The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 52

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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 52

Lunan watched Raon tidy up the Training Ground, fidgeting with his hands.

‘That was difficult.’

Even after hearing Raon’s advice, I couldn’t draw my blade against the orc. Despite knowing it was a monster, not a human, my hands wouldn’t move.

‘I thought I was going to be sick.’

Every time I stepped on the blood pooling on the ground, my limbs trembled as if my brother were watching, and my stomach churned.
Unable to attack directly, I had no choice but to keep unleashing frost despite the severe aura consumption.
I was aware that people around me were shouting and screaming, but I couldn’t hear any of it.

My vision gradually filled with darkness. It was when both my hearing and sight had gone dark, and I was barely holding on, not knowing what to do.

Lunan!

Raon’s clear voice pierced through the suffocating darkness surrounding me.

Even as the orc charged toward me, I immediately turned my head to look at Raon.

The moment our eyes met with Raon smiling, the chaotic emotions and sensations that had been crashing like waves subsided. As if nothing had ever happened from the start.

Hearing him say ‘it’s alright,’ the darkness that had been rising before my eyes completely vanished. The memories of my brother that had filled my mind grew hazy.

Yes. It’s alright, I murmured to myself, and my arms, which had been heavy as if weighted down, began to move freely.

The moment the orc brought down its axe, I unleashed the condensed energy I had gathered.

The axe handle was severed, and I heard the orc’s heart burst, but I was no longer afraid.

Blood sprayed from the orc and soaked the back of my hand. Raon was right. Nothing happened when the blood touched me.

Kyaaaang!

The moment I realized that, I heard the sound of thick iron chains that had been binding my entire body being crushed.

The face of my brother, shrouded in blood and shadow, vanished completely. It felt as though the darkened world was flooding back with light.

“Tear up the Sparring Arena floor and move it to the right warehouse! We’ll need it again, so handle it carefully! Ah, where has that scoundrel instructor run off to without organizing anything?”

I lifted my head at Burren’s voice calling out from ahead. He was issuing orders to the Branch Family trainees while organizing the Training Ground.

‘He’s changed.’

I had met Burren frequently since childhood. He was always arrogant, a boy who only cared about himself, so I never paid him any attention. But now, not a trace of arrogance could be found in him.

The person who brought about that change wasn’t Burren himself—it was Raon. Ever since he lost to Raon, he had become like a swordsman honed to perfection.

‘I’m the same way.’

Thanks to meeting Raon, the locked door in my heart opened, and I was able to rebuild my relationships with others.

Every single day had become a joyful time, and today was the pinnacle of that transformation.

Thanks to Raon’s advice and his words that it was alright, I could no longer hear my brother’s voice or see his shadow.
It felt as though something lodged in my mind had been removed, leaving me free.

Lunan nodded while looking at Raon.

‘I should thank him. I really should thank him.’

It was time to express my gratitude just as my mother had taught me.

*

*

*

In the darkness of the Central Intelligence Agency, Jake knelt, his robes torn to shreds.

“I… I have failed.”

He bowed his head, his voice trembling.

“A failure? Was Rimer involved?”

Karun frowned and looked down at Jake, who was on his knees.

“N-no, sir.”

Jake’s condition was far from normal. His eyes were glazed over as if his soul had fled his body, and his jaw hung slack, drool trickling from his lips.

“Then how exactly did you fail?”
“R-Raon Zigheart cut down that orc—the one enhanced with every strengthening spell and even berserk magic—with a single blade strike.”
“Not everything that spills from your mouth is truth. Are you really asking me to believe that nonsense?”

Karun let out a sound like a beast growling.

“It’s the truth! F-flames bloomed from his sword and tore straight through the orc’s neck!”
“Flames?”
“Yes! Flames that gleamed gold in the sunset light—the orc couldn’t do anything and simply offered its neck. And furthermore….”

Desperate to survive, Jake spilled everything he had witnessed at the 5th Training Ground.

“Rimer knew all of our intentions. He s-said he would support me, but if we touched the trainees, he would kill us.”

He even relayed Rimer’s warning to the now-interested Karun.

“So it was that bastard after all.”

Karun snorted and chuckled.

‘Even rotten fish still has value, it seems.’

The last time I encountered Rimer, his body and mind were clearly out of balance. I had assumed that someone so lazy and self-indulgent would never notice my schemes, but it appeared I had underestimated him.

“W-will this be alright? Rimer even mentioned the Young Master’s name….”
“It doesn’t matter. Whatever that insect does is pointless.”

Karun waved his hand dismissively. Unlike before, the current Rimer was nothing more than a weed incapable of affecting anything.

