WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 4

by Varnell, Brandon

  “I’m impressed that someone your age was able to become so powerful,” Rainer said as I finished describing some of my training methods. “But it sounds like you are a harsh taskmaster on yourself.”

  I shrugged. “I have a lot of motivation to get stronger. I think anyone can obtain strength if they’re motivated enough.”

  “Maybe, but it isn’t always easy,” Dante said before chuckling. “Then again, I’m kind of lazy when it comes to training myself. I’d rather stay in bed if I could.”

  “That is not something the Vice Commander of the Nevarian Spiritualists should say.” Valence sent Dante a stern frown, causing the younger man to raise his hands in surrender.

  “I feel like our sons could learn a thing or two from you,” Rainer added.

  “Wha—how can you say that, Father?” Geirolf asked, sounding like he’d just received a grave insult. “I am plenty motivated! I train every day! There’s no way this simpleton is stronger than me!”

  “I suggest you watch your tongue,” Valence stopped arguing with Dante to send his youngest son a mild glare of reproach. “Eryk Veiger is our guest. Insulting him as you just did is going to make our family look like unsophisticated cretins. Do you want that?”

  Geirolf’s shoulders slumped. “No…”

  Among the people I felt the strongest affinity toward, I believed Dante and Earland were the two I liked best. Earland was quiet. He didn’t speak much, but he did mention that he wanted to spar with me to see how far along he had come as a Spiritualist. His quiet demeanor was a pleasant contrast to Geirolf’s rude remarks and even ruder disposition. Dante was just so laid back and easygoing that it was hard not to get along with him. He smiled and frequently cracked jokes, making him seem like something of a jester, though his attitude did go a long way toward easing the awkwardness I felt.

  Dinner eventually came to an end. Empress Hilda said I was free to stay the night, though I declined the offer. I was worried about Lin… which reminded me that I had totally forgotten to mention her during dinner. Everyone had been so busy asking me questions that I didn’t even have the chance to say something.

  At the moment though, I had been led away from everyone else by Kari. She pulled me along by the hand, her bare feet padding across the marble tiles. I found myself being pulled into a room. Spacious but not ostentatious, the room had very little in the way of decorations. Bookshelves lined most of the walls. There was a door leading into a closet and another that led to what I guessed was a personal bathing room. Meanwhile, a large bed with a canopy sat in the center of the room while a desk was stationed in the far corner to my left.

  “This is my room,” Kari said, only blushing a bit. “I thought it would be better for us to talk in private here.”

  I nodded as she closed the door and walked further into the room. A few candles situated on the walls illuminated her figure, making me wish I could just stand there and admire her. No matter how many times I looked at her, she always took my breath away.

  “Eryk.” Kari suddenly turned around and bit her lip. “About Fay…”

  I walked closer and said, “You mentioned that you have a way to help her. I don’t know what your idea is, but I think anything is worth a try. If there is something I can do to help, then you only need to ask me.”

  “Thank you.” Kari’s shoulders slumped in relief. “What I have in mind is something only you can do.”

  “Just me?” I asked.

  Kari nodded, her cheeks turning pink. She looked away from me. I remained silent as she chewed on her lower lip.

  “You know that Grant was trying to marry both Fay and myself. I was to be his Primary Wife, while Fay was going to be his Second Wife.” Kari turned away, presenting her back to me as if she was hiding her embarrassment. However, she had clasped her hands behind her back, and I looked down to see that she was twiddling her fingers. “The idea of marrying Grant repulsed me. However, I… can’t deny there was some part of me that became happy when I heard Fay might also become his wife with me.”

  My head spun. I wasn’t stupid. I understood what she was implying here, and I could scarcely believe what she was suggesting.

  “Are you saying… you think I should take Fay as my Second Wife?”

  Kari still wasn’t looking at me, but her ears were now a vibrant pink. “T-that—taking her as a Second Wife isn’t even possible right now, since you don’t even have a Primary Wife. But… let us say that you were to begin courting me, I would not be averse to the idea of you courting Fay as well. In fact, I would encourage you to also begin courting her.”

