Reincarnated to the Past 18: Learning About My New Self (Patreon)

Reincarnated to the Past
Chapter 18: Learning About My New Self

-VB-

In the end, I didn’t really get to talk in-depth with Ghigari, Ureya, or anyone else really. I spent the entire day eating, and yet, I never grew fatter or bigger. In fact, I ate through what had to be at least my body weight in vegetables, meat, and grain but I gained not even a third of that in weight and none of that in size. 

It was a remarkable thing. 

That’s what Ghigari said anyway. 

It was a remarkable thing to me, too. It was particularly remarkable when I noticed that my body was fattening up not in fat like I expected to gain from eating so much over the next few weeks but in muscles within hours. 

The medicine woman called me unnatural. I was fine with that, because I had a full stomach and was too fucking happy.

“So, are you finally ready to talk?” Ghigari asked grumpily. He had the right to be grumpy too considering that I was the one who cleared out his home’s food pantry.

“Yes, chief,” I grinned in reply. 

“So, what was that about?”

“The food or my coma?”

“Is that what your people call deep sleep?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I think it had to do with my body trying to right itself.”

“Explain that,” Ghigari commanded.

“I … am not normal.”

Ghigari gave me a deadpan look that just screamed “No Duh.”

I could speak the truth and save myself the trouble, but at the same time, I was now living at a point in human history where superstition (not unwarranted in my position) ruled a large portion of human reasoning.

But it would give me more power to do as I wished. Namely, I wanted to make this tribe better than a primitive East European tribe destined to disappear. I didn’t want brilliant people like Ureya and Ghigari to remain as something so … little.

“I have been blessed and continue to be blessed by a powerful being,” I spoke honestly, and waited for a response. Ghigari didn’t give me one while the others looked at me with wide eyes. “The being is neither benevolent or malevolent. It just is, and it uses me as a form of entertainment.” 

“How does this being do so?” the chief asked me.

“By giving others and myself unnatural talent and pushing us towards conflict with one another.”

“Then is your ability to fight like a warrior part of that?”

“It was.”

“‘Was’?” Johaken, the son of Ghigari whom I met during Ghigari’s bed rest, repeated.

“I no longer possess the ability to be accurate as I had been.”

Ghigari finally showed a reaction and it was a grimace. “Then you can no longer be a warrior?”

I smiled. “Well, not quite. I’ve been looking into myself while I ate-”

“You mean shoving your face with food so fast that it made dad squeamish?” Ureya quipped from the corner. Ghigari glared at her, and the rest of her family snorted.

“- and I’ve learned that I’d exchanged two gifts for a single stronger gift.”

They gestured for me to go on.

“But in doing so, I neglected to think whether or not I was ready for this new gift. I wasn’t. The gift changed my body to suit itself… and to fuel that change, I needed to eat. Unfortunately, the initial change knocked me out due to pain, leaving me unable to fuel the change. So when I woke up…”

“You went into a minor feeding frenzy,” the medicine woman concluded.

“Yes.”

“And this being… what does it intend for the tribe and I?” Ghigari asked.

I blinked. Right, Ghigari would focus more on what kind of threat or benefactor the ROB would be.

“I do not know, but I am inclined to believe that it cares nothing about you or the tribe.”

“Why?”

“Do you care about ants? To them, we aren’t even ants. We are closer to specs of dirt and dust and not even then,” I grumbled as my mood plummeted at the thought of my own powerlessness settled in. “I wasn’t even a special person that had something unique about myself; I was merely the lucky one to have crossed its eyes when needed a human for its purpose.”

“Lucky, huh,” Johaken muttered. “Then all of the knowledge…? Are they a gift?”

“Oh. Oh no, those are things I knew about. While I do have a gift related to knowledge, all it did was help me remember better.”

“I see,” Ghigari said. “Then what do you intend to do now? What is your new gift?”

“I think … I’ll call it ‘Minor Body Perfection.’ You all saw my body heal itself before your eyes.”

They nodded.

“While my ability to be accurate has decreased, I can still do many things. Many more things, in fact, now that I have this gift.”

“And you mentioned that there were others that had gifts like yours.”

“Yes,” I replied. “I believe that one of the Scythians who fought against me was one such individual.”

“And what do you intend to do now that we are aware of your secret and status?”

I tilted my head. “Umm, nothing? I still intend to teach the children at my school, make more things to improve the quality of life, and try to not be an asshole to my … slaves.” I blinked. “Wait, has anyone been feeding my slaves?”

“We have,” Johaken replied. “We consider you very close to our family, and as such, your slaves have been fed along with our own servants.”

“Oh good,” I replied with a sigh of relief. 

“And on that note, I want to spar with you.”

I blinked at Johaken’s abrupt request. 

“Jo!” the medicine woman snapped at her grandson. “He is still-”

“Sure.”

Everyone turned to me in surprise.

I grinned. “My body’s healed. I can feel it. I want to test it out.”

Johaken grinned along with me. “Alright, let’s go out there.”

-VB-

Ureya

She glared at her brother and Alan. She’s been waiting to talk with Alan, and her brother was pushing that even further back. Depending on the outcome of the spar, it may have to wait even a whole day. 

As she grew up in the tribe, she learned that there were things one missed when they were no longer there for her to enjoy. 

She never thought Alan would be one of those.

Ureya knew that Alan may never appreciate her; she did try to kill him on at least one occasion. It didn’t make her conflicting emotions any less real. At least, she knew now that he truly hadn’t been a warrior until her tribe needed him to be.

And her stupid meathead of a brother decided that the first thing he wanted out of Alan was to fight him.

As if he wasn’t aware of the fact that Alan killed almost all of the Scythian leadership.

The two men stood inside the training circle at the west corner of the tribal town. Around the circle were other warriors and, of course, her family. 

Alan held a wooden stave and Jo held a sword and shield. No words were said. The two nodded to each other.

And within seconds, it was apparently clear what had changed with Alan. When he moved, it was as if he was running and yet his body didn’t move like a runner. A simple swing of the staff was strong enough to push back her brother despite the swing being simple and Alan’s form casual. 

He switched from a swing to jab nearly flawlessly, only showing that he was unfamiliar with the weapon when he paused between the quick switch.

His jabs came mercilessly, striking numerous times. Her brother tried to defend with the wooden round shield, but every time he moved it to defend himself, he was too late and was struck elsewhere.

Fifty seconds into the spar, Jo yielded, dazed and exhausted.

And Alan?

He looked surprised as he always did. That stupid ‘Did I do this?’ expression adorning his face.

“Umm… I guess I underestimated myself?” Alan asked.

Jo grumbled, not liking the fact that he’s been bested so effortlessly in public (but both he and she knew that it was inevitable with Alan’s history).

Ureya just rolled her eyes.

Alan may be smart… but he was also very stupid.