Damn Reincarnation

Chapter 71

Chapter 71: The Grave (7)

The companions had all been good friends. Or at least that was what Eugene had believed.

Although they came from different backgrounds, they shared a hatred for the Demon Kings.

Hamel was the only survivor of a village that had been attacked by monsters that were driven mad by the Demon Kings. At the approximate age of ten years old, he had lost both his parents and his hometown to the Demon Kings.

Molon was the son of the warchief of the Northern Bayar tribes. The tribes there had long been accustomed to sharing a border with the demonfolk, but when the Demon King suddenly invaded their lands, many tribesmen were returned to the earth[1].

Molon was the son of the warchief, and on behalf of the tribes, he swore to slay the Demon Kings with his own two hands.

Anise was a saint candidate who had been carefully nurtured by the Cardinals of the Holy Empire. The Cardinals believed that only they, who had received God’s guidance, were qualified to lift the darkness that had fallen over the world; and they felt that the saints who they had raised were perfect for the role of acting as god’s representative on this world.

By the time Anise graduated from being a candidate to becoming a true saint, the army of the demonfolk had swelled in numbers. She and the Holy Empire decided to follow the will of their god and provide their aid.

Sienna had been saved by the elves and had learned their magic while growing up in the forest of the elves. Despite not usually accepting humans, the elves had adopted Sienna, who was born with a natural talent for magic, as one of their own. As Helmuth’s ominous power continued to grow ever stronger, the elves slowly began to die off.

Sienna couldn’t bear to see the elves’ extinction. For her, the elves were a family that had raised her from childhood and taught her magic. As the representative of the elves, she became the master of Akasha and left the forest.

As for Vermouth.

He was one of a group of slaves being transported to Helmuth. His hometown was the Kingdom of Ashal, which had been located next to Helmuth. As the first country to be destroyed by the demonfolk and demonic beasts, its territory now belonged to the Ruhr Kingdom that had been founded by Molon.

In the Great Invasion, Vermouth had lost his entire family. The few remaining survivors had been captured by the monsters, and were sent away in groups to become Helmuth’s slaves. During the journey, Vermouth stole a sword from the demonfolk and rescued all the slaves.

Vermouth met Molon’s Bayar tribe while he was leading the slaves across the snow fields.

All of this meant that although all their reasons may have been different, their purpose was the same. They had lost something to the demonfolk and they wanted to get revenge for what they had lost. They were determined to kill the Demon Kings.

All of the companions had had the strength and the talents needed to assist Vermouth in this goal.

Vermouth’s first companion was Molon. Vermouth knew that they couldn’t face the Demon Kings with their still weak strength, but he believed that, rather than a multitude of soldiers, what they needed to confidently face the Demon Kings was an elite group of warriors.

For this purpose, they went around searching for companions.

The third companion they found was Anise. The Holy Empire had paid a lot of attention to Vermouth, who had been able to rescue so many of the slaves being transported to Helmuth; and thanks to his incredible strength and potential, the Holy Empire was considering supporting him with all their might.

However, they still needed further verification. In order to test whether Vermouth had the right personality, the Holy Empire brought him in front of the Holy Sword that had been bestowed onto them by the God of Light a long time ago.

Vermouth pulled out the Holy Sword without any difficulty. As such, the Holy Empire gave their blessing to Vermouth’s journey and ordered Anise to become Vermouth’s support.

The fourth companion was Sienna. She was already famous even before becoming Vermouth’s comrade. In a world full of chaos and despair, it was a time when everybody was looking for heroes to save them.

A young witch suddenly appeared on the battlefields where monsters and demonic beasts were running rampant and cast great feats of magic wherever she went. Several countries had tried to recruit Sienna, but she refused to join any force and instead wandered the world alone, hunting demonic beasts.

But even such a person didn’t hesitate to become Vermouth’s comrade. That was how much of a special existence Vermouth was.

‘I was the last one,’ Eugene recalled.

Although it wasn’t as much as Sienna, Hamel had also been quite famous. If Sienna could be said to have received attention on the national level, Hamel had become quite famous in the mercenary circles and on the battlefield.

A young mercenary who could skilfully wield all kinds of weapons and come back alive from even the harshest battlefields. Without being part of a mercenary troop, without leading any men with him, Hamel was known as the ghost of the battlefield who went searching for battlefields filled with demonic beasts rather than the place that gave the highest pay.

