Chapter 7

Chapter 7 — Awakening

The journey from the Westfalen territory to the Marcel territory took around eight to eleven days.

First, we would take a boat down the river until we reached the sea. From there, we would transfer onto a merchant ship headed for the Catalonia territory of the Kingdom of Iberia. Once we arrived in Catalonia, we would have to change ships once again before finally reaching the Marcel territory.

Basically, we would be riding ships day and night.

If we took an ordinary merchant ship without a magical acceleration device, the trip could take as long as an entire month.

Bwooooo—! Bwooooo—!

Standing on the deck of the merchant ship bound for Catalonia, I gazed out over the sea while listening to the boatswain's horn announcing our departure.

I had seen the ocean more times than I could count in my previous life, but seeing it again still felt strangely welcoming.

The salty smell of the sea.

The cries of the seagulls flying overhead.

It had been a long time.

But while I was absentmindedly staring at the ocean, a sudden warmth spread through my stomach.

Then, in an instant, system messages began pouring into my vision.

[System Alert]

[Synchronization Rate: 100%…… Synchronization Complete.

Installing Hunter System Client…… Installation Complete.

Verifying User ID. ID #9414046…… Verification Complete.

Error. Unable to locate matching user data.

Downloading backed-up user data from cloud…… Download Complete.

Verifying User Rank and Registered Name.

E-Rank Hunter [Kim Hajun] → E-Rank Hunter [Eric Marcel]…… Registered Name Updated.]

Energy surged through my body, exactly like the first time I had awakened as a Hunter.

That's right. This is what awakening felt like.

I thought I'd have to start from F-Rank after being reincarnated, but apparently my old data was backed up.

It would probably take quite a while to grow back to S-Rank.

Still, simply regaining the Hunter System was already a massive relief.

The first thing I checked was my skill window.

Back when I was E-Rank, I had two skills.

[Low-Level Appraisal] and [Low-Level Golem Creation].

[Low-Level Appraisal] worked much like an identification skill in an RPG. It could identify unknown items or objects whose purpose wasn't clear.

If used on a person, it displayed their true name, age, and a short description.

Since it was only a low-level skill, it didn't provide much detail.

[Low-Level Golem Creation] could refine a designated object and create up to two golems.

Low-level golems couldn't emit mana on their own, so their combat ability was only around the level of an E- to F-Rank Hunter.

Instead, they had excellent AI and could collect mana for self-repair while working endlessly.

Back then, I used golems to dig holes and carry construction materials.

I even saved up my daily wages and bought a house in Seoul.

Using them for manual labor had actually earned me decent money.

Whenever I wasn't participating in a Gate raid, I would make the two golems work construction jobs twenty-four hours a day while I worked another part-time job myself.

I briefly sank into memories of my previous life before quickly snapping out of it.

These skills weren't especially useful in my previous life.

But now things are different.

[Low-Level Appraisal] would be extremely useful for obtaining information about people.

After all, this world barely had any reliable methods of proving someone's identity.

Wooden identification plaques were easy to forge.

At most, the seal of a noble family was difficult to counterfeit, and even that could be handed to someone else.

I decided to test the skill on Martin.

[Martin Morris (19)]

[Second son of Pierre Morris, former Knight Commander of Marcel.]

Wasn't that already good enough?

Now, no one could lie about their identity in front of me.

And [Low-Level Golem Creation] would be far more useful here than it had been in my previous life.

This world didn't have excavators or bulldozers.

A golem capable of working twenty-four hours a day would be incredibly useful for developing the Great Forest.

Should I test it?

I asked a sailor for a small piece of wood.

Holding the wooden fragment in my hand, I spoke the skill's activation phrase.

"Golem Creation."

Crackle!

With a faint cracking sound, the piece of wood twisted and reshaped itself.

A thirty-centimeter-tall wooden golem appeared.

At the same time, surprised voices rose from the people nearby.

"Whoa! Magic!"

"Ohhh! Isn't that a magical doll?"

Everyone on the deck quickly gathered around to examine the golem.

Apparently, they thought it was some kind of magically animated doll.

Martin must have noticed the commotion as well, because he came running over.

"Where did you learn something like that? You've never even attended a magic academy."

"I've always known how to do it."

Well, technically, I'd known how to do it in my previous life.

Anyway, I gave the golem an order.

