How a Two-Life Scoundrel Lives - Chapter 18
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Episode 18】
A hot afternoon with the blazing sun beating down.
“Haah, haaah!”
The Knight continued swinging his sword without stopping, even as sweat poured down his face.
“Are you still here doing this?”
A Fellow Knight approached and clicked his tongue.
“Take it easy. What will you do if you collapse like this?”
“I’m fine.”
The Knight smiled brightly and gulped down lukewarm Water from a Bucket.
“I can easily overcome this much heat. It’s nothing compared to those Barbarians.”
“You’re really hopeless. Fine. How could I possibly change your stubborn mind? Well then, good luck. Just don’t overdo it.”
“Thanks for worrying about me.”
Even after his colleague left, the Knight continued swinging his sword relentlessly, honing his Swordsmanship.
The sight of the Knight silently swinging his sword looked almost noble, like an ascetic walking only the path of martial arts.
The sweltering summer passed, and autumn came with cool breezes.
Swoosh, swish!
The Knight still swung his sword, devoted to Training.
“Kek kek! Go ahead and swing for a thousand or ten thousand years. Do you think that pathetic talent will improve your skills?”
“Just give up your Knight title and go back to your Hometown to farm!”
“Tsk tsk. How can someone with no talent be so foolishly stubborn?”
Colleagues passing by the Knight each threw out a mocking comment.
The Knight didn’t even blink at his colleagues’ scornful laughter.
His eyes were focused only on the tip of his sword, his ears heard only the sound the sword made, and his mouth knew only how to let out battle cries.
Time passed and winter came.
Even on days when fierce snowstorms raged relentlessly, the Knight never skipped Training.
Though snow piled thickly on his developed shoulders, he only swung his sword.
Thirty years passed as he silently swung his sword like this.
Despite poor physical conditions and talent close to the worst, the Knight never missed a single day of Training.
Then one day.
“Aaaah!”
“Aah!”
“P-please spare me!”
“Retreat! Quickly retreat… aah!”
A massive force of Barbarians crossed the Border and poured into Dekaron like a flood.
Castle Walls crumbled, buildings burned, and desperate screams and cries echoed everywhere.
“I will not forgive anyone who invades this land.”
The Knight leaped into the midst of the Barbarians without a moment’s hesitation and displayed the Swordsmanship he had trained his entire life.
“Kugh!”
“Aah!”
Before such a Knight’s sword, the Barbarian warriors fell like autumn leaves in the wind.
One type of Slash.
And one type of Thrust.
The simple Swordsmanship the Knight had trained for thirty years had reached a level sufficient to sweep away the Barbarian warriors.
Thus the Knight became a key figure in protecting Dekaron from the Barbarians’ invasion.
Most of the colleagues who had mocked the Knight were dead, and the survivors were only those who owed him their lives.
Right after the Barbarians’ army retreated.
The Knight headed to the ruined Training Ground.
And once again swung his sword.
“Look here, please stop.”
“What Training with that body? Do you think you’re still young and vigorous?”
His colleagues tried to dissuade the Knight, but it was useless.
Even in his battered state, the Knight smiled brightly and answered.
“How can one who holds a sword let go of it even for a single day? I will only train until the day I close my eyes.”
Three years later.
The Knight groaned from the aftereffects of his injuries, yet never skipped Training to the very end.
And that day was the Knight’s final Training.
“Simply, I will only train.”
Leaving those words, the Knight who went out to train displayed the Thrust and Slash he had refined and perfected over his lifetime, then closed his eyes while standing.
The hero who had insisted on Training close to asceticism his whole life, who overcame his innate limitations through effort and left a great achievement, closed his eyes like that.
* * *
The scenery before his eyes changed.
Ding!
[Notice: You have read lingering thoughts.]
[Notice: You can absorb the lingering thoughts.]
[Notice: You have read lingering thoughts.]
[Notice: You can absorb the lingering thoughts.]
[Notice: You have read lingering thoughts.]
[Notice: You can absorb the lingering thoughts.]
[Notice: You have read lingering thoughts.]
[Notice: You can absorb the lingering thoughts.]
[Notice: You have read lingering thoughts.]
[Notice: You can absorb the lingering thoughts.]
Carlisle instinctively realized that the trace the Knight left in this world was that terrible stubbornness and obsession with effort.
It was not effort done expecting compensation.
