Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 24

Slap!

Slap!

Slap!

The sound of flesh colliding was so sharp that the servants outside unconsciously touched their own cheeks.

“Useless bitch.

A disgrace to the family!”

Slap!

Smack!

The man showed no mercy.

The woman’s cheek immediately turned red from the violent impact, bruising with pooled blood, and her lips were already torn and bleeding.

Yet, the man did not relent his fierce assault.

“Filthy whore!

You should have just died; why did you come back!

And what? You even brought soldiers with you?”

Slap!

The woman’s head snapped to the side.

His hand was so swollen from hitting her that it had gone numb.

“Leave for war immediately.”

“…”

“Reinforcements have already arrived from the capital!

Go and make up for the current defeat!

And go and die there.

Just die!

Don’t you dare show your filthy body in front of me again!”

Crash!

All sorts of ornaments and flowerpots were smashed to pieces without mercy.

Even after doing that, his anger hadn’t subsided, and the man glared at Rishikida, breathing heavily.

“I shouldn’t have taken in trash like you.”

“…”

“Feeding you, clothing you, giving you shelter, and even foolishly giving you my heart, only for you to wag your tail, stab me in the back, and block my path like this!

I should have left you to die in the slums back then, you wretch worse than a bug!”

Her hair seemed to turn white.

She wanted to cry, she wanted to collapse from the pain in her chest, but Rishikida couldn’t.

She had even forgotten how to cry.

She had killed everything for the man before her and ran forward, only looking ahead, fighting without even remembering how to shed tears.

“Get out.

Don’t ever come back.

Die.

Just die.”

“…Yes, Lord Count.”

The master ultimately tells her to die.

She wanted to say something, anything, but she didn’t have the courage.

Rishikida bowed her head and left the Count’s office.

As soon as she left the room and the maids entered, the sound of something breaking and being smashed, and the man’s roar, echoed again.

“…”

Rishikida closed her eyes and moved her feet.

She roughly wiped the blood flowing from her torn lips with the back of her hand and led her body, which hadn’t even cooled down from the heat of the battlefield, out of the castle.

There, the troops who had just arrived from Nudia’s center were waiting.

“Lord Amshel.”

She had seen that man a few times in the royal castle.

It seemed that the commander leading the troops was that man.

His command ability was average, but it was fortunate that he cared about his soldiers.

She had to go die now, so that man would take care of the soldiers.

“…Let’s go.

Giving them time will allow the enemies to reorganize.”

“Aren’t you going to rest?”

“I’m fine.

There’s still an opponent I have to settle the score with.”

The man, having seen her face, tried to say something but closed his mouth.

There was a rumor openly circulating in Nudia, so he couldn’t speak carelessly.

Rishikida stood at the very front and quickly moved the soldiers.

Perhaps they didn’t expect the attack to resume so quickly; the enemy scouts were visibly flustered and hurried towards the fortress of the Margrave of Klausen.

‘…Will that man come out again?’

She should have died by that man’s sword.

She blamed herself for dodging that blow like a fool, like an idiot.

What kind of foolish fantasy had she had?

To look at the aristocrat of an enemy country and think that she wanted to fight by his side.

Even more so, the son of the Klausen family, who were eternally hostile to Nudia.

“We’ll encounter the enemy soon.

What do you think, Lord Amshel?

Will Hispania engage in a pitched battle?

Or will they force a siege and hold out?”

“They might try to induce a pitched battle since they’ve gained confidence from their previous victory, but if they realize that we’re entirely new soldiers, they might switch to a defensive battle.”

“The situation is so extreme that it’s confusing.”

The marching speed gradually slowed down.

It was enemy territory, and the fortress of the Margrave of Klausen was right in front of them.

The Margrave of Klausen, who had repeatedly repelled Nudia’s attacks and, just a few hours ago, had launched a surprise attack that caused great damage, was right there.

“…”

“…”

But soon, Rishikida and the commander realized that something was wrong.

