacle indeed.

It was enough to make more traditional knights faint from shock if they saw it.

But for Ihan and Jake, there was no sense of shame in the task.

They simply worked diligently, enjoying the satisfaction of preparing the soil for their daily sustenance.

As they wrapped up and Damian approached with sandwiches for a snack break:

“...Dealing with sacred law will be tricky.”

“Huh?”

“The inquisitors from the Inquisition are all skilled in [Sacred Law]. You probably don’t know much about it since you have no ties to the temple, but Sacred Law is completely different from martial techniques. It’s a [mystical] power granted by the Light of Radiance. It’s almost like a fusion of magic and martial techniques. But because of how powerful it is, mastering Sacred Law is an incredibly grueling process. Those who manage to do so and freely use it in combat are the human weapons we call inquisitors.”

“Huh, is that so?”

“...Why do you sound so casual about this when it directly concerns you?”

“Why are you acting like I’ll definitely end up fighting them?”

“Not acting—you will. That’s why I’m warning you.”

“......”

Ihan felt wrongfully accused.

Where else could you find a peace-loving guy like him, and yet he was being maligned-

‘...Then again, with my record, I can’t exactly argue against it.’

Ihan admitted it.

It was true...

“Just seeing them made me feel a bit gross.”

Having recently tangled with a group of fanatics, Ihan’s annoyance was already at its peak. Now, finding himself entangled with the Inquisition as well, his stress was piling up.

And the most frustrating part?

‘I still don’t even know why they’re watching me.’

That’s right—he didn’t know the reason.

At least Cardinal Raphael had been kind, refraining from using force and only engaging in conversation. He showed no intention of harming Ihan.