Chapter 3
Kazar
Like a doll with its strings severed, Ernolf’s body tilted toward the ground, but the boy dashed like the wind and caught him in his arms.
‘What on earth is going on here?’
Until now, he hadn’t been able to process anything because he was busy dealing with the crisis, but now it was time to actually think. However, no matter how much he wracked his brain, he couldn’t figure out what had happened. The only certain thing was that he had opened his eyes in the mine he had escaped from in his youth, and that his brother, who should have died back then, was alive.
‘Does this mean I’m empty-handed again? What about my domain? My throne? King Kazar the Undefeated has turned back into a mine slave?’
Even after 50 years had passed, Kazar clearly remembered what had happened back then.
Out of nowhere, the mine supervisor had called both him and his brother, asking which of them would work in the underground deep shaft. The deep shaft was a place where difficult or useless slaves were primarily sent. Kazar was a difficult slave to manage, and his older brother, Tirad, was a sickly, useless slave.
“The newly excavated shaft is upstairs. I’ll go to the underground deep shaft. You stay upstairs and look for an opportunity to escape.”
“What kind of bullcrap is that? Do you have any idea how grueling deep-shaft labor is?”
“I will go to the deep shaft!”
Before he could stop him, Tirad stepped forward in front of the supervisor first. Kazar pushed Tirad aside and insisted that he would go instead, but it was no use. The supervisor sent the strong Kazar to the site of the new shaft excavation, and assigned the sickly Tirad to the dangerous underground deep shaft. It was a measure to separate the two, who had been caught attempting to escape a few days prior.
While working in the new shaft, Kazar came face-to-face with spider monsters tearing out of thick egg sacs in the dirt.
“Whoa!”
Startled, he accidentally spilled his water bucket, and the spider hatchlings shrank back in disgust, disappearing into the rocky crevices.
‘They hate water?’
Kazar quickly picked up the fallen bucket and remained on guard against his surroundings. Though invisible right now, it felt as though monsters were hiding and watching from the shadows. Upon further investigation, traces of egg sacs were discovered all over the new shaft.
‘If I use these things…’
They could escape this time. He felt certain of it. Using the monsters to cause chaos wasn’t difficult. The real problem was reaching Tirad before the monsters could harm him and hiding together in the water puddle at the end of the deep shaft. Even a slight delay would allow the monsters to harm Tirad, so he had to arrive as early as possible. The opportunity came sooner than expected.
“It’s caving in! Get out of the way!”
“Argh!”
Whether spider monsters were inhabiting the inner walls of the expanding shaft, the mine collapsed right in the middle of construction. It was because the spider monsters living among the soil and stones had already weakened the shaft.
“Tiri! Tiri! Where are you?!”
His only brother. Calling out the name of his sole blood relative, Kazar ran like a madman. Along the way, he clashed with the supervisor.
“Get over here, you bastard!”
Only after barely overpowering him was Kazar able to run toward the deep shaft where his brother was once again. And a short while later, Kazar found Tirad dead, crushed beneath rocks. That was the last image he had of his 14-year-old brother.
50 years later, Kazar opened his eyes in the mine shaft once again.
‘What happened? Where on earth is this?’
After looking around and catching the scent of dirt, he realized this was the mine where he and his brother had been trapped in their youth. Whether this was reality or a dream, he couldn’t tell. But instinctively, Kazar ran toward his brother. Yet, his limbs wouldn’t move the way he wanted them to. His movements felt heavy and sluggish, as if he were submerged deep in the ocean.
‘Damn it, this is from before I Awakened my Aura.’
Realizing why his body felt so heavy, Kazar hid in a corner away from sight.
‘There’s no time.’
Kazar took a deep breath and focused his mind to awaken his Aura Heart. He was a Sword Master whose name had once echoed across the North, unmatched by any opponent. Reactivating his Aura Heart was not difficult; the key was whether he could reach that place in time. Judging whether this was a dream or reality was a matter to think about only after saving his brother.
‘Done!’
As soon as his Aura Heart beat for the first time, Kazar ran once more. His body felt lighter and stronger than just a moment ago.
“Tiri! Tiri! Where are you?!”
