I Can See the Sword’s Memories

Chapter 14

The carriage came to a halt at the outskirts of a small mountain village. It didn’t enter the mountain itself; the terrain made it impossible for the carriage to proceed further.

“Get out!” Kanok ordered.

The three recruits climbed out of the carriage. As soon as Saeorin stepped down, he approached one of the horses, curiosity shining in his eyes. He had never seen such an animal in his homeland.

‘Its body is all muscle. Strong. They said it can carry heavy loads and run long distances with people on its back…’

The small girl’s hand gently stroked the horse’s head. The black horse responded positively to her touch, enjoying the gentle attention.

A faint smile spread across Saeorin’s face. It was a shame, he thought, that such an impressive creature lacked resistance to the cold.

“Saeorin, stop admiring the horse and come here.”

It was an order from her superior. Without hesitation, Saeorin complied.

Kanok studied the three recruits standing before him. They still carried a youthful air about them but were already skilled swordsmen. Among them, only Flora lacked the faint, lingering scent of blood that clung to the other two.

‘They’ve experienced killing, so I’m not too worried about them…’

His concerns rested squarely on Flora. Simulated combat and real battle were entirely different. A moment of hesitation at a critical juncture could cost her life.

Kanok decided to keep a close watch on Flora.

“Listen as we walk,” Kanok began. “Reincarnators are broadly divided into two categories: those from a place called ‘Murim’ and those from a place called the ‘Present World.’ They come with different languages and types of knowledge, but that’s how we classify them. There are more subcategories, but…”

Saeorin nodded. He’d already learned this in one of the lessons after training. While he couldn’t read the words written on the chalkboard, he remembered the spoken content well.

“This time, the reincarnator is from Murim. All the evidence matches. Murim reincarnators grow stronger quickly and absorb the energy of their surroundings, which impacts the local environment—like this.”

Kanok gestured to a patch of vegetation by the mountain path. Despite it being summer, the grass and trees had turned brown.

Crunch—

When Kanok touched the brittle grass, it crumbled into dust. Looking closer, everything in the mountain seemed devoid of vitality.

Even the usual sounds of insects were absent.

“What do you think happens if these people proliferate?” Kanok asked.

“Food shortages,” Saeorin answered without hesitation. “The whole world would starve.”

“Exactly.”

Kanok’s lips curled into a satisfied smile at Saeorin’s quick response.

Following the mountain trail, Kanok’s group soon arrived at the small village. Sensing presences ahead, the three recruits instinctively rested their hands on their weapons.

“Ah! Oh! You’ve finally arrived! Are you with Azure Wings?”

A stout middle-aged man waddled out from the village like a rolling ball, panting heavily as he stopped in front of Kanok.

Kanok stepped back slightly and pulled the knight order’s insignia from his cloak, holding it up for the man to see.

“I’m Kanok, Deputy Commander of the Azure Wings division of the Imperial Knights. Are you alone?”

“Yes, yes! Just me!”

“We received your report. Where’s the reincarnator?”

“That… that villain is up there in that fortress! Built it himself, the monster! He slaughtered everyone in the village and stole all our food… I managed to survive by hiding. It’s been a nightmare… sniff…”

Kanok followed the man’s pointing finger to the mountainside, where a large wooden fortress loomed, clearly visible even from a distance.

While Kanok listened to the man, Saeorin walked past him, heading deeper into the village. Theo and Flora gave Saeorin disapproving looks for acting on his own, but he ignored them.

‘There’s no scent of blood.’

Saeorin’s sense of smell was remarkably keen, capable of detecting even dried blood on the ground. Yet, in this village, there was no hint of blood.

Snnf, snnf—

The stout man had claimed that the reincarnator had slaughtered the villagers. If that were true, there should have been at least a faint trace of blood in the air.

‘Instead of blood… it smells like oil and metal.’

It was clear to Saeorin that no one had died in this village in the past month. Resting his hand on his sword, he addressed the man.

“When did the villagers die?”

“W-what? Uh, about a week ago, I think…?”

Saeorin frowned. There was no way he could have missed the scent of blood spilled just a week ago. Any lingering hesitation vanished.

Schk—!

With a swift motion, Saeorin thrust his sword into a haystack near the village entrance. It happened so quickly that the middle-aged man didn’t even have time to react.

Moments later, the haystack shuddered, and crimson blood seeped out.

Kanok observed the scene with a faint chuckle.

“Well done.”

“W-what are you doing?!” the man stammered in panic.

