Chapter 1000 – Us a Few Thousand Years Ago

000

Problem.

If someone suddenly comes to you and asks you to take off your clothes to check your body, will you respond?

If many people receive this question or request, a common sense response would be to ask, ‘Is your hair okay?’

And, fortunately, Cleon was such a common sense person that, although he may have been silent for a moment upon hearing the words of the bard – a being who called himself ‘Seth’, he did not choose to nod in response and get completely naked.

“What are you saying…!?”

Instead, you’ll look shocked and try to distance yourself from him by about two steps.

Then, Seth looked at Cleon like that and spoke to him as if he had a question, asking why he was so surprised.

“Huh? Didn’t you understand what I said? You haven’t already forgotten the Kingdom language after just a few weeks of living in the Eastern Kingdom, right?”

Cleon responds angrily to the man who naturally chooses words that seem to criticize people.

“That’s not the story! Rather, since I understood it clearly, I was asking what the intention was for such a request!”

“So, I told you that too. I want to check the condition of your body. You really seem like a guy who has a lot of questions.”

“Don’t answer in a tone that makes everyone angry…! It’s natural as a human being! Would you want to show your bare skin in front of a guy who doesn’t know what’s going on?”

Cleon’s words may have been obvious to the average person, but at his words, Seth blinked his eyes and pointed to his own body.

“I revealed it?”

“…”

Come to think of it.

Cleon almost convinced himself that without even realizing it.

No, of course, what Seth revealed was that his body was made of a machine, so much so that it could not be called bare skin.

From the neck down, a skeleton that seemed to be made of brass, and the various gear wheels that moved the skeleton were clearly visible.

Although Cleon was accustomed to being a human in the form of a machine with automata, including Arnia.

But, is it okay to call that bare skin…

“No matter what, I won’t take it off…”

Cleon sighs, shakes his head, and refuses to take off his clothes.

Then Seth answered him by nodding his head.

“I see. Then there is nothing we can do.”

Considering his surprisingly obedient attitude, Cleon felt uneasy, and immediately surrounded himself with black magic to protect his body.

“Cleon. Take off your clothes.”

At the same time as the voice penetrated his head, Cleon’s body moved on its own and in an instant he took off his top and bottoms, exposing his bare body on the street.

It’s as if Cleon, who did as he was told, noticed what he was doing and stopped himself only when the action was over, and he was about to take off his underwear for the last time.

“What…!?”

Even though he himself didn’t know why he acted as he said, Seth came closer to Cleon, who was embarrassed at some point, and the left breast of his upper body was exposed.

In other words, the idea was to place the palm of your hand near where the heart is and gently press it.

“Shh, don’t move too much, Cleon. We’re just connecting our bodies a little with magic.”

Cleon was worried that he might not be able to move despite those words, but Cleon’s body was still able to move without any problems.

However, when he felt something flowing from Seth, passing through his body, and then exiting again, he couldn’t help but decide that it would be better not to move as he was told.

At the same time, Cleon asks Seth a question.

“What… Did you… Do to me a little while ago…?”

It was an incomprehensible power.

If it was magic, I should have been able to resist it with the defense that used magical power a little while ago.

However, despite Cleon’s defense, he manipulated Cleon to his will with just a word.

While asking that question, Cleon wondered whether Seth would really answer his question.

If you can control yourself like before…

“Ah, should I say that what I just did was my magic… Or an ability? I can target ‘humans’ and interfere with their souls. Like just now, if I give a strong command, I can also control humans.”

Seth would answer casually, but Cleon’s spine couldn’t help but shiver when he heard that answer.

Controlling humans by giving them orders? If that’s possible, wouldn’t this guy be ‘invincible’ only to humans?

As Cleon’s wariness towards him became as strong as possible, his gaze towards Seth naturally became sharper as well.

However, Seth, who felt those gazes, burst into laughter and spoke to Cleon.

