Chapter 004

“It’s really delicious!”

Leo patted his full stomach with a satisfied expression. His smile was so cute that Alex couldn’t help smiling too.

Itreallywasdelicious….It really was delicious….

Alex.Let′stryadifferentcutnexttime.Alex. Let’s try a different cut next time.

Therewasn′tenoughfatthistime.There wasn’t enough fat this time.

Alex had grown fairly used to ignoring Ibaek’s voice, which sometimes sounded like background noise, and opened his mouth.

“Leo, let’s wash up and get ready for bed.”

He couldn’t remember how many years it had been since he last said something like this.

In the ‘future,’ Leo had cried so much that he couldn’t even eat the food the neighbors gave him properly before falling asleep.

“Okay!”

Seeing Leo answer so energetically, Alex felt as though he might burst into tears.

Thisguyreallyisanephewfanatic.This guy really is a nephew fanatic.

Alex didn’t know the word, but somehow understood what Ibaek meant. He let it go in one ear and out the other and prepared to wash up.

Perhaps because so many things had happened today, he was tired.

The battle with the Demon King. Leo’s death.

Returning to the past. Meeting a Lich from another world.

And finally, reuniting with young Leo.

‘And now I have a body, too.’

Perhaps it was because he had gone from being a ghost, who couldn’t feel tiredness, to having a physical body. His body felt even heavier.

Alex went to the bathroom with Leo and filled the wooden bathtub with warm water. Leo had spent the whole day catching fish and playing by the riverside, so he needed a warm bath, too.

When Alex got into the bathtub with little Leo, some water spilled over the edge.

“It’s warm!”

“Ahhh….”

It felt like he was finally washing properly for the first time in twelve years. A sound of satisfaction naturally escaped Alex’s mouth.

It felt as though his whole body was melting.

Ah…that′srefreshing….Ah… that’s refreshing….

Alex didn’t know why Ibaek, who should be feeling something similar, called it refreshing, but he didn’t bother asking.

He simply enjoyed the peace.

He was so happy with this peaceful moment that he felt like crying.

After they finished washing and came out clean,

Alex lifted Leo up just as the boy came running toward the bed.

Leo burst into delighted laughter. Alex smiled brightly and played with him for a while, lifting him up and moving him around.

Then he gently laid Leo down on the bed and covered him with a soft blanket.

“Uncle, grill meat for me again tomorrow. It was really, really delicious!”

Normally, Leo would excitedly talk about what he planned to do with his friends tomorrow. But tonight’s dinner must have been so delicious that he kept talking about the meat.

“It was the best meat of my life!”

A six-year-old was already talking about the best thing in his life.

Alex burst out laughing, but at the same time, he felt sorry that he hadn’t been able to give Leo delicious food all this time.

Perhaps because of that, he felt a little grateful to Ibaek for teaching him the recipe.

“Okay. I’ll make it again tomorrow evening.”

“Wow!”

Leo’s sky-blue eyes, which resembled the sky itself, sparkled brightly.

“Hey, Uncle. Can we grill a lot more and share it with my friends?”

“Of course.”

“And Uncle Mark and Grandma Jessie and…!”

With the blanket over him, Leo began naming his friends and the villagers one by one, folding his little fingers as he counted.

Atthisrate,he′sgoingtoholdavillagefeast.At this rate, he’s going to hold a village feast.

Exactly.

Kind-hearted Leo seemed to want to share the delicious meat he had eaten with everyone in the village.

“And… Grandpa Dean, too….”

As he continued, he slowly fell asleep.

Leo, who had played happily and had his uncle return home safely, and who had eaten the most delicious meat of his life, fell asleep with a very happy expression.

‘Unlike back then….’

Alex’s throat tightened as he looked at the young face of Leo, which had no tear stains at all. He was deeply moved.

“I’ll keep making you happy from now on, too.”

What should he do to make Leo happy?

‘I need to get rid of the Demon King and the demons.’

And he had to stop the monsters that caused so much damage to the continent.

‘To do that, I can’t stay in this village.’

He needed to improve his abilities and become stronger by using his knowledge of the ‘future’ to obtain treasures scattered across the continent.

‘Fortunately, I know a lot about swordsmanship.’

While living as a ghost, he had learned not only the swordsmanship of ‘Hero Leo’ but also the techniques of many knights and mercenaries he had encountered.

