Reincarnated as a Genius Prodigy of a Prestigious Family - Chapter 258

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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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Reincarnated as a Legendary Talent Genius of a Noble Family Episode 258

168. Into the Jungle (3)

Ritual.

The appearance of rejecting outsiders.

High wooden fences surrounding the area so the inside of the village couldn’t be seen.

And….

Even the blazing sunlight.

“Complete.”

We first set up our camp.

Finding a way to enter was important, but in this kind of environment, it was also important to rest.

We had already ridden hard to get here.

“Keep a close eye on the mana stone. That’s an installation type, and if the position gets disturbed, it’ll get hot again immediately. Keep the heat exhaust outlet facing outside.”

Fortunately, we had one of Big Sister’s inventions, the ‘Cold Generator’.

By the way, although this was an invention, it was a product that couldn’t be released to the outside world due to its enormous mana consumption.

It was something that could barely operate with several of my special mana stones.

“Wow, it’s really cool.”

“It would be great if we could carry this around and use it.”

“That would be a real revolution, wouldn’t it?”

Everyone was excited and crowded around the cold generator, which was quite amusing to watch.

“Priscilla, Ernest, and I will go check things out. Leila? Please guard the camp with the others.”

“Leave it to me.”

So we decided to move in shifts.

Recently, Leila had been moving with me less often.

The reason was simple.

Because she was the strongest after me.

And because she was trustworthy.

“Good. So where should we start looking around?”

Of course, everyone was trustworthy.

Including Ernest, who was currently very excited.

“You’ll get tired quickly if you do that. According to the seniors who went on ascetic training, they said never to go to the jungle as a training location.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s an environment that drives people crazy.”

Priscilla’s words were quickly proven true.

Thanks to the medicine Viscount Otier had obtained for us, fewer bugs stuck to us, but the sticky humidity and intense sunlight made people exhausted in an instant.

“Huff, gasp.”

This wasn’t a matter of stamina.

It was a matter of environment.

“Kee… grr….”

Karnas also kept coming out of and going back into my arms, eventually getting exhausted and sticking his tongue out.

Finally, only after I used magic to summon cold air did the heat subside considerably.

Even for me, maintaining it all day was somewhat burdensome, but since there were only three of us.

“Let’s start by looking around the outskirts.”

With the heat resolved and our concentration restored, we decided to start by examining the outskirts.

From what we could see, the residential areas seemed to be divided between inside and outside the wooden fence.

“You mean ask the people living outside?”

“Yeah. If things go well, we might be able to go into the jungle without having to go through the village.”

First, we needed a guide.

We had to go deep into the jungle, and the presence of someone familiar with the local geography was essential.

Well, there was also the method of just breaking through openly, but that was only a method to use when not thinking about the consequences.

So we carefully approached the first house that caught our eye.

“Is anyone there?”

“…Are you outsiders?”

“That’s right. We came here on business, and if it’s alright with you, we’d like someone who could guide us through that jungle….”

“Go back. I have nothing to say to outsiders.”

And we were immediately turned away at the door.

Good. This wasn’t going to be easy from the start.

“The outside seems to be the same.”

“Still, just in case, let’s look around a bit more.”

Following Ernest’s suggestion, we visited about five more houses after that, but—

“Get lost! Where do outsiders get off now….”

“Our village is in the middle of a ritual! Don’t cause unnecessary trouble and go back!”

“Outsiders, they’re outsiders!”

We got similar reactions with no real results.

“This reaction is kind of strange.”

“I know, right. They’re being too wary?”

“Damn it. We’re blocked right from the start.”

By the way, the last comment was from Priscilla.

Now, what should we do?

Looking at the situation, all the people here kept mentioning outsiders and wouldn’t even try to talk to us.

So should we enter the jungle like this?

Well.

Going to a remote region that even Ernest didn’t know well, would that really be right?

“It would have been fine if our Father was here.”

“Where hasn’t your father been?”

