The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 13

“A wager?”

Raon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“What kind of wager are you proposing?”

The sudden suggestion caught me off guard—I couldn’t fathom what Wrath intended.

-No need to be wary. I do not lie, nor do I deceive you. I shall show you directly.

Before the words could even settle, a new message materialized.

[Wrath proposes the first wager.]
Condition: Pass the official trainee examination as top rank.
Success: All stats +2, one trait of your choice.
Failure: Generate 10 Wrath emotion points.

Upon reading it, the meaning became immediately clear. It seemed that if I won this wager, Wrath would grant me his abilities.

“Is this the official trainee examination Rimer mentioned—the one where I must rank first?”
-Precisely. He said he always selects a top ranker, so the outcome will be definitive.
“I see….”

Yet there were aspects I still didn’t understand.

“What does ‘trait of your choice’ mean?”
-One of my traits shall be granted to you. Of course, it will be degraded to suit your inferior nature.
“A trait, then….”

I gazed at Wrath, whose form blazed with azure flames as though oil had been poured upon them. He constantly referred to himself as the King of the Demon Realm.

While I couldn’t trust such claims, he was undoubtedly something extraordinary. Even if granted arbitrarily, the odds of receiving a useful ability were high.

“One more thing. What’s this about generating 10 Wrath points if I fail? That’s the most important part.”
-It’s exactly as stated. The wrath I possess will be generated within you.
“Does that mean you can control my emotions?”
-Not to that extent. The wrath I transfer to you is like dust. A drizzle, really. However….”

Wrath’s voice dripped with undisguised anticipation.

-Just as clothes become soaked from drizzle. If you keep accepting my wrath, no matter how strong your mental fortitude is, eventually you won’t be able to control that emotion.
“So that’s what you’re after?”

I looked down at Wrath with cold eyes. He had abandoned the idea of seizing my body all at once and seemed intent on stealing it piece by piece.

-You’ve already realized that your body changes according to your stat window’s attributes. If you accept this wager, you’ll be one step closer to your revenge.

Wrath spoke in a composed voice unbecoming of the King of Wrath, urging me to accept the bet. For the first time, irritation flared within me toward this creature.

‘But why make such a wager?’

Now that I’d confirmed the existence of his true body, it should be simple to draw its power and subjugate my own mind. I couldn’t understand why he’d resort to such a tedious scheme.

-As I said, my true body’s power is connected to you. If I could only draw upon that strength, I would have taken your body immediately.

Wrath responded as though he’d read my thoughts.

“Are you lying to me?”
-I am the lord of the Demon Realm. I may not know much else, but I do not lie.
“Sigh….”

I exhaled a long breath. His words rang true. Wrath was certainly mad, but he had always answered my questions with honesty.

“A poisoned apple I have no choice but to eat.”

With all my stats rising by 2 and a special ability granted, I couldn’t refuse.

The risk of failure, by contrast, was relatively minor. Of course, if it accumulated, it would become dangerous.

“Hmm….”

The 5th Training Ground held many talented children. Lunan and Burren went without saying, and the Branch Family and recommended candidates possessed unique talents as well.

An ordinary child would never dare to even glance at the top rank.

But I am a reincarnator.

No matter what the test is or how talented these children are, I will never lose if I leverage my past life’s experience.

“Fine. I accept.”
-A wise choice.

[You have accepted the wager with Wrath.]

Raon met Wrath’s gaze through the floating messages. He was smiling—a smile brimming with confidence that he would emerge victorious.

So I returned the smile in kind.

Things won’t go as you expect.

*

*

*

The next morning, before dawn.
Burren pushed open the Training Ground door and stepped inside.

Despite the hour before sunrise, his hair was neatly combed back, and his training clothes were pressed crisp and sharp. He cut a thoroughly aristocratic figure.

“Hm?”

Crane and several Branch Family members, who usually bowed excessively whenever they saw him, awkwardly lowered their heads and turned away.

