The Plum Blossom Swordmaster Reincarnated into a Count Family
I followed Zegner toward the heart of the village.
Mention an elf village and most people picture something mystical—houses of living wood clustered together in some enchanted grove. Reality was nothing like that. The dwellings looked almost human. The only real difference was the massive tree standing near every home. From the air, the place would have looked like nothing more than forest.
The streets were silent. Not even the usual children were outside. That didn’t mean the elves were gone. I could feel eyes watching from the houses all around us. They were probably barricaded inside because of the plague.
The atmosphere’s surprisingly calm.
The Vitrase army was advancing, and the Forest of Polemp was already crawling with plague. Yet they weren’t panicking. They were handling it with quiet composure.
Zegner stopped in front of one of the houses. It was ordinary—smaller, even, than the buildings nearby.
“I will report the situation to the Elder first. Wait here. Elnoa, you come with me to see her.”
“About that…”
Elnoa looked at me. I gave a small nod of permission. Zegner clicked his tongue at the exchange, clearly displeased.
“Elnoa. Have you lost every scrap of elven pride after only a few years away from the village?”
“Zegner, I don’t care about elf or human. I’m content with the life I have now.”
“…You have no intention of returning?”
“I came only to help the village. My life belongs in Master’s manor, not in Beliac.”
“You’ve changed. In just a few years, you’ve changed a great deal.”
“And you, Zegner, don’t seem to have changed at all.”
The two of them disappeared into the Elder’s house. A short while later they reappeared at the front door. Between them stood an old woman leaning on a staff.
She was an aged elf. Her ears were pointed, her back bent, her face a map of wrinkles. Her hair was lifeless white.
…If Seong Ji-gon were standing next to me right now, he’d be gushing about how pretty she is.
Elves in this world aged. Their lifespan was four times a human’s—two hundred years—but they still died in the end. Childhood and adolescence mirrored humanity’s; their youth stretched long. Old age, however, came much the same. All things considered, they were a blessed race.
“Welcome to Beliac Village, strangers of the Rapheli Kingdom. We have decided to receive you as guests. I am Berika Munes, Elder of Beliac.”
She looked like a shabby old woman at first glance, yet her eyes burned with keen intelligence.
Berika Munes.
An Archmage of the highest tier and a Great Spiritist contracted to a supreme-class spirit.
“Thank you for the welcome. I am Baron Eugene Frucus of the Rapheli Kingdom.”
“It is an honor to meet the young hero of Rapheli.”
“You know of me?”
“Living in the forest does not mean our eyes and ears are closed. Still, should you not be in the north?”
My army was in the north. I had used spatial transfer scrolls to appear there several times—necessary for building reputation and credit.
“I’m sorry, but everything related to the north is classified. I can’t speak of it.”
“Naturally, with a war on. I was rude. …Well, we can hardly leave guests who came to help us standing outside. Come in. I’ll serve tea.”
We entered Berika’s house. It was neatly kept and smelled of medicinal herbs. We sat and accepted the tea she poured.
“Elnoa told me. You intend to send us somewhere safe?”
“Yes. There will be no threat from the Vitrase army there.”
“And you have a way to move us?”
“I do. It will take only a few hours. The elves of Beliac will be housed in a city of the Rapheli Kingdom, but they will live as safely as they did here. I give you my word.”
“Once the Forest of Polemp is burning, one place is much the same as another. I do not believe you are helping us out of pure kindness. Kindness without a price is frightening. What do you want from us?”
The conversation flowed as naturally as water. Berika was already prepared to abandon Beliac Village.
“There is only one condition. You become people of my territory.”
“…You mean we fulfill the duties of territorial subjects.”
“Of course I know you have no foundation yet. So I’ll grant privileges. Free housing, and no taxes for the first year.”
“……Our village has many excellent spiritists. Can you treat every one of them fairly and without discrimination?”
“I treat people according to ability.”
I let my gaze drift slightly to the side—where Zegner sat. His expression had hardened into something ugly.
“But are you free to decide this alone, without consulting the others?”
“I will persuade them. Frankly, Beliac Village is already finished. For the past fifty years… the entire time I have been Elder… we have stood still. No progress. If a little more time passes like this… Beliac will be left behind by the world. That is not what we want. The time has come for us to step outside as well.”
Zegner, who had kept silent until now, finally spoke.
“…Elder. Humans are vile. Our people may have to endure hell.”
“Zegner. In these few years alone, more than a thousand elves have left the village. Our population is shrinking, not growing. The village is declining. And we have no choices left. Outside, the Vitrase army advances; inside, the plague spreads. Zegner, do not fear the outer world so much.”
“I still do not fully understand your thinking, Elder. …But I agree that staying means death. For now, I will follow your will.”
“Thank you.”
Things were going smoothly.
I swallowed the smile that threatened to break free. Revealing my true colors could wait until every elf of Beliac was safely inside my territory.
I’ll set a trap. I need to tip Melissa off in advance and have her prepare one. Then I’ll sort out the useful elves… and turn the rest into slaves.
