Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 27

The Rebirth Life of a Dedicated Reader – Episode 27 (27/439)

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What would someone who has been running with only one goal in mind think if they suddenly lost that goal?

Would they be dumbfounded?

Would they be flustered?

Would they not think anything at all?

Or…

‘Damn it, of course, it’d suck.’

Rishikida’s goal was singular.

It would have been to dedicate her entire life to the one called Master.

It’s quite a peculiar goal, but personal preferences should be respected, so let’s move on.

‘The King of Nudia is like a pair of balls hitting puberty, you never know when he’s gonna bust!

I knew he’d touch any woman, but…’

For him to discard my knight, claiming nothing happened, is truly sickening.

He should have just killed her himself; instead, he used her to his heart’s content and now, because of some strange rumors, he tells her to go die.

For Rishikida, who had been loyal to her master, that was as good as a death sentence.

‘Thanks to that, I landed an unexpected jackpot.’

Most of the skilled individuals at this time already have affiliations or followers.

Lilith was a lucky encounter, but it’s uncertain whether I can keep the others by my side.

In the midst of all this, Rishikida, a high-ranking knight, is practically an experienced rookie.

Moreover, Nudia will disappear from the map entirely in a year, so high-ranking knights with Nudian swordsmanship will become extinct after that.

‘The only one who possesses the swordsmanship of the Nudia knights, whose lineage is about to be cut off, is none other than Count Clausen.

This is another level of hilarious hidden camera prank.’

Should I head back to my room? I was about to leave the room prepared for Lilith when.

“Sion.”

Lilith suddenly grabbed his wrist.

At Sion’s question of whether she had something to say, Lilith opened her mouth with a very refreshing smile.

“If I catch you hugging another woman, you’re dead.”

“…”

“You wouldn’t be crazy enough to keep another woman by your side when you have a succubus, would you?

That would be quite disrespectful to me, the queen of the incubi.

Don’t tell me you have something left to give away to other women after giving it to me?”

“Ahaha…

W-What are you talking about?

I still haven’t… anyone besides Lilith.”

“Still?

Your words are strange?

Not ‘forever, never,’ but ‘still’?

Stiiiiill?”

“…”

I had a strong feeling that I had answered wrong.

Lilith screamed and lunged at Sion, who quickly fled back to his room.

She had been reacting sensitively lately because Lucia kept clinging to Sion, but now that a female knight has appeared, she seems to be feeling a considerable sense of rivalry.

‘Please understand, sis.

I’m just doing this to make a living.’

Sion, begging for forgiveness in his heart, entered the room.

Then he saw Rishikida, who had been sitting and looking at something, hurriedly putting down a notebook.

Confirming that the fish had bitten the bait, Sion laughed inwardly.

Given the image she has of him so far, she definitely wouldn’t think of those poems as just the affectations of a fledgling noble.

“…What.

What did you do to be in such a hurry?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

“Your face says, ‘It’s not nothing.'”

“R-Really?”

“…”

What do you mean, really?

You shouldn’t agree so readily, should you?

“Whatever, have you made a decision?

There’s still some time left until midnight, but from what I see, you won’t be able to make a decision whether you think about it for an hour or ten hours.”

“…I don’t know what to do.”

I was worried that she might say, ‘Please kill me,’ or ‘Give me a sword,’ but fortunately, the answer that came out of Rishikida’s mouth was quite hopeful.

Sion shouted ‘Yes!’ inwardly but pretended to be nonchalant and waited for her next words.

“I, I grew up in the slums and was destined to live and die there.

Then, by chance, I became a knight, and I entered the family where the person who took me in was a knight and became a formal knight.

I thought I would live and die there as an honorable knight forever, like an benefactor.”

“Things in the world don’t always go as planned.”

“It’s truly ironic.

That I, who was abandoned by the one I called master and followed, am now by your side, Lord.

That I, who have killed countless Hispanian knights and soldiers under the orders of that master, am still alive like this, led by you, a nobleman of Hispania.”

Sion, who had been listening to her words silently, had a feeling that dragging the story out like this would only lead back to square one.

It’s a pity for Rishikida, but sometimes a fact-bomb that hits the fourth rib is better than any consolation.