By now, the drawbridge should have been lowered and soldiers should have come out, or there should have been a busy atmosphere above the fortress, but none of that was visible.

‘What’s going on?’

She knew the rapid changes in the battlefield well and had experienced them often.

It was the calm before the storm; there had been times when it was this quiet before a large-scale siege.

But it was definitely strange that there was no movement at all.

Thud, thud, thud.

“There!”

One of the knights in front pointed to the drawbridge.

Soon, the drawbridge lowered, and the fortress gate slowly opened.

Seeing this, the commander ordered the troops to form ranks.

It seemed that the enemies, confident in their victory, were trying to engage in a pitched battle.

The Nudian forces quickly took their positions, welcoming the idea.

However, what emerged from beyond the fortress gate were not soldiers in shining armor holding sharp weapons.

“…Huh?”

Men and women in extremely ordinary clothes crossed the drawbridge and began to diligently clean the road in front of it.

Watering, sweeping, and even exchanging light jokes with each other.

As if they couldn’t see the enemy army right next to them.

They were cleaning as if they were eagerly awaiting guests to enter the fortress soon.

“Wh-what on earth are they doing?”

“Commander.

No matter how I look at it, they just seem like ordinary civilians.”

“Are they crazy?

They lowered the drawbridge and even opened the fortress gate with an army right in front of them?”

The commander was about to issue an attack order.

But a sudden surge of doubt made him shut his mouth.

‘…A trap?’

That’s how ‘situations’ are.

It might be different if the flow shifts very slightly in the midst of tension.

But when the situation becomes so advantageous that it completely shifts with an unexpected development, anyone will feel doubt rather than certainty.

There’s no way that could happen, there’s no way that could be, it’s crazy that something like this could happen.

The scene they were witnessing was the same as an opponent who had been fiercely fighting suddenly lying down on the ground as soon as the fight started again and shouting, ‘Welcome! Irasshaimase! [Japanese for “Welcome!”]’

“What, what is it, what the hell…”

“Why are they doing that?

Are they surrendering?”

“Are you crazy?

Would the Klausen family surrender?”

As the commander hesitated, the soldiers’ murmurs grew louder.

He had to make a decision quickly, but the situation, which he couldn’t accept, was holding him back.

The Klausen family surrendering?

It would be a more amusing joke to grab a goblin’s dick and shout that it was their secret weapon!

Ding.

The sound of plucking an instrument string suddenly rang out.

All eyes of the Nudian forces, and Rishikida’s gaze, turned towards it.

There, someone was precariously sitting on the protruding fortress wall, fiddling with a lute [a stringed musical instrument].

Ding, tiding.

Ttarang.

The man, who had been tuning for a moment, soon began to play music that they had never heard before.

“…What the hell is that…”

There were well over 3,000 soldiers lined up with gleaming spears and swords, exuding a murderous aura.

But in front of them, people were chatting and sweeping the road.

The man sitting on the fortress wall was enjoying the afternoon sunlight and playing the lute.

“…”

If someone came up and asked him what he was stupidly worrying about.

If they said that it looked like they were acting recklessly and that they should just charge in.

If there was someone who said that, the commander would probably draw his sword and cut off their head.

The opponent was the Margrave of Klausen.

A steadfast shield that had defended Hispania’s border for well over a hundred years, blocking Nudia’s offensives and repeatedly launching counterattacks, thwarting Nudia’s ambitions of conquest.

Was that kind of place suddenly lowering its shield and waving its hand, saying, ‘Welcome!’?

Ding!

Tadang!

Dididing!—.

The man playing the lute busily moved his hands, as if urging the agitated Nudia forces.

For reference, although they wouldn’t know, and no one in Klausen would know.

The man playing the lute, Zion Klausen, was clumsily but gradually tuning and playing the song ‘Open the Door’ by the singer ‘Im’, who mumbles ‘I’m that kind of guy’… and sings some ‘common songs’ and drinks ‘a glass of soju’ [Korean distilled beverage].