Back then, that was the kind of life Hamel was living.

He could clearly recall their first meeting. At that time, warp technology hadn’t been as developed as it was now, so if you wanted to cross the sea, then you needed to take a boat. After the war in northern Turas had ended, Hamel had been staying in a port as he waited for transport to Helmuth, the home of the Demon Kings and the demonfolk.

It was during this wait that Vermouth’s party came looking for him.

Hamel had also picked up all sorts of rumors while working as a mercenary, and because of that, he was also familiar with Vermouth. It was said that in the last few years, a ‘hero’ had made a name for himself on the other side of the sea. Hamel was certainly interested in Vermouth, but being asked to become their comrade?

—It doesn’t matter what you offer me, I won’t listen to the orders of some bastard who’s shittier than me, so can you prove that you’re stronger than me?

“Ugh, goddamnit,” Eugene groaned as he recalled this scene from his past life and he facepalmed in mortification.

What a crazy bastard. As far as he could recall, he had been a little over twenty years old at that time. But had he really said something like that when he was already that old? Eugene definitely didn’t want to have to admit that it was the truth….

—This guy is the kind of mercenary bastard that you can find just about anywhere. So why exactly do we need to take this guy in particular with us?

Sienna had pissed him off from their very first meeting.

—It might be impossible to expect any class from such a person, but there should still be limits on how unrefined someone can be. Sir Vermouth, there are countless warriors who are better than this wild dog of a mercenary. The only son of the Commander of the Knights of the Kiehl Empire is said to have excellent looks and personality, as well as skills, so what about taking a look around Kiehl instead?

Anise had openly called him a son of a bitch. She might have worded it as ‘wild dog’, but at the very least, it was a fact that she had definitely implied that he was dog-like.

—I’ve heard that the warriors of the Floating Kingdom in the Sea are truly brave men. I’d like to compete with them.

Even back then, Molon was a fool.

—No.

Vermouth was always an odd one. While giving a faint smile at Hamel’s provocation, he ignored the opinions coming from the other three.

—It has to be you.

Truthfully speaking, at that time, Hamel wasn’t really all that great. Although he had made a name for himself in the mercenary field, mercenaries were still just mercenaries after all. At that point, Hamel’s sense of presence was incomparably smaller than that of his comrades.

Nevertheless, Vermouth had still said those words. He still didn’t know what on earth Vermouth had seen in Hamel that made him feel that way and say that sort of thing. In any case, Vermouth drew his sword and answered Hamel’s challenge by sparring with him.

When he had first grabbed a sword and started doing mercenary work, Hamel had believed that he was a genius. After all, that was what all the mercenaries around him had told him.

I’ve never seen a kid who’s as good with a blade as you.

You can already feel your mana?

Sword-light? That’s absurd!

Hamel was used to surprising those around him, and was accustomed to being called a genius. However, he didn’t allow himself to get carried away by arrogance. Every day was spent in hard work and training. Because of this, his only pride was in the skills he had developed.

But Hamel still lost.

He didn’t just lose, he was completely dominated. It wasn’t like in the fairy tale, where he had failed to even brush Vermouth’s clothes, but Vermouth’s clothes were indeed the only thing that Hamel had managed to cut.

He hadn’t burst into tears because his face had been slammed into the ground, either. That said, it was true that his face had been slammed into the dirt.

It was the first time he had experienced such an overwhelming defeat.

—Looks like I’m stronger than you.

—Shut up…. Fuck, one more time. Let’s fight again. I haven’t lost yet!

Just as Hamel requested, Vermouth fought with him once more. They actually sparred three more times, and Hamel ended up with three more losses. In their first duel, he had been able to cut the edge of Vermouth’s clothes, but in their next three duels, Hamel didn’t even manage to touch his hem.

—…I admit that I’m much weaker than you, but why do you want me as your comrade?

—Because I need you.

—That’s why I’m asking, why do you fucking need me? After all, you’re stronger than me!

—If I win, you would become my comrade, isn’t that what you promised?

—…I’m just asking because I don’t understand it. If you were to ask them to become your comrade, there are more than a few bastards who would happily accept the offer without any hesitation.

—You are the last member of our party.

