How to survive as a beggar count

Chapter 10

In the early morning, the calm sunlight gently bathed the land.

Compared to the old world, where poisonous fog filled the air and red geysers erupted, this place felt like heaven. But still, there was a sense of unease deep in my chest.

“Ugh…”

This was all Ian’s fault. No, it was because I had ended up in this filthy, pathetic body.

I still didn’t know who orchestrated such a miserable trick.

Slap!

I slapped both my cheeks forcefully.

I struck hard enough that my pale skin turned red, and it helped clear my mind a bit.

Let’s think positively. At least the immediate crisis is over, right?

In the trial by combat, as promised, Krod would step in, and Aimon would be spared from becoming Blank. I had blocked the express train to ruin, for now.

But even that wouldn’t be enough to restore the poor count’s house.

The most fundamental issue…

Ian was far too weak. I needed to get stronger.

“That’s why I’m up this early…”

Thanks to raising my rank, most of the wounds I received from the wild boar during our fight had healed.

After three days of practicing ‘Heal,’ my body was mostly recovered.

I could certainly feel the benefits of reaching Rank 2.

“Mmm… Confucius… As you said, I’ve prepared it.”

Ylenne, rubbing her sleepy eyes, brought a deeply concave bowl.

She seemed to have struggled these past few days because of the instructions I had given her when I brought the meat.

“Alright. Let’s see.”

An unfamiliar yet familiar scent wafted up from the concave bowl.

How should I describe it… maybe like a mix of kimchi, pizza, and sweet and sour pork?

It wasn’t a bad visual, so it seemed like it was edible.

“You told me to put barley and vegetables into the soup that was simmered with the thigh bone… Will this be okay?”

“Have you tried it?”

“I tasted it while adjusting the seasoning… but I’m not sure. The grains are kind of rough and a bit unpleasant to chew.”

“…Fine. I’ll just eat it myself.”

The bowl contained something like a beef soup.

[└Beef Soup Recipe: 1. First, remove the blood from the shank…]

That crazy person who kept posting recipe comments on “World Conquest with Rank Boost!” Thankfully, because of them, I remembered the recipe vaguely.

Though I couldn’t gather all the perfect ingredients, I tried my best to mimic it with wild boar meat.

Instead of beef, I used wild boar meat, and instead of white rice, I used barley.

Slurp.

As I took a spoonful, the rich, meaty broth spread a salty flavor in my mouth.

It’s been so long since I’ve had gukbap. There was a slight pig smell, but it was surprisingly comforting since it had been such a long time.

“Ah… this is it.”

“As you said, half of the meat is being made into jerky. It should be ready in a few days.”

“Hmm. Very good.”

When it comes to bulking up, nothing beats gukbap.

The hot broth with plenty of meat, and although it’s a bit disappointing that it’s not rice, the barley gave it a similar taste.

It was delicious, and a balanced meal with carbohydrates, protein, and fat. This is a complete food.

“Honestly, do you know how shocked I was when the Master arrived?”

“Hmm?”

Irene, perhaps feeling wronged after working hard for days, kept complaining.

“He came in covered in blood. And brought chunks of flesh dripping with blood! I really thought something had happened.”

“…Do I look like someone who kills people?”

“Umm… Hehe.”

Now that I think about it, she doesn’t hold back with her words.

Well, let’s let this slide since she’s been through a lot.

“From now on, serve this for meals. Make something else for my father. Later, jerky will give a similar taste.”

“Yes! But… what should we call this?”

“A name? Hmm… just call it a nutritional dish.”

“Nutritional dish… that’s right! It looks full of nutrition.”

It must have looked that way to Irene too.

Anyway, after filling my stomach with gukbap from the morning, I felt much lighter and the unsettling feeling from earlier faded.

After finishing the meal, Irene took the empty bowls away.

This place was the training ground owned by the Impera Count’s family. Thanks to that, I didn’t have to face Aemon’s face first thing in the morning.

He doesn’t seem like a bad person, but there’s something uncomfortable about him. It feels like he stole someone else’s child’s body.

“Hrk.”

I let out a light burp and looked around the training ground.

The training ground in the mansion’s backyard was quite old.

The floor, which should have been covered with sand, was overgrown with weeds, and it looked more like a thicket than a proper field.

There were no training dummies either, and it looked more like an abandoned lot.

“Well, Aemon is more focused on magic than swordsmanship.”

The training ground was established during Ian’s grandfather’s time.

Since Aemon was more focused on his magic rank rather than swordsmanship, he rarely visited except when he was randomly using skills. And after he became the head of the family, he almost never came back.

The next in line was Ian, that damn troublemaker, so the place hadn’t seen any visitors for years.

“Hmm.”

I took a wooden practice sword that had been lying around in the family’s report.

It wasn’t an artifact. It was just an ordinary wooden sword with no edge, placed beside the armor to complete the set.

Of course, anything valuable had already been sold by Ian, leaving the place empty.

The wooden sword had no edge and wasn’t worth anything, so it couldn’t be sold.

Huff…

I took a deep breath and straightened the sword.

It had been a long time since I felt this sensation—the feeling of facing a straight sword.

Compared to the past, when I was Lee Jin-Soo, my arm muscles were weak, and my internal mana was insignificant.

But at least, compared to then, my stomach felt solid now.

A trial by combat could be settled if Crode stepped in.

But what about after that?

Crode was a member of the Eternal Knights, a madman who would do anything for the Empire, even if it meant sacrificing everything.

It was impossible to sway someone like that to my side.

