Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble - Chapter 171

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 171

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Confirming the Past Life (1)

The sound of footsteps echoed steadily.

After hearing the news from the orc warrior, Airen Farreira came down from the sacred mountain at a brisk pace and headed straight for the hill where Gurgar's grave stood, without any delay.

Part of him wanted to sprint there with everything he had, but he decided he needed time to settle his tangled thoughts first.

What was he feeling right now?

Curiosity?

Fear?

Longing?

He didn't know. It wasn't something that could be reduced to a single word.

He stopped for a moment, took a breath to steady himself, and started walking again.

"........."

Behind him walked a good number of people.

Lulu, Judith, Brett Lloyd, Illia Lindsay, first of all.

They were the friends who understood Airen's heart best, and even if their stake wasn't as personal as his own, they had good reason to take a deep interest in Airen's past life.

Karakum, though, was different.

He didn't know much about Airen Farreira. There was hardly any bond between them.

He was going to teach Airen the Five Elements Divine Technique eventually, but outside of that, they'd only crossed swords once.

If Karakum barely knew this life of Airen's, there was no reason he should care about the last one.

Curious, Gorha asked why the old warrior was following the young man.

Karakum thought it over for a moment before answering.

"Do you know that feeling an old man gets, watching a talented young one?"

"I know it."

Gorha nodded.

The older you got, the more walls you ran into, and the more you wore yourself down clearing each one. That was the burden every old man carried.

They were both still active fighters, but even so, there were times they wanted to lose themselves in the sight of the young charging forward without hesitation.

That was exactly how Karakum felt now.

He gathered his thoughts for a moment before continuing.

"He's grown at a startling pace, and yet... there's still no end in sight for that one. I can't take my eyes off him, not even for a second. If I did, I feel like I'd miss the moment his flower finally blooms."

"...Are you saying he might grow again, even here?"

"I don't know. But watching him is more than entertaining enough."

Karakum chuckled and added one more thing.

"You're keeping company with us for a similar reason, aren't you?"

"...That I am."

Unable to find a counter, Gorha nodded honestly.

That was where the conversation ended. Both old orcs and Airen's group climbed the hill in silence.

It wasn't a short walk, but everyone's minds were occupied with their own tangled thoughts, so their destination appeared before them almost before they knew it.

Gurgar, dressed neatly this time in his fortune-teller's robes rather than his usual state, came out to greet them.

"Well, there you all are."

"...Can I drink while we do this?"

"Sure, sure. I'm a ghost, I don't even get drunk."

"Then why bother drinking, if it doesn't even get you drunk?"

"You think people drink to get drunk? You've still got a lot to learn."

"Then why drink? For the taste?"

"That's amateur thinking too."

"Then..."

"Why does there need to be a reason. You just drink. That's what drinking is."

"........."

Judith opened and closed her mouth, at a loss for words, just as Kubharu pushed the tent flap aside and stepped out.

"Master, that's enough teasing. Come on, everyone, come inside."

"Heh heh, all right. Chieftain, and Gorha too. Sorry, but only Airen and Airen's close friends can come inside."

"I'm not chieftain anymore."

"Ah, my apologies. It's been a while since I left the world of the living, so my memory's gone a bit hazy."

Gurgar delivered that joke, one that was hard to laugh off, with a polite bow.

Karakum and Gorha accepted the greeting and quietly followed the dead man's instructions, while Airen and the rest stepped inside the tent.

"Whoa..."

"...!"

An astonishing sight unfolded before their eyes.

It wasn't a cramped space at all. Like a dimensional gate leading into another world, an entirely different landscape opened up to greet Airen's group.

A large city.

Somewhat old-fashioned compared to the world they knew now, but it was unmistakably a cityscape.

The atmosphere was so vivid that they could make out the expressions on the faces of the people passing through the gates, and every one of them stood frozen, mouths open.

"Ha, that's enough gawking, lie down now. It's already strange enough that a ghost like me is showing myself in the first place. What's there left to be surprised about?"

Watching everyone's reactions, Gurgar guided Airen's group to their seats.

There were five objects, something between a chair and a bed, with the upper half tilted far back.

A small basket sat off to the far right.

Sensing that spot was meant for her, Lulu flitted over and curled herself into it.

Following her, Airen, Illia, Judith, Brett, and Kubharu lay down in turn.

Once everyone had settled, Gurgar spoke in a solemn voice.

"In a moment, we're going to visit the man who has troubled Airen Farreira's mind for so long. As you all know, that man's identity is Airen's past life, someone who swung a sword for decades for reasons unknown, right up until the moment he died."

"........."

"I already know the reason. I could tell you right now, if I wanted. But instead, I chose this roundabout method, because I thought this man's life might turn out to be of some help to all of you. And, of course, because everyone here is precious to Airen as a friend. Airen."

"Yes."

"Do you feel any discomfort, or any burden, at the thought of these people sharing your past life?"

"I don't."

"Let me ask the rest of you something. Showing someone the inside of your own heart is a burden. But looking deep into someone else's is no less of one. Whatever kind of person Airen Farreira turns out to have been in his past life, are you certain you can go on carrying a deep and true friendship with the Airen Farreira who stands before you now?"

