Unexpected, there’s no way to cut down that gap!

[Absorbing Hakutaku’s Bad Luck: 3000.] [Accidental Death: 0.1] [Trait Points: 3400.8] [Physical Constitution: 300 (Free after 100 deaths, becomes paid after one exchange)] [Woodworking: 1000] [Browsing: 1400] [Magic: 3000]

Trait Points could be exchanged for Physical Constitution. So far, Reg had only seen this option and no others.

Perhaps, the more abilities he acquired, the more options he would have for allocation.

Trait Points could enhance skills or strengthen his physical body.

Reg preferred allocating points to Physical Constitution, as it was highly cost-effective and he could clearly feel the immediate boost to his body. Plus, he automatically received a free boost to Physical Constitution after every hundred deaths.

Reg didn’t understand the principle behind this, perhaps his soul was strengthening and pulling his body along?

Magic was too expensive and not very cost-effective. He once allocated a point to Magic, but it only allowed him to produce a small flame.

Reg decided to spend the majority of his Trait Points on Physical Constitution.

With a thought, Reg reduced his Trait Points by 3000 and instantly applied them to Physical Constitution.

[Physique: 3] [Reiryoku (Spiritual Power): 0.01]

Reg was not weak. He could easily defeat 100 ordinary people. However, against those samurai bolstered by bloody battle experience, it would only take four or five to kill him.

Without weapons, Reg could at least take down a dozen while running, but the previous attempt to protect Keine resulted in him getting injured and severely compromised his ability to fight.

“Hmm, what is it, Reg?” Keine inquired, pulling Reg back to reality.

“Teacher Keine… We must act immediately. Please send the Terakoya personnel home first, and let’s move to a more spacious location!”

Reg realized that this Death Reversal had taken him back a full half-hour, which meant they still had time to leave this place.

“Oh… alright. Are you in such a hurry to send the children away? Teacher Keine here is quite old, you know. Do you want to play hide-and-seek with your teacher? Fine, fine… Reg-kun, let me send the children off first.”

Keine wore a smile, looking at the serious Reg extending the invitation, wanting to lead her out of the courtyard.

Reg stood calmly half a step away from Keine, his eyes sweeping over the vague dark figures closing in outside the courtyard gate. The samurai were acting like ninjas, silently giving him time to act.

This time, he felt no panic.

With his Physical Constitution enhanced by the Trait Points, he clenched his fists. This time, he was terrifyingly strong, especially combined with the multiplied reaction speed he received after dying and the need to “clear the stage.”

Reg had no reason to fall again to this group of samurai.

“Teacher Keine, please step back.”

Reg’s voice was low, yet it held a chilling calmness, strangely intimidating. He seemed like a seasoned martial artist now.

With the superposition of his reaction speed, he felt that everything around him was predictable, as if he possessed invincible foresight.

The Ogre Brain from Baki! Reg felt like he had acquired the Ogre Brain!

The samurai surged into the courtyard like a pack of wolves.

“Aha! To liberate the political power! To realize the Family Head’s desires! Surrender obediently, Reg! You’re needed as a political pawn!”

The familiar unfurling of the scroll suddenly began, but Reg, already in a combat state, swiftly yanked Keine’s hand, avoiding the attack.

The leader was the burly samurai who had previously stepped on Reg’s arm, his face a knot of hard flesh.

“Agh!”

He raised his naginata again, aiming it at Keine’s undefended flank. The speed was terrifying, accompanied by a sharp whistle that tore the air, but he intentionally kept the attack slightly off target.

“Honestly, are there enemies? I truly didn’t want to get involved.”

Keine’s eyes were terrifyingly cold. Everything around them was instantly overwritten by history, and in that instant, all the samurai felt fear.

“Damn it! The Hakutaku didn’t fall for it! Ugh!!! What’s happening? She’s taking this too seriously! Teacher Keine! We’re just following orders for cash!”

One samurai couldn’t react. He felt his presence growing fainter, as if he had never been born.

Gradually, his memories began to disappear. Where exactly was the history of his existence?

He didn’t know. Perhaps he never existed at all?

The tidal wave of history began to lengthen. Under the power of the Youkai, the samurai trapped within felt as if they were undergoing some terrifying ordeal.

They looked at everything around them in fear. Their comrades?

