Chapter 87 – 087. The Plum Blossom Swordsman Reincarnated Into The Baek Family
087. The Plum Blossom Swordsman Reincarnated into the Baek Family
“Hacent, Butler.”
“Yes, Young Master Eugene.”
Even though I didn’t call out very loudly, Hacent responded and approached. It meant he had heard the entire conversation.
“Butler, please… forget everything you just heard.”
My immediate thought was to at least try and silence Hacent. There was no way to completely shut his mouth right now.
“Understood.”
Hacent replied calmly as always. I wanted to trust him, but I couldn’t without proper grounds. Hacent wasn’t my man. I needed to either slowly work on making Hacent my man or kill him at the right moment.
‘Nothing is easy.’
What Hacent truly wanted wasn’t revealed in the original story either. Killing him? He was a master assassin, so it wouldn’t be easy.
‘Like Kyle, I should gift him a bug and a transmitter and monitor him until an opportunity arises.’
I headed towards the back of the treehouse where Yuria was hiding. As expected, Hacent followed behind me.
“Young Master Eugene.”
“Yes, speak.”
I stopped walking and turned to face Hacent. The old butler still had an unreadable expression.
“Later… could you spare some time for me?”
It was a request for a private meeting.
I was a bit surprised. I didn’t expect Hacent to ask for this directly. He had always been passive.
I didn’t know the reason for the private meeting. Was there something he could gain from me? He wouldn’t do something crazy like try to kill me. Would he threaten me for money? I didn’t think Hacent would do something so foolish.
“Alright. I’ll make some time later.”
I replied. I would find out Hacent’s purpose soon.
I quickened my pace again and headed towards Yuria.
Behind the house. Yuria, who was hiding behind a pile of wood, lowered her head as soon as she saw me.
“Yuria Grace, reporting.”
“Yes, I am Eugene Prukerus, your master.”
I stated my name again as I approached her.
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed.
Yuria, as described in the original story, was a beautiful woman with outstanding looks. Her face, her figure, everything was perfect. It was mentioned that she had large breasts.
‘…I can understand. That description was of Yuria in the later part of the novel. It’s about 10 years from now? It’ll take about that long. But… is it true that she’ll turn into a stunning beauty like in the novel?’
Yuria was taller than me now. Roughly a head taller. It was natural since she was older than me. Plus, I had a sickly setting, so my growth was slower than others.
‘She’s so skinny you can see her bones. It wouldn’t be strange if she starved to death… but her eyes are alive.’
She was even skinnier than the skinny models you see in the real world. It was like looking at a patient with anorexia.
Even the beggars in the city wouldn’t be this bad.
I could understand this too. This village was poor. Come to think of it, her mother, Nell Lins’s corpse, was also very thin.
‘Nell Lins was a knight… she must have learned mana breathing.’
If she had properly learned mana breathing, she wouldn’t be in a dangerous state despite her appearance.
‘Her chest is flat as a board, not even an A cup.’
It seemed like her secondary sexual characteristics should have already appeared. I approached her, feeling a sense of distrust towards the original story.
‘Her skin is pale. She hasn’t been doing farm work. Does that mean she hasn’t left the house at all?’
It was rare for commoners to have pale skin. In commoner families, children worked even if they hadn’t had their coming-of-age ceremony. From simple housework to farm work.
‘Except for being too skinny, she doesn’t seem to have any illnesses or injuries.’
I reached out my hand towards Yuria.
Yuria looked at my hand but didn’t flinch or avoid it. She calmly accepted my hand without changing her expression. I liked that she knew her place.
A handful of Yuria’s dry, gray hair was placed on my hand. I rubbed her hair with my fingers. The gray ash on her hair fell off, revealing her original blue-silver hair.
She had been hiding her original hair color by covering it with ash.
‘Blue-silver hair and blue eyes. The characteristics of the Helbrit direct line. It’s definitely Yuria Grace.’
Of course, just because someone had blue-silver hair and blue eyes didn’t necessarily mean they were from the Helbrit family. This fantasy world was full of people with all sorts of hair colors. There were people with pink hair and even purple hair.
Even in the city of Pters, where the Prukerus Count’s mansion was located, you could find at least 30 people with blue-silver hair and blue eyes.
“Yuria.”
“Yes, Master.”
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to hide for a while.”
“I’m used to it.”
I briefly returned to reality and took out a large black blanket and coat from my inventory and put them on her.
I planned to completely hide Yuria’s existence from the Plun Knights. I wanted to do the same with Hacent, but it was unavoidable.
“Stay here.”
“Yes.”
I turned around and looked at Hacent. Hacent was quietly watching me.
“Butler, this matter…”
“Yes, I didn’t see anything.”
“……”
It would be good for me if he cooperated. But I couldn’t trust him.
‘The knights should be done cleaning up the bandits soon. I should join the cleanup. It’ll be easier to manipulate things that way.’
I headed towards the center of Artel village with Hacent.
***
The 20 Plun Knights who had captured all of the Pfrek bandits were all enjoying a smoke with cigarettes in their mouths.
When Hent saw me approaching, he threw his cigarette butt on the ground and said to me with a confident expression.
“As you wished, we have captured all 32 bandits.”
“Good work, Sir Embis. Did anyone die or escape?”
“What do you take us for? No one escaped, and no one died at our hands. However, some bandits were killed by the villagers before we arrived.”
I nodded and listened to his words.
“Were any of the knights injured?”
Hent’s face hardened at my question, which I had asked without much thought.
“Young Master, that is an insult to us. Do you think we would be injured by mere bandits?”