"Yes."

"I am."

"Obviously!"

"Yes, Master."

"I am."

Silence settled over the tent after Illia Lindsay's answer.

Nodding with a pleased look, Gurgar addressed the group as they stared blankly back at him.

"Good. Looks like everyone's ready. Let's begin, then."

"So, um, what exactly do we do now? Do we just lie here and..."

Snap!

"...gnnh."

Judith never finished the sentence, her head dropping back against the headrest as though she'd fainted.

She wasn't the only one.

Brett, Kubharu, Lulu, Illia, Airen Farreira, all of them sank into a deep sleep as though they were dead.

Deep, heavy, but not sweet in the least, a slumber that felt like death itself.

And then...

......

Before they knew it, they had all become the man from the dream.

* * *

"Ugh..."

My head throbbed. Pain like someone driving a chisel straight into my skull twisted my face without my meaning it to.

The groan slipped out on its own, and one of the knights stepped forward to ask.

"Are you all right?"

"...I'm fine."

It wasn't an empty answer.

I really was fine now. As if the pain from a moment ago had been a lie, my vision had cleared, my head felt sharp again.

What in the world was that, just now...

"...I'm relieved to hear it. That said, forgive my rudeness, but you'll need to abide by our decision."

"........."

Catching my gaze, the knight lowered his head as though ashamed.

I understood.

This situation had to be deeply uncomfortable for him, an unbearable burden.

I nodded and drew my eyes away from him, looking forward instead.

My widened field of view took in the room full of people crowding the space.

They were my retainers, more loyal than anyone.

They were my knights, more dependable than anyone.

They were my servants, more capable than anyone.

Not quite family, perhaps, but precious people who had made up a great pillar of my life all the same.

And now, every one of them, with a single voice, was urging me to step down.

"........."

I hadn't bared my heart to them hoping for this outcome.

But I couldn't say it made no sense either.

Their eyes were full of guilt, and that was some comfort, at least.

Of course, I didn't think that guilt would be enough to make them change their minds.

I spent a long while wondering whether I should shout at them, or beg on my knees, or find some better way entirely...

"...I'll leave."

In the end, all I could do was nod and go along with their words.

"Hah."

"........."

Not one of them followed me as I left the room with a deep sigh.

I told myself it was better this way, then laughed under my breath.

That I should feel grateful just because no one had stabbed me in the back. A late-blooming rage pounded against my chest.

Something rose up inside me. I swallowed most of it down, but some of it escaped and ran down the corner of my mouth.

Not that it mattered either way. I quietly left the lord's manor.

The streets were quiet, but not empty, and a few of the territory's people recognized me.

No, I couldn't call them my people any longer. I wasn't their lord anymore.

Anyway, the crowd gathering around me began hurling curses my way, more of them by the moment.

"You crazy bastard!"

"Going to fight a demon? Might as well tell us all to hang ourselves at once!"

"He's clearly possessed by a demon! He's already a demonoid!"

"Kill him! We have to kill him!"

"What are you all saying! The lord would never do such a thing!"

"Still spouting nonsense? The rumor that he's gathering an army to march into demon territory has already spread to the neighboring lands, and you still..."

"That can't be true! It has to be a false rumor, a false rumor!"

"Like hell it's false! We have to kill him! Or drive him out!"

"He must be planning to sell every last one of us to the demons, just to save his own skin!"

With every step I took, more curses, more rage, more hatred poured down on me.

It was bearable. Tolerable. Something I could let wash past me.

I could stand being accused of selling my soul to a demon. I could bite down and endure the accusation that I meant to sell out my own people too.

Carrying a poison that grew heavier by the step, I pushed my way through the crowd and finally reached the front of the city gate.

But that was as far as I got.

Kreeng!

A middle-aged man pressed a gleaming axe to my throat, tears streaming down his face as he demanded an answer.

"Speak, my lord! Is it true, that you meant to pull every soldier from this land and march into demon territory? Is that true?"

"........."

"If it isn't true, say so. I'll gather the people right now and cut down whoever spread these lies myself. If you have some excuse, say that too. My ears are a filthy hunter's ears, but wash them in clean river water and they're good enough to listen. But..."

If the rumor spreading through this land right now is truly the truth, give up any hope of walking out of here alive.

The hunter finished speaking, and every eye and ear among the crowd turned toward me.

"........."

I had no particular wish to bare my heart to them.

I'd already gone through that ordeal three times over, with my knights, my retainers, my servants.

Whether these people understood or not made no difference to me. That I was leaving this land was already decided.

But I couldn't keep my mouth shut either.

If I did, the hunter's axe, driven by his fury, would fly straight for my throat, and I would become the demon's plaything without ever getting the chance to voice the poison in my chest.

That much, I refused to allow.

I forced my breathing to steady, wiped at eyes that kept threatening to blur, and finally spoke the words meant to win the man over.

Even knowing full well that what waited at the end of them wasn't goodwill.

"Two months ago, a demon wearing a jester's mask came to me."

"...!"

