The God-Possessed Swordsmanship Genius - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Divine-Blessed Swordsman Genius, Chapter 3

* * *

Outside the warehouse, it was pure chaos.
Lucas would not let the bandits who had dared to kidnap a Bishuken bloodline live. He cut down every bandit who stood in his way.
Looking at the bandit corpses strewn outside, Allen turned toward the warehouse and shouted.

“You lot should be thanking me!”

After all, none of the bandits he had fought had died.
The disposal of the bandits was handed over to the garrison of a neighboring kingdom.
When Lucas held out his Identity Token, the emblem of a Bishuken swordsman, the guards hurried toward the mountain stronghold.
Watching the retreating guards, Lucas spoke.

“That was a pointless act of mercy.”
“Huh?”
“Sparing those bandits.”

It seemed he had assumed Allen had gone soft and let the bandits live.

“Everyone has to go through the difficulty of their first kill. I’m not saying to kill anyone who comes your way. I’m saying don’t hesitate if killing one lets you save two.”

Under the steady stream of nagging, Allen wore a bewildered expression. Something had been misunderstood.
Come to think of it.

‘Had I, at this point, never killed anyone before?’

It had been so long ago that he couldn’t even remember such a trivial thing.
Well, how could he have experienced a real life-or-death battle when he had never once been sent on a proper mission?

‘So I really do look like a green rookie.’

Allen laughed awkwardly, looking sheepish.
The sore thumb of Bishuken, even bested by bandits. That was exactly how everyone saw him.
Even now, Lucas kept up his lecture about a swordsman’s spirit, about real combat, and all manner of other nagging.

‘Is he angry? Or is he worried?’

Back then, this nagging had grated on him terribly. He had even believed his brother hated him.
Who in the family would like someone like me? That sense of grievance had been ingrained in him as a matter of course. He had assumed his brother would be no different.
But having returned after living a life far longer than Lucas’s, and even longer than his father’s, he could finally see the things he had been blind to back then.

‘So my brother never hated me.’

Even as he was being lectured, a smile tugged at Allen’s lips.
Instead of letting his shoulders drop, Allen grinned foolishly. Seeing him, Lucas stopped his lecture and asked.

“…What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. I’m just happy.”
“Happy?”
“Thanks to those bandits, I got to come all the way out of the family estate and travel with you, didn’t I?”
“This was not a trip.”
“Being out far from home is a trip, right?”
“Ridiculous.”

Though only slightly, Allen saw the corners of his brother’s mouth lift. The meaningless chatter seemed to have landed well enough.
Then, all at once, Allen brought up the matter of the mission.

“The information leaked during this subjugation mission.”
“…Huh?”
“It was a trap. The ones waiting at the mountain stronghold had dozens of Loaded Heavy Crossbows, and they’d already surrounded the place.”

At the sudden explanation, Lucas’s expression hardened.

“Bandits aren’t the type to keep a tight watch. And heavy crossbows are equipment the kingdom’s army uses.”

From the situation alone, Lucas sensed that something was seriously wrong.

“If military weapons were involved, then someone deliberately meant to sabotage Bishuken’s mission. But why? Among the missions Bishuken handed out, yours was the lowest in importance.”
“It probably wasn’t about the mission itself.”
“Are you saying they were after you?”
“Probably.”

Lucas’s expression grew even graver at Allen’s answer.
Many thoughts hung in the silence. It seemed he, too, had a certain suspicion.
After a brief pause, Lucas spoke.

“If that’s the case, we shouldn’t have simply handed those bastards over to the kingdom’s guard. We should have caught them and interrogated them to get information.”
“I already got the information. Didn’t you see earlier? How thoroughly I beat them like dogs.”

That was a lie. There was no information to be had from the bandits.
But I already knew who was behind it. And above all, this would not stop at just this once.

“…Why bring this up now?”
“Things like this should be said in a good mood. If I say it while you’re nagging, it’ll sound like an excuse, right?”
“Are you seriously saying that now-”

Exasperated, Lucas let out a small sigh and said,

“I’ll have to ask Father to investigate. Whether there really was such a trap, and if there was, where the problem started.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“This is my mission. Overcoming even that kind of variable was my role.”
“That’s true enough, but… so you’re just going to let it slide?”
“No. That would just be avoidance. And running to Father would be tattling.”
“Don’t tell me you’re-”
“Yeah.”

After the regression, Allen had set his first goal.

“My mission isn’t over yet.”

* * *

When the sun set and night fell, the two of them secured an inn to stay the night.
The most luxurious inn in the area, with separate rooms.
A place where they could use as much hot water as they liked and be served a warm meal. Allen broke into a broad grin.

Flump.

Allen, having washed in hot water and returned to his room, threw himself onto the bed.
Full, refreshed, and sinking into softness.
It was nothing short of paradise.

“Ahh, this is nice…”

The moment of bliss he savored with his whole body didn’t last long.
Allen calmly organized what he needed to do next, in more concrete terms.

‘First, I need to establish my standing within the family.’

He was the only one who knew about the future involving the Demon Race.
Share this future with his father and the others?
That would be sheer madness. It might draw the attention of the demons hiding across the continent, and he could end up dying for nothing.

Establishing his standing within the family came first. Only then would his words carry weight, and only then could he prepare for what was coming.
So what should he do to get there?
As he turned over various plans in his head, Allen suddenly stretched his hand out toward the ceiling, fingers spread wide.

“…Is that really all I can do?”

Hands thick with calluses.
Born in a body incapable of holding any mana, the only thing he could do was train himself until he nearly broke.
In his previous life, he had been lucky enough to meet a great master and reach a certain level of skill, but that was as far as it went.
The limits of a human born under the Curse of Bima were painfully clear.