Was he alone? No! He had never been born!

“Return to history. The Human Village has never restricted you. Seek freedom, be banished!”

Keine’s eyes no longer held any trace of her usual warmth, only a profound emptiness, looking down on the dust of the world.

She stood there silently, the chill radiating from her sharper than any blade.

“Since you did not harm my Reg-kun, I shall grant you banishment. Go to the outside world, go to a terrifying time period and experience history!”

The samurai’s movements froze.

Their expressions were fixed, the crazed killing intent in their eyes faded and vanished.

The deep wrinkles on their faces smoothed out. The fingers gripping the sword hilt slowly loosened one by one. The naginata silently crumbled and flaked away like weathered rock, turning into fine, grayish-white dust that drifted into the air.

Their bodies became thin like paper.

The outlines of their physique began to blur, like a piece of paper in the sky, its texture washed away by rain.

The armor they wore for disguise vaporized soundlessly, and the exposed skin also faded, rapidly losing texture and color.

“Who am I?”

“Where is this place?”

“I think I forgot something important…”

The samurai whispered confusedly, their voices dry and weak.

They clawed futilely at their arms or faces. Where they clawed, it was as if they punctured a phantom, leaving no flesh and blood, only deeper emptiness.

Their forms grew increasingly faint, dissolving upwards from their feet.

First, their shoes turned to dust, then their trouser legs seemed to be scorched by an invisible flame, creeping upwards: shins, thighs, waist… bit by bit turning into particles of flying ash.

The process was completely silent. There were no painful screams, only the total erasure of existence itself, which swept through the entire Terakoya, causing the temperature of the courtyard to drop several degrees.

In a blink, all that remained were some light dust motes swirling down, which were quickly scattered by the breeze and absorbed into the dirt, leaving no trace.

It was as if those dozen or so ferocious samurai and their premeditated kidnapping had never set foot in this courtyard.

Everything was quiet, like a silent dream being withdrawn.

“Did they… die?”

Reg stood under the eaves, feeling a chill run up his spine from his feet.

“Ah, I sent them back to their homes, and deleted some of their memories.”

Teacher Keine was still standing in the courtyard, her back to him. Her silver-white hair, mixed with green, shone with a cold light in the sun. The two horns symbolized her unique identity.

The surroundings were terrifyingly silent. Only his own slightly heavy breathing reminded him that none of what happened was an illusion.

“Keine… is amazing as always… If it weren’t for me, Keine could have easily resolved this attack too, right?”

“No, Reg-kun. If you hadn’t pulled me away from that scroll, it would have taken me some effort.”

Only dead silence remained in the courtyard.

A breeze swirled the residual dust on the ground, carrying it away until it seeped into the soil, vanishing without a trace.

Keine seemed to know everything, yet she didn’t expose anything, silently playing the role of the savior.

Keine stood with her back to Reg.

The sunlight bathed her, her long silver-white hair gleaming with a cold sheen in the light, making her seem completely different from her usual gentle image.

“How vast the gap between us is… only I can truly understand, right?”

Reg stood in the shadow of the eaves, feeling his throat dry. Everything that just happened was too terrifying. Compared to a Youkai, Reg often felt so weak, especially against Teacher Keine, who held the title of Hakutaku.

She was, from beginning to end, not the same kind of person as him.

Powerful and mysterious, she could easily destroy Reg.

Just like the magic Marisa wielded, Reg needed to die at least once before he could truly face a Youkai.

Pain truly hurt. Reg was unwilling to constantly live in agony, nor did he intend to engage in combat.

Every fight he undertook was solely for self-preservation.

Although his body no longer felt pain, an innate chill crawled up his spine, allowing his rationality to prevail. That’s right, even if Keine’s power were sealed, she could easily kill this group with her bare hands!

Keine’s power completely erased existence itself.

In the silence, only his own slightly rough breathing buzzed in his ears.

No matter how many times Reg witnessed it, he felt fear.

After a few breaths, Keine slowly turned around.

The detached coldness and emptiness of looking down on the mortal world had mostly faded from her face, gradually restoring her usual demeanor, though a hint of complex emotion remained in her eyes.

She seemed nervous, afraid that her recent appearance might have frightened Reg.

“Reg-kun, would you like to come in and drink my tea? It’s awkward for you to keep spacing out here.”