Even if I somehow won the trial by combat, Count Vener would come up with another move.

And even if I stopped Count Vener, in this world where rank meant everything, surviving without a rank was impossible.

Moreover, to be honest, I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of having Crode stand in for the trial by combat.

I didn’t want to find myself in direct opposition to the protagonist of this novel for no reason.

“Whatever happens, I need to get stronger. Not through someone else’s power, but my own.”

I can do it. With the knowledge and experience I have.

First, I lightly swung the wooden sword.

Swish!

I cut a few strands of weeds growing up to my waist, but the ones further behind just bent their heads.

Even though it was a wooden sword, my body couldn’t even cut through the weeds well. That’s my current level.

Huff.

I closed my eyes and recalled old memories.

The days when I swung a sword to survive, slaying monsters. Every day was a hellish struggle to stay alive.

Then, suddenly, the swordsmanship of the people in this world came to mind.

Swordsmanship that was similar yet different from the one I had learned as Lee Jin-Soo. The foundation behind them was completely different.

The swordsmanship passed down through the generations under my family’s name, and the swordsmanship I used to simply swing in order to survive.

Occasionally, when reaching the ‘top,’ one would be rewarded with a swordsmanship book, but those were used as artifacts.

There were no traces of the accumulated years of the noble family’s swordsmanship.

Honestly, there was no time to worry about years or such.

After the first great cataclysm, everything and everyone had died out in just ten years.

“First, I need to get my body used to swinging a sword.”

The muscles used to swing a sword are different. It’s not enough just to have broad shoulders; I needed to build the muscles within.

The method isn’t that difficult.

The more I swing, the more familiar I’ll become, and the stronger I’ll get.

“Maybe I’ll try a thousand swings today.”

Whoosh!

The first step to leveling up began.

***

“Ughh!”

As I finished my thousandth swing, I collapsed on the spot. My whole body was drenched in sweat, and the surroundings spun around me.

I had started at dawn, but the sun had already set, and I still couldn’t see it.

It was exhausting enough to kill me, but I knew this kind of effort wouldn’t be enough to kill someone.

Ugh…

“Young Master!”

Irene, who had come to bring dinner, hurried over.

She placed the bowl of gukbap neatly on the ground and helped me up.

Yes, food should be handled with care.

“Are you alright?!”

“Ugh… this feels like death…”

“Then why did you do something you’re not used to doing?!”

Grrr

Even in this situation, my stomach was still hungry. I had spent the entire day swinging a sword, so my energy consumption had been enormous.

“Irene.”

“…Yes, Young Master. What is it?”

“Please, one request.”

“Now what are you going to say…?”

“Please feed me… I can’t lift a spoon with my arms like this.”

“Ugh… Fine.”

Irene shook her head but silently followed my request.

As I half-laid down, Irene spooned some gukbap and fed it to me.

She must have been tired from working all day and looking after me, but she was such a kind girl.

“Mmm… It’s delicious.”

“I’m glad.”

“Could you add a bit more meat?”

“Here you go.”

I chewed and swallowed the bite of meat.

“…This meat… It’s from a wild boar, right?”

“It’s not human meat.”

“So that’s why you needed the petition.”

“……”

“I’m glad. That you’re safe.”

“Didn’t I say? I still don’t want to die.”

“Yes. You did.”

Her eyes were welling up with tears, and I thought I should change the subject quickly.

“Slurp… Is there anything difficult going on?”

“Difficult? Since Count took me in, I haven’t had a single hard time!”

“Still, there must be one or two things.”

“Haha. Really, nothing at all. Have you ever thought breathing was difficult, Young Master?”

“Umm… No.”

“For me, the Count’s house is like that. It’s just something I have to do, like breathing.”

Slurp.

Maybe I shouldn’t have brought this up. The atmosphere was starting to feel strange.

“Besides, you’re working hard like this. Wouldn’t it be wrong for me to say I’m struggling?”

Slurp.

“Then you focus on what you need to do. I’ll do my best to help you.”

Slurp.

Fortunately, the bowl of gukbap was now empty.

After eating nothing but plain pork gukbap all day, I was starting to feel a bit tired of it. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll add some chili powder to spice it up.

“Are you done?”

“Mmm. Yeah.”

“If you need anything else, just call for me!”

As usual, Irene cleared away the empty bowl and left the training ground.

She really was a loyal maid. She didn’t just speak pretty words in front of me.

Even when Ian offered her as a sacrifice for black magic, Irene stayed here.

Huff.

Now that I’ve eaten and exercised hard, it’s time to rest and recover.

Back when I lived as Lee Jin-Soo, I had tried everything to survive and grow stronger. One trick I had learned through experience was that muscles grow when they tear and regenerate. I wasn’t sure of all the details, but that was how it worked for me.

Tearing muscles is easy, but the real problem was regeneration. Recovery always took time.

If someone who didn’t know swordsmanship swung a sword a thousand times a day? They’d spend days just recovering.

If this were a world without mana, that is.

“Heal.”

I cast a recovery spell on my exhausted arms. I didn’t just use it once and stop, I kept casting it repeatedly.

Crackle!

The process of healing made a loud noise as it rippled through my skin. At the same time, pain surged through my arms as if they were being torn apart.

“Hmm…”

It hurt, but it wasn’t unbearable. I was familiar with this pain since I had experienced it before.

I would continue tearing my muscles and healing them every day. A simple but mindless training method.

No magic potions or special methods—just the right fit for the heir of the Count’s house.