Rebirth of the Sword Saint: A Reincarnation Epic Fantasy Saga

by DB King

  Curious, Jin channeled magic into his eyes and peered into the wound. Foul magic lingered upon it, actively preventing his natural regeneration from fixing something that should have healed in less than two seconds. The seconds ticked by as Jin processed what’d just occurred right before his eyes. He then turned to look at Agito after the thousandth or so second, raising the blade, where his own face was reflected on the dark crimson metal. Jin had known for a while now that Agito had some kind of magic in it – something that made it so it didn’t rust or wither or chip or break. He could feel it coursing through the weapon itself, giving it its own personality and unique opinions on things.

  Jin had never known it could actively prevent wounds from healing, having never been on the wrong side of the blade. Is… is that why Yamamoto Gamashiki’s wounds didn’t regenerate when they should have? he thought. He did have the Phoenix with him and its regenerative properties should have healed through everything I did to him.

  Maybe… or maybe not. Jin wasn’t too sure and he didn’t exactly have a lot of options with which to test out possible theories. He couldn’t exactly just pull a random mage, strap them down to a chair, and subject them to horrific experiments; well, he could, but he promised himself, his friend, and his mother that he’d be different and so that option was immediately off the table. However, this was one experiment he couldn’t simply do to himself; the risks were too great and he knew too little about Agito – all things considered.

  Did Agito cause wounds to heal much slower or did it cause them to stop healing at all – an eternally bleeding opening on the skin? Too many questions and Jin wasn’t keen on using himself as a subject of experimentation.

  Jin glanced down at the tiny wound on his palm and noted the dissipating presence of the foul and unnatural magic. It was closing and healing, albeit at an extremely slow rate. After three seconds, the foulness upon the wound fully disappeared and his natural regeneration simply sealed the cut shut faster than Jin could blink.

  Agito seemed to groan in annoyance.

  Jin blinked and shook his head, taking a single step back. “What… what the hell just happened?”

  Jin’s eyes narrowed at the blade in his hand. Its crimson sheen glinted with a strange and unspoken malice – screams and flames echoing in from some dark realm. It must have been Agito’s unnaturally foul magical properties that prevented Gamashiki from healing through my attacks. Whatever magic had aided in the construction of Agito was, and is, potent enough to simply halt layer upon layer of magical regeneration.

  Agito belonged to him and him alone – the other living weapons all had their own properties that made them unique from each other in subtle ways. Agito, it seemed, was made to kill the unkillable, to bring down immortals and gods. A blade that was rather fitting for someone like him. It must have been forged with the intention of killing and maiming mages, since every bloody mage in this new world seemed to have advanced regenerative abilities that mages in his previous world could only dream of. And Agito’s whole existence countered that.

  Jin grabbed his left pinky. Let’s test a normal—

  He twisted, yelling from the sudden pain then emitting a sigh of relief not three seconds later as his regeneration kicked in and immediately fixed the broken finger. Jin raised his left hand to his eye level and briefly examined his pinky. Aside from some redness, there was absolutely no sign of injury. It did sting a bit, but that was likely a lingering mental effect, since breaking and twisting his own finger had been quite painful.

  I’m sure glad that worked, he thought, relieved. My regeneration is back to what it should be – if I absorb the cores of more Earth-Shaker Boars, I should be able to reach a level of regeneration that allows me to heal damage as I take it, just like the boar itself.

  For a moment, Jin’s thoughts drifted toward the mages who had partaken in the siege of Murasaki Castle. Their power had very clearly exceeded his own – even now. Did they also have an incredibly powerful form of regeneration? After all, they were older than him and would have had more time to develop themselves and absorb more creatures, and master whatever powers they had. Logically, mages of their caliber should possess an incredibly powerful and efficient form of regeneration that simply trumps all others.

  As he was now, he couldn’t hope to defeat them—to take his revenge. He had to gather strength and power, using Hirata village as his stepping stone. I shall amass wealth and build armies, he resolved. I shall retake what was stolen from me and I will bleed dry the Muramasa family down to the last child!

