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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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‘Natasha wants revenge for her tribe… This is good information.’
Lina nodded. Considering Natasha’s personality in her past life, it was to be expected.
Anyone would dream of revenge if their family and tribe were massacred.
In her past life, Natasha had been repeatedly violated by the bandits and sold into slavery a few years later, making revenge impossible.
“Kerry, was it…?”
He was a man working as an adventurer. He didn’t seem like much, but for some reason, Natasha was intensely pursuing him.
To Lina, who had only seen Natasha’s man-hating side in her past life, this was quite baffling.
‘This must be Natasha’s true self.’
The current Natasha was fresh and cute.
It was to the point where it was impossible to imagine her as the ‘Red Maelstrom,’ the bloodthirsty woman from her past life.
For some reason, Lina had been unable to get close to Natasha in this life, but with Kerry’s help, an opportunity might arise.
Lina went to Natasha with Kerry.
“Natasha.”
“Honey!”
Why does she keep calling me honey?
“Natasha, you said you wanted revenge against the bandits, right?”
“Yes. Once I recover…”
“I don’t know much, but… you said they’re dangerous, right? Much stronger than the bandits who captured us…”
“Yes. The bandits here… aren’t the ones who massacred my tribe. The ones who massacred the Maruna tribe… left me and my grandmother with these bandits and went somewhere else.”
“Did you hear that?”
Kerry said, looking at Lina.
“Yes, Natasha. Were the ones who massacred the Maruna tribe… a skinny man who looked like a skeleton and a large man with a pig’s nose?”
“!”
It was obvious how Lina knew this. Natasha must have told her in her past life.
“Natasha, Lina knows about them.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes. Actually, I’ve been chasing them for a while now…”
Was she telling the truth? It could be a lie to persuade Natasha, but if it were true, it meant they were dangerous enough for her to want to eliminate them immediately after regressing.
“…If you’re willing, Natasha, would you like to travel with me?”
Lina asked Natasha, her eyes subtly pleading.
Lina’s strength had already been proven. If Natasha joined her, her revenge would be much smoother.
But for some reason, Natasha seemed hesitant, her eyes darting around.
Even though Lina offered to help her with her revenge, Natasha still didn’t seem to welcome her, her gaze almost like that of a rival, though not overtly so.
‘Does she think there’s something going on between Lina and me?’
Even so, I never imagined she would hesitate to accept Lina’s help with her tribal revenge.
“Natasha, Lina is strong, so she’ll be helpful for your revenge. Of course, I’ll help you too, as I promised, but… I’m not that strong.”
“…”
After hesitating, Natasha finally answered as if she had no other choice.
“…Alright, Lina. Let’s travel together.”
Lina clenched her fists at those words.
And so, a four-person party was formed: Lina, Natasha, Kerry, and the grandmother. This gave me an excuse to stay by the Regressor’s side for the time being.
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After a short rest, we followed Lina to take the former hostages back to the village.
There, Lina not only arranged accommodations for the women but also hired a large guild to protect them.
‘The inn, the guards, the food… how much is all of this? Our Regressor is too much of a pushover.’
The Regressor’s generosity was good news. My brief worry that she was spending too much money, and that the crumbs falling my way might decrease, was quickly dispelled.
“Thank you! Lina, thank you so much. My husband is dead, and I was so lost about what to do… sob…sob…”
“Thank you so much, Kerry. You were so amazing when you protected us from the bandits.”
Seeing the women expressing their gratitude with tears and snot made me nod in agreement.
If they had been left alone, more than half of them would have died, and the rest would have become prostitutes. As a fellow cellmate, that was a sad thought.
“We’ll stay in this village tonight as well.”
Lina coolly arranged a room for me, and of course, meals.
I had belongings in the village where I used to stay, but they were worth about the same as my overdue rent, so I didn’t feel the need to retrieve them.
Lina, wanting to get closer to Natasha, said she would stay in a large room with the other women.
‘Yes! Free lodging in this other world.’
It seemed Lina had quite a bit of money.
She might have come from a wealthy family, or perhaps, as a Regressor, she had some way of earning money easily.
Entering my room, I saw neatly arranged bedding and furniture. It was a decent inn.
‘And the food was delicious… The Regressor team is off to a good start.’
