Infinite Blood Core - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: I Am Shrewd

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The two of them continued to clean the battlefield.

Of the two dead guards, one was wearing leather armor, but it was already in shambles. The other had a helmet and chain armor.

Aupin first removed a pair of iron bracers and replaced it with his own: the leather bracers on his body had just been pierced by the snake’s centipede feet.

Then, he took away the iron chainmail and helmet and wore them.

A sense of security suddenly arose.

Equipment could make up for the difference in the order of life to a certain extent.

For example, the blue-furred Direwolf was not willing to use its teeth to fight the helmet head-on.

As for the iron boots, they were abandoned by Aupin because they were not his size.

Besides protective gear, there were also weapons.

Of the two guards, one used a sword and the other a scimitar.

One side of the sword had been damaged, but the scimitar was in good condition.

Aupin first grabbed the scimitar and brandished it around, only to frown.

He lowered his scimitar and picked up the sword again.

Just as he was about to brandish it, another memory was triggered and surfaced in the young man’s mind.

It was drizzling during a gloomy sky.

In an empty training ground…

A group of teenagers formed a circle. Aupin was on the ground, surrounded by other youths.

The youths looked down at Aupin and kept laughing and sneering. Their faces were filled with intense disdain.

The young man leading the group was tall and brawny. His cyan hair stood firmly over his scalp like several inches of steel.

The cyan-haired youth crossed his arms and placed his feet on Aupin’s shoulders. “Aupin! Remember this well. Your Centum’pin clan is only a viscount fiefdom, a defeated one at that! A fellow like you wants to be our equal?”

The cyan-haired young man suddenly raised his leg and stomped on Aupin’s head. He laughed nastily. “I’ll teach you a lesson today! From now on, no matter where you see us in the castle, you must bow your head obediently and give way to me. Cower to the side!

“A low-rank aristocrat must behave like a low-rank aristocrat. If I see you looking at my eye level, I will cripple you.

“Do you understand?”

Cyanocaput let out a low grunt and used his strength to push Aupin’s head into the mud.

“I-I understand. Cough, cough, cough!” Aupin said with great difficulty.

“Hahaha!” Cyanocaput raised his head and laughed proudly. He released his foot and sauntered off.

Before leaving, he said, “Of course, Aupin, if you don’t agree, you can challenge me at any time. I’ll dance with you anywhere, anytime!”

“Cough, cough, cough.” Aupin struggled and sat up. As he had just opened his mouth to speak, the mud flowed back into his throat and caused him to cough.

Seeing his pathetic state, the youths lost their interest.

“Pui, what is that!?”

“He wants to challenge Cyanocaput with what he’s got? What was he thinking?”

“Perhaps with that embroidery needle of his? Hahaha!”

It was raining heavily. The youths clustered around Cyanocaput and let out bursts of laughter as they entered the castle.

Aupin sat in the mud, allowing the rain to hit him.

He was covered in injuries and his face was extremely pale. After a momentary daze, he turned his gaze and stared at a sword in the mud.

It was his sword.

It was a very thin rapier.

The rapier was soaked in the mud and seemed to no longer have the sharpness or luster of the past.

The memory came to an abrupt halt.

Aupin returned to reality and couldn’t help but frown slightly. I’m from the Centum Zen clan? My fief seems to be in the south, a southern noble family who joined the Empire in the past hundred years in the Holy Brilliance Continent. I think I was once an earl?

He realized that although he had lost his memory, it wasn’t a complete loss. He had retained a lot of information and general knowledge.

“Sir, what’s wrong?” Violette asked with concern.

Aupin shook his head. “I recovered another piece of memory.”

“That’s great,” Violette said happily.

Aupin gave an acrid smile and did not tell Violette the details. He looked up at the sky—it was almost dusk.

The young man and girl carefully chose a spot and made some hasty arrangements—they were going to spend the night here.

Collecting dry branches and grass was not difficult.

By the fireside, Violette was kneeling on the ground, a flint in each hand.

Crack. Crack.

She struck the two flints together, and soon, produced blue sparks.

The spark fell into the dry grass and that transformed into two points of orange. The orange-redness quickly expanded across the dry grass and started to burn.

Faint smoke rose.

