A Dragonslayer’s Peerless Regression – 137



Episode 137

“The hermit of stories?”

The princess nodded and said.

“I once heard from my mother that there is a hermit who has lived for hundreds of years on Mount Ouroboros which is located west of Thebes bordering Delphi.”

“Hundreds of years? Are you a lich?”

“No. I heard that he is a wise man who has realized the extreme of magic and transcended human limitations.”

“A wise man…..”

It was so legendary that I couldn’t believe it.

Then the princess carefully opened her mouth.

“Actually I told Laura this story too.”

“Are you talking to your mother?”

“Yes. Laura had a lot of questions about the Irregulars. So after hearing this story she went to find the hermit.”

“You must have been a bit reckless Mother to go looking for a hermit after only hearing such a legendary story.”

“Now that you’ve found it can’t you just say it was completely reckless?”

“yes?”

Princess Arina raised her head slightly as if recalling that time and looked into the distance as she spoke.

“Laura who had gone to Thebes met the wise man and came back to tell me. I did not hear exactly what he had heard but he said that he had knowledge unknown to the world.”

“It’s amazing that my mother actually met a wise man.”

“If you can satisfy Laura’s curiosity about the Irregulars then you must know something about the Holy Relics.”

Zeke nodded after hearing the princess’s words.

“Did your mother tell you where the wise man is on Mount Ouroboros?”

The princess shook her head.

“He said that he had been wandering in the mountains for almost a month when suddenly the view became bright and the path to the place where the hermit was staying opened up.”

Zeke tilted his head after hearing the princess’s words.

‘Could that be a portal?’

The reason I thought so was because I went through a similar process when I met my previous life’s master who was called the Hermit of the Forest.

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‘Are you the hermit of stories…?’

Zeke barely managed to calm the anxiety rising in his chest and got up from his seat.

“I think we’ll have to go to Mount Ouroboros to find out.”

“Are you looking for the silver lining of the story?”

“If the demons are looking for the relics the Empire and Abel will be helping them. We need to get information in advance and prevent the relics from reaching them.”

As someone who had personally experienced what happened when Abel had power in his previous life Zeke wanted to prevent it as much as possible.

After a short rest he prepared to leave again. He left Liam and Felix to stay at Castle Agamemnon and receive training from Sister Cloone.

“Oh my. Master! I’d rather go to the mountain with you!”

Zeke headed straight towards Thebea leaving Felix being dragged away while being beaten by Sister Cloone.

* * *

“Your Majesty that is Mount Ouroboros.”

Zik who was heading to Thebes via the road from Mycenae paid the price of the chariot he had gotten into and got off near Mount Ouroboros.

Zeke pondered as he looked at the Ouroboros Mountain its peaks rising far into the distance.

‘It is a large mountain that connects Thebes and Delphos to Argos but it is impossible to search through all of it.’

It was a very bleak situation but there was one thing Zeke believed in.

This was because there was a high probability that the hermit in the story was a member of the organization that Zeke had belonged to in the past.

And a few hours after entering Mount Ouroboros Zeke realized that his conviction was correct.

‘As expected it’s the mark of a Highlander.’

There were subtle markings made here and there on the way up the mountain that only highlanders would know such as the order of the rocks and the location of the trees.

Zeke looked at the sign with a strange expression.

It was because I felt joy at the thought of finding the hermit of the story but at the same time fearful that I would once again have contact with the Highlander just like in my previous life.

‘I didn’t want to get involved with a Highlander in this life.’

Life as a Highlander had been a large part of Zeke’s past life.

But he didn’t really want to remember those days.

This was because he still felt guilty about breaking the oath he had made as a Highlander with his master in his previous life.

Zeke gathered his courage and followed the Highlander’s mark to climb Mount Ouroboros.

When you reach where the sign points there will be a portal leading to the hermit of the story.

* * *

It took a day for Zeke to finally reach the end of the marker.

“Is it this way?”

Zeke looked around with his eyes wide open.

And then I found a tree standing tall in the middle of the forest.

‘That’s a pole.’

The masts that concentrated the power of the portal played a most important role in marking the territory of the Highlanders in that area.

Zik slowly stood in front of the pole.

Then he held out his hand.

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After a while waves flowed out from the mast.

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

The figure of Zig who had been standing in front of the pole with a flash of light disappeared.

A moment later when Zeke opened his eyes a completely different landscape from the Uroboros Forest unfolded before him.

“Bamboo forest?”

Bamboo a rare sight in the Central Continent stood densely on both sides of the path.

The bamboo leaves fluttering in the wind created a leisurely atmosphere.

Zeke slowly walked up the path.

There was a small hut made of bamboo on the top.

Zig looked at the bamboo hut and felt something similar to his teacher from his past life.

‘At that time it was not a bamboo hut but a wooden house built on a tree.’

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

“Are you there?”

He knocked on the door but there was no answer.

Zik opened the bamboo door quietly.

‘huh?’

A man was lying on a bed made of bamboo.

“Hmm hmm.”

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

‘Is that person the hermit of the story?’

When I heard the word wise man I pictured a great wizard with a long silver beard but it was completely different from what I imagined.

Zeke thought back to his teacher from his previous life.

‘Well compared to the teacher’s appearance he’s a nobleman.’

Zeke who was approaching the hermit with the thought of waking him up decided to wait until he woke up in case he was a magician with an eccentric personality.

It was several hours later that the hermit woke up.

