Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 70

70―――――

No choice!

Protagonist deployed!

“Huff!

Cough!

Ugh, huff!”

His heart and lungs felt like they were about to explode, and he tasted a bitter, metallic flavor of blood in his throat.

He wanted to collapse and catch his breath, but Baron Konean couldn’t stop.

If he stopped, he would die.

“Damn it!

Damn it all!

Just what the hell is that bastard!”

It had been a day of constant complications.

First, the son of Klausen was suddenly attacked and injured while passing through his territory.

Then, fearing suspicion as the mastermind, he brought him into his estate to check on his condition, only to be pressured with, ‘I know everything, so spill it now.’

He thought they wanted to make a deal to buy slaves!

So he let them look around the slave market, and then they said, ‘Okay, we’ve seen enough. Now, hand over some money!’ It was completely absurd!

‘Up to that point, it was fine. Up to that point!’

Although he had to send a huge sum of money, he didn’t consider it a total loss.

After all, he had made a connection with Klausen, and if they really kept an eye on this market and protected it, he would have gained a pretty significant shield.

But then, just 10 minutes ago.

The world was turned upside down by a man who suddenly barged in.

“Uwaaaagh!”

“Keugh!”

Although it was his barony, Baron Konean always prioritized building a strong military force, fearing that the slaves might rise up in revolt.

Thanks to this, he had secured three mid-level knights, fourteen low-level knights, and a total of about 100 soldiers who could reliably use mana [magical energy].

Although they were motivated by money rather than loyalty, they were a necessary force to maintain the stability of this slave market, so Baron Konean thoroughly armed and trained them.

It was a fairly large and skilled military force, to the point where he would have a hard time explaining himself if he were arrested for treason if this fact was revealed to the royal family.

With them, he could suppress the entire slave population without killing them.

‘But what is that! God! Please!’

Baron Konean was still dumbfounded.

Except for high-level knights, mid-level knights almost never lose to any enemy.

They were true masters who knew how to properly use mana not only for attack but also for defense, breathing, and various other aspects.

All three of those mid-level knights had fallen with a single slash of the man’s sword.

They had abandoned their knightly honor and rushed at the man to kill him, but they couldn’t defeat him.

Moreover, the man didn’t even bother to take their lives.

As if killing such opponents was beneath him.

“Hehehe… Ahahaha! Wherever you go, trash just keeps doing trashy things! Ahahaha!”

The man, covered in blood, burst into mad laughter.

Baron Konean, seeing those eyes, instinctively ran without looking back.

The man’s eyes held madness, a passion for slaughter, and a chill that penetrated to the bone.

“Stop him! Stop him!”

In reality, the baron knew it was impossible.

He was a monster who had defeated three mid-level knights in one blow.

To tell ordinary humans to fight that monster was not fighting, but simply throwing them into his mouth to be devoured.

“Cough!”

“Keuaaack!”

The man no longer even swung his sword.

He moved the sword to his left hand and began to turn the low-level knights and soldiers who rushed at him into mincemeat with his right fist.

Crack!

Crunch!

Splat!

The sounds of bones breaking, flesh tearing, and blood splattering filled the air.

It wasn’t as if they were charging in barehanded; they were wearing thick leather armor, chain mail, and even plate armor for the knights.

They were a perfect military force armed with spears and swords.

They were capable of taking charge of a line of the fortress and fighting even if a territorial war broke out right away.

But before the man’s fist, soldiers in leather armor and knights in thick plate armor were equally destroyed.

Swords were deflected with his fist, and spears were blocked even as they pierced through.

And somehow, the man didn’t get injured; he didn’t even shed a drop of blood.

“Cough!”

The last standing soldier had his jaw shattered and fainted on the spot.

The man stared at his blood-soaked fist and then immediately moved in the direction Baron Konean had fled.

Thud, thud, thud—.

With just three steps, the distance between him and the baron was instantly closed.

The baron continued his life-or-death game of tag with an opponent who never let the distance widen no matter how much he ran.

“Keuheuk! Keuheok!”

In the end, it was Baron Konean who reached his limit.

He gasped for breath and, with the instinctive judgment that he had to hide where that monster couldn’t see him, he entered a makeshift building.

A place filled with imitation jewels and revealing clothes; it seemed he had entered a warehouse filled with clothes and accessories used to adorn other races of slaves.

“Heuek! Heuek!”

Baron Konean trembled, covering his mouth with his hand, hoping that his opponent wouldn’t notice and would chase him elsewhere.

Most of the women of other races who were dragged here were just like this.

