Academy’s Genius Swordmaster - Chapter 53

[ 53. Baidian Mountains (2) ]

#53

Ronan lowered his sword. The middle-aged elf let out a sigh of relief. He said as he picked up the basket that had fallen to the floor.

“I am a priest serving Seniel. It seems that there must be circumstances for you to come to this rough land.”

“Seniel?”

“yes. It is a silent soul. Now, only a few remember the name…I just thought that there must have been a pilgrim to attend him.”

Seniel. It was the first name I heard. The man began to pick up herbs and mushrooms spilled out of the basket. Ronan also helped pick them up.

“Ah, thank you for your help.”

“It was because of me, but it was natural. But are you going to eat all of this?”

Ronan frowned. The strangely shaped weeds were something I had never seen before. The man who picked up the black roots like the devil’s beard laughed.

“These are very good herbs. It is a species that can only be found in places where mana accumulates like here.”

“Looking at what it looks like, I don’t think it would be strange if it had a tail growing on its butt… I’m curious to hear you say that.”

“Come in. I will bring you even a mediocre car. It’s been a long time since I’ve met someone who isn’t a pilgrim either.”

“Good. By the way, I have a group of people. Can I bring them?”

“Ah, somehow I felt like I was popular. Of course.”

The elf man readily agreed to Ronan’s proposal. Not long after, Asher and Marja Braum arrived in front of the temple. All of them looked around in admiration for the fact that the temple was built on such a rugged terrain. The man raised both palms. Gathering them together, they bowed.

“La Seniel. It’s called Sarante Remation.”

“Remation?”

Hearing the name Remation, Ronan frowned. The surname of Cirilla, an elf in Rodolan, was Remation

. Overlapping cases were common, and Remation was a common surname among them. Ronan and the others exchanged greetings in turn

.

“Ah, hello…I’m Asher.”

“Hello Sarante. My name is Marja Caravel.”

“Wah ha ha! It’s none other than Braum!”

Sarante put his palms together again and led the group into the temple. The temple’s unique stoic yet secluded atmosphere pervaded the rectangular interior

. It’s an architectural style to see.”

Most of the structures, including chairs and podiums, were made of stone. At first glance, it was rough, but if you pay a little attention, you can see that it has been polished with a very delicate skill. Ronan’s gaze as he looked around the temple stopped at one place

. ..?”

In the center of the temple, there was an ugly rock protruding. It was the place where important things such as holy relics and altars should be placed in temples of other religions

.

“God? This?”

Ronan frowned. “I couldn’t find the image of a god anywhere on a rock that looked like leftover corn. Only the years and toil this stone had gone through could only be conveyed through the worn surface. It was a very strange religion. I thought about something for a while.

” Ronan opened his mouth. Deep down, he was worried about something like Cirilla.

“Hey, Sarante.”

“Hmm? Why is that?”

“Would you like to repeat my words without asking anything? The arrival of the stars is the day when the stars come down.”

Sarante tilted his head, Ronan ready to tug at the hilt at any moment,

“What does that mean?”

“I’ll tell you soon. Try it for now. Come on.”

The party’s eyes were all on Sarante. Marja suddenly began to sharpen her greatsword, and Braum blocked the entrance, pretending to watch the reliefs. Eventually, Sarante opened her mouth. “Yes, the arrival of the stars is the starlight.

” The day it comes down.”

“hmm.”

“Now can you tell me what you mean? Is it some sort of spell that’s out there these days?”

Sarante followed Ronan’s words without changing his expression, even when

he insulted Ahayute. Sarante laughed bitterly and shook his head.

“There have always been forces that threw the world into chaos with their false beliefs. Come to think of it, there seems to have been a similar organization during the reign of King Rixoda VII…” ”

Rixoda… .?”

Ronan narrowed his eyes. It was a name he had only heard of in history class. It was a kingdom that ruled the central continent when Balon, the millennium empire, was still a small country on the periphery. Sarante, who interpreted Ronan’s silence, laughed as if he was embarrassed. “Hmm

. It seems that the owner of this land has changed again.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m not sure either. I stopped counting my age more than a thousand years ago.”