If he had expected compensation, he wouldn’t have been able to foolishly polish himself for decades like that.
He simply made lifelong efforts to fulfill his duty as a Knight.
And that foolish effort became great strength in the Knight’s protection of Dekaron from the Barbarians, bearing fruit that transcended innate limitations to reach high levels.
Then, if he absorbed the trace he left in this world?
His soul remaining at this old Training Ground site?
“…Noble Knight’s soul.”
Carlisle found himself speaking.
“I shall inherit your will, so dwell in my sword.”
Soon the Knight’s footprints remaining throughout the Training Ground shone brightly, then gathered one by one toward Carlisle’s sword.
Whoooosh!
Carlisle’s sword glowed brightly.
Ding!
Soon a Status Window appeared.
[Notice: You have absorbed lingering thoughts!]
[Notice: You have acquired the skill 【Silent One’s Devotion】!]
[Notice: You have acquired the skill 【Loyal Heart】!]
[Notice: You have acquired the skill 【World Opening】!]
[Notice: You have absorbed lingering thoughts!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【Silent One’s Devotion】 skill!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【Loyal Heart】 skill!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【World Opening】 skill!]
[Notification: You have absorbed residual thoughts!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【Silent One’s Devotion】 skill!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【Loyal Heart】 skill!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【World Opening】 skill!]
[Notification: You have absorbed residual thoughts!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【Silent One’s Devotion】 skill!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【Loyal Heart】 skill!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【World Opening】 skill!]
[Notification: You have absorbed residual thoughts!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【Silent One’s Devotion】 skill!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【Loyal Heart】 skill!]
[Notification: You have acquired the 【World Opening】 skill!]
The skills acquired through the knight’s soul were as follows.
[Silent One’s Devotion]
[Silent One’s Devotion]
Skill Level: 1
Effect: During training, the Immovable Heart effect activates, allowing you to focus solely on swinging the sword in a Thoughtless State.
[Silent One’s Devotion]
Skill Level: 1
Effect: During training, the Immovable Heart effect activates, allowing you to focus solely on swinging the sword in a Thoughtless State.
[Silent One’s Devotion]
Skill Level: 1
Effect: During training, the Immovable Heart effect activates, allowing you to focus solely on swinging the sword in a Thoughtless State.
[Silent One’s Devotion]
Skill Level: 1
Effect: During training, the Immovable Heart effect activates, allowing you to focus solely on swinging the sword in a Thoughtless State.
[Silent One’s Devotion]
Skill Level: 1
Effect: During training, the Immovable Heart effect activates, allowing you to focus solely on swinging the sword in a Thoughtless State.
It felt like a painful tooth had finally been pulled out.
He had been struggling with his body not moving properly anyway…
[Loyal Heart]
[Loyal Heart]
The ultimate thrust.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to pierce even the enemy’s soul.
Skill Level: 1
[Loyal Heart]
The ultimate thrust.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to pierce even the enemy’s soul.
Skill Level: 1
[Loyal Heart]
The ultimate thrust.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to pierce even the enemy’s soul.
Skill Level: 1
[Loyal Heart]
The ultimate thrust.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to pierce even the enemy’s soul.
Skill Level: 1
[Loyal Heart]
The ultimate thrust.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to pierce even the enemy’s soul.
Skill Level: 1
[World Opening]
[World Opening]
The ultimate slash.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to cut through the world itself.
Skill Level: 1
[World Opening]
The ultimate slash.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to cut through the world itself.
Skill Level: 1
[World Opening]
The ultimate slash.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to cut through the world itself.
Skill Level: 1
[World Opening]
The ultimate slash.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to cut through the world itself.
Skill Level: 1
[World Opening]
The ultimate slash.
A swordsmanship technique imbued with the will to cut through the world itself.
Skill Level: 1
The knight’s swordsmanship consisted of only two simple techniques: thrusting and slashing.
However, their level of completion was superior to any other swordsmanship.
Since the sword is fundamentally a weapon meant for thrusting and cutting, these were techniques most faithful to the basics.
Just like the knight’s life…
‘Ah.’
Carlisle realized how he could use the knight’s abilities.
“However, I shall only train.”
From Carlisle’s mouth flowed the knight’s dying words, the command phrase that activated the Soul Pacifying Sword’s power.
[Notification: 【Silent One’s Devotion】 skill has been activated.]
