The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 190

Chapter 22: Conclusion: The Found Scoundrel

Since I’ve possessed Henon’s body, life hasn’t been easy.

Starting out labeled as a scoundrel, my reputation was at rock bottom, and expecting any allies was a pipe dream.

Amidst all that, I was constantly kept in check by those around me because I was a bastard, and the person who took charge of that was Rosalyn.

Right now, the Twilight Church leader or the Demon King Baal would be the biggest villains, but in the early days after falling into this world, there was no villain quite like Rosalyn.

A heartless stepmother who intentionally isolated Henon, commissioned a mercenary to kill him when he showed outstanding abilities, and forcibly sent him to the north when even that didn’t work.

Why is the woman who eventually succumbed to greed, summoned a demon, and sacrificed herself as an offering standing before me?

“Aren’t you even going to answer now? You’ve really gone too far.”

Something’s wrong.

Am I having a terrible nightmare?

Or am I caught in a skill similar to the Illusion Eye of Greed?

The sensations feel too real to be a dream or illusion.

“I need to find Zion.”

I ignored Rosalyn and walked past her. I heard her screaming behind me, but I paid no attention.

“Zion!!!”

I finally found him.

Zion was coming out of the bathhouse.

Did he come out for a bit because the training was too hard?

That was understandable.

He hadn’t left the training grounds for two months.

“So, you were here. What is going on?”

I asked, happy to see him.

But what came back was an unfamiliar gaze.

“What are you talking about?”

The coldness in his voice chilled me to the bone. The way he treated me was like when we first met.

“Didn’t Rosalyn suddenly come back to life?”

“Are you now calling the Lady by her name? I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Zion disappeared.

A sense of foreboding slowly rises in my chest.

I asked everyone I met while wandering around the castle.

And then I realized.

I had returned to the days of Scoundrel Henon.

“Are you saying it was all a dream?”

The long journey of awakening as a druid, becoming the successor of the Marquisate [territory ruled by a Marquis], defeating the Twilight Church, saving the country, and becoming a hero and warrior of the continent was all a fictional fantasy that I couldn’t easily accept.

I found it easier to believe that this moment of returning to my scoundrel days was a dream rather than thinking of all that as a dream.

‘I’ll wake up after sleeping.’

I lay in bed and woke up after sleeping, but it was still the same. I drank until I reached my limit and woke up, but it was still the same. I crashed my body against the wall and fainted, but when I came to, it was still the same. No matter what I did, I couldn’t escape this place.

What was even more frightening was that the vivid sense of reality made me wonder if this place was the real reality.

I tried to get a sword and stab myself in the heart, but I failed in the end. The moment I tore through half of my chest, intense pain swept over me.

“This… is not it.”

I instinctively sensed it.

If I die here, I’ll really die.

In the end, I dropped the sword.

After that, I gave up on the idea of physically leaving this place.

I used my head a little more.

If this place is the real reality, what should I prioritize?

The answer was already decided.

‘I have to find the oak tree.’

The oak tree left by Henon’s mother was the reason I awakened as a druid.

From that point on, I used the power of the druid to achieve remarkable growth and became a hero of the continent.

Even if this place is the real reality, it doesn’t matter if I gain the power of the druid.

I have the events of the future in my head, so I can grow in the same way based on that and save the Arnia continent.

No, I can grow even faster than in the previous iteration and defeat the Demon King Baal more easily.

‘This is an opportunity.’

I hurried to the garden.

I was worried about Sebastian, but fortunately, he didn’t show up, probably because he was busy.

I crossed the entrance in one breath.

The oak tree, the starting point of everything, should be in this place…

“It’s gone?”

The oak tree was gone.

The place where the tree should have been was replaced by an ordinary flower garden.

What on earth is going on?

Come to think of it, I can’t even hear the whispers of the spirits.

“What are you doing here?”

To make matters worse, I heard a thick male voice from behind.

Marquis Lloyd, who had visited the garden unnoticed, was staring at me with an emotionless gaze.

“I just wanted to look around the garden for a moment.”

“That’s ridiculous. Don’t lie.”

“I’m telling the truth.”

Marquis Lloyd’s eyes looking at me were mixed with disappointment and resignation.

“Get out of my sight.”

With the oak tree gone, my plan was completely twisted.

The fact that I can’t awaken as a druid means that the Zion Like world and this place are different.

More than anything, it means that the World Tree Yggdrasil cannot intervene.

But it’s still too early to give up.

I still had a last resort left.

