Return of the Fallen Nobleman With an SSS-Rank Talent-Chapter 78: Bretan

After the bandits’ attack, Adam was back in his carriage, looking somewhat bored.

Thanks to his intervention, the damage hadn’t been severe, so only a few had died. Given the strength of that band of bandits, the casualties should have been much higher.

They were already using demonic chants.

Adam knew how dangerous they were.

Demonic energy was more destructive than mana... but it came at a price. It corrupted the mind. If the bearer wasn’t a demon, they ended up transforming into something closer to a beast than a sentient being.

And that was exactly what happened to the bandit leader.

The vast amount of demonic energy he was drawing from the ring eventually consumed him, warping his body and driving him into an irrational bloodlust.

Adam leaned his head lightly against the back of the carriage.

He knew that if any of the mercenaries who hadn’t fled had faced that leader, they would have died without even being able to put up a fight.

Especially him...

If he were still a novice knight, he wouldn’t have come out unscathed.

Would he have won?

Yes.

But the price would have been high.

Serious injuries.

Perhaps even a few broken bones.

Adam just sighed, closed his eyes to sleep for the rest of the journey, and hoped nothing else would happen.

The constant rattling of the carriage eventually lulled his senses to sleep.

Adam couldn’t remember when he’d closed his eyes.

Except that, at some point, the sound of the wheels on the road faded away.

And silence fell.

...

When he opened them again, he was no longer in the carriage. The first thing Adam saw was a white wall, smooth and uniform, with a few paintings hanging on it that seemed to depict people, though their faces weren’t entirely clear.

But he was certain he was standing inside a house.

It wasn’t a mansion, like the ones he was used to seeing, nor did it resemble any in his city.

It was... small. And simple.

The walls were a strange color I couldn’t quite describe. There were no cracks, no imperfections, no signs of wear. There were rectangular windows, too perfect, with sharp edges that looked as if they’d been cut with impossible precision.

A soft, white light streamed through them, as if coming from the sun...

The door, made of light wood, had a smooth surface, free of tool marks. It was too uniform.

Adam didn’t move.

He looked around with extreme caution, letting his senses scan every corner. The silence was absolute, strangely oppressive, as if the place were cut off from the world.

But there was something about this place... It felt uncomfortably familiar.

No, because he would have been there.

But because... he knew it.

But how could he feel that sense of familiarity if he had never been there?

Adam frowned, confused.

That feeling wasn’t superficial. It ran deeper like a buried memory trying to surface.

"..."

Adam moved; he wanted to explore a little more of the strange yet familiar place he found himself in. Each of his steps was too quiet.

He couldn’t even hear the sound of his boots scraping against the floor.

After taking a few steps, he stopped in front of the door. Adam hesitated for a moment; he didn’t know if there was danger... or something worse. Although so far, he hadn’t sensed any living presence nearby.

He took a deep breath.

He pushed the door.

It opened without resistance.

The interior was illuminated by a uniform white light with no apparent source. There were no candles or torches.

Adam squinted.

That... didn’t make sense.

Still, he took a step forward and entered.

The air inside the room was just as strange: clean, still, as if time stood still there.

He moved forward slowly.

Until he stood completely still at the sight of what was in front of him.

Three figures were seated around a table.

One of them was a man with black hair that was beginning to thin, a stocky build, and a prominent beer belly.

Next to the man who was going bald stood a woman. She had long blonde hair, with slight waves at the ends that fell softly over her shoulders, and a figure that could easily catch the eye of anyone who saw her.

As soon as Adam saw her, even without being able to see her clearly, he knew she was a beauty.

There was something about the way she was sitting—the posture of her back and the tilt of her neck—that seemed... too perfect.

His gaze shifted to the side and settled on the boy, dressed in strange clothes unlike anything he had ever seen before... yet, as he looked at him, he felt something.

Something strange.

A slight unease washed over his chest.

That made him frown.

What was that feeling?

It was too unfamiliar to put into words... but it was there, persistent, like a discomfort that wouldn’t go away.

