Chapter 1010 – The Plum Blossom Swordsman Reincarnated Into A Noble Family
We entered Randle Village.
We immediately noticed the anomaly. There wasn’t a single sign of life in the village.
We slowly surveyed the village. There were about 150 houses. The houses looked better than those of most commoners. It seemed they had quite a bit of wealth, perhaps due to their trade with the Elven village.
“They all must have run away,” I said, nonchalantly. Casting my gaze far into the distance, I could see black smoke rising into the sky. The forest was burning, and an army was advancing. Even if they weren’t the target, the villagers would have been terrified and fled, knowing the army could commit atrocities.
‘In this world, there’s no such thing as protecting civilians. It’s common for civilians to be plundered by the army and captured as slaves.’
In fact, it was considered normal. Some people even joined the army for the sake of looting.
Therefore, in the case of ordinary villages, it was common for them to abandon their homes and flee just at the mention of an army nearby. They would either take refuge in large, safe cities or hide in the mountains or forests until the war was over.
‘Most of them flee to big cities. Though, even big cities aren’t safe from war.’
I looked at Elnoa. She had been looking around the village since earlier. Her eyes were shaking with unease.
“Elnoa, have you forgotten our purpose? We need to get to Beliak Village as quickly as possible.”
“M-Master. Something’s wrong. The residents of Randle Village that I know wouldn’t abandon their homes and run away like this just because an army is coming.”
“Even those who act tough usually panic and can’t do anything when something actually happens. It’s probably the same in this case.”
A hunter village.
It seemed they were referring to those who hunted in the Polangp Forest. The Polangp Forest was a dangerous place where only one out of ten people survived, but it would be different for this village, which had good relations with Beliak Village.
‘Judging by how highly Elnoa thinks of them, they must be experts at hunting monsters.’
Monster hunters.
Unlike adventurers or mercenaries, they were experts who lived solely by hunting monsters.
‘Monsters and humans are different. What can monster hunters do against an army of 12,000 humans? They have no choice but to run away.’
Yuria approached. She had quietly checked the house right next to us.
“M-Master… The household goods are still inside. There are things left behind that they would have taken if they had evacuated.”
“So, it wasn’t an evacuation.”
Elena said indifferently. Like me, she wasn’t particularly interested in this matter.
“…So, they just left everything behind? They must have been in quite a hurry.”
Elena shook her head.
“That’s not it. There’s no sign of a hasty departure. They must have moved somewhere as a group. Yuria, based on what you saw inside the house, how long do you think it’s been empty?”
Yuria thought for a moment before speaking.
“Judging by the dust accumulated inside, about four days… perhaps?”
“Four days… The Bitrase army’s advance started much earlier. These villagers must have moved for another reason. It’s a village that trades with Beliak Village, right? Perhaps these villagers are in Beliak Village.”
“Elnoa, you heard Elena, right? Let’s go to Beliak Village. If we go there, we might find out why this village is like this.”
“Yes…”
Elnoa looked at the village with uneasy eyes and then headed into the forest. I followed her, thinking for a moment. This village was abandoned. They said that household goods were left behind in the houses.
‘Should I go and take them?’
Everything was free. Greed crept into my mind. And then, annoyance washed over me.
‘What would I do with that junk? It’s not like it’s dwarven goods… It’s not worth any money. My time is more valuable.’
I erased the thought of Randle Village from my mind.
Elnoa, who was guiding us, kept stopping and starting. Each time, she would sharply narrow her eyes and prick up her long ears.
Curious, I asked her, “How exactly do you find your way through this forest?”
“I use the power of the spirits. If you listen carefully to the whispers of the earth and trees, you can find your way.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. The power of the spirits was a complete mystery to me.
‘In the Savior of the Academy, I was also a spirit user… but that was because of my Spirit Eye (S). In this world, I don’t even know the basics of spirits.’
I rolled my eyes to the side. I met Elena’s gaze. Elena also seemed not to understand what Elnoa was saying.
“…I think I have a general idea. Elnoa, do we need to go that way?”
Yuria pointed to the left. Elnoa nodded in surprise.
“That’s right. It’s that way. How did you know? Could it be that the Head Maid also has the power of the spirits…?!”
“How should I explain it… I just felt like the mana over there was a little different.”
“As expected of the Head Maid! Amazing!”
Elnoa exclaimed in admiration. Of course, I was also impressed. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t tell. Even using my Heavenly Eye to see the mana with my own eyes, I couldn’t tell.
‘It must be some kind of sensory… something that only geniuses can understand.’
I recalled the feeling when I used the Genius’s Time. It felt like my spirituality had increased by at least tenfold. If Yuria, who was born with that feeling, was able to find her way through this forest, it wouldn’t be impossible.
“Screeeeeech!”
A bat, about 1 meter in size, was hanging upside down on a thick tree. It shrieked at us when it saw us. The high-frequency sound echoed around us. I frowned. An ordinary person could die or faint from hearing that high-pitched sound, but for us, it was just an unpleasant noise.
“Screeeeeech… Squawk!”
The dagger that Yuria threw pierced the bat’s right eye. It died instantly.
“Hmm. They’re coming.”
Elena muttered.
Immediately after, the sound of flapping wings could be heard from all directions. The sound the bat monster made before it died was to call its companions.
“There are at least 30 of them. Should I step in?”
“No. I’ll take care of it.”
Even with full recovery, it was best to conserve Elena’s strength as much as possible. The deeper we went into the forest, the more dangerous monsters would appear. Elena was our trump card.
‘It’s a technique I’ve practiced a few times… let’s call this a Lightning Ball. I plan to make it a technique of the Yeongcheon Style, but that’s for later.’
Crack, crackle.