“I want to get stronger.”

The Demon King’s face surfaced in his mind.
Just thinking of that creature made his heart ache.
He couldn’t even picture himself fighting it.

“…Strong enough to beat that guy.”

If he could only get that strong, everything could change.
That was when it happened.

-There is a way.

In the empty room.
That same voice he had heard in the bandits’ storehouse drifted to him once more.

-If you become me.

Whoosh.

His vision turned white, and his consciousness drifted away.
As he lost consciousness, Allen thought.
This feels a lot like dying.

[You have obtained the Heart of ??.]

* * *

Allen opened his eyes.
A place so dark not a single speck of light existed.
Had he woken in a place like this a few hours earlier, he would likely have been deeply flustered. But Allen interpreted the situation in a different way.

“So it was all a dream after all?”

If anything, a deep sigh escaped him, the thought being, well, of course.
Honestly, who could reverse time? He had never come across a single text suggesting such a thing was possible.

‘That voice.’

In the storehouse where he had been locked up, and on the bed where he had been savoring his happiness.
The same voice had come both times. At first he had assumed it was something the fallen bandit had said, but he wasn’t mistaken twice.

“Are you the messenger sent to fetch me or something?”

If that was the case, he was a remarkably kind messenger.
It hadn’t been a long time, but he had managed to spend what felt like a dream.
There were regrets, but thanks to that, he thought he might be able to go a little more peacefully.

Clank.

That was when the harsh rattle of chains reached him.
Right behind him.
Allen turned his body toward the sound.
At that moment.

Clank.

[You are facing ??.]

A message floated up before his eyes.
But the sight that filled his vision startled Allen more than the message did.
The first thing that caught his eye was a massive iron cage.
Its bars were as thick as pillars, and it looked like a prison built to hold something enormous, something like a dragon.
Inside the cage, someone was bound in chains. Slowly, it raised its head and met Allen’s gaze.

“…Me?”

It was him.
No, to be precise, it was something that looked exactly like him.
Master had always said.
Never judge an opponent by appearance alone. Set aside face and form, and simply feel.
And the being inside that cage was nothing like a messenger of death.
Something far more dangerous.

“You… what are you?”

Allen stepped toward the cage.
The dense, solid bars blocked him from coming any closer.
Gripping the bars with both hands, Allen questioned the being within.

“Are you the thing that was inside that orb?”
“…….”
“Did you send me here? Answer me. Why did those people go after you? What exactly are you?”
“…… …… …. …….”

It said something to Allen.
No sound reached him. Still, he could vaguely make out what it was trying to say.

[The transfer of the System has been completed.]

System.
That being was speaking about this.
So the text that had been appearing all along must be the System.

“What on earth is this supposed to—”

Allen never finished his sentence.
A fresh message surfaced right after, cutting him off.

[The Curse of Bima has weakened.]
[The Curse of Bima has been extinguished.]

“……!”

Allen’s eyes went wide enough to split.
He didn’t need the message hovering before him to know.
The curse that had lived in his soul, so constant he’d stopped feeling it, like air, was thinning away.
The message said as much.
The Curse of Bima had been dissolved.

“Really… really?”

Allen’s voice trembled.
Overcoming the Curse of Bima.
No one on the continent had ever managed it. The curse had clung to Allen his whole life, like a tattoo carved into his fate.
And now it had been resolved this easily?
He could build his mana like everyone else, and go beyond his limits?
Years of chasing a sliver of possibility to overcome the curse flashed through his mind like a lantern passing by.
His heart pounded harder than it had the moment he’d realized he’d regressed.

“What on earth are you?”

Clang!

Excited, Allen shook the iron bars hard.

“I said, what are you!”

It still didn’t answer.
No, it couldn’t understand him.
It felt as though some unseen force was blocking it.

“And what’s this ‘System’ supposed to be, anyway—”

Allen startled and clutched at his throat.
In an instant, his voice cut off, as if he’d been struck mute.
At the same moment, another voice rang out from overhead.

-Allen!

A voice that rolled through the space like thunder.
With it, the massive iron bars before him blurred and faded.
In the last moment, Allen saw it.
Beyond the bars.
His own face, chained there, was smiling with deep satisfaction.

* * *

“…len. Allen!”

Pop.

Allen opened his eyes.
This feeling was strikingly like coming back to life after dying. He knew it well, having died once before.
When he opened his eyes, Lucas was right in front of him, calling his name.

“Brother?”
“How long are you planning to keep sleeping?”
“How long, you say?”

It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, though?
Allen turned his head toward the window and jolted in surprise.
He had gone to bed late in the evening, but the outside was already bright.
A dream?
No. The sensation of the Curse of Bima having faded was still there, exactly as before.

“The sun’s already high. We’re leaving far too late.”
“I slept that long?”
“No matter how many times I called you, you wouldn’t wake. Where exactly is your head at?”

Lucas glared at Allen with a look of exasperation.

“If you sleep this deeply, you won’t be able to protect yourself during a mission. Sleep quality matters, but more than that…”
“Potion!”

Lucas’s words were cut off by the sudden shout.

“…Potion?”
“Brother, do you happen to have any spare potions?”
“What nonsense is this all of a sudden? Why are you looking for a potion out of nowhere?”
“Do you or don’t you? You’d have at least one potion left over from your mission, wouldn’t you?”
“Hold on, calm down. At least tell me the reason first…”
“Potion!”

Allen shouted as if he were screaming.
He wanted to confirm right then and there whether the curse had truly been overcome.

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