How a Two-Life Scoundrel Lives - Chapter 51

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 51】

“…Captain.”

“It’s already unfair and frustrating enough to become undead, but how heartbreaking would it be if they can’t even return home? We have to send them home.”

“Sigh.”

Carlisle let out a deep sigh and asked Begman.

“By any chance… do you have athlete’s foot?”

“A-athlete’s foot?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“Just answer.”

“This bastard, I’ve been patient enough…!”

Begman burst out in anger.

“It seems like Private Carlisle has something in mind by asking, so let’s hear him out first.”

Kudo calmed Begman down.

“Do you have athlete’s foot or not?”

“I don’t!”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

“That’s surprising.”

“What?”

“Usually people with long military careers have at least athlete’s foot on average, don’t they?”

Military boots were hard and tough shoes that didn’t even ventilate well.

Living in such military boots and fighting battles, it was common to develop athlete’s foot.

And athlete’s foot was considered quite mild among foot ailments that soldiers could get.

‘Athlete’s foot would be fortunate.’

Other foot diseases, such as cellulitis or trench foot, could often result in amputation or death from sepsis in severe cases.

“I don’t have it because I take good care of my feet!”

“Then I’ll trust you?”

Carlisle took off the [Guerrilla Spirit] he was wearing and handed it to Begman.

“Why are you suddenly taking off your military boots for me?”

“They’re not ordinary military boots, but an artifact.”

“They’re too small though?”

“They’ll adjust themselves, so just try them on.”

“Alright.”

When Begman carefully put his foot in, the [Guerrilla Spirit] automatically stretched to fit his size.

“With those, you should be able to maintain enough speed even while carrying Private Derek.”

“R-really? Thanks. And sorry for getting angry earlier. You suddenly brought up athlete’s foot…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

Carlisle said that and looked around at the group.

“Let’s hurry. That evil dark mage is probably chasing us.”

“Right, let’s go quickly.”

Begman quickened his pace.

[Notice: 【Noble Proof】 progress has reached 50%! (5/10)]

[Notice: 【Noble Proof】 progress has reached 50%! (5/10)]

[Notice: 【Noble Proof】 progress has reached 50%! (5/10)]

[Notice: 【Noble Proof】 progress has reached 50%! (5/10)]

[Notice: 【Noble Proof】 progress has reached 50%! (5/10)]

Carlisle quickly dismissed the notification windows that appeared before his eyes and followed Begman.

* * *

Carlisle’s group marched through the darkness at maximum speed, attempting to return to Bowden Fortress.

“Huff, huff!”

Despite gasping for breath, Begman maintained his speed without falling behind.

Running several kilometers through mountain paths while carrying heavy cargo in the dead of night was practically impossible.

No matter how physically fit the captain of the scout unit was, as a human, there were limits.

Under normal circumstances, he would have fallen behind long ago and would have had to abandon Derek’s corpse.

The living couldn’t die just to bring back the body of the fallen.

Nevertheless, the reason Begman could endure was thanks to the effects of [Guerrilla Spirit].

[Guerrilla Spirit], being military boots made for breaking through mountain terrain, reduced the wearer’s fatigue and improved stamina.

Moreover, it reduced the load on the waist, knees, and even ankles and soles to one-third the normal level.

‘If we get caught, it’s over.’

Meanwhile, Carlisle’s mind was very urgent.

Crowley was a very powerful dark mage who even possessed an undead army.

Depending on the scenario, there was even an event where Crowley would occupy this area and lead an undead legion to invade Dekaron.

Of course, since this was about 9 years and several months before the starting point of the game [Overlord], the possibility of it being as terrifying a battle as expected was low.

However, there was no doubt that Crowley was a very powerful dark mage, and if they encountered him, total annihilation would be inevitable.

‘There’s no choice.’

Carlisle knew this all too well, so he took special measures.

“Everyone take a sip of this before we go.”

Carlisle handed the senior soldiers a bottle containing white liquid.

It was one of the potions he had snatched from the Sigmund Family Secret Warehouse.

“Is this a stamina recovery potion?”

Kudo recognized the contents of the liquid at a glance.

“Yes. It’s good stuff, so just one sip should be enough for each of you.”

“A-as expected of a rich family’s young master. To carry something like this around.”

Russell looked at Carlisle with renewed admiration.

“That’s right. Our youngest is a rich family’s young master. Captain, you drink first. You must be having the hardest time.”

Marder suddenly recalled this fact and looked at Begman.

“Right, thanks. I’ll pay you back properly for the potion later.”

From Begman to Kudo, from Kudo to Marder, from Marder to Russell.

The exploration team drank the potion in order of rank and seniority.

Gulp gulp!

“Hey you crazy bastard! Why are you drinking potion like water!”

“Urk!”

“Do you think this is some kind of health tonic? Huh?!”

A minor incident occurred where Russell, not knowing any better, overdrank(?) the potion and got smacked on the back of the head by Begman…

‘Geez. One sip would have been enough, but he drank almost half the bottle.’

Finally, Carlisle poured the remaining stamina potion down his throat.

The potion’s effects were excellent.

Just from drinking one sip, not only did his fatigue completely disappear, but he could feel his depleted stamina rapidly recharging.

Indeed, perhaps because it had been stored in the Sigmund Family Secret Warehouse, the potion’s purity was very high.

“Now that we’ve replenished our stamina, let’s all hurry.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The group set out on their march again.