Blue lightning gathered on my palm. The lightning slowly rotated, forming a sphere. Before the bats could fully attack, I raised the lightning ball upwards. Now that I had reached level 10 in lightning attribute, I could control lightning remotely more easily and precisely.
‘In English, it’s a Lightning Ball.’
Crackling! Crackling!
Lightning erupted from the lightning ball, electrocuting and killing the attacking bats. The situation was resolved in less than 10 seconds. The bats, numbering over 30, were now electrocuted and lying on the ground.
‘Trying to control each bolt of lightning individually is mentally exhausting. Is there no other way?’
I couldn’t think of a suitable method.
“Amazing. It was like watching magic. Your abilities have improved since the last time I saw you. …Is that magic?”
“It’s not magic. I can’t use magic in the first place. I don’t have the talent for it.”
“Well, that technique just now was as good as magic. And you… you’re thinking about magic too rigidly. Magic is certainly difficult, but there are many different kinds of magic. You can use magic without difficult methods.”
Elena’s words piqued my interest.
Magic.
Unlike swordsmanship, this was truly the realm of talent. Even in reality, it was a realm that people without talent couldn’t even dream of. That’s why I, who had no talent, never even considered it. Until I heard Elena’s words just now.
“My interest is piqued. What’s an example of magic that can be used without difficult methods?”
“A prime example is inscription magic. It’s a method of inscribing magic on the skin or clothes and activating it by consuming mana. It has the disadvantage of low power and limited use, but it has the advantage of being able to use magic easily. And then there’s rune magic. It’s difficult to master, but the basics can be easily learned through rote memorization.”
“How many years do you have to study rune magic?”
“I don’t know because I haven’t learned it. I’ve heard that you can learn the basics in about 1-2 years.”
I, who had no talent, estimated it would take 3 years.
I would have to study magic for 3 years? I thought back to my middle and high school days. Back then, I was terrible at studying. Once, I was tricked by my parents’ allowance scheme and studied seriously… but my grades weren’t as good as I had expected. My ranking was closer to the bottom.
‘I remember demanding an allowance back then, and when that didn’t work, I even ran away from home before I finally got it.’
With that money, I used my dad’s name to buy a high-end onahole. It was an onahole that replicated the vagina of a popular AV actress at the time. It was a top-of-the-line onahole that replicated the buttocks, clitoris, labia, and even the anus… but I never even got to use it.
‘I got caught by my dad and got my ass kicked. I don’t know what happened to the onahole after my dad took it… but I don’t think he threw it away… Damn. Thinking about it, it pisses me off. My dad NTR’d my onahole?!’
Grinding my teeth.
‘The best way to deal with NTR is with NTR! But… to NTR my dad, I’d have to bang my mom… No matter how I think about it, I can’t get it up for my own mom.’
So, I gave up on the NTR retaliation.
‘My dad’s allowance is confiscated for 3 months.’
To end my revenge for NTR like this. I’m such a filial son.
“So, are you going to learn magic?”
Elena’s voice brought me back to my senses. I shook my head.
“No. It’s more beneficial to use that time to practice swordsmanship. If I need magic, I can just hire a mage.”
“You have plenty of time, don’t you…? Well, do as you please.”
Yuria, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, approached.
“Um… is this what you mean by rune magic?”
Yuria extended her finger in the air. The tip of her finger glowed blue. Unintelligible characters were drawn in the air.
“…Those are rune characters. Did rune characters exist in this world too?”
“Yuria, where did you learn that?”
“There was a book in the shadows… I just tried to learn it once.”
“A book?”
When I asked again, Yuria showed me. She took the book out of the shadows. I slightly opened my mouth when I saw the title of the book.
The title of the book was ‘Basics of Runes’. It didn’t sound like much. The problem was that the title wasn’t in the language of this world. It was in the language of the [God’s Atlantis] world.
‘…Yuria was summoned to the God’s Atlantis world before. Did she take it into the shadows and get reverse summoned?’
There was no other explanation for how she had that book in her hands.
“……Did she buy that with the compensation money she received back then? Well, it’s amazing that she learned to read runes by herself… Wait a minute. Didn’t you say you lost your memories a few months ago?”
Elena said in surprise.
The language part was fine. Even when she lost her memories, Yuria could read and write. But she should have lost her knowledge of rune characters.
“When I had nothing to do before… I just read it once.”
“You just read it once? Not studied it?”
“It was well-organized, so it wasn’t difficult.”
“……I knew it, but she’s an absurd maid.”
Elena shook her head.
It was funny. In my eyes, Elena was also a genius. Especially her illusion magic, which I thought was a talent comparable to a god. Her other talents might be inferior to Yuria’s, though.
‘If I use the Genius’s Time… No, never mind. What can a 10-second boost do?’
We talked as we followed Elnoa deeper into the forest. Monsters appeared. Most of the time, Yuria moved first and ended the monsters’ lives, and when a large group of monsters appeared, I stepped in.
As the sun was setting, we found a corpse leaning against a tree. Judging by the clothes and weapons, he looked like a hunter. His face was gaunt, and his skin was pale. There were black spots scattered across his skin, and the clothes on his chest were stained with dried red blood.
“…Why is the corpse intact?”
Yuria said as she looked at the corpse. I was about to ask what she meant, but then I realized where we were. This was the Polangp Forest. It was teeming with monsters and wild beasts. A corpse should normally be in the belly of a monster in less than an hour.
“…It reminds me of the old days. Yes, there was a time when this happened. …This is going to be a headache.”
Elena sighed.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Monsters and beasts have excellent instincts. They know instinctively. They know that this is meat they can’t eat. And if you look at the black spots on his skin, can’t you tell? This is a plague.”
Elena looked up. After a beat, she spoke again.
“A plague has spread in this forest.”
