Reincarnation
“...It hurts.”
Jun rubbed his red, swollen cheek and let out a pitiful whimper.
The culprit who had just landed a roundhouse kick on that cheek carefully stroked it and asked,
“...Does it hurt a lot?”
“Yeah. A lot.”
“Geez∼. That’s why I told you to take it easy.”
Fortuna said so and activated the holy power core nestled in the center of her chest. Mana was drawn into the core, transformed into sacred power, and then gathered into her hands as she recited a prayer.
Holy Magic — Heal
Fortuna’s tiny hand turned pure white. The cheek pressed against it soon glowed the same pure white, and the swelling visibly receded.
“Doesn’t hurt anymore, right?”
“Nope. Still hurts.”
At Fortuna’s question Jun shook his head, then grinned slyly and tapped his own cheek with a finger.
Catching on to exactly what he wanted, Fortuna let out a tiny “Ugh∼” of suffering before she finally,
“Just this once. Mwah♡”
—blushed furiously and pressed her lips to his cheek.
“Hehehe.”
“Don’t smile like an idiot.”
“Can’t help it. It just happens on its own.”
“...Idiot.”
A pink atmosphere began to flow between Jun and Fortuna.
Walking alongside them, Leon wore an awkward smile and put a healthy distance between himself and that pink haze. For some reason his side felt distinctly chilly.
After a short while they reached the market.
The place bustled with merchants hawking wares and villagers browsing, yet the overall mood hung heavy and subdued. Watching the villagers hurry past with grim faces, the reason was not hard to guess.
“Because of the village chief, right?”
Leon, who had reached the same conclusion, asked for confirmation.
“Probably. Leave that business to the adults. We kids can just enjoy looking around.”
It was bad news for the merchants, but Jun rather liked the thinning crowds. He had never been fond of noise or dense throngs of people.
“Yeah. That’s the way. So, what should we look at first?”
“Don’t you have something to do before that? You need to find those two tomboys.”
“Speak of the devil—here they come.”
Jun turned in the direction Fortuna pointed and saw two little girls racing toward them from afar, skirts flapping. The very picture of tomboys.
“Leon! You’re here! We’ve been waiting!”
“Leon oppa! Why’d you take so long!”
Linda, the dog-faced girl one year older, and Heni, the cat-faced girl one year younger, each latched onto one of Leon’s arms and chattered away. Leon accepted it with a gentle smile; the two tomboys melted under that smile and only chattered harder.
Handsome guys really do have it made, after all.
In the blink of an eye Jun had been reduced to a complete fifth wheel—the exact opposite of moments earlier—and once again he rediscovered that ancient, unchanging truth.
“Wish a couple of kids would cling to you like that?”
“No, not really.”
Jun’s taste ran toward the fully grown, voluptuous big-sister type—exactly like Fortuna’s angel form. He was simply envious of being popular with so many girls of the opposite sex.
“You’ll be just as popular once you grow up.”
“Once I grow up, huh.”
Jun’s current looks were certainly better than in his previous life, yet he was still no match for an absolute pretty-boy like Leon. The blessing had not yet fully blossomed.
The blessing Bright had gifted him was a growth type—it shone brighter the more the cores inside his body matured.
“Why did the god give me a blessing like this of all things?”
“Because He wants you to grow diligently so I can use more of my power.”
Thanks to the balance patch, Fortuna could only wield power on roughly the same level as Jun. Even her once near-omnipotent divinity had been split across three cores and limited to fixed amounts of strength.
“He said I wouldn’t have to fight, yet this feels like He’s pushing me straight into combat.”
“I don’t think so. Father probably wants you to run from danger as much as possible until I’ve recovered a decent amount of power. Probably.”
Probably?
Her uncertain answer drew a sigh from Jun.
“By the way, it seems that part was true.”
“? What was?”
“That you were incredible.”
Otherwise a god would never fuss and worry this much. Jun looked at Fortuna perched on his shoulder with fresh eyes.
“Hmph! I was the Slaughter Demon of Lumen. The moment the invaders heard the Slaughter Demon had appeared, they foamed at the mouth and had seizures.”
Fortuna puffed out her chest proudly. Jun clapped lightly in agreement—then his face went pale blue.
“So the part about having lots of enemies is also true?”
“...Yeah.”
“...Maybe we should keep some distance?”