The sword techniques of the knights from the Knight Empire, the sword techniques of the Holy Knights from the Holy Kingdom, the swordsmanship of mercenaries, and even techniques passed down by a single person through generations.

Since he was a ghost, Alex could easily enter training grounds that no outsider was ever allowed to enter. That had made learning swordsmanship even easier.

His mind was filled with all the knowledge of swordsmanship he had accumulated. He could choose any technique he wanted and learn it.

‘Of course, it will take quite a while.’

But he was willing to work hard if it meant making Leo happy.

‘To do that, I’ll have to leave the village.’

Twelve years before the destruction.

This was an important opportunity to stop the Demon King’s and demons’ schemes and plans, as well as the incidents that had accelerated the coming of the age of destruction.

‘But that doesn’t mean I can leave Leo alone for years.’

He had no idea how long it would take for someone like him, an ordinary farmer, to defeat the Demon King. He might even die along the way.

‘That can’t happen. It would be just like the future.’

The most important thing was Leo’s happiness.

He wanted Leo to grow up happily and enjoy his life.

‘So he has to be happy in the present, too, not just in the future.’

That was why Alex decided to leave the village and travel with Leo, so the boy wouldn’t feel lonely.

‘I’ll teach him swordsmanship, help him make lots of friends, let him eat delicious food, and take him traveling.’

He wanted to give Leo everything he had been unable to give him because he had died too early.

Imagining Leo happily looking at the wider world instead of staying in a small village, Alex smiled warmly.

He would be the only one to take on the dangerous things.

“Let’s have a little talk, Lich from another world.”

But before that, he had to deal with this matter first.

I′mIbaek,youknow.I’m Ibaek, you know.

Carefully getting out of bed so he wouldn’t wake Leo, Alex headed to the living room.

“Have you thought of a way to get out of my body?”

ThemostreliablewayistomakeanotherLifeVessel.The most reliable way is to make another Life Vessel.

Alex had thought of that method, too.

“The materials probably won’t be easy to get.”

That′sright.Weneedatop−grademagicstone,andahugeamountofgoldandsilver.Theothermaterialsareextremelyrare,too.That’s right. We need a top-grade magic stone, and a huge amount of gold and silver. The other materials are extremely rare, too.

Itwon′tbeeasytogathereverything.It won’t be easy to gather everything.

“Then why did you make the Life Vessel so fragile when it was so difficult to make?”

Alex remembered the glass marble that had crumbled into dust just from being touched and asked. Ibaek quickly protested.

Imadeitsturdy!I made it sturdy!

Maybeitwasweakenedbytheshockofcrossingintoanotherworldandthentransferringintoyourbody?Maybe it was weakened by the shock of crossing into another world and then transferring into your body?

“…Was the shock that great?”

Crossingdimensionsprobablyisn′tsomethingeasytodo.Crossing dimensions probably isn’t something easy to do.

Hearing that, Alex temporarily put his plan to escape to another world with Leo on hold.

If even a Lich’s Life Vessel, which must have been protected by all kinds of magic, crumbled into dust, crossing dimensions with a fragile human body would be even more difficult.

One wrong move, and his entire body might explode.

Alex frowned and returned to the main topic.

“Then making a new Life Vessel will be difficult.”

Thanks to traveling with the Hero’s party, he knew where some rare materials were located. But with his current abilities, obtaining them would obviously take an enormous amount of time.

‘It might be faster for the Solenium Church to discover me and kill me first.’

Alex sighed.

“What other methods are there?”

None.None.

At Ibaek’s carefree answer, as if he hadn’t even thought about it, Alex gritted his teeth.

“You bastard. You don’t intend to leave my body, do you?”

Yep!Yep!

The answer was as cheerful as could be.

Thinkaboutit.Think about it.

IfIleaveyourbody,Iwon′tbeabletotasteanything.WouldIwanttoleave?If I leave your body, I won’t be able to taste anything. Would I want to leave?

It′sthefirsttimeI′veeatenfoodindecades.It’s the first time I’ve eaten food in decades.

Alex could understand that, but that didn’t mean he could keep Ibaek inside his body forever.

Alex had also thought of a few methods.

The first and easiest way would be to report the matter to the Solenium Church.

But if he did that, Ibaek would certainly be destroyed, and Alex would suffer the consequences as well.

‘At the very least, I’d die….’

Having no intention of dying again, Alex immediately thought of a second method.

