I reversed the damage I'd taken from the bandit, and he spun away from me.
The wound I'd received no longer hurt.
I couldn't tell if it had healed or simply ceased to exist, but I used the opening to pick up the sword the bandit had dropped.
Then, I reversed my aptitude for swordsmanship.
I leveled my blade and faced the bandits head-on.
Like hell I was going to let them sell me as a slave!
"Heheh, this brat's stance is actually pretty polished. Be a good kid and hand the sword back."
A different bandit—one I hadn't reflected the damage at—crept toward me.
I swung my sword at him, and his right arm was severed clean off without a sound.
"Wha— What did you do, brat?! Uwaaaah! My arm—my arm!"
It took him a moment to even realize his arm was gone.
Blood was spurting from the cut just above his elbow.
"What the hell is this kid...? I couldn't even see his movement...? Does he have the Sword Master skill?!"
Too bad. Wrong guess.
Sword Master is one tier below Sword Saint, but what I have is Sword God.
It's the highest-tier skill in the entire swordsman category—one that even Sword Saint can't hold a candle to.
My aptitude for swordsmanship-related skills was so absurdly negative that when reversed, this was the result.
And then, I cut down the stunned bandits one after another.
Every last one of them had lost their right arm.
"Ggh, to think a brat would pull something like this... We'll definitely get our revenge!"
The one who appeared to be the bandit leader glared at me while clutching his right shoulder, but with Sword God on my side, his words didn't faze me in the slightest.
"You should be grateful it's only this much. You guys were going to sell me off as a slave, weren't you? If you had, I'd have been forced to live a harsh and miserable life. So from now on, you get to keep suffering too. Life without your dominant arm must be pretty awful, huh?"
To regenerate a missing limb, you'd have to pay an enormous healing fee to the church.
There was no way these guys could afford that.
"Fine... just kill me..."
Nobody benefits from a bandit's dying words.
If only at least one of them had been a woman.
I took another look at the bandits through my left eye.
The bounty on each of them was two gold coins.
I guessed that meant they were a moderately sized bandit group.
Oh, and one of them seemed to have a magic bag.
I'd be taking that.
The rest, I'd just leave.
I wasn't about to go through the hassle of handing these guys over to the guards alive.
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The bandits had removed the harnesses from the carriage, and the horses had long since bolted.
With no other choice, I set off on foot.
The magical tool for warding off monsters that had been equipped on the carriage was still intact, so I carried it along as I traveled, and by nightfall I arrived at the next town—Momentum.
The town was enclosed by outer walls to keep monsters out, and as I drew near the gate, I could see guards keeping watch.
"Hey, hey—no way, no way! You're not getting in tonight. Come back after sunrise. Or hand over one gold coin as the entrance fee."
Huh? The entrance fee for those without identification was supposed to be three copper coins, wasn't it?
One gold coin was more than enough for a commoner to live on for an entire month.
"Maybe a kid like you wouldn't know. I'm letting you in as a special favor. The truth is, the gates aren't supposed to open at night when monsters are prowling. Besides, you've got nice clothes and a magic bag—you've got money, right? Consider it a life lesson. Or would you rather camp out?"
So he was sizing me up.
Why was it that every person in this other world turned out to be such scum?
Fine. I'd spend the night by the wall, away from the gate.
Truth was, back at the marquis's estate, I'd occasionally been thrown outside under the guise of "discipline," so I was no stranger to sleeping outdoors.
And so, not long after I drifted off to sleep—
I sensed killing intent and rolled aside on pure instinct.
There was the gatekeeper from before, his spear driven into the spot where I'd just been lying.
"Tch, so you weren't asleep after all. Sharp instincts, kid. Now hand over the magic bag. Do that, and I won't kill you—I'll even let you into town."
Worse than an armed robbery...
What a world.
Or wait—was this other world always at the end of days?
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Skills: Reverse, Divine Eye, Sword God