Chapter 203
Chapter 203
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: Reborn as the Plum Blossom Swordsman in the Count Family
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A dark night with no moon in sight.
Yuria walked down a forest path so pitch-black she couldn't see an inch ahead.
Her outfit was different from usual. She wore black hot pants short enough to expose half her thighs, paired with a leather blouse. Her long silver-blue hair was tied back to stay out of the way.
It was the comfortable attire she often donned for assassinations. Not just her—the entire AM squad favored it.
These weren't ordinary clothes, either. They were genuine hunter gear Sung Yu-jin had brought from the real world, tougher than most steel armor.
"……."
A little ways behind Yuria walked a woman in similar attire.
A beauty with short black hair, she stood a bit taller than Yuria and boasted a muscular build. Small scars dotted her face and body.
Strapped to her back was a massive greatsword that even an adult man might struggle to wield.
Chaise.
Once a gladiator slave in some fighting pit, she was now a maid in the AM squad.
-Maid Captain.
Amanda's voice came through the wireless radio attached to Yuria's ear.
"What is it?"
Yuria asked. Her voice held no emotion whatsoever.
-The Senif merchant bastards are prepping to move out.
"Right now?"
It was unexpected.
Merchant caravans rarely traveled at night. Monsters were more active then, heightening the risk of attack.
-Yeah. Did they catch on to us? That'd be impressive if so. The Senif group.
"Impossible."
Yuria stated flatly.
Only six people knew the AM squad's ambush plan: the three on-site, plus Sung Yu-jin and the two back at the mansion.
A leak could only mean betrayal—and no one had reason for that. Their target was just a mid-tier merchant outfit.
"……Looks like they're pushing hard to reach Slawed since it's close."
Slawed City wasn't far from here. If they started running now, they'd arrive by morning.
-Mm. It's nearby, so they wanna hustle and crash comfortably. I get it. I'd pick a rough sprint to the city and a safe, cozy bed over camping outside too.
Yuria let Amanda's words slide past. The chatty maid's ramblings were best ignored—most were meaningless anyway.
"Maid Captain. Plan's gone sideways. What's the move?"
Chaise asked in her blunt tone. The original scheme was to hit the camping Senif caravan and wipe them out. Yuria hadn't gone solo to give Chaise and Amanda some experience.
This mission doubled as training.
"Situation's changed, so the plan changes too."
Yuria replied calmly, unflustered. She pulled a map from her leather blouse pocket.
A rare precise map in this world, made from drone footage shot from above.
"Chaise. You wait at C-point."
"One of the chokepoints to Slawed City, huh. Planning an open fight?"
"I won't disappoint Master by backing off here. Are you scared, Chaise?"
Chaise scowled.
"Two things I hate: being called weak, and chicken. Leave it to me, and I'll sweep 'em solo."
"No. With your skills, you'd likely die instead."
"……."
Chaise bristled to retort but shut her mouth. Anyone else saying that might get cursed out, but Yuria's strength was unfathomable.
Yuria stared piercingly at Chaise. Cold sweat beaded on the woman's brow as she looked away. To Chaise, Yuria was a bottomless monster.
"…Got it. I'll hold at C-point as ordered."
Chaise trudged off toward C-point. Watching her go, Yuria melted into the darkness like ink in water.
???
Amanda lay prone on a high vantage in the hills, mat spread beneath her. Before her sat an M24 sniper rifle with suppressor attached. Not just any suppressor—it bore a silence spell that muffled sound completely.
"Hng~."
Amanda hummed, peering through the scope. She spotted the Senif caravan bustling to ready for Slawed.
Five wagons. Escorts: 24 mercenaries from the B-rank Bronze Monkeys. Add Senif's boss Holf and his staff, and it totaled 57—a hefty group.
Through the scope, Amanda eyed Holf, the Senif head. Mid-40s, grossly fat. Easily over 150kg.
"Ugh. Ugly bastard. Bet that's tiny too."
Sweat poured down his strained face. Disgusting just to look at.
"Annoying."
Amanda had started as a mercenary, not a slave. She'd caught Yuria's eye by chance and become a maid.
She loved maid life. As a female merc—especially a beauty—she faced constant dangers: rape attempts from male comrades, unfair treatment just for being a woman.
Sung Yu-jin's flirting? Mild compared to mercs. And he was cleaner and better-looking than most unwashed fighters.
"Just kill him?"
One squeeze of her trigger finger, and Holf was gone.
The urge to snipe him and head home swelled in Amanda.
"Sigh. Without this mission, I'd be banging Master right now and sleeping like a baby after…."