When the four of us were having dinner with Lina, the grandmother had said:
[Before we take revenge on those bastards, we need quite a few ingredients to lift the curse on Natasha.]
[What do you need?]
[A hobgoblin’s heart, laughing flower petals, a salamander’s tail, and so on. There are a lot of miscellaneous things, but I can prepare them. However…]
[You’re saying the hobgoblin’s heart is difficult for you to obtain?]
[Yes. Natasha and I will prepare the other ingredients, so you two, pretty lady and Mr. Adventurer, can get the heart.]
[You can call me Lina, elder.]
[You can call me Kerry, grandma. But how do you know about those ingredients?]
[Ahem. Because I’m the greatest shaman of the Maruna tribe!]
That was roughly how the conversation went.
Since the sun had set by the time we reached the village, we decided to go look for hobgoblins with Lina early the next morning.
“Hobgoblins are scary… will we be alright?”
As an F-rank adventurer, hobgoblins were a bit daunting for me. Not to the point where I couldn’t handle them, but enough to be concerned.
Since I was with the Regressor, it should be fine. I couldn’t back down just because I was afraid of a few hobgoblins.
‘More importantly, I’ll be alone with Lina tomorrow… I might be able to get closer to her.’
For the first time in this world, I saw hope. The hope that I might be able to live a decent life here.
‘Sigh. Lost in my thoughts, it’s already gotten dark outside. I thought I’d be exhausted and pass out immediately.’
I was thirsty, so I decided to get a glass of water before going to sleep.
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Kerry descended the creaking stairs of the inn.
He saw men drinking and making merry here and there.
In the distance, some pretty women waved at him. Looking closely, he recognized them as his former cellmates.
Too tired to join their gathering, he simply waved back.
Kerry got some water from the innkeeper and went straight back to his room.
The women who had waved at him clicked their tongues in disappointment.
“Tsk, too bad. I thought we could drink with Mr. Adventurer…”
“Oh, you shameless hussy!”
“What? I just wanted to have a drink with him.”
“Aren’t you a little old to be playing coy?”
“Hmm. Honestly… I’m a widow now, so what’s the big deal? Besides, my husband never treated me well when he was alive. He wouldn’t have gallantly said, ‘Everyone, run! I’ll hold them off!’ like Mr. Adventurer. He would have just abandoned me and run.”
“Hee hee. Mr. Adventurer was handsome then. With his fair skin and not a single blemish, he looks like a young lord who’s never worked a day in his life.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would a nobleman’s son work as an adventurer?”
“You never know. Maybe he’s from a fallen noble family. Hee hee. More importantly… Honestly, what I saw of Mr. Adventurer in the prison was truly… shivers”
“Shh! Are you crazy? What if someone hears you?”
“So what? Did I say anything bad? It’s a compliment.”
“It was… twice as big as my husband’s, which I vaguely thought was decent enough…”
Once the topic was broached, the women chattered non-stop about Kerry’s impressive endowment, which they had witnessed firsthand.
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Morning arrived. Kerry stepped outside the inn at the appointed time, and Lina, fully prepared, was waiting for him.
“You’re early.”
“You’re even earlier, Lina.”
Kerry’s equipment was quite impressive. He had taken everything useful from the dead bandits.
Before being captured, acquiring decent leather armor had been a struggle.
‘Leather armor, a longsword, a shortsword, and even potions for wounds.’
They say a tiger leaves its fur when it dies, and the bandits left their equipment.
“Let’s go then.”
Setting off without even a “Did you sleep well?” Do people become this cold after regressing?
He followed Lina, who walked ahead without a word. Her demeanor suggested she was angry about something, but the emotions the Eyes of the Goddess revealed were different.
She looked icy on the outside, but she was hopeful and happy? The Regressor was just awkward with people.
But the silence as they walked was too awkward to bear.
“By the way… how did you end up at the bandit hideout, Lina?”
“…I was walking along the road, and they picked a fight with me.”
“Ah…”
A massacre just because they picked a fight?
It was obvious she had come looking for Natasha, but he decided to let it slide.
“If you don’t mind me asking, where are you from?”
According to the Eyes of the Goddess, Lina was from Astria. He had no idea where that was. He’d never heard of it.
He had lived in this world for about two years, but he wasn’t exactly an expert on geography.