[Notification: 【Silent One’s Devotion】 skill has been activated.]
[Notification: 【Silent One’s Devotion】 skill has been activated.]
[Notification: 【Silent One’s Devotion】 skill has been activated.]
[Notification: 【Silent One’s Devotion】 skill has been activated.]
He slowly swung his sword.
Soon, stray thoughts disappeared, and the lethargy that had bound his body vanished as if washed away.
Swoosh, swish!
Swoosh!
Carlisle’s sword cut through the air as he began to demonstrate the Sigmund Family Swordsmanship.
* * *
‘The Young Master must be feeling frustrated as well.’
Maranello thought this while waiting for Carlisle to come.
‘Well, that’s understandable. After living a life of debauchery for so long, his body must have adapted to laziness.’
Maranello understood from long experience that rehabilitation was never an easy process.
In this elderly gentleman’s mind, effort was more a matter of habit than talent.
Even someone who had been diligently working hard would find it difficult to return to their former self once they let go of their willpower.
‘He needs to gradually develop the habit of making effort…’
After waiting for Carlisle for several hours like this.
Bright dawn was rising in the distance.
Before he knew it, dawn had passed and morning had come.
“Young Master?”
When Carlisle didn’t appear even after daybreak, Maranello wondered if something had happened and headed to the training ground.
And there, Maranello witnessed a scene he could hardly believe.
Whoosh, swoosh!
Carlisle was swinging his sword.
Judging by how he was drenched in sweat, it was clear he had been training all night.
‘Finally, the Young Master is engaging in proper training…’
Just as a gentle smile was forming on Maranello’s lips.
“No, impossible!”
Maranello’s eyes filled with shock as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Flash!
Carlisle’s thrust shot out like a beam of light.
Maranello immediately recognized that the thrust was perfect, having reached a high level of mastery.
Others might not be able to tell, but to Maranello’s eyes as a strong warrior, that thrust was truly perfect.
That wasn’t all.
Swoosh!
Carlisle’s sword cut through the air, leaving silver afterimages.
“…Absurd.”
After seeing the perfect thrust followed by a perfect slash, Maranello was completely stunned.
The thrust called [Loyal Heart] and the slash called [World Opening] that the Nameless Knight had refined over his lifetime were just that perfect.
Simple, crude swordsmanship.
Yet the most delicate and precise thrust and slash in this world.
That was the great masterpiece the knight had created over his lifetime.
Of course, Maranello had no idea of this fact…
‘The Young Master has been hiding his skills. He must have been acting like a scoundrel.’
Seeing Carlisle’s training, Maranello concluded that his suspicions had been correct.
He had been uncertain until now, but seeing the training scene gave him a definitive answer.
The thrust and slash that Carlisle was demonstrating now could never be perfected in just a day or two.
Those thrust and slash techniques were impossible to master in a short period, even for a genius.
So Maranello had no choice but to think that Carlisle had been hiding his skills all along, secretly engaging in bone-grinding training away from others’ eyes.
“Young Master.”
“…”
“Young Master?”
“…”
Maranello approached and spoke to him, but Carlisle didn’t respond.
“Hehe.”
Maranello realized that Carlisle was currently training in a state of selfless absorption and let out a bitter laugh.
“How could someone this skilled put on such an act…”
Why would someone capable of such focused training make such a fuss about not being able to do it?
Why would someone who could swing a sword all night pretend they couldn’t even run one kilometer and collapse?
Not only that, but why did he have to act like a scoundrel while receiving everyone’s scorn?
Such eccentric behavior from Carlisle couldn’t simply be because it was bothersome.
‘Just what are you hiding, Young Master?’
While Maranello was having these thoughts.
Thud, Carlisle collapsed.
“Young Master!”
Startled, Maranello rushed toward Carlisle.
“Young Master, Young Master!”
“…”
Carlisle, drenched in sweat, couldn’t open his eyes for quite some time.
“Oh my.”
Maranello checked Carlisle’s pulse and realized he had collapsed from exhaustion.
He had been so focused on training all night that he collapsed without realizing his stamina was depleted.
It was a level of concentration that an ordinary person couldn’t even dream of.
‘I don’t know what secret the Young Master is hiding, but this old man will definitely protect you.’
Maranello completely misunderstood, thinking Carlisle had some serious circumstances he couldn’t speak of, and lifted him up in his arms.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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