"Golem, go below deck and catch the rats. Throw every rat you catch into the sea."

Kuu, kuu.

The golem's AI was advanced enough to perform construction work, so an order this simple was easy for it to understand.

It immediately ran down the stairs.

Then everyone followed after it in a crowd.

They were probably curious to see whether it could really catch rats.

While they were busy with that, I checked my equipment window.

I didn't have any items stored inside, but the equipment I had used during my E-Rank days was still there.

A gladius with the words Made in Korea engraved on the blade.

A sturdy-looking round shield.

And a military combat knife issued by the Ministry of National Defense.

But my clothes were a little strange.

A university department jacket, sweatpants, and three-striped slippers.

"..."

What the hell had I been doing when this backup had been saved?

So I was still E-Rank when I was attending university.

Well, I guess I should just think of it as gaining a comfortable set of clothes.

There were two equipment loadouts.

The second one was completely empty.

I decided to store some of my current weapons in the empty slots.

What should I put in there? Something durable and easy to use...

I went into my cabin and searched through my luggage.

Soon, I found the dagger I had received from the cardinal of the Church of the Sun God in Aachen.

This is probably the toughest weapon I have. I'll store this.

But the moment I grabbed the dagger's handle—

[System Alert]

[You have obtained the item 'Soul Reaper'.]

What?

Why does an item exist in this world?

There shouldn't have been any items here.

This world didn't even have the Hunter System.

I could think of two possibilities.

First, a dimensional rift similar to a Gate had appeared, and someone had crossed over while carrying this weapon.

Second, just like me, a reincarnated person had taken it out of their equipment inventory.

Well, I guess it doesn't really matter.

I didn't need to think about it for long.

No matter which explanation was correct, the fact that the item had ended up in my hands probably meant its previous owner was dead.

I'm the owner now, so I'll just make good use of it.

I immediately used [Low-Level Appraisal] on the dagger.

[Soul Reaper (Legendary Grade)]

[Its length can be adjusted using mana. It can also repair itself.]

Holy crap! Legendary Grade?!

Isn't this even better than the weapons I used when I was S-Rank?

I held Soul Reaper in front of me and pushed mana into it.

The blade extended according to my will.

The black blade stretched longer and longer until it was almost as long as a longsword.

When I withdrew the mana, it shortened again.

It stands out a little, but it's incredibly convenient.

I could even surprise opponents in battle by suddenly changing the blade's length.

In my previous life, I probably couldn't have bought an item like this even if I spent tens of billions of won.

Finding such an incredible item completely unexpectedly put me in a good mood.

A grin naturally crept onto my face.

Then I stored Soul Reaper inside my equipment window.

Just then, a loud cheer erupted from the deck.

"Waaaaah!"

I went outside and saw the miniature golem throwing a rat into the sea.

Ridiculously enough, even Martin had joined the crowd and was cheering along with everyone else.

I couldn't help laughing at the sight.

"Uweeeeeek—!"

It was the second day after departure.

Most of our group was suffering badly from seasickness.

"Anyone with severe seasickness should lie down on the deck. Drink plenty of water so you don't become dehydrated."

For some reason, I wasn't suffering from seasickness at all, so I took care of the others.

Maybe becoming a Hunter again at just the right time prevented it.

I almost ended up suffering too.

Thinking I had gotten lucky, I looked out over the railing.

Seagulls flew around the sailing ship as it traveled while maintaining a steady distance from the coastline.

Seeing them reminded me of Wolmido in Incheon.

Should I try that old prank again?

I picked up a piece of bread and held it high in the air.

The seagulls circling around the ship seemed to realize that the bread was food.

They quickly gathered.

Kyuruk? Kyuruk!

One of them swiftly swooped down and snatched the bread from between my fingers.

It even bit my finger while taking it, leaving my index finger stinging.

Ow, you little bastard.

You could've just taken the bread.

I tore off another piece and held it up.

This time, several seagulls rushed toward me at once.

The instant one of them tried to grab the bread—

I seized it.

Kek! Kek!

Holding the struggling seagull, I walked over to my companions and showed it to them.

"Look. This bird is called a seagull."

"It's huge. It looks like an eagle."

"Ah! It bit me! That really hurts."

I had caught the bird to help them forget about their seasickness for a while.