He dashed like an arrow to the spot, where he could faintly make him out. This time, instead of lying collapsed on the floor covered in blood, he was standing perfectly fine. Seeing his dead brother alive again filled his heart with such overwhelming joy that it felt like it would burst. Kazar slammed his body into the supervisor threatening his brother, picked up a rock, and smashed his head. Rage boiled within him at the thought that his brother had died back then because this man had held him back. After killing the supervisor, Kazar returned to his brother while suppressing his bloodlust as much as possible.
“I was looking for you forever. Didn’t you hear me calling?”
His brother, who had died at a young age, looked even more scrawny and sickly than he remembered. Seeing that wretched appearance—worse than a beggar’s—made anger surge through him, making him grind his teeth.
‘I won’t let you die here.’
Kazar slapped the dazed and stunned Tirad across the cheek to snap him out of it. If they wanted to get out of here alive, they had to hurry.
“Let’s go.”
The wrist he grabbed to lead him away was terrifyingly thin. He worried he might break it, but fortunately—or unfortunately—he was also trapped in a beggar-like body himself, unable to exert his full strength.
‘Damn it.’
Getting a second chance to save his brother was great, but having to live in this body again for a while was utterly ridiculous.
“Why are you just standing there? Are you scared?”
“Uh, n-no… It’s just that my current situation is a bit complicated. Don’t mind me.”
“What are you even saying? What’s with the way you talk, anyway? You sound like an old geezer…”
Tirad was acting a bit strange. His eyes darted around anxiously, unable to focus at all.
“There’s nothing to be scared of. Monsters showed up in the newly excavated shaft, so everyone’s panicked. We’ll be able to escape without getting caught this time.”
“Monsters? What kind of monsters? And what do you mean, ‘this time’? Was there a previous attempt?”
Weak as he was, Tirad had been sharper than anyone else in the mine. It was strange for him to speak as if he had forgotten how they had been caught and punished while trying to escape the mine before.
‘Why is he like this?’
Normally, Tirad should have been hit on the head by a falling rock from the ceiling and ended up a corpse by now. Looking closer, he spotted bloodstains near his head. Though he hadn’t died like that time, it seemed the injury had made his mind a bit addled.
‘It’s fine. As long as he’s alive. Whatever’s broken, I can fix it somehow later.’
I will definitely rescue my brother from here. Engraving those words in his mind, Kazar wracked his brain. The method he had attempted in his past life—hiding in the water puddle at the deep shaft and waiting for an opportunity to escape—was a terrible plan. Because shortly after the spider monsters appeared, something far more terrifying showed up near the exit. It wasn’t an exceptionally strong creature, but it was a burdensome opponent to deal with in his current body.
‘This time, as soon as I find Tiri, let’s head straight for the entrance.’
Just as he thought that, his brother said something peculiar.
“Is there anywhere we can get water?”
There wasn’t a soul who didn’t know that water filling the deep shaft was a headache for expanding the mine, yet Tirad asked where water was. He might have forgotten due to panic, but it was a bit strange. When asked if he was thirsty, Tirad said something even more astonishing.
“Those things are terrified of water. If we spray them with it to drive them off, we can secure a path forward.”
“How do you even…”
He was curious how he knew that, but the creatures were already closing in, leaving no time to press for answers. To save his brother, Kazar sprinted with all his might toward the water puddle at the end of the deep shaft. After scooping water until his arms trembled, he returned to find Tirad lying flat on the ground.
‘…Is he dead?’
A terrifying thought made his heart drop. So he deliberately sneered.
“You look pretty comfortable. You’re not dead, are you?”
Then, his brother, who had bumped his head, said something weird again.
“Do you know how Red-Spotted Spiders hunt their prey?”
“No idea.”
“Once they capture their prey, they paralyze its limbs, then slowly dissolve and suck it dry.”
Right, their names were ‘Red-Spotted Spider Monsters.’ He had forgotten the name since he hadn’t seen them in a long time, so thanks for reminding him…
‘Wait, how on earth does he know the monster’s name and habits so well? He’s lived as a slave his entire life and never learned to read, nor has he ever even looked at a book from afar.’
Did he suddenly get possessed by a deity? He looked like Tirad, but his actions and tone were entirely like a different person. He couldn’t just brush this off anymore.
