Reincarnated in the Same World for the Nth Chapter 71 : Chapter 71

Chapter 71

At first, Aquila did not comprehend what had happened.

The faint light he had been watching from the bottom of the well suddenly flipped upside down.

Sky, darkness, and a brief flicker.

Then he flinched when his own hand slipped into the edge of his vision.

“……Ugh.”

Even when he tried to mutter to himself, What is this? or What just happened?, the only sound that erged was a groan thick with pain.

At so point, Aquila had ended up sprawled across the ground.

The mont he beca aware of that fact, a belated wave of agony struck the back of his head.

The sa searing pain throbbed in his shoulder, knee, and cheek where he must have struck the ground as he fell.

Hummmm!

In the next instant, the status window flickered, and a warm energy spread throughout his entire body.

The blessing of the Sun God began to radiate outward, wrapping around him.

Only then did Aquila draw a breath as his senses gradually returned.

“Ah. So I do not lose consciousness so easily. It might have been better if I had.”

A muttering voice reached his ears.

Perhaps because his mind was still floating from the shock, he could not properly interpret the words, but he knew at least that it was not Cahena’s voice.

Aquila’s body stiffened.

Not because it was the voice of a stranger, but because it was far too familiar to him.

“Truly… I am sorry. I thought this much would suffice, so I held back my strength. If this was going to happen, I should have struck harder.”

Step. Step.

Heavy footsteps sounded directly behind him.

Sensing soone approaching, Aquila’s face hardened.

He tried to lift his head, but his body refused to move as he intended.

…Move!

Aquila twitched as though he wanted to scream.

Soon, a strange hand entered his field of vision.

It was rough and sturdy, calloused in the way of soone who had long wielded a sword.

That hand picked up an object lying on the ground.

A monocle with a silver fra and a chain.

The man stared intently at the Eye That Sees the Hidden.

“I am sorry about this as well. It must have been difficult to obtain… but it is sothing I need more.”

Though the man added those words in a tone that sounded genuinely apologetic, he did not return the Eye That Sees the Hidden.

“Kh….”

Each ti Aquila twisted his head, a hot liquid flowed from the back of his skull, warming the nape of his neck.

It seed his head had been properly struck and split open.

Of course, such a wound would soon heal under the blessing of the Sun God.

However, the pain was not the problem.

Damn it, I cannot move…!

At first, he thought it was simply because of the injury, but sothing seed to be pressing down on his body, preventing him from moving.

Moreover, the surroundings were eerily silent.

Cahena, who had gone down into the well, should have been able to co back up in an instant, yet there was no response from her at all.

Even if he had moved so distance away from Lady Raiesel’s private soldiers and the Temple Knights, it was strange that not even a single voice could be heard.

The only sound was—

“Still, I will leave you sothing. In exchange for taking this magic tool.”

After slipping the monocle inside his coat, the man rummaged through his clothes.

Then he took out a small box and set it down sowhere beyond Aquila’s reach.

A small brown box.

He did not know what was inside, but it was tied with a bright red ribbon, like a gift.

Instead of the box, Aquila clenched the dirt beneath him.

He could sense that the man was about to leave after saying those words.

Whether blood flowed from his wound or not, Aquila gathered strength into his entire body and struggled to rise.

He gritted his teeth, not caring that dirt dug into his fingernails.

“Then I shall be going. As you know, I have many matters to attend to.”

Despite his efforts, the man turned away after leaving his farewell.

Scraping at the ground, Aquila forced out a voice that would barely erge.

“…Ah, ngh!”

“Until we et again, Claude.”

The man’s presence disappeared completely.

“……Hah!”

At the sa ti, the strange force that had been binding and pressing down on his body vanished in an instant.

Aquila sucked in a sharp breath and sprang to his feet.

As though nothing had happened, his hands and feet moved with ease.

He whipped his head around, scanning the surroundings, but of course Ark was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, the dizziness only worsened, and Aquila staggered heavily.

What just happened…?

Clutching his head, Aquila could not suppress his confusion.

He had only seen a hand, but it had unquestionably been Ark’s voice.

There was no way he could mistake it.

…Claude. Did Ark just call Claude?

With an expression of disbelief, Aquila replayed the conversation in his mind.

But there was no mistaking the pronunciation.

Ark had called him Claude.

The na from the twenty-ninth regression.

For Ark Batchel to recognize him and call him by the na of a previous regression—

That had never happened once in all thirty regressions he had endured.

Had he finally gone mad?

Yet unlike the ti he spotted Ark’s back in the marketplace, the blood flowing from the back of his head and the throbbing pain remained all too real.

Aquila reached out and touched the nape of his neck.

Bright red blood sared wetly across his fingers.

“What in the….”

His gaze gradually darkened.

“Hey, young master! If breaking it was enough, may I co up now?”

Cahena’s voice rang out from below.

Perhaps she had not properly heard Aquila earlier when his voice had been cut off midway; she was still at the bottom of the well, shouting at the top of her lungs.

Coming back to his senses, Aquila looked down at the blood on his hand.

…This is troubleso.

He wiped his hand roughly against the hem of his clothes.

Then, shifting his gaze, he staggered toward the box on the ground.