Some of the people in our group had never seen either the sea or a seagull before.

While everyone happily touched the bird and took turns getting bitten, one of the sailors approached me.

"My lord, are you planning to throw that seagull away?"

"Why?"

"One of my companions has sailor's disease. I was wondering if we might feed him some seagull blood."

Sailor's disease?

I had never heard that name before.

Could he mean scurvy caused by vitamin C deficiency?

I remembered reading about it in a web novel in my previous life.

During long voyages, sailors mainly ate things like biscuits and preserved meat, making them prone to scurvy.

"What kind of illness is sailor's disease?"

"Your mouth starts bleeding, and you lose all your strength, my lord."

"Ah. Yeah, that's scurvy."

Drinking fresh blood might help a little, but there was a much better solution.

Sour fruit.

I released the seagull and ordered my servants to bring over several jars of lemon-lime juice.

It was a drink I enjoyed, so I had purchased plenty from the market before departure.

"Drink this and sailor's disease will improve. Share it with your companions. Give the sick man more than the others."

"What? Really, my lord?"

"I am Viscount Eric Marcel. I swear on my honor that sour fruit is effective against sailor's disease. Now take it and give it to him."

"Oh, my lord! Thank you!"

The sailor quickly called over some of his companions, and together they carried the jars away.

Two days later.

Knock, knock, knock.

I woke up to someone knocking on my cabin door.

Still half asleep, I climbed out of bed and opened it.

A sailor was standing outside.

"What's going on?"

"The captain has invited you to dine with him."

"This early in the morning?"

"It is currently noon, my lord."

The voyage was so boring that I had forced myself to sleep.

Apparently, I had ended up sleeping for nearly twelve hours.

"I'll comb my hair and come out."

A short while later, the sailor guided me to the captain's cabin.

The captain was waiting at a table where a meal had already been prepared.

Because of the ship's rocking, all the dishes and utensils had been secured in place.

That caught my attention.

"Good to meet you. I am Viscount Eric Marcel."

"It is an honor to have you aboard."

After exchanging formal greetings, we sat down and began eating.

I thought we would simply have a quiet meal.

But suddenly, the captain expressed his gratitude.

"Thanks to you, my lord, the sailor who suffered from sailor's disease has greatly improved."

"Really? That's good to hear."

"My lord, I have a favor to ask."

So this was why he had invited me.

"What is it?"

"Would you permit me to tell other captains about the medicine you created for sailor's disease?"

Why was he even asking for permission to tell people about a medicine?

At first, it seemed strange.

But this world strongly recognized the ownership of knowledge.

Knowledge introduced by a noble was protected even more strictly.

In other words, even spreading something as simple as the fact that lemon-lime juice could relieve scurvy normally required my permission.

But I wasn't petty enough to throw my weight around over something as simple as fruit juice.

I was just an ordinary Korean with at least a reasonable amount of concern for humanity.

"Of course. Spread this method as widely as possible and eliminate sailor's disease."

"Trade and transportation are like the veins of the world. They should not be allowed to stop because of something as trivial as sailor's disease."

"Ohhh! Truly admirable words!"

Still, there was no need for me to be a complete pushover.

"But naturally, you'll tell people who taught you this method, right?"

In this world, honor was valued even more than money.

There was no reason to give that up too.

A reputation built little by little like this would surely prove useful in the future.

The captain looked deeply impressed as he praised me.

"Then, in order to spread your noble intentions, I shall call it 'Eric Marcel's Sailor's Disease Medicine' when I introduce it to others."

Did he really have to use my full name...?

It was a little embarrassing, but I allowed it.

"Fine. Do that. The juice is made by mixing lemon and lime."

"Haha! Thank you! The heavens have truly blessed this world with a great man. I should consider it an honor that we happen to share the same journey."

I accepted his praise, and our conversation continued in a warm, friendly atmosphere.

After the meal, the captain handed me a pouch filled with silver coins.

If word of the sailor's disease medicine spread, the captain's own reputation would rise considerably as well.

He said the money was simply his way of expressing his gratitude.

There was no reason for me to refuse it.

I accepted the pouch and put it away.

And when I looked at the bag of money, another person came to mind.

It was about time I began making my move on that person as well.

I only hoped that person wouldn't refuse the card I intended to play.

With that thought, I returned to my cabin.