The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 9

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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 9

Dawn broke.

I gathered the luggage I had prepared in advance and left the Annex Building. Sylvia and her attendants stood in a line before the Garden, waiting for me.

“I’ll be back soon.”

I waved toward the people watching me with worried eyes. Sylvia’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.

‘It’s fortunate I’m going alone.’

Only trainees were permitted to enter the Training Grounds, which was a blessing. Had I gone with Sylvia, we wouldn’t have arrived at the Training Grounds today.

“Lady Sylvia, are you going to send the young master off with such an expression?”

“Hmm….”

At Helen’s gentle reproach, Sylvia’s rigid expression softened imperceptibly.

“Raon.”

Sylvia stepped forward with her clasped hands trembling slightly. Worry still lingered in her heart, but she could no longer bring herself to speak the word surrender.

‘Because I’ve seen what kind of child this one is.’

Over the past month, I had endured the frigid aura spreading from my mana circuits without missing a single day of training.

I ran day after day, exhaling in pain, pushing through the suffering. I couldn’t send off a child who had endured and strived so earnestly with a gloomy expression.

“Raon. Do well out there.”

Sylvia steadied the worry churning in her chest and offered a smile.

“Okay.”

Raon nodded firmly and turned his back. He walked straight toward the direction of the 5th Training Ground.

“Will he be alright?”

“He’s improved considerably. If things go well, he might even pass the training and return.”

“I’m not hoping for that. I just pray he doesn’t get hurt.”

“That would be best indeed.”

Sylvia and Helen watched Raon’s retreating figure until he disappeared from sight, praying only that he would return safely—training completion was unnecessary.

*

*

*

The 5th Training Ground was enclosed by towering walls arranged in a rectangular formation, so high they were invisible from the outside—like an elongated box.

To the right of the entrance lay an outdoor training ground covered with finely raked earth, while to the left stood an indoor training hall with a roof.

I surveyed the training grounds thoroughly, then swept my gaze across the children gathered in the center.

‘As expected, there are quite a lot of them.’

More than a hundred children were already warming up throughout the 5th Training Ground, despite the session not having officially begun.

I’d heard that each time, the grounds filled with not only direct and collateral members of Zigheart, but also recommended candidates brought in from vassal families and external sources.

‘Helen mentioned there would be even more this year.’

Helen had told me that due to the larger numbers this year, the 6th Martial Grounds would also be operational.

Crunch.

I turned my head at the sound of something breaking. A round-faced boy with green hair was pulling snacks from a pouch at his waist and eating them.

“Would you like some?”

As I stared blankly at him, he pulled out another snack from his pouch and offered it to me.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Understood.”

He nodded and reached into his pouch again. This time, a square-shaped bread popped out.

As I pondered this oddity and began to loosen my body, a cold voice reached me from behind.

“That’s him, right? Look at those scrawny limbs. One poke and they’d snap. Can he even train?”

“If he’s sickly, he’ll just pretend to work and run away. I don’t get why he’s making things difficult for us.”

“I saw him arguing directly with the Patriarch and turned a blind eye. He doesn’t know his place. He thinks he’s a direct descendant.”

The branch family children made sure their criticism was loud enough for everyone to hear. The rumors had already spread far and wide—many of the younger ones were glaring at me.

“What’s with that bracelet?”

“A floral bracelet?”

“Doesn’t even match his age.”

The branch family members snickered at the sight of Wrath on my wrist. It seemed this bracelet was visible to others as well.

-Are they truly referring to me as a mere bracelet?

Wrath, who had been silent as if sleeping, trembled violently.

‘That’s exactly why I told you to change the bracelet’s form.’

-These worms know nothing of nobility. What are you doing? Shatter their skulls at once.

Wrath’s voice seethed like boiling water.

‘What for?’

—You didn’t just touch me. You provoked him as well, yet you expect him to tolerate it?

‘You don’t even know what this is about.’

—I don’t care about that! Just for daring to look at me directly, I should gouge out your eyes….

‘I’m not insane like you.’

I was genuinely grateful I hadn’t surrendered my body to this madman.

“Hmm.”

I turned my head to look at the branch family children who had just wagged their tongues. They flinched for a moment, but then thrust their chins forward as if to say, what could I do about it?

‘In my past life, I would have ignored them.’

The me of my past life would have turned away and pretended not to hear. An assassin had no need to draw attention to themselves.

But this life, I had resolved to live not as an assassin, but as Raon Zigheart. There was no reason to ignore them.

“What did you just say?”

I approached the children who had wagged their tongues, my eyes cold and piercing. Surprise flashed across their faces—they hadn’t expected me to come directly.