Ronan shook his head. Conversing with the longevity races, he often felt the common sense he knew was destroyed. Sarante had been asking various questions about the current situation on the continent

. To run away. This is truly amazing. I never thought that mortals would rise to such a high level.”

“The war between the first emperor and Orsay is now a story that only appears in fairy tales.”

“I must try to listen to the outside news once in a hundred years… I hope you like it. This is a tea that can only be tasted here in Baidian.”

After the conversation, Sarante handed the party a cup of steaming tea

.

Thought check was over, but he couldn’t be vigilant yet. Ronan drank tea only after seeing Sarante empty his cup. The moment the hot liquid went down his throat, Ronan’s eyes turned white. “Huh? Why is this

… ”

Ronan blinked his eyes. From the other side of his blurry vision, Sarante’s low laugh was heard.

“Huhuhu… I hope you like it.”

“Whose eyes!”

“What is this…!”

I heard panicked cries from the other party. Did he put some damn poison in it? Ronan was about to pull La Mancha. Suddenly, my blurry vision cleared and my eyes felt refreshed as if I had entered a field of mint. “…refreshing

? ”

“Whoops… that’s not all.”

The fatigue in her eyes had completely disappeared. Sarante was smiling with satisfaction as she saw the embarrassed party. At that time, Asher, who was looking around, burst into admiration. “Ma Mana…! You look so good…

! ”

“Wahhaha! This is amazing. Did I even bloom my aura?” Unable to control his excitement, Braum jumped up and stood up. Ronan rubbed his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he saw. He could clearly see

the mana

floating around him several times.

It seemed that the eyeballs were plucked out, washed in potion, and then put back in. The range was much wider, and the mana in people’s bodies was also faintly visible. If you are not born with the qualities of a wizard, originally, you have to reach the level of enlightenment as an aura

. It was a viable vision, Ronan said with a chuckle,

“What the hell did you feed him?”

“It’s a tea made by mixing herbs that increase mana affinity. It’s only a temporary effect right now, but if you drink it steadily, it will definitely help improve affinity in the long run.”

“Thank you very much, but this is frighteningly tidy.”

“Whoops…you can take this too.”

Sarante held out a large sack full of the same herbs he had been carrying in the basket, and Sarante gave each of the sacks one by one, telling them the recipe for the tea

. How about staying?”

“You want to stay?”

“Yes. It’s okay to refuse if you feel uncomfortable. However, the opportunity to talk with such young and promising people is very rare.”

Well, the pilgrims were probably old elves like Sarante who had been at least a thousand years old.

Ronan looked back at the group, all of them seemed intent on marveling at the potency of the suspicious tea.

“I like it, but how are you guys doing? ”

“I like myself. It takes a bit of mental preparation to ride that horse…” ”

Me too. If I could learn more about leylines, that would be great.”

“Wahhahaha! I don’t care! One more glass of this, please!”

Everyone in the party voted in favor. Even Ronan, who was silent, nodded. It was too good an offer to refuse with only weak doubts

.

“I really appreciate you.”

That’s how his short life at the temple began. Sarante treated Ronan and his party with great hospitality. He did not stop them from collecting the by-products of the leyline, but rather helped them to bring better ones. That afternoon, Sarante took the party to

a Headed into the cave. It was a place where the density of mana was so high that even the stalactites were metamorphosed. Sarante pointed out the manastones scattered deep inside the cave and opened his mouth. “How are you

? The magic stones I have here are at least decent.

”

“If you need it, take it as much as you want. Some people are the ones who have meaning to use.”

Marja’s eyes widened as if they were about to pop out. She said that she would definitely reciprocate, and selected the carefully selected magic stones and put them in her backpack. The night after a rewarding day, Sarante brought a large wild boar. “Let’s have this for dinner tonight.

” It has Bai Dian’s mana, so it tastes great.”

“…You are an elf, right?”

“Huh-hug prejudices probably won’t go away until the elves are extinct. Of course, there are many of my own people who refrain from eating meat, but those who worship Seniel like me don’t mind. Death is not the end, it’s the beginning of a cycle.”

