Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Unsealed Talent
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“Jayvolg!”
“...Hm?”
Jayvolg turned his head toward my call as he swung his sword.
Sweat poured down his face like a flood—he’d been training so hard.
Yet he wiped it away without a hint of fatigue and asked me,
“Young master, couldn’t sleep?”
“Yeah, insomnia hit. So, about that...”
I naturally turned my body toward Jayvolg.
“How about a spar?”
“For real?! I’d love that! I’ve been waiting for a rematch anyway.”
Just as I thought.
It made sense, though.
Jayvolg was a bright prospect who’d topped the knight academy.
For a guy like that to suffer humiliation at my hands? Of course he’d crave revenge.
“Good. This time, come at me with everything you’ve got, Jayvolg.”
“That was my plan all along, young master.”
Jayvolg assumed his stance.
Unlike before, there was no room for carelessness. He’d gotten a rough measure of my skill by now. Though, of course, things were different again today.
After my fight with Nemet, I’d surpassed the Agwido stage.
Jayvolg cautiously raised his sword.
He said to me,
“Well then...”
The moment he opened his mouth, I unleashed a finger wind.
Whoosh...!
“Nngh...!”
Jayvolg calmly blocked it with his sword—more composed than expected.
Did he anticipate the ambush?
Jayvolg flashed me a confident grin.
“I saw that coming. I won’t make the same mistake twi—”
His words cut off.
I didn’t give him a moment’s breather, pressing the attack relentlessly.
Jayvolg seemed flustered at first, but he quickly adapted, unleashing explosive sword force.
The academy’s top graduate was no fluke.
Plus, he’d shed his flawed training methods and sparred with me since.
How much had he grown?
Screeech!
His sword cries rang out murderously.
A blade storm that could turn even a graze into a grievous wound!
Jayvolg had turned the tables, trapping me in his sword whirlwind.
Full-power Jayvolg was undeniably tough to handle.
However.
Jayvolg couldn’t sustain his momentum and toppled over. Eyes rolling back, he muttered,
“Young... master... you’ve... gotten... stronger...”
Thud.
What just happened?
I was surprised too.
Moments ago, his sword storm had me pinned, barely able to move.
I’d planned to hurl a flying dagger at a gap and create distance.
But deep down, I’d thought, If I were the Dark Venerable, I’d dodge this easily.
It frustrated me.
Yet my body moved on instinct...
“So it wasn’t just a feeling.”
After the Nemet fight, when I broke past Agwido.
Something like chains snapping had stirred inside me.
It was that bizarre presence I’d glimpsed when first observing my body.
I hadn’t understood it then. Now I did.
No wonder it slipped past me.
How many had conspired to ruin just me?
That bizarre thing was a seal.
A seal on my... talent.
They could seal something like this?
Not martial arts of the flesh, but a wholly different realm. No wonder I mistook it for magic, absent in the murim.
Magic... the more I learned, the stranger it seemed.
Anyway, was this really my body?
My mind spun effortlessly, and my once waterlogged, heavy frame felt light enough to float away without holding on.
Now I understood why those so-called sword saints and Heavenly Demons strutted like they owned the world from youth.
With a body on another level, how could the rest satisfy them?
Finally, I could breathe easy.
“Hoo...”
Each breath overflowed with boundless vitality.
A sensation that I could do anything.
Like leaping from dunce to genius overnight.
My innate talent had returned. This was the true reward from the ducal territory.
“Ian, so this is why you imprisoned me...”
Why me, of all people?
In my first life, I never knew. In the second, only resentment lingered.
Even in this third reincarnation.
Why.
Why not my brilliant eldest or second brothers? I couldn’t fathom it.
But with the seal broken, all doubts cleared.
That’s why, Ian Pador?
It had to be me. He’d spotted my talent earliest, ahead of the others.
And he feared it.
Afraid this puny kid might overwhelm him.
“Good, this is truly unexpected...”
“Guhhh...”
“Hm?”
Jayvolg twitched like a fish.
His back bristled with needles like a porcupine.
Oh right—I botched the power control.
“Well, since we’re here...”
“Pardon?”
I adjusted the needles to loosen his knotted muscles.
“There. Done.”
By morning, he’d feel refreshed all over.
“See you, Jayvolg.”
“Y-Young master?”
Jayvolg’s anxious gaze.
Seeing it sparked a prankish urge.
“Should’ve done better, Jayvolg.”
I turned away coldly.
“Night wind’s chilly. Hang in there. Don’t let your mouth twist up.”
As I stepped off,
“Young master, you have to pull these out first!!”
Jayvolg’s desperate yell echoed.
Nice pipes. Perfect.
After the spar with Jayvolg, I headed to the mansion for breakfast.
