---

114. Childhood Friend – Map and Gem

– Purrurururuk.

Bante snorted roughly. The crisp autumn air met his breath, swirling up like mist.

However, Rebb’s horse, Bante, had changed significantly. He was no longer ‘brown.’

Bante had turned into a complete black horse.

What used to be merely splotchy black around his hindquarters had spread to cover his entire body, and while he normally blinked like a coward, a ferocity now glimmered in his eyes upon closer inspection.

Rebb was roaming the outskirts of Nibis, seeking to annihilate the remnants of the Dorph Family. It was quite a cumbersome task, but fortunately, Barbatos’s [Target Hunt] ability proved helpful.

The [Target Hunt] ability was superior to {Tracking Skill}. It assuredly pinpointed the location of the prey, allowing Rebb to find even those who were hiding in their corners without applying debuffs.

It seemed the families of the thugs had suffered more than the thugs themselves. However, Rebb felt no remorse in killing them.

They were the families of those who had led Lena and me into a pit of tragedy! I had no intention of showing mercy to those connected to the end of her lovely life.

Divine power was also needed.

As he continued to capture and slaughter thugs and their families, Rebb suddenly realized how to channel divine power into other beings.

It was something he initially knew but had forgotten for a while, so he first decided to experiment with Bante.

The results were satisfying.

Bante, infused with Barbatos’s divine power, grew stronger. Although untrained as a military horse, he did not hesitate to charge at and stomp on humans.

What if I applied this to humans?

Curious, Rebb began to think about returning to the House of Marquis Gaidan. After making a round through Nibis, starting from the Dorph Family’s base in the east, he turned his horse around.

‘Let’s see…’

Rebb pulled out several maps from atop the horse. The maps depicted the locations of barbarian tribes. Since the Dorph Family had been involved in the slave trade, they had gathered quite a bit of intel on the locations of the barbarian tribes, and now that info was in Rebb’s hands.

‘This one is the best.’

He tossed aside all but one map, crumpling and throwing them away. The map he had seized from the thug boss who originally kidnapped Lena was the most meticulously recorded.

– Yellowde Tribe: Polygamous. Children are raised as the tribe’s collective offspring and educated together. They hold gatherings at the beginning of each month and go out in large numbers to fish.

– Dwinor Tribe: A tribe that farms in the mountains. Few warriors. They believe in a god named ‘Eilethia.’ Hostile towards outsiders.

The writing was somewhat difficult to read.

It was crooked, as if written with the palm of his hand, and some letters were severely tilted or left without proper punctuation.

While memorizing this, heading toward Nibis, Rebb soon faced something familiar.

Heavy wheels rumbling harshly against the ground and rough-looking coachmen. A large merchant group was approaching.

‘Ah, those guys left Nibis at this time.’

It was the Theobik Family’s merchant group, which operated primarily in illegal arms trading.

Rebb had traveled alongside them once while trying to cross the border. It was when he was fleeing on ‘Woody’ after being branded with the holy mark by the Holy Knight, when Lena had been kicked out of the church.

‘But why are they headed northeast?’

To reach the Holy Kingdom, they should have gone north from here. Yet, they were veering toward the direction of the Belita Kingdom.

‘And why is it at this time? I met them at the border last summer!’

No matter how slow a wagon carrying weapons was, could it really take over half a year to reach there?

He was puzzled for a moment but shrugged it off. Whether northeast or north, their journey ended here. After all, they were just thugs meant to be wiped out by the Holy Knight, so it wouldn’t be unjust for them to die by my hands.

“Come on, let’s hurry. The horses can’t strain under the heavy load, so we need to change them occasionally.”

“Brother. But why the rush? Winter’s coming soon…”

“Don’t be foolish. The price of feathers in the Belita Kingdom is said to have skyrocketed.”

As they drew closer, the thug chief and his lackey chatted away. Rebb, now enhanced with abundant divine power, could clearly hear their conversation.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just heard the price jumped significantly, but I don’t know why. It must be that a territorial dispute blew up somewhere.”

Aha!

Only then did Rebb start to connect the dots.

In the previous Beggar Siblings scenario, Leo had killed Gilbert Forte, yet a war broke out between the Belita Kingdom and the Austin Kingdom.

Though he didn’t know the specific details, it seemed highly probable that around the time autumn arrived last month, the prince of Austin had unjustly faced humiliation and returned home.

If that incident had repeated, Orun would have been engulfed in the shadow of war, causing the price of feathers to spike, and the Theobik Family must have hastily dispatched their weapon-laden merchant group upon hearing the news.

Additionally, with the Orun Kingdom’s abundant mountains producing a wealth of ores, various weapons would have been manufactured in large quantities.

There must have been an excess inventory that they couldn’t sell in any reasonable time, and thugs who loved metal would have hoarded them without hesitation.

They surely wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to clear their stock all at once.

