Dragonslayer’s Class Regression Chapter 137

Chapter 137

“The Hermit of Stories?”

The princess nodded and said.

“I heard about it from my mother. There’s a hermit of stories who has lived for hundreds of years on Mount Ouroboros, located in western Thebea where it borders Delpoa.”

“Hundreds of years? Is he a lich?”

“No. I heard he’s a sage who transcended human limits after realizing the ultimate truth of magic.”

“A sage…”

It seemed too much like a legend to be believable.

Then the princess carefully spoke up.

“Actually, I told Laura about this too.”

“You mean mother?”

“Yes. Laura was curious about many things regarding Irregulars. So after hearing this story, she went to find the hermit.”

“Going to find a hermit just based on such a legendary story mother had quite a reckless side too.”

“Well, since she found him, you can’t say it was completely reckless, right?”

“What?”

Princess Arina looked up slightly as if recalling that time and gazed into the distance as she spoke.

“When Laura returned from Thebea after meeting the sage, she told me about it. I didn’t hear exactly what they discussed, but she said he definitely possessed knowledge unknown to the world.”

“To think mother actually met the sage. That’s surprising.”

“If he was able to answer Laura’s questions about Irregulars, they must surely know about holy relics too.”

Zeke nodded at the princess’s words.

“Did mother tell you where exactly on Mount Ouroboros the sage is located?”

The princess shook her head.

“She said she wandered the mountain for almost a month when suddenly everything brightened and the path to where the hermit stayed opened up.”

Zeke tilted his head at the princess’s words.

‘Could that have been a portal?’

He thought this because he went through a similar process when meeting his previous life’s master, who was known as the Forest Hermit.

‘This Hermit of Stories, could he be…?’

Zeke barely suppressed the anxiety rising in his chest and stood up.

“We’ll have to go to Mount Ouroboros to find out.”

“Are you going to look for the Hermit of Stories?”

“If demon clans are searching for holy relics, the Empire and Abel’s side must be helping them too. We need to secure information first to prevent the holy relics from falling into their hands.”

Having directly experienced what happened when Abel gained power in his previous life, Zeke wanted to prevent this as much as possible.

He prepared to leave again after taking a brief rest. He had Liam and Felix stay at Agamemnon Castle to receive training from Sister Clonne.

“Ughhh. My lord! Let me come with you!”

Leaving Felix who was being dragged away while getting hit by Sister Clonne, Zeke headed straight for Thebea.

* * *

“Sir Knight. That over there is Mount Ouroboros.”

After traveling to Thebea via the highway from Mycenae, Zeke paid the cart owner he had hitched a ride with and got off near Mount Ouroboros.

Looking at Mount Ouroboros with its peaks rising far into the distance, Zeke pondered.

‘It’s a huge mountain range stretching from Thebea and Delpoa all the way to Argos – there’s no way to search it all.’

Though it was quite a daunting situation, Zeke had one thing he was counting on.

He expected that there was a high probability the Hermit of Stories was a member of the organization Zeke belonged to in the past.

And several hours after entering Mount Ouroboros, Zeke realized his conviction was correct.

‘As expected, these are Highlander markings.’

The arrangement of rocks placed along the mountain path, the positioning of trees – subtle markings that only Highlanders would recognize were created throughout.

Zeke wore a complex expression as he looked at the markings.

While he felt joy at being able to find the Hermit of Stories, he also felt fear about having contact with the Highlanders again like in his previous life.

‘I didn’t want to get involved with the Highlanders in this life.’

His life as a Highlander occupied the largest part of Zeke’s previous life.

But he didn’t really want to remember that time.

This was because he still felt guilty about breaking his oath as a Highlander that he made with his previous life’s master.

Zeke collected himself and climbed Mount Ouroboros following the Highlander markings.

There should be a portal leading to the Hermit of Stories where the markings pointed to.

* * *

It took a full day before Zeke finally reached the end of the markings.

“This way?”

Zeke surveyed the surroundings with his dragon eyes.

And he discovered a single tree standing straight in the middle of the forest.

‘That’s a spirit pole.’

The spirit pole that concentrated the power of portals served the most important role in marking a Highlander’s territory in that area.

Zeke slowly stood before the spirit pole.

Then he reached out his hand.

WOONG! WOONG! WOONG! WOONG!

After a moment, waves flowed out from the spirit pole.

Zeke held his breath and closed his eyes at the familiar sensation.

With a flash of light, Zeke’s figure standing in front of the spirit pole disappeared.

When Zeke opened his eyes a moment later, a completely different scenery from the Ouroboros forest spread out before him.

“A bamboo forest?”

Bamboo that was rare to see in the central continent stood densely on both sides of the path.

Bamboo leaves scattered by the wind created a leisurely atmosphere.

Zeke slowly walked up the path.

There was a small bamboo hut above.

Zeke felt a similar sense to his previous life’s master as he looked at the bamboo hut.

‘Back then it wasn’t a bamboo hut but a treehouse built in the trees.’

He slowly approached the bamboo house and knocked on the door.

“Is anyone there?”

There was no answer when he knocked.

Zeke carefully opened the bamboo door.

‘Huh?’

A man was lying on a bamboo bed.

“HMM NYAH HMM NYAH.”

The young man who appeared to be in his twenties seemed to be enjoying a nap while tossing and turning.

‘This person is the Hermit of Stories?’

He had imagined the image of a great mage with a long silver beard since they were called a sage, but this was completely different from his imagination.

Zeke recalled his previous life’s master.

‘Well, compared to master’s appearance, this is quite decent.’

As Zeke approached wondering if he should wake the hermit, he decided to wait until he woke up in case he was an eccentric mage.

It was several hours later when the hermit woke up.