Violette quickly put away the flint, puffed up her lips, and blew.

With the stirring of the wind, the fire in the grass rapidly expanded, and the thin smoke became dense smoke. Then, a flame rose and turned into a fist-sized flame.

It’s done. Violette’s face lit up as she stood up and took a few steps back.

In just this short period of time, the flames completely spread out and burned brightly, forming a bonfire.

Violette carefully put away the two flints.

In the past, she simply needed to snap her fingers to create a little flame.

This was one of the magic tricks mages were fully capable of.

But on this island, Black Iron-rank magic spells were impossible to cast as though they were strictly forbidden. Instead, ordinary fire-starting methods like using flints were more pragmatic.

Without these flints, it was rather troublesome to start a fire with her bare hands.

The burning bonfire brought warmth and light, expelling the darkness of the night.

There was no barbecue on the bonfire. The couple sat around the bonfire, ate their dry rations, and drank from their waterskins.

Be it the flints, rations, or water, it was all plundered from the corpses of the two guards.

Although the rations were difficult to swallow, beggars couldn’t be choosers in their situation.

The day was fraught with danger. To be able to survive in the face of Gold, Silver, and many other magical beasts, even obtaining a certain amount of equipment as well as sufficient food and water, made the couple count their blessings. What else could they ask for?

After eating and drinking their fill, the couple carefully sorted out the remaining food and waterskins.

The young man started to maintain the equipment.

He took out the sword and wiped the blade with an oilcloth.

Weapons required maintenance.

Although the sword was ordinary, it made Aupin feel a sense of security.

Unfortunately, there was no crossbow.

A moment later, seeing that Aupin had finished wiping his sword, Violette walked over. “Sir, let me check your wound.”

Aupin nodded.

After removing the bandage, he realized that the wound on his arm had mostly healed.

“The medicinal effects are good.” Aupin was not stingy with his praise.

He was sitting on a rock, while Violette was half-kneeling on the ground.

The girl first took out some powder from the leather pouch at her waist and sprinkled it evenly over the wound. Then, she took out a new bandage and gently wrapped it around the wound.

Finally, Violette put the bracer on for Aupin.

Violette’s gaze landed on the bracer and she sighed. “If you had this iron bracer earlier, you wouldn’t have been injured by the Blood Thread Centipede Snake.”

The fire reflected on the bracer and reflected a blurry orange glow that also landed on Violette’s hair.

Violette’s black hair sparkled under the firelight’s illumination.

Her malt-colored skin had the tenderness of a young girl. At this moment, there seemed to be a pure scent that spread to Aupin’s heart through the firelight.

Aupin’s heart couldn’t help but tremble. He couldn’t help but stretch out his hand and stroke Violette’s hair.

Violette trembled.

“S-Sir.” Violette lowered her head, as if frightened by Aupin’s actions. She held her breath nervously like a kitten.

Aupin’s mind was not on romance. He quickly retracted his hand and asked calmly, “Violette, tell me more about myself.”

Along the way, the young man forced himself to endure his desire and curiosity. It was only now that he had the chance to know the details after things calmed down.

The girl sat opposite the young man. She deliberated for a moment before answering, “Sir, you are a Templar and the only heir to the Centum’pin clan. You are publicly known to have the strength at the Black Iron rank.”

Aupin couldn’t help but frown.

Violette’s answer was interesting.

“Publicly known?” Aupin asked.

“Yes.” Violette nodded. “Sir, the strength you usually reveal is at the first-level of Black Iron. But according to my guess, that’s definitely not the case. That’s because the goal of our voyage this time was to compete for the position of White Sand City Lord. And a City Lord has to at least be at the Silver rank to be able to quell the masses.”

In the main world, humans were undoubtedly the overlords.

Humanity’s Emperor Holy Brilliance was enterprising. Not only did he unite the human continent, but he also formed an expeditionary army that crossed the oceans and invaded the Wilderness Continent.

White Sand City was a castle that humans had built on the Wilderness Continent. It was a foothold that Emperor Holy Brilliance had embedded in the Wilderness Continent.

There were more than ten bridgehead castles of the same nature as White Sand City, and the number was still rising.

I wanted to compete for the title of White Sand City Lord?

