The Immortal Genius Spearman (1)
It was a desolate land.
The land, ravaged by war, was stained with blood, and all the homes and shops, once marked by human touch, were destroyed beyond use.
Corpses discarded like trash lay scattered along the road.
And at the end of that, in the heart of the deathly land devoid of glory, stood a man.
His armor appeared unremarkable.
Blood flowed out from under his pressed-down helmet, obscuring his vision.
The spearhead, which seemed fit only for ordinary soldiers, had lost all its teeth and wobbled as if it would break at any moment.
“Cough!”
In the end, Damian knelt on one knee, coughing up blood.
He had managed to fend off the enemy’s assault after a fierce battle, but…
‘…Damn it, I said from the start it was a reckless plan.’
The mission was a success.
Not only did they stop the enemy’s advance, but they also annihilated an enemy force of over two thousand.
And that with only a force of a mere hundred people. But…
“……”
Damian looked at his fallen comrades.
Except for himself, not a single one had survived.
Clench!
Blood flowed from his tightly bitten lips.
Though they were his subordinates, to Damian, they were the first ones he considered family.
“I’m sorry… If only I had been a little stronger, I could have protected all of you.”
Damian saw the members of the unit who had already become corpses.
Some of them had died with their eyes still open, so Damian slowly walked over and closed their eyes.
Thud.
Then, Damian collapsed to the ground.
By now, so much blood had flowed that it was pooling around where he lay.
Damian knew as well.
That he, too, would die here.
Perhaps it was because his time to die had come?
Regretful memories of the past flashed before his eyes.
‘If only I had been a little faster.’
Damian had joined the military at the age of twenty-five and, like a dry sponge soaking up water, he grew at an incredible rate.
In just one year, he became a commander of fifty men, and by his second year, he was leading a hundred.
Though his promotion was stalled because he came from a punishment unit, by his third year, he was skilled enough in spear techniques to best most knights.
However, there was one regret…
“…Fuck”
Damian recalled the ghastly scar on his lower abdomen.
Due to a mishap with a knife during his time in the back alleys, the mana core in his lower abdomen was broken, rendering him unable to use magic.
Of course, the fact that he started at the late age of twenty-five also played a part.
“Hah…”
Looking back, his life was filled with nothing but regrets.
He regretted so much that it brought him to tears, but it was all pointless.
It seemed like he now understood why people say that only regret remains when one is about to die.
“Damn it.”
Just once.
If only I could have just one more chance…
‘I could have truly dominated the battlefield with these guys.’
He had once had such thoughts.
Imagining himself sweeping through the battlefield alongside his comrades, annihilating enemies in a triumphant march.
But now, it was just…
Swoosh.
Eventually, Damian’s head drooped down, and his hand fell limply to the ground.
Damian, the centurion of the Baroque Kingdom’s punishment unit, closed his eyes on an unknown battlefield at the mere age of thirty.
* * *
“Ahh!”
With a groan that sounded like a fit, Damian opened his eyes.
A man standing next to him gave Damian an awkward smile and said,
“Hehe, Damian, how can you fall asleep at such an important moment? Hurry up and sign here.”
“…Uncle Pucker?”
Despite just sitting there, sweat was streaming down his forehead.
His chubby cheeks wobbled with every smile, and his hairy hands were clasped together, rubbing as if trying to curry favor with Damian.
That sly smile, that voice, and the disgusting smell that emanated whenever he spoke.
How could it still be so vivid even after all these years?
But then Damian’s eyes widened in shock.
“…What?”
What is this situation?
Am I dreaming?
“I, I was just…”
He clearly remembered the moment he had killed over two thousand enemies and collapsed, so why was the most detestable face right in front of him?
Moreover, this face.
Even in dreams, he wanted to beat it to a pulp.
Unconsciously, Damian slapped Pucker’s cheek.
Smack!
“What?”
“Ahh!”
A stinging sensation in his palm and a scream that pierced his eardrums.
As Pucker fell to the ground, people around them gasped and shouted in surprise.
“Honey!”
“Are you alright? No, you! What do you think you’re doing?”
The middle-aged man sitting across the table from Damian couldn’t hide his shocked expression.
But the most shocked person was Damian himself.
‘This… feeling…’
It wasn’t a dream.
Now, the environment around him began to come into focus.
Damian looked around the room.
“This is…”
It was Uncle Pucker’s house.
How could he forget?
He had lived here for over a year after his parents passed away.
And the man in front of him.
He was the very person who handled his parents’ life insurance.
He couldn’t recall his name, though.
Swoosh.
Damian glanced at the documents on the table.
They consisted of about ten pages and were quite complicated, but the content was simple.
It was a document transferring his parents’ life insurance money to Uncle Pucker.
‘At the time… I thought Uncle Pucker was just holding onto it for a while.’
How foolish he was. Or perhaps it was inevitable?
Even though he was thirteen, he was an inexperienced novice with no real-world knowledge.
Having been cared for by Uncle Pucker as if he were his own child for over a year, Damian had come to see him not just as an uncle but almost as a parent.
‘But…’
The moment he signed this document, Damian’s life changed entirely.
Once Pucker received the insurance money, he revealed his true colors, and after being kicked out, Damian had no choice but to wander until he eventually ended up in the shadows.
“Haha…ha…ha…”
His mind was a whirlwind, trying to make sense of whether this was a dream or not.
The wretched memories of his past life flashed rapidly through his mind, and feelings of resentment and injustice began to weigh heavily on his chest.
But Damian soon fixed his cold gaze on the documents on the table. And then…
Snap.
Grabbing the documents, Damian, without even looking at them, tore them in half.