Rebb now understood why it would take until next summer for them to reach the Holy Kingdom’s border.

As they discovered the war breaking out while on their way to sell weapons in the Belita Kingdom, they shifted their destination.

It would be foolish to illegally sell weapons in a kingdom at war; they’d rather go where the fire was hot, where they could sell for even double the price while rushing to the frontline.

“Hey! You there! Stop!”

At that moment, a thug yelled, approaching Rebb on horseback. Rebb snapped out of his thoughts.

How should I dispose of these guys?

After thinking for a moment, he waved his hand to signal his non-hostility and turned the horse’s head. As he moved ahead in the direction the merchant group was heading, a cruel smile formed on his face.

[Trap Hunt], let’s give this a try.

This was the ability he obtained from annihilating the Dorph Family.

That merchant group had a large size. More than thirty oversized wagons and over four hundred thugs in their escort.

While taking them down would be easy, he didn’t want to miss even a single one of them. Thinking back to how much trouble it had been to track down the remnants of the Dorph Family made it all the more important to catch them all.

Rebb scurried around a secluded corner where the merchant group was sure to pass. If someone had seen him at that moment, they might have thought a perfectly normal young man was floundering about, clueless about where to go. Or perhaps they’d think he was insane.

Rebb crouched down on one side of the road and placed his hand on the ground. After a while, he dashed toward a tree to caress it.

How long did he repeat that action? He soon saw the merchant group approaching from afar and quickly hid away.

“What is that guy doing?”

The thugs pointed at the young man they had just seen.

He leisurely leaned against a tree, his eyes gleaming with anticipation as if expecting something.

The thugs were too busy to pick on him; they weren’t slave traders after all.

– Heeheehee!!

Then, tragedy struck.

One thug was found hanging from a tree.

“Ahhh!”

“What, what’s going on?!”

In truth, the sight of him hanging was a perspective only Rebb could see; to the thugs, it looked like a person was floating in the air, flailing around.

“Gack!”

The thugs were startled, but they had no time to marvel at the bizarre phenomenon.

One thug stumbled on the ground and began flailing. Screaming, he yelled, “Ahh! My head! My head!” When he finally managed to get up, his head bore obvious rectangular bite marks, as if it had been chewed on by something.

Another thug sat down, clutching his leg. A red line had appeared around his ankle as if caught in something. It tightened progressively, tearing at his skin as purple blood began to ooze out.

It was a scene of utter chaos.

Thugs were seen struggling under heavy stones; others, with their stomachs ripped open, were panicking over their organs spilling out; while one bellowed, “I can’t see!” crawled around chaotically…

Though the horrific sight played out from a distance, Rebb could only mutter, “What the hell is this.”

He had laid the traps quite densely, and they had sprung when the target had walked right into them, but the results were minimal. The trap that had killed its prey was nothing more than a hanging noose, and those caught in the other traps managed to escape to pick themselves up.

Moreover, whether by sheer luck or some premonition, a considerable number of thugs avoided his traps. The fact that they ended up caught in them after floundering about felt more like luck than skill; Rebb frowned.

He felt let down by their lethality. At this rate, they were no different from regular traps.

Fundamentally, traps were designed to catch prey alive rather than kill them outright.

High-lethality traps were difficult to create and weren’t necessarily needed.

Disappointed, Rebb straightened himself from where he leaned against the tree.

What good are traps that operate remotely if you can’t see them or control them? If it comes down to having to make the cut myself, the utility of this ability was considerably diminished.

Still, he could recover some of the divine power infused in the traps, so feeling somewhat relieved, Rebb casually approached the thugs.

The thugs were paralyzed with fear. Terrified of taking a wrong step and becoming victims of the gruesome traps, they stammered in their spots.

“P-please spare us!”

As one thug shouted, the others echoed his plea for rescue. It seemed they viewed Rebb, who was approaching nonchalantly, as a savior.

Of course, they were mistaken.

Silently, Rebb began claiming the lives of the thugs one by one. He plunged his dagger into the chest of the whimpering thug without a hint of emotion.

The thugs fell into a panic.

Some fled aimlessly only to get caught in a trap, while others escaped along the very path Rebb walked and unexpectedly got snagged by one of his hooks. There were those who tried to avoid the traps but were rewarded with a knife in their back.

“Please, spare us! I beg you! Please!”

There’s a mother lying sick at home. I will give you all I have. I have a rabbit-like daughter. I was planning to wash my hands of this after this trip. I have a wife about to give birth… As they realized he was the mastermind, the thugs pleaded, recounting their own woes.

But Rebb didn’t care.

Finally, after taking down the boss thug he had struck a deal with at the border regarding ‘Woody’, silence fell. Standing in a pool of blood comprising four hundred humans, Rebb glanced upward.

The clear skies were refreshing.

And he gained a new ability.

