Overpowered Reincarnation Perks! - Chapter 10.3
While the investigators sent from the castle were terrible, like drawn nuclear waste and perverts, the people living here weren’t much different from the villagers I knew. Or from modern people.
“Now do you feel like helping these people?”
“…Is my feeling important?”
“It is. Because I saved you, if you help reluctantly out of a sense of debt, problems will surely arise someday. If you form an alliance based on profit and loss calculations, you’ll easily turn away the moment you suffer a loss. I don’t want that.”
It was unexpected. He seemed like someone who would calculate faster than anyone.
“But why are they so afraid of intruders from outside the castle?”
In fact, the investigators treated people from the outside like inferior beings.
“Being exiled from the castle is the strongest punishment here.”
The castle residents lack knowledge about the outside world. They don’t know what the environment is like or what kind of people live there.
They only know one thing.
If you go outside the castle where monsters run rampant, you die.
Occasionally, some people have gone outside the castle out of curiosity, but no one has ever returned alive.
They either disappeared entirely or only parts of their bodies returned, torn apart by monsters. After this became known, going outside the castle became the most terrifying punishment for the people here.
“Only investigators with holy relics can go outside the castle and return alive. For criminals, exile means the end. That’s common sense here.”
People live in the mountains where monsters roam freely, and investigators bring back the magic stones they supply.
To the people inside the castle, those living in mountain villages were no different from monsters. And the investigators who collected magic stones from them were heroes of the castle.
‘Heroes? Those bastards? I’d rather take that title myself than give it to them!’
I swallowed the rising curses and gripped the teacup. It’s warm.
“That’s why they were afraid of you too. To the people inside the castle, the outside is practically hell.”
“Hell? It’s just where people live.”
If you only hear about it, it might sound like monsters are swarming everywhere, but in reality, there are specific monster habitats, and it’s possible to avoid them with protective charms. Even if you encounter them, you can defeat them if you work together.
Of course, without protective charms or companions, I’d be dead if I wandered around in the mountains.
“I don’t understand why they’re so afraid when they don’t even know anything about the outside.”
“Haha. You’re right.”
Arvan laughed good-naturedly and shrugged his shoulders.
“If they knew properly, they wouldn’t be afraid.”
“So now should I inform people about the situation outside and make them empathize?”
We are the world?
“Haha. That would be good too, but I need you for a different reason.”
“What is it?”
“You know that the castle’s dominion power that repels monsters is the fundamental force keeping this place safe, right?”
I nodded.
“But this dominion power isn’t what it used to be. In my opinion, it won’t last a year, no, not even a few months before it breaks.”
“What?”
I heard that holy relics rapidly lose power when taken outside the castle, but shouldn’t that not happen inside? Wasn’t this supposed to be an impregnable fortress?
“Why is the castle’s dominion power weakening?”
“The master of this castle is ill. I don’t think they’ll last long.”
The castle’s dominion power comes from the castle lord.
When the castle lord falls ill, the dominion weakens, and if they die, the dominion disappears completely. Just as monsters can invade a village where the power of holy relics has been depleted, a castle without dominion power can be attacked by monsters at any time.
“Can’t the castle lord’s child, I mean, can’t they appoint the next castle lord?”
“There is no next castle lord. The castle shares its fate with the castle lord.”
You mean it’s not like a king passing the throne to an heir?
“The castle lord isn’t an ordinary person. They live for a much longer time than normal people, ruling over a single castle.”
As a long time passed, castles of castle lords who reached the end of their lifespan disappeared one by one, and now only a very small number of castles remain. Soon, the remaining castles will also run out of dominion power.
“Now we have no choice but to change. We need to learn how to survive like people outside the castle.”
“But I’ve never actually defeated a monster. I don’t have the strength or ability…”
“That’s why we need you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your very existence is proof that even ordinary people can survive outside the castle.”
Training can be done through other people as much as needed. But overcoming ignorance and fear is impossible with the power of people inside the castle alone.
Only someone from outside the castle can do it.
‘I actually died from monsters, shouldn’t they have brought another intruder?’
I scratched my cheek, feeling slightly embarrassed.
“Shouldn’t the castle lord or commander be making plans? Why is Arvan bringing me in to devise a solution himself?”
“I don’t agree with them.”
“What do you mean by agree?”
“The castle’s dominion power has weakened, but it’s still effective. The castle’s leadership thinks that if they lure monsters to approach the castle, they can defeat them with the castle lord’s authority before the dominion power runs out, so they’re planning to carry out a monster luring operation.”
Lure monsters towards the castle?
Eliminate them before the dominion power runs out?
Oh… I wish they’d commit suicide on their own.
‘When monsters swarm, the difficulty of exterminating them increases exponentially. There’s a limit to being brave due to ignorance.’
I clutched my throbbing head.
“Don’t the castle residents oppose this? You said ordinary people are afraid of monsters.”
It could easily lead to annihilation, but have they grown overconfident from living in a safe place?
“On the contrary, they’re looking forward to it. If they lure monsters to the castle and catch them, they can obtain magic stones more easily.”
The castle residents knew that the magic stones they conveniently used came from the villages below the mountain. They didn’t seem to know that the investigators extorted them using holy relics as hostages, though.
Magic stones have an expiration date and eventually become ordinary rocks over time, so they have to rely on people outside the castle for a continuous supply.
But if the castle’s leadership lures and eliminates monsters, they can obtain many monster cores, or magic stones, at once.
They think it’s good because they won’t need to rely on the ‘monsters’ outside the castle anymore.
“They don’t treat them as humans, huh.”
My palm tingled, and when I looked, I saw nail marks. I must have been clenching my fist too tightly.
“So people outside the castle are monsters, monsters should only be outside the castle, but they still want to receive magic stones. Is that the mindset of the people here? Are you asking me to help such people?”
“I told you, Ju-in. They have no understanding of the outside world.”
“Is not knowing everything? So they didn’t care whether intruders lived or died because they weren’t related to magic stones?”
“Ju-in, please. Give them a chance.”
Arvan took my hand and stroked it as if to soothe me. His expression seemed to be sincerely pleading.
‘Maybe this is also an act.’
Could this calculating man be trying to manipulate me through emotional appeal?
Was it all preparatory work to lower my guard – not asking or demanding anything from me for the past fortnight, instead showing consideration and devotion, sharing a warm daily life?