"And made me an offer. He'd spare one, either my wife or my son."

I could feel the mood around me turn heavy in an instant.

Of course it did. It wasn't just the content of what I'd said. There wasn't a soul alive who didn't know the infamy of the demon in the clown's mask.

A demon so dangerous that even a great power throwing everything it had might not be able to put him down, and even I had felt like I was caught in some kind of nightmare when he appeared before me.

But it hadn't been a dream. It had been real, and the offer hadn't been a lie either.

I kept talking.

"Just standing before him choked the breath out of me, but I couldn't help asking. Or rather, it wasn't a matter of choosing to ask. Who among you could decide, on their own, to end the life of either their beloved wife or their son? I demanded to know why I should even entertain such an insane proposal, and thankfully, he didn't get angry. He simply drew a crystal orb from inside his robe and showed me something."

"...What was it?"

"A horde of monsters, swarming toward this land."

"........."

"And then... he told me that if I accepted his offer and chose one of them, he'd keep every demon and every monster from invading for fifty years. Let me ask you something here."

Which one do you think I chose, my wife or my son?

The moment those words left my mouth, the air around me grew heavier still.

Not a single person dared to speak.

Not the hunter, not the furious faces standing behind him, not the crowd surrounding me. All of them held their breath and waited for what I'd say next.

Watching them, I let out a faint smile.

The scene from that day was still vivid before my eyes.

A situation that was hell no matter which choice I made, the demon's eyes curving like a bow behind his mask as he watched me fail to decide, my wife driving a blade into her own chest before anyone could stop her, choosing for me in my indecision, and the clown letting out a delighted laugh at the sight...

But that hadn't been the end.

I paused for a moment, then, my face like a pile of burned-out ash, told the crowd the rest of the story.

"The demon said my wife's death hadn't been my choice... and told me to choose again."

"........."

"And so, in the span of one night, I lost both my wife and my son. And... this land was granted fifty years of safety."

Once I finished speaking, I quietly closed my eyes.

That was the truth. In exchange for a choice too terrible to even think about, my land had gained a safety unmatched anywhere else on the continent.

Escaping a fate of destruction at the hands of monsters, and gaining fifty years of peace on top of it, if the price for that was my family's sacrifice, then... sad as it was, painful as it was, I thought I could bear it.

That was only true if I hadn't known that the horde of monsters charging to trample my land had been the jester demon's doing all along.

If I hadn't known that this entire hell, from beginning to end, had been nothing but his amusement.

"Hah, hah, huff..."

My chest ached. I forced my breathing faster, trying to hold back the emotion surging up inside me.

Even as I did, the agony never let up.

A heavy feeling shifting from grief to hatred, from hatred to a thirst for vengeance.

My retainers, watching me, had shared in my grief and anger at first, but by the end, they couldn't anymore.

They worried, on edge, that I, blinded by vengeance, might try to resist the demon.

In the end, it came to this: they turned their backs on me and drove me out.

The people of the land, no, they weren't my people any longer, probably felt the same way.

Unlike me, who had lost everything, they still had plenty left to lose.

I pushed aside the axe blade wielded by the hunter, a man now under the demon's steady protection.

"I won't ask for your help. You're afraid. Unlike me, you haven't lost anything, and you've been promised years of safety. No need to risk that. But..."

"........."

"Don't stand in my way."

That was all.

With those words, I left the land, and none of its people followed me.

It was a quiet, bitter parting, but once again, I found myself relieved that no one chased after me.

But I wasn't entirely without a welcome party.

A clown sprang out from the shadows and spoke to me.

- Hey there, that's a shame! What ungrateful bastards. Don't you think?

- And they know full well how good you were to them. Handing out grain without hesitation in the lean years, working day and night to solve every last one of your people's troubles... and they betray a lord like that without a second thought. Nasty bunch, those.

- So here's the thing. Let me make you a new offer. Sign a contract with me. What do you say? Hm? You want to kill them, don't you. You want to make them suffer, don't you. They'd understand the grief you're feeling now, if only they lost a wife, lost children of their own. Wouldn't they?

- As you know, all I promised to hold back were demons and monsters. But if you sign with me and become a demonoid, you can slaughter them to your heart's content. Play with them however you like! What do you say? Doesn't that sound nice? Doesn't it? Doesn't it...

Walking down a road that stretched to the edge of the horizon, I quietly closed my eyes.

The faces of the servants who used to greet my mornings with warm smiles rose up in my mind.

The faces of my diligent retainers, the training grounds where my dependable knights drilled, the people of my land bowing to me with bright smiles.

Every one of those faces disgusted me now.

Every one of those memories filled me with revulsion.

But the demon's voice, tickling at my ear, was far, far worse. Unbearably hateful.

- Not interested? Can't be helped. I live at the far edge of the southern mountains, so come find me whenever you feel like it. See you next time.

The demon's voice faded into the distance. I couldn't tell if he'd truly left.

Maybe he was still nearby, watching me, smiling with contempt.

No, he certainly was.

I opened my eyes quietly and made a vow toward the direction where I imagined he'd be.

That I would do it.