“Huh?”

“W-what do you mean….”

“Stop buzzing like mosquitoes and speak clearly.”

“Hmm.”

“W-well, that is….”

The branch family children exchanged uncertain glances, unsure how to respond.

‘As expected.’

These children had merely imitated what their parents did. They possessed no strategy for handling a situation like this.

“Didn’t anyone teach you not to say things behind closed doors that you wouldn’t say to someone’s face?”

“S-shut up!”

“You’re the one stuck in the Annex Building after your family fell into ruin!”

“You’re not even direct lineage—you’re branch family!”

“You’re branch family too. The word ‘dare’ is only used when addressing someone beneath you. You lack the standing to use such language with me.”

My voice neither rose nor fell—merely stating facts with measured clarity.

“Grrr!”

The three branch family members spread their legs and clenched their fists as if ready to pounce at any moment.

Crack.

I loosened my fingers. Warming up before training began, and drawing their attention, was hardly a waste.

“You….”

“Enough!”

Just as the branch family members lunged forward, a voice sharp as frost cut through from the right. It belonged to a beautiful boy who appeared to be in his early teens, with green hair.

-Why is this bastard interfering? Crush his head.

‘Was his name Buren?’

He was a direct descendant who had displayed the greatest talent in the aptitude test.

“Training will begin soon. What do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to tarnish the name of Zigheart in front of outsiders?”

Contrary to expectations, he didn’t defend the three—instead, he rebuked them all.

“B-Buren, sir!”

“We apologize!”

The branch family members who had been rushing at Raon bowed their heads like mice before a cat at Buren’s single word.

“You still don’t understand your place.”

After accepting the branch members’ apologies, Buren approached Raon.

“You’re nothing but dust I can brush away whenever I please. If you don’t want to be cast out of the Annex Building, keep your mouth shut and live quietly.”

Buren’s face twisted with undisguised contempt.

‘That pathetic rat.’

The incompetent fool before him had monopolized the Patriarch’s attention a month ago—not through any genuine ability, but by exploiting circumstances.

What I despise most is someone without talent, and second most is someone who doesn’t know their place and acts arrogant.

Raon Zigheart embodied both.

The mere fact that a dropout who couldn’t even train properly had caught the Patriarch’s eye infuriated me.

“If you have no intention of participating in training, get out of here right now. Actually, just leave. There’s no chance you’ll pass anyway.”

The collateral branch children snickered at Buren’s mockery. Just as they turned to leave with satisfied expressions, Raon stepped forward.

“You sure know how to talk nonsense without any sense.”

Raon tilted his chin and met Buren’s gaze with a crooked smirk.

“Who do you think you are?”

“What?”

“You’re just a direct descendant with no actual authority. Kick me out of the Annex Building? You don’t even have trainee status—do you really think you can do that? The only way it’d be possible is if you ran to your father and told him.”

“A collateral branch member dares to….”

A verdant wind coalesced around Burren’s fist. As he advanced with murderous intent, the door to the Training Ground burst open as if torn from its hinges.

Crash!

A man with crimson hair stepped through the trembling doorway. Pointed ears adorned his otherworldly visage, and an air of mystery accompanied his brisk, confident bearing.

“Already fighting? How bold—youth and inexperience make for a reckless combination.”

He smirked as he strode toward the center of the Training Ground.

‘Was he here all along?’

I narrowed my eyes. A man whose fame was impossible to ignore—the elf swordmaster known as Zigheart’s Radiant Blade, Rimer.

‘I heard he had retired….’

I had learned that he withdrew after sustaining an injury to his core, yet I never expected to encounter him here.

“Hmph!”

Rimer glanced between me and Burren once, then ascended to the elevated platform overlooking the entire Training Ground.

“Tch….”

Burren bit his lip slightly and turned away. His expression suggested reluctant acceptance, a silent warning to be cautious going forward.

“Glad to see you all.”

Rimer stood at the center of the platform, a smirk playing across his face.

“I am Rimer, the chief instructor who will oversee your training.”

His voice carried a lightness to it—not frivolous, but breezy and refreshing, like wind itself. Rimer maintained an easy smile as he continued.

“We have 160 trainees and 8 instructors. That’s quite a few to teach, wouldn’t you say? So I think we should trim the numbers. Down to exactly one-quarter.”

A concentrated mischief flickered in Rimer’s previously relaxed smile.

“T-trim us down?”

“To one-quarter of that?”

“What does that even mean….”

The children’s faces drained of color. Culling the basic training participants was unprecedented.

