Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Back to Where You Belong (4)
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I stared blankly at the ceiling.
“One thousand two hundred thirty-two sheep, one thousand two hundred thirty-three sheep…”
I kept counting sheep out loud.
“One thousand two hundred thirty-four sheep…”
Sleep wouldn’t come.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fall asleep.
It was a first for me.
I was the kind of person who could pass out in an instant if I just put my mind to it, even right next to a rotting corpse or buried in foul-smelling mud.
Even atop a castle wall, amidst a hail of arrows and endless screams, all I needed to do was lay my head down, and I’d be asleep.
But here I was, unable to sleep for three days straight.
It was impossible.
“One thousand two hundred fifty-five sheep…”
Weren’t eating well and sleeping well my two best habits?
This was not good.
Fatigue aside, I was a growing child.
Not getting enough sleep at the right time was a problem.
I was already worried because I was growing slower than in my past life, which made me even more anxious.
But the more anxious I became, the farther sleep fled.
‘Well, I can’t find anything particularly wrong. Are you worried about something these days?’
Professor Yuria, whom I had gone to see just in case, had only given me the useless advice to relax, suggesting it might be psychological.
The special sleeping draught from the Yurendel family, which I had gone to great lengths to obtain, didn't work either.
They said it was potent enough to put a dragon to sleep.
What a load of nonsense.
“One thousand two hundred ninety-eight sheep… This is driving me crazy.”
Perhaps due to the lack of sleep, my body was a mess.
It was fine for now since it was the weekend with no classes or training, but I had to return to class tomorrow.
From what I’d heard from Lian and the other kids, the training intensity was harsher than ever.
The kids, whose stamina had improved dramatically since entering the Cradle, wouldn't be complaining for no reason.
Apparently, Boen and a few other kids with strong endurance had thrown up several times during class.
There was no way I could keep up with such grueling training in this sleep-deprived state.
I had to get some sleep, no matter what.
“One sheep, two sheep, three sheep…”
I started counting from the beginning again.
“Nine hundred sheep…!”
I counted nine hundred sheep.
Sleep still wouldn't come.
How many days has it been?
After three sleepless nights, my nerves were frayed.
I felt a surge of irritation for no reason.
My throat felt sore, and I thought I might be running a slight fever, though it could have been my imagination.
Even when I tried to force myself to calm down, it only worsened my impatience.
“Arghhhhh!”
After tossing and turning late into the night, I finally screamed and shot up in bed.
I thought that if I grabbed my sword and worked up a sweat, sleep might come.
As I was about to leave the room with my training sword, as always, I stopped short.
On the desk, a longsword glowed white in the moonlight.
It had a hilt that could be comfortably gripped with two hands and a pure white blade.
It was Baegya, the sword I had received in exchange for the Myeongbu.
I put down the training sword and picked up Baegya.
The moment I did, the blessing of the *Curiosity of a Slothful Inquisitor* activated.
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【Baegya (☆☆☆)】
*A sword forged at the world’s end by a great, unnamed individual for a lover who feared the night.
*Only after receiving this sword could the woman finally sleep.
*As time passed, the woman no longer feared the night, and the sword was passed down to her descendants.
*The three jewels and scabbard, personally blessed by the great, unnamed individual, were all lost over time, leaving only the original form from when it was first forged.
*The blessing has vanished, but the sword’s inherent abilities remain intact.
*The sword’s abilities are dormant.
*Only one who is worthy can awaken Baegya’s powers.
*It repairs itself if the blade breaks or chips.
*No maintenance required.
*If you hug it on a hot night, it’s very cool.
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When I saw the part of Baegya’s information that said, “No maintenance required,” I felt like I’d been slapped upside the head.
For ten long years, I had woken up at the crack of dawn, pouring sweat into sharpening and polishing this thing.
The insults I’d endured from Roman over those ten years could probably fill the surface of a castle wall.
And now I find out it never needed to be sharpened or polished in the first place.
It was absurd to think that damned Roman knew this and still nagged me about it every single day.
Anyway, this was all information I had confirmed when I first got Baegya.
The problem came after that.
New information, which hadn’t been there when I first acquired it, had been added.
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*Inflicts the ‘Trial of the Unsetting Sun’ upon the unworthy.
*Inflicts the curse of ‘A Sweet Dream on a Midsummer Afternoon’ upon the unworthy.
*Inflicts the curse of a ‘Harsh Winter’ upon the unworthy.
*Inflicts the ‘Trial of Baegya’ upon the unworthy.
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It wasn't hard to figure out what the curses were.
As soon as I wondered, the *Curiosity of a Slothful Inquisitor* blessing helpfully informed me.
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*The Unsetting Sun – Cannot sleep.
*A Sweet Dream on a Midsummer Afternoon – Dreams without falling asleep. If one falls too deep into the dream, they cannot return to reality.
*Harsh Winter – Skin becomes dry, throat becomes sore. Develops into a cold if it persists.
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So, in short, the reason I couldn't sleep was because of this very sword, Baegya.
It was ridiculous.