If I meet the Heavenly Demon Master, who always helped me when I fell into illusion-type techniques, I might find a solution.

One problem is that I have to break into Marquis Lloyd’s secret vault to meet the Heavenly Demon.

It’s a difficult task, but I decided to do it somehow.

I loitered around the inner castle all day, waiting for Sebastian and Marquis Lloyd to leave their posts at the same time.

After waiting patiently, I seized a suitable opportunity and entered the office.

I knew how to open the secret vault because Marquis Lloyd had shown it to me before.

Click!

The door opened, and various gold and silver treasures emitted a beautiful luster.

I roughly passed over the enchanting gold and found an old sword in the innermost part.

“Good.”

Unlike the oak tree, the Heavenly Demon Sword existed.

I grabbed the hilt and spoke.

“Heavenly Demon, it’s me, Henon. Are you there?”

I hoped he would recognize me right away.

The Grand Sword Master has enough power to easily destroy this kind of fantasy world.

The answer to my question filled with anticipation was this.

-I don’t know how you found out my identity, but I’m not interested in the likes of you. Get lost.

Even the Heavenly Demon doesn’t know me?

My vision is fading.

How am I supposed to persuade this old man?

Just as my head was complicated,

“Here! I saw the young master going in here!”

I was caught red-handed by a maid, and rumors spread throughout the inner castle that I was trying to steal the Marquis’s secret property.

The punishment I received afterwards was a month-long ban from leaving my room.

*

Even after that, there was no way to escape this terrible world.

Rather, I strongly felt that this was reality and the place I was in was not a fantasy world.

I became increasingly confused.

Was I neither a hero, a warrior, nor a druid, but just a dreamer?

If this is really reality, then from now on, I must adapt to the world and move forward.

“It’s okay. Although I don’t have the ability of a druid, my swordsmanship skills as a Sword Master are still in my head.”

As soon as the ban on going out was lifted, I went to the training ground and started physical training and swordsmanship training.

Even if I only become a Sword Expert, I can make a decent living in this world.

Although my heart aches at the fact that the long epic was all a dream, should I be grateful that I can still wield a sword thanks to the dream?

I was sweating for a long time when it happened.

A man with a familiar face appeared with a lot of knights behind him.

The man with a sneer on his lips said to me in a mocking tone.

“Brother, what wind has blown you here?”

Oh, right.

Come to think of it, it was like this in the past too.

He appeared and interfered when Zion and I were competing with swords in the training ground.

At that time, I secretly mixed druid skills and beat him up.

“Phillip, I challenge you to a duel.”

I’ll go the same way as last time.

I have to beat Phillip up first so that Marquis Lloyd and the people around me will pay attention to me.

“Have you finally gone crazy?”

The duel with Phillip was quite fierce.

As a Sword Master, I had grasped all the mysteries of swordsmanship, but my weak body held me back.

On the other hand, Phillip, as a high-ranking Sword User, pressured me with his solid basics, but he showed a technically inferior appearance.

After a close battle, the result was a narrow victory.

“Hoo, thank you for your hard work.”

The gazes pouring towards me as I greeted and turned around were quite sharp. Soon, rumors that I had changed would spread throughout the inner castle.

As soon as I entered the room, I was overcome with fatigue due to the aftermath of the duel. I fell asleep without even thinking about washing up. I hoped that tomorrow would be a better day than today.

The next day.

I was unusually thirsty.

I forced my throbbing and heavy body to move and tried to grab the glass of water on the table.

But I failed to grab the glass, and the glass fell to the floor with a loud noise and shattered.

Clang!

“Damn it!”

I tried to get up with a grumbling sound.

But my body tilted and rolled to the floor.

‘Why?’

I looked down to find out the cause and realized the terrible truth.

“Aaaaaaah!!!!”

My right hand.

My left foot.

It’s gone.

The cut surface was clean and carefully sewn with stitches.

Fear that made my heart pound and my mind faint enveloped me.

There was a mirror right across from me.

Letters were written on the glass surface in red blood.

[Next time, it’s the eyeballs.]

It’s clear who did it.

Rosalyn or Phillip, or maybe both.

I was seriously naive.

Even if I have the knowledge of a Sword Master, I’m still a thorough weakling.

I recklessly stuck my head out while I was at a level where I couldn’t do anything while they fed me anesthesia, cut off my hands and feet, and sewed them back on.

‘It’s over.’

It’s really over.

No matter how much knowledge I have as a Sword Master, there is a limit to what I can do with my hands and feet cut off.