“Exactly as I said—separating the wheat from the chaff. I’d rather cultivate a handful of true swordsmen than waste my time on mediocrity.”

Rimer swept his gaze across the children like a merchant inspecting wares, his fingers gesturing dismissively.

“B-but I was told to come….”

The Green-haired Boy, who had offered sweets earlier, dropped the bread he was holding.

“I’m a branch member of Zigheart! It’s absurd to filter us out before we even become trainees!”

“That’s right! We all came here because our families told us to participate!”

“Ah, I’m ignorant, so I don’t know the difference between main and branch lines or whatever.”

Rimer scowled while picking at his ear with his pinky finger.

“In this Training Ground, I make the rules. If you have complaints, take them up with the family head who granted me this authority.”

He looked less like a senior instructor and more like a street thug from some back alley, yet his handsome features made even that seem dignified.

‘Filtering us out, huh….’

I scratched my chin. Rimer possessed an exceptional talent for sensing the temperament and potential of others, or so I’d heard. It seemed he intended to use that ability to select the children.

-What is this insolent wretch?

‘What?’

-How dare he look down upon me, the King! This displeases me greatly. Tear off that elf’s ears.

‘Is there anyone who would actually please you?’

Wrath was angry at everything, just as his name suggested. There seemed to be nothing he approved of.

-When I reigned in the Demon Realm, no one dared meet my gaze. A true sovereign whom the demon folk revered… you, you insolent fool!

‘Quiet.’

Wrath’s tongue began to elongate, and he flicked the bracelet with it.

“Then let’s begin the test right away.”

Rimer blew away the earwax clinging to his pinky finger.

“What do you think is the most important thing when learning martial arts?”

“Talent!”

“A strong and flexible body!”

“A solid dantian!”

“Swordsmanship and aura cultivation techniques are most important!”

The children, thinking the test had already begun, raised their hands and shouted out the important elements they believed in.

“Talent, body, dantian, swordsmanship—all correct. But those are the walls and roof. Beneath them lies a foundation that must be firmly laid: stamina and mental fortitude.”

“Ah….”

“Hmm….”

The children, convinced his words were right, lowered their hands and nodded.

“Since some of you have learned martial arts and others haven’t, I’ll conduct the test using the simplest and most definitive method.”

Rimer’s finger, which had been pointing at the children, smoothly shifted to indicate the outdoor training ground.

“Run the Training Ground until I tell you to stop. Full power!”

The moment those words left his lips, two figures burst into motion—Varen, a direct descendant who had taken the aptitude test alongside me, and Lunan from the vassal house Slion.

“Huff!”

“L-let’s go!”

“Run!”

Following those two, the other children began sprinting across the Training Ground.

-Do not move. There is nothing in this world that can command the King of—

I ignored Wrath’s protests and filled my lungs with fresh air, pushing off the ground to follow the children ahead of me.

‘They’re definitely different.’

Lunan and Varen were already far ahead. Despite their seemingly effortless pace, they moved at a speed the others couldn’t match.

Not because their aura was superior in quality or because they possessed special attributes, but because they had trained their bodies and minds since childhood.

-Tsk, if you’re already running, take the lead. Why are you at the back?

‘I don’t understand what you’re trying to do.’

-I simply refuse to lose.

‘This isn’t a competition.’

I watched Rimer whistling while perched on the platform. An author observes not merely what the eyes can see—the potential and temperament of others run far deeper than surface appearances.

“Haaah….”

I exhaled the rising breath and my eyes blazed with intensity.

‘This is a test where the one who endures wins.’

That was something I was more confident in than anyone else on the Continent.

*

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*

“Baren and Lunan are certainly in a class of their own.”

“It’s not just speed. They have stability too. Even at this pace, they’re not going all out—they could run like this for hours. At twelve years old, to reach that level… their futures are terrifying. Truly terrifying.”

The two instructors standing below the platform observed the running children while chatting idly.

“The branch family candidates are quite impressive this year too. They seem to have been properly trained before coming here.”

“The recommended candidates are the same. They’ve selected well—there are many exceptional children.”

They evaluated not only Baren and Lunan, but each of the children running behind them one by one.

“Hmm….”

The instructors overseeing all the children furrowed their brows as they watched Raon running in the rear group.

“As expected, he can’t keep up.”

“He’s a patient, after all. It’s impressive that he’s running at all.”

“Hmm, he already looks exhausted. He’ll drop out soon.”

The instructors turned their gaze to another child with expressions as indifferent as their expectations.

Yet behind them, Rimer’s eyes—humming a tune—never left Raon.

‘How intriguing.’