“How do you know something like that?”
“I just know. Since they look like spiders, they probably act like them too.”
Since they were identical to spiders except for their size, it was possible to think that way. It felt somewhat off, but hearing the explanation made it seem plausible enough.
‘Come to think of it, even as a child, his body was weak, but his mind was sharp.’
Tirad knew how to do arithmetic despite never being taught, and he had an extraordinary memory, never forgetting anything he saw once. Since he was an miraculously clever kid, making such an inference about the habits of the Red-Spotted Spiders didn’t seem out of the ordinary.
“Get on my back.”
“It seems you have no intention of abandoning me.”
Having barely brought a dead guy back to life, he was saying ridiculous things.
“Shut up and just get on already.”
“Is there a cart or something? My body is stiff, so it might be difficult to piggyback.”
“You really are something.”
For his brother, who looked as if a light touch would break every bone in his body and kill him, Kazar brought a cart.
“Save me!” “Who’s there? Take me with you!” “Hey, over here!”
As he pulled his brother in the cart toward the entrance, cries for help resonated from all around.
‘Ah, right. I almost forgot. Thanks to those bastards, I had such a lovely childhood.’
They needed to escape the mine quickly, but leaving the supervisors alive sat wrong with him. After the situation settled, they might come hunting for escaped slaves, or they could spread their personal details to enemies. For the sake of future plans, they needed to be eliminated. Plus, getting payback for what happened in his childhood made it two birds with one stone.
‘In the past, I just left because I had no power, but things are different now.’
Though he was back in a frail, scrawny body on the verge of starvation just like back then, one thing was different: he had Awakened his Aura Heart. As Kazar passed through the shaft, he slaughtered every supervisor he laid eyes on.
“Look over there, Tiri. It’s the exit! Just a little further and we’re outside! Now you can get out of here too!”
Recollecting the time when he had to leave his dead brother behind in the mine and escape alone, emotion surged within Kazar. However, Tirad didn’t respond. Just as he was checking if he was still breathing, the surroundings suddenly grew dark. Looking back, sure enough, that creature had appeared, blocking the mine entrance. Flipping the cart to hide Tirad inside, Kazar drew his dagger.
“Stay here! I’ll save you in a second!”
Had he not lost his original power upon regressing, a mere Retchaka wouldn’t have been worth a single punch. But right now, even exerting his absolute all made victory uncertain. Trapped in a corner with nowhere to move, the Retchaka’s tentacles stretched toward his shoulders. Right then, an unbelievable event occurred. Tirad—that guy dried up like a dog bone—used magic.
“What was that just now? Was that magic? Brother, can you use magic?”
He was so startled his heart nearly leaped out of his throat. This was more shocking than regressing back to his childhood.
“Yes, it’s magic.”
“Since when…?”
“Just recently.”
“Whoa…”
To think Tirad was destined to become a mage. Furthermore, he was a ‘Self-Awakened One’ who had awakened his Mana Heart through his own power without the aid of a guide. He had heard about it in stories, but in his entire life, Kazar had never seen a Self-Awakened One. That was because Self-Awakened Ones existed solely in legends.
‘The most powerful human between heaven and earth.’
It was known that even ‘Transcendent’ beings—said to be infinitely close to gods—could only be reached by Self-Awakened Ones.
‘If he hadn’t died like that in a place like this, he could have conquered a nation… No, perhaps even the entire continent.’
Feeling the bitter grievance that such a person had lived a miserable life as a mine slave only to perish at age 14, Kazar felt deep anger.
‘If my brother had been alive, would things have been different? I always wondered about that, but to think it could be this different. This much…’
Kazar’s past life had been stained with betrayal. Companions with whom he had shared life and death, trusted vassals, and even his wife and children had all plunged blades into his back. That was why he had always lamented, thinking that if his blood brother were alive, he would have stood by his side without betraying him under any circumstances. And yet, he turned out to be a mage. He had never anticipated gaining such a formidable ally.
“Ha… Things are turning out really interesting.”
Kazar quietly muttered, gently stroking the head of his unconscious brother. He didn’t know whose scheme had brought this about, but he liked this situation very much.