That was to ask the mages of the Magic Tower Federation to find a solution.

But that was just as terrible an option as going to the Solenium Church.

“Those crazy bastards are out of the question, too.”

He could easily imagine the insane mages shouting, ‘Test subject!!’ and rushing toward him. A chill ran down his spine.

He would have to worry about his life even here.

“The only thing left is to find an ancient artifact….”

Among ancient artifacts and cursed objects, there were quite a few related to souls. He wondered if he could use one of them to separate Ibaek’s soul from his own.

‘The problem is that objects capable of separating and extracting a soul so precisely are extremely rare.’

Naturally, there were none near his home. They were all hidden deep underground in distant regions.

“At this rate, finding an ancient artifact and making a new Life Vessel will probably take about the same amount of effort….”

A sigh escaped him.

It seemed he would have to stay with the Lich from another world for quite a long time.

I′mfinewiththingsstayingthisway!I’m fine with things staying this way!

“I’m horrified.”

As Alex rubbed his face with his hands, Ibaek chuckled and spoke.

Thinkaboutitinapositiveway.Think about it in a positive way.

Ialsowantyoutolivealongtime.Thatway,Icanfeelsensations.I also want you to live a long time. That way, I can feel sensations.

It was the first time in decades that he had felt anything.

Ibaek wanted to eat delicious food for a long, long time and feel warmth and coolness.

SoI′llprotectyouandmakesureyoudon′tdie.So I’ll protect you and make sure you don’t die.

Alex wasn’t sure whether he should be grateful for that.

“But you can’t use magic.”

At Alex’s words, Ibaek answered as if he had been waiting for that question.

That′swhyI′vebeenthinking.That’s why I’ve been thinking.

IfIcan′tusemagicbecauseI′minsideyourbody,wouldn′titworkifyou,Alex,useditinstead?If I can’t use magic because I’m inside your body, wouldn’t it work if you, Alex, used it instead?

Alex’s eyes widened.

“…Me?”

That′sright.I′llteachyoumanacultivationandmagic.That’s right. I’ll teach you mana cultivation and magic.

Hearing that, Alex fell into thought.

Learning magic would be good. It was powerful and useful in many ways.

‘And I might even be able to find a way to travel safely to another world.’

He hadn’t given up yet.

Escaping to another world.

If things became truly dangerous, Alex was fully prepared to run away with Leo.

‘But….’

Alex didn’t want to give up swordsmanship. He already knew so many sword techniques from the ‘future,’ and it would be a waste not to learn them.

‘Besides, there are enemies that magic doesn’t work against.’

However, the mana cultivation method that formed the foundation of magic and the aura cultivation method that formed the foundation of swordsmanship couldn’t be learned together.

‘You can only learn one.’

Magic or swordsmanship.

Which one would make him stronger?

As Alex sank into deep thought, Ibaek asked in confusion.

Youdon′twanttolearnmagic?You don’t want to learn magic?

That′sstrange.Everyonewantstolearnit.That’s strange. Everyone wants to learn it.

“I do want to learn it, but… I’m also planning to learn swordsmanship.”

Alex spoke with a sigh.

“I can’t learn both, so I think I should choose the one with greater potential.”

?You′replanningtolearnswordsmanship,too?? You’re planning to learn swordsmanship, too?

Hmm.Hmm.

Thenwhynotjustlearnmanacultivation,whichletsyouuseboth?Then why not just learn mana cultivation, which lets you use both?

LikeaMagicSwordsman.Like a Magic Swordsman.

“A Magic Swordsman?”

Aprofessionthatusesbothmagicandswordsmanship.A profession that uses both magic and swordsmanship.

Therearen′tanyhere?There aren’t any here?

Alex shook his head at the unfamiliar term.

“No. Mages can only use magic, and swordsmen can only use swordsmanship.”

Ah,Isee.Sothat′showthisworldworks.Ah, I see. So that’s how this world works.

Thenyou′llbethefirstMagicSwordsman,Alex!Then you’ll be the first Magic Swordsman, Alex!

That′sawesome!That’s awesome!

I′llteachyou!I’ll teach you!

At Ibaek’s words, Alex asked in surprise.

“Can I really use both a sword and magic?”

Ofcourse!Whetherit′sthemagicpowerusedbymagesortheaurausedbyswordsmen,thefoundationisstill‘mana,’right?Of course! Whether it’s the magic power used by mages or the aura used by swordsmen, the foundation is still ‘mana,’ right?