Feeling satisfied with his harvest for the day, Rebb finally found that he was enjoying this game. The map he had gathered became a burden, and he discarded it.

*

When Rebb returned to the House of Marquis Gaidan, it was winter. The sheer number of weapon warehouses belonging to the Theobik Family consumed an enormous amount of time as he traveled about.

“…Welcome back. I have received your gift well, but I am worried about having no guests on the feast day.”

Marquis Harvey Gaidan had lost a lot of his charm by then. Proposing a noble conversation and suspiciously glancing at his ‘master’, Rebb thought about slapping him but held back.

‘Ah, I forgot I meant to experiment on a human.’

He beckoned the marquis over with a flick of his finger.

Even though he was a lord, he seemed displeased, frowning deeply as he approached. Rebb took hold of the marquis’s shoulder and poured in his divine power abundantly.

“What’s wrong?”

Yet, it appeared to have no effect on him.

Even though he was infused with Barbatos’s divine power, Marquis Gaidan remained vacant, showing no visible change, just like Bante.

As Rebb considered retracting the divine power he had poured, a strange sensation clung to him.

Vision.

Rebb found himself looking down at himself. No, it was the view of the tall marquis shared, showing a chilly-eyed young man.

That young man looked rather haggard.

His wild hair covered his neat forehead, and his once sun-kissed cheeks had sunk in.

Yet, at that moment, those bright eyes shone brilliantly, curiously gazing at me (or the marquis).

‘Is that me?’

The thought crossed Rebb’s mind that Lena would have been surprised to see this image. Oh no… but it was just for a brief moment, and Rebb blocked the shared vision, turning to look at the marquis again.

The once furrowed brow of Marquis Gaidan had now completely relaxed. It seemed the earlier beckoning had not been improper in the least.

It seemed that the more divine power he contained, the stronger his charm became.

While it would decrease gradually, there were many tasks yet to be given to the marquis, and since Rebb would have much to do, it would prove inconvenient to charm him repeatedly, so he decided to leave the divine power as it was.

“Sit.”

“Yes. But where in the world did you gather so many weapons? Perhaps…”

“You guessed correctly. I took them from a family that dealt in arms.”

Having dragged wagons out of a pool of blood, Rebb had cast his charm on passing individuals and sent them back to the Gaidan House.

He had intended to send items from the weapon warehouses of the Theobik Family too, but it seemed what was loaded onto the merchant group was all that remained, as the warehouses were utterly empty.

“I see. But do you have a reason for collecting these?”

Rebb chuckled softly.

“You must have a hunch about it but are pretending not to know, eh? How frustrating.”

Though charmed, Marquis Harvey Gaidan was no fool. He’d have worked hard to conceal the weapons that had flowed into their family by some means.

“I apologize. I thought you were preparing for a rebellion.”

“And what preparations have you made?”

“…I’m sorry. I questioned my lord’s intentions.”

“Then it seems you’ve done nothing at all.”

The marquis lowered his head in embarrassment. However, Rebb had anticipated that, so he did not press any further.

“Prepare to gather the border troops in Nibis, discreetly. The same goes for your knights and squires. If possible, convincing your friend, Marquis Drazin, to join in the rebellion would be beneficial too.”

“Understood. However, Ebni won’t move. He…”

Marquis Gaidan hesitated to speak, but Rebb raised his palm.

“That’s for you to handle.”

“…Understood.”

“Good. Then I shall do that… I’m tired now. I think I’ll go inside.”

As he stood up, Marquis Gaidan called him back.

“Rebb.”

“What is it?”

“Actually, my daughter has returned. Lady Hirie wishes to speak with you if you meet her… It’s nothing significant, but I would like to introduce her.”

“Is that so? Then bring her in.”

After a moment of waiting, a young lady with striking green eyes, resembling her father, entered and bowed politely to Rebb.

“It is an honor to meet you. My father mentioned you are a distinguished guest.”

Rebb didn’t return the greeting and merely scrutinized her.

Nostalgic feelings stirred.

He had seen Hirie Gaidan in the previous childhood friend scenario. Back then, Rebb was a servant, a lowly being that a noble could command with a wave, while she was a young lady of a prestigious family.

Unlike Lena, who had been a handmaiden, Rebb had never interacted with Hirie.

He had only brushed past her a few times while sitting at the coachman’s seat.

At the time, he was too busy calming Lena, who was very upset, to pay any particular attention to this woman…

Now that he saw her up close, she was incredibly beautiful.

Her skin was pale, requiring no makeup, her tenderly closed lips and egg-shaped small head were lovely, and her melancholic green eyes were enchanting.

‘But she doesn’t even compare to my sister Lena’s little toes… wait, what is that?’

At Hirie Gaidan’s chest rested a gem of deep crimson hue.

A subtly pink gold necklace.

At the end hung a gem shaped like a tightly curled flower bud, peculiarly catching Rebb’s eye.