Free Web NovelChapter 308: What a Healthy Master-Disciple Relationship!
Faced with Andrew’s furious rebuke, Sapphire Star actually gave a satisfied nod, as if everything had just clicked into place for him.
"Ah, that familiar tone and feel... it really is you, kid, isn’t it?!"
Then, with complete and utter righteousness, he declared:
"Your partner Evelyn sent word saying you suddenly vanished without a trace. And aside from the final signs of combat, there wasn’t a single other mark left behind. If that isn’t dying, what is?"
"Since you were dead, then as your master, inheriting your legacy and making use of your gems — what’s the big deal?" Such a perfect line of reasoning. By the time he’d finished saying it, Sapphire Star had even convinced himself.
For a brief moment, Andrew nearly lost his composure.
A master inheriting the legacy of his own disciple?
How in the world do you even say something like that with a straight face?
As absurd as it sounded from any angle, knowing his master’s absolutely titanium-plated shamelessness as well as he did, Andrew was completely certain the man was fully capable of using this as a genuine justification to talk himself into it.
Andrew stared at him, momentarily speechless, before saying flatly:
"Old man, do you even believe a word coming out of your own mouth?"
"Don’t you know exactly what I’m capable of? You actually expect me to swallow a load of nonsense about a female Rathalos one-shotting me? If you want my gems, just say so!"
Recalling his master’s track record of past antics, Andrew had a sudden flash of insight — the look of someone who had seen straight through to the truth — and said:
"You shameless old codger. You were purely cooking up an excuse so you’d have a righteous reason to swipe my gems, weren’t you?"
A beat of silence settled over the air.
Then Sapphire Star was the first to react. He immediately turned his head to one side, refusing to meet Andrew’s eyes, and stuttered with obvious guilt:
"W-what are you talking about? I’m your master. What kind of master would actually wish for something bad to happen to their own disciple? Right?"
But the words had barely left his mouth before Andrew, who had been boring holes into him with a hard stare, spoke without a moment’s hesitation:
"No — the fact that you ARE my master is precisely WHY you’d pull something like this."
"If you had even the slightest lack of confidence in my abilities, you wouldn’t have felt zero concern upon hearing the news. Your very first instinct would NOT have been to think: ’Great, he’s gone — time to help myself to his gems while he’s away’!!!"
Facing his disciple’s white-knuckled fists.
The crisis alarm screaming through his sixth sense had already made him feel, almost physically, exactly what the texture of the fist that was one moment away from connecting with his face would be like.
The thought of Andrew’s monstrous strength made Sapphire Star’s entire body go taut. Even years later, the memory of that terrifying power still gave him chills — if that fist actually landed on his face...
The result, needless to say, would not be pretty.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem—"
To prevent a full-coverage helmet or balaclava from becoming a permanent wardrobe necessity for the foreseeable future, he immediately erupted into a fit of exaggerated coughing and swiftly changed the subject:
"Uh, right, so — where exactly did you disappear to during all this time, kid?"
Saying this, Sapphire Star couldn’t help but let a hint of genuine curiosity show.
After all, with the Guild’s reach and resources, so long as someone was anywhere in this world, there should be at least some trace of them — unless they were in a place where no human life existed whatsoever.
When that letter had arrived from the Forbidden Lands back then, even he had been caught off guard for a moment.
Staring at his disciple — who had suddenly vanished in the Forbidden Lands several months ago, and had now reappeared in the New World just as suddenly and without any warning whatsoever — Sapphire Star ultimately couldn’t suppress his own curiosity, and started asking.
"The Guild threw enormous effort into this. They basically swept every region within reach."
"But whether it was the New World, the Old World, or the Forbidden Lands — they even checked the border regions — not a single piece of news or trace of you turned up. It was as if you’d just evaporated off the face of the earth."
Hearing this, Andrew finally remembered.
The incident during his hunt of the female Rathalos — how he had accidentally slipped into another world entirely — was something he hadn’t had a chance to tell anyone yet since getting back.
With that in mind, Andrew immediately began explaining things to his master.
"Old man, do you remember that scorching-hot wizard named Geralt we ran into back in the Ancient Forest? The one who gave you the runestone?"
"Geralt?"
Hearing that distant name, even with Sapphire Star’s memory, it took him a moment to place who that was.
In the end, it was only the two keywords — ’scorching-hot’ and ’runestone’ — that successfully dragged the old memory back to the surface.
Sapphire Star smacked a fist into his palm and said, with mild uncertainty:
"You mean that guy who discovered by accident that he could leap from over two meters in the air and not die — not even get hurt — and then got so absolutely wired about it that he ran around finding every ledge he could and spent a full two hours jumping off things, over and over again?"
