I Became a Magical Genius After Regression

Chapter 47

There are official roads all over the continent.

They are not as densely connected as blood vessels, but they still connect all the necessary places.

It is said that the ancient empire that unified the continent built them, and although there are no detailed records, scholars believe they are at least 2,000 years old.

Perhaps because the ground was compacted with black soil and paved with flagstones.

Even after such a long time, the official roads were still serving their purpose perfectly.

Thanks to this, everyone on the continent, from merchants to travelers, mercenaries, and the kingdom’s couriers, used them frequently.

‘Official roads, they’re good. But the problem is…’

The roads are too good.

Naturally, the official roads became a favorite spot for bandits targeting merchants and monsters craving human flesh.

So, caution was always necessary when traveling on the official roads.

“But… there’s nothing?”

However, Randel had been enjoying a pleasant journey for three days.

Bandits aside, he should have encountered monsters like goblins or kobolds occasionally, but he hadn’t seen a single one yet.

It was all thanks to Aris.

When they had just set off on horseback, Aris had said,

―Shall I guide you to Molbeth?

―Huh? How do you know the way?

―It’s in my memory.

―Well, it is a road that’s been around for 2,000 years. But the road must have changed quite a bit, right? Anyway, guide me.

As Randel spoke, a blue dotted line appeared in front of him.

It seemed to be telling him to follow it.

At first, he didn’t trust the guide.

The blue dotted line didn’t just point to the official roads.

Sometimes it would tell him to enter the forest out of nowhere, or to cross a field.

In those cases, he would dismount and lead the horse himself.

However, when I calculated the time later, it was much faster than just running through the main road.

―Wow, there was a path like this.

―For road maintenance, a shortcut.

It roughly meant a shortcut.

More than being fast, it was better because there were no annoying things like bandits or monsters.

Purr.

So, Randel let the tired horse walk after running all day today and looked up at the sky.

Between the blue clouds, a hint of crimson was swirling.

Randel, who had spent more time camping than under a roof, knew what that color meant.

“We need to find a place to sleep within an hour.”

―A little more. There’s a good place. To the left.

“Okay.”

Randel grabbed the reins and headed back into the forest.

This time, too, he diligently followed the blue dotted line and saw a wide clearing.

It was perfect for making a campfire, just as Aris had said.

Randel tied the horse to a nearby tree and prepared to camp.

The basics of camping start with a fire.

When he dug the ground to make a fire, he found rotten wood pieces.

“Oh, this used to be a village site?”

―Yes. Now, it’s gone.

“Well, it’s been at least 1500 years, so it makes sense. It seems the village disappeared, and this road was forgotten along with it.”

Knowing that, he looked around and saw small clearings here and there.

They were all sites of houses from the distant past.

Randel finished digging the ground with Dig magic and lit a fire with Fire magic.

He took out firewood from the subspace and piled it up, making it very convenient.

Before the regression, when he was a mercenary, he did everything by hand without using magic as much as possible.

Of course, that was much faster.

‘A wizard digging the ground with a dagger and lighting a fire with flint. My old self was really…’

Randel shook his head and took out food from the subspace.

It was a large stew he had asked the butler to prepare before departure.

The stew was frozen solid, as the subspace itself had an extreme coldness.

So, anything put into the subspace would freeze like this.

―What’s for dinner tonight?

“Stew. If you cut some jerky into it, it’s edible.”

Randell placed the pot over the campfire.

As the stew in the pot melted, he shredded the jerky into it like sawdust and waited for it to boil.

Slurp.

Randell served the sufficiently boiled stew onto a plate.

He was hungry, but Randell did not rush.

His posture as he tilted the pot was almost reverent.

‘In the past, I almost starved to death because there was nothing to eat.’

When he first started his mercenary life, there was no one around to teach him anything.

So, when he went on long-distance missions, he didn’t know how much food to prepare or what to prepare.

As a result, he once almost died after being stranded in the forest for several days without food.

Since then, Randell never took a single meal lightly.

“Mmm…”

Randell took a bite of the stew and savored the taste.

Amidst the mushiness of the potato base, he could taste the salty flavor of the salted beef.

Although the jerky had crumbled and there was nothing to pick up, it instead imparted a savory taste to the vegetables and broth before disappearing.

Next, he bit into the moderately soft eggplant. The sweetness of the eggplant and the saltiness of the jerky alternated.

A most satisfying meal.

And just as he was about to take a second bite.

Clang! Clink!

―That guy… catch…!

―Surround…!

The sound of weapons clashing came from somewhere.

His appetite vanished.

“Damn it.”

Thud.

Randell threw the spoon into the stew bowl.

Sizzle.

Randell, who had extinguished the fire with water magic, listened carefully.

Amidst the sounds of fierce fighting, angry voices could be heard intermittently.

Usually, fights don’t last long.

It’s not a war, and the opponent isn’t a lifelong rival, so there’s no reason for it to drag on.

They just fight briefly and intensely, stab each other, and it’s over.

But this time, it had been going on for quite a while.

A fierce battle, or perhaps a fight between many people.

‘East.’

Randell, having gauged the direction, headed that way.

It wasn’t out of a desire to save someone or out of curiosity.

It was simply absurd to sleep near such a dangerous element close to the campsite.