Something didn’t add up.

The three people were eating.

Well... or at least that’s what it looked like.

Their hands moved slowly, bringing food to their mouths at regular intervals, almost identical to one another.

Adam paused.

The silence in the room made each of those movements even more noticeable.

He watched them more closely.

His gaze fell first on the man.

Then on the woman.

And finally, on the child.

Something about them... felt unbearably familiar to him.

Adam noticed the boy looking up, and their eyes met; at least, that was the sensation he felt, followed by a tightness in his chest and a chill. It was as if something... were trying to surface.

A memory? A feeling? Something he couldn’t put into words.

Then the boy opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The woman slowly turned her head toward Adam, as if she were looking at a son.

"!!"

Adam unconsciously took a step back, but then he felt the man’s gaze, which also seemed to be saying something he couldn’t quite make out.

With sweat running down his back, he asked,

"Who are you...?"

However, as expected, there was no answer.

Adam frowned.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Speak up."

His voice sounded harsher this time.

The boy dropped his cutlery. There was no sound as it hit the table. Then he stood up and walked toward him.

Adam couldn’t react in the slightest, but as if he were a ghost, the boy walked right through him.

And in that instant...

The world shattered.

...

Adam opened his eyes with a start, breathing heavily, his sword covered in sweat. His chest rose and fell violently, as if he’d been running for hours; the air scratched his throat as it moved in and out of his lungs.

His eyes darted back and forth, desperately searching for something that wasn’t there... until the rhythmic sound of the carriage echoed in his ears.

The creaking of the wood.

The gentle rocking.

The constant thudding of the wheels against the road.

Reality came crashing back.

He looked at his hands. They were trembling slightly.

Then he looked up and scanned his surroundings, as if he needed to confirm it once more. That’s when he saw Asterin, floating nearby, her brow slightly furrowed. She wasn’t saying anything.

But her gaze was sizing him up.

That confirmed he wasn’t dreaming.

He had returned.

To the real world.

Adam took several deep breaths, forcing his body to calm down. Little by little, his breathing began to steady, though his heart was still pounding against his chest.

Cold sweat still clung to his skin.

For a second...

He hesitated.

The sensation of that other place was still there, persistent, like a shadow clinging to his mind.

Then he closed his eyes tightly.

"..."

The dream was beginning to fade.

But not entirely.

The image of the house, the table, and the child was still there. Like a mark, like something that shouldn’t exist.

Adam sat up and poked his head out of the window to be sure; the landscape was passing by as usual.

Everything was in its place.

And yet...

Something didn’t feel right.

"...What was that?"

He got no answer. But one thing was clear. That hadn’t been a simple dream.

And, for some reason...

He felt that what he had seen... had something to do with him.

Something he didn’t yet understand.

Something that, sooner or later... he would have to remember.

...

After that strange dream, the journey proceeded without any major problems. The carriage rumbled steadily along the damp road, and the sound of the wheels mingling with the clatter of hooves created a monotonous rhythm that, as the hours passed, became almost hypnotic.

From time to time, Rank I and II monsters would appear, emerging from among the trees or from small elevations in the terrain.

But Adam didn’t have to step in; the mercenaries hired by the merchants reacted quickly, taking them out before they could even get too close to the convoy.

So he just rested.

Sometimes he closed his eyes, letting himself be lulled by the rocking of the carriage. At other times, he watched the landscape glide slowly past the window: open fields, paths marked by old wheel tracks, and forests stretching silently beneath the clear sky.

He also spent time talking with Asterin, who floated near him, telling him about his kingdom, ancient battles, and the knights who had protected it.

Over time, the convoy’s movement began to change.

The sound of other carriages grew more frequent.

The voices.

The noise.

Adam opened his eyes.

In the distance, rising above the horizon, enormous stone walls came into view. Tall and imposing, they bore the marks of time and had been reinforced to withstand any threat from the sea or the land.

More carriages were heading toward the same destination, forming a long line along the road.

Adam stared straight ahead.

They were approaching the port city of Bretan.