Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 282

282

New heroes are always welcome!

“···.”

Sion glanced around.

Even though it had been two days since the battle ended, the area was still a mess.

Normally, when a siege fails and retreats, it’s common to gather weapons and equipment and to bury or cremate the bodies of the fallen.

However, the Nudia side, faced with weapons of mass destruction falling into their formation, seemed to have hastily abandoned the battlefield without even doing that.

In that case, the Clauzen side would have to step in to clean up the battlefield, but the reason they couldn’t was because of the two people fighting like mad in the middle of it all.

“They’ve been at it for two days and nights.”

“Yes.

They’re fighting so fiercely that no one can even approach them, let alone stop them.”

“···.”

“Even the commander of the Lion Knights said that interfering would likely result in bloodshed and that there was nothing to do but wait until they stopped on their own.”

Sebastian probably had a similar opinion.

He would have said that no matter where those monsters came from, anyone who recklessly intervened would be crushed between them.

‘If it were Ekaterina, she might be so focused on the fight that she wouldn’t even notice anyone approaching, but that’s not the case with Kim Yu-hyun, is it?

He wouldn’t be using his full strength against Ekaterina, would he?’

In other words, Kim Yu-hyun knew that there were people trying to stop them, but he was deliberately continuing the fight.

“Can you stop them?

That man, Kim Yu-hyun, is quite close to you, so he might listen to you.”

“…Let’s wait a little longer.”

“Hmm?”

“They’ll end the fight on their own.”

“It’s already been two days.

If the bodies are left to rot any longer, there could be an epidemic.”

“Don’t worry, Father.

You said they’ve been fighting for two days and nights, right?

It’ll probably be decided within two minutes.”

When Sion said that with such certainty, Count Lichtenberg looked at his son for a moment, nodded as if he understood, and watched Kim Yu-hyun and Ekaterina without saying a word.

‘Kim Yu-hyun may not be a genius, but he’s not just a brainless musclehead either.’

Moreover, he has recovered much more of his strength than in the original novel, almost returning to his original condition.

Even if Ekaterina is called the White Plague and is a walking weapon of mass destruction, it’s hard to compare her to Kim Yu-hyun, who is almost at his peak.

Yet, there must be another reason why Kim Yu-hyun has been fighting Ekaterina for two days and nights without settling the score.

‘He must want something.

Kim Yu-hyun probably already knows I’ve arrived.

He’s probably trying to finish what he had in mind.’

And Sion’s prediction was, as expected, correct.

Right at the two-minute mark, Kim Yu-hyun’s sword soared like a dragon, and in the blink of an eye, it cut Ekaterina’s shoulder, spun in his hand, and pierced through the White Plague’s stomach.

“Cough!”

Ekaterina staggered backward, coughing up red blood.

Although the Dragonkin [a race of humanoids with dragon-like features and abilities] have a unique ability to recover, it seemed that their recovery ability had almost reached its limit after fighting for two days and nights, and this time, the fatal wound was not healing properly.

“I lost again.”

“Kuh-huh!
Y-yes.”

Crack!

“Cough!
Cough!”

Kim Yu-hyun roughly twisted his sword, which had pierced Ekaterina’s stomach, half a turn.

Thanks to that, her flesh and internal organs were all shattered, and Ekaterina coughed up dark red blood again.

It was a fatal wound that no human, elf, beastman, or even demon or celestial could ever recover from, but the Dragonkin woman was slowly healing even that wound.

“Ha, haha… You.

I really like you.

How can you be so strong?

It doesn’t make sense.

You’re human, just a human, how can you be so strong?”

“I don’t know either.

If I knew, I wouldn’t be like this.”

Whoosh!

The sword that had pierced through flesh and organs was pulled out, making a chilling sound.

Just two days ago, the people who had been massacring Nudia’s army as if they were competing with each other were suddenly fighting, and now that one of them was on the verge of death, Count Lichtenberg, as well as many of the Clauzen people who were watching, seemed quite surprised and bewildered.

“Cough, cough!
Haaah…”

With the sound of air escaping, Ekaterina fell backward.

She kept coughing up blood and stared blankly at the sky, then looked at Kim Yu-hyun, who was lightly flicking his sword to shake off his blood and organ fragments, and opened her mouth.

“Human.”

“Why are you calling me?

You crazy bitch.”

“If you don’t kill me, I’ll keep coming at you until you die, or until I finally die.”

“So what?”

“It would be quite annoying, so why don’t you just kill me now?

To be honest, fighting you for the past month or two has been more fun than any battle I’ve ever fought.

But you don’t seem to be particularly interested.

If you’ve lost interest, you can just kill me.

Why do you keep not doing it?

