I Can See the Sword’s Memories

Chapter 14: First Mission (2)

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 of us climbed out of the carriage. As soon as I stepped down, my attention was drawn to one of the horses. 

I approached it, curiosity lighting up my eyes. I had never seen such an animal in my homeland.

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

I gently stroked the horse’s head, my small hand brushing its sleek black coat. 

The horse responded positively to my touch, leaning into my hand and seeming to enjoy the attention.

A faint smile spread across my face. It was a shame, I thought, that such an impressive creature lacked resistance to the cold.

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

It was an order from Kanok. Without hesitation, I complied.

Kanok studied the three of us as we stood before him. We still carried a youthful air about us but were already skilled swordsmen. 

Among us, only Flora lacked the faint, lingering scent of blood that clung to Theo and me.

‘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…”

I nodded, recalling the lessons from training. While I couldn’t read the words written on the chalkboard, I had memorized the spoken content.

“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,” I answered without hesitation. “The whole world would starve.”

“Exactly.”

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

Following the mountain trail, we soon arrived at the small village. Sensing presences ahead, the three of us instinctively rested our hands on our 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, I walked past him, heading deeper into the village. Theo and Flora shot me disapproving looks for acting on my own, but I ignored them.

‘There’s no scent of blood.’

My 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 me that no one had died in this village in the past month. Resting my hand on my sword, I addressed the man.

“When did the villagers die?”

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

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

Schk—!

With a swift motion, I thrust my 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, they dashed forward to join me.

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

We spread out, covering three directions with our blades.

Kanok, observing us, 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 I surged forward and slashed open the chest of the nearest villager.

Shwaaak!

A spray of blood erupted. I never spared a foe I deemed an enemy. Ensuring a clean execution, I cut down my target to guarantee no further threat. 

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

I couldn’t comprehend the villagers’ choices. To side with a reincarnator—an embodiment of evil, a disaster that trampled peace—was incomprehensible to me. Their alliance with such a being ignited a fire of fury in my 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 me, Flora and Theo stepped forward to intercept them.

“Saeorin!”

“Damn it!”

Clang! Claaang!

Swords clashed violently as the battle erupted.

The three of us deflected the incoming attacks from all directions, but alarm quickly surfaced on our faces.

The villagers’ strikes were far stronger than we 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 my teeth, I began channeling mana. We weren’t being overwhelmed, but we couldn’t dominate the fight either.

I clenched my jaw. To disrupt this formidable formation, something had to change.

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

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

Without hesitation, I dropped my sword. With a swift kick, I launched the fallen spear into my grasp.

Whuumph!

The spear cut through the air in a wide arc, dominating the space around me. The mana channeled into my small hands compensated for my lack of physical strength. As I let out a suppressed breath, a predatory intensity erupted from me like an untamed beast.

“Grrrr…”

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

Shwaaak!

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

“Now!” I shouted.

Seizing the opportunity, Theo and Flora surged forward.

My decisive maneuver had turned the tide of battle. Though the spear broke after only a few strikes, forcing me to return to using a sword, the three of us managed to subdue the villagers without sustaining any injuries.

Huff… Huff…

Gasp… Gasp…

“Hah…”

Amidst the heap of bodies, we stood catching our breath. A delayed pain registered, and I winced. My palms had split open, blood dripping from the wounds.

To me, the blood of my siblings wasn’t something to waste.

I extended my tongue and licked the blood from my hands.

Theo and Flora, witnessing this, flushed red.

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

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