“You were going to die yesterday, weren’t you?

But you’re wavering so much in just one day?

I gave you time to think, but this is a bit unexpected.”

“…”

“Rishikida Amshel.

The answer ‘I don’t know’ isn’t really because you don’t know.

It’s an answer that comes out when you recognize it here, in your heart, but your brain can’t keep up.

This is where it splits.

Depending on where you follow, depending on what answer you give, your life will either fall into the abyss or make a new leap forward.”

Sion sat down in his seat, tilted his head slightly, and continued.

“You were abandoned by your master.

Now you are a knight without a master.

That’s your situation.

Then I’ll give you a suitable model answer.

Shout ‘Don’t talk crap’ and abandon him first.

Why are you making a fuss about dying on the orders of a guy who tells you to get lost?

That idiot is a moron who couldn’t even handle you, let alone protect such a talented person, and kicked you out.”

“That’s…”

“If it were me, I would have stormed the palace and made a mess a long time ago.

Or just rebelled.

If my people, my subordinates, were really precious to me, there’s no way I wouldn’t have gone crazy when they were treated so badly and such rumors were spreading.

To put it bluntly, you have to give to get, right?

If they screwed me over, I’d do the same, no, I’d screw them over even more.

It’s not normal to kick out a subordinate because they got screwed over.”

Rishikida sighed as if in pain.

She knew what Sion meant by those words.

He is now urging her to abandon her master.

Since she’s already been abandoned, instead of foolishly grabbing onto his pant leg and crying, she should bite his ankle and shout, ‘Yeah, damn it.

Live well, you son of a bitch.'”

“But, but I promised myself that I would only be loyal to him.”

“Break it.”

“Excuse me…?”

“You have to deceive yourself a little sometimes.

We’re not saints, and we can’t always be honest with ourselves.”

With that, Sion slightly detached himself from the backrest.

Then, staring at Rishikida with sharp eyes, he continued.

“In that sense, let me ask you something.”

“…What is it?”

“You keep talking about loyalty, loyalty, since earlier, or rather, since yesterday.

Are you really looking for a master because you want to be loyal?

Or…”

Tapping the table with his finger, Sion grinned.

“Are you just doing it because you want to be loved by your master?”

“W-What are you talking about?”

“If you were falsely loyal, you would have kicked your master in the face right away, and if you were truly loyal, you would have taken your own life yesterday, but you didn’t do either.

You’re like a kitten that’s begging someone to grab it, should I say?”

“Stop with the insulting remarks!

Even if you are a lord!”

“The insulting remarks weren’t made by me, but by that bastard, your precious former master.”

Sion’s voice instantly turned into a sharp aura.

Rishikida was startled and shut her mouth.

The man who had been so gentle until just now had changed like that, and an unfamiliar sense of fear penetrated her entire body.

“Stop talking nonsense, Rishikida Amshel.

The one who betrayed you, who was so loyal, is the one you called master, and I’m the one who gave you time to live and worry like this.

That bastard told you to die, and I’m pushing you to live.

So here’s the question.

Who insulted you?

Me?

Or your precious master?”

“…”

She couldn’t answer.

Because the answer was already decided.

However, if she were to say it out loud, it felt like her entire existence, which had been loyal to that man, would be denied, so she couldn’t bring herself to do so.

“Come to me.”

And into her empty heart, the devil’s sweet temptation flew.

“I need someone with your skills.

A lot of them.”

“…I am from Nudia.”

“So?”

“I was an enemy of the Clausen County.”

“So what?”

“…Are you not bothered by it at all?”

“Is there any reason why I should be bothered?”

“I have harmed the soldiers of the Clausen County.

You know the pain of the soldiers, Lord.

Someone who cherishes their people so much, someone like me…”

“That’s why I need to keep you under me even more.”

It’s good to eliminate a strong enemy, but it’s even better to have that strong enemy on my side.

“Rishikida Amshel.

Come under me.”

“T-That’s…”

“I’m the type who never gives up on what’s mine, so it might be a bit tiring.

I’d rather break it myself than give it to someone else, I can never let it go.

Whether it’s a king or an emperor, if they touch my people?

