Chapter 491

It rained in the summer. The rain pouring down in the mountains was not as heavy as a downpour, but it was enough to restrain outdoor activities. Luna Artemius heard the sound of hitting at regular intervals through the rain while wearing a raincoat. Luna slowly approached the direction where the sound was coming from. She saw a young man breaking a tree and falling to the ground. Mechanically, the young man approached the fallen tree and started chopping again. Chopping in the rain was very dangerous. The handle could slip, causing the hand to slip, and the blade could also slip and twist, causing serious injury. However, the young man seemed to know nothing about it and just repeated hitting at regular intervals. On the first day, it seemed quite difficult. On the second day, the handle of the old axe broke, so he had to borrow an axe from another house to cut down the tree. When Ronan put a new handle on the last remaining axe and provided a new axe, the speed increased. Luna could see that one side of the forest was empty. Although there were still more trees to be cut down, it was clear that the work was progressing. Luna approached Linehart and told him to take a break because it was raining. However, Linehart continued to chop at regular intervals as if he couldn't hear anything. Luna looked at Linehart's back, who seemed to think of nothing but chopping. He concentrated only on chopping the trees that had been cut down at regular intervals because he had to solve the work only with an axe. Luna called Linehart again, but he just kept chopping as if he didn't know anything else. Luna looked at Linehart's back and turned around quietly. In the deep night, in the gray light community, in the conference room, an old man with white hair asked Luna how long she planned to keep the boy in Lysaia. Luna was sitting on the stone seat with Ronan, and the residents of Lysaia were sitting in front of them. There was no unpleasant look in everyone's expression that Linehart was staying in Lysaia. Just curious. There was an unmistakable curiosity in everyone's face. It was already over a month and more than two months. He was puzzled by the decision of the lord to allow the boy to stay in Lysaia. "Until the child gets what he wants." Luna's calm words made the atmosphere in the conference room chaotic. "If it's the lord's decision... there must be a big meaning that we don't know about... This is unprecedented..." One old man shook his head in confusion. "Unprecedented... For an immeasurable amount of time, there has been no precedent for such a thing." Luna looked at the faces of those sitting in the conference room again. There were old men, those who were about to enter old age, and middle-aged people. "The fact that Lagan was able to leave the world even though he knew about the mystery of the Ilwoldang was also an unprecedented event." "It sounds like sophistry."

"Yeah, it's sophistry."

"Wasn't it okay to tell Linehart that time flows differently here than outside?"

"Probably."

Because Linehart doesn't know anything, he has to spend time in anxiety and unease.

"If he knew that time flows differently here, he would have been able to relax. He would have been able to find peace of mind, find peace in his heart, and have time to rest his tired body and mind."

"But the peace obtained easily can easily be broken."

"Only if the peace obtained at a high cost will the constancy of that peace be firm."

"If he gets peace and relaxation easily, and thinks that it is his own strength, he will collapse when true confusion and fear come later."

Listening to Luna's words, Ronan slowly nodded his head.

"You deliberately didn't tell us anything."

"Goal achievement and overcoming limits are different things."

Hearing Luna's words that Linehart needs to overcome limits, not achieve goals, Ronan fell silent.

The sound of an axe echoing at regular intervals echoed in Luna's mind.

"Ronan."

"Yes, my lord."

"If I disappear, will you be sad?"

At Luna's question, Ronan nodded his head with a firm expression.

"Of course. I will be."

"......"

"You seem like a cheeky guy, whether it's now or before."

"......"

"But the life of the human who was forced to live because of you was not so bad. No, it was good."

Luna looked quietly down the hallway.

"Since I was forced to live the life of a human, I sometimes think that I want to experience the end of human life, which is death."

"My lord."

"Just something I said."

Luna smiled at Ronan's serious expression.

* * *

Time passed.

Linehart continued to chop down trees.

In fact, cutting down the entire forest was something that Linehart could do in a day if he used the artifact with maximum output and enhanced magic power.

However, he had to use an axe one by one while maintaining an extremely refined magic power enhancement.

Therefore, Linehart's work, which had to progress with more strained movements and poorer tools than usual, could only be slower.

Maintaining a clear mind all day was not something that could be easily done.

There were times when immersion was broken, and there were frequent cases where concentration was disrupted by the axe blade falling out of the handle.

Nevertheless, there was no doubt that it was improving.

Maintaining a state of concentration for just one hour was exhausting, but soon it exceeded two hours. And it exceeded three hours and four hours.

Later, when two months had passed since he started chopping down trees, Linehart had cut down all the trees in the forest.

"I managed to do it all."

Arta said so while looking at the forest that had disappeared, leaving only countless stumps.