He hadn’t even learned alarm magic yet.

If an enemy sneaked up while he was sleeping and stabbed him with a dagger, there would be no time for casting spells.

So, he had to be cautious on his own.

‘In the past, I would have just run away.’

He would have walked all night to put distance between himself and the danger, then found a new campsite.

Or he would have put out the fire and hidden quietly.

But not anymore.

‘Why should I run away? They should be the ones running away.’

He didn’t know who the opponents were, but surely there wouldn’t be any intermediate or advanced knights wandering in this barren northern region.

At most, they would be bandits or mercenaries.

Randell suddenly thought.

Gaining power.

That meant having the right to choose the direction of one’s life.

* * *

The fight was happening surprisingly close.

Right on the main road Randell had passed earlier.

‘Bandits.’

The first thing he saw were men in shabby leather armor and cloth garments.

A dirty impression with a bushy beard, a face scar that clearly shows the effort put into carving it… The profession was obvious without even looking.

And the four of them were eagerly persecuting a knight and a teenage boy in their mid to late teens.

The knight and the boy seemed to have been caught while preparing for camping like Randel, as dry firewood was visible in the back.

If Randel had continued running without Aris’s guidance, he would have encountered them soon.

‘Let’s watch for now.’

Randel hid himself among the bushes and observed the situation.

He needed to be sure of what was happening to decide how to act.

Should he help one side?

Or should he bury them all and sleep comfortably tonight?

Clang, Ka-kang! Cha-chang!

“Die, you b*stard!”

“Shut up, you thief!”

The battle was getting fiercer.

The four thieves were wildly swinging their swords at the knight.

The knight was blocking all the attacks without being pushed back, but that was all.

‘The knight isn’t living up to his face.’

The knight had better weapons, better armor, and even used mana.

On the other hand, the thieves had poor weapons, shabby armor, and above all, couldn’t use mana.

So the knight should have cut them down in one stroke, but he was struggling.

‘Is it because he’s protecting the boy behind him?’

Even considering that, it was still a bit much.

He wasn’t a trainee, but a level slightly above an apprentice knight.

His silver hair, shining even in the dark, and his distinct features were very handsome, but his skills didn’t match.

And then.

The boy, who was being protected behind, shouted as if to cheer for the knight.

“Clark! What are you doing, not being able to defeat that one!”

“……”

“I took you in because you were the weakest in the knight order and no one else would take you! Shouldn’t you try harder?”

“……”

“I saw you only training in the morning yesterday! A knight should know the value of a single drop of sweat―”

“Young master, please!”

“I’m listening! What do you need? Just say it!”

“Could you please shut that mouth of yours?”

“Why? I’m cheering you on with all my might!”

“Ugh…!”

Randel, who was listening, shook his head.

He finally understood why the knight couldn’t exert his strength.

It was because he couldn’t maintain his composure.

And the one who was wildly shaking the knight’s composure wasn’t the enemies’ combined attacks.

It was the boy who kept throwing in a word from behind at crucial moments, sapping his strength.

―Strange.

Even Aris, the spirit, muttered in bewilderment.

“He’s anxious too.”

―If he’s anxious. He acts like that?

“Look closely. He’s clenching his teeth so hard that his jaw muscles are stiff. He’s also sweating profusely.”

―You’re right…

“So, he’s genuinely cheering because he’s so scared he feels like he’s going to die.”

―That’s… genuine?

“I can’t believe it either.”

At that moment, the flow of the battle changed.

“Argh!”

The knight succeeded in stabbing one of the bandits.

The bandit, whose leg was pierced, staggered back.

It was natural that the combined attack’s offensive weakened.

But the knight wasn’t completely unscathed either.

Seizing the opportunity, one of the bandits slashed at the knight’s shoulder, cutting through the gap in his leather armor.

Feeling the crisis, the knight gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Wait! I’m offering you a toll, so why do you keep attacking?”

A reasonable question.

But the bandits’ reaction was fierce.

“I won’t take it, you b*stard!”

“Because you’re a thief without parents, you filthy scum!”

“What? My son sells his body at a brothel so our family can survive? If you don’t want to give it, just say so!”

“You strangled my mother and buried her in a grave?”

The thieves were foaming at the mouth with bloodshot eyes.

It was clear at a glance that they were half-crazed.

Judging by the situation, it seemed like the boy had said something, but their reaction was overly sensitive.

Thieves are usually a bunch who live by exchanging all sorts of obscene and vulgar words with each other.

But to react like this over a few curses?

But that’s that, and this is this.

Having assessed the situation, Randel began casting.

‘Normally, I wouldn’t get involved in such matters…’

Because it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe.

Are all thieves bad?

There were countless cases where families starved to death due to the lord’s exploitation, leading them to become thieves.

And the boy they were attacking now might be the son of the lord who exploited them.

As revenge for their starved-to-death families.

But this time was an exception.

‘Nice to meet you, b*stards.’

What Randel saw was the headbands the thieves were wearing.

Those red headbands were the mark of a guild formed by the thieves.

He couldn’t count how many times he had suffered at their hands before his regression.

Moreover, they occasionally raided slash-and-burn villages, kidnapping people and selling them as slaves.

He had no reason to pass by such human scum.

Randel immediately used magic.

“Gris, Gris, Gris.”