Beautiful elf maids serving me… Just imagining it filled me with satisfaction.
“The talk is going well. But there is a critical problem—the most urgent one. The plague. Elder, what is the village’s current condition?”
Elena asked sharply, arms folded.
“…One thousand seven hundred twenty-five are suffering from the plague. They are isolated deeper inside the village. Deaths… three hundred seventy-three as of today.”
“Worse than I expected. Eugene, we need thorough measures. Move carelessly and the plague will sweep the entire continent. It must end here.”
Elena was right. If I brought them over recklessly and the plague spread, everything I had built could collapse overnight.
My plan was to quarantine the elves on an uninhabited island until the plague was completely gone. They would complain, but it beat dying to the army.
“One month. We can hold the Vitrase army for one month. When they draw closer, we will trigger the traps we have prepared. Wait until the plague is gone from the village.”
Elena said nothing and simply looked at me—signaling she would not overstep my authority.
Part of me wanted to dump them on an island immediately. But I needed to show consideration here. The elves were not yet completely in my grasp.
“I will follow the Elder’s wishes. But if things go wrong… follow my plan.”
“What plan is that?”
“There is an uninhabited island. Cure the plague there.”
“Not a bad method. I would like to follow it at once, but… there are things I must settle first. I have to persuade the villagers. Will you help make it easier for them to open their hearts? There is a saying that those who help in hard times are true friends.”
“We will help.”
Even goodwill I planned to bury later was worth stacking for now.
We finished the details and rose from our seats.
“By the way, you do not seem like an ordinary person… What is your identity?”
Berika’s interest had settled on Elena.
Elena grinned and linked her arm through my left one.
Just as Berika seemed ready to accept that, Yuria spoke.
“She is a guest staying at the manor for a while.”
“…A guest for now, but there is no law that says she must remain one later. I might even become your second master.”
“As expected of Lady Elena. A joke worthy of an illusion specialist.”
“It wasn’t a joke, though?”
Berika looked back and forth between Elena and Yuria, then laughed softly.
“Youth.”
I thought the same thing.
I should have a threesome soon and show them who’s in charge.
We pressed Berika for every scrap of information on the plague. What we had was far too little. A few facts emerged.
The outbreak had begun three days before the Vitrase army reached the Forest of Polemp. It started when someone ate a plague-ridden wild boar. Eight people first, then more and more. By the time they realized it was a plague, over a hundred were already infected. When they finally took measures, it was too late.
They isolated the infected and brewed herbal remedies, but the plague’s momentum never broke. It had already spread through the air.
We also asked about Randle Village. Berika only looked back at us with puzzled eyes and asked what had happened there. The people of Randle Village had never come to Beliac.
“There is something I want to try. I wish to see a patient whose life is in immediate danger.”
“…I cannot permit anything like human experimentation.”
“It is magic. Magic that can erase the plague. Of course I have no intention of forcing anyone. I will simply make the offer to the patient.”
Patients who might die today or tomorrow did not refuse. Even elves clung to any straw when death was that close. The desire to live was the same.
“Cough… Please… I beg you… Save me…! I won’t resent you even if I die…! Use that magic on me… Cough!”
A gaunt patient spat blood as he spoke.
A blue butterfly appeared on Elena’s palm. It fluttered gently and settled on the patient’s head. The butterfly vanished, and the patient’s complexion improved at once. The black spots that had mottled his skin disappeared. The plague was gone.
“Waaaaaah!”
The elves who had come to watch us erupted in cheers. The plague was gone. They no longer needed to fear it. They crowded forward, pouring thanks on Elena. She had become Beliac’s savior.
“Thank you! Thank you! Benefactor! Tell us your name! We will remember it for the rest of our lives!”
“Elena Valdert. I only followed Eugene’s orders. If you truly feel gratitude… direct it to him, not me.”
“Thank you, Lord Eugene!”
Elena had handed me the credit. I smiled.
Among the rejoicing elves, only one looked stunned—Berika.
“That magic… Hmm… Were you perhaps a dragon?”
“I am human.”
Elena cut her off flatly, but Berika still eyed her with open suspicion.
Elena cured the plague with illusion magic. More precisely, she didn’t cure it—she used illusion to declare the fact of infection nonexistent.
Elena’s Illusion Butterfly Art. A terrifying technique that turned illusion into reality and reality into illusion.
“Elena, how many can you handle in a day?”
“…Thirty. With Full Recovery, maybe double that.”
“Don’t use Full Recovery. Just in case.”
“I wasn’t planning to anyway.”
“You look uneasy. Did you figure something out?”
“…This may not be an ordinary plague. Yuria, can you set up Eyes of Purification throughout the area? We need to isolate the elves completely from the pathogens. Only then can we stamp the plague out.”
“For that… we’ll need a large quantity of magic stones.”
“I will supply them. This is for our village—how could I refuse? Tell me whatever you need without hesitation.”
With Berika’s support, the work moved quickly. The number of patients steadily dropped. Our popularity rose in equal measure.
Then, four days later, the plague that had been quieting down flared up once more.