Keine extended her invitation, wanting Reg to come back inside for tea.

The tea cup was steaming, but the clear aroma couldn’t dispel the chill in Reg’s heart.

He picked up the small teacup. The jade-green tea inside trembled slightly, reflecting his own face.

Teacher Keine sat quietly opposite him, her posture still composed and gentle, as if the scene in the courtyard had never occurred.

“How is the tea? This is my most prized tea, rumored to prolong life or grant special power.”

She even gently asked how the tea tasted.

“V-very good.”

Reg mumbled his reply, his voice a little strained.

The edge of the cup touched his lips, and the tea flowed into his mouth, but he only felt his throat tightening, unable to taste anything.

He forced himself to sip slowly, staring at the few tiny tea leaves floating on the surface, desperately trying not to recall the image of the samurai dissolving into dust.

This wasn’t the first time he had witnessed Keine’s power.

Even as a child at the Terakoya, he had vaguely known that this gentle teacher was not simple.

But every time he witnessed such a means of easily erasing existence, which transcended common sense, the innate panic towards the unknown power would seize his heart again.

This made him more unsettled than facing a Youkai’s frontal attack. This power was omnipresent like the air, silent, unseen, and impossible to guard against.

The calmer this power was displayed, the more restless it made him.

He now only wanted to leave this suffocatingly quiet room as quickly as possible.

“Um, Teacher…”

Reg put down the nearly untouched teacup, trying to make his voice sound normal, but the slight tremor in his trailing words was uncontrollable.

“Thank you so much for lending me this volume. I… I want to take it back and carefully study the mortise-and-tenon structures inside.”

“Of course.”

Keine nodded gently, a hint of something unreadable in her eyes, but mostly still indulgence.

She pushed the small cloth bundle containing the book toward Reg.

“Take your time reading it, there’s no rush to return it. In fact, I can give it to you for free, provided you come to visit your teacher often.”

Reg was teased by the gentle Keine, and his face flushed.

“Teacher, please don’t joke… How can our relationship be measured by a book? Even without this book, I would still visit often!”

Reg stood up almost immediately, his movements fast enough to stir the air.

“But I have to go back now. Business at the shop doesn’t seem to be doing well today.”

He spoke a little quickly, barely waiting for Keine to say goodbye, hastily grabbing the cloth bundle with the book, and nodding vaguely in her direction as a salute.

Under the veranda, he nearly bumped into the door frame. The corner of the cloth bundle snagged on the door latch, pulling for a moment before coming free.

He clumsily slipped into his shoes, hurrying across the silent courtyard without stopping.

Just as he pushed open the Terakoya’s courtyard gate, Keine suddenly reached out and grabbed the corner of his tunic.

“I, your teacher, am actually very lonely… I think of you every time I drink tea.”

“Teacher Keine… I apologize, but please show some self-respect. For someone as excellent as you to seek out someone as ordinary as me… I don’t think it’s appropriate. The problem of the longevity gap cannot be fundamentally eliminated.”

Keine’s gaze seemed to dim for a moment. That bottomless gentle stare made Reg feel an invisible, heavy pressure.

Her hand finally slowly released the corner of his tunic.

Reg immediately took a small step back, almost instinctively putting distance between himself and that unnerving aura.

“I’m sorry for the intrusion, Teacher Keine. I… I’ll return the book next time!”

He hurriedly dropped this sentence, not daring to look at Keine’s expression again, and practically fled, turning and walking away.

His footsteps were rapid, leaving a slightly messy set of sounds on the dirt road outside the quiet courtyard gate. He didn’t dare to look back once, wanting only to quickly distance himself from this place that made him feel both grateful and inexplicably panicked.

“Ah… did he leave?”

Keine felt regret, but the next time they met, she wouldn’t let Reg go.

She quietly crouched down, smelled the lingering scent of his fingers, and licked them slightly.

It seems Reg-kun prefers gentle, thoughtful girls… Am I not thoughtful enough, Teacher?

Did my reincarnation also use this excuse? Hahaha!

Suddenly, Reg, who was running in the distance, tripped over a stone and fell, hitting his head on a nearby machete used for chopping firewood. The severe impact caused a massive head wound.

Thunk…

Reg died again.

“Damn it!”