Even though Hamel was collapsed on the ground, covered in dirt, Vermouth had still reached his hand out to him.

—Let’s go there together, Hamel.

Hamel — no, Eugene was very familiar with his comrades. As comrades, they had known everything about each other. That was why Eugene didn’t want to admit his suspicions — that Vermouth had been planning something shady while faking his own death. That he had fought a battle with Sienna at this location.

‘…What are you doing, Vermouth?’

If he was still that spry, shouldn’t he have just gone and fought with the Demon Kings? Why would he drag a corpse out of its coffin, extract its soul and then…. What could have made him go so far as to… shake hands with a Demon King?

‘Couldn’t you at least have put my body back in its coffin. You son of a bitch,’ Eugene thought to himself as his shoulders slumped. ‘Or at the very least… you should have properly… left an explanation.’

It must also have been Vermouth who had left Hamel’s necklace in the Lionheart clan’s treasure vault. If it was Vermouth, he would have been able to sneak the necklace into the treasure vault without any problems.

Eugene had finally found the answer to that mystery.

‘…But then, there’s Sienna,’ Eugene frowned.

The only complication was, how had Sienna known to send a phantasm to find him? It might have made sense if Sienna had been the one to arrange his reincarnation and the necklace, but if Vermouth was the one who had arranged all this….

Eugene realized something, ‘…No. I’m being too hasty in assuming that Vermouth came up with this plan all on his own.’

Some day, I will meet you again in the world that you’ve been longing for.

He had thought that this meant Sienna was planning to meet him again in heaven. But when he took into account the fact that he had been reincarnated, the line read differently.

Had Vermouth… betrayed Sienna?

He couldn’t be sure of anything yet. Eugene rubbed the leaves of the World Tree that he had taken out of his cloak.

He still needed to find Sienna.

“…My lord, could you possibly be in need of a toilet break?” Laman carefully voiced the question.

He was worried about Eugene, who he was carrying on his back; since a while ago, Eugene had been constantly twitching and making strange moaning noises.

“There are no toilets in the desert,” Laman informed him. “If you’re in a bit of a hurry, I’ll dig a pit for you, so that you can urinate—”

“Shut up and just keep walking,” Eugene hissed with gritted teeth as he kicked Laman in the thigh.

They had already left the underground grave and escaped the labyrinth.

Having fought so seriously despite already having broken bones, Eugene had seriously overstrained himself. As a consequence, he was now being carried on Laman’s back. Rather than insisting on walking on his own two feet, it was better for Eugene to focus on recovering while Laman gave him a piggyback ride.

‘I miss having elixirs.’

Eugene ground his teeth in frustration. Even back then, three hundred years ago, elixirs had been rare treasures, but as the hero and his party, they had all gone around carrying some of those precious elixirs. Although he had packed plenty of potions, wounds this serious couldn’t be healed immediately, even with a potion.

‘Since healing magic is divine magic, I still haven’t learned any…. This sucks. Do I have to learn divine magic as well? Since that field of magic all depends on how much faith you have, I don’t think I’ll be able to make much progress with that.’

Even though Sienna hadn’t learned any divine magic, she had still been able to use high-level healing spells. However those were part of a unique type of healing magic that belonged to the inheritance of the elves, so Sienna hadn’t transmitted that knowledge to the future generations.

Laman encouraged him, “My lord, please hold on for just a bit more. We should be able to arrive in Kajitan within a few days. At that time, if we’re able to find a doctor or a healer then—”

“My wounds aren’t that serious,” Eugene argued.

Laman warned him, “If we just leave them like that, your bones might set incorrectly.”

Laman, whose life had been rescued several times by Eugene, was genuinely worried about him.

“I’ll take care of all that by myself, but what are you planning on doing?” Eugene asked.

“…Huh?” Laman grunted in confusion.

Eugene clarified, “I’m talking about your boss, the Emir of Kajitan.”

“Are you worried for my sake?” Laman asked gratefully.

“Nope. But if you suddenly go all crazy-eyed and chop off your master’s head, that will probably be a big pain in the ass for me. So if you’re going to do it, then do it after I’ve already left,” Eugene replied with a snort.

The Emir of Kajitan didn’t know anything about the grave or about Amelia Merwin. However, he had cooperated with the Sand Shamans’ request by restricting who was allowed to enter the Kazani Desert.