Even if I train here further, I’ll lose my eyeballs and become blind, so my fate was destined to be a bad ending.

“Ha, haha, hahahahaha!!!”

I was so dumbfounded that I burst into laughter. I laughed for a long time and finally accepted my miserable fate.

“Okay, let’s die.”

Can I go back to the original world if I die?

I didn’t think so.

In the first place, it was unclear what the original world was.

I went to Hinz Lake for the last time before I died.

I wanted to capture the beautiful scenery in my eyes.

Everyone cast glances of contempt and disdain at me as I limped along.

It was the complete opposite of before when everyone praised me as a hero.

I arrived at Hinz Lake.

Everything had changed, but the scenery here remained the same.

I felt a little comforted.

While I was leaning against a tree to calm my mind, a girl approached.

I recognized who she was at once, even though she had a youthful appearance.

It was that bright girl who thanked me for becoming a hero.

“Hello?”

I smiled and waved my hand, but the girl’s face turned pale and her eyes welled up with tears.

That’s right.

I didn’t have my right hand.

“Aria! What are you doing here! Oh my!”

A woman who appeared to be her mother came and quickly ran away, leading the girl by the hand.

She was a meticulous woman who didn’t forget to glance at me up and down as she left.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

I took out the dagger I had prepared in advance.

If I had to pick one regret on the way to my death, it would be that there were no flaws in this world.

If there had been even a slight imperfection or unique point, I would have noticed it earlier and done everything I could to escape the fantasy world.

But this place was too perfect.

The wind that hits my face, the fallen leaves that dance to it, and the subtle pain rising from my severed wrists and ankles.

If this isn’t real, then what is?

Therefore, I had no choice but to admit that this place was real and that the world I had experienced was a dream.

“I never thought my end would be so futile.”

I raised the trembling dagger high and tried to stab my heart. Fear rose to my throat, but I forced myself to hold it back.

The moment I finally struck down the dagger, a strange scene appeared in my eyes.

“Huh?”

I stopped the knife.

The strange scene was like this.

The autumn leaves fell to the ground, but the problem was that the leaves gathered together to draw a specific sentence.

The sentence was written like this.

[I am you, and you are me.]

It was very trivial.

It was something that could be dismissed as a low-probability coincidence.

Besides, I am you, and you are me.

I don’t even know what it means.

But as someone who wanted to find even the slightest strangeness, I couldn’t easily dismiss it.

“Could it be?”

I kicked away the fallen leaves and waited for a while.

The wind blew and the fallen leaves rolled away.

And some of the fallen leaves gathered together to create a sentence again.

[I am you, and you are me.]

My heart was pounding as if it would burst.

Once is okay, but twice is not a coincidence.

I put the knife away and went home.

Once a strange thing caught my eye, everything was strange.

Kim [a type of dried seaweed] had formed on the window of the bar I went to every day, but if I connected only the parts where Kim hadn’t formed, a sentence was completed.

[I am you, and you are me.]

The same message was seen everywhere.

The moss on the castle walls, the coins dropped by the peddler, the wheel tracks left by the carriage.

As soon as I entered the room, I cut my skin with a knife. I closed my eyes tightly and scattered the blood that flowed out.

After a while, when I opened my eyes, I could see a sentence clearly written on the floor of the room, which was a mess with blood.

[I am you, and you are me.]

The final verification process was over.

This world is not real.

I entered a virtual world for some reason, and someone is helping me to get out.

The only clue for escape is this repeated sentence.

[I am you, and you are me.]

What on earth does this mean?

I worried so much that my hair fell out.

A being that can call me you…

Is it something like a doppelganger?

Or a ninja who uses clone techniques?

There is no skill among the druid skills that clones me.

What on earth is it?

Thoughts lead to thoughts.

As my thoughts deepen, my consciousness sinks.

Let’s think again from the beginning to see if there’s anything I missed.

‘From the beginning’ again…

From the beginning.

What was the first time I came to the Arnia continent like?

After possessing Henon’s body, I lived as a scoundrel and went through all kinds of hardships… wait a minute.

“Possessing Henon’s body?”

Lightning struck in my head.

Come to think of it, there was.

A person who can write this kind of sentence.

[I am you, and you are me.]

Henon, the original owner of the body I possessed.

His soul is qualified enough to say these words.

Henon is me, and I am Henon.

Then where should I go to find Henon?

“It’s there.”

The place where I was first buried.

In the cold ground.

That was definitely the place.