The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 476

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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 476

The moment Ensia’s orange eyes gleamed, I knew exactly what she would say first.

‘She’s definitely going to call me handsome….’

“Ridiculously handsome!”

Wrong. She’d added a prefix I hadn’t anticipated.

-Ugh….

Even Wrath let out a startled groan.

-Isn’t that the crazy woman who was obsessing over faces even before she died?
‘True.’

Just as Wrath said, Ensia had chosen her healer based on appearance even when she was on death’s door. She was an eccentric worthy of the Demon King’s admiration.

“Raoooooon!”

Ensia rushed toward me with a cheer, tears glistening in her eyes. Anyone who didn’t know better would think this was a reunion of separated family members.

“I missed you! Really!”

She pressed both hands to her chest, biting her lip. From her expression, I could tell there wasn’t a shred of falsehood in those words.

“Oh, it’s been a while, Ensia.”

I stammered and took a step back.

“How is it….”
“Pardon?”
“How can you possibly become even more handsome?”

Ensia closed the distance I’d created, stepping toward me.

“I thought you were already perfect, but you’ve gone even further!”

Her large eyes sparkled brilliantly under the moonlight.

“There are limits to how much one can improve! Why do you insist on walking this path alone!”

Ensia hadn’t expected to see such a magnificent face, and her gaze remained fixed solely on Raon. She didn’t even glance at Lunan Slion, despite him standing behind her as someone she’d grown close to.

“Um, Ensia?”
“What are you eating that makes you more handsome every time I see you? This is driving me crazy!”
“Hmm….”

I bit my lip.

‘I’m the one going crazy.’

Merlin would at least have the decency to be embarrassed when alone, but Ensia proclaimed her admiration regardless of who was around, and I felt mortified to my core.

If she harbored dark intentions like Heekyuk Je or Derus Robert, I could mock and dismiss her, but Ensia showed nothing but genuine goodwill without any ulterior motive, leaving me utterly helpless.

“Um, Ensia?”
“I’ve prepared myself mentally. Since it’s been so long since we’ve met, I expected you to become a bit more handsome, but your face now exceeds even my wildest imagination!”

Ensia’s cheeks flushed a deep crimson as she spoke with genuine admiration.

“Just calm down for a moment….”
“How can I calm down!”

She shook her head, declaring that anyone who could remain composed after seeing this face wasn’t human.

“Wow, amazing.”
“So handsome.”
“Oh, our commander is so handsome!”
“Incredibly handsome!”

The Gwangpung Unit swordsmen began snickering and echoing Ensia’s words.

“You lot.”

I furrowed my brow, but the swordsmen merely averted their gazes while continuing to shout praises of my appearance.

-Krrgh!

Wrath exhaled a long breath through his nose.

-I wish to show these fools the True Demon King’s true form! Then the title of most beautiful would belong to me, not you!

He frowned, lamenting that he couldn’t bring his true form here.

‘You take it.’

I don’t need it.

Wrath rubbed his hands together, envious of the attention and the title of most beautiful that came with it. He seemed to be desperately hoping I would give it to him.

“Last time I saw you, you were a delicate, beautiful youth, but today I see such a wild charm….”
“Please stop!”
“I can’t help myself.”

Ensia pulled out a small square object from her spatial pouch.
A jewel with a dark luster was embedded in its center, and it reflected faces like a mirror.

‘Is that an artifact?’

Though I’d never seen such a thing before, the mana stone aura emanating from within suggested it was an artifact she had created.

“What is that?”
“It’s an artifact I made while thinking of you, Raon.”
“Pardon?”

The moment I heard those words, a chill ran down my spine.

“Please stay still.”

Ensia raised the square artifact to my face and closed one eye.

Click!

When she pressed the convex button protruding from the top of the artifact, a sound rang out as if she had struck the desk with her palm.

‘What is this?’

While I stood there bewildered, not understanding what was happening, white paper rose up from the artifact Ensia was holding.

“Huh?”

My mouth fell open as I looked at the paper.

‘What is that…’

A faint light shimmered across the paper, and my current appearance was captured perfectly upon it.
Even a skilled painter couldn’t have drawn it so identically.

“W-what is this…?”
“You know about image magic, right? The magic that captures what happened in a place.”
“Yes, I do.”

I nodded, having recently witnessed Merlin use it by shaving away her own lifespan.

