Episode 12
It’s enough to make you wonder if the attack failed.
But the next moment, the goblin’s iron sword shattered.
A bloodshot line appeared on the bastard’s face, extending down to his chest.
The goblin was unable to move for a moment.
Just as the goblin’s mouth was about to open slightly, its body tilted sideways.
Kuung!
The goblin fell down, frozen like a stone.
‘This energy… … ?’
Sir Brown’s voice was heard from afar.
“master!”
“Brown, this way! Protect me!”
After saying those words, I sat down in my seat.
I felt an unprecedented aura when I killed the goblin with the tattoo on its forehead.
I couldn’t figure out what it was right away, but I had a gut feeling that it would give me great power.
I started practicing Aura.
‘omg!’
As expected, a tremendous amount of energy rushed into me.
Even though I had hunted a lot of other goblins before dealing with this goblin, that wasn’t the amount of magic I could obtain.
I kept my mouth shut and practiced Aura.
I tried to somehow make that energy mine.
‘Is this the goblin’s memory? Or is it his feelings?’
As the magical power swirled inside my body, I discovered a fragment of memory.
The Duke of Breyo and the Baron of Hebron, it was a memory set in a forest that I had never experienced before.
-I’ve been waiting for you, Louis.
Darkness came upon me.
A light shimmered beyond the darkness.
A light came and touched my forehead.
Cheeeeeeek!
“Kwaaah!”
A scream burst from my mouth. I wanted to move, but I couldn’t move a single finger.
That wasn’t reality. It was the goblin’s memory.
Someone had carved a symbol into the goblin’s forehead.
The dot engraved in the middle of the pattern was someone’s fingerprint.
* * *
“Are you alright, Young Master?”
When I opened my eyes, I saw that not only Sir Brown, but also Hebron soldiers were surrounding me.
Before I knew it, the sun was high in the sky.
My body felt stiff as if I had been sitting for at least five or six hours.
‘Huh, what the heck is this aura…?’
The aura of the dantian has expanded to an incomparable degree compared to before. If I had this much aura, Inferno would have annihilated the goblins all by himself without me having to step forward.
‘… … Trickster, is this your doing?’
The Trickster was a god who appeared in a fairy tale book that he read just before he died in his previous life.
A neutral being, neither good nor evil, was entangled with the
I thought it was all fiction.
‘The symbol carved into the goblin’s forehead clearly symbolizes a trickster.’
It occurred to me that stories I had assumed were fairy tales or myths might actually be real.
I was the proof.
I crossed the river of death and became Louis de Hebron.
The only being who can do such a thing is God.
The being that revived me was also a god, and the one who sent strange monsters to this land was also a god.
The Trickster was a god of chaos who was banished from good and evil.
If he had set the table, no god could have predicted it.
As in ancient legends, only by combining the powers of good and evil gods can the Trickster be sealed.
“Why are you doing that?”
“Sir Brown, have you ever seen such a pattern?”
Brown looked down at the Trickster’s symbol tattooed on the goblin’s forehead and replied.
“This is my first time seeing this. Is this a pattern you know, Master?”
“It just looks familiar. Let’s take this body back to the mansion. I need to dissect it.”
“Hey, do you do dissections too?”
Dissection was not a profession fit for knights or lords. It was the preserve of senators and mad wizards.
“No, this is my first time doing dissection. I don’t want to have a hard time next time I meet someone like this, so I have to prepare thoroughly even if it’s a bit difficult.”
* * *
“The world has become dangerous. Be careful. And always walk with your head held high. You are the next ruler of Hebron.”
My father made a one-piece dress that fit my pregnant mother’s body shape, and as usual, I gave a soulless answer.
“Yes, father.”
“Are you ready? Have you packed your bags?”
“Don’t worry, father. The wagon is fully loaded. If we sell everything the goblins left behind, Hebron will be able to live without worrying about taxes for a while.”
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I knew full well that my father was adding unnecessary words before getting to the main point, but I pretended not to know that fact.
“… … What about the clothes I made?”
“I packed it, Father.”
Only then did my father look satisfied.
“I wonder if I’m out of touch with the latest trends. Living in the countryside like this, I have no way of knowing what kind of clothes people like these days.”
My father spoke indirectly, and I interpreted what he said without difficulty.
“I’ll also buy some trendy clothes.”
“Buy plenty of fabric too.”
My father had no interest in running the estate, but he became animated whenever the topic of clothes came up.
‘I will support my father’s dream. After he has overcome the poverty of Yeongji.’
The clothes my father made were basic, timeless styles.
I only wore clothes made with the utmost care by the best tailors and designers at the Duke of Breyo. This opened my eyes to clothes.
My father handed me a small basket containing four wooden needles and a thick ball of thread.
“This is a gift. When you’re riding in a carriage and feeling lonely, time flies when you make socks. Now you can knit well, right?”
Knitting was my father’s hobby, not mine.
Of course I knew how to knit. Louise de Hebron inherited her father’s dexterity.
-The foundation is not a business fit for noble nobility.
Even though the environment has changed, the etiquette I learned at Breyo is still engraved in my head. Although it is said that such ideas have been somewhat broken by the influence of Louis de Hebron, I still do not have the courage to make clothes myself.