“Ah. Don’t worry. This ability can only be used once on the same target. If you swing your sword at me now, I will be cut in half and have no choice but to die.”

“… What?”

In response to his unexpected answer, Cleon asked Seth back.

“Should I say it adapts… The human spirit is not that weak.”

“──”

Cleon said nothing for a moment.

A powerful ability that can only be used once on the same being been used simply to remove clothes?

If we’re stuck like this now, does that mean we can do anything next time?

Think like that for a moment.

Cleon could see with his own eyes that the magical connection with Seth near his heart disappeared, and he removed his hand.

Once again, was my prediction wrong?

In front of Cleon, who is thinking like that, Seth speaks by opening and closing his hands.

“Hmm. Indeed. It is a good trend. While suppressing the influence of the past life factor to a minimum, the powerful power provided by the factor is unilaterally drawn out.”

“What on earth is your purpose? Why did you appear in front of me, and why did you try to investigate my body?”

Cleon doesn’t know the reason for Seth’s behavior and speaks as if he is confused.

Seth looked at Cleon for a moment and then picked up the pieces of the robe that had fallen on the ground.

It was cut by Cleon swinging his sword when Seth took off his clothes, so it no longer functioned as clothing.

After checking that, you’ll sigh, ‘Haa’.

“What are you going to do? No matter how inexpensive the clothes are, if you don’t have them, you’ll end up attracting people’s attention.”

“Don’t change your mind.”

Boom.

And the vibration caused by magical power rings out.

Then, a magical wall was spread at the entrance of the alley, blocking the path so that no one could leave this space.

“… I’m serious. If you’ve made it this far, you’ll have realized that I’m not the enemy.”

“I also know that not being an enemy and being a ‘friend’ are not the same thing.”

As Cleon’s gaze remained sharp, Seth shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the box left in the alley and sat down.

“I was trying to see if you were the one who could destroy Adam, friend. Because I too am the one who wants the destruction of Adam and my father.”

“…”

As if conscious of Cleon’s word ‘friend’, Seth answered.

“If it’s to gain my friend’s trust… Well, let’s just say whatever we want.”

Seth clears his throat, hmm.

“Listen carefully. It is not a very common opportunity to hear a story one-on-one from the world’s oldest bard.”

When Seth closes and opens his eyes, the melody of a song flows from his mouth.

“This is… Your story from one day. And my story. It’s our story from more than a thousand years ago.”

001

Immediately after the succession world was completed, Adam was soon created by Eve with the ‘past life factor’-

In other words, we were able to confirm the appearance of a clan of dark horses.

A special race that did not exist in the original world.

‘Counter suppressor’ against divine magic power [Counter Inhibitor].

Beings who were created solely to prevent Adam’s rampage, and who aim their swords at themselves.

But Adam was not afraid.

In any case, he is an absolute being who has command over almost all humans on the continent.

At most, a being with a high aptitude for dark magic.

In addition, the imperfect reincarnation factor gave the Dark Demon’s clan the tendency to run wild depending on their own emotions.

The nature of the Black Demon’s clan caused other races to be wary of them, and naturally resulted in their isolation from human society.

Adam judged that these people would naturally be eliminated and disappear even without his intervention.

However, at some point, Adam realized that his judgment was wrong.

A clan of black demons isolated from human society, and special magic swordsmen with reincarnation factors born among such clans.

They develop negative emotions by being exposed to all the insults and dark emotions that the Dark Demon’s clan receives.

That was to create a synergy between the magic sword they had and the black magic power.

Hostility with people who are on the side of the so-called ‘order’ that oppresses them.

Some were revolutionaries, some were massacres, and whenever beings with past life factors revealed their presence, they caused considerable damage to the ‘control by perfect order’ that Adam had tried to achieve.

‘Why?’

With Adam’s calculations, I couldn’t understand it.

Why doesn’t the dark horse’s clan disappear completely?

And, why do beings with past life factors constantly point their teeth at themselves?