“Hmm oh my! Oh my I slept so well.”

The hermit stretched out and got out of bed then got up from his bed walked leisurely to the table and drank all the water in his bamboo cup.

“Wow that’s refreshing.”

Zik sat on a bamboo chair and watched the scene blankly.

It was ten minutes later that the hermit discovered Zig.

“What are you?”

The hermit was startled when he found Zig sitting on a chair while going to wash his face.

“I was wondering when you would recognize me.”

The hermit calmed his surprised heart and looked at Zig and asked.

“How did you get in here?”

“Do you remember the name Laura Agamemnon who visited you twenty years ago?”

At Zig’s words Eunja scratched her head and thought about it.

“It was 20 years ago. Let’s see. What was the story? Oh that girl. The stubborn healer girl.”

“That sounds right. I am the healer’s son.”

“Huh? That young lady has already given birth to a son like this? Has it gone by so quickly?”

The hermit looked at Zig as if it was something new.

Zik said looking at the hermit.

“I came here because I have something to ask you Hermit.”

At those words the hermit clicked his tongue and said.

“No the healer girl said that back then but do you think I’m a machine that just gives answers to any question? Even if I’m a hermit in stories….”

“They say he is a wise man who knows all the knowledge of the world even the hidden knowledge.”

At those words the hermit’s expression slightly relaxed.

“Who said that? Hmm that girl said that back then?”

“That’s what I heard.”

The hermit nodded with a slightly gentler expression than before and motioned for Zeke to go outside.

He sat down on the bamboo platform he had set up in front of his house took out a fan from his bosom and gently shook it.

“I see. You and that girl are the only people who came here because you had a question.”

“What do you usually come for?”

“It’s very rare for people to come here but in the past kings would occasionally come here. Some even asked me to give them prophecies. Most of them couldn’t tell the difference between a wise man and a prophet.”

“Is there really such a thing as a prophet?”

“It’s rare but it does happen. It’s not so much a prophecy as it is a prediction of all possible situations and predicting the most probable one out of tens of thousands of possible cases. If I were to explain it it would be quite complicated. Even if you see it you can’t be sure that the situation will happen. The moment you confirm that part a new variable appears and the situation splits again… Anyway that’s it.”

Although it was quite different from the image of a wise man it seemed true that he knew a lot of things.

Zig asked the hermit.

“I came to ask about the holy relics.”

“Huh? A holy relic?”

“Yes. Do you know about the Holy Relics?”

At those words the hermit frowned slightly.

Then he got up from his seat and muttered hesitantly.

“A holy relic… hmm.”

He folded his debt and looked at Zeke.

“What did you say your name was?”

“This is Zeke Draker.”

“Zeke Draker. Draker. Hmm.”

The hermit upon hearing Zig’s name opened his fan again and wrote Zig’s name.

Then he folded and unfolded the fan again.

The hermit held out the back of the fan to Zig.

On the back it was written in Kronos language ‘Masu (魔獸) Ten (十).’

“What is this?”

“It means that we have to catch ten demons.”

“A devil’s hand?”

“Then you thought you could just get the answer for free? It was cheap compared to the question.”

Zeke looked at the hermit who had asked him to capture the demon in exchange for an answer and realized anew that he was a member of the Highlanders.

Highlanders keep their identities secret and according to their oath carry out their mission to hunt the devil on the other side of the world and maintain the balance of the world.

The same was true of the hermit of the forest who was Zeke’s teacher.

In his previous life Zigg was saved by the forest hermit and made a Highlander’s oath in exchange for learning the martial arts.

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

A scene that had been dormant in Zeke’s distant memory came to mind.

A woman wearing a thick wolf skin and holding a sword on a castle wall facing the cold north wind.

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

In an instant Zig snapped out of his reverie.

Because if I had awakened my memories any further I might have to run to Himonas right now.

‘Fuck. Come to your senses Zeke Draker.’

He came to his senses again and asked the hermit.

“Would ten demons be enough?”

Eunja was surprised to see Zig ask so casually.

“Huh? Do you know what a demon is?”

“Yes. Is there a demon beast on Mount Uroboros?”

“If there were no demons there would be no reason for me to be here.”

Ordinary Highlanders wander around without a territory hunting for beasts.

However the Highlanders who possess great power create their own territory in the areas where the demons mainly appear.

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

That is why he created his own territory in the forbidden forest of the Forgotten.

The hermit in the story seemed to be in a similar case.

Zeke nodded to the hermit’s words and asked where the demon was.

The hermit opened a portal for Zeke to the area where the demons were infested.

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

“Oh my I don’t know if I can catch even one.”

Most of those who came to him were exceptional people who had a great influence on the world.

They were destined to become kings warriors with mighty powers or magicians who looked beyond the truth.

But even for those people it was rare for them to pass the test given by the hermit.

If you pass the test you may be given the complete answer but if you fail you may be given no answer or only part of the answer.

“It wasn’t me who decided it that way it was karma so there’s nothing I can do about it. But still ten was a bit much.”

The hermit was lying leisurely on the bed and rolling around.

And an hour later a signal came from Zeke to open a portal.

“Huh? You’ve already given up. That’s surprising. But you seem to have some tenacity.”

The hermit swung his fan and opened a portal.

thud!

As soon as the portal opened ten hideous-looking demon heads fell out.

Zeke showed up without any apparent injuries.

The hermit opened his mouth wide when he saw such a jig.