“This is an artifact called a camera, an application of that magic. It can preserve a single moment from a place like this. This is a photograph.”

Ensia waved the paper with my image captured on it fluttering in the air.

“Come on, look this way.”

She activated the artifact repeatedly, saying this artistic face must be recorded for posterity. Photographs poured down like rain.

“Handsome Raon.”
“Heh. Handsome.”
“The handsome one who even creates artifacts.”
-Capture the True Demon King’s appearance too! I possess the most beautiful visage in all the Demon Realm…!”

Starting with Lunan, the teasing cries of “handsome” continued, mixed with the click-clack sounds of the camera in Ensia’s hands and Wrath’s grumbling, and my mind went blank.

‘Just moments ago, this was enjoyable.’

I had thoroughly vented my frustrations on Heekyuk Je and felt refreshed, but in an instant, my chest grew tight.
I never knew that the inability to communicate could be so exhausting.

‘To think I’d come to understand Heekyuk Je’s feelings….’

I exhaled a long sigh and squeezed my eyes shut.

“Raon! Open your eyes!”

*

*

*

The next day.
As soon as I finished breakfast, I left the Dormitory with Dorian.

“Where are we going?”

Dorian asked with a yawn so wide his mouth nearly split.

“The place we visit whenever we arrive in a new city.”
“Ah!”

He immediately understood and raised a finger.

“The Gambling House?”
“Exactly. The timing is perfect right now.”

The Divine Continent Five Regions must have spent an astronomical sum to construct Barene.
Since legitimate revenue alone couldn’t cover that expense, the Gambling Houses here operated with remarkable vigor.

With the festival drawing countless people from across the Continent to Barene, the Gambling Houses were undoubtedly overflowing with patrons at this very moment.

‘I need to drain it all.’

Imagining the expression on Heekyuk Je’s face when his mental state was already shattered and he’d lost a fortune in gold coins, I couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re not trying to run away from Ensia, are you?”

Dorian narrowed his eyes with suspicion.

“…Well, there’s that too.”

I nodded, my shoulders sagging slightly.

‘Yesterday was hell.’

Ensia had requested a different pose every time she took a photograph, and it had exhausted me far more than any battle ever could.
As a result, I hadn’t even managed to say what I actually needed to.

“But the dealers here are supposedly incredibly strong. Will you be alright?”

Dorian stepped closer beside me and lowered his voice.

“I walked around a bit after dinner yesterday, and the residents warned me not to go to the gambling house. They said the dealers’ skills are no joke, and the stakes are so enormous that you either go bankrupt or strike it rich—one or the other.”
“Every gambling house is like that. And have you ever seen me lose?”
“…No, I haven’t.”
“Then stop worrying and follow me.”

I gestured and headed toward the Orca’s Horn, the gambling house operated by Baekgyeong.

The moment I pushed open the white door carved with an orca and stepped inside, countless lights cascaded down like a comet, and the decorations lining both sides radiated brilliant luminescence.
The Orca’s Horn boasted the pinnacle of extravagance, unlike Ariel’s Mansion.

‘Which one is her true nature, I wonder.’

I surveyed the gambling house with a faint smile. Just as Dorian had said, the dealers’ skills were exceptional, and the stakes appeared higher than at ordinary gambling establishments.
The volume of chips moving around far exceeded normal parameters.

‘Perfect for a big score.’

The higher the stakes, the heavier the weight of gold coins I would leave with.

-What game will you play?

Wrath stretched out across my head, his tail swishing lazily.

‘I need to play high-stakes poker.’
-Poker? You can’t gamble with anything but dice, can you?
‘It’s fine. I have an accomplice.’
-An accomplice?

As I examined the table without responding, a familiar scream echoed from deeper inside.

“This is cheating! How did a royal flush come out?!”

The Red-haired Elf, her crimson locks trailing behind her, was being dragged away by security guards with her arms pinned.

“And why are the stakes so high here?! You cheating bastards! Do you know who my master is? Just say the word and he’ll come storming in right now….”

Rimer had disappeared during meal time—it seemed he’d arrived here first.

I pretended not to notice Rimer and took a seat at the poker table he’d just vacated.

“Sigh….”

Dorian dumped a stack of chips worth two hundred gold coins onto the table.

“Ooh….”
“Brother, you’ve got the looks for this.”
“Nothing like that pathetic elf who got dragged out a moment ago.”

The gamblers already seated at the table drooled with bloodshot eyes.

