Overpowered Reincarnation Perks! - Chapter 17.6
Either way, it was fortunate for me right now. I left the central palace, almost collapsing into Callion’s arms.
The square where the crowd had dispersed was in disarray. Most had left, but a few who had been lingering nearby remained, whispering as they saw us. They seemed to find it suspicious that we had entered the central palace after revealing ourselves as intruders, yet came out unharmed.
However, they didn’t seem inclined to approach or attack us. To begin with, these were people who would panic and avert their gaze just from me looking at them, so they probably didn’t have the guts for it.
‘I can’t let them see that I’m anxious.’
I buried my face in Callion’s cape. Thinking we might arouse suspicion if we headed directly to the southern city, we decided to take a roundabout route to the east.
When we returned to Arvan’s house in the 12th district of the southern city, Welga, who had stayed behind until the end, reported the situation.
They had received the bodies of their dead comrades from the soldiers without desecration, and the soldiers had left without questioning or threatening anyone involved.
Welga said he would go back first to arrange the funerals for the deceased comrades and help the remaining ones gather their thoughts.
Only Arvan, Callion, and I were left in the now-empty living room.
“Ju-in. Do you want to eat something, or would you prefer to take a warm bath?”
Noticing that my expression was still not good, Arvan gently suggested.
His usual kind face, calm voice. I now know that this is not just because of his composed personality, but because he’s worried about me.
Come to think of it, Arvan has always been like this. He prioritized easing my tension and making me feel comfortable rather than asking what had happened to me. He always comforted and consoled my sadness.
I silently took Arvan’s hand. A warm and delicate hand. As I interlocked our fingers, I felt a sense of relief as it firmly held onto me.
‘Dienes kept his promise.’
It was a bit unexpected that while he twisted and poked at the loopholes in his words for not specifying details in front of me, he handled the matter of my companions cleanly.
‘Well, even in front of me… he didn’t actually threaten Arvan or Callion.’
Perhaps he’s someone who can be reasoned with to some extent. But I was scared to accept his offer. Becoming the lord? I have no desire to become the person in charge here, let alone a savior.
‘But if I don’t become the lord, how can I possibly solve the task given to me?’
At the time, I was so scared that I ran out, not wanting to stay there for even a moment, but as my head slowly cooled down, anxiety set in.
“Arvan, Callion. What do you think about me becoming the lord of this castle?”
“What?”
“Pardon?”
The two men made expressions as if they had heard something absurd. Understandably so.
“Dienes… the commander offered to make me the lord. When I mentioned my ability to build strongholds, he said he could enhance my abilities and make me the lord.”
“Ju-in, that’s an absurd proposal.”
“That’s right. They want to use you as a stand-in to avoid the chaos that would ensue if they revealed the lord’s death.”
A stand-in. Is that really all Dienes wants? He didn’t even call for a doctor when the current lord was dying from illness, and he silenced everyone to prevent the lord’s condition from being known. Moreover, he even seemed to like me despite thinking I had killed the lord.
“But you saw it. The castle soldiers aren’t doing anything. If I don’t become the lord and set things right, we’ll have to protect the castle with just our strength.”
“Ju-in. Monsters have a habit of not forming groups except when in their habitats. We can handle one or two crossing over on our own.”
“Is that so?”
Callion’s expression grew darker as he listened to my conversation with Arvan. Did our talk sound too naive?
“Callion. What’s wrong?”
“…Ju-in.”
Callion seemed to hesitate, choosing his words, then exhaled a shaky breath and continued in a subdued voice.
“I remained quiet earlier to avoid fueling anxiety, but it’s difficult to think that monsters will approach one by one.”
“What? Didn’t you say the attack on the village at the foot of the mountain was an extremely exceptional situation?”
“It used to be like that… but after parting ways with you and leaving the village, I frequently encountered individuals exhibiting abnormal behavior.”
At that time, when Callion’s return was delayed beyond the promised date, I thought something must have come up.
As it turns out, he had postponed his return and continued hunting groups of monsters showing abnormal behavior, fearing the village where I was might be in danger.
“I thought it would be fine for a while after clearing the surroundings, but I was mistaken. There were more than expected, and they moved faster.”
This castle is enormous. If groups of monsters come from multiple directions, it’s nearly impossible for us to handle it alone. We have limited fighting personnel, and there’s a limit to the area one person can cover.
It takes hours just to run to the opposite side of the castle, so naturally, there will be gaps in the defense. The damage would be greater given the dense population within the castle walls.
“Then I have no choice but to go to the castle.”
“You can’t, Ju-in!”
“There’s no other way. We can’t possibly protect the castle in its current state.”
“I was going to suggest that we leave this place. Ju-in, it’s natural for the castle to fall once its ruling power is gone. I mean you don’t need to sacrifice yourself to save others.”
His blue eyes shone pitifully. A desperate expression. He must be recalling the time when he witnessed my death and fell into despair.
“I’m not trying to sacrifice myself. Actually, I…”
“The culprit who killed the lord hasn’t been caught yet. If you become the new lord, you might be threatened by the culprit.”
“The culprit who killed the lord?”
Arvan, noticing something off about Callion’s words, asked me.
“Ju-in. Was the lord murdered by someone? Not died from worsening illness?”
“Y-yes.”
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“Well, I was in shock at the time. Besides, I thought there might be a culprit among our companions…”
“Good heavens.”
Arvan roughly rubbed his brow, his face turning pale.
“You’re saying you want to go to a place where there are people trying to kill you right now?”
“I won’t die.”
“How can you be so sure? You don’t have any means to protect yourself.”
That’s right. I don’t have the ability to protect myself from danger. But that doesn’t mean I have nothing to rely on.
‘System window.’
The remaining lifespan appeared on the translucent window.
[Time remaining: 33 days]
That night, after listening to Arvan’s words, I thought about it.
If this system is nurturing me to become a savior, there must be one absolute rule that must be upheld.
‘It’s the lifespan.’
Surely, I will die in 33 days. Probably unavoidable by any means.
But conversely, it also means that for these 33 days, this system will guarantee my survival by any means necessary.
If the system’s purpose is to keep me rolling to save people until my lifespan runs out, it would have to waste the remaining play time if I suddenly died and became incapacitated in the middle.
‘That’s not what the system would want.’
I don’t know if this system truly has absolute power like a god. Maybe if I drink poison or jump from a high place, I might just die, unable to escape the extremely natural causality.
But if it’s not about defying natural laws, in general situations, I, who am bound by the system, should have a higher survival probability than anyone else.
Whether the system killed the lord, induced someone to kill him, or if someone else is really the culprit, I don’t know.
“For the next 33 days, I won’t die.”
I grinned at Arvan.
