Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 135

135―――――

Do you know the harshest winter?

“Sion Claussen.”

Sion, who was busy directing the warriors and giving instructions, looked down at the voice calling him.

He saw Zyan looking up at him with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“…What are you doing right now?”

“Can’t you tell by looking? I figured it would take all day at this rate, so I’m lending a hand.”

“…”

Zyan glanced around.

The moment she appeared, all the warriors lowered their heads, careful not to do anything that might offend Temujin [a title of nobility or respect].

But Sion was doing his job as if nothing was amiss.

*Doesn’t he know who I am?* she wondered.

No, that couldn’t be. Her younger sibling, Eos, the Veyler [a type of noble] of Aigiour, would have warned him repeatedly to be careful.

*Zyan Temujin, be careful of my sister.*

If he were an innocent simpleton who didn’t know the ways of the world, it might be different, but judging from the stories Aigiour had told earlier, he didn’t seem like that kind of man.

Even the way he handled the warriors so skillfully, as if they had been his subordinates from the start, was something Zyan hadn’t anticipated.

“I wonder what complaint she’s going to make this time,” Sion muttered to himself.

It was already surprising that he had climbed onto the tent, but Sion, who then came down in one swift, practiced motion, stood in front of Zyan.

She unintentionally ended up face to face with him, and she rolled her eyes, trying to look away.

“…You are a guest. There’s no need for you to do this.”

“Wouldn’t a guest need a comfortable environment to rest in? One side is clearing snow, another is setting up tents, and yet another is digging into the ground. With chaos all around, how can I relax?”

Zyan couldn’t help but suppress a laugh at Sion’s grumbling.

It wasn’t that his words were funny, but it was surprising and new to her that he was speaking so casually right in front of her.

Everyone else was too afraid of her to even stand this close.

As Sion kept looking at her, Zyan subtly turned her head, and upon seeing the surrounding situation, she couldn’t help but sigh.

The warriors, who should have been clearing snow haphazardly or setting up tents, were now working in pairs, pushing snow here and there with focused intensity.

“…The warriors seem a bit different from their usual selves.”

“I told them that the best thing is to clear it quickly and rest early, and they listened well. It seems that no matter where you go, the best way to appease soldiers is to tell them to work fast and rest well.”

Sion muttered, noticing that Zyan was still looking away.

He was frustrated, wondering why she was doing that, whether his face was really so unbearable to look at.

*Damn it. It’s not like the barbarian tribes look completely different from the people of the kingdom. What’s so offensive about this face?*

Maybe a rough-looking impression is considered the best, like those warriors over there?

It seemed possible that in this harsh and barren land, a man who was good at fighting and working, even if he looked rough, would be considered the best, rather than a pretty boy.

…Of course, the barbarian warriors didn’t seem to be good at anything other than fighting, so that probably wasn’t it.

“Temujin.”

“…”

“Zyan Temujin.”

“What is it?”

“Can’t you at least look at my face and have a conversation when someone is talking to you?”

“Does the kingdom not have the freedom to not look at someone’s face?”

“Oh, does the North have the etiquette of not looking at faces while having a conversation right in front of you? I didn’t know that. Oh my, I’m sorry.”

As Sion spoke with a slightly provocative tone, Zyan’s eyebrows twitched for a moment.

Thanks to that, the warriors who had gathered around became even more nervous and swallowed hard.

*What is that crazy kingdom guy saying!*

*We’re dead. We’re all dead.*

*He’s making fun of Temujin without any fear!*

If she were only strong, the warriors wouldn’t be so afraid of Zyan.

She was skilled and talented, but the bigger reason was her fierce personality, which would show itself at the slightest provocation, like a wild beast.

The young warriors who had just started their careers didn’t know much, but the older ones knew very well about Zyan Temujin’s legendary past.

She had single-handedly wiped out all the warriors of a hostile tribe, and she had even beaten a vicious monster that attacked the tribesmen to death with her bare hands, without any weapons, and dragged it back.

She was truly the strongest warrior in the North, a walking weapon, and now someone was dancing in front of her, saying, ‘Please eat me.’ So the warriors couldn’t help but be nervous.

“Sion Claussen.”

*Is she going to hit him?*

The warriors flinched and wondered if they should run away.

“You are a guest. There’s no need for you to do this.”

“I told you. I wanted to rest quickly without worrying about anything, and I don’t like the surroundings being noisy when I rest. Can’t I do anything if the surroundings aren’t organized?”

“…”

Snow was piling up on her shoulders and head, and her once neat clothes were covered in dirt and wet with snow.

As a guest, she could have stood back and watched without any problems, but for some reason, this man insisted on making things difficult for himself.

Nevertheless, the man, who was said to be a great noble of the kingdom, didn’t seem to care at all.

If that was acting, he was truly amazing, and if it wasn’t acting and was genuine, he was even more amazing.

“Zyan Temujin.”

As the woman reflexively turned around at the sound of her name, Sion looked around and opened his mouth.

“Your subordinates look very uncomfortable. Do we have to stand here and talk like this?”

“…That’s not true.”

That meant they should have more sensitive conversations where others couldn’t see or hear.

Zyan told Sion to follow her and led him to the commander’s tent.

Sion nodded as if he understood and said to the female knight who was still clearing snow behind him.

“Licia! Pass that on and come with us.”

“Yes, Master!”

The woman, who had become a high-ranking knight because of her master’s eccentricities, had been clearing snow.

Licia immediately handed the snow shovel to the warrior next to her and ran over to stand next to Sion.

“More than that, Licia.”

“Yes, Master.”

“…You seem strangely excited?”

