Reincarnated as the Count's Plum Blossom Swordmaster
I was still in the mental world.
"......"
I ran a hand along my neck. The bothersome feel of the collar was gone. With that, I was free.
Not exactly something to celebrate.
The situation wasn't particularly good.
If Yuria caught me, it was obvious what that future would look like. Just like last time. No—I'd be restrained even more severely than last time. In the worst case, the future of the Baekhwan world might vanish entirely.
I've got cheat items like the 30-Day Regression Ticket or Absolute Emperor Authority, but it'd be a waste to burn them now.
I looked around. It was a wooden cabin—a building I'd never seen before. Carefully, I checked outside the window. A modern city that had no business existing in a fantasy world came into view. Seoul.
At least it's clear I'm far from wherever Yuria is.
Last time, my luck had been terrible.
Who would've thought I'd run into Yuria the moment I stepped into the mental world. Under ordinary circumstances that might've counted as good fortune... but Yuria's current state was anything but normal.
I'm not normal either. Even now, every time I think of Yuria, my cock hardens.
I started working my brain.
Being unable to leave the mental world was close to the worst-case scenario. Still, there were a few silver linings.
This mental world wasn't some special place where only I revived. Elena, who'd been killed by Yuria, was almost certainly revived and active somewhere in this mental world as well.
...Elena has a time limit.
Elena was a being I'd summoned. Once the time ran out, she'd be reverse-summoned. The fortunate part was that the summoning duration was measured against real-world time, not the mental world's. By the mental world's standards, I had at least ten days of leeway left.
It's hard to be certain since things have diverged from the original work... Should I join up with Elena?
No.
Acting completely separately might be better.
Me drawing Yuria's attention while Elena moved freely was one option.
...In the worst case, I might have to give up on feeding Yuria the Dragon Lord's Heart. Then the best play would be for Elena or me to take it. Well, by that point, using the 30-Day Regression Ticket might be smarter...
I decided to check how much weaker I'd become first.
Lightning Bolt.
Blue lightning crackled between my fingers. I tilted my head. Compared to outside the mental world, there was barely any difference.
Charna.
Charna
Remaining stacks: 4
Skills worked without issue too.
I clenched my fist and drove it into the wooden wall. Bang! With a loud crash, the wall shattered. Fragments sprayed in every direction.
My body's smaller, but my strength is the same.
In front of Yuria, I hadn't been able to properly exert my power.
...Or rather—what if I had properly exerted it?
Failing to break the chains was because the material had been ridiculously hard, and if Yuria—who'd casually subdued my body—was simply abnormally strong, that explained the whole situation.
Damn. Thinking of Yuria as an enemy makes everything feel incredibly hopeless.
I shook my head and headed outside. I needed to find the Dragon Lord's Heart. Fortunately, seeing that the mental world hadn't disappeared, it seemed no one else had found it yet.
I walked toward the Seoul visible before my eyes. The fact that I had to locate the Dragon Lord's Heart somewhere in that sprawl made my mind feel hazy.
I have to walk carefully so I don't catch Yuria's eye.
Seoul was hot, as if it were summer. After walking a short while, my throat began to burn. I wanted a drink. Looking around, I stepped into a nearby convenience store.
Ding-a-ling.
The bell on the door rang. The convenience store clerk didn't react. She was a woman—and fortunately, an ugly one. My cock didn't stir at all.
Crackle-zap.
I threw a Lightning Bolt at the clerk. The electrocuted woman couldn't even scream before she turned into gray ash and vanished.
As I went to grab a drink, I spotted a man outside the store. He'd seen me kill the clerk. But his reaction was strangely nonexistent. He didn't startle. He didn't call the police. He simply went on his way.
This is the mental world, after all. They're human, but not human. The social system doesn't function properly either.
I pulled out a canned drink and gulped it down. The sweet beverage was even refreshing. I was about to leave when I ducked into the convenience store's storage room instead.
You never know. The Dragon Lord's Heart might be here.
It wasn't. The silver lining was that I didn't have to check every single item one by one. The heart's energy could be felt automatically once you got close enough.
I shook my head and went back outside. I wandered the area searching for the Dragon Lord's Heart, but couldn't even find a trace of it.
A little more time passed. The sun sank, and night settled over Seoul.
Ah, I'm sleepy. Should I just crash somewhere decent. And have sex...
Walking the streets, I turned into an alley and froze in surprise. A man with soft blond hair and blue eyes, wearing extravagant noble attire that had no place in Seoul, was collapsed listlessly in the alley.
"...Baron Glebet?"
Baron Glebet slowly raised his head. His expression was thick with exhaustion.
"...Oh. Lord Yujin. Your appearance has changed, so I didn't recognize you at first."
Baron Glebet showed no sign of getting up. I narrowed my eyes at that powerless state.
Outside, he was thrashing desperately just to stay alive... Is this some kind of scheme too? What's he plotting?
I wanted to kill him, but even if I did, he'd just revive somewhere else.
"Baron Glebet. What are you doing here?"
"As you can see, I'm resting. I've been wandering this damned city for the past three days without eating properly, and I'm exhausted. To feel physical fatigue in a mental world... isn't that ironic?"