  Jin didn’t notice the grin on his face as he turned and walked away from the corpse, nor did he notice the darkness that seemed to linger about him, following in his every footstep, like a cloud of malice and darkness. Flowers and plants wilted at his passing, their life energy drifting out of their forms and flowing into Jin’s core. Tiny creatures, insects and rats, living beneath the soil in burrows, shuddered and died at Jin’s passing, their bodies turning into desiccated husks. For a moment, a horned specter with fiery red eyes seemed to hover above him, before disappearing into the wind.

  Jin, of course, never noticed any of this as he walked back to Hirata, content with the silence of the trees and the gentle song of the winds. His mind was too focused on the road to his revenge.

  I’ll have to talk to Arima about setting up a barracks, he thought. It’d be good to get a proper garrison up and running. The guards we have at the moment are plenty enough, but the village will expand more and more in time and it’ll be good if we had more people to defend it with. We could even send out more guardsmen to the watchtowers to keep passing merchants safe in our lands. That reminds me, I should really see to the bandit problem in the southern roads. It’s rather annoying every single time someone comes up and asks for help and I can’t do anything since it’s outside our damn borders.

  He walked out of the tree line and into the paved road, engineered by Jin’s own design, following the ancient roadways of his previous world, constructed by an empire that’d once spanned the whole world. One of their greatest creations had been the network of roads and highways that served to bridge the gaps between cities and kingdoms long after their fall. Of course, Jin couldn’t simply have the Moyatani people follow along their design exactly as it was simply too advanced, but he did construct a simpler, four-layer road as opposed to the empire’s original seven-layer design. Jin’s version worked well enough for Hirata.

  As Jin neared the gates of his village, several guards and peasants waved their greetings at him, which Jin returned in kind – it was always a good idea to endear oneself to one’s own people. He passed the gates and smiled at the bustling activity of the village. Peasants and merchants traded with each other in designated booths, while vendors and craftsmen sold their wares and goods in artisanal shops. It was loud, but it was the good kind of loud – the productive kind. Under his guidance, unemployment was all but non-existent in Hirata village; the only people who could not work were those too weak to even lift their arms and stood at death’s door.

  More people greeted him as he passed them, hundreds of footsteps clicking against the paved road. Jin forced himself to smile as he returned their greetings. Soon, however, a few guards walked toward him and stood at his sides, guiding the peasant folk away so they didn’t disturb him. Jin had found the whole idea to be odd and pointless, but Arima had insisted that nobles should be with guards at all times when in public. Begrudgingly, Jin accepted their presence and kept up his smiles.

  He entered the manor, passing by the stone courtyard where Ebisu and he had practiced a few hours earlier, before heading straight into Arima’s office. The barracks really needed to be up and running within the next six months, else winter would reach them and all possible activity would cease as everything froze over for the next three months. When Jin reached the door into his uncle’s office, however, the sounds of commotion reached his ears.

  There were three people there – not including his uncle �
�� who were arguing and yelling about… something. Jin leaned in and listened closer as one of them spoke. “They’ve been harassing our caravans and shipments for an entire week! You have to deal with those bandits or else trade is going to slow down!”

  Arima’s voice came next. His uncle spoke calmly, saying, “Unfortunately, the attacks are happening outside my fief’s borders. I can’t send in a force to deal with them without political repercussions, which I’d prefer to avoid.”

  “You could hire a group of mercenaries and send them in disguise!” another suggested frantically. “Whatever method you come up with, the merchants will support you. But they must be dealt with immediately!”

  Jin raised a single eyebrow.

  I guess I should deal with those rodents.

  Chapter 17

  “I’ll take care of the bandits.” Jin spoke coldly, eyes lingering over the distant woodlands. The sun was nearing its sleep, already settling itself in the roots of the mountains. The winds blew and brushed back Jin’s hair. It swayed like a tattered cape in a strong breeze. Jin turned and locked eyes with his uncle. The old man seemed to shrink in his seat.