“R-Really?”

As Sion looked at her as if asking why, Licia smiled shyly and opened her mouth.

“It’s my first time seeing so much snow.”

“Ah.”

At Licia’s answer, Sion nodded as if he understood.

Such a blizzard pouring down like crazy in such a short time wouldn’t have been an easy sight for her, who lived in Nudia.

Even Claussen only had enough snow to create a slight atmosphere in winter, but it had never fallen so much that it could bury a person.

“But, Licia.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t like trash too much.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about snow, snow. I guarantee you, it’s one of the top three things in nature that can drive people crazy.”

“R-Really? I understand. I’ll keep that in mind!”

He didn’t expect her to keep it in mind, but that was Sion’s thought.

For reference, the other two things he hated were rain-soaked fallen leaves and weeds that grew everywhere.

―

“Come in.”

The place Zyan led Sion to was none other than her own tent.

Originally, it was a forbidden space that no one except Zyan herself could enter.

Some of the tribal chiefs and warriors who had followed her until now were unhappy that a guest from the kingdom was entering such a place, but most of them were worried about the guest.

*Will he be okay? Is he going to get beaten to death and come out?*

In fact, Zyan had a history of literally beating to death several warriors who had been rude to her.

She claimed that she had tried to use as little strength as possible and beat them for educational purposes, but the destructive power of a strong person who could easily catch even a high-ranking knight was already far beyond the expected range.

In addition, going to Zyan’s tent in the first place meant that you had done something wrong, so it was a place to be reprimanded, nothing more and nothing less.

All the tribal chiefs and most of the warriors instinctively knew that being called into that place meant that an unfavorable future was lurking.

*But there’s a law that says you shouldn’t lay a hand on a guest…*

*I don’t want to clean up the corpse, Temujin.*

Sion entered the tent, oblivious to the countless worried eyes focused on him.

“W-Wait a minute.”

Zyan, who had entered first, suddenly shouted, and soon something crashed and collapsed.

After a while, something shattered and something heavy fell over with a bang!

Even more time passed, and then something dragged with a rattling sound, creating a huge noise.

“…”

“The sound just now seems to be the sound of weapons falling over, Master.”

“It sounds like that to me too.”

“Could it be that she was trying to harm Master and things went wrong? Suspicious. That woman is very suspicious!”

“…”

Sion suddenly became uneasy as Licia said that.

Certainly, ‘Khan’ [a ruler or leader], Zyan Temujin, often showed such a fierce side in the novel.

She was usually as calm as a quiet lake, but when she felt that someone was ignoring her, or when she judged that it could be harmful to the tribesmen, she became a merciless beast.

It would have been easier to deal with Trisha, who was fiery in everything.

But that woman was an extremely ordinary character, a little cold but serious, but once she lost it, she became a bomb.

*No wonder her younger sibling, Eos, openly said that she was an unpredictable crazy woman.*

Sion sighed, wondering why it was so hard to find a character with a decent personality.

To some extent, it could be said that even Lilith looked like a goddess of mercy.

“Y-You can come in now. Sion Claussen.”

“…Then excuse me.”

Saying that, Sion subtly said to Licia, who was next to him, “If that woman really does something strange, don’t bother fighting and just run away with me.”

No matter how skilled Licia was, she couldn’t guarantee victory in a duel with the woman called ‘Khan’.

*I need to entrust Licia to Kim Yoo-hyun soon. And in order to use that guy, I need to build a friendly relationship not only with Khan but also with the Daughter of Winter. That way, it will be easier to use Kim Yoo-hyun.*

Fortunately, there were no weapons that seemed like they would fly at him as soon as he entered.

The inside of the tent was not particularly unique.

It was just a space with a table, five chairs, and a neatly folded sleeping bag.

It was more of a personal tent than he had expected.

*…No, correction.*

The reason Sion shook his head as if he was fed up.

As he went further inside, the ‘real’ appearance was revealed.

A makeshift table made of wood was overturned and shoved to one side.

In addition, there were knives and spears peeking out from behind it, as well as several daggers.

Sion didn’t miss the fact that even books were scattered here and there.

*What is she trying to hide? Could it be important information from the northern tribes?*

If the secrets of the northern barbarian tribes were on that table, it was understandable enough.

However, one strange thing was that she could have just taken it all away and put it somewhere, or even thrown it into the makeshift brazier that was rising inside, but she had just piled it all up in one corner like children cleaning their rooms.

*What is this woman, really?*

It was such an absurd scene that those words came out of his mouth, but Sion tried not to look at it.

He had seen children doing such things several times, and he had never had a good experience stimulating children who piled things up in one corner like that when they were cleaning up.

Especially when they were piled up like that and desperately shouting with their whole bodies, ‘Please pretend you didn’t see that,’ he could face a terrible backlash if he said, ‘What’s that!?’

Sion sat in a chair without even looking at the place where all kinds of things were pitifully shoved.

Licia stood quietly behind him, acting as Sion’s bodyguard.

“…Hmm.”

Zyan was holding the table and humming, avoiding eye contact, as if she was deep in thought.

It was as if she had called him, so she had to say something, but when she tried to open her mouth, she didn’t know what to say.

“Sion Claussen. W-What I have to say is…”

Crack!

Suddenly, with a terrible sound, the wooden table she was holding shattered.

The part she was holding with her hand was torn off because she was holding it so tightly.

“…”

“…”

“…Ah.”

…What do you mean ‘Ah’ to freeze to death.

Sion let out an absurd laugh as he looked at the crude wooden table in Zyan’s hand, which looked like it would only be cut if it was chopped with an ax.