"Your tone's gotten insolent."
"My apologies. But please understand, Lord Yujin. No matter what I do, I simply can't muster any motivation. It's inevitable in this world. I've already given up, and the moment I embraced sloth, that laziness amplified..."
"What do you mean? Baron Glebet. What do you know about this world?"
"......"
Baron Glebet closed his eyes and mouth.
"Baron Glebet! Answer me!"
"......"
I pressed him several more times. Baron Glebet remained unmoved.
Crackle-zap.
I approached him with electricity crackling in my right hand. I intended to open his mouth through torture if necessary.
Before my hand touched his body, Baron Glebet opened his eyes and mouth.
"Stop! Please don't torture me! I'll talk!"
"You were going to talk eventually, so why the stalling? Were you testing me, of all people?"
"No. It was just bothersome to react... It felt bothersome. Right now, even being alive is bothersome. Knowing that dying is meaningless, I'm simply breathing here."
"You're not normal. Tell me everything you know."
"Torture is painful and bothersome, so I'll tell you everything.... First, the reason I became like this... is because of the desire demon I contracted with, Vitsol."
I listened carefully to Baron Glebet's words.
In summary, the power of the desire demon Vitsol had permeated this mental world. That was why emotions and desires were being stimulated. My inability to handle the suddenly surging sexual desire, and Yuria's obsession with me, were all explained by it.
"Why did you end up like that? Were you lazy from the start?"
"...No. I was motivated at first too. If I just obtained the Dragon Lord's Heart... I'd become a superhuman as well. But yesterday, I realized I don't have the qualifications for that."
"Yesterday?"
"I saw it. Lord Kyle... no, Kyle and the woman Lord Yujin calls Elena fighting. Yes. It was magnificent. Kyle was stronger than I expected, and that woman overwhelmed even him. Honestly, I still don't understand what that battle was. But... I clearly realized this isn't a world I can interfere in. Right after that, the bothersomeness came flooding in."
So this was what happened if you gave up. I memorized Baron Glebet's state and asked,
"So Elena won the fight against Kyle. Which way did Elena go?"
"She went east. But does east or west even mean anything in this world? I've given you all the information I have. Won't you leave me alone now? Enjoying sloth alone is truly comfortable and pleasant. I want to enjoy this sloth more..."
"One last thing. Where is that demon—Vitsol or whatever?"
If I killed Vitsol, that power might disappear and Yuria might return to normal.
"I don't know. Being a rat-like demon, he's excellent at hiding. One thing that's certain is that he's watching from somewhere in secret..."
Baron Glebet closed his eyes and mouth again.
I pondered briefly. Should I kill him here?
...Killing him is meaningless. He'll just appear somewhere else. Looking at his state, it doesn't seem like he's acting... so leaving him here should be fine.
Anyway, I'd obtained information on why this mental world was in this state. And that Elena was active as well.
???
Rumble-boom!
Thunder roared.
I narrowed my eyes and turned my head toward the source of the sound. Black lightning was striking there. Yuria was fighting someone. The distance was roughly five kilometers.
Is she fighting a monster from the mental world? Or Kyle or Elena?
Either way, heading in that direction would be insane. I needed to put as much distance between us as possible. I quickly moved my legs and left the city. Space shifted abruptly. I was in some mountain forest I didn't recognize.
"Yujin. What's with that appearance?"
I stopped running and looked at the man who'd spoken to me. There was a man who resembled Kyle. For Kyle, his hair was long and his features were a little different, and the clothes he wore were those of the murim. The sword in his hand was a murim blade as well.
"...Kyle?"
"That's right. I'm Kyle."
A fake? If it were really Kyle, he wouldn't casually strike up a conversation with me, would he?
As I looked at him with eyes full of wariness, Kyle made a bitter smile.
"You must find it strange that I'm being so obedient."
"In this world, desires and emotions are stimulated. Kyle, you'd want to kill me and take Yuria."
"You're right. Even now, I want to kill you. But I also know it's meaningless. Even if I die, it's not real death."
Kyle was calm.
I suddenly realized the reason.
Kyle had been controlled by Baron Glebet. The stimulation of desires and emotions had been concentrated on him alone. And that ability had now spread throughout the entire mental world. My sexual desire was boiling too, but I hadn't completely lost my reason. In Yuria's case, her eyes had always been fixed only on me, so it was still premature to judge.
And Kyle's desire was more precisely concentrated on Yuria rather than on me.
"I just met Yuria. And died."
Kyle continued.
"The moment I saw Yuria, my reason evaporated and I charged at her. It was a chance to get my hands on her. But... she was way too strong. My sword couldn't even reach the tip of Yuria's toes. Yujin, Yuria is looking for you."
"So what are you trying to say?"
"If I offer you to Yuria, will she look my way?"
"Go ahead and try."
Having a go with Kyle here didn't seem bad either. Kyle was an Aura Master, but I'd already found the counter to that Plum Blossom Sword Technique long ago. It was Yuria who'd found the counter, not me—but that made it all the more certain.
"...No, never mind. Yuria still wouldn't look at me."
"You gave up?"
"Yeah."
Kyle nodded readily. It was a lie. I didn't bother digging into it.
"What's your real business?"