  “It shouldn’t take long,” said Jin. “I’ll be back before the servants wake you for breakfast, uncle.”

  Toyotoda Arima sighed and shook his head, forcing himself to lean slightly forward, instead of having his back against his seat. Jin eyed him. The man seemed apprehensive. His lips curled to speak, but no words came out.

  “Uncle, is there something wrong?” Jin said, sighing. “Would you prefer we wait for another lord to deal with the miscreants?”

  “It’s not that, dear nephew.” Of the many virtues his uncle possessed, decisiveness was not among them. “I… ugh… I- I worry about your safety. Anything could happen outside my territory and I won’t be there to aid you should something happen.”

  “Uncle, I have killed hundreds of creatures – each one of them would take dozens of soldiers to bring down, after a lengthy battle.” Jin held up his right hand, where arcs of lightning flashed and danced between his fingers. Arima’s eyes widened at the very simple display of magic – after all this time, the common folk remained under the shadow of the arcane arts. “I may be nine years old, but mere bandits are little more than flies to me. They are beasts to be swatted aside without mercy and without remorse. Let me kill them.”

  True enough, when taking into account the numerous enhancements and boosts granted to him by the hundreds of Beast Cores he’d harvested and consumed, Jin would have more strength in one finger than Hamada did in his whole body – which, considering everything, really put into perspective just how powerful mages were in this new world.

  However, Jin wouldn’t be dealing with a fellow mage - he’d be dealing with measly bandits. Honestly, clearing out a rat infestation would probably be a lot harder than finding, stalking, and slaughtering a bunch of bandits in the woods. Heck, he could probably just march into their camp and have them all run themselves through his blade.

  Arima’s sigh was heavy. “To think I would ever send a child to slaughter over a hundred men, criminals though they are…” He shook his head, but grinned gently “The first time I laid eyes upon you, nephew, I knew immediately that you were destined for great things.”

  Jin smirked.

  His uncle continued. “You are a monster, nephew. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. Your strength is monstrous. Your intelligence is terrifying. Your talent for governance is beyond the bounds of genius. Your mental fortitude is gargantuan. You have faced the horrors of war when you were five years of age and walked out of it unscathed in both mind and body. I shudder to imagine what you could accomplish when you grow older, Jin.”

  Sighing, Arima acquiesced. For a moment, Lord Toyotoda looked a few decades older than what he really was. “Very well, you have my blessing to go out and deal with the criminals in any manner you deem fitting and necessary.”

  Jin smiled, stood up, and bowed his head – almost mockingly. His respect for his uncle existed only because of the man’s decision to take him in under his own roof, offer him clothes, and give him food. But his will was weak and severely lacking. Without Jin’s guidance, Hirata would’ve stagnated and faded into the annals of history. “Very well, uncle. I shall take care of those pests.”

  Jin didn’t bother with dinner. He didn’t change his clothes or take a bath. He didn’t even bring provisions for the journey ahead of him. When Jin walked out of his uncle’s manor, all he had on his person was Agito, the clothes on his back and the slippers over his feet.

  Ebisu stood there, waiting for him in the courtyard. The boy walked toward him. “Teacher, are you going somewhere?”

  Jin smiled and ruffled the child’s hair. “Oh, I’m just going out for a walk alone. It’s nice to just take a stroll through the woods every now and then – enjoy the scenery and other such things.”

  “Really? That sounds boring!” Ebisu exclaimed, holding out his hands. Jin noted the wooden sword fastened on Ebisu’s hip. “Let’s go train!”

  “No, I’m busy.”

  He didn’t bother waiting for the boy’s reaction as he strode past him and walked out through the manor’s main defensive gates, constructed at Jin’s insistence. The walls were taller now and had been heavily reinforced with battlements and arrow holes – both of which were simple innovations the Moyatani people had somehow failed to invent by themselves. Jin walked past the walls, waving at the guardsmen before striding into the village, where, despite the dying of the sun, the streets remained lit as braziers burned in strategically placed corners and locations to maximize light. The flames were fed with a long-lasting flammable sap that gave out no noxious fumes or embers.