That’s the day of the rebellion.

You know the rumors about me, right?

That I’m a moron who doesn’t act like a noble.

It’s not all nonsense.

My motto in this life is to overturn things if I don’t like them.”

It was a blatant attempt to target Rishikida’s sore spot.

Perhaps those words shook her heart.

The betrayal and disappointment she felt when the master she had believed in so much suddenly changed his mind at the king’s words and said he would abandon her must have been so great that she couldn’t even express it in words.

“Actually, I’ve been living like a moron until now.

I’m going to try to do things right from now on.

To do that, I need my people.

A lot of them.

I’m going to gather everyone, regardless of their origin, country, or race.

And once they become my people, I’m going to use them to the fullest until they die.”

When I first possessed the character Sion Clausen in the novel, there was a time when I thought I could just live as ‘Sion Clausen.’

Be careful not to be noticed by Kim Yu-hyun, refrain from doing ridiculous things, do some good deeds, inherit the county, and live quietly.

‘Yeah right.

How could that be?

I’m already getting screwed over from all sides.

In order to survive, I have to become Kim Yu-hyun, and I have to be the center.’

If I leave everything to Kim Yu-hyun, half the continent will fly away.

Perhaps the Clausen territory will be included in that half.

Lilith may face death again at the hands of the celestials.

When viewed from outside the novel, the protagonist was determined.

Kim Yu-hyun was the center, and something was resolved when he acted, and incidents occurred around him.

But within the novel, he was just an extra 1 to someone else.

I’ve entered the body of Sion Clausen, but I don’t have to live like Sion Clausen.

No one forced me to do that, and it can’t be said that it’s the right path.

“5 minutes left until midnight.”

“Ah.”

“If you don’t answer within that time, I’ll just throw you away.

You’ll be kicked back out onto the street.

So make a decision quickly.

If you can’t, then die foolishly because of your lingering feelings for your former master.”

That was enough persuasion.

Rishikida is definitely a good card, but she wasn’t important enough to cling to and get.

As soon as Jimmy Faker’s wounds are roughly healed, I have to go and bring in Saik and Trisha Faker, and the royal palace, which has received the news of yesterday’s victory, will soon invite the Clausen family to the royal palace.

Another big incident will happen there, and preparations are needed for that part as well.

“3 minutes.”

As he said that in a cold voice, Rishikida was struggling, not knowing what to do.

The knight’s sense of duty that she couldn’t abandon her master, even though she had been abandoned, and the desire to find a new master, be recognized by him, receive affectionate gazes, and be loved, were fighting fiercely.

“1 minute.”

“J-Just one thing.”

Rishikida opened her mouth urgently in a trembling voice.

As Sion stared at her as if to tell her to speak, Rishikida continued with a desperate look in her eyes.

“Please promise me just one thing.

That you, that you will never abandon me.

That you will never kick me out no matter what happens.

I, I…”

“Rishikida Amshel.”

Sion slowly stroked the female knight’s head and gave her the same soft smile he had shown to the wounded soldiers in the ward earlier.

“I’m the guy who jumped into that hellfire to save a single soldier.”

“Ah…”

“Why would I be crazy enough to abandon a skilled knight like you?”

“Ah…

Aaaah…”

Perhaps she hadn’t forgotten how to cry.

It’s just that she didn’t even have a place where she could cry comfortably.

That’s why tears are welling up now that she can cry so freely.

“…Hic, sob!

Huhuhu!

Lord, Lord Sion…

Please don’t abandon me.

Please don’t abandon me again.

Please, please…”

Sion looked down at the kitten who was holding his hand and crying pitifully with a satisfied expression.

Then, he inadvertently turned his head to the side because of a sudden chill he felt.

“…”

You’re, dead, now.

It was Lilith, pointing at Sion and slitting her throat with her hand.

Sion, who was muttering to himself, ‘Why is that person acting like that all of a sudden?’ soon realized why Lilith was reacting that way.

“Ugh.”

Suddenly, the chair fell backward, and at the same time, something warm was snuggled into his chest.

“Ri, Rishikida?”

“Master, Master…”

“…”

It seemed that Sion had awakened something quite dangerous in Rishikida without even realizing it.