He couldn’t have known that those who were sold to him trembled in such fear.

‘Please go, please go! Please!’

He begged, begged, and begged again.

If he could escape this nightmare, if only he could, he would do anything.

He prayed to God that he would do anything if he could escape from here with all his limbs intact.

But God, did not exist.

Kwaaaang!

“Heok!”

A hole appeared in the middle of the wooden door.

That thick door, made of solid wood and capable of blocking most spears and swords, was completely shattered.

And what came through that door was the monster’s right hand, soaked with the blood of Baron Konean’s soldiers.

Swish—.

The monster, having made a hole in the door, pulled out his hand and peeked inside.

“…”

Eyes that flickered with murderous intent, then lost their light as if looking at a corpse, then suddenly changed and gleamed with incredibly negative emotions that were impossible to express.

Baron Konean, making eye contact with those eyes, couldn’t even scream properly and only trembled, making a sound like, ‘Keueueue….’

“Got you, you bastard.”

The words were extremely simple, even playful, but the voice was not.

It was a chilling sound, as if scraping the surface of metal with a blade.

“Eueueueue! Eueueueue!”

Baron Konean sat down and retreated, but there was nowhere else to run.

Meanwhile, the monster relentlessly smashed even the doorknob and slowly moved inside, pushing the weakly opening door.

At that moment, Baron Konean sensed it.

If he didn’t do something here, he would definitely die.

That monster was determined to kill him, if no one else.

“…”

Finally, when he was cornered with nowhere else to run.

The monster slowly opened his mouth.

“Those who enjoyed playing with the lives of others make such a fuss when their own lives are on the line. I found that really amusing. Pushing those who struggled to live into that hell.”

“S, spare me! I don’t know who you are, but please don’t do this!”

“Right. Always that same line. Have you ever spared or released those who said those words?”

Pwook!

“Eugh? K, keuaaaack!”

A burning sensation was transmitted from his leg, followed by tremendous pain.

Baron Konean looked at the tip of the sword embedded in his thigh and stared at the monster standing before him, Kim Yu-hyun, with fear-filled eyes.

“P, please! I, I’ll give you as much money as you want! Just spare my life, spare my life! Please!”

“You’re trying to put a price on life with money until the very end.”

Kkuuuk!

As the blade, which had only entered the skin and fat layer, gradually pushed inward, the baron felt as if lightning was striking in his head.

Everything flashed before his eyes, his breath caught in his throat, and no words came out.

Who would have thought of sticking a sword into him, to whom the Hispaña royal family had formally granted a title?

“I’ve left all the guys outside half-dead. They’re all scum like you, but if I kill them all, I’ll become just like you. I refuse to do that.”

“Keueueuk! Keuheuuek!”

“So I only killed half of them. I didn’t cut off their breath, so it’s up to them now. Either they endure and survive because they want to live, or they don’t even have that will and turn into corpses.”

Ssuk!

Blood spurted as Kim Yu-hyun roughly pulled out the sword.

Thanks to that, Baron Konean screamed, ‘Keuaaaack! I’m going to die!’ but that didn’t give Kim Yu-hyun any pangs of conscience.

No, rather, the smile on his lips deepened, as if his satisfaction only increased.

“In that sense, shall we see what kind of guy you are?”

Kim Yu-hyun’s sword slowly rose upward.

He wouldn’t take his life in one blow, but he intended to inflict a serious injury equivalent to it, so it would not be a light strike.

Sensing that, Baron Konean began to spew out whatever came to his mind in a voice filled with malice.

“Kuaaack! You! Do you think you’ll be safe after this! The royal family will hunt you down! No matter what wrong I’ve committed, the authority to punish a formal aristocrat of the royal family rests solely with the royal family! You are ignoring the pride of the aristocrats of this kingdom and the authority of the royal family!”

“…”

“The moment you harm me, you better flee this kingdom. Unless you want to be chased until you die….”

“What a load of crap.”

He knew very well that his physical condition was not normal.

He also felt firsthand that the swordsmen of this world were stronger than most warriors who existed in the previous world, thanks to their abundant mana.

If he turned the entire kingdom into an enemy, even he would have to fight a rather lonely and difficult battle.

‘But.’

But, it didn’t matter.

He was alone from the start.

He fought enemies alone, shed tears thinking of the dead alone, and reached this point alone.

So now, it didn’t matter what he did alone.

The light disappeared from Kim Yu-hyun’s eyes.

The flames that had been blazing with anger and murderous intent just a moment ago quickly died down.