Kanok placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. That simple gesture caused the man to collapse to the ground, his face contorted in pain.

“Gah… Gaaaah!”

“Don’t you know that conspiring with a reincarnator is a grave crime? Setting a trap to kill knights of the Empire… You must have nine lives to waste.”

As the man screamed in agony, villagers armed with swords and spears poured out from within the settlement.

Kanok narrowed his eyes and threw the middle-aged man back toward them. The impact tore the man’s arm clean off, and his body rolled limply across the dirt.

Kanok addressed the recruits.

“This is your first real fight. Handle it yourselves.”

Even before Kanok spoke, Flora and Theo had already drawn their swords. They weren’t oblivious to the situation. Quickly assessing their surroundings, the two dashed forward to join Saeorin.

Though a week was a short time, it had been enough for the three recruits to grow accustomed to each other’s rhythms and movements.

The trio spread out, covering three directions with their blades.

Kanok, observing them, casually perched himself on a stone wall nearby.

“If you drop your weapons and surrender now, you’ll be given a lighter sentence—hard labor, at most. Surrender peacefully.”

At Kanok’s words, hesitation flickered across the villagers’ faces. But that hesitation shattered the moment Saeorin surged forward and slashed open the chest of the nearest villager.

Shwaaak!

A spray of blood erupted. Saeorin never spared a foe he deemed an enemy. He ensured a clean execution, cutting down his target to guarantee no further threat.

With a deft twist of his wrist, Saeorin spun his sword and drove it through the fallen man’s chest to ensure his demise.

Saeorin couldn’t comprehend the villagers’ choices. To side with a reincarnator—an embodiment of evil, a disaster that trampled peace—was incomprehensible to him. Their alliance with such a being ignited a fire of fury in his heart.

At that moment, the villagers began their counterattack.

“K-kill them! They’re just children!”

“Fight! Lord Chaeju is watching us!”

“Do not back down!”

Their shouts were a mix of fear and desperation. As they charged at Saeorin, Flora and Theo stepped forward to intercept them.

“Saeorin!”

“Damn it!”

Clang! Claaang!

Swords clashed violently as the battle erupted.

Saeorin, Theo, and Flora skillfully deflected the incoming attacks from all directions. However, a look of alarm quickly surfaced on their faces.

The villagers’ strikes were far stronger than they had anticipated.

Clang!

Each attack carried substantial weight, as if the villagers were enhancing their bodies with mana.

Chaang!

This was no sloppy swordsmanship one might pick up in a marketplace. The movements bore the hallmarks of a systematic and refined style, honed over a long period.

Grinding their teeth, the trio began channeling their mana. They weren’t being overwhelmed, but they couldn’t dominate the fight either.

Saeorin clenched his jaw. To disrupt this formidable formation, something had to change.

He steadied his breathing, lightened his steps, and layered the White Frost Tribe’s techniques atop the Empire’s swordsmanship. That was when his eyes caught sight of a spear lying on the ground.

Saeorin hadn’t originally trained with a sword. His weapon of choice was the spear, which he had used throughout his life to hunt predators alongside his siblings on the snowy plains.

Without hesitation, Saeorin dropped his sword. With a swift kick, he launched the fallen spear into his grasp.

Whuumph!

The spear cut through the air in a wide arc, dominating the space around him. The mana channeled into his small hands compensated for his lack of physical strength. 

As he let out a suppressed breath, a predatory intensity erupted from him like an untamed beast.

“Grrrr…”

It was a low growl, akin to that of a small wolf pup. Saeorin thrust the spear forward with all his might.

Shwaaak!

The spear’s sharp tip tore through the throat of the man standing before him. The mana-fueled impact rippled outward, destabilizing the villagers’ formation in an instant.

“Now!” Saeorin shouted.

Seizing the opportunity, Theo and Flora surged forward.

Saeorin’s decisive maneuver had turned the tide of battle. Though the spear broke after only a few strikes, forcing Saeorin to return to using a sword, the trio managed to subdue the villagers without sustaining any injuries.

Huff… Huff…

Gasp… Gasp…

“Hah…”

Amidst the heap of bodies, the three recruits stood catching their breath. Saeorin winced as a delayed pain registered. His palms had split open, blood dripping from the wounds.

The blood of his siblings wasn’t something he would waste.

Saeorin extended his tongue and licked the blood from his hands.

Theo and Flora, witnessing this, flushed red.

What’s with those expressions…? Saeorin wondered, puzzled.

Theo clicked his tongue and averted his gaze, muttering under his breath.