“I am coming up since I assu it is finished!”

Receiving no reply from Aquila, Cahena seed to sense sothing strange and answered herself.

Without further delay, the sound of her kicking off the well’s wall and climbing upward followed.

At the exact mont Aquila snatched the box and shoved it into his coat as though hiding it, Cahena leapt out of the well.

She landed lightly on the ground.

“Phew! The stench down there was so terrible my nose—”

She raised her head as if wiping away sweat, then abruptly froze.

The sll of blood.

Her gaze shifted from Aquila’s face, which stood a little away from the well, to his hair.

Beneath the vivid red that looked almost afla… blood was flowing down.

“…Young master!”

Cahena’s eyes widened as she rushed to him and examined the wound on his head.

Blood was streaming from the torn back of his skull.

Moreover, it was clearly the sort of wound that could only result from being struck by sothing.

“What on earth… who would…!”

A confused cry burst from her lips.

She had been below the well for no more than five minutes at most.

When she went down, Aquila had not a single injury.

His answer had cut off briefly midway, but that had been only a matter of seconds.

Then what was this wound?

Even if she had been at the bottom of the well, who could possibly have slipped past her and done such a thing?

“It will heal soon….”

Aquila continued in a slightly slurred voice.

It seed he was losing consciousness from the blood flowing from his head.

Snapping back to her senses, Cahena removed her outer garnt and pressed it against his head, then lifted him up in one swift motion.

The Temple Knights were here, and so were Heinen and Yujelia.

Treatnt had to co first.

“…Do not lose consciousness!”

On the hill.

It would be faster for her to run herself than to ride a horse.

Gritting her teeth, Cahena held Aquila tightly and kicked off the ground.

***

A commotion broke out.

They had said they would find the ritual tool quickly and gone down, only for Aquila to return with blood streaming from his head.

Shen, who had barely risen from his seat after complaining of dizziness from the wyvern flight, scread and nearly fainted again.

Thanks to the blessing of the Sun God, the wound had already partly closed, but Yujelia, who had scread just like Shen, found it strange as she treated him.

“A wound of this extent should not bleed this much….”

She tilted her head.

And when asked what had happened, Aquila did not give a proper answer.

He had already heard that not much ti had passed since Cahena destroyed the Black Crystal.

A re one minute.

Yet his conversation with Ark had lasted longer than that.

Ti? But Ark does not possess such an ability….

Aquila briefly thought of Ark.

Even so, he could not tell the truth.

So he simply said that he had suddenly felt pain at the back of his head, collapsed, and must have briefly lost consciousness, and when he awoke, the Eye That Sees the Hidden was gone.

It was not entirely false.

“A magic tool….”

“At the very least, it must have been soone who knew that Lord Aquila possessed it.”

rien Raiesel, who had at so point removed her disguise, joined the discussion and added her thoughts.

She had said they would et in the northeast; it seed rien had been searching for ritual tools in her own way as well.

“More importantly, has the disaster—has the worst been prevented?”

“Yes. Nothing will happen.”

Pressing a hand to her chest, rien let out a deep sigh.

Ever since discovering the corpse embedded with crystals, her anxiety had been spiraling without end.

At his assurance that nothing would happen, she was finally able to feel so relief.

“…I will order that any suspicious individuals be sought out and that the surrounding area be searched imdiately.”

Thanks to the prophecy delivered to him by the great ancient dragon Igdrein, the disaster that might have descended upon Portplum had been prevented.

To her, Aquila Reschenhardt was nothing less than a benefactor.

And yet that very person had appeared at the end with a wound on his head.

Moreover, such a thing had occurred in a place swarming with Lady Raiesel’s private soldiers.

This was also a matter of her pride.

After giving her orders, rien departed with a hardened expression.

“Our Temple Knights will also inspect the area. If the situation has concluded, it would be best for you to return rather than remain here.”

“Yes, that is right. You have suffered a serious blow to the head, young master. You must rest.”

Fortunately, the lodging where they were staying was nearby.

The sudden end of the first main scenario, combined with his physical and ntal exhaustion, left Aquila rely nodding blankly.

It felt as though his consciousness was slipping away in a hazy manner.

After Aquila was hurried back to the lodging, Shen scolded Cahena harshly.

How could such a thing have happened when she had been present?

“…I have no excuse. I did not see it, so I have nothing to say in my defense.”

Cahena bowed her head.

She truly had sensed nothing.

No presence, no killing intent, nothing at all.

Her skill, standing on the threshold of upper-tier Sword Expert, was formidable even across the Delvion continent.

But the reason she had failed to detect Ark’s presence was simple.

Ark is a Sword Master….

No, to be precise, he had been a Sword Master.

At the end of every previous regression.

But now that the world has been reshaped as I moved into a different body, it should have changed. Then what is he?

After his blood had been thoroughly cleaned away, Aquila lay on the bed.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, he listened as Shen’s raised voice outside the room gradually quieted, the conversation turning hushed.

It seed they would not enter for a while.

Glancing toward the door, Aquila retrieved the box he had hidden inside his coat.

His head still felt slightly dizzy, but opening this seed urgent.

Ark had left it behind in exchange.

After taking a deep breath, Aquila untied the ribbon and opened the box.