“…That’s…,” Laman hesitated, unable to reply immediately.

His master had known that the sandstorms in the Kazani Desert were man-made. However, the orders for Emir to cooperate with this plan should have been passed down to him from long ago.

Nahama was slowly tearing off strips of Turas’s territory through this desertification project, but to divert suspicions, Laman’s village had been chosen as a worthy victim for a sudden sandstorm.

The pioneers had been sacrificed for the glory of Nahama.

However, Laman could not accept such a thing. Anyone in his place would feel the same way. A sandstorm had struck from out of nowhere and had devoured his friends and family. If the survivors were told that these deaths were an unavoidable sacrifice for the glory of the country, who among them would just nod and accept this fact?

“…I don’t want to blame my master,” Laman muttered as he shook his head. “This desert was created over a hundred years ago, and the sandstorms have continued to appear ever since. The Emir who preceded my master should have also tolerated these orders for the sake of Nahama.”

“So what are you going to do?” Eugene prodded.

Laman reached his decision, “…I will quit serving as his personal guard. Although I don’t want to blame my master for this, I no longer want to give my life for him either.”

“It doesn’t matter to me whether you quit or not, but do you have any other skills with which to make a living?” Eugene reminded him.

“…I would like to follow you, my lord,” Laman admitted as he turned his head to look back at Eugene.

Eugene immediately pushed Laman’s cheek back around with a disgusted expression on his face.

“Don’t turn your head this way,” he ordered. “Your beard stinks of wet dog.”

“Huh?” Laman was shocked by this sudden insult.

“Also, why do you want to follow me? I’m not even a citizen of Nahama.”

“I am willing to follow you no matter where you go, my lord.”

“Then first, shave off that beard.”

“…Huh?”

“I don’t need you to follow me around anywhere, because I still have a place that I need to see in Nahama. So I’ll need a local guide. Laman, have you ever been to Hogani?”

“Hogani, you say…. Are you talking about the Holy Land of Light? I visited there years ago.”

Hogani was now called a Holy Land, since it was a place where Saint Anise had gone on her pilgrimage. It was unknown whether it was the final destination of her pilgrimage, but Hogani was where Anise had last been seen two hundred years ago.

The city of Hogani was right next to Kajitan.

‘…Perhaps she really did come here to pay respects at my grave…,’ Eugene suspected.

Would Anise have left any clues in Hogani?

Somewhere in that wide-open desert?

* * *

The Emir of Kajitan, Tairi Al-Madani, narrowed his eyes and silently stared in front of him, “….”

Eugene was sitting across from him, and behind Eugene stood Laman. In this situation, should Tairi accept that what his eyes and ears had been telling him was the truth? Or should he be worried that someone might be hiding some other intentions within their hearts?

“…You must be aware of how unreasonable your actions were, right?” Tairi asked pointedly, venting some of the pressure that he was under. “My subordinates told me every word that you said to them.”

Since the lieutenant and Laman’s other subordinates had been so terribly beaten by Eugene, in order to explain their conditions, they had had no choice but to honestly report to Tairi.

It was Laman who had identified himself as a ‘thief’ in order to secretly continue carrying out Tairi’s orders, and the lieutenant had quite a glib tongue. He had turned on his captain, blaming Laman for failing to properly carry out their master’s orders.

Tairi addressed Eugene, “Eugene Lionheart, you…. Do you truly believe that I sent my men after you in order to steal from you?”

“No matter what the respected Emir’s intentions might have been, isn’t it true that I suffered damages because of them?” Eugene asked innocently.

Eugene knew the entire truth, which meant that Tairi had become a much easier opponent to face.

“They were just tasked to protect you,” Tairi claimed.

Eugene shot down his excuse, “Why would they need to lie about being thieves in order to protect me?”

“Because you are a member of the Kiehl Empire’s Lionheart clan, and I am an Emir of Nahama,” Tairi insisted with furrowed brows. “I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but Nahama and Kiehl’s relationship isn’t very friendly. The Emperor of Kiehl is wary of Nahama’s power, and the sultan is also suppressing his rage at the Kiehl Empire’s slander.”

“But what connection does that have to the respected Emir’s lies?” Eugene asked.

“And what makes

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