What remained inside were only hollow, dead eyes, as if looking at a corpse.

At the same time, Kim Yu-hyun’s sword soared into the air.

“N, no way!”

Baron Konean cried out in despair, but Kim Yu-hyun’s sword flew mercilessly towards him.

Chaeng!

Kagagagak!―.

“…Keugh.”

Sparks flew, and the sound of metal clashing against metal echoed.

The sword that had been flying straight towards Baron Konean was blocked in mid-air by another sword.

Kim Yu-hyun stared at the scene for a moment, then slowly turned his head.

“Get out of the way.”

“Please step back, Sir Yu-hyun.”

“I won’t say it twice. Get out of the way.”

“…”

Rishikida added strength to both hands as if she couldn’t do that.

Clearly, she was putting strength into the sword with both hands, while Kim Yu-hyun was using one hand, yet she was slowly but surely being pushed back, and Rishikida tried to act as if nothing was wrong.

Flames ignited again in Kim Yu-hyun’s eyes.

He considered her an enemy for not stepping aside despite the warning, and just as he was about to unleash murderous intent towards her.

“That’s enough.”

A handsome young man appeared with several people behind him.

Kim Yu-hyun stared at them for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.

“Why did you come here, Prince Zion, when you refused with all sorts of excuses?”

“I came because I thought you would be doing this. Is there any other reason?”

“You knew, but you didn’t stop it. As if you were hoping for it.”

At Kim Yu-hyun’s words, Zion shrugged as if to say, think what you want.

“Move this woman. Otherwise, I will cut her down as well.”

“Don’t talk nonsense and step back. Unless you want to get hurt.”

“Do you have no regrets about those words right now? The moment you swing that sword, you will receive a royal order to be pursued for injuring a nobleman. And at the same time, everyone related to you will not be able to avoid suspicion. Are you planning to put your teacher, Raido, in danger? Lucia too?”

“…!”

Kim Yu-hyun’s expression distorted at the mention of Raido’s name.

Kim Yu-hyun was like any other disciple, especially in his concern for his teacher.

Especially since he had spent time in the Murim [martial arts world], his perception of the relationship between teacher and disciple had become more special.

“No matter how you handle things up to this point, that’s it. Baron Konean is a nobleman who was formally granted territory and a title by the royal family. If you harm him any more than this for personal reasons, it will be really difficult then. Not only you, but also your teacher and Lucia, and everyone related to you.”

‘And me, you son of a bitch!’

‘So stop lowering that sword and put some strength into those rotten, dead fish eyes!’

Zion hoped that Kim Yu-hyun would step back.

He hated killing so much that he thought he would only give some proper tough love, but on the way, there were knights and soldiers who had been beaten to a pulp everywhere.

He hadn’t directly taken their lives, but he had inflicted quite dangerous serious injuries, and some had even already died.

‘That means Kim Yu-hyun is really pissed. I hope he’ll quit soon and step back.’

It was like shooting what he thought was an ordinary tactical nuke, but ‘Surprise! It was Tsar Bomba [powerful nuclear weapon]!’

Zion was chanting, please calm down and step back, step back, step back!, like a mantra.

“…”

Fortunately, Kim Yu-hyun didn’t like the idea of Raido and Lucia being harmed because of him, so he eventually put away his sword and stepped back.

As the powerful enemy willingly stepped back, Rishikida let out a sigh of relief and opened the way for Zion to pass.

Meanwhile, Baron Konean, who had been trembling, recognized Zion as he stepped forward, and tried to stand up from his seat, but sat down again because of the wound, and then smiled broadly and opened his mouth.

“P, Prince Zion! T, thank you! Thank you so much! I lived thanks to you. Thanks to….”

“Money.”

“…Yes?”

“You said you’d give me money if I spared your life. I saved you instead, so you have to pay the transaction fee.”

“W, what are you….”

“Want to die?”

Until just now, he was stopping Kim Yu-hyun from harming him, but now what was he talking about?

Baron Konean seemed to be blinking his eyes and asking that.

Zion gave him a smile even more evil than the devil and opened his mouth.

“It would be a problem if I harmed you. But you regretted your sins and committed suicide! If you say that, there’s nothing particularly problematic, right?”

“O, euheueo?”

“So, what I’m saying is. If you don’t want to be ‘suicided,’ pay the fee quickly, customer.”

At that moment, Baron Konean was certain.

The man who had saved him from the monster’s hands was actually an even greater devil than that monster.

―――――――Author’s Afterword―――――――

An angel has appeared!

You will be eaten if you don’t give a recommendation!