Chapter 49. < 23. Facing a Past Life >
Lumian Callad and Tanya Eloyze.
Aside from the beginning of the semester, the two had never once had a conversation, yet they went to eat together. And not to some fancy high-end restaurant, but to an inn. That was because inns were the only places open for business in the morning.
Surprisingly, though, it wasn't awkward at all.
It was all thanks to Tanya. She fully demonstrated the social skills she had built up over time for making connections.
Thanks to her, Lumian was able to satisfy his hunger in a comfortable atmosphere.
"But is this okay?"
"About what?"
"I'm asking if it's okay to eat at a place like this. I thought you said you'd treat me somewhere expensive."
"Of course, you shouldn't think this is the end of it. I was planning to go somewhere ten times more expensive than this."
"Then what will you do?"
"I'll use the remaining nine-tenths wisely. Whenever I need to."
"Guess you'll have to make a lot of money then."
"Were you that poor?"
Lumian chuckled at Tanya's joke. Tanya laughed along with him.
The two continued to share various stories after that.
Most of the topics were related to Lumian.
When they first met, during the mid-term evaluation, when he won the swordsmanship tournament......
In a way, it was only natural. The protagonist of the Knight Department this semester was Lumian Callad. Every step he had taken was nothing short of amazing.
As they talked about each thing one by one, naturally the conversation turned to the Subculture Research Club and the rumors.
At that point, Tanya, who had hesitated for a moment, offered an apology.
"I'm sorry. Actually, I got swept up in it back then too."
"...You believed those rumors?"
"No, I didn't believe them...... Well, to be honest, I did have some 'maybe?' thoughts. I'm a bit of a gossipmonger. Anyway, I'm sorry. For misunderstanding without even properly looking into it."
"No, you don't have to apologize that seriously......"
Lumian had a flustered expression. But at the same time, he felt grateful.
Countless people must have misunderstood him, but Tanya was the only one who had apologized like this so far. That fact alone raised his favorable impression of her significantly.
'She's a good person.'
No chest, but a big heart.
Brushing away the thought that had unconsciously surfaced, Lumian spoke.
"Anyway, don't worry about it too much. It's all in the past now."
"Right! Ah, what a relief. Actually, I was waiting to say this. I thought if I put it off until second semester, it would be too frustrating. Because of the guilt."
"Haha, guilt is a bit much......"
After sharing a bit more conversation, the two parted ways early in front of the inn.
It was difficult for someone carrying a lot of luggage to go around here and there from the morning.
Tanya extended her hand for a handshake and said,
"Well then, let's see each other more often in the second semester."
"Yes, Senior Eloyze."
"You can call me Tanya. Well then, I'm off!"
Hop, hop. Tanya disappeared lightly, like a rabbit bounding away.
Watching the back of her swaying ponytail, he thought she seemed like a young colt.
Lumian, who had been watching her for a moment, looked down at his own hand.
'Maybe because it's a trained hand, it's not as incredibly soft as I thought.'
Still, of course, it was much better than a man's hand.
Lumian, having some more trivial thoughts, murmured.
"Guess I need to earn money for second semester meals. And travel expenses too."
Swoosh. He erased his presence and quietly entered an alleyway.
Equipped with a robe and mask, he moved toward a place he had visited once before.
***
BOOM!
"Take this, guest!"
"What the hell, first thing in the morning, this sh...... hah! You're......!"
The gang leader, who had been on a drinking spree through the night, past dawn, all the way to morning, made a startled expression.
It was that guy he saw last time! That bastard who had taken his money!
The memory of that time surfaced, and unknowingly his sphincter tightened. His heart pounded wildly from tension.
No, why is this bastard acting crazy first thing in the morning?
Of course, that was from the gang leader's perspective. For Lumian, it didn't matter when he came to this place.
Looking at the gang leader's face like a miser eyeing a vault, Lumian spoke.
"I'll be taking some money."
"Y-you crazy bastard......"
"I won't say it twice. I'll be taking some money."
Watching Lumian approach with big strides as if to keep his word, the gang leader went pale. The underlings scattering left and right couldn't have been more hateful.
But there was one fact he had forgotten.
The reason he had been drinking until morning today was to entertain a superior.
And that superior was someone incomparably stronger than himself.
Swish!
CRASH!
The middle-aged man sitting at the head table overturned the drinking table with one hand. Despite its considerable weight, the table flew lightly like a pebble.
Lumian quickly moved to the left and dodged the table.
His eyes were filled with surprise.
'At this level, despite being a thug?'
But this wasn't the end.
He sprang up from his seat and drew a blade from his waist.
Not a short dagger that back-alley punks would use, but a long sword.
And a black energy was swirling around it.
"What, an Aura Sword?"
"You recognize it."
The man at the head table grinned. He spat on the ground and looked at Lumian as he spoke.
"Then you must also know that you're about to...... hah!"
But his words couldn't continue to the end.
Because the mysterious robe-clad figure was charging toward him at tremendous speed.
"Hwah!"
Whish!
He swung his blade with a battle cry. The black aura blazed like fire along the trajectory.
But unless it hit, it was useless.
Like an acrobat, Lumian suddenly stopped in place, leaned his upper body backward, then used the momentum to dive into the man's embrace.
And he delivered a powerful uppercut.
BOOM!
CRASH!
"How can this be!"
"......!"
Everyone, including the gang leader, stood dumbfounded.
Only the man who had been sent flying by Lumian's punch was groaning.
To him, Lumian posed a question.
