The Regressed Magic Swordsman Devours the North - Chapter 28

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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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Episode 28. How to Catch Two Rabbits at Once (3)
Halfway through the auction, I had already won seventeen items.
—The next item is Brunhilde’s Pendant!
To an outsider, it might have looked like I was bidding indiscriminately, but I was actually buying only what I truly needed, and it was about time to stop.
The items I knew from my experience before the return had run out, and the maximum estimated price for Untel is three billion. I’d need around nine billion—three times that—to reliably win the auction.
The subsequent auctions grew sluggish. Once I stopped bidding, bidder 77, who had been trying to compete with me, lost momentum as well.
And so a somewhat subdued peace settled over the hall, allowing the wealthy merchants, entrepreneurs, and nobles who had been watching carefully to slip quietly into the bidding.
And then. At the very end of the auction. Finally. The item I had been waiting for appeared.
Untel.
The opening bid was five hundred million Jenni.
The bid increment was twenty million Jenni.
—Yes! Bidder 123! I see we have a newcomer today! Five hundred million Jenni!
I immediately recognized who owned that number.
Silvia.
It seemed she was finally thinking about having her own sword made.
I chose not to engage from the start, so I simply remained silent.
Of course, even if I didn’t bid—
—Yes, bidder 904! Five hundred twenty million Jenni! Bidder 33, five hundred forty million Jenni! …… Bidder 77, eight hundred million Jenni! Bidder 1028, nine hundred eighty million Jenni!
The price climbed relentlessly.
—Yes! Bidder 128, one billion Jenni! From now on, the bid increment is fifty million Jenni!
—Bidder 77, one billion one hundred million Jenni!
—Bidder 128, one billion two hundred million Jenni!
What followed was a direct confrontation between bidders 77 and 128. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…… When it reached two billion Jenni.
In the auction hall, only the auctioneer’s cry and the chiming of the resonance stone could be heard—not even breathing.
—Bidder 77, three billion five hundred million Jenni!
As the price far exceeded the maximum estimate of three billion, the man with bidder number 77 let out a scoff. As though he had already won. As though winning the auction was the same as victory itself.
But.
Silvia did not yield.
—Ooooh! Just as bidder 77, our esteemed guest, has set a new record, bidder 128, our esteemed guest! Four billion Jenni!
The moment four billion was called, a sigh burst from bidder 77. He had never imagined anyone would offer such a price.
Bidder 77 spun around and glared at bidder 128. But the opponent was Silvia.
When she shot back a killing glare, bidder 77 lowered his flag and returned to his seat.
Now that I thought about it. That man was Brenner Winston.
No wonder he seemed obsessed with pointless purchases.
‘If that fool had been buying the items I purchased and stockpiling them in a warehouse, he might have become a billionaire.’
Meanwhile, Silvia looked absolutely delighted. Finally getting what she wanted! That was the expression on her face.
I glanced at her expression and turned away. Tap. I touched the resonance stone.
—Ah! Just when we thought bidder 128’s forty billion had ended the auction, bidder 99 has entered! The bid amount is a staggering! Forty-five billion Jenni!
“””……!!!”””
Gasps erupted from various seats in the hall. No one could have imagined such a price would be offered.
Whip! This time Silvia glared at me. Our eyes didn’t meet, but I could sense it from the razor-sharp aura of her killing intent.
Her glare seemed to say this:
—You too?
I felt a subtle aura of hostility, but I didn’t turn around. Besides, I hadn’t done anything wrong. I was here to buy what I needed, that’s all.
From the start, when we first met, I had said we might become competitors.
A moment later, Silvia lowered her gaze and touched the resonance stone.
—Yesssss! Bidder 128 surpasses forty-five billion Jenni to fifty billion Jenni!
The audience stirred. Bidder 77 drew in a sharp breath. No matter how fond he was of luxury, this was not something he truly desired.
Even if the Untel was a rare item that had only appeared once in three years.
I fell silent, sinking into thought.
And I asked myself.
Do I really need the Untel?
Silvia is already the military strength of the Northern Region, isn’t she?
The answer came quickly.
Yes, I do.
