***
Outside the warehouse was pure pandemonium.
Lucas had not spared the bandits who dared to kidnap someone of Vishken blood. He had cut down every bandit who stood in his way.
Looking at the bandit corpses strewn outside, Allen shouted back toward the warehouse they had left.
“You guys better be grateful to me!”
At least none of the bandits who had fought him were dead.
They handed the bandits over to the guard of the nearby kingdom.
When Lucas presented the identification tag that marked him as a Vishken swordsman, the guard hurried off toward the bandit hideout.
Watching the guards recede into the distance, Lucas said,
“That was pointless mercy.”
“Huh?”
“Letting those bandits live, I mean.”
It seemed he thought Allen had spared the bandits out of a soft heart.
“Everyone has to go through the difficulty of their first kill. I am not saying you should kill anyone and everyone. I am saying that if killing one can save two, do not hesitate.”
At the continuing lecture, Allen looked bewildered. There was some kind of misunderstanding.
Come to think of it.
‘Back then, I hadn't killed anyone yet, had I?’
It was so long ago that he couldn't even remember trivial details like that.
Then again, when would he, who had never even gone on a proper mission, have experienced real combat where life and death were decided?
‘Guess I really look like a greenhorn.’
Allen laughed awkwardly, looking sheepish.
Vishken's sore finger, beaten even by bandits. That was exactly how people saw him right now.
Even now, Lucas kept lecturing on and on, about a swordsman's mindset this, real combat that.
‘Is he angry? Or is he worried?’
Back then, he had hated hearing these lectures so much. He had even thought his brother hated him.
Who in the family would ever like someone like me? That sense of victimhood had been ingrained in him as a matter of course. He had thought his brother would be no different.
But having lived longer than Lucas, and longer than his father, and then returned, he could finally see things that had been invisible to him back then.
‘My brother didn't hate me after all.’
Even while being lectured, Allen couldn't help but smile.
Seeing Allen grinning foolishly instead of slumping his shoulders, Lucas stopped his lecture and asked,
“……What is so funny?”
“Just, I'm happy.”
“Happy?”
“Thanks to those bandits, I got to come all the way out here, far from the family, and travel with you, didn't I?”
“We are not out here on some trip.”
“If you're far away from home, that's a trip. Right?”
“Ridiculous.”
Only slightly, but he saw the corners of his brother's mouth lift. The silly talk apparently hadn't sounded so bad to him.
Then, Allen abruptly brought up the mission.
“Information about this subjugation mission was leaked.”
“……?”
“There was a trap. The guys waiting at the hideout had dozens of loaded heavy crossbows and had surrounded the place on all sides in advance.”
At the sudden explanation, Lucas's expression hardened.
“Bandits are not the type to keep such tight watch. Moreover, heavy crossbows are equipment used by the royal army.”
From the description alone, Lucas sensed that something was off.
“If even military weapons were used, it means someone deliberately sabotaged a Vishken mission. But why? Among the missions Vishken has taken on, yours was of the lowest importance.”
“The mission itself probably wasn't what mattered.”
“You are saying they were after you?”
“Probably.”
At Allen's answer, Lucas's expression grew even more serious.
Many thoughts could be felt in his silence. It seemed he, too, had someone in mind.
After a brief pause, Lucas spoke.
“If that is the case, we should not have simply handed them over to the kingdom's guard. We should have caught them and interrogated them for information.”
“I already got the information. You saw, didn't you? How I beat those guys like dogs.”
That was a lie. There was no information to be gotten from the bandits.
But he already knew who was behind it. More than anything, whoever was behind it wouldn't stop at just this once.
“……And why bring this up all of a sudden?”
“You've got to say this kind of thing when the mood's good. If I said it while getting lectured, it'd sound like I was making excuses, right?”
“You call that a reason-.”
Dumbfounded, Lucas let out a small sigh and said,
“I will have to ask Father to investigate. Whether there really was such a trap, and if so, where the problem began.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“Because this is my mission. Overcoming that kind of variable was part of my job too.”
“That is true, but… so you intend to just let it go?”
“No. That'd just be running away. And going to Father would be tattling.”
“You cannot mean-.”
“Yep.”
After his regression, Allen set his first goal.
“My mission isn't over yet.”
***
When the sun set and night fell, the two found lodging for the night.
Separate rooms at the fanciest inn in the area.
At lodgings with all the hot water he wanted and warm meals served, Allen beamed from ear to ear.
Flop.
After washing up with hot water, Allen came into his room and threw himself onto the bed.
Full, refreshed, and wrapped in softness.
It was paradise itself.
“This is nice-.”
His whole-body bliss lasted only a moment.
Allen calmly sorted out, in more concrete terms, the things he needed to do going forward.
‘First, I need to secure my standing in the family.’
He was the only one who knew the future concerning the demons.
Share this future with his father and the others?
That would be utter madness. He might just catch the eye of the demons hiding on the continent and die a dog's death for nothing.
Securing his standing in the family came first. Only then would his words carry weight, and only then could he prepare for what was coming.
And what would it take to do that?
As he sorted through various plans in his head, Allen suddenly stretched his hand out toward the ceiling, fingers splayed.
“……Is that really all I can do?”
A hand thick with calluses.
This body, born unable to possess magic power, could do nothing but train like a madman.
In his past life, he had been lucky enough to meet a great master and reach a certain realm, but that was as far as it went.
The limits of a human born with the Manaless Curse were clear.
“I want to get stronger.”
The Demon King's face came to mind.
Just thinking of him made his heart ache.