  I took in a deep breath, trying to contain my shock, but I wasn’t sure how well I did. This was not something that Kari and I had ever spoken of in my past life. Of course, I had seen plenty of polyamorous relationships before. However, Kari and I had been so dedicated to each other in my previous life that no one else could insert themselves into our relationship.

  Thinking about the Kari from my past life made me realize something. This wasn’t the same Kari. She looked the same, acted the same, sounded the same, and had the same hopes and dreams for the future. However, because she hadn’t gone through what we had in the past, this Kari thought about matters the other one hadn’t. This included matters like whether or not I should court Fay alongside her.

  “Do you think Fay would be happy if I were to court her alongside you?” I asked. To be honest, I didn’t think someone as proud as Fay would be willing to become someone’s Second Wife. She didn’t strike me as the type to enjoy playing the accompanying harp to anyone.

  “I do not think she would mind,” Kari said in a soft voice. “The reason she objected to marrying Grant was the same reason I didn’t want to marry him. Neither of us made the choice. The Leucht Family was trying to force us into the marriage by pressuring our families.”

  “I see. Well, you would know her better than I do. But is this really something you want?” I asked.

  Kari turned around, her eyes glimmering in the light of the candles. She studied my face for a moment before smiling.

  “Do you think I would make a suggestion if it was not something I desired?” It was a simple question, but it had a lot of weight.

  “No.” I shook my head, answering her without a hint of hesitation. “I know you well enough to know that any suggestion you bring up is something you would have considered extensively before bringing it up.” I walked up to Kari and gently placed my hands on her arms, giving them a reassuring squeeze. “If this is what you have decided, I will do everything I can to make it happen.” I paused as a self-deprecating smile appeared on my face. “To be honest, I have been feeling very guilty over what I should do about Fay.”

  “You like her?” Kari asked.

  “I do,” I admitted with a sigh.

  The sigh of relief that escaped her made even me wonder about her relationship with Fay. This girl must have been phenomenally important to Kari. I was sure she wouldn’t have decided to share me otherwise.

  “That’s good,” she said. “If you truly do like her, then I think… maybe this can really work out.”

  “Kari,” I began before she could feel too relieved. “While it is true that I like Fay, and maybe my feelings for her are stronger than I wish to admit, the fact remains that I love you. I just… want you to know that.”

  Kari didn’t blush this time as she smiled at me. Her eyes were soft, warm, and filled with delight. I felt like I would get drawn into them if I stared for too long.

  “I know you do,” she murmured as she took a single step forward. “And hearing that makes me very happy.”

  “Does it?” I whispered as I leaned my head down.

  “Yes, it does.” Kari’s voice was just as soft as she tilted her head up and stood on her tiptoes. She placed her hands against my chest to keep her balance. I slid my hands down her arms and soon set them on her waist. Our lips moved closer together, so close I could see each of Kari’s individual eyelashes before I closed my ey
es.

  We were mere centimeters away from sharing our first kiss—

  When the tattoo on my left ring finger began burning like nothing else. Before I could even respond to the sudden pain in my finger, a loud, obnoxious blaring echoed up to Kari’s room. The shock was so much that Kari and I leapt apart in fear before we realized that the sound wasn’t coming from inside of the room. It was coming from the window.

  “What is that noise?” I asked.

  “That’s… the Demon Beast Alarm!” Kari’s eyes widened in shock. “That alarm is activated when a Demon Beast is spotted within Nevaria!”

  I frowned at her before looking out the window. Nothing seemed out of place, but as I focused on my hearing, I did pick up the loud blaring of several horns coming from multiple locations across the city. That said, I couldn’t see any signs of a Demon Beast, and the Demon Beast Invasion wasn’t supposed to happen for three more years.