"Quite strong. Are you perhaps an executive of some infamous guild?"
"Y-you......! Do you know who I am......!"
He was an executive of the continent's greatest dark guild, Red Moon, and privately, he was on brotherly terms with Red Moon's leader.
That was the reason he possessed knight-level abilities despite being a criminal.
But Lumian didn't care about such circumstances.
He looked at the gang leader and said,
"Money."
"Pardon?"
"Money. Not gems, mix gold and silver coins. A reasonable amount."
"Ah, yes!"
The gang leader moved quickly.
For now, he had to follow that guy's words. That was the only way to survive.
He quickly gathered the money, bowed at a ninety-degree angle, and handed it to Lumian.
Lumian nodded after checking the amount.
"Sorry about this. I'll be going."
With those final words, Lumian left the gang's den.
While everyone wore expressions of disbelief, the Red Moon executive with two broken teeth staggered to his feet.
"Son of a bitch...... I don't know who you are, but I'll definitely find out and kill you! Put out a search immediately!"
"Yes, yes!"
Of course, Lumian wasn't someone so easily dealt with.
He quickly left the city, completely blocking any actions that could lead to tracking him, and began his journey home, humming to himself.
Of course, even if his identity was discovered, it wouldn't matter much, but he hated troublesome things so he acted thoroughly.
In the end, the Red Moon executive wasted three days of effort, and was left grinding his teeth with a grudge against an unidentified person. He was far too inexperienced to catch Lumian, who had done this dozens of times since his past life.
In truth, connecting an Academy student to a Sword Expert didn't make sense anyway.
***
"Hmm. Did I come too quickly?"
On the fifth day of travel in the late afternoon, Lumian muttered to himself upon arriving at a stopover city.
Because he had moved quickly to avoid troublesome matters, he had covered a distance that would take ten days in just four.
His mood was refreshed from running with aura for the first time in a while, so he hadn't stopped, and thanks to that, his schedule became quite leisurely.
At times like this, moving alone was truly convenient. It was both the sorrow and joy of a rural noble.
'Faster than coming by carriage. Should I rest comfortably for about a day......'
The city was quite large in scale too.
There were flashy inns here and there that couldn't compare to the village lodgings he had stayed at along the way.
Deciding to first get a room and wash up, Lumian entered a suitable inn. He had plenty of travel expenses, so he didn't need to worry about the cost.
"Phew, nice."
Lumian washed his body with the warm bathwater provided in the room.
He could feel the fatigue of the day melting away. Recovering his condition through aura cultivation was good, but this kind of everyday rest was also necessary.
Of course, the most important things in rest were meals, and then sleep.
After getting out of the water and drying himself, Lumian came down to the hall on the first floor. It was to order food.
But at that moment.
A completely unexpected person entered his view.
'Morgan!'
It was certain.
Though his hair color seemed different as if he was in disguise, such a change was nothing.
His past self, Ryan Promhart's connection.
Lumian, facing him for the first time, stopped dead in his tracks.
'No, come to think of it, this isn't the first time.'
Now that he thought about it, he had seen someone once during the swordsmanship tournament too. A high-ranking knight of Xenas, Bucal Garcia.
But the situation now was completely different from when he saw him.
While Sir Bucal was merely someone whose name he knew at best, Morgan was the person closest to him besides the Knight King Philip III.
'If we're talking about comfort...... he's the closest.'
After all, it was hard to have candid conversations with a king.
Morgan, he was not a knight of Xenas but a veteran mercenary, someone Lumian had gotten to know during external missions.
With a quite friendly and witty personality, and considerable talent and passion for swordsmanship, Lumian had looked after him during small missions, and before he knew it, they had become like brothers.
Though the age difference was over twenty years, such things didn't matter.
When he had uttered that shocking final testament, Morgan was the only one present who wasn't affiliated with Xenas.
'How should I approach him?'
Lumian pondered.
His current self was too different from Ryan Promhart.
If he told him he had entered another person's body right away, there was no way he'd be believed. At the very least, a long process of proof would be needed. Like continuing to recount stories only he and that guy would know.
'Should I say I have something important to discuss? Or should I suddenly bring up something only the two of us know?'
He didn't even consider pretending not to know and passing by.
He wanted to talk with his closest sworn brother.
How he had been over the past ten years, what he's doing these days, and whether he kept the promise he made before dying—to reach the realm of Sword Master within ten years.
There were so many things he was curious about.
And there was one more important thing here.
'This guy...... his technique for seducing women was something else.'
This was a part that absolutely couldn't be ignored.
It was only natural. His second life goal was, after all, women.
'He's definitely amazing...... while he's skilled enough to be counted among the top mercenaries, honestly speaking, his face isn't much.'
He looked like what a slightly handsome middle-aged man would become when aged.
Despite that, the guy was popular. He remembered being amazed seeing Morgan with a different woman every time they met.
'Maybe his advice would resonate more than Teoro's!'
Teoro Schutgarten, that guy was someone who started from a different starting line from birth. He could get by on face and atmosphere alone, so he didn't need trivial tips.
In contrast, his sworn brother Morgan, whom he was meeting for the first time in ages, was different.
How much trial and error he must have gone through to seduce countless women with that face, and how much experience he must have accumulated—he couldn't even imagine.
'Alright. After meeting for the first time in ages, we'll catch up, and I'll open up about my situation that I couldn't tell anyone.'
And as a bonus, let's get some secrets on seducing women too!
Having finished his thoughts, Lumian approached Morgan with big strides.
A moment later, their gazes met in the air.