In his memory, the image resurfaced: a silver-haired man with a long, narrow scar running across his face, sitting by a campfire, drinking and boasting about how he’d had no fewer than six lovers back in his original world.
Though the man’s only daughter was apparently an adopted one — which, honestly, made you wonder how someone with six lovers ended up in that situation.
Not that he’d elaborated on the details.
But that was none of Sapphire Star’s business anyway.
Having received Andrew’s confirmation, Sapphire Star gave a decisive nod and said:
"I remember him. What about it?"
Hearing Andrew suddenly bring up this seemingly unrelated incident from years ago, Sapphire Star was initially puzzled.
But very quickly, drawing on his familiarity with Andrew and the unspoken understanding between them, he grasped what Andrew was trying to say by bringing it up.
"Oh!"
Sapphire Star said, his eyes lighting up:
"So you crossed over into another world? Into that guy’s world?"
Seeing his master catch on that quickly, Andrew snapped his fingers in satisfaction, nodded, and said:
"First half, correct. Second half, wrong."
"I did cross over to another world by accident — but it wasn’t Geralt’s world. It was an entirely new world, one that had never had any visitors from our world before."
Hearing this, Sapphire Star was briefly taken aback. Then he picked up on something sharp — an emotion hiding beneath the surface of Andrew’s words and gaze.
This wasn’t the wistful reflection of someone recounting a completed adventure. It was the fierce, burning energy of someone still deep in the middle of one.
And Andrew’s subsequent explanation of why he had come back only confirmed that Sapphire Star’s read had been exactly right.
"The Frenzy Virus, mutated because of an energy source called Ether — rendering the original vaccines entirely useless, correct?"
Sapphire Star gave a serious nod, stroking his chin — or rather, the base of the Sway Eel’s neck — and said thoughtfully:
"You know what scholars are like. The Third Fleet’s commander has been stationed at the Scholar outpost in the Coral Highlands for some time now, deep in research."
"Going by her habits when she gets into this kind of work, once she enters that state, she won’t budge for at least a month."
Mentally calculating the time that had passed since she’d thrown herself into the research, Sapphire Star mused:
"You’re actually in luck this time. If you count the days, her research should be coming to a close pretty soon."
Hearing this, Andrew could only let out a mildly exasperated shrug, then added right on the heels of Sapphire Star’s words:
"Assuming the research actually wraps up smoothly."
"But even if it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter. I’m fairly experienced when it comes to redirecting that woman’s attention away from whatever she’s currently buried in."
Hearing that, Sapphire Star burst out laughing.
When it came to Andrew’s ability to wrap the entire Third Fleet of hard-drinking scholars around his little finger, Sapphire Star — having witnessed the spectacle more times than he could count — had absolutely no doubts.
Especially since that bunch of hard-core alcoholics had a particular obsession with fiery, pungent, numbing liquor.
Back when Andrew was still in the New World, he’d spent time fermenting and distilling a drink called Baijiu from sorghum in the Ancient Forest — which, with its reliably stable and moist climate, was ideal for the process. That Baijiu had been living rent-free in the minds of the entire Third Fleet ever since.
Even though Andrew had given those scholar-drunks the full method before leaving, for some reason they could never quite nail it on their own after he left. The Baijiu they brewed and distilled themselves always fell just a little short of the real thing.
And as luck would have it — the last remaining batch that Andrew had left behind had been completely drained at a banquet just a short while ago.
And as luck would further have it — the very Andrew who had vanished was now suddenly back.
The rest practically wrote itself.
Sapphire Star was willing to bet that if Andrew offered to brew for them, those people — so long as he wasn’t asking them to cross a line of principle — would agree on the spot without a moment’s hesitation.
Let alone when the request was, by its very nature, something aimed at dealing with an incoming crisis threatening another world.
And if he offered to share the brewing method beforehand? Well... that particular line of principle might just be negotiable enough to... shift just a teeny bit.
As long as there’s enough liquor, even principles have a little wiggle room, right?
"By the way though, how did you suddenly end up as an instructor?"
Looking at Sapphire Star before him, Andrew asked.
He was genuinely curious about this.
If he remembered correctly, right before he left, Sapphire Star had been the same as always — taking on only the most grueling and dangerous commissioned hunts handed down by the Guild.
Yet several years later, here he was: playing chaperone instructor for rookies on their trial run in the Ancient Forest.
Wasn’t that sort of thing usually the old Sword Master’s forte?