“HMM NYAH NYAH NYAH! Ah, I slept well.”

After stretching, the hermit got up from the bed, lazily walked to the table and gulped down water from a bamboo cup.

“Ahh, refreshing.”

Zeke watched this scene intently while sitting in a bamboo chair.

It was 10 minutes later when the hermit finally noticed Zeke.

“You, who are you?”

The hermit was startled upon discovering Zeke sitting in the chair as he was about to go wash his face.

“I was wondering when you would notice me.”

The hermit composed himself and asked Zeke.

“How did you get in here?”

“Do you remember someone named Laura Agamemnon who visited you about 20 years ago?”

The hermit scratched his head thinking at Zeke’s words.

“20 years ago. Let’s see. What story was it?. Ah, that lady. The stubborn healer lady.”

“That seems right. I am that healer’s son.”

“Huh? That young lady already had a son? Has that much time passed already.”

The hermit looked at Zeke as if newly realizing this.

Zeke said to the hermit.

“I came because I have something I want to ask you.”

At those words, the hermit clicked his tongue and said.

“No, that healer lady was the same back then, do you think I’m some machine that just spits out answers whenever questions are asked? Even though I’m the Hermit of Stories…”

“I heard you’re a sage who knows not only all the world’s knowledge but also hidden knowledge.”

The hermit’s expression softened slightly at those words.

“Wh-who said that? Hmph, did that lady from back then say so?”

“That’s what I was told.”

Unlike before, the hermit nodded with a somewhat gentler face and gestured for Zeke to go outside.

He sat on a bamboo bench installed in front of the house and took out a fan from his chest, waving it gently.

“My goodness. Only that lady from back then and you have come all the way here because of curiosity.”

“What reasons do people usually come for?”

“It’s quite rare for anyone to find this place to begin with, but in the past kings would occasionally visit. Some asked me for prophecies. Most couldn’t even tell the difference between a sage and a prophet.”

“Do real prophets exist?”

“They’re rare but they do exist. Rather than prophecy, it’s closer to imagining all possible situations fragmentarily and predicting the most probable among tens of thousands of possibilities. It’s quite complicated to explain. You can’t even confirm that a seen situation will definitely happen. The moment you confirm it, new variables appear and the situation branches again… anyway, that’s how it is.”

Though quite different from the image of a sage, he did seem to know many things.

Zeke asked the hermit.

“I came to ask about holy relics.”

“Eh? Holy relics?”

“Yes. Do you know about holy relics?”

At those words, the hermit slightly furrowed his brow.

Then he stood up and muttered hesitantly.

“Holy relics… hmm.”

He closed his fan and said to Zeke.

“What did you say your name was?”

“Zeke Draker.”

“Zeke Draker. Draker. Hmm.”

Upon hearing Zeke’s name, the hermit opened his fan again and wrote his name.

Then he closed and reopened the fan.

The hermit showed Zeke the back of the fan.

On the back was written ‘Demon Beast 10’ in Chronos language.

“What is this?”

“It means you need to hunt ten demon beasts and bring them.”

“Demon beasts?”

“Did you think you could get answers for free? This is cheap compared to the question.”

Looking at the hermit who demanded demon beasts as payment for answers, Zeke newly realized they were a member of the Highlanders.

Highlanders perform their duty of maintaining world balance by hunting demon beasts from behind the scenes according to their oath, without revealing themselves.

The Forest Hermit who was Zeke’s master was the same.

In his previous life, Zeke made the Highlander oath in exchange for having his life saved and receiving training in inner energy from the Forest Hermit.

However, he broke that oath and fled from his master’s territory to Himonas in the north.

A scene sleeping in Zeke’s distant memories surfaced.

A woman wrapped in thick wolf fur holding a sword atop a castle wall facing the cold north wind.

‘Zeke Murray. Help me. The north needs you.’

In that moment, Zeke snapped out of his thoughts.

He stopped himself from awakening more memories, knowing he might run straight to Himonas even now.

‘Damn it. Get it together, Zeke Draker.’

He collected himself again and asked the hermit.

“Ten demon beasts will do?”

The hermit was surprised by Zeke’s casual question.

“Huh? Do you know what demon beasts are?”

“Yes. Are there demon beasts on Mount Ouroboros too?”

“If there weren’t demon beasts, I would have no reason to be here.”

Ordinary Highlanders wander without territory while hunting demon beasts.

However, Highlanders with powerful abilities create their own territories in areas where demon beasts frequently appear.

The Forest Hermit, Zeke’s master, was one of the oldest and strongest Highlanders.

That’s why they created their territory in the forbidden zone, the Forest of the Forgotten.

The Hermit of Stories seemed to be a similar case.

Zeke nodded at the hermit’s words and asked about the location of the demon beasts.

The hermit opened a portal to an area where demon beasts appear.

As Zeke disappeared through the portal, the hermit shook his head and said.

“Oh my, I wonder if he can even properly catch one.”

Most who sought them out were exceptional individuals who had great influence on the world.

Those destined to become kings, warriors who wielded dragon power, or mages who had glimpsed the truth behind reality.

But even such individuals rarely passed the hermit’s test.

If they passed the test, they could receive complete answers, but if not, they would receive no answer at all or only partial answers.

“It’s not that I decided this, it’s because of karma so it can’t be helped. Still, maybe ten was too much.”

The hermit lazily rolled around on the bench.

And one hour later. A signal came from Zeke requesting to open the portal.

“Huh? Given up already? Unexpected. He seemed more persistent than that.”

The hermit waved his fan to open the portal.

THUD!

As soon as the portal opened, ten hideous demon beast heads dropped down.

Zeke appeared without any particular injuries.

The hermit gaped at Zeke.