Rippppp!
“D-Damian!”
“What are you doing, Damian!?”
Pucker, who had fallen to the ground, suddenly jumped up from his seat and shouted at Damian.
Ignoring him completely, Damian looked at the insurance agent in front of him.
“What’s your name?”
“Uh?”
“Your name.”
“…It’s Wilson.”
With a stern expression, Wilson replied to the boy’s question.
Despite being ignored, after all, he was the customer receiving the insurance payout.
But more than that, it was difficult to think of his gaze as that of a thirteen-year-old boy; it was deep and sharp.
‘Can people… change so suddenly?’
Had he dozed off for about fifteen seconds before signing?
He had just closed his eyes for a moment, feeling dazed, but when he opened them again, Damian was different.
He had simply become someone else.
Damian said to Wilson, “The insurance payout will be received solely in my name at the Imperial Bank. Make sure to specify that as a special condition. Without my proof, signature, or any documents, it’s impossible to collect.”
“Damian! What are you talking about!”
“Damian, you’re still young, so your aunt and uncle will take care of it,” Pucker and his aunt hurriedly tried to talk to him, who suddenly changed.
But Damian shook his head. Wilson then took out a new document from his bag.
“I can add special conditions right away.”
After writing down the special conditions Damian mentioned on the document, he handed it over and said,
“Once you sign here, the insurance payout will be made to Damian’s name at the Imperial Bank. You can go there at your convenience for personal confirmation and collection.”
“Great.”
“Then I’ll excuse myself for personal confirmation.”
Wilson took out a needle and pricked Damian’s fingertip, collecting a few drops of blood into a vial containing a magical potion.
This magical potion and blood would react chemically, verifying Damian’s identity at the Imperial Bank later.
After all the procedures were completed, Wilson stood up from his seat.
“Well, thank you for your hard work.”
“Oh, wait! Hey, wait!”
Pucker grabbed Wilson belatedly, but Wilson left without looking back.
As Pucker stood there dumbfounded where Wilson had left, he turned abruptly and looked at Damian.
In an instant, anger surged through Pucker as his plans were completely disrupted.
“You bastard! What the hell is this?”
“Hmm… Thankfully.”
Damian smiled faintly at Pucker cursing.
Pucker frowned deeply.
“What did you say?”
“I was worried about what would happen if I just let it go.”
“You son of a bitch, what are you talking about?”
But Damian moved sideways and picked up the handle of a mop leaning against the wall.
“Thanks for reminding me why I should keep being a bastard.”
Thud.
Though only sixteen years old, Damian was better developed than his peers.
He was as tall as adults, well-fed and well-built due to good eating habits.
Moreover, Damian had been fighting in alleys and battlefields for over a decade.
Besides, he was about as fat as a pig.
“It’s gonna hurt a little. I’ve got a lot built up.”
“What?”
That day, the sound of killing a pig began to spread through Pucker’s house.
***
Of course, Damian came out of Pucker’s house.
Of course, for a few days, he had no worries about living because he had brought a few things from the house.
If his heart were like it, he’d want to leave for another city right away, But…
‘I have to settle the insurance claim.’
Because he don’t know what else Pucker will come up with.
After moving to a remote location and finding a place to stay, Damian sat in the room and organized the current situation.
“Phew…”
But no matter how much he thought and pondered, there was no way to explain the current situation.
“The past… and even 17 years ago…”
Damian looked at his hands, still soft with baby skin.
Unlike the rough hands full of calluses before, his hands were smooth and white.
Swish.
Damian took off his top and looked at his stomach.
Unlike the past, where there had been gruesome scars on his lower abdomen, it was clean now.
“…The mana core is intact.”
This means…
“Now I can… learn magic.”
A flood of indescribable emotions overwhelmed Damian in that moment.
It was natural.
The mana core located in his lower abdomen was incredibly important for armed individuals practicing magic.
In the lower abdomen, the mana core is extremely important for warriors practicing magic.
Despite not having mastered magic in his past life, Damian possessed skills superior to most knights.
But because he hadn’t mastered magic, his limitations were clear.
However, now Damian has no limits.
In an unbelievable situation, Damian pinched his cheeks several times while looking in the mirror.
Now he must admit it.
Now he had to admit it
For some reason…
‘I’ve come back.’
Before his life twisted, right at that moment.
In his past life, Damian was relentlessly tough.
After being chased away by Pucker, Damian had no choice but to hide in the alleys and grow up under gangsters doing dirty work.
With no parents or guardians, the sixteen-year-old kid was a very tasty prey for them, you see.
For over ten years, he wandered the alleys, doing the dirty work of alley thugs, until he overturned a crime committed by a boss and ended up in prison.
‘…Damn bastard.’
Certainly, they promised him a significant position in the organization when he got out, but it wasn’t for crimes that could reasonably get him out of prison.
In the end, Damian went to prison and was forcibly conscripted to the battlefield.
But ironically, it was in the military that Damian’s life completely changed.
Damian’s talent with a spear was unexpectedly exceptional, and he quickly mastered what the military taught him.
Eventually, his skills were recognized, and he could even become a centurion.
‘Well, I still lost in the end.’
But among the thirty years of his life, the time in the military seemed to be the happiest.
– You must be really regretful. If only you had started ten years… no, five years earlier… things would have been much different.
Why did the words of the instructor who taught him in the past come to mind?
The words of the instructor, known as the Demon Instructor, who had taught recruits, kept coming back to him.
But then…
“…?”
Suddenly, Damian’s eyes sharpened.
He had fled to a remote place knowing this might happen…
“An unwelcome guest.”
