Chapter 1602 – 1602. Plum Blossom Sword Master Reincarnated Into The Baek Family
I rose from the shadows. It felt like I had been asleep for a long time.
My body was lighter than before I had sunk into the shadows. I took a step. I could feel a surge of power. The center of the power was my heart.
Flop.
Something fell from my body. It was dead skin. Seeing it, I realized that I had undergone a metamorphosis.
“Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”
Yuria, who had been quietly waiting, asked.
“I’m great. It feels like I was just born. The pounding of my heart… it must be because of you.”
I gave her a subtle look. A smile formed on Yuria’s lips.
“I focused on adjusting your body around your heart. Just by breathing, mana will naturally flow in and out of your body.”
“So, I’ll get stronger just by breathing now?”
“It’s not to that extent. The recovery speed of your body and your stamina will increase.”
Yuria said firmly.
That alone was more than enough.
I was still unsure about my power, but I guessed I was at least at the upper or highest level of an aura master.
Guided by Yuria, I left the administrator’s floor.
According to her, I had been asleep for about fifteen days. I was surprised that I had been asleep for longer than I had thought.
When I arrived at the castle, I was shocked to see my surroundings. The labyrinth was gradually collapsing. Yuria’s shadow chains were holding the collapsing labyrinth together, keeping it from falling apart.
“We need to leave this labyrinth quickly.”
“We can still hold out for about two more days.”
“There’s no need for you to suffer. Let’s prepare immediately and get out of the labyrinth. I’m worried that we’ve stayed in the labyrinth for too long.”
I returned to the castle. The maids had already finished their preparations to leave. They were filled with anticipation rather than regret.
In front of me, 23 adventurers were kneeling.
They were the adventurers who had survived the labyrinth. Rabbit had cleared the labyrinth’s floors and brought them down here. At the very front was Tatari, the master of the Adventurer’s Guild. Tatari looked up at me confidently, with determination in his eyes.
“Count. I will admit to all the crimes I have committed.”
“You’re awfully confident for a criminal admitting to his crimes. What makes you so cocky?”
“I will give you everything in the labyrinth city of Rabbit.”
“Tatari, you’re just the master of the Adventurer’s Guild. The labyrinth city isn’t yours. You’re just the city’s representative.”
“Use me. I have the connections and abilities I’ve built up until now. I will serve you for the rest of my life. I will make everything in this city yours. The city’s adventurers will become your possessions. The adventurers will become your soldiers, and the citizens will sing your praises. I will make it so.”
“Oh, that’s not appealing at all.”
“…The Adventurer’s Guild isn’t just in Rabbit. Adventurers are spread throughout the entire continent. Use me to gain the power of the adventurers.”
I swung my leg.
Smack!
Tatari, who had been hit in the temple, fell to the side. I stepped on Tatari’s head and sneered.
“You adventurers are mistaken about how great you are. Adventurer. It’s a fancy-sounding name. But what are you really? Aren’t you just mercenaries chasing after money?”
“We are! We are different from mercenaries chasing after money! It is because of us that the monster population is maintained! We adventurers are the ones protecting this continent!”
He shouted, veins popping out of his neck, while being trampled on. It was just laughable. If adventurers were such great beings, they would be treated better than knights.
“I’m tired of listening to your nonsense. You haven’t let go of anything, even at the moment of your death.”
“…I will let go. If you tell me to lick your shoes, I will lick them! Please spare me! Count! I! I am useful!”
“Too late. It’s too late. You should have acted like that from the first time we met.”
I took my foot off Tatari and looked around at the maids. I checked the headcount. I was relieved that there were no casualties.
“Master, how about a firing squad? We could hang them up and shoot them. Turn them into rags.”
“Hanging is appropriate.”
“For traitors, beheading.”
“Burning at the stake.”
“I don’t even want to see them, let’s just bury them.”
The maids each gave their opinions. It seemed they had a lot of pent-up feelings towards the adventurers. Since they had managed the adventurers in Doan while I was gone, they must have been stressed.
“That’s enough. It’s a waste of time.”
At my words, the maids shut their mouths. In Melissa’s case, she glared at me as if she couldn’t believe it.
“…You’re going to spare them? Wait. Who are you? Are you a doppelganger?! You fiend! Where is the real master?!”
“Melissa.”
Yuria called out to Melissa quietly.
“Madam. This isn’t a joke. Is that really the master? Did Madam perhaps modify the master’s brain?”
“Melissa. The master means that there’s no need to waste time and effort killing these vermin. The labyrinth is about to collapse.”
“Ah. So, there’s no need to kill them, just leave them to die with this labyrinth.”
The adventurers’ faces changed completely. They felt the vague death come much closer. They approached me on their knees, bound by ropes.
“Count! Count!”
“Please spare us!”
“We were wrong! We were wrong!”
They were crying and sniffling. I didn’t feel any sympathy. I kicked away the ones who were rushing at me and went outside the castle. Outside the castle, Rabbit, in the form of Grisha, was standing. Rabbit’s gaze was directed at Yuria.