‘They truly don’t recognize me.’

The gamblers hadn’t recognized my identity—they never expected the swordsman known as the White Sword Dragon to appear at a gambling house in broad daylight.

I placed my hand on the table and nodded slightly.

“Enough talk. Let’s begin.”
“Direct and to the point. I like your style.”
“Right. Money does all the talking anyway.”

As the gamblers nodded in agreement, the Dealer began distributing cards.

I signaled to a staff member while the gamblers examined their cards.

“I’m craving something to eat. Can I place an order?”
“We can bring you anything you’d like.”

The staff member bowed respectfully after glancing at the stack of chips before me, as if to say I need only ask.

“What do you recommend?”
“We have a cake parfait that our pastry chef takes great pride in.”
“I’ll have one of those then.”
“Right away, sir.”

Before long, the staff member returned with a dessert—a round cake topped with ice cream and fresh fruit.
Chocolate and strawberry syrups drizzled in alternating patterns made my mouth water at the sight alone.

“Thank you.”

I accepted the cake parfait and placed it directly in front of me on the table.

-Well, well. What’s gotten into you? Ordering all this?

Wrath’s tongue flicked eagerly as he gazed at the cake parfait, saliva dripping from his crimson mouth.

-Come on, hurry up and eat! It’s getting cold!

I ignored Wrath’s protests and flipped my cards over.

“Three of a kind.”
“Young man, your hand looks decent for someone just sitting down. But…”

A middle-aged woman in an elegant dress revealed her cards—a flush.

“I’m sorry about that.”

She swept the chips from the table with an expression that showed no apology whatsoever.

I paid the woman no mind and adjusted the long spoon embedded in my cake parfait.

-What, what are you doing?! It’s melting! The ice cream and cake are mixing together!
‘Now it’s your turn, helper.’
-Huh?

Wrath’s eyes widened in confusion at what I was saying.

-Wait, surely not….
‘You’ve done it before.’

I smiled faintly and pointed to the other people’s cards.

‘Go take a look.’
-No way! The True Demon King is a lord of the Demon Realm! I swear upon my honor that I shall never commit such filthy deeds!
‘This evening, I was thinking we’d eat that lobster butter roast and fried pig’s feet you were singing about wanting….’
-Who should I look at first?

Wrath waved his hand imperceptibly. Every time I felt it, the True Demon King’s honor was remarkably cheap.

-Tell me quickly!

*

*

*

Ariel exhaled a sigh, pressing her forehead with her hand.

‘My head still aches.’

The aftermath of Raon’s reckless antics from yesterday had not yet faded.

‘I was thoroughly played.’

Raon understood the entire situation yet pretended not to, repeating the same words over and over. He kept scratching at my nerves, dancing on the edge of crossing the line, and I thought I would lose my mind.
I thought I’d go crazy the way you kept teasing me, dancing right on the line without crossing it, getting under my skin.

“It’s been so long since I’ve had a nightmare.”

The psychological shock had been severe enough that yesterday, for the first time in ages, I suffered a nightmare of being hunted. It was my first nightmare since achieving enlightenment.

‘Still, there was something to gain from it.’

Now I had a rough understanding of what kind of person Raon Zigheart was.

I would need to gather more information to complete the full picture of this man called Raon, but the outline seemed to be sketched in well enough.

‘It won’t be easy from here on.’

As I was steeling myself not to fall victim to Raon again, Mekain came rushing in urgently.

“My lord!”

Seeing his flustered expression, yesterday’s events came flooding back.

“Don’t tell me that bastard came again?”
“No, it’s not that. However…”
“Then speak slowly. I have nothing else to worry about besides this.”

Ariel shook her head and took a sip of her cold tea.

“R-Raon didn’t come, but it’s related to him.”
“Related to him?”

The teacup in her grip trembled slightly.

“Raon Zigheart went to Orca’s Horn and w-won a large sum of money, it seems.”
“Money? How much?”
“O-over 1,500 gold coins, they say….”

At those words, the tea in the cup Ariel was holding began to bubble and evaporate.

Crash!

The teacup shattered, and Ariel’s eyes twisted with a feverish gleam.

“This crazy bastard! Where the hell is he right now!”
“He’s gone to another gambling house, it seems.”
“That reckless fool!”

Just as Ariel was about to scream, the office door burst open violently. A middle-aged man with sea-blue hair standing in wild disarray and a fierce expression smiled as he looked at her.

