Radiant Dragon’s Otherworldly Reincarnation

Chapter 25. I Have Grown Stronger (2)

“Uwaaaaaah!”

-Keoheoong!

Sanson's powerful horizontal slash cut a long gash across the troll's side.

Of course, trolls have strong regenerative abilities, so even a wound like this would soon heal.

However….

‘What if I cut that side one more time?’

No matter how strong a troll's regenerative ability was, it was limited to bones and muscles.

If its head was cut off or its intestines spilled out, it was a fatal wound even for a troll.

‘Just one more time there!’

Sanson rushed forward, aiming for the troll's wound to deliver the finishing blow.

All I have to do is cut there.

If I cut there before the wound regenerates and make its intestines spill out….

Grab!

“Keueuk!”

Sanson, blinded by greed and focused only on the point of attack, failed to see the troll's hand reaching out to him.

As a result, the troll grabbed Sanson with one hand and lifted him up high.

-Keoheoong!

“You bastard…. Let go!”

Sanson shouted loudly, gripped the longsword in his hand in a reverse grip, and strongly stabbed the base of the troll's thumb.

The blade of the longsword dug deep, and the troll let out a painful scream.

It screamed, but….

-Krrrrrrrr….

It absolutely did not release its grip on Sanson.

The troll's bloodshot, yellowish eyes met Sanson's.

-Krrrrrr….

“You bastard…”

Though they couldn't speak the same language, he instinctively knew that the match was decided in this moment.

The troll had caught Sanson as he greedily approached too close, and then it had endured the counterattack Sanson had delivered with all his might.

Now, Sanson had no means of defense.

The match was decided.

“Dammit…”

In the wild, a battle is a fight for survival.

The winner eats the loser, and the loser becomes the blood and flesh of the winner.

There is no good or evil there, only pure survival.

The troll opened its mouth wide to exercise its right as the victor.

And Sanson ground his teeth as he watched the troll's massive mouth approach to chew off his head.

‘Is this how it ends?’

“Brotheeeeer!”

He could see Oliver shouting and running towards him from a distance, but it was useless.

Before that, his head would be chewed and crushed inside the troll's mouth.

‘Damn it, just when… just when it was starting.’

He was getting stronger.

He had actually gotten stronger.

He would become even stronger in the future.

He was just now realizing what a golden opportunity had come into his life, and for it to end here without seeing its full fruition.

This was too unfair.

“Dammit, dammit, dammiiiit!”

“Shut up!”

Someone answered Sanson's cry of anguish.

A very familiar, yet youthful child's voice.

Before Sanson could realize who the owner of the voice was, an enormous shockwave erupted first.

Kwaaaang!

A deafening roar like a house-sized boulder being smashed echoed.

And what Sanson saw was the head of the troll that was about to chew him up being blown away without a trace, and….

“Gooood job. A reeeaaal good job. Huh?”

It was the face of Patrick, frowning as he looked down at him.

“Y-…Young Master?”

How strange.

Was it possible for feelings of relief and fear to coexist?

* * *

Sanson.

He was an extraordinary child from a young age.

He had a physique and innate strength superior to his peers, and at the same time, he had an upright character, so he was never short of friends.

He put that talent to use and enlisted as a soldier for the fief, and immediately stood out among the soldiers.

To stand out even among the soldiers of the Schneider fiefdom, famous for its strong soldiers, his talent was truly remarkable.

If it weren't for that trash Brian, he might have already received knight training and been knighted by now.

And recently, after Brian's downfall, he was appointed as the captain of the fief's guard, once again on the fast track in life.

Such a Sanson was….

“Is it tough?”

“No, sir.”

“Why? It's tough. Isn't it? It's normal to find it tough when you're in a headstand, right?”

“……”

“Or what. Do you sleep in a headstand too?”

“No, sir.”

“Be honest. It's tough, right? Isn't it?”

“…Yes, sir.”

“You little bastard!”

Patrick kicked Sanson in the side as he was holding the headstand.

Then….

“Tough? This is tough? Huh? Getting crunched in a troll's mouth is easy, but this is tough? Huh?”

“……”

You were the one who told me to be honest, you bastard.

He couldn't bring himself to say those words.

It was a strange thing.

There was the benefactor who had saved his life just 30 minutes ago.

But….

“Aigoo, my insides are churning, my heart is collapsing, huh? I taught you so well, but you couldn't stand it for a moment and were about to die to a measly troll?”

His gratitude vanished completely.

How could this be?

Patrick had a strange talent for making even a decent person ungrateful.

“What's the point of doing well at first? You ended up in that mess because you got greedy, right?”

At those words, Sanson grumbled inwardly.

“If you were watching from the beginning, you should have helped a little sooner.”

“What did you say?”

“...Did I say that out loud?”

“Yep. Very clearly.”

“……”

Wouldn't it have been better to just get eaten by the troll earlier?

Sanson began to think.

“I have something to take care of, so let's pause here for a moment and continue this later.”

Patrick said, dusting off his hands.

In front of him was the battered Sanson, and Patrick grumbled as he got up from his spot.

Then….

“Hey, Soldier A.”

“It's Oliver.”

“So what?”

Oliver thought it would be better to just be Soldier A.

Patrick said to Oliver.

“For now, take this guy and get him treated. Tsk tsk, to get injured like this from fighting a mere troll.”

“……”

He had no injuries from the troll.

“For now, I have some things to report to my father, so tell the fief soldiers to gather at the training ground in the evening.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“Alright. I'll see you then.”

To Oliver, Patrick's words sounded like, ‘I'll kill you then.’

* * *

Baron Schneider was greatly surprised.