It had tormented me with pointless labor in my past life, and now it was going to torment me like this in this life, too.
The owner(?) and the sword were equally foul-tempered.
“What are the others?”
The Harsh Winter curse was barely a curse at all; it was just a common winter cold.
No wonder I felt unusually sick after just a few sleepless nights.
“And what’s this about a sweet dream on a midsummer afternoon?”
The phrase “dreams without falling asleep” made no sense to me.
Did it mean I would see illusions?
Unlike the other two curses, which I was already experiencing firsthand, the ‘Sweet Dream on a Midsummer Afternoon’ curse had no effect on me.
Perhaps it was happening without my knowledge, but if I couldn't feel it, it was as good as non-existent.
“Bestowing trials, too. What a magnificent sword you are.”
Even the *Curiosity of a Slothful Inquisitor* didn't specify what the trial was.
In any case, Baegya’s fussiness just made me sigh.
I had passed over legendary swords like Hwaryeong and Changrin, only to choose a blade that acted like a cursed sword.
Roman, who had cherished this ill-tempered thing like a lover, must have been out of his mind too.
“Hmph. Curse or not, I’ll overcome it with sheer willpower.”
Compared to what I had been through in my past life, a curse like this was nothing.
“You’ve picked the wrong person to mess with, you bastard.”
But the one who was mistaken wasn't Baegya; it was me.
“Yan, time for class. You’re going to be…?”
Lian, who had come early in the morning, saw me groaning in bed and his eyes widened.
“What’s wrong with your face? Huh? You have a fever.”
Lian briefly placed a hand on my forehead before pulling it away.
“*Cough*. The curse is a cold. A cold is the root of all illness. *Hack*. The curse of all illnesses…”
“…?”
“*Cough, cough*.”
“You’re in bad shape. Your voice is completely shot. This won’t do. Class is the least of your worries.”
“Class… I have to go. I’m going.”
“How are you going to class in this state?”
“I’m going! I said I’m going! I won’t lose to a pathetic curse like this!”
I shot upright.
At least, that was the intention.
“Tsk. You can’t even sit up on your own, and you’re talking about going to class?”
Lian picked me up as I swayed and then collapsed back onto the bed.
“*Cough, cough*. Right. Let’s go. Just like this… *cough*. Let’s go to class.”
Instead of answering, Lian just walked silently toward some destination.
I don’t remember much after leaving the dormitory.
“Congratulations. You’re the first person in the Cradle’s history to miss class due to a cold.”
When I came to my senses, Professor Yuria was looking down at me.
“I saw earlier that you made it into the Hall of Fame. As the first cadet to collapse from a cold in the Cradle. Congratulations.”
She smiled sweetly and advised me to rest.
She said that proper sleep was essential for recovery.
“I, I can’t sleep…”
“Still? What about the sleeping draught I gave you? It didn’t work even after you took it?”
My throat hurt so much I could barely speak, so I just nodded in response.
“If you couldn’t sleep even after taking that medicine, then it’s not just simple insomnia.”
Her eyes asked the question.
What on earth did you do?
“The, the sword… a curse…”
I told her the situation honestly.
She already knew I had taken the Gaecheondan; there was no reason to hide the existence of Baegya, which was hardly a secret at this point.
“That sword has quite the nasty temper.”
As she said this, her expression was unusually serious.
“You still don’t grasp the situation, do you? Humans die if they can’t sleep. Even if they don’t die, they grow weak. A weakened body can’t fight off illness.”
She looked at me with pity.
“If this continues, you will surely die.”
A White Knight from the House of Yurendel the Restorer, a woman said to be able to save anyone short of the dead, had just pronounced my death sentence.
It was absurd.
After surviving that hellish battlefield and miraculously getting a second chance by returning to the past…
“To think I’d die from a cold, a cold!”
“To be precise, the cause of death would be exhaustion or illness due to sleep deprivation and a weakened immune system caused by a curse.”
Professor Yuria kindly corrected me.
I didn’t even have the energy to argue.
Come to think of it, I couldn't remember eating anything since yesterday.
It seemed my cause of death this time around would be exhaustion.
But the world never lets you die without a fight.
“However, it’s not like there are no options.”
Professor Yuria handed me a small potion bottle.
“Drink this. You’ll get better.”
At that moment, my head was fuzzy from the high fever and lack of sleep.
So, without thinking too deeply, I gulped down the potion as she held it to my lips.
I shouldn’t have.
“I changed the formula again this time. Still, the effect of calming the mind and body and boosting energy should be the same. Probably?”
Her words sounded very familiar.
I wracked my foggy brain and my eyes shot open.
“Don’t tell me…?”
Professor Yuria smiled brightly and nodded.
“As it happens, I was just curious to see how the combination of blood expelled from the body and other reagents would react when it re-enters the body.”
An image of Jamal Rudiger and Udo’s completely bald heads flashed through my mind.
“N-No…!”
I screamed.
But by then, it was too late.
The elixir had already slid down my throat and been completely absorbed, impossible to bring back up.
A searing heat erupted from within my body.