“I came to see if it was true that you lost to some young punk, and it really happened?”

The middle-aged man scanned Ariel’s condition and let out a scoff.

“The great Heekyuk Je reduced to screaming—suddenly I’m starting to like that young punk.”
“Guisalchang!”
“Ah, I’m leaving. I hear you even lost money now….”

The man called Guisalchang shrugged his shoulders.

“If you need money, just say the word. I got a good show out of it. I’ll give you a cheap interest rate.”

He waved his hand and left the office.

“Mekain!”

Heekyuk Je bit her lip and looked at Mekain.

“Which gambling house did Raon go to?”
“The Western Lamb, ma’am.”
“The Western Lamb.”

The Western Lamb was a gambling house owned by Guisalchang, who had just left.

“You should get fleeced too.”

A cold smile formed at the corners of Heekyuk Je’s mouth.

“I can’t be the only one to suffer.”

*

*

*

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

I gathered the golden chips scattered across the table with both hands, pulling them toward me. With each successive victory, a mountain of chips accumulated to my right.

“Hmm….”
“How is he winning every single hand?”
“It… it doesn’t make sense….”
“How much is all that? It looks like over a thousand gold coins?”

The Dealer wiped cold sweat from his brow as he stared at the overflowing chips, while the gamblers seated at the table bit their lips, and countless spectators swallowed hard.

“Whoa….”

Dorian’s mouth fell open as he gazed at the mountain of chips. Though he’d accompanied me to numerous gambling houses, he’d never witnessed a game of this magnitude, and his fingertips trembled involuntarily.

I twirled a chip leisurely, a faint smile playing across my lips.

‘Too easy.’

With Wrath whispering my opponents’ hands from beside me, gambling was no different than playing with an answer key in hand.
Winning money was simpler than eating cookies in bed.

This morning, I’d stripped Orca’s Horn—Baekgyeong’s gambling house—of 1,500 gold coins, and now I was collecting over 1,700 gold coins from the gambling establishment run by Guisalchang.

‘Of course, it’s mutually beneficial.’

I chuckled softly and popped a red macaron I’d set on the left side of the table into my mouth. The moist meringue cookie melted into the strawberry cream, bursting like a tiny firework across my palate.
The soft meringue cookie melted into the strawberry cream, bursting like tiny fireworks in my mouth.

Ugh!

Wrath let out a deep groan, his fists clenched tightly.

Each and every snack here is absolutely amazing!

Thanks to consistently feeding him snacks while gambling, Wrath’s lips never stopped curving into a smile.

“I-I’ll deal the cards.”

As the fifth Dealer shuffled the deck with trembling hands, a dull clicking sound echoed from the right.

Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!

I turned my head to find Ensia snapping photographs with the artifact she’d shown me yesterday—apparently she’d known exactly where to find me.

“This is insane! Even gambling looks handsome on you!”

Ensia’s fingers became invisible as she mashed the artifact’s shutter button repeatedly. It resembled watching a master’s lightning-fast punches.

“Excuse me, miss. You can’t do that here….”
“Be quiet!”

The Gambling House’s security guard tried to stop Ensia, but when she tossed gold coins from her pocket, he fell silent.

“Sigh….”

I pressed my palm against my forehead.

‘I need to wrap this up and leave soon.’

I’d won enough money already, so Guisalchang, the owner of this Gambling House, must be quite furious by now.

Just as I reached for the cards to make this final hand, I sensed a covert gaze from above.

‘How long has he been there?’

A chill ran down my spine at an aura that the rabble guarding this place could never produce. I immediately turned around.

Above the Gambling House’s chandelier.
A middle-aged man with wild blue hair sat with his legs crossed, smiling.

‘Could it be….’

The moment I saw the man’s fierce appearance, information from the Black Market surfaced in my mind. He was Guisalchang, one of the leaders of the Divine Continent Five Regions.

“Huh? You sensed me?”

Guisalchang smirked and leaped down from the chandelier.

The impact thundered through the air.

The entire Gambling House trembled from where he landed. He possessed the skill to descend in silence, yet he had deliberately unleashed that deafening roar.

The oppressive force rippled outward again.

The gamblers clustered around the tables began to tremble, their legs giving way as they collapsed to the floor beneath the overwhelming presence Guisalchang radiated.

“Are you Raon Zigheart?”

Raon regarded him with calm eyes and nodded.

“Yes.”

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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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