“This… is this really all money you earned?”

“Yes. Well, it's not much, but I made a small profit.”

“Hahaha. Hahahaha…”

Baron Schneider let out a hollow laugh.

He knew his son had left the fief with a large load of monster materials.

But he never imagined he would earn this much money.

70 gold.

It was a huge sum of money, the likes of which Baron Schneider had never touched in his life.

And that wasn't even all of it.

“I spent about 30 gold. Since I was already there, I thought it would be good to buy some necessities for the fief here.”

Patrick had set out with five wagons.

But the returning procession had grown to ten wagons, and they were filled with food and clothing that would be helpful to the fief, as well as weapons for the fief's soldiers.

He had bought all that and still came back with a profit of 70 gold.

“Does that mean the original profit was 100 gold?”

“That's right.”

“How could you make such a profit? How could such a…”

The profit Baron Schneider had expected was around 20 gold.

He had been looking forward to it, thinking that even that amount would be enough for the fief residents to have a warm winter.

But his son had shattered his expectations and brought back results that far exceeded them.

“Hahaha. Amazing. I'm proud of you, Patrick.”

“Oh, it was nothing.”

Patrick waved his hand while grinning from ear to ear.

In fact, the amount he paid to Baron Schneider was purely what he had obtained through commerce, and he had earned more than that through a one-night side job, but that was a secret from Baron Schneider.

“Ah, and Father, I brought something else besides this.”

“Ooh, what else did you bring?”

At Baron Schneider's expectant words, Patrick pulled back the canvas of the very last wagon.

When he lifted the simple canvas that had been placed over the wagon to block the wind, there were….

“Wh-… what is the meaning of this?”

Baron Schneider was shocked.

There were a lot of young children there.

And they were skinny children who looked like they had been starved for a long time.

Their eyes, which scanned their surroundings, were full of fear, and if their eyes happened to meet his, they immediately lowered their heads.

Ingrained servility and fear.

Baron Schneider was not so foolish as to not know what that meant.

“Pa... Patrick, you baaaaastard!”

“Ah… please don't shout. I did a good deed, why are you acting like this?”

“A good deed? You call this a good deed?”

“Of course. I…”

“To bring back a large number of children as slaves! You villain! You wicked fiend~!”

“……”

“No matter how freely I raised you, this time you've crossed the line. Guards! Seize this man immediately and throw him in the dungeon! Do not release him until he repents for his sins!”

“My lord. That's not it.”

“My lord. Please listen to the Young Master first.”

The workers who had accompanied him hastily tried to stop the Baron, but Baron Schneider, who was furious to the core, raged even more fiercely.

“What are you all doing? Not imprisoning the criminal. In my fief, anyone who commits a crime must receive a just punishment. My son is no exception. Imprison that criminal at once!”

* * *

About an hour later.

“Hahaha. I see. So that's what happened.”

Baron Schneider, who had been erupting in fury like a mad dog from hell, loosened up like a puppy in front of a snack.

“Hahaha. So you brought back the poor children. Hahaha. You are indeed my son. Very admirable.”

“……”

“I am truly proud of you, Patrick.”

“……”

“Won't you... say something?”

“……”

“Son? Son?”

Baron Schneider spoke to Patrick awkwardly yet cautiously.

But Patrick had puffed up his cheeks like a blowfish and was thoroughly ignoring his father.

It was an attitude that clearly showed, ‘I am very sulky right now. Therefore, I refuse to converse with you.’

“W-well, honestly, if you were in my position, it's a misunderstanding you could have made, isn't it?”

“A misunderstandiiiiing?”

“Huh?”

“My positiooooon?”

Why, you punk? What now?

What has gotten on your nerves again?

Patrick said to the flinching Baron Schneider.

“Are you saying, Father, that someone like me is capable of actually capturing poor children, so from your ‘position,’ you could have made such a ‘misunderstanding’?”

“Woooow…”

Is it possible to pick on someone this much with just two words?

Could this be what the world calls political skill?

To the speechless Baron Schneider, Patrick now sat on the floor and began to beat the ground and lament.

“Aigoo! Aigooooo! How saaaaad! The world is too sad to live in.”

“No, son. What are you suddenly…”

“The one and only father I have in this world doesn't trust his son, huh? Treating me like a slave trader, treating me like a criminal.”

“I told you that was a misunderstanding, didn't I?”

“I searched every nook and cranny around the fief and caught monsters. I went all the way to Parmas and worked my butt off to earn money. I worked so hard, but my own father treats his son like a slave trader. Aigooooo! How saaaaaaad!”

I may not have money, but do I not have character?

Baron Schneider was known as such a good person in his surroundings that he could confidently say this to the world.

But even he became a villain in an instant when he was caught by Patrick.

What left Baron Schneider most speechless was that everything he said was true.

His son had indeed accomplished a great deal.

He was a proud and grateful son.

But….

‘He's really detestable.’

How could he be so grateful and yet so detestable at the same time?

It was Baron Schneider's principle that there should be no switch in a child's education, but for the first time, a crack began to form in that principle.

“So sad! So sad! People of the town, look at me. My father calls his son a slave…”

“W-… wait a minute, you punk!”

Seeing Patrick now opening the window and starting to shout loudly outside, Baron Schneider was genuinely flustered.

“Mmph~. Mmmm~. Mmph~.”

“Let's talk. Let's talk, you punk!”

He hastily covered his son's mouth, but Patrick continued to desperately shout something, as if the world needed to know the truth.

Watching the scene, Lawrence smiled contentedly and thought.

‘What a mess.’

It was the evaluation of the old butler who had dedicated his life in loyalty to the Baron Schneider family.