“You were all for sticking together before, and now this?! Fine. We live together and we die together! Got it?!”
“Yeees∼.”
Jun could only nod weakly. Outwardly, at least. Inside he felt rather good—it was as if they had just exchanged a hundred-year vow.
“Jun. Fortuna.”
“Huh? You were here?”
“Heni, you shouldn’t say things like that.”
Three pairs of eyes fixed on Jun and Fortuna. When Jun asked why they had called, Leon answered,
“Linda unnie and Heni found a merchant selling delicious sweets. Come with us.”
“Mm, I already took a miracle pill, so I’ll go later on my own.”
“Ah, right. Sorry—my fault.”
“It’s fine. More importantly, find Harry and take him with you. He’s probably alone.”
“Got it. Will do.”
“Eww. Leon oppa, are you serious?”
“Heni!”
“I told you not to say that!”
Leon and Linda scolded the grimacing Heni. Jun considered joining in, but decided it would only backfire and held his tongue.
A short while later Linda and Leon disappeared into the crowd with a puffed-cheek, sulking Heni in tow.
“Shall we get going too?”
“Going to see that uncle again?”
“Yeah. There might be good news. And he always gives the best prices.”
Jun headed toward the carriages parked near the market. The moment they arrived, one of the soldiers guarding the wagons spotted him and waved cheerfully.
“Hey, kid. Here again? Looking for Mr. Lawrence?”
“Yes. Is he in?”
The soldier shrugged.
“He was supposed to meet the village chief, but something came up and it got canceled. Go on in—Mr. Lawrence told us just a bit ago to send you straight through if you showed up.”
The soldier stepped aside. Jun bowed in thanks and approached the largest, sturdiest-looking carriage. Inside, a man in his early thirties was carefully checking the cargo one piece at a time. Jun walked up and said,
“You really should leave that sort of work to your subordinates by now. What’s the caravan master doing personally?”
“Haha. I get uneasy leaving it to anyone else. Better to put up with a little bother and do it myself for peace of mind.”
The man laughed lightly. He looked easygoing, yet when it came to business he drew a razor-sharp line between public and private.
“How did it go this time?”
At Jun’s question Lawrence grinned and stepped deeper into the carriage. He pulled out a small box that had been carefully hidden at the very back.
“Ohh! You actually got it?”
“Lucky break. Right as I was about to leave on the caravan run, an adventurer party put it up at the guild exchange.”
Lawrence handed over the contents of the box.
“Distortion?”
“I had the caravan’s mage check it. Definitely spatial magic. Seems like a higher-compatibility version of Shield.”
“A defensive spell, then. Perfect timing.”
Storage, movement-and-evasion, defense—those were the three categories of magic Jun had decided he needed to become a merchant. Storage had been solved by the Pocket Plane Fortuna already knew. Movement and evasion had been covered by the Blink grimoire he had obtained from Lawrence earlier. That left only defense—and Lawrence had conveniently brought a related grimoire.
I have to buy this!
Jun vowed firmly inside, yet outwardly he tried to look nonchalant as he pulled a coin pouch from his subspace.
“Our little Jun is terrible at acting.”
“Haha. Jun, you’ll never make it as a merchant like that.”
“...What’s wrong with my face? This is a perfect poker face.”
Jun answered gruffly. Fortuna immediately seized the corners of his mouth—which were clearly curling upward—and wiggled them back and forth as if to say, “What do you call this?”
Okay, okay, I get it. Stop.
Swallowing the humiliation and admitting defeat, Jun asked,
“So how much are you asking?”
“I can’t gouge someone who’s going to be family. Just five platinum coins.”
Because the world was under constant invasion from other realms and people often had to band together, currency across Lumen had been unified into a single system: copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins. Converted to Korean money, one copper was roughly a thousand won, silver ten thousand, gold a hundred thousand, and platinum a million. Anything larger used promissory notes guaranteed by the Church, the Magic Towers, and the Three Empires. Bustling cities and labyrinth cities used something similar to credit cards from his previous life, but everywhere else still relied mainly on coin.
“Cheaper than I expected. The Blink grimoire was fifteen platinum.”
“Blink and Teleport are the special ones. Other spatial magics don’t see much use, so they’re not that expensive—though that also makes them harder to find.”
Jun hummed in agreement, then took five brilliantly gleaming platinum coins from his pouch and handed them to Lawrence.