  Just as this thought crossed my mind, another thought struck me. Maybe what had snuck into the city wasn’t a Demon Beast but someone who might be mistaken for one. Maybe this person had gone outside after I had not returned home to search for me. There was a very high chance that Lin might be the “Demon Beast” these alarms were meant to warn people of.

  After this thought shook me, I activated my Spiritual Power, which flowed from my body like an electric wave. Kari took a step back as my Spiritual Aura crackled around me. However, I couldn’t focus on her right now. I activated Spiritual Perception and spread my mind across the city. Several bright objects appeared in my vision.

  People were often represented as flames when I used Spiritual Perception. There were quite a few flames in my vision, but I narrowed my focus and began looking at the area near my house. It took a while. However, I soon discovered six fast-moving flames about fifteen minutes walking distance from my house. Five flames were chasing one flame. Four of those flames were bright red, one was yellow, and the last was dark purple—a color that could not be achieved by humans because it was a mixture of the earth and darkness elements.

  “That is definitely Lin,” I mumbled.

  “Lin?” Kari walked up to me. “Who is Lin?”

  “I’m sorry.” I turned to her with an apologetic smile. “I will be right back and explain everything once I’ve ensured Lin’s safety. Please wait for me.”

  “Wait for you—Eryk! Wait!”

  Turning around, I rushed to Kari’s window, which was fortunately already open, and leapt out. While in midair, I activated the Flash Step Version 2: Jump Step and disappeared.

  Someone I cared about was in trouble and I had to find her.

  Chapter 12

  Kari’s New Friend

  The Flash Step wasn’t just something that could only be used when standing on the ground. When someone had enough Spiritual Power and skill, they could activate it in midair, which was what I did as I traveled toward where I sensed Lin’s Spiritual Power.

  Nevaria passed beneath me in a blur as I moved through the air, never staying in one spot for any longer than a split second. I narrowed my eyes and kept Spiritual Perception active. The red and yellow Spiritual Powers were bearing down on Lin’s dark purple. Furthermore, they had begun using Spiritual Techniques.

  I landed on a building just as I reached where the Spiritual Powers were located. There, I found Lin being pursued by five members of the Nevarian Spiritualists. The four with red fire-natured Spiritual Power were just regular Nevarian Spiritualists, evident by their leather armor, but the one leading them was a captain. To signify his position, he had steel armor that had been polished to a shine. It looked brand new. I wondered if that meant he was a newly promoted captain or if he’d just never used this armor in battle before.

  I shook my head. Such inane thoughts didn’t matter right now. I had a Lamia to rescue.

  * * *

  Lin was really regretting her decision to leave the house. If she was being honest with herself, she had not believed Darling when he said traveling outside would be dangerous, but now that she was being chased by a group of Spiritualists, had alarms blaring at her from all directions, and was forced to deal with numerous Spiritual Techniques being hurled at her… well, she wasn’t left with much choice but to believe.

  She should have stayed home.

  “Hurry up! Launch your attacks! Kill that Demon Beast before it can hurt our citizens!” the lead Spiritualist shouted.

  “This princess is not a Demon Beast!” Lin shouted back, even as she slithered away as fast as her tail could carry her.

  “T-the Demon Beast talks!”

  “It must be incredibly dangerous! I’ve never heard of a talking Demon Beast before!”

  “Kill it!!”

  Before Lin could yell at them for their misunderstanding, the lead Spiritualist swung his staff around his body as he spun on his feet like a dancer. The staff came down. He slammed it into the ground, causing lightning to burst from the ground in a wave of powerful arcs that rushed toward her faster than she could move.

  Lin was left with no choice.

  Clicking her tongue, Lin channeled Spiritual Power through her tail. She could feel her scales harden as the earth element flowed through her Spiritual Pathways. As the lightning attack came close, she smacked the ground, creating massive cracks that spread across the dirt and disrupted the technique.