"But later, you got faster and faster. Right?" Luna nodded at Linehart's words. Linehart grumbled as he carried the cart full of wood, saying that whoever said that doing such things outside would help with mental cultivation should be punished. Linehart's eyes, which were once filled with abyss, still had dark emotions, but they were infinitely calm. Linehart managed to cut down all the trees in the forest after two months, and Arta acknowledged his progress. Luna commented that Linehart's expression had improved a lot. Ronan also noticed the change in Linehart's expression and commented on it. Despite the difficulties, Linehart improved his concentration and managed to cut down all the trees in the forest after two months. Summary of previous part of chapter only for context: In this chapter, Luna, Linehart, Arta, and Ronan are the main characters. Luna agrees with Linehart's statement about the difficulty of doing physical labor outside for mental cultivation. Linehart, who used to have dark emotions, has become calmer. He grumbles as he carries a cart full of wood, but he manages to cut down all the trees in the forest after two months. Arta acknowledges his progress, and Luna and Ronan notice the change in his expression. Despite the difficulties, Linehart improves his concentration and manages to complete the task.

Translation:

The Devil and the Returnee.

It was a ridiculous thing that made me laugh just by thinking about it.

Anyway, after a long time, cutting down trees was over.

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm saying goodbye to the axe forever.

Only two more tools were added to the axe.

A shovel and a pickaxe.

The trees in the forest were of various shapes and sizes.

There were beautiful trees, medium-sized trees, and small trees that could be broken just by grabbing them with bare hands.

Let's forget about the small ones.

"To be honest, I think this is difficult too."

"Do you think so too?"

"Of course. Is this an ordinary job?"

Looking at the sturdy roots that are rooted from somewhere to somewhere, my mind became dizzy.

How do I pull this out?

Don't I need heavy equipment? Isn't this something that a bulldozer does?

I brought Arta to avoid heading straight to the ground like when I started cutting down trees, but even this guy was trembling.

Standing in front of a slightly smaller tree root than the dizzyingly large beautiful tree, I avoided the tree root of the beautiful tree that made me dizzy just by looking at it.

To be precise, this work is part of a series of processes.

Cutting down trees, a repetitive task, was to erase delusions through endless repetition and to become familiar with the optimized use of magical power.

So now, I could get used to it quite a bit.

This time, that's it.

Increasing the output of optimized magical power itself.

Pulling out a tree root deeply rooted in the ground doesn't require technology, but strength.

But there are no such tools in this mountain village.

So I have to do what requires technology with my strength.

Getting used to the highest efficiency magical power and increasing its output, substituting all magical power with my own strength without releasing all of it externally.

Looking at this, I wonder if there was any meaning to what Luna asked me to do, like making a field or something...

Bullshit.

It's a dream interpretation rather than a dream.

It's clear that I'm giving meaning to something that was just asked of me.

"I haven't tried this either, so I think I should call the adults?"

"No."

This is not a matter of technology, but of strength itself.

"At first, we go stupidly."

"...What?"

-Pak!

I stick the shovel in.

To make a groove big enough to grab the tree root.

-Pak! Pakpak!

After a few shovels, I exposed the root part of the tree to some extent.

"...I know what you're trying to do, but will it work?"

"If it doesn't work, we'll think of another way."

Arta's expression wasn't very good.

"...It's not good."

"I'll try it, and if it doesn't work, I'll find another way."

If it's the highest output magical power, I don't know what will happen, but for now, this is also a task of execution, so I use magical power reinforcement with the highest efficiency that I can use in my current state, and the output of magical power that doesn't flow out completely.

I can already feel the extreme efficiency of my magical power through my skin.

From now on, what I have to do is to increase the output itself while fully controlling the magical power in my hands. Using overwhelming strength, he pulls out deeply rooted trees with his bare hands.

"I am a human excavator."

"Excavator...? What's that?"

"There's something like that."

Using self-suggestion and incantations.

"Hup!"

Feeling the blood rush to his head, he tries to pull out the tree stump with his bare hands.

Putting strength into his thighs, arms, and waist.

"Ee-eu-eu-eu-eup!"

"Crazy...."

-Squirm

He's not sure, but there's movement.

It works.

It's trying to work.

Even if he doesn't blink, he feels like he's doing something, so he puts more strength into it.

Pouring out his full strength, as if pushing the ground with his legs and lifting the world, not just pulling out the tree.

While pouring out mana overflowing with reason into himself.

"That."

"Ah."

"Ah."

"Oops!"

Screaming, he pours out as much strength as he has ever done.

-Thud!

"!"

Something broke.

"Uh...ugh...."

"Hey...are you okay?!"

Clearly, something broke.

It was just his waist.