‘What’s gotten into them?’

As I pondered this, yesterday’s events came flooding back.

‘Could I have touched a nerve?’

Burren’s brow furrowed. No matter how much he disliked Raon, laying hands on him personally would be a stain upon the great name of Zigheart.

‘Pathetic wretches.’

Just as I was about to approach those fools and have a word with them, the door swung open and Raon entered.

“Hm?”

But he looked completely unscathed. Not a single bruise or wound marred his appearance, as if he hadn’t taken a single blow. He seemed even more composed than yesterday.

“Gasp!”
“Eek!”

In stark contrast, the Branch Family members, led by Crain, immediately spun around like their tails were on fire and pressed themselves into the nearest corner.

‘What is this? What on earth happened here?’

Burren swallowed hard. He couldn’t make sense of the situation at all.

“Hey.”

Unable to restrain himself, he approached the trembling Branch Family members.

“B-Burren, sir!”

Crain and the other Branch Family members bowed their heads with their mouths agape.

“Why are you shaking like that?”
“W-well, that is….”
“Mm!”

The Branch Family members fell silent, their eyes darting toward Raon standing behind Burren. Their pupils were flooded with unmistakable terror.

‘They fear Raon, not me?’

What could Raon have possibly done to reduce them to such a state of dread?

“Ah, n-nothing happened at all, sir.”
“That’s right. Truly, nothing of consequence.”
“Hehe!”

The Branch Family members laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of their heads.

‘Did they get beaten instead?’

There was no other explanation.
The Branch Family bastards had clearly gone to educate Raon, only to get thrashed in return.

Burren turned to look at Raon. He stood quietly, showing the same indifference as yesterday.

‘So he was hiding his abilities all along?’

A snort escaped him. A talentless cripple hiding his strength was nothing but dust anyway.

‘Struggle all you want.’

It didn’t change the fact that he was at the bottom.

*

*

*

Raon was loosening his neck when his eyes met those of the Branch Family members he’d had a “conversation” with yesterday.

“Ugh!”
“Kgh!”

The Branch Family members let out grotesque groans as if they’d encountered demons, then stumbled backward.

“Huh?”
“What’s going on?”

The other temporary trainees’ eyes filled with confusion as they watched the Branch Family members, who had been openly cursing just yesterday, hesitate.

Raon turned his head at the sound of a snort. It was Burren. His gaze was blatantly mocking and contemptuous.

‘He thinks it doesn’t matter what I do.’

I could see exactly what Burren was thinking. He believed that a talentless fool’s desperate struggles were meaningless.

‘What a grave misconception.’

With the Ring of Fire in my possession, talent meant nothing. By the time the temporary training period ended, I would have far surpassed someone like Burren.

-That snake-eyed bastard irritates me. Gouge them out.
‘Here we go again.’
-When I ruled the Demon Realm, every fool who dared cast their gaze upon me was….
‘Be quiet.’

I tapped the bracelet sharply. With a crackling sound, Wrath’s voice cut off.

-You, you bastard!
‘This one really does talk a lot.’

As I ignored Wrath and prepared to activate the Ring of Fire, the Training Ground door swung open.

Boom!

Beyond the creaking door, Rimer and the instructors entered. The instructors maintained perfect formation, but Rimer walked with quick steps up onto the platform.
The instructors lined up in perfect rows and columns, but Rimer walked with short, quick steps up onto the platform.

“Did you sleep well?”

Rimer looked down and let out a small chuckle.

“Yes!”

Despite the early dawn before sunrise, the temporary trainees answered loudly and vigorously.

“Even if you’ve been training your stamina regularly, you ran at full speed, so it must have been quite tough. That’s why….”

Rimer nodded vigorously and smiled.

“Sir?”
“A-again today?”
“The human body’s stamina expands its limits the more you push it to the end. Run at full strength. Until I tell you to stop.”
“The more you push the limits of human endurance to the very end, the further those limits extend. Run with all your might. Until I tell you to stop.”