Most of the beings with the past life factor have become public enemies of humanity.

Even if you make someone with the title of warrior or hero and cut off his head, he will reappear after a while, like a cockroach that has already laid an egg in a house.

Adam could no longer ignore the demonic swordsmen of the reincarnated Son who hid in places that even Adam’s surveillance network could not find, developed their strength, and then appeared.

‘Surveillance is necessary. A being who will follow my will and monitor the bugs with the past life factor in place of me who cannot move.’

Adam thought so and created a being that served as his terminal.

Because it has the role of a watchdog, it is a type of test subject that is not noticed by people and has the ability to escape on its own from dangerous situations.

And the terminal disguised itself as a wandering bard and wandered around chasing the traces of the dark horse’s clan.

At the end of the trace, there was always the ‘past life factor’.

For several hundred years after creating the terminal, Adam was satisfied with his creation.

No matter where the Black Demon’s clan ran away, it became easy to find them, and as a result, they were able to kill the Dark Demon’s clan with the reincarnation factor before it awakened.

Most of the time, in the process… Many members of the Dark Demon family lost their lives, but it was not a big problem for Adam.

Who feels pain when it comes to killing pests or harmful animals that come into their home?

From Adam’s point of view – to use the terminology of the original world, it is a simple matter of sending an appropriate punitive force to the place where the released drone was discovered.

As a result, the forces of the Black Demon clan and the beings with the reincarnation factor born among them were driven out to the point where they could not appear in the history of the continent for a while.

So, Adam decided to turn his attention away from the Dark Demon’s clan for a while and leave the rest to his own terminal.

There was no need to worry, because the creation he created was a being that perfectly carried out his commands and carried out his will.

Adam was convinced that only his own absolute order would be established on the continent in the future.

However, there is one thing that Adam could not calculate.

It was true that every living thing had its own will.

002

Savages with black hair and black eyes live hidden deep in the mountains, an environment too harsh for humans to survive.

Adam’s terminal ‘Seth’, which caught such a rumor, noticed that they had appeared again about 100 years after destroying the base where the previous Black Demon clan lived, and was walking down the mountain path to find them. 〈 Br〉

Perhaps, there is a clan of dark demons there who have the ‘reincarnation factor’ they are looking for.

Is this the 6th time?

Rather than being a magic swordsman, a clan of dark demons from the Magic Tower who were wizards.

He was a man who started a religion, believing that he was the savior of his clan.

I killed that man, and a dark demon saintess appeared a few years later and inherited his will.

A matriarch who hid and protected a completely fallen clan.

The last was a monarch who once again shouted to the world that they had the right to live.

The clan of dark demons with the reincarnation factor has always greatly shaken the fate of the clan, perhaps thanks to their special power.

My role is to find them and guide the heroes of this era to them.

Again and again, again and again.

He has seen the hopes of the Dark Demon’s clan, and themselves, burn and disappear before his eyes.

But, why?

Even though such massacres and destruction occurred again and again, they tenaciously survived and appeared on this continent again.

However, as if it were true that the last defeat was painful, now, outside the realm where humans can live, the dark horse clan has appeared again after a whopping 100 years.

That probably means that they are also quite concentrated.

A few times in the future… No, this might be the last time.

I’m sick of walking across this continent in the role of a watchdog.

If the Dark Demon’s clan disappears completely, he will no longer be needed by his father, and will either revert to a part of him, or be disposed of after that.

Just hoping that this would end quickly, Seth entered the mountain and what greeted him was the harsh natural environment of the mountain.

“Gr…”

“Ha, damn it…”

The only thing that can be used as a weapon is a dagger.

Normally, he would hire mercenaries to protect him and take them with him, but this time, no one wanted to follow him on the mountain.

Even if a large amount of money is offered, they do not listen, and even if action can be forced with a ‘one-time command right’, the effect does not last long.