I need to find a skilled craftsman and forge my own sword. It’s true that Silvia is the Northern Region’s military asset, but ultimately, I am the one who must grow strongest—I’m the one who knows the future.
‘Given Untel’s nature of storing the master’s magical power, it will become an exceptionally useful weapon needed by both swordsmen and mages.’
I touched the resonance stone again.
Tap.
—Bidder 99, fifty-three billion Jenni!
The auction hall stirred once more. Every spectator in the gallery turned to look between me and Silvia in turn.
Some whistled in approval, others clapped, and a few stood to cry out in wonder.
Their excitement likely stemmed from the fact that Silvia and I—who had clashed in the Keum Seong Conference finals not long ago—were now locked in a financial duel.
“Lot 99, 5.3 billion Jenni! Does anyone bid higher?”
The auctioneer raised his voice as though announcing a windfall. Yet Silvia did not touch the crystal orb.
No. She’d simply run out of money.
Her hands clenched into fists. It looked as though steam might rise from her scalp. She had fought desperately. But.
“Going once. Going twice. Going three times at 5.3 billion Jenni! The legendary iron fallen from heaven—the Untel—belongs to Lot 99!”
I had won. It was inevitable. I’d simply brought more ammunition to the fight.
Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap.
The distinguished patrons of the auction house applauded me, and I returned their greeting with a brief nod.
Thus the auction at Unique Rein came to an end.
***
The auction finished. Roman collected all the lots I’d purchased and loaded them into the car.
Pat, pat. I brushed off my clothes and headed out—
Smack. Someone’s palm struck my shoulder.
“Hey. Sion.”
It was Silvia. A Mid-rank Knight soon to become High-rank. The blow stung more than I’d expected.
We’d both fought through the finals, yet somehow she seemed to recover faster than me.
Is this what talent looks like?
How irritating.
“What?”
Silvia’s sapphire eyes looked up at me. I’d thought she might be considerably angry.
But her expression was surprisingly bright.
She smiled broadly and spoke.
“I’m glad you got your hands on the Untel.”
“…Thanks.”
“You’re a true Knight now. The way you pushed yourself to get the Untel—”
Silvia assumed I’d pursued the Untel in order to secure an heirloom blade.
As she herself had. She reasoned I must have felt equally desperate. That was her understanding of it.
In a sense, she wasn’t wrong, but the very fact that such mutual understanding was possible—that spoke to her status as part of the upper one percent of nobility.
“But. Why did you buy all those other things? Don’t tell me you haven’t shaken off your vanity yet?”
“No. I have uses for them, or people to sell them to.”
“…Huh?”
“One way or another, money’s going to flow out. You’ll understand when you see.”
Silvia didn’t fully grasp what I meant, but she let it pass with a “Well, that’s fair enough.”
Simple, but upright. A Knight in the truest sense.
That was what Silvia was.
And precisely because of that.
I needed her as an ally.
“Silvia.”
“Hmm?”
“Come back with me. There’s something I want to discuss in the car.”
Silvia hesitated a moment. She lived in the Karsen Household’s grand manor as well, so there was no harm in returning together. And yet.
“You’re not still harboring feelings for me, are you?”
“I told you, no.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Good. You took the Untel from me anyway. Might as well get a ride out of it.”
I hadn’t taken it from her, but in any case. I led the way forward and opened the door to the black sedan once we arrived.
“Thanks.”
Silvia climbed in, and I took the seat beside her. She and I sat in the back; Roman was at the wheel.
Vroom-vroom.
The car pulled smoothly into motion.
***
Snow that in late August should never have melted trickled past in thawing rivulets.
As the panorama of the Northern Region unfolded beyond the window, I broached the subject.
“I’m establishing a Special Investigation Division within the Inspection Bureau. Interested in joining?”
Silvia was strong. She would grow stronger still. Judged purely by investigative aptitude, she surpassed me by orders of magnitude—and if she lived, she would easily reach Knight Master tier.
‘If she came under my command, I’d feel as though I’d gained ten thousand allies.’
“……Hmm. What’s that?”
“A division that handles internal purification in the Northern Region.”
“Hah. No. I want to go to the frontlines of the Northern Region.”
“But this place is more critical than there right now?”