Looking at Sapphire Star in front of him — clearly trying to dodge accountability for the gem-swiping incident by steering the conversation elsewhere with a bit of banter — Andrew chose not to call him out on it. Instead, he went along and let it slide for now.
Because honestly, Andrew was genuinely curious.
Besides — the old man’s personal stash was basically all stored back at the Astera base anyway. If he ran off, it didn’t matter.
After all, you can run from the monk but you can’t run from the temple.
The very first thing he’d do when he got back was head straight to that warehouse and take back what was his. As for whether he might accidentally pick up a little extra in the process...
Well, once you’re inside the warehouse, that’s not really up to his master anymore, now is it?
And even if he got caught red-handed, it was fine.
He’d just play dumb. After all, this whole thing had started because his master was in the wrong.
Besides — what’s a master for, if not to share a few materials with his disciple? Keep it in the family, as they say. Heheheheh~
At an angle Sapphire Star couldn’t see, Andrew let a slow, sinister smile creep across his face.
As the saying goes: like master, like disciple.
Some things really do run in the blood.
For no particular reason, an inexplicable chill ran down Sapphire Star’s spine, and he instinctively shuddered.
Feeling that strange prickling through his sixth sense, the familiar sensation from deep in his gut dragged up old memories.
In the past, every single time that inexplicable chill had crept over him, it had meant one thing — someone had set their sights on his materials stockpile.
And the worst part? Almost every single time, whoever had targeted it had actually succeeded in making off with it!
And the culprit responsible for repeatedly delivering devastating blows to his materials supply — was none other than the rotten little punk standing right in front of him!
’Oh no. My materials!’ ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
Remembering what he’d just done, Sapphire Star’s inner alarm blared.
I just handed this kid a perfectly legitimate excuse to waltz into my warehouse!
The last thing he’d feared was Andrew making a big, loud, righteous fuss about the gem-swiping. What he feared was Andrew saying nothing at all and staying dead quiet!
My own disciple — do I not know him?
With that stubborn refusal to ever take a loss of his, the little schemer was absolutely, one hundred percent, cooking up something devious right now!
The instant that thought struck him, Sapphire Star’s guard shot up — a barely perceptible wariness flickering behind his eyes.
But only for an instant.
That look was immediately and completely suppressed, and Andrew had already straightened his expression back into one of perfect innocence.
On the surface, the scene looked every bit like a devoted master and his respectful disciple sharing a wholesome moment — but beneath it, an undercurrent was already churning. An invisible war had silently begun.
Neither one, however, was willing to be the first to break the facade.
Faced with Andrew’s question, Sapphire Star kept his gaze fixed on him while an unmistakable expression of grievance crept across his face.
"The reason I’m even shepherding rookies is because of you, kid."
"Me?"
Hearing that, Andrew only grew more puzzled.
He scratched his head and asked:
"Old man, you can eat whatever you want, but words aren’t something you should throw around carelessly. What does any of this have to do with me?"
At that, Sapphire Star replied with barely-concealed exasperation:
"Who else? My first disciple turned out so remarkably brilliant that everyone suddenly and inexplicably developed an enormous amount of confidence in my teaching ability."
Saying this, Sapphire Star let out a helpless sigh.
"On top of that, ever since we entered the era of stability, the investigation hunts that actually require me to step in have been getting fewer and fewer. Now it’s down to maybe one in every month or two, if that."
"It’s precisely because things have completely stabilized that the Guild — dealing with a shortage of personnel while sitting on an absolutely thriving ecosystem — has officially designated the New World’s Astera as a base cleared for rookie recruitment."
"Now they’re not only recruiting from the children of hunters and scholars who’ve already settled here locally — there are quite a few rookies from the Old World who’ve started making the voyage over specifically to become hunters in the New World."
"Apparently they’re trying to follow in their idol’s footsteps."
Saying that, Sapphire Star could only spread his hands in a gesture of helpless resignation:
"So since I had nothing better to do, the Commander basically grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and shoved me into a part-time instructor role whether I liked it or not."
"Ha — old man, looks like karma finally caught up with you."
Having heard the whole story, Andrew burst out laughing.
Then he put on a mock-sympathetic expression and said:
"Well, as the legendary hunter who defeated the mythical Black Dragon, you’ve got fans making the voyage out here just to walk in your footsteps and become hunters themselves. Surely you can take care of them a little, can’t you?"
But as the words fell, Andrew found himself looking at a distinctly confused expression on Sapphire Star’s face.
"What are you talking about?"
Sapphire Star said, visibly unamused:
"The people coming over — their idol isn’t me. It’s you, kid."
"Me?!"
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