“Leave. I’ll call for you again later.”
“Y-yes, understood. My apologies.”

Jake bowed repeatedly before leaving the room.

“If he split that orc and its weapon simultaneously with a single strike, it wouldn’t be strange to assume he’s mastered an advanced cultivation technique.”
“The intelligence brought by our spy previously also mentioned he generates an exceptionally powerful mana wave.”
“The spy in the Annex Building?”
“Yes.”
“Useful.”
“There hasn’t been a single error in any of the information she’s provided.”

Karun’s butler answered with his eyes lowered.

“Increase support for that one. From now on, also investigate Rimer’s movements. And….”

Karun finished speaking and drew his finger across his throat while gazing at the door Jake had exited through.

“Dispose of him. He’s perceptive enough to talk, and he’s already been tainted by Rimer’s killing intent.”
“Yes.”

The butler nodded and vanished from the spot like smoke.

“Raon Zigheart and Rimer.”

From his position, they were nothing but dust that required no restraint, yet they inexplicably kept irritating him.

“It would be best to dispose of them both at once.”

The air in the Central Intelligence Agency grew heavy beneath Karun’s cold gaze.

*

*

*

Martha leaned her back against a tree standing at the edge of the Training Ground. Her gaze fixed on Raon, who was tidying up the Training Ground.

Tsk.

She clicked her tongue and furrowed her brow. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand.

‘What on earth is that guy?’

How could he draw his blade with such decisive certainty?

I had clenched my fists upon learning that today’s training involved slaying monsters—creatures that bore the appearance of humans.

I thought this would be my chance to demonstrate superiority over Raon Zigheart.

As expected, Burren and the other trainees had failed to land proper strikes against the monsters. They could only slay them after receiving assistance from Rimer or the instructors.

But Martha was different.
The moment an opening appeared in the monster’s defense, she drove her blade into its throat without the slightest hesitation.

It was only natural that she differed from the others.

‘Because I had experience.’

Before arriving at Zigheart.
When I infiltrated the White Blood Cult alone to find my mother, I had driven my blade into those cultists.

Thanks to that experience, striking down a monster wearing human form was not a difficult task.

‘But how did he…?’

Raon was different from me.
Born within the safety of these walls, raised delicately as the very epitome of a young master simply because his body was weak.

A hothouse flower who had grown without ever facing hardship—yet he slit the throat of an orc wearing human form without the slightest hesitation. And faster, stronger than I could manage.

Honestly, it was so beautiful I found myself momentarily dazed.

‘I couldn’t believe it.’

Even now, I couldn’t be certain that what I witnessed with my own eyes was truly real.

“Damn it….”

I slammed my fist against the tree I was leaning against.

‘I should have won that match.’

I had lost to Raon in a sparring match and agreed to follow his orders, but my heart refused to surrender.

I had trained myself to exhaustion with the resolve to one day bring that bastard to his knees, and the thought that I had lost in an area where I was certain of victory made my teeth grind.

Yet amid all this, a small resonance stirred within me.

It was a sense of kinship—the feeling that Raon and I might share something in common.

It seemed Raon was not simply the delicately raised child I had assumed. There must have been some catalyst that forged such a bitter resolve in him.

“Hmm?”

As I pondered Raon’s past, our eyes met.

“Hmph.”

Martha held Raon’s composed gaze for a moment, then let out a snort and turned her head away. She left the Training Ground without another word.

Her rigid gait had softened somewhat, though she herself remained unaware of it.

*

*

*

After I finished tidying the Training Ground, Lunan Slion approached as I was heading toward the Indoor Training Hall.

“Raon.”

She bowed her head, her violet eyes gleaming.

“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”

I shook my head. While it was true that I had helped, the real effort came from her. My assistance hardly warranted such gratitude.

“Still, thank you.”
“It’s really nothing.”
“Thank you.”
“Seriously, it’s no big deal….”
“Thank you.”
“Ugh, fine.”
“Mm.”

I waved my hand in defeat. Only then did Lunan Slion nod.

“You’re really okay, right?”

I examined Lunan Slion’s eyes and hands carefully. Sylvia’s brainwashing seemed to have been lifted, but I asked just to be sure.

“Yeah.”

Lunan Slion smiled faintly. A smile without a trace of pain. It seemed everything had worked out well for now.

“If your brother gives you trouble again, tell me. I’ll help however I can.”
“I’m fine.”

Lunan Slion started to nod, then shook his head instead.

“I have to handle it myself.”

His eyes gleamed with determination. The wounded heart seemed to be healing, growing stronger in the process.

“I see.”

I smiled. Lunan Slion thanked me once more before leaving the Training Ground.