“Administrator. I have created a door to the outside. You can go through there.”
There was a door I hadn’t seen before on one side of the castle wall. I checked the door and nodded.
“Rabbit. Are you not sad?”
“No, I am not.”
Rabbit answered immediately.
Yuria bowed slightly to Rabbit.
“Thank you, Rabbit.”
“Administrator Yuria is stronger than Grisha. Everything will work out well. I hope your future is filled with light. Because light is needed for shadows to exist.”
“I already have my light.”
“…Then that’s a relief.”
I opened the door and went outside the labyrinth. When I turned around, I could see the collapsing labyrinth through the space. Rabbit was nowhere to be seen.
The screams of the adventurers left behind echoed faintly.
Crack, crack!
The entrance to the labyrinth cracked and then collapsed. With that, the labyrinth had completely disappeared.
I looked around. The adventurers who had been waiting at the entrance of the labyrinth were panicking and didn’t know what to do.
‘The number of adventurers is small. Did the ones connected to the guild master run away? They’re quick-witted.’
Even if that wasn’t the case, it was natural to leave the city since the labyrinth was blocked. The foundation of this city was the labyrinth. If they couldn’t use the labyrinth, there was no reason to stay.
“Count.”
I was looking at the sky, pondering the fate of this city, when someone called out to me. It was the voice of an old man. It was a soft yet stable tone, so it wasn’t unpleasant to listen to. I could tell just from his voice. He was someone who had dealt with people of high status a lot.
There was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties. He had a fox-like face, and the clothes he wore looked ordinary but were neat. He was definitely not an ordinary man.
“…That face looks familiar.”
“I am Trevire Blurk. I have come to repay my debt to you, Count.”
The man’s aura was not ordinary. I couldn’t just tell him to get lost, saying it was some kind of trick.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are.”
“I understand. It has been quite some time. The Fprek Bandit Group and the Artel Village. Have you perhaps forgotten?”
“How could I forget that? Now I know who you are.”
I glanced at Yuria. Yuria was still. There was no change in her expression.
Artel Village.
It was the village where Yuria and I first met. The Fprek Bandit Group attacked that place and killed Yuria’s mother. Of course, I had already finished my revenge on the Fprek Bandit Group.
Trevire Blurk.
He was the branch manager of the Information Guild at the time. Back then, things had gotten a bit twisted when an Information Guild member betrayed us.
Trevire had promised to give me top-tier information for free as compensation for that apology.
To be honest, I had completely forgotten about it. Even without the Information Guild, I had the information from the original story, and when I needed minor information, I bought it with money. I already had plenty of money.
“I remember now. You had a rather unpleasant face, but you’ve changed quite a bit.”
“Haha. I hear that often. I was a bit hot-blooded in the past. But that doesn’t mean my enthusiasm for this matter has disappeared. My enthusiasm is burning even more.”
“That’s good. You said you came to repay your debt? I don’t have high expectations, but I’ll listen. What kind of information did you bring?”
I really didn’t have any expectations.
Even without the Information Guild’s information, there was no problem for me. The information about the Demon King that I really wanted was not something that the Information Guild would have.
Trevire looked around.
“Is it alright to speak here?”
I moved my mana. An invisible wall of mana surrounded him, me, and the maids.
“…You’re amazing. To create a mana wall so easily…”
“The maids are my hands and feet. You can trust them, so speak.”
“The city of Fters has been captured by the Magic Alliance. The vassals of the Frukus family have taken refuge in the territory of Tevra. More than 2,000 soldiers have died, but the Golden Rose Knights and Lady Elaine have moved to Tevra and are holding out.”
“…What is the Magic Alliance?”
“It’s an alliance of magic towers. It’s a force that has risen to drive out the evil Count Frukus, for the peace of the continent, and for the Kingdom of Rapelli.”
“Princess Eileen joined hands with the magic towers… things are turning out like this.”
“Princess Eileen is just one of the justifications. The magic towers were already preparing to oppose you, Count.”
“That’s probably true. Seeing how quickly they’re showing results. What’s the situation in Tevra?”
“They are surrounded, but they are holding out well. Tevra’s defense capabilities are surprisingly outstanding. Perhaps because it has a port, supplies are being delivered smoothly.”
In terms of territory power alone, Tevra is stronger than Fters, where the Frukus Count’s mansion is located.
‘I enslaved the dwarves to make various things, and Tevra is where the maids started. I also put modern weapons there… and there’s a naval headquarters at the port. No matter how much magic they use, it’s not something that can be captured in a short period of time. Just the missiles there alone could wipe out most territories.’
Still, I was annoyed by the fact that they were attacked. Perhaps Tevra was also in a dangerous state. There was a limit to the speed of information transfer in this world.
I wanted to use a space teleportation scroll right now and return to Tevra.
“Fters’ military power is definitely not weak. My brother, Kyle Frukus, an aura master, should be there. What happened to him?”
“Kyle Frukus is…”