  Jin hurried past the village gates, ignoring the greetings of the guards as he stepped out of the paved road and ran at full speed toward the nearby woodlands, practically disappearing from sight and leaving behind only a thin trail of dust and gashes upon the land with each step forward.

  * * *

  Jin crouched down, eyeing the numerous footprints and trails around the remnants of what was once a horse-drawn carriage – now nothing more than a pile of broken wood. It stood, ruined, in the middle of a dirt road, far from his uncle’s territory. Thick woodlands flanked both sides of the path.

  His eyes followed the prints of men and horses. The merchants were ambushed from both sides, he concluded. The attacking force numbered at about twenty men, some of them came barefoot. The merchant’s hired guards never stood a chance.

  Jin took a single step forward, still crouching, eyes practically glued to the dirt beneath him. The soil was damp, but not wet. He was lucky it was - otherwise, tracking the bandits would have been a whole lot harder. They killed the guards and dragged their bodies toward the trees. I’m guessing they took the arms and armors and left the—

  Yep, the corpses are right there.

  He stalked closer toward the remains of the carriage itself – made mostly of hardwood and bamboo. They dragged the merchants out, but they didn’t kill them immediately, he thought. They dragged them into the woods, likely to keep them for ransom. They took away the cargo… that way. They tried splitting themselves up when they returned to the woods, but the crates must’ve been too heavy to simply pass along each other – they had to drag it all the way into their hideout.

  All he needed to do now was follow the trail of the cargo into the deep woods. There was no magic in the air, which meant the presence of Magical Beasts was extremely unlikely, but not entirely impossible. A large, armed group with proper provisions and equipment could feasibly set up a base of operations without fear of getting hunted down and killed by Magical Beasts.

  Jin strode deeper into the woods, guided by the night-vision granted to him by moving his Fire Salamander tattoo into his head. He could channel a large amount of magic into his eyes and it’d have nearly the same effect, but doing so required a conscious use of magic, which drained a bit of his precious energy as opposed to just shovi
ng the bloated Fire Salamander onto his head, where it now rested on the right side of his face. The trees were much thinner here, weaker and lesser than the trees in the woodlands further north. This wasn’t surprising: magic, Jin had read, played a big role in the growth and health of an ecosystem. The more magic that permeated a patch of land, the healthier and more vibrant the creatures would be. The lack of magic certainly explains why everything here looks so damn plain.

  He shook his head and headed deeper into the woodlands. The trail was leading him toward the base of a nearby mountain. Jin studied it. The bandits must have either established themselves in a cave or near one. They would have to be close to a river, too. There’s a stream that flows in from the north and passes near the mountain, he realized. Their base is likely close by.

  A few minutes later, Jin saw the first inkling of human habitation: twinkling, flickering flames in the distance. They were too faint for human eyes to see as the lights themselves bounced off smoothened rocks and dissipated rather quickly. A normal human being would have mistaken them for fireflies or the eyes of some hungry predator. But Jin’s enhanced senses perceived beyond the perceptions of mortal men, and he saw the tiny flickering things for what they truly were – torchlights, two of them placed at the flanks of the mouth of a cave.

  There you are…

  Still, he couldn’t just go in there and kill them all at once. Well, he could, but that was not a good option. Firstly, he had no assurance that all the bandits were there; he could easily kill everyone in the cave and the ones still outside could simply run and hide and restart their criminal ventures elsewhere. He needed to end them all in a single, decisive stroke. Secondly, Jin needed to be absolutely certain that the bandits did not have some errant mage in their ranks. The presence of a mage would upset the balance of his plans quite easily. Still, it’d be a very weak mage that works with a bunch of criminals – assuming there is one.