Although there are also Black Iron ranked City Lords, I doubt White Sand City on the Wilderness Continent will make do with an inferior person…

Be it battle aura or magic, they would bring about a sublimation of one’s life essence.

Bronze, Black Iron, Silver, and Gold.

Bronze rank were the elites of the human race. Typically in the armies, those who were captains had this level of cultivation.

The Black Iron rank was higher than the Bronze rank, and one’s life essence was one level higher. They were usually the backbone of organizations and factions. Violette was at that rank.

Those at the Silver rank were qualified to be a City Lord that could hold down an area.

Gold ranks were even rarer and were usually the pillars of a large noble faction or a small kingdom.

Seeing the young man’s pondering expression, the girl continued, “According to my guess, you should have a Silver rank cultivation base.”

The young man could not help but nod. He agreed with her deduction.

In that case, I should have a Silver-rank battle aura. There’s no reason for the empire to allow a Black Iron Templar to compete for the position of city lord.

“How old am I?” the young man suddenly asked.

Violette answered, “Sir, you are sixteen years old, and I am fifteen.”

“Sixteen years old… Silver rank…”

A word appeared in the young man’s heart: genius!

With such a cultivation level at such a young age, he was naturally a genius.

But I’m only known to have a Black Iron cultivation level. Was I hiding this on purpose? In that case, am I considered shrewd?

Aupin constantly deepened his understanding of himself.

He recalled a second memory he had when he was bullied while part of the Templar order. Was I acting weak?

“How is the Centum’pin clan?” the young man asked.

Violette showed a troubled look. She said hesitantly, “Not good.”

The young man nodded again.

He understood the reason.

Roughly a hundred years ago, in order to end the final Expedition War as soon as possible and unite the human continent, Emperor Holy Brilliance took the initiative to recruit the final remnants of the resistant human factions.

These resistant factions became the new aristocrats of the Holy Brilliance Empire. The Centum’pin clan was one of them.

However, the brutal war from before had entrenched deep enmity between the new and old nobles.

Many of the friends and family on both sides had died on the battlefield. Both sides had their hands stained with the blood of the other clansmen.

Therefore, when Aupin, who represented the new noble factions joined the Holy Temple and became a Templar candidate, he was naturally targeted and ostracized by the old nobles.

To be honest, this is a humiliating memory. Despite this, I feel very calm when I recall it, as though I’m an onlooker.

If I were really humiliated, there should at least be some anger and hatred left in me, right?

Violette continued, “Sir Aupin, I actually don’t know much about you.

“But according to rumors, you usually do not get involved with women and are quite a loner. Even when you encounter major events, you do not easily reveal your emotions.

“You spend most of your time cultivating in the temple. Your expression is serious and you are a man of few words. And the way you eat, dress, and walk exude elegance and composure. You have the demeanor of a noble.

“Although you have few friends, you are willing to help others, especially by protecting the weak and helping the poor. Thus, your reputation among the plebeians have always been good.

“Also, Sir, your sudden choice of action this time and your successful participation in the competition for the City Lord of White Sand City seemed to have shocked the other Templars.”

“Oh?” Aupin couldn’t help but frown.

Violette’s answer quickly outlined a shrewd young man in his heart. He was even more certain that this persona in his memory was deliberately showing weakness.

But to the young man’s surprise, Violette did not know much about Aupin.

What’s going on?

Isn’t she my fiancée?

If we didn’t have a close relationship, why would she not abandon me?

What’s her relationship with me?

Aupin was just about to continue asking when they heard a buzzing sound.

The two of them turned their heads and saw that hundreds of “flame wisps” suddenly lit up in the forest under the night sky.

These “flame wisps” gathered into a swarm and surged towards Aupin and Violette in a threatening manner.

“What’s that?” Aupin quickly stood up and stood in front of Violette, his expression serious.

A small portion of the “flame wisps” emitted a Bronze-ranked vitality.

“This is?!” After Violette recognized the “flame wisps,” her face instantly turned pale.

“Those are Fire Venom Bees! Sir, quickly run. I’ll take the rear!” Violette had a determined expression as she took a step forward, protecting Aupin behind her.

“Quickly leave, Sir!!” Violette shouted with grave anxiety, fully revealing her determination to die in his stead.