He couldn't even picture himself daring to fight him.
“……Strong enough to beat him.”
If only that could happen, he could change everything.
That was when it happened.
-There is a way.
In the empty room.
Once again, he heard the voice from the hideout's warehouse.
-If you become me.
Lurch.
His vision turned white as his consciousness slipped away.
As he lost consciousness, Allen thought that this felt much like dying.
[Obtained the Heart of ??.]
***
Allen opened his eyes.
A pitch-dark place without a single speck of light.
Had he woken up in a place like this a few hours ago, he probably would have been quite flustered. But instead, Allen interpreted the situation like this.
“So it was all a dream after all?”
If anything, a deep sigh escaped him at the thought that it figured.
Right, how could turning back time ever be possible? He had never seen any record claiming such a thing was possible.
‘That voice.’
In the warehouse where he had been held captive, and on the bed where he had been basking in happiness.
He had heard the same voice both times. At first, he had thought one of the fallen bandits had said it, but he wasn't going to be mistaken a second time.
“What, is it some reaper come to take me away?”
If so, it was a truly kind reaper.
It hadn't been very long, but he had been able to spend a truly dreamlike time.
He had regrets, but thanks to that, it seemed he could go a little more peacefully.
Clank.
That was when he heard the harsh rattle of chains.
Right behind him.
Allen turned toward the sound.
At that moment.
Clank.
[Facing ??.]
A message appeared before his eyes.
But more than the message, Allen was startled by the sight before him.
The first thing that caught his eye was a massive set of iron bars.
The bars, thick as pillars, made it look like a prison built to hold something as huge as a dragon.
Inside the bars, someone was bound in chains. It slowly raised its head and faced Allen.
“……Me?”
It was himself.
No, to be precise, it was something that looked exactly like him.
His master had always said it.
Don't judge an opponent by looks alone. Forget faces and appearances, and only feel.
And the being behind those bars was no reaper.
It was something far more dangerous.
“What… are you?”
Allen approached the bars.
The dense, solid bars kept him from getting any closer.
Gripping the bars with both hands, Allen asked the being within,
“Were you the one inside that orb?”
“…….”
“Did you send me here? Answer me. Why were they after you? What the hell are you?”
“…… …… …. …….”
It said something to Allen.
He couldn't hear its voice. But he could vaguely tell what it was trying to say.
[System transfer complete.]
System.
That being was talking about this.
It seemed the text that had been popping up for a while now was this System.
“What the hell is this-.”
Allen couldn't finish his sentence.
It was because of the messages that appeared one after another.
[Manaless Curse weakened.]
[Manaless Curse extinguished.]
“……!”
Allen's eyes went wide enough to tear.
Even without the messages in front of him, he could tell.
The sensation of the curse that had dwelled in his soul, so natural, like air, that he had never even noticed it, fading away.
And indeed, the messages said the same.
That the Manaless Curse had been extinguished.
“Really… for real?”
Allen's voice trembled.
Overcoming the Manaless Curse.
That was something no one on the continent had ever achieved. The Manaless Curse had followed Allen all his life like a tattoo etched into his fate.
And yet the Manaless Curse was resolved this easily?
He could accumulate magic power like everyone else and surpass his limits?
The years he had spent searching for even a speck of possibility to overcome the Manaless Curse flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.
His heart pounded harder than when he had realized he had regressed.
“What the hell are you?”
CLANK!
Worked up, Allen shook the bars hard.
“I said, what are you?!”
It still didn't answer.
No, he couldn't understand its words.
It felt as if something invisible were interfering.
“And what's this System supposed to be, that it-.”
Startled, Allen brought a hand to his throat.
His voice cut off abruptly, as though he had been struck mute in an instant.
At the same time, another voice came from above.
-Allen!
A voice that shook the space like thunder.
Along with it, the massive bars before him blurred as well.
In the final moment, Allen saw it.
Beyond the bars.
His own face, bound in chains, was smiling in satisfaction.
***
“……len. Allen!”
Snap.
Allen opened his eyes.
This feeling really was similar to dying and coming back to life. He would know. He had died once.
When he opened his eyes, Lucas was right in front of him, calling his name.
“Brother?”
“How long do you intend to sleep?”
“What do you mean, how long?”
It hasn't been that long, has it?
Allen turned his head to look out the window and was startled.
He had definitely lain down in bed late in the evening, yet it was already bright outside.
Was it a dream?
No. This sensation of the Manaless Curse having faded was still there.
“The sun is already high in the sky. Our departure has been delayed far too long.”
“I slept this long?”
“I tried to wake you for ages, but you would not get up. Where is your head at?”
Lucas glared at Allen with exasperated eyes.
“If you sleep this deeply, you will not be able to protect yourself during a mission. Sleep quality matters, but more than that…….”
“Elixir!”
The sudden shout cut Lucas off.
“……Elixir?”
“Brother, do you have any spare elixirs?”
“What nonsense is this all of a sudden? Why are you looking for an elixir out of nowhere?”
“Do you or don't you? You've got to have at least one elixir from finishing a mission, right?”
“Wait, calm down. At least tell me the reason…….”
“Elixir!”
Allen practically screamed it.
He wanted to check, right this instant, whether he had truly overcome the curse.
***
TL Notes:
Sore finger: From a Korean saying that no finger doesn't hurt when bitten. The "sore finger" is the child a family worries over most, the one who causes them heartache.
Revolving lantern: A traditional lantern whose spinning shade casts a sequence of moving pictures. It's the Korean image for one's life flashing before one's eyes.