“What are you talking about, Sion. Demonic Beasts are the priority. Regular operatives can handle the work here just fine.”
“If it were just catching ordinary criminals, they wouldn’t have named it the Special Investigation Division. I’m trying to topple corrupt power. Their private soldiers can’t be handled by regular operatives.”
“……You’re serious?”
Even as we spoke seriously, a thought crossed my mind. When was the last time I had this kind of honest conversation with Silvia? Was this even the first time?
“Yeah.”
Silvia fell into thought. Deep thought, for a long while. Knowing that the more urgent the desire, the longer the path, I simply gazed out the window and waited.
After a moment, Silvia spoke with determined resolve written across her face.
“Fine. But there’s a condition.”
“What is it?”
“Tell me the secret behind how you got so suddenly strong.”
“……Huh? Suddenly?”
“Yeah. You got stronger out of nowhere.”
“Why do you think that?”
“When we turned twenty. The day of the Knight aptitude test. The magical power in your Core was significantly lower than everyone else’s.”
It was true. Back then, my Aura wasn’t even enough to rival Yoen Hashe, let alone qualify as a Knight.
“But the magical power I saw from you at the Keum Seong Conference was beyond imagination. How exactly did you accumulate magical power so quickly? Did you take an Elixir or something?”
Silvia asked something I genuinely hadn’t expected. But—
by a stroke of fortune, her question was precisely what I wanted her to ask—
“Yeah. I obtained an S-rank Elixir.”
“Wow. How on earth…… Did the patriarch give it to you?”
“No. I obtained it myself.”
“……So the saying holds true: if you’re born to it, everything comes to you.”
If there was one thing a Knight desired more than Untel, it was an Elixir—something that massively increased the magical power lodged in one’s Core.
Ordinary B-rank Elixirs? Both Silvia and I had grown sick of them long ago.
We were a great noble house, after all. But beyond Mid-rank Knight, standard Elixirs were useless.
You needed at least A-rank to see any effect, and A-rank Elixirs were as rare as Untel itself—both their price and acquisition difficulty were several times more demanding.
But an S-rank Elixir.
Needless to say, it was a stroke of the greatest fortune.
And.
I still had the Breath of the Ice Dragon. At minimum, an S-rank Elixir. Perhaps even SS-rank.
An Elixir I could never consume myself. Which made Silvia the perfect recipient.
“Silvia.”
“Yeah. What?”
Silvia seemed deflated. At the sight of that expression, I let out a quiet laugh and spoke.
“I’ll give one to you too.”
And with that, Silvia’s head whipped around. The listless face from before vanished entirely.
Her eyes went wide as saucers, and those sapphire irises gleamed brilliantly.
“What? You don’t mean—?”
“An S-rank Elixir.”
“Insane!”
Silvia let out an uncharacteristic curse and drew in a sharp breath. Joy bloomed across her face. But then she suddenly composed herself and asked.
“Sion. Don’t tell me—you’re giving me the Elixir on the condition that we start dating, right……?”
“Shut up. Please. That’s not it.”
My curse drew a laugh from Silvia. Somehow she looked pleased, which irritated me all the more.
‘She’s teasing me now.’
“There’s just one condition. Join the Special Investigation Division of the Inspection Bureau and work faithfully.”
“……That’s really all?”
“Yeah.”
At my firm answer, Silvia laughed openly. Of all the expressions I’d seen from her until now, this was by far the happiest.
“Got it. I’ll speak with the Bureau Chief.”
“Thank you.”
“But you’re definitely giving me the Elixir, right?”
“God, I really do get swindled at every turn. Come by the manor when you’re free. I’ll take it out for you then.”
“But how did you get it?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“You’ve got a lot of secrets now.”
After that, we exchanged idle talk until we arrived at the mansion. I’m not sure if I misunderstood something.
Roman’s expression, as far as I could tell from the rear-view mirror, was grinning.
Separate from that.
The August sunlight still warmed the Northern Region.
The Returned Demon Swordmaster Devours the Northern Region
Author
: Bang-sim
Publication Date
: June 16, 2026
Publisher
: Acesis Media Co., Ltd.
Editor
: Acesis Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by Acesis Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with the copyright holder’s contract,
and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the company and author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or duplication may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260615032

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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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