While Hans and Snoc were lost in their own thoughts, Zich thought back to their recent battle and organized all the new information he learned inside his mind.
‘Well, now I know for sure that the assassin organization is trying to make Demon People. Just finding out that information has made this event meaningful.’
Zich was able to find one possible way to reach the assassin group. He could start searching for places where Demon People would appear and slowly extract more information from every group of assassins he met, and as he snuffed out more and more information, he could eventually reach their headquarters.
‘When that time comes, I have to rip them apart.’
Zich didn’t know how big the main organization was, but during his peak, he was called the ‘Demon Lord of Strength.’ He had strong confidence in his ability to bite down on his opponents. Like a hound, he was going to pierce through their armor, rip apart their muscles, chop their intestines, and smell the sweet aroma of their insides.
‘I now have a basic vision of what I will do to them.’
But when his thought moved to the next topic—the silver-haired lady who had clearly called him ‘Zich Moore’—even Zich was slightly troubled.
‘I should assume that she knew me before I regressed.’
Then how did she know him? The first thought that came into his mind was that she was also a regressor. If he thought like this, it would not be strange for her to know his name, and her mastery, especially considering her youthful appearance, was not surprising. It would also make sense that compared to her skills, she didn’t seem used to fighting.
‘Then who is she?’ Zich tried to recall someone who had the same appearance and skills as the silver-haired woman before he regressed. ‘Well first, I can’t recall anyone who looked like her.’
There was no way Zich would not be able to remember an inhumanely beautiful person like her.
‘Considering her abilities, she seems similar to the Demon Lord of Magic…’
In the time of the Demon People, the Demon Lord of Magic appeared at the end of the Era of the Demon People and was one of the Demon Lords with Zich. As his title implied, the Demon Lord of Magic freely used all kinds of magic and also fought with Zich a few times.
‘But that’s not it. The Demon Lord of Magic is a man.’
A wrinkly old man with a long, white beard—that was the Demon Lord of Magic whom Zich was familiar with. The Demon Lord of Magic was completely different from the silver-haired woman.
‘There’s no one that pops into my mind. She seems like someone I’ve never met before.’
It was not as if Zich knew every Demon Person, and she may not have even been a Demon Person. It was not strange that there was someone Zich did not know.
‘I should think about her later after I get some more information.’
There was too little information about her. But Zich thought she should be prioritized even more than the assassin organization that made people into Demon People.
‘If she also regressed, she might be related to the Key that Distorts Destiny.’
Perhaps, she was the one who transplanted the Key that Distorts Destiny into him and twisted his memory and perception. But it was hard to make any more predictions.
‘Good. That’s it.’ Zich tried to be positive. ‘If I find out more about her, I might find out the reason why I regressed, and how I was able to regress.’
With this conclusion, Zich erased any more thoughts about the silver-haired woman’s appearance. However, his thoughts about her were far from over.
‘Then does this mean that there could be more regressors like me?’
The first possible figures that Zich could think of were the Hero Party that had been next to him in his moment of death. But Zich shook his head.
‘At least, she’s not Lubella.’
If Lubella had her memories from her past life, there was no way she would have fought so pathetically against the Bellids. Instead, she would have been the first to end them with her own hands.
‘No, if I’m being specific, it’s not the Lubella as of right now.’
Zich hadn’t regressed when he was born. There was a possibility that Lubella could awaken her past memories later on.
‘If the silver-haired woman really regressed, it could have been a regression that was not related to me at all.’ Zich tapped his knees with his fingers. ‘In the end, there’s nothing I’m sure of.’
There were more puzzles to solve. However, that was all the predictions and analyses he could make from the information he currently had.
‘Well, that’s fine. If we are bound to meet each other, our paths will cross again. If we never meet each other again, that’s also fine.’
The most important thing was that Zich himself was living in this world.
‘Even if there are other regressors like me, it’s not a big deal. They can live their own lives, and I can live my own life.’
However, if there really were other regressors, Zich wanted to try solving his curiosity about the topic of regressing; but that was the extent of his thoughts about regressors. If any regressor tried to interfere with Zich…
‘Well, what can I do? I have to beat them up.’
It would not matter if they were regressors. Zich’s response to his opponents was always the same.
* * *
While Zich, Snoc, and Hans moved through the mountain, they continued to perform their random acts of kindness to the surrounding villages. They helped temples that took care of orphans, gave food to starving people, and provided labor to areas that needed support. One such area that needed their help was taking care of dangerous animals and monsters roaming near the villages.
Polrune Village was an ordinary, farming village that was based on agriculture. The size of the village was about average. The village was full of open plains and fertile soil; life was stable and secure. However, even in this village, there were serious concerns shared among the villagers. One such concern was the monsters and wild beasts that occasionally came down from the mountain.
Crush!
A sharp pillar rose up from the ground and pierced the wolf like a skewer.
Skreech!
The wolf wailed out loud. The wolf frantically tried to move its feet, but it was unable to reach the ground. As the wolf swallowed blood, it fell into despair. The other wolves in the pack were so surprised, they ran away in all directions. However, Zich’s team did not miss a single one.
Thud!
Hans threw a mana-instilled rock on a wolf’s head, and its head exploded. Hans quickly threw another stone at another wolf.
Crush!
But this time, he missed. Instead, the rock hit a tree and broke the tree in half. Hans scrunched his face and threw another stone.
Thud!
This time, he made a perfect hit. A wolf, which was hit in the back, collapsed and rolled on the ground. The back of the wolf’s hip exploded and its hind legs were separated from its body. Then the wolf’s organs flowed out. However, due to Zich’s intense training and their battle experiences, Snoc and Hans no longer felt disheartened by seeing the bloody sight in front of them. They had finished their training on killing people.