“Hmm. Like me, he probably couldn’t visit the Imperial Palace?”

While we were exchanging idle chatter.

“Look, is that person coming toward us?”

We spotted someone carefully approaching us.

He was dressed no differently from other residents, with his upper body bare and wearing only simple pants….

“What are those wounds?”

Even from a distance, wounds that were clearly visible covered his entire body.

And they were all fresh wounds that hadn’t healed long ago.

“From the Empire… did you come from the Empire…?”

A faint voice reached us.

“Please… please listen to my story….”

His staggering walk looked precarious, and just as Priscilla couldn’t wait any longer and was about to run out.

Thud.

He collapsed right there.

“He’s not dead. But his condition is bad.”

Priscilla drew upon her divine power without hesitation. But then shouts came from behind us.

“St-stay away, outsiders! Don’t touch him!”

“That man is a sinner! If you get close, you’ll receive the same punishment!”

Priscilla’s response to those outcries was as follows.

“Where is that dog barking from.”

Wooooong.

An enchanting light flowed from Priscilla’s hands, blessed with Sacred Grace from Saint Aimar.

The light covered the fallen man’s entire body and began healing his wounds at rapid speed.

“Wooooah….”

Ernest was amazed, and I too was astonished with my mouth slightly agape.

No matter how many times I see it, it’s still a wondrous sight.

Though apparently not for those people.

“H-how dare you heal a criminal….”

“You should have left him to die, outsider! Who gave you permission to heal him!”

Only after finishing the healing did Priscilla stand up and retort.

“Whether he committed a crime or not, if I just stand by while someone is dying before my eyes, I’d lose my priesthood. Unless he attacked me first.”

And she added with a cold expression.

“So everyone shut up. You’re being noisy.”

Even Ernest closed his mouth at that icy glare. Hey, what are you doing getting scared along with them?

But anyway….

What is this man?

He asked if we came from the Empire, then requested that we listen to his story.

He’s different from the other villagers who cursed us to get lost just from making eye contact.

“Well done, Priscilla.”

This much is certainly worth saving, even from a non-priestly perspective.

“I’ll carry him.”

Ernest crouched down as if wanting to show off the stamina he’d built recently. Finding his gesture admirable, I placed the unconscious, limp man on his back.

“Nnnngh….”

He’s probably regretting it quite a bit right about now.

The perceived weight of an unconscious person is no joke.

Still, seeing him somehow manage to stand up, it seems he’s been training hard.

“Wh-where are you taking the criminal!”

“Those outsiders are stealing the criminal away!”

Well, we’re taking him to camp, obviously.

Though clamoring could be heard from behind, I easily ignored it and turned my head.

This unconscious man must have anticipated this situation too.

There should be no problem taking him with us.

Swoosh!

In the midst of this, there was an arrow flying through the air—

Shing, thunk!

I instantly drew my fluorescent sword… no, my Arcanium sword and struck it down, cutting it in mid-air.

“…!”

I can see the wide-eyed expression of the one who shot the arrow.

I warned them while pointing my sword at them.

“The second arrow will be returned dozens of times over.”

And when I generated as many mana arrows as possible in the air, screams mixed with horror burst out.

“It’s a sorcerer!”

“That’s impossible! The sorcerer is inside the jungle….”

“The divine punishment of sorcery is coming!”

Then they scattered in panic in an instant.

I was momentarily dazed by the sight of them scattering to their respective homes and locking their doors.

“Seems like they’re seeing magic for the first time?”

At Priscilla’s words, I tilted my head.

The word ‘sorcery’ is a bit concerning.

And there’s a sorcerer inside the jungle?

This is going to require a lot of investigation.

“Let’s return to camp for now.”

The man woke up after several hours had passed.

Night had fallen in the meantime, and Priscilla supported the man as he sat up with faint groans.

“I healed the external wounds, but you’re not ready to move around yet. Stay lying down.”