‘Come on in, come on in—’

—

“Excuse me?

Young master.

What did you just say?”

“I said, let’s have all the soldiers on the fortress come down, open the fortress gate, lower the drawbridge, and do some cleaning.”

Lion was speechless at Zion’s confident words.

The enemy was about to arrive soon.

They should be devising a strategy to firmly defend the fortress gate and defend until the enemy was exhausted and retreated, but suddenly he was saying to open the fortress gate, lower the drawbridge, and clean?

“Didn’t we just have a fight a little while ago?

If we worked, we should rest.”

“Young master!

Your joke is too much!”

“Does it look like I’m joking right now?”

He was smiling, but everyone could tell that the smile wasn’t genuine.

Knight Commander Lion couldn’t bring himself to say harsh words and instead looked at Margrave Lichten.

He didn’t understand this situation at all, so he meant for the Margrave to do something about it.

“Knight Commander.”

“Yes, Your Excellency Margrave.”

“Open the gate.”

“…Yes?”

“Do as Zion says.

Go and prepare quickly.”

“M-Margrave!”

Knowing it was rude, Lion raised his voice.

What was difficult to break through was the fortress gate, what was difficult to cross was the drawbridge, and what was difficult to capture was the fortress.

But this was more insane than smiling and greeting a robber with a knife, opening the door, and then saying where the valuables and cash were!

“Knight Commander.”

“Such an order!”

“Execute it.”

Knight Commander Lion eventually bowed his head at Margrave Lichten’s cold response.

As Zion prepared the trap of fame, he chuckled.

“I get to do this.

Wow, is this what Zhuge Liang [a famous strategist in ancient China] felt like?

This is so exciting?”

Well, perhaps Zhuge Liang was quite nervous rather than excited.

The situation was too different from that time.

“And it’s not like we’re completely unprepared.”

Just in case there were a few foolish guys who would come in thinking it was good, knights and soldiers led by Kim Yoo-hyun were waiting behind the fortress gate.

If they weren’t fooled, they would eventually have to engage in a defensive battle, but Zion didn’t think they would ignore the current situation and come inside at all.

If he was alone, he might act with the mindset of ‘let’s go for it’, but when hundreds or thousands of people gather, even a single person’s anxiety multiplies hundreds of times in an instant.

Furthermore, if they were facing the worst situation of battle, it would be amplified thousands of times again.

‘It’s not about who fights better; it’s about who’s more of a scaredy-cat.

That’s what a fight is!’

That was what the instructor at the Taekwondo dojang [Korean martial arts school] that everyone went to when they were young said.

Words like that were more useful in real life than Mencius, Xunzi, the theory of innate goodness, or the theory of innate evil.

‘More than that, Zion Klausen, I’ve been fiddling with the lute a bit when I’m bored, and it suits my hand well.

I should try plucking the lute from time to time.’

He unintentionally discovered a talent, so he felt refreshed.

Once they lost their sharp momentum, they could never win a siege, so Zion was confident that they wouldn’t last long and would retreat.

If they didn’t retreat and insisted on fighting, well, they would be the ones to die.

“…!”

“!…”

He couldn’t hear them well, but several people who seemed to be the commander and his adjutants were talking.

They must be wondering what to do about this situation.

Zion was about to think about what song to play next, thinking that anyone with a sane mind would rather retreat and assess the situation.

“Haaah!”

Dudududu!

Leaving behind the quiet time, the sound of hooves suddenly rang loudly.

Zion, who turned his head thinking, ‘What’s going on?’, soon had the expression of finding a worm that was half-cut in a peach he was eating.

“What the hell!”

[Author’s Note] Suddenly, the Toobae index went up like crazy, so I was surprised and freaked out, and then I kicked the desk with my shin.

It’s swollen and it hurts so much ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

If I say it’s fractured, you’ll say, ‘Now you’ll just sit and write! Play the music!’ right?

It’s not fractured!

I said it’s not!