Today’s steak—my favorite tender cut—but something felt off.
“Hm...”
“Young master, is the meat not to your liking?”
The mansion chef misinterpreted my sigh.
“No, it’s as delicious as ever. Good work today.”
Good indeed.
Tasty meat. Unpoisoned meat.
But that was the problem.
Nemet’s steady supply of poison had run dry.
What a shame.
Sure, I’d absorbed a decade’s worth in the ducal territory at once.
Still, losing it felt like someone snatching away a gift.
“Hmmm...”
I’d need a substitute. Poison had to be a constant.
Finishing the meal with mild regret, I returned to my room.
Moments later.
Bator entered.
“Young master.”
“What is it?”
Did Jayvolg throw a fit? He should tone down the racket.
“Master Ian summons you.”
Ian? Why me?
Not in my memories.
Around now, he’d be busy selecting personnel for that matter.
“For what?”
“From what I heard, it’s about Fordga’s second son, Ran Pador’s birthday.”
“Ran Pador? Got it, Bator.”
“Yes, then...”
The door shut, and I sank into thought.
Ran Pador’s birthday.
Was it that event I recalled?
But different from my first life. Back then, Ralph and that guy went to Fordga.
The rest were handpicked from family-recommended cadres.
Me, though?
Then I remembered Ian’s note from Nemet’s hideout.
Ian, you suspect me.
Even after disguising Nemet’s death as someone else’s doing, you wouldn’t drop your gaze.
Crafty fox.
Or maybe, just passing Trial Valley caused this minor future shift?
But I couldn’t rule out suspicion.
Ian might lean into it more.
Ian had begun his game with me.
This was his move.
I had to counter wisely. One slip, and I’d be trapped in his house, losing every piece.
So, how...
Hiding below the surface might be tough now.
Time to surface?
A twinge of regret.
I knew deception wouldn’t last forever, but it felt early.
No helping it.
Surfacing was inevitable.
Unavoidable.
What mattered was how I emerged.
Mislead the enemy.
Make them think the surfaced self was all there was.
Hide the bulk so they stay off guard.
Trick them into seeing prey they could devour anytime.
What method...
As I pondered...
“Young master...!”
Young master?
A man rushed up, panting.
It was my pincushion, Jayvolg.
At a time like this!
Jayvolg wore a aggrieved expression.
“How could you leave me like that?!”
“Jayvolg, ruining the mood at a crucial moment. Let’s you and I die today.”
“...!”
Jayvolg sensed danger and gripped his sword.
“Y-Young master? Haha, kidding. If you’re doing it again, at least spare my sword...!”
“Sigh, enough. Muscles loosened up?”
“Pardon?”
Jayvolg blinked, then rolled his shoulders experimentally. Amazed, he spun them wildly.
“Incredible! Young master, those needles...?”
“Took you long enough.”
Good. Pranking Jayvolg balanced the scales.
Now to think...
“But young master, you’re amazing. So young, yet you know so much—like you’ve lived before.”
“Obviously...”
The tangled knot in my mind unraveled like a snagged thread.
And the one who placed the move? Jayvolg.
Him.
Of course.
Others didn’t know I’d regressed.
If Ian suspected me, no ploy would evade his scrutiny forever.
Avoiding might even expose me.
In the first life, Ian fooled not just me, but brothers and father too.
Now, one assumption.
Suppose no regression—just luck dissolving Nemet’s poison and breaking my talent seal.
I’d naturally learn of the Evil Society.
Playing the game then, I’d peg the foe as Evil Society, not Ian.
He’d hidden his tracks flawlessly.
Even if I suspected, his pieces would have devoured mine by then.
Too late.
Add one thing to this scenario.
Regression.
I know Ian’s full plan to topple the family from life one.
Ian knows nothing of it.
His suspicion targets only Deyan Pador, talent restored.
He’s clueless about my regression.
A move the opponent can’t fathom, even in death.
I have memory’s pieces. No point half-hiding.
Reveal skill, conceal memory.
Maybe... fool him perfectly?
My memories are his blind spot.
So. From now, act as Deyan, talent reclaimed.
“Jayvolg.”
“Y-Yes?!”
Jayvolg snapped into defense.
I approached slowly, thumbs-up.
“Today, you’ve earned teacher status.”
“...Did I do well?”
“Damn right.”
“Hahaha! Young master, finally acknowledging me as your tea—”
Crack!
“Gack!”
“Not that, Jayvolg.”
Jayvolg fainted again. I reclaimed my decorative sword.
As Pador’s youngest son, this was fitting, right?
Hide the Tang Clan arts.
Conceal that from him.
It’d be my trump card to pierce his guard.
Time to play boy swordsman for a while.