Thud!
Another rock completely ripped apart a wolf, and a rock pillar pierced another wolf. Like this, the whole wolf pack was decimated in a matter of seconds.
“It’s over.” Zich yawned as he sat on a rock from a distance and got up.
“Yes, sir! I don’t think we missed anything!”
“Good. Let’s get moving.”
After he placed the dead wolves in his magic box, Zich went deeper into the bushes. Hans and Snoc followed him from behind.
“Hmm.” With his acute eyes, Zich carefully searched the forest’s surroundings.
He didn’t miss anything from the marks on the trees or the conditions of the dirt. Following Zich, Hans and Snoc also looked around. Although both of their skills had significantly increased thanks to their natural talent, including Zich’s guidance and experience, they were still amateurish in many ways.
While walking ahead, Zich stopped. His eyes were on the ground. “…They were right.”
Hans and Snoc stuck out their heads from Zich’s back. On the dirt ground, which had become muddy from water, there were marks stamped on the soil. Although the marks were smudged, they appeared to be footprints; however, they looked too big to belong to a human.
“See, Nowem. I think there really was an orc here.” Snoc lifted Nowem forward and showed him the footprints.
Orcs were the reason why they were all wandering inside the mountain. One of the villagers told them that they had spotted an orc on their way up the mountain. To the villagers, monsters were more dangerous than beasts; therefore, the trembling villagers had a meeting to discuss whether they should hire mercenaries or adventurers. When they saw Zich and his companions who looked like skilled travelers, they quickly requested their help.
Hans asked, “Do you think a whole herd moved in, sir?”
“I’m not sure. We will have to see if it's an outcast or a whole herd. We only just confirmed their existence.” Zich pointed in the direction the footprints headed towards. “Look for more footprints around here. Whether it’s just one or multiple, we have to find where they are.”
Hans asked in surprise, “Can we find them with just this one mark?”
Zich shook his head. “My tracking skills are not that impressive.”
“Then, how do you plan to find them, sir?”
Zich smirked and lifted his feet up. Then, he pointed at his eyes and ears. “I’m going to walk, see, hear, and feel.”
Both Hans and Snoc turned gloomy from Zich’s answer. Even a child’s rash play would have more planning than this. However, they couldn’t do anything. They knew from past experience that Zich would listen to their suggestions and employ them only if he thought their suggestions were good, but neither Hans nor Snoc had a clear plan.
However, Zich also didn’t plan to just keep wandering around. Although Zich said that he was hopeless at tracking, that was only in comparison to professionals—and as someone who used to be called the Demon Lord, Zich only considered people who were on top of their fields ‘as professionals.’
In short, Zich was only hopeless in comparison to tracking experts, and he had the basic skills to track and follow traces. Furthermore, the scope that Zich could sense was immense, and they moved very quickly through the mountain. Thus, contrary to Snoc and Hans’ expectations that they would be wandering in the mountain for a long time, they found the orcs’ settlement just the next day.
Then after that, Hans and Snoc massacred the community of orcs without Zich having to step in.
* * *
People gathered at the village square and murmured amongst themselves. They were gathered in a circle around something, and the different kinds of expressions on their faces were fun to read. Most of their expressions seemed to be filled with curiosity, but there were some mixed with negative emotions such as fear and disgust.
What they were looking at were several orc corpses. Unlike weak monsters like goblins, orcs were a rare sight to see since there was a small chance that ordinary villagers would survive to tell the tale. Next to the orcs’ corpses, Zich and his companions and the village chief were standing together.
“So, you are telling me that these monsters were settling inside the mountain?” The old man with completely white hair nudged the pile of corpses.
“Yes, sir. We don’t know where they came from, but it could’ve been really dangerous for the village. If the orcs knew that there was a village of humans nearby, they wouldn’t have been able to resist coming down here.”
“Are these all the monsters in the mountain?”
“No, these are just the monsters we brought here as evidence. There were many more in the settlement, but don’t worry, sir. We didn’t miss a single one.”
Zich’s words assured the village chief. The mere sight of these orcs’ huge bodies, much bigger than humans amassed with bulky muscles, was enough to threaten them. It was clear to everyone how much damage these orcs would have caused if they ambushed the village. However, the relief he felt lasted only for a moment, and the chief thought of a new concern.
“But…then…do we need to give you all some compensation for this?”
So far, Zich hadn’t requested money for any of the deeds he and his group did for the village. But this time, it wasn’t like he and his companions had simply killed one or two orcs that were running around. They destroyed a whole settlement of orcs and personally brought some of the corpses as evidence. If Zich asked for compensation, the village chief wouldn’t be able to refuse Zich’s request; after all, how could he when Zich and his companions were strong enough to catch all those fearsome orcs? Everyone knew that the danger in front of them was the most fearsome and dangerous one.
But Zich shook his head. “It’s fine. It’s not like it was anything difficult.”
“…You really don’t need any money?”
“Yes.”
“We are not so in need to exhort a small, rural village for money.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much, young man!”
The village chief thanked Zich from the bottom of his heart as his last concern disappeared. And as the unexpected event inside the quiet village came to an end, people returned back to their normal, day-to-day lives. Zich and his companions also went back to their lodging. As the village’s saviors, the village chief took extra care of their stay, and a fancy meal welcomed them back.
After finishing their meals, Hans and Snoc went upstairs to their rooms to rest. Zich also rested in his room while looking down at the village from the window.
“What?”
He saw someone loitering around at the mouth of the alleyway. A smile formed on his lips.
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