Amanda was hooked on sex with Sung Yu-jin lately. In this dull world, it was her lifeline. Post-sex bliss erased all else.
And she wasn't alone. The other maids craved it too. Their master might suck at other things, but sex? Top-tier.
One taste of the real deal, and escaping Sung Yu-jin's prowess was impossible.
"Maid Captain's got it good. Fucking Master almost daily…."
"Amanda."
"Eek?!"
The sudden voice from behind startled her. She whipped around to see stone-faced Yuria.
"M-Maid Captain! When did you—?!"
"Just now."
"…Like I said before, make some noise? You pop up silent like a ghost every time."
"I've never hidden my presence. More importantly, Amanda—cut back on the muttering. Too much."
"What can I do? It's boring alone out here~."
"……."
Yuria sighed faintly at Amanda, then knelt beside her on one knee. From her shadow emerged an identical M24 sniper, gripped in hand.
"Oh? Maid Captain sniping too? Wasn't it you and Chaise up front, me covering?"
"Situation changed."
Yuria raised the rifle from her seated position, eye to scope.
"Chaise's assassination practice waits. Tonight, we end this quick with your sniping and head home."
"Hm. Fine by me. Pig first?"
"No. Mercs first, target last."
"For fear factor? Can't we just off the pig and bounce?"
"This is our warning to Slawed. Senif gets wiped here."
"If Maid Captain says so. Who's first?"
"You take the rear mercs. I'll start upfront."
"Got it. Sync up? Three~, two~, one!"
???
Breki, captain of the B-rank Bronze Monkeys, was in a foul mood.
By schedule, they'd camp now and hit Slawed at dawn. But no—Holf, their employer and Senif boss, insisted otherwise.
'Good instincts? Bullshit. Might not piss me off so bad if you sold it better. Greasy pig. Everyone knows you just wanna rush for comfort.'
Safety-first Breki hated Holf's call.
'Damn it. If not for the pay….'
As Breki grumbled inwardly—
Something pierced the head of the merc beside him. Instinct kicked in; Breki spun toward Holf's wagon, bellowing.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! ENEMYYY ATTAAACK!"
People moved like clockwork.
Horses halted. Staff clustered at the wagons' center. Mercs grabbed weapons, advancing.
Another something flew from somewhere, claiming a merc's life. Blood and brains splattered the ground. It kept coming.
Rear mercs dropped too. Breki eyed the fresh corpse—noting the tiny hole through the skull.
"1 o'clock direction! Circle to the wagons' far side and cover! Damn it! What kinda magic is this?!"
Mercs scrambled at his shout.
"……!"
Breki drew his sword, batting away a bullet headed his way.
He was a recent Aura Expert Advanced—talent wasted on a B-rank crew.
'I can sense the origin roughly! Their mana ain't infinite—outlast 'em…!'
He felt the next bullet. Sword swung true—but the one after pierced his shoulder. No more swings possible.
"T-Two in a row!"
The next came relentlessly. Too late to sense. Legs slower than sword.
The bullet blew through Breki's head.
Attacks paused, resumed, paused—then started from the opposite side too.
Huddled in his wagon, Holf sucked his thumb, trembling. Staff screams echoed as bodies hit dirt.
Soon, silence.
"W-What the hell is this! What the fuuuck?!"
Holf clutched his head, drowning in unprecedented terror. Shaking, sweating buckets. Visions of his own death looped endlessly.
Step. Step.
Someone approached.
Holf snapped his head up. Raiders for sure. His stubby arms fumbled at his belt, drawing a gaudy decorative dagger. His grip shook.
Clunk!
Wagon door flew open.
"Raaagh!"
Holf lunged, dagger raised—then his legs sheared off. He tumbled flat.
His dropped dagger sank into shadows like quicksand.
Chattering his teeth, Holf looked up.
Two women stood before him.
One: short black hair, massive greatsword. Beside her: silver-blue hair, beauty so stunning it banished fear momentarily.
"W-Who the hell are you! Whose assassins?!"
Holf bellowed bravely. His stumpy arms paddled turtle-like, inching from the women—clinging to life.
Yuria eyed Chaise hard. Chaise sighed under the gaze.
"Can't we just kill clean?"
"No. He dies cruel—unlike others. Others need to get the message."
"Do it yourself then…. Sigh."
Chaise swung her greatsword. Holf's arms severed.
"Aaaagh! My arms!"
Writhing like a worm, Holf suddenly calmed—accepting death?—and asked Yuria.
"You bitches… no way. Sent by Lord Tevbra?"