“…You wouldn’t know even if I told you. I come from far away.”
“…I see. Similar to me. I also come from far away. A place called Korea…”
“Korea… I’ve certainly never heard of it.”
Lina seemed to put up a wall, as if telling him not to ask about her origins any further. Since he had already checked with the Eyes of the Goddess, he didn’t pry.
The conversation mostly consisted of him asking questions and Lina answering.
He had worried that Lina’s awkward and cold expression meant she disliked him, but it seemed to be an unnecessary worry.
Seeing ‘Favor’ added to her status, it could be said that her reaction was positive.
‘She’s a tough nut to crack.’
But Kerry knew that people who didn’t pretend to be friendly were often genuine.
“There’s a hobgoblin over there.”
At Lina’s words, he instinctively crouched down. He saw a hobgoblin moving along with a few goblins.
“There are three goblins with it.”
“Kerry, wait here. I’ll take care of them.”
“No, then there’s no point in me coming along. I’ll take care of the three goblins.”
Lina smiled faintly and nodded. He seemed to have earned another point.
Lina dashed forward first, and Kerry followed.
The hobgoblin and goblins, noticing them, shrieked.
Goblins were undoubtedly low-level monsters, but their habits and wrinkled, green skin were repulsive, reminiscent of little demons.
Moreover, goblins were notorious for raping anyone they captured, regardless of race.
He himself had almost been raped by goblins when he first arrived in this world, so he particularly loathed them.
“Die, you rapist bastards!”
Kerry swung the two-handed sword he had obtained from the bandits.
It was his first time using a two-handed sword, but it was of much higher quality than the crude shortsword he had been using.
One of the goblins, barely reaching his waist, was instantly sliced in half.
“Damn rapist bastards! This is what justice looks like!”
Two goblins remained. They seemed intimidated by the power of the two-handed sword, hesitating to approach.
“Kreek! Keeek! Kiiek!”
“Shut up!”
He swung the two-handed sword at the two goblins standing side-by-side.
One rolled on the ground to dodge, but the other was bisected by the blade.
“You dodged?”
Against a hobgoblin, he wouldn’t have been so relaxed, but three goblins were no problem.
Plus, he had excellent equipment. A two-handed sword! It was the best weapon he had ever used.
‘Is this what strength feels like?’
The sudden equipment upgrade made him feel significantly stronger.
He had been helpless against the bandit leader, but that was because the bandit leader was exceptionally strong.
‘With equipment like this, I’m quite a capable adventurer. But this isn’t the time to show off my newfound strength. It would be better to finish quickly and help Lina…’
He decided it would look better to the Regressor if he finished quickly and joined the fight against the hobgoblin, rather than taking his time with weaker opponents.
“This is the final blow!”
He slammed the two-handed sword down on the remaining goblin, which was rolling on the ground, impaling it.
“Keeek…”
“Lina, I’ve taken care of them. I’ll help yo…”
“I’m finished here as well.”
The hobgoblin lay dead on the ground, its tongue lolling out.
It seemed like it had been dead for a while, and it even looked like it had been watching him.
He felt embarrassed.
‘Shit… was she watching me the whole time?’
While he was making a fuss over three goblins, Lina had silently killed the hobgoblin and was now observing him.
“We encountered the hobgoblin sooner than expected. We should be able to return early.”
“Yes. I’ll butcher it.”
“No, I’ll do it.”
He insisted on taking over, and began to extract the hobgoblin’s heart.
‘Since I’m indebted to her… I can’t let her do the dirty work.’
To be honest, Lina was objectively stunning, and he couldn’t help but feel attracted to her.
Was this why Natasha was wary of her?
Probably not. He was being careful not to show his feelings.
He cut through the hobgoblin’s tough skin and extracted the dripping heart.
“Finished. Let’s go back.”
“Yes.”
As they walked back with the hobgoblin’s heart in his bag, he suddenly remembered what he had been pondering all night.
Having spent some time alone with Lina, he realized she wasn’t as cold-blooded as she appeared, and he felt a bit more courageous.
“Lina, may I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Do you happen to know how to use this?”
Kerry pulled out the magic orb he had carefully kept in his pocket.
If he was lucky, he might be able to learn how to use the orb and even how to manipulate mana from the Regressor.
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Learn magic or better swordsmanship.