As the children grimaced, two figures pushed off the ground first, just as they had the day before. It was Lunan and Burren.

Whoosh!

Unlike yesterday, the two of them didn’t conserve their stamina—they ran with everything they had.

“Ugh!”
“Running again?”

The children, who had expected to learn something today, groaned in frustration and began running.

-Running again? How tedious. You could grow stronger without such trivial training. If you saw the blood of you and your enemies….
‘I like it.’

I cut off Wrath’s words. Drawing the dawn air into my lungs, I pushed off the ground.

-Like it? Endlessly running while swallowing sand?
‘The more I run, the stronger I become.’
-Fool! If you surrendered your body to me, you could become the strongest within a year….
‘That wouldn’t mean anything if it’s not me.’

I shut down Wrath’s nonsense with a single thought and drove my legs forward.

‘I’m faster than yesterday.’

With my agility and stamina increased, I could run at a greater speed.

I could now keep pace with the Branch Family and several recommended candidates from the start—a speed I’d only managed to catch up to near the end of yesterday’s training.

“Huh?”
“Hmm….”
“R-Raon?”

The children in the lower-middle group widened their eyes as they saw me. Their expressions screamed: what are you doing up here?

‘My growth is definitely accelerating.’

I smiled faintly and ran alongside them. With not just the Ring of Fire, but actual stat increases, my growth rate was nothing short of miraculous.

Even running at full strength, Burren and Lunan continued to pull further ahead. Their talent and training volume were clearly at a level I couldn’t catch up to right now.

‘The environment isn’t bad at all.’

It forced me to use my full power, and ahead of me were many children I needed to catch up to. It was the perfect environment for training.

I glanced at Rimer dozing on the platform. He seemed endlessly carefree, but his training methods were undeniably effective.

‘I’ll make good use of your training methods.’

*

*

*

“Stop!”

The run that had begun at dawn finally ceased once the sun rose.

“Gahhh!”
“Haaah!”
“Huff!”

Every child lay sprawled across the Training Ground, gasping for breath.

Since most of the children had run at full strength, unlike yesterday, scarcely anyone could stand properly.

“The dawn training ends here.”
“D-dawn…?”
“Not even morning, but dawn…?”

At the announcement that dawn training was over, the children shook their heads in disbelief.

“Dawn air is clean, and the environment makes it easier to sense mana. Even after you all become official trainees, you’ll continue running, so you’d do well to get used to it quickly.”

Rimer twirled his finger in circles—a gesture depicting the children running endlessly.

“Then have breakfast.”
“After running like that, how can we eat….”
“No, we can’t eat!”
“Should we even go in?!”

The children lay sprawled on the ground, groaning in unison.

“It’s better to eat even when exhausted. Training will continue after this. You won’t endure on an empty stomach. But as always, the choice is yours.”

Rimer left those final words and disappeared, as if to say they should figure it out themselves.

“Making us eat right after running like that….”
“W-well, we should eat. Even if we throw up later.”

The children staggered into the Dining Hall. Perhaps because training had been intense since dawn, the meal was light and ungreasy.
There was warm soup, soft bread, plain meat, and a few vegetables—nothing more.

“The food is rather pathetic.”
“Still, this is manageable to eat.”

The Branch Family children noticed Raon staring quietly at the food on his tray.

“Look there.”
“He’s not eating.”
“Raised delicately in the Annex Building—something like this wouldn’t go down.”
“Right, he’s the lowest rank and sickly, so he’s probably just been pampered.”

The children snickered and mocked Raon, but he was thinking something entirely different from their assumptions.

‘They’re giving us food?’

If training had ended, perhaps. But in my past life, I never received a meal during training—not even once.

At a younger age, I foraged for weeds or hunted beasts myself, handling everything directly. The idea of being given food was something I’d never even considered.

‘Is this place really the worst?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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