Therefore, while climbing the dangerous mountain with the utmost care and thinking that it was ‘human standards at best’, Seth encountered a terrible demonic beast with the head of a dog and the body of a bear.

“Hound Bear…”

It was as big as a bear, but as agile as a dog or a wolf, and as if it enjoyed hunting, it pushed Seth into a dead end road with its back to the cliff.

Indeed, I could clearly understand why people do not want to enter this mountain.

The magical beasts of this forest were not just hound bears.

Something like a griffin or a basilisk.

There are so many dizzying beasts that humans need a party of skilled adventurers to deal with them, so how can they get around?

‘This body is wrong.’

As Seth said that, he closed his eyes.

Now, there is no way to beat the hound bear in front of you.

One swing of his hand would probably tear him to pieces.

But even so, it doesn’t matter.

This body is temporary anyway.

The soul is immediately returned to Adam, receives a new body, and comes out again.

Therefore, there is no fear.

“Finish it quickly…”

When Seth said that, the hound bear lifted its front paw and swung towards Seth.

When he heard the bloody sound of the wind breaking, he closed his eyes tightly and accepted his end.

…

“Ku. A…”

Boom!

I heard the sound of the wind falling and the vibration of the ground shaking.

“… Huh…?”

Seth opens his eyes to something strange.

Then, standing before my eyes was a woman with long black hair wrapped in flimsy leather armor.

A black muffler around his neck, and what he is holding in his hands are two black swords.

“… What? I thought I was excited, but I guess I found my prey.”

As she said that, she returned her sword to its scabbard.

And lying in front of her was a hound bear with its head half cut off.

Seth opened her eyes.

‘This feeling… Is it a member of the dark demon clan of the reincarnated person?’

A being that I was able to meet just before I died.

After confirming that the woman in front of him was a reincarnated demon swordsman, Seth felt relieved after confirming that she would not have to return here after death.

She twirled her body around.

She, who was taller than Seth, looked at Seth who was pressed up against her cliff and made an expression as if she was thinking about something.

She had black eyes and a beautiful appearance, even though she had a slight scar on her cheek.

“Okay, thank you.”

Seth will give her his thanks, albeit in a formal way.

In order to find out where the other dark clansmen were hiding, she needed to hear her story.

“Is this guy from outside the mountain? With that kind of skill, he’s easily entered this mountain.”

While saying that, she walks towards Seth.

And, with her hand, she touched the ‘blonde hair’ that Seth was growing out.

“Sparkling hair… And a pretty face… Even old people would approve of this.”

“Uh, over there…”

Even though Seth was embarrassed that the distance was closer than she thought, she was about to fall.

But.

Next moment.

Thump! And Seth’s waist was grabbed by her arm and suddenly lifted.

“Huh!?”

“I have decided! I will use you as my bride!”

Seth, who was violently lifted, would be embarrassed by her words.

“Hah!? Wait, you’re a girl!?”

Seth has no gender.

The reason he looked like a man or a woman was because he was neither.

That was because Adam felt human gender was ‘incomplete.’

Seth himself did not think of himself as either a woman or a man, but he was only acting like a ‘woman’ because it was advantageous for him.

“So what? We’re barbarians, you think we care about that?”

“Such a fool…”

Seth shook his head as if he didn’t understand what she said, but she didn’t seem to want to listen.

“So? What is your name, stranger?”

“Listen…! … Ha, it’s ‘Seth’.”

“Sex? The stranger’s name is quite intense…”

“Seth!”

Seth raises his voice in frustration at her strange distortion of his own name.

Then she nods her head and answers Seth.

“I see. Please take care of me, Seth.”

“Wait a minute…! I said my name, what about yours?”

“Oh, that’s right.”

She looked Seth in the eye, as if she had honestly forgotten she was talking.

The curiosity and passion in those obsidian eyes seemed to see right through Seth’s inner self.

“Leona.”

And, she briefly reveals her own name.

“My name is ‘Leona’.”