“…I’m sorry. That was a slip of the tongue.”
“No, it’s alright. It’s been a while since we’ve been in real combat… I was a bit sensitive.”
“As an apology, let’s have Korean barbecue for dinner tonight. It’ll be a fun samgyeopsal party.”
I should ride the Korean national pride wave in this world.
“Korean barbecue…? Samgyeopsal? What is that?”
“Didn’t I explain about Korea before? It was a country in ancient times.”
“Yes, I heard that chicken and ramen are Korean foods.”
“Korean samgyeopsal is by no means inferior to chicken and ramen, so you can look forward to it. If you like meat, you might even like it more than chicken.”
Hent swallowed hard. His thoughts were obvious. He was probably thinking about the taste of chicken and ramen.
“…Not inferior to chicken and ramen… Korea never disappoints me.”
“Well, Korea has an outstanding food culture. There’s a reason why mukbang became popular.”
“Mukbang…? What is that?”
“It’s a part of food culture.”
I explained roughly. There was no concept of broadcasting in this world, so it was impossible to explain properly.
After that, I looked around at the captured bandits. They were tightly bound with ropes, most of them had broken arms and legs, and they were all disarmed and wearing simple clothes.
Among the bandits, I looked at the red-haired man with broken arms and legs. He had a gag in his mouth and was missing his left ear. This was Pfrek.
Pfrek was glaring at me with all his might, as if he wanted to kill me.
“Such a rebellious gaze. I like it.”
I grinned.
I wanted to show him what an eagle soccer kick was, but I held back. It wasn’t me who should deal with him, but Yuria.
“Young Master, how about killing some of them? They’re going to be executed anyway.”
Hent said. His opinion was valid. They were already caught in the act. Even if I executed them, no one would say anything. I was the son of a great lord, and they were bandits.
“No. They’re the ones who invaded the Prukerus territory. We can’t just kill them easily.”
“……Young Master, you’re surprisingly scary.”
“Was my decision wrong?”
“No. It’s right. As a direct descendant of the Prukerus family, you made the right decision. No one will criticize you.”
“That’s good to hear. Did all the villagers die?”
“Nine women and three men, a total of 12 people, survived. It seems they were planning to capture them and sell them as slaves. They’re gathered over there.”
I looked where Hent was pointing.
There, commoners in shabby clothes were gathered. They weren’t very beautiful. They were also very thin, so I doubted if they would be worth any money if sold as slaves.
“What will you do with them?”
“Leave them be. They’ll figure it out.”
I lost interest in them. I had no intention of taking them in. There was no reason to.
“The corpses in the village… let’s cremate them separately. It’ll be a hassle, but could you help?”
“Yes, of course.”
The commoners in this world cremated corpses. There were rumors that monsters and beasts came to eat corpses, but the biggest reason was that corpses could become undead. If they became undead, the living would be in danger, so it was customary to burn corpses immediately.
“We will gather them and cremate them.”
“…No. I’m sorry, but please cremate them separately by family. We should at least show some respect for the dead.”
“Understood. They will be grateful for your mercy, Young Master.”
The knights began to move.
Of course, there was a reason why I decided to cremate the corpses separately.
“Butler.”
“Yes, Young Master. Should I prepare a suitable corpse?”
Hacent understood what I meant without me saying it.
I would get a suitable corpse and fake Yuria’s death. And the surviving villagers and knights would be the witnesses.
“……I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes. It’s not a difficult task.”
The village was very chaotic right now, so it would be easy to steal a corpse. As for the disguise, if the corpse was damaged and covered with a cloth, it would be difficult to recognize.
Hacent quietly began to move.
I stepped back slightly and stood still, watching them.
Some of the knights were guarding the bandits. The villagers were helping the knights with the task of cremating the corpses.
After that, the sound of the villagers’ wailing filled the air, and smoke rose everywhere.
***
Before cremating Nell Lins and the corpse disguised as Yuria, I asked the villagers around me.
“Is there anyone who knows this woman’s name? Some of the bandits were killed by this woman. She had outstanding swordsmanship skills.”
The commoners looked at each other. I frowned. I had only asked for a name, was it a question they couldn’t answer?
When the atmosphere became strange, one woman quickly answered.
“I, I heard her name was Khelia, sir.”
“……Heard?”
“W, well, our village is a bit special… we don’t have much interaction with our neighbors, sir.”
I understood.
This village was a gathering of runaways. It was natural to be wary of even neighbors.
And Nell Lins was a wise woman. She didn’t tell the villagers her real name, and she wouldn’t have easily trusted even those in the same situation.
How did the Helbrit Duchy find Nell Lins’s trail?
I thought for a moment and then opened my mouth.
“I see. There was a dead woman in the house. Was she this woman’s daughter?”
“Yes. I heard she had a daughter with leprosy. Her name was La, Lara? I think.”
“The corpse is severely damaged. Is there anyone who remembers Lara’s face?”
“Since she had leprosy… I’ve never seen her come out of the house.”
I nodded.
Leprosy in this world wasn’t as scary as it was in the Middle Ages. The Magic Tower sold medicine for leprosy. However, the price was a bit high, so beggars and the poor couldn’t afford to buy the medicine.
Nell Lins had hidden Yuria very well. She was indeed a wise woman.
‘Things have become easier.’
The villagers didn’t know anything. Even if the Helbrit Duchy tortured them, they wouldn’t be able to find out any information about Yuria.
I glanced back while cremating Nell Lins’s corpse. It was the place where Yuria was hiding.
What was she thinking as she watched her mother’s cremation from afar?