* * *

Thanks to the Stamina Recovery Potion and [Guerrilla Spirit], Carlisle’s party was able to conduct their Night Mountain March at tremendous speed and successfully return to Bowden Fortress safely.

‘This was lucky.’

In Carlisle’s opinion, the reason they were able to return safely was because their party’s combat power and movement speed exceeded Crowley’s expectations.

‘He underestimated us.’

The reason Carlisle thought this was because from Crowley’s perspective, hunting down their party would have been all too easy.

What if Crowley hadn’t pursued them but instead waited around Bowden Fortress?

If that had been the case, Crowley could have easily captured Carlisle’s party.

But Crowley didn’t do that.

He probably expected Carlisle’s party to be wiped out by his undead soldiers and moved at a leisurely pace.

Thanks to that, both sides missed each other, and the fortune of Carlisle’s party safely returning to Bowden Fortress came to pass…

“Something seems to be happening.”

Kudo spoke up after observing the atmosphere inside the fortress.

“Right. It’s still before wake-up time.”

Begman agreed with Kudo’s observation.

“Move quickly!”

“Maintain a more thorough guard!”

It was around 5 AM.

Even though it wasn’t wake-up time yet, soldiers were moving about busily.

“Hey, you there.”

“Yes?”

“What’s all this commotion about?”

Begman grabbed a passing soldier and asked.

“A terrifying undead monster broke in.”

“What?!”

“I only heard about it so I’m not sure if it’s true, but… some huge undead monster flew in and took the severed head that was displayed…”

The soldier pointed to a pole that stood right next to the castle gates.

“…We’re one step too late.”

Carlisle grasped the situation and squeezed his eyes shut.

He had planned to smash that damn head first thing upon returning to the fortress, but it had already been taken.

“Everyone go inside and rest. I’ll report the operation results to Sir Helen before coming back.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“And rookie, you come with me. You know more about this stuff than I do. I don’t know jack shit about magic and all that.”

“Sure thing.”

“And… good work.”

Begman took off [Guerrilla Spirit] and handed it to Carlisle.

“Thanks to this, we were able to bring Derek back. Since it’s an artifact made by a mage, the effect was incredible. Thank you. I’ll repay this debt for Derek’s share as well.”

“You don’t need to repay it.”

“But…”

“Isn’t that natural between scout unit members?”

“Huh?”

“You’d do the same for me if I died, right?”

“That’s… true.”

“So you don’t need to repay any debt. Oh, and if I die, just leave my corpse behind. I’m fine with it.”

“Huh???”

“I don’t want to see you die trying to retrieve my body. I don’t know about others, but I don’t want that. I’d feel sorry even in the underworld for causing such trouble.”

“What kind of talk is that? I’ll definitely take you with me.”

Begman spoke as if it was out of the question.

“I’m really fine with it though?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I’ll take you anyway.”

“I’m really okay with it…”

Having already experienced death once, he was of the opinion that corpses didn’t matter much.

He only hoped that the form of death wouldn’t be miserable or horrific.

“Do you think I’d take you because you’re pretty or something?”

“Then why?”

“What about your family?”

“…?”

“What would His Grace the Grand Duke and your brothers do if we can’t even recover your body? How heartbroken would they be if they couldn’t even hold a funeral?”

“Wouldn’t they not care?”

“Hey, you brat.”

Begman gave him a very light tap on the head.

“You shouldn’t say things like that carelessly.”

“But…”

“No matter how much of a disappointment a child might be, losing a child tears your heart apart. That’s what family is.”

“I don’t think so…”

“Shh. Stop talking nonsense and let’s go make the report.”

“Yes, well. Let’s go.”

A cold smile appeared on Carlisle’s lips as he followed Begman.

‘I guarantee that old bastard probably held a half-hearted funeral for me and went off to play golf with his new wife.’

As thoughts of his father from his previous life came to mind, thoughts of Grand Duke Guntram also surfaced.

How would Grand Duke Guntram react if Carlisle van Sigmund died in battle?

‘There’s no way he’d be sad about such a worthless bastard dying. It’d be fortunate if he didn’t celebrate.’

Family?

To Carlisle, family was nothing more than an object of resentment and hatred.

* * *

“…Such a thing happened.”

Helen’s expression grew even darker after receiving the report.

Bjornsen suddenly becoming undead, or more precisely, his body breaking in and taking the head, was no ordinary incident.

But to think there was an evil dark mage behind it all…

“Let’s withdraw.”

Carlisle suggested to Helen with a strong tone.

“The Butcher Tribe alone is hard enough to handle, but if that dark mage joins forces with them…”

“Orders from above have already come down.”

It seemed a messenger had visited while the exploration operation was in progress.

Carlisle’s party was one thing, but the messenger must have had quite a hard time traveling in the middle of the night.

“There’s no withdrawal. Orders came down to continue the magic stone mining operation.”

“What did you say…?”

Carlisle doubted his own ears.

Even though they’d become the target of the Butcher Tribe, a fairly large-scale barbarian tribe, they were to continue the mining operation?

“It seems the magic stone supply is severely insufficient.”

“What about reinforcements?”

“Battles are continuing in other regions as well, so they can’t send reinforcements immediately. However, they’ll send reinforcements within a few days, so we’re to do our best with magic stone supply until then.”

“Who the hell gave that damn order?”

“It’s an order that came directly from command headquarters.”

“Command headquarters…?”

“The 2nd Army Command Headquarters. It would be fair to say it’s a direct order from Commander Rebesk, your great-uncle.”

“Ah.”

Carlisle felt like he had been hit in the head with a hammer.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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