ThemanacultivationmethodIcreatedisawaytocontrolmanaitself!The mana cultivation method I created is a way to control mana itself!

Besides,youcanuseitwhilemovingortalking.Aslongasyoucanconcentrate,it′sevenpossibletotrainasnaturallyasbreathing.Besides, you can use it while moving or talking. As long as you can concentrate, it’s even possible to train as naturally as breathing.

At those words, Alex couldn’t help admiring him.

It seemed that the Lich inside his body had been an extraordinary existence in his own world.

“Good. Teach me.”

If he could learn Ibaek’s magic and it helped Leo’s happiness, then perhaps he wouldn’t need to separate Ibaek’s soul after all.

‘Although the Solenium Church is dangerous.’

Couldn’t he just avoid them as much as possible?

“But can I learn the magic of another world?”

Itshouldbefine.It should be fine.

Ifthelawsgoverningmagicweredifferent,Iwouldhavealreadydisappeared.If the laws governing magic were different, I would have already disappeared.

Justlikehumanscan′tliveunderwater.Just like humans can’t live underwater.

A Lich was an existence created through magic.

If the magic of Earth and the magic of Solenium were different, Ibaek wouldn’t be perfectly fine.

Well,itmightbealittleunusual.Well, it might be a little unusual.

You′lljusthavetocomeupwithanexplanationyourself.You’ll just have to come up with an explanation yourself.

“Okay, I understand.”

Just as there were sword techniques passed down by a single person, there were also small schools of magic, so it shouldn’t cause a problem.

First,let′strysensingmana.First, let’s try sensing mana.

Sitdownonthefloor.Sit down on the floor.

Following the way he had seen mages train in the ‘future,’ Alex sat cross-legged on the living room floor and placed his hands on his knees.

You′reprettynaturalatthis.You’re pretty natural at this.

Isn′tthisyourfirsttimelearningmagic?Isn’t this your first time learning magic?

“I’ve seen mages training before.”

However, unlike swordsmanship, he couldn’t learn magic just by watching, so he didn’t know much about it.

Hmm,really?Hmm, really?

Itseemsthemagesherearesimilartotheonesinourworld.It seems the mages here are similar to the ones in our world.

After expressing his surprise, Ibaek continued.

Nowcloseyoureyesandtrytosensethe‘somethingnew’intheair.You′llfeelsomethingdifferentfromusual.Now close your eyes and try to sense the ‘something new’ in the air. You’ll feel something different from usual.

Inourworld,itusuallytakesafewweeks,butIdon′tknowhowit′llbeinthisworld.In our world, it usually takes a few weeks, but I don’t know how it’ll be in this world.

“It’s similar here, too. If you have talent, it takes a few days. Normally, it takes a few weeks, and if you’re slow, it can take more than a year. If you have no aptitude, you can’t sense it at all.”

That′sexactlythesameasourworld.That’s exactly the same as our world.

Still,sinceI′minsideyourbody,Alex,youwon′tbecompletelyunabletosenseit.Still, since I’m inside your body, Alex, you won’t be completely unable to sense it.

Since the soul of a Lich, an existence made of magic itself, was inside his body, it was bound to have some effect.

Manaisthesourceoflife.Humans,animals,andplantsallpossessit,thoughtheamountdiffers.Mana is the source of life. Humans, animals, and plants all possess it, though the amount differs.

Whenitentersthehumanbody,itbecomesmagicpoweroraura.When it enters the human body, it becomes magic power or aura.

Alex listened carefully to Ibaek’s explanation.

Manafeelslikeasolidrock.It′sheavy,too,soitcan′tbemovedeasily.Mana feels like a solid rock. It’s heavy, too, so it can’t be moved easily.

Alex closed his eyes.

Since he was just an ordinary commoner and farmer, it would obviously take some time. So Alex tried to sense mana without rushing.

‘Something new. A feeling different from usual. Heavy and solid, like a rock.’

Just as Alex was about to concentrate in earnest to sense the mana in the air—

‘…Huh?’

…Oh?…Oh?

Ibaek, who was sharing Alex’s senses, felt something.

Something heavy and solid, with an overwhelming presence unlike the air—

Holycrap!Youalreadysensedmana?Holy crap! You already sensed mana?

It was mana.