-You’re not going to help the ice cream girl?
‘She said she’d handle it herself. It’s not my place to meddle in someone else’s family affairs.’
-Hmm, from my perspective, the ice cream girl won’t be able to resolve this alone.
‘Then she’ll ask for help. And if she doesn’t….’

I nodded. A crimson gleam flickered across my deeply shadowed gaze.

‘There’s always a way to make it happen.’

*

*

*

Lunan Slion returned to the Dormitory and placed the squirrel figurine Raon had given him on the table.

“Hmm.”

After a moment of contemplation, he retrieved the bead-patterned ice cream box he’d hidden beneath his bed. It wasn’t a gift from his older brother—it was ice cream his mother had bought for him.

A cool breeze swept forth.

As he opened the lid, frigid air spilled out, soothing his face weary from training.

He’d thought he would never eat ice cream again. The mere sight of it would conjure memories of his older brother.

But Raon had erased the shadow his older brother had cast over his mind and heart.

His older brother no longer frightened him, and the ice cream was no longer hateful.

‘No.’

Yet Lunan Slion didn’t touch the ice cream and closed the lid again.

‘I’ll eat it tomorrow.’

He decided to share it with Raon tomorrow and slid the box back under his bed.

Lunan Slion gazed at the squirrel with crimson eyes resting on the table and offered a faint smile.

*

*

*

Raon finished organizing the Training Ground in place of Rimer, who had vanished somewhere, and returned to the Dormitory.

Whoosh!

As I peeled off my sweat-soaked training clothes, Wrath, who had been silent until now, suddenly burst forth.

-You didn’t mention it earlier.

Wrath blazed within flames composed of frigid energy, his gaze sharp and cold.

-You’ve killed a human.
“What?”
-You still lack the ability to shatter that pathetic mage’s illusion. Even knowing it was an orc, it appeared human. For a greenhorn who hasn’t seen real combat to cut it down so decisively… that’s not something you should be capable of.
“It was easy enough.”

I waved my hand and pushed Wrath away as he drew closer.

-What?
“My perception stat is high, so I could feel in my bones that it wasn’t human. Cutting down a monster is hardly difficult.”
-P-Perception?
“Yeah. Magic can deceive appearance, but it can’t hide essence.”
-Ugh, perception…

I maintained my composed expression and acted naturally. Wrath let out a groan—completely fooled.

‘I can’t reveal anything about my past life or the Ring of Fire.’

I couldn’t afford to give even the smallest piece of information to someone who was clearly my enemy.

-Even so, to show no hesitation in taking a life… what exactly are you? How could someone your age possess such mental fortitude?

Wrath muttered that it was impossible. He seemed more astonished by my inherent mental strength than by my abnormally rapid growth in power.

“What does it matter to you?”
-Tch, there’s not a single thing about you I like.
“I’m not here to be liked by you.”

I flicked my finger at Wrath.

“Every time you speak, it gets colder. Shut your mouth and pay up on our bet.”
-This is a swindle. I never knew you were such a ruthless human.
“It wasn’t me who suggested the bet first—it was you. And here you are, whining like a pathetic fool.”
-Path, pathetic….

Wrath’s voice trembled violently, as if hearing the word “pathetic” for the first time in his existence.

“Is this three wins in a row? The Lord of the Demon Realm isn’t so impressive after all.”
-Silence! If I had access to my true body’s power….”
“That true body of yours. True body. When exactly will you find it? And besides, this has nothing to do with your true body’s abilities.”
-Ugh….”

Wrath’s blue chill rippled violently, and the sound of him gnashing his teeth echoed through the air. Overwhelmed by the shock of defeat and now mocked on top of it, he seemed to be losing his grip on reality.

-No matter how I think about it, this is a swindle. A swindle!

Just as he was about to make one last desperate move, a message appeared before my eyes.

[You have achieved victory in your wager with Wrath.]
[All ability points increase by 2.]
[You have secured your third victory against Wrath.]
[Due to the consecutive win effect, additional ability points increase.]
[Strength increases by 1 point.]
[Agility increases by 1 point.]
[Stamina increases by 1 point.]

“Ha!”

I let out a dry laugh. As my strength and agility surged simultaneously, I felt an exhilarating sensation as my muscles rippled with newfound power.

-Defeated three times by a mere human….

Wrath muttered incoherently about the absurdity of it all, his chill radiating outward as if to freeze the very messages before him.

“There’s still more coming.”
-Ugh!

I shoved the irritating Wrath aside and waited for the next message to appear.

[As the second reward of the wager, a trait possessed by Wrath is being generated.]
[The trait has been determined.]
[You have acquired the trait Bleeding Curse.]

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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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