The man looked at us with a dazed expression. Like someone who had awakened from a dream.

He fumbled around his body, then showed a surprised face upon seeing it was completely clean without a single wound.

But that was only momentary.

“The, the ritual! What happened to the ritual?”

“Ritual?”

“Right now toward the village….”

The man urgently turned his head to check the village direction. Then he let out a sigh of relief.

“Fortunately, no smoke is rising yet… It seems the ritual hasn’t started.”

The man kept sighing, then bowed his head toward Priscilla.

“Thank you for saving me. If it weren’t for you, I probably….”

“I only did what needed to be done.”

Yes, that’s how Priscilla is.

But I’m not.

“We have many questions for you.”

The man’s gaze turned toward me.

“So we need explanations. About everything we’re curious about.”

“….”

“Why the village is so wary of outsiders, what happened to you, what’s in the jungle. And… someone who could serve as a guide inside the jungle too.”

The man seemed overwhelmed by the successive questions, but soon asked me.

“Did you come… from the Empire?”

“This place is also part of the Empire.”

“…That’s right. That is true. Though it’s practically a world outside the Empire.”

The man sighed.

“I’m Reutakera. Until recently, I was one of the residents living in there… but my son was taken as a sacrifice for the ritual, and I was driven out of the village.”

So that’s the story behind it.

“Then those wounds from earlier are related to that too?”

“That’s… right. When I tried to enter the village to save my son, I was stopped and ended up….”

The general questions are resolved.

“My goodness, the ritual involves offering sacrifices, and they sacrifice people?”

“That’s unbelievable….”

I could hear my friends murmuring beside me.

But that’s not the important fact ‘yet’.

“A ritual. What kind of ritual is it?”

“It’s a ritual offered to the sorcerer inside the jungle. He’s a terrifying person. He can summon rain and wind with a single gesture, and burn to death anyone he points at with his finger.”

The man, Reutake, trembled all over. Unless it was considerable fear, it wouldn’t be easy to show such a reaction from mere mention.

“Then isn’t that magic?”

“It sounds like he’s talking about magic.”

“I guess they call it sorcery here.”

At my friends’ murmuring, Reutake tilted his head.

“Ma… gic, you say?”

I asked to confirm.

“Has that village been isolated from outside contact for a long time?”

“Yes, from what I’ve heard, it’s been hundreds of years… It’s such a remote region, and while some nobles supposedly manage it, they haven’t shown their faces in ages.”

Then it makes sense they’d mistake the existence of magic by calling it ‘sorcery’ instead.

I can also understand the reaction the village people showed when I floated dozens of magic arrows in the void earlier.

“So you’re saying your son was mobilized as a sacrifice for a ritual meant for that sorcerer.”

“That’s right. It’s something that started recently…”

“Recently, you say?”

“About 10 years ago.”

Then that fellow calling himself a sorcerer might actually be a mage who came from somewhere else in the Empire.

Or…

He might be using something related to the mana inside that jungle to cause trouble.

One thing’s certain – I’ll only know for sure by going into the jungle.

“When is the ritual?”

“Probably tomorrow at the earliest. That’s what I heard.”

Reutake was on the verge of breaking into tears, choking up.

A ritual to sacrifice a young child.

What is that fellow calling himself a sorcerer trying to do with a young child?

“What should we do, Dane?”

At Leila’s question, I asked Reutake.

“Do you know the jungle well?”

“The jungle… you mean.”

“We’re going to go there.”

I pointed beyond the village, toward the interior of the jungle. That pitch-black place where darkness had settled.

“Ah, I know it. That place is somewhere our village residents frequently go in and out of. Of course, we can’t go too deep because of the sorcerer…”

Well, who would have thought I’d find a guide like this.

“Then let’s do this.”

At my following words, Reutake’s eyes widened.

“We’ll rescue your son. And you’ll guide us through the jungle.”

And I added one more thing.

“Preferably, all the way to where that fellow calling himself a sorcerer is.”

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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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