Why don’t you kill me when I keep attacking you?”

Kim Yu-hyun didn’t answer Ekaterina’s dissatisfied question right away.

He only sheathed the blood-stained sword and stretched his stiff body, which had been up for two days and nights, while looking around.

“Human.”

“…”

“Answer me, human.

Why don’t you kill me?”

Then Kim Yu-hyun glanced back.

He stared down at Ekaterina, who was still lying on the ground and unable to move, with a blank look, and opened his mouth as if asking the obvious.

“It’s my will.”

“…What?”

“If I feel like killing you, I’ll kill you, and if I don’t, I won’t.

Why are you making such a fuss about it?”

“Oh… Is that so?”

“If you want to kill me, you can get stronger, and if you really want to die by my hand, you can get even stronger so that I have no choice but to kill you.

If not, shut up.

You’re the one who’s lost 208 times, you have a lot to say.”

“You were counting that too?

As expected, human.

You’re amazing.”

After answering that, Ekaterina sighed and closed her eyes.

“I’m going to take a nap.

I’ll wake up when I want to fight, so don’t wake me up.

Well, you can kill me while I’m sleeping, but I’d prefer you kill me while we’re fighting.

Human.”

“Shut up and get some sleep.”

“Why are you so cold-hearted?”

Immediately after, Ekaterina fell fast asleep, snoring.

She had fought Kim Yu-hyun, a true monster, for two days and nights, and had exhausted her stamina and mana to recover from her injuries, and had suffered a fatal wound at the end that would have killed any other race, so it was perhaps only natural.

“Crazy bitch.”

Kim Yu-hyun spat out a curse blandly and turned around.

And as if he had known from the beginning that Sion had arrived, he showed a slight smile on his lips and slightly bowed his head.

“Have you come, Young Lord Sion?”

“You’ve made quite a mess.”

“Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Not the Nudia army, that woman.”

“Ah.

That crazy bitch, you mean.”

If Kim Yu-hyun could use such foul language without a moment’s hesitation, then she really was a crazy woman.

Sion knew very well that Ekaterina was a woman that no one could control, so he nodded as if it were natural.

“What can I do?

Even though Nudia retreated, she insisted on chasing after them and tearing people apart alive.”

“That’s what Dragonkin are like.

Once they’re soaked in blood, they fight until their opponents are all dead or until they’re completely dead themselves.

If not, until they can’t fight anymore.”

“I think I know why her race went extinct.”

Kim Yu-hyun sighed.

Sion stared at him without a word.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m curious too.

Couldn’t you have killed her?

You could have finished her off just now.”

“…”

“It doesn’t make sense that you stabbed her in the stomach so badly but couldn’t cut her neck, does it?

If you can tell me the reason, I’d like to hear it, but is there a problem?”

“Are you curious?”

You’re asking the obvious.

Sion nodded and answered.

Kim Yu-hyun looked at Ekaterina for a moment and opened his mouth.

“You can’t even find dog poop when you need it for medicine [a Korean idiom meaning something is extremely rare or hard to find when needed].

So I thought it would be better not to kill her right now and regret it later, in case there’s something I can use her for someday.”

Then Sion exclaimed inwardly, ‘Ooh.’

The protagonist in the novel cherished the people around him but had no talent for placing and using them in the right places.

So he went through all sorts of hardships, did everything himself, and then was betrayed and lost the people he cared about.

It was quite a remarkable development for Kim Yu-hyun.

“I thought about Young Lord Sion.”

“Me?”

“The way you always assessed your opponents and accepted them without hesitation if you thought they were necessary for you and the people around you.

The confidence that you could subdue anyone, no matter what their ulterior motives were, and turn them into your own people, your own limbs.

Looking at that, I wondered if I had been thinking wrong all along.”

“Thinking wrong?”

“That I don’t have to carry everything alone.”

With those words, Kim Yu-hyun moved on as if he had nothing more to say.

He gave a nod to Liana Trisha, whom he had met several times, and a wave to Lucia, who was once a woman he protected.

And to Rishikida, who could be said to be his disciple by chance, he suddenly said, ‘Grab a sword once,’ surprising the people around him, but unlike what they expected, he didn’t start fighting right away, but after seeing Rishikida holding the sword, he said, ‘You’ve gotten much better,’ and showed a reaction that it was enough.

‘That guy… He’s learned a lot of good things from me.

As expected of the protagonist.’

Sion felt a sense of pride welling up in his chest.

In the novel, Kim Yu-hyun always chose to suffer alone, to the point where it was frustrating.

Even though he had such great power, he tried to carry everything alone, so all that increased was the burden, the misunderstandings, the insults, and the pressure on the people he had to take responsibility for.