“It’s much better to go while practicing Aura in a carriage.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“It’s okay as long as you don’t overdo it.”
My father tilted his head. He wasn’t particularly interested in Aura training or swordsmanship, so when I said that, he just assumed it was so and let it go.
Originally, practicing aura on a shaking carriage was something to be avoided.
But I also knew how to overcome such circumstances.
Since I only knew it in theory, I planned to try it out soon.
“I think you are talented because you are like me. You have an eye for clothes. That is not something that everyone is born with. It is a privilege that only the chosen ones can enjoy.”
I could sense pride in my father’s words.
He seemed happy to pass on his talents to me.
‘How different the two fathers are.’
I was at a loss as to which beat to follow.
No, the verdict has already been made.
The ancestors of the Hebron and Breio families were founding fathers.
But now, 200 years later, their situation has changed completely.
Hebron was on the edge of a cliff, unable to back down. He started out as a marquis, but sold his lands and titles and was reduced to a baron.
On the other hand, the Duke of Breyo held absolute power.
Even King Zenon could not ignore Breio’s stronghold.
I decided that history had proven what kind of life we should live.
“I like the sword better than the clothes, Father.”
“Stubbornness… …!”
It was truly a strange thing.
Duke Breyo had been nagging me to learn the sword and magic, but Baron Hebron gave me a needle and thread.
The values of the two families were as different as heaven and earth.
‘I like my father better.’
I liked the way Baron Hebron suggested things to me subtly, without forcing it on me.
At least I wasn’t suffocating.
There was room for conversation.
‘Clothes… … .’
It was something I had never thought about in my previous life.
‘Someday, when the land is safely on track, and I am satisfied with myself… … then I might sew to pass the time. But not now.’
“Let’s go!”
We set out with our troops. We had twenty men, and we left Lord Brown in his estate. Our strength was twenty men, three horsemen, and three carriages.
Ten of the soldiers among them were scheduled to return to their territory as soon as they passed through the eastern forest.
In the past few decades, there had been no precedent for a force of this size moving through the eastern forests.
We crossed the eastern forest.
The road, which had not been maintained for a long time, was full of bushes.
Soldiers took the lead, cutting bushes and clearing away trees and rocks.
The carriages lined up in a long line, passing precariously along the narrow road.
“Get rid of it. I’ll be walking down this road every month from now on.”
“insect!”
The soldiers cut down the tree with the axes they had prepared.
Although the road was not widened to the extent of being widened, it was maintained so that a single carriage could pass through with certainty.
At the entrance to the eastern forest, there were ten soldiers, Lord Brown, and laborers from the estate. They were planning to widen the road. They decided to make a road that could accommodate at least three carriages at a time.
‘The security of the Eastern Forest has stabilized. I wonder how Baron Nurha, who was waiting for Hebron’s self-destruction, will react.’
There is nothing left that could pose a threat to the forest.
The goblins sent out a tracking party to dry up the seeds, and the beasts were desperate to escape the scent of humans.
Heeeeeeling!
Three horses pulled each carriage.
Originally, there was only one old stallion left in Hebron.
Since pack horses were traded for 20 gold each, the soldiers treated their horses with great care.
It took a whole day to reach the edge of the eastern forest.
Since then, the horizon has expanded.
“Let’s rest here today and leave when the sun rises.”
I took out a makeshift tent and spread it out. It was to block the morning dew, and this was also my father’s work.
The tent, made of three windows and a large sheet of cloth, was large enough to accommodate up to seven people, yet easy to transport.
‘A wonderful and warm person.’
I habitually evaluated my father.
He wondered if he could be of any use to me, then shook his head in disbelief.
‘Blood relatives… … .’
* * *
The next morning, we split our force in half as planned.
Half of them went back the way they came, and half of them escorted the carriage and traveled along the paths in the flat land.
At the end of it all was our destination, the Baronial Territory of Nukha.
The Baronial Estate of Nurkha was surrounded by a triple fence around its outskirts.
The wooden palisade on the outskirts was recently constructed to prevent goblin invasions.
Beyond the wooden palisade, which had cost a considerable amount of money, the army of Baron Nurha was stationed.
They did not actively hunt goblins, but rather pushed them away as they emerged from the forest.
‘Baron Nurhah’s judgment was not wrong. He chose the most efficient way to protect his territory, and like any other noble, he coveted his neighbor’s land. So don’t blame me either. Even if I covet your land, it is only the nature of a noble.’
Beyond the fence was a low stone wall, built centuries ago to prevent the Knights Templar from charging into the castle.
Behind it stood a tall wall.
The Baronial Territory of Nurkha was a fiercely contested fortress until two centuries ago.
Now, it has been reduced to a quiet rural village.
When we reached the wooden fence, two soldiers with spears stopped us. I said to them.
“I come from the Baronship of Hebron.”
The security was not tight. The soldiers were surprised that the baron of Hebron had come when it was not time to pay taxes.
The soldiers were muttering. Their voices were very quiet, but I used my aura to spy on their words. It was a habit I had developed while struggling to survive in Braio.