  Sadly, the cracks spread further than she had intended, which caused several buildings to shake as they also received some minor damage. A cacophony of screams came from inside of the affected buildings. Lin flinched when she realized she may have just made things worse on herself.

  “The Demon Beast is attacking our citizens’ homes!”

  “Slay it before it can harm anyone else!”

  Lin could have cried, but she didn’t have time for that. She turned a corner just as a massive fireball flew past her. It struck the ground and detonated, sending a wave of heat in her direction. She ignored it and kept going.

  The Spiritualists turned the same corner as her and continued running. Their Spiritual Auras were active. Bright red flames flickered around four of them, but the one charging ahead of the others had yellow arcs of lightning dancing across his body.

  “Hurry up! Kill it!”

  As the orders were given, the four subordinates of the yellow one shuffled across the ground in a strange dance and launched the same technique. Four fireballs emerged from their hands. They agglomerated together, creating one huge fireball that was easily six times the size of the original four. The heat from this flaming projectile caused Lin to look behind her. The fireball was coming closer with every passing second. There was no way she could dodge and it was too powerful for her to block.

  Lin was ready to lament her fate when a shadow fell from the sky. She barely had time to contemplate what was happening before this figure slammed a fist into the fireball, punching a hole straight through it. The fireball was unable to maintain its shape after that and dispersed, detonating into many particles that evaporated on the wind.

  Having realized that she was saved, Lin stopped slithering and turned to look at the broad back and shoulders of her savior. He had familiar green hair that descended to the middle of his back, sloppily tied with a leather band. His clothing was different from before. She didn’t recognize his black pants and white shirt, but there was no way Lin could mistake this person.

  “Darling!” she cried out.

  “Are you okay, Lin?” Darling asked as he turned his head.

  Lin felt an unusual heat pool around her crotch as he looked at her with those concerned eyes. She opened her mouth, but found that her throat wasn’t working. Since she couldn’t talk, all she could do was nod.

  “I’m glad.” He smiled, causing her cheeks to emit a pleasant heat. She felt warm despite being cold blooded. “Hold on for just a moment, okay?”

  Darling didn’t give her a chance to respond as he turned toward the five Spiritualists, who had skidded to a halt and were staring at him i
n shock. One of them, the leader, recovered more quickly than the others and stepped forward.

  “You! What did you do that for?! Do you want that Demon Beast to escape and wreak havoc on Nevaria?!”

  An intense Spiritual Pressure erupted from Darling the moment those words left the Spiritualist’s mouth. It felt like the area around him had suddenly become heavier. Denser. Like she was underwater and drowning. The air felt constricting and thick. A strange pressure pushed against Lin’s shoulders as a pillar of powerful blue energy erupted from Darling and towered over the entire city.

  The fact that she could feel it at all told Lin how powerful this pressure was. She wasn’t even the recipient of it. The Spiritualists who had attacked her were in far worse shape. The leader in steel armor had fallen to his knees and was struggling to remain upright, while the other four were lying flat on their stomachs, looking for all the world like something had squashed them into the ground.

  “You people are idiots,” Darling said at last, and his voice rang clearly enough that Lin was sure the citizens looking out from their windows could hear him as well. “This girl is not a Demon Beast, and the fact that you could mistake her as such just because the lower half of her body resembles a snake is pathetic.”

  “You… who are you?” asked the lead Spiritualist.

  “Eryk Veiger,” Darling answered.

  “Eryk… Veiger…?” The lead Spiritualist’s eyes went wide. “Wait. Aren’t you… the one who just took f-first place… in the Spiritualist Grand Tournament…?”

  “That’s right,” Darling said. “Since you know who I am, that will make things easier for me. Stop attacking Lin. She isn’t a Demon Beast and she’s not dangerous. She’s my guest, and any attacks on her will be perceived as an attack on me. Is that understood?” None of the Spiritualists spoke up, causing an even more intense Spiritual Pressure to burst from Darling and make their bones rattle. “Is. That. Under. Stood?”