He wasn’t someone with a strong mentality to begin with, so naturally, his mentality would collapse from time to time, and while he was digging into the ground, his friends were dying elsewhere.

Then he would get angry and do stupid things, which would only lead to more misunderstandings and insults.

Naturally, traitors would appear, and because of them, the people around him would die or get hurt, and then it would be his fault again, and he would get angry again.

‘He was a guy who never even thought about fighting together or using someone, let alone protecting them.’

In that sense, the fact that he was still keeping Ekaterina alive, who was begging to be killed in order to be used somewhere, was a very great development.

Certainly, Sion hoped that Kim Yu-hyun would somehow control Ekaterina, even a little, and use her as a joker card in the upcoming war with the celestials.

‘If not, it could just be that he spared her because she’s pretty.’

Unlike the races that were crazy about blood and fighting, the Dragonkin had an appearance that was as beautiful as an elf, without a hint of exaggeration.

Except for the horns on their heads and the tails wagging on their butts.

Saying that he didn’t know what would happen to Eos if he looked away for even a moment.

Sion ran after Kim Yu-hyun, who was walking ahead, and grabbed his arm.

“…? Young Lord Sion, why suddenly…”

“Everyone!

Look here!

This man is the true hero of Hispania [the Iberian Peninsula, encompassing modern-day Spain and Portugal]!

This man, Kim Yu-hyun, is the one who single-handedly repelled the Nudia army!”

“S-Sion, Young Lord?”

Kim Yu-hyun struggled, unlike his usual self, and looked at him as if asking why he was doing this.

But Sion didn’t even pretend to listen to the protagonist’s words and continued.

“Although this Hispania is not the place where he was born or raised.

A place that can only be seen as a foreign country.

However, with only the will to not tolerate injustice, he has been a hero in the previous war with Nudia, in the royal palace attack, in the Hispania’s Holy War expedition, and in front of the Nudia’s army that threatened this Hispania, doing things that no one could believe!”

“Oh, oh?”

Kim Yu-hyun must have been wondering why this man was doing this.

He just did what he was told, swung his sword a bit, and trained a crazy woman.

Suddenly, he rushed in and shouted, holding his hand up as if a referee was announcing the champion!

“Sir Kim Yu-hyun!

Sir Kim Yu-hyun!”

As expected, the first to respond to Sion’s cry was Rishikida, who would follow Sion’s will even if he told him to walk around naked with only a sword.

In addition, he had a slightly ambiguous master-disciple relationship with Kim Yu-hyun, so he must have thought it was very cool to see his master being praised as a hero by his lord.

“Sion is right.

He was active in the battle between Clauzen and Nudia’s Basura.

I saw it clearly.”

Lucia also slightly agreed with Sion’s opinion and praised Kim Yu-hyun.

Thanks to that, Kim Yu-hyun was even more bewildered and struggled, ‘Oh, oh?’

“…Indeed.

Sir Kim Yu-hyun, if it weren’t for you, Clauzen would have had a very difficult and arduous two days.

If we were even more unlucky, we would have been deprived of the land we had protected by the Nudia invaders.

Although it’s late, I’d like to express my gratitude.”

Count Lichtenberg, the highest authority of the Clauzen Frontier, which can be said to be the center of the eastern region of Hispania.

He bowed his head with a very polite expression.

Then, the knights who were guarding him quickly bent their backs and bowed to Kim Yu-hyun, who was called the hero of the kingdom and was directly called a ‘hero’ by Sion, their little lord.

“Hmm?”

Marquis Volko seemed to be wondering what this sudden situation was all about.

But he had already heard the story from Count Lichtenberg.

That a man named Kim Yu-hyun flew here and completely destroyed the enemy’s army as if crumpling paper and kicked them back home.

That Clauzen was saved by his hand.

“Well, he already did a great job during the royal palace attack.

If you look at this war, I don’t know which guy in Hispania would find fault with those words.”

Marquis Volko muttered to himself and got off his horse and paid his respects to the man who fought for this country, even though he was an unrelated person, just like Count Lichtenberg.

“Ah, no.

What is all this…”

For Kim Yu-hyun, who simply went to Clauzen at Sion’s request and cut down the enemies.

All of this, being suddenly called a hero and praised, was unfamiliar.

‘I’m sorry, Yu-hyun.

Let’s make a living together.

The world is too tough for me to act like a hero alone.

If we’re going to suffer together anyway, it’ll feel a little better if we share the hat, right?

I look forward to working with you in the future!’

On the outside, with a face of being moved by the appearance of a new hero.

In his heart, he was rejoicing at the true growth of the strongest person in the world, as if it were his own.

Sion raised Kim Yu-hyun’s hand even higher.