The Sarante have a different mentality than the elves you’ve ever seen: unlike the other gnomes, who shoot arrows at the kill of even a rabbit in their realm, they don’t fear the consumption of nature

. It was ready. Sarante cooked and served wild boar meat with a very skillful skill.

Indeed, the meat with plenty of mana was on a different level from what he had eaten so far. Sarante looked at the party who were frantically eating meat. He murmured softly,

“Huh-huh… I’ll try a more special meat tomorrow.”

Ronan’s eyes widened as he happened to hear that. Several terrifying possibilities flashed through his mind. Just

looking at Sarante’s expression, it wouldn’t be strange if Asher disappeared tonight and the next day, meat he had never seen before appeared on the table. Tragedy begins when you find red hair stuck in your teeth

.

But to Ronan’s concern, the night passed without incident, and Sarante brought back a huge deer for lunch the next day, bigger than most reindeer

.

Ronan frowned, but Sarante, who saw his expression, tilted her head,

“Hmm? Is there anything that makes you uncomfortable?”

“No…I just heard about the special meat yesterday, but the expression wasn’t serious. It seems I misunderstood.”

“Hot…! Did you see that…?”

“Yes. I knew for sure that one of us would come to the table.”

“Ah…I’m sorry if I made you feel uneasy. You’re so excited because you’ve been visiting for the first time in a while.”

Sarante scratched her head in disdain. The venison was brought to the table that evening, and it tasted amazing, perhaps because it was a special meat. Ronan, who had completely removed one of his hind legs, nodded.

‘I was too sensitive.’

At this point, I had to admit it. Sarante was just a nice old man. Suddenly, I wondered who destroyed the temple where such a decent author lived.

‘It doesn’t seem like someone did it with a grudge.’

Contrasting the fact that the temple is still standing and the sense of time felt in the ruins, Ronan drew the conclusion that the series of destructions would happen sooner or later.

Ronan searched for memories and recalled the landscape of the ruins. No malice or intention was felt in the ruins of the temple, which was completely destroyed with only a few pillars left.

Ronan began narrowing down potential candidates who could make the temple look like that. As a rule of thumb, three candidates came out, but it seemed like I could handle two if I couldn’t do anything about one.

‘It’s just fine. My body was also itching.’

Ronan called the party together that night in Sarante’s absence. Marja woke up and yawned and asked.

“Ahhhhh… what’s going on in the middle of the night?”

“Suddenly, I have a good idea.”

“Good idea…?

“Before we leave here, let’s clear out the nearby orc villages and go. To find more Curse Eyes.”

“what?”

The eyes of Marya and the others opened wide. I wondered what kind of bullshit this was all of a sudden. Ronan continued with the pipe in his mouth.

“We are all indebted to that old dwarf. If you eat, you have to work.”

“That’s true…”

“And there’s nothing like real combat experience to improve your skills. That’s

why

Asel ?

”

Ronan reluctantly led the group up to the top of the mountain, where the panoramic view of the vast Baidian Mountains came in. Ronan pointed to the lights scattered here and there and said, “That’s all fucking orc villages. One hundred to three hundred per village.

” You can think of it as living.”

“Four to three hundred…!”

“We’ll be cleaning that up sometime today or tomorrow. I’m sure it’ll be a pretty good experience.”

It didn’t take long to realize that Ronan’s words were not a joke, and everyone in the party turned white

.

There seemed to be six villages. Despite the strength of individual orcs, there were too many of them. Ronan continued as if he had read the minds of his comrades

. ”

“Honestly, no matter how well you fight, your stamina will be at its limit!”

“Don’t worry about that

,” Braum said with a serious expression. “The moment we get the slightest bit tired, we’ll be covered by orcs .”

“hmm?”

Ronan looked at the orc villages with a smile. All of them were built in a good location to live in. Behind the river in the cave, in front of the cliff that acts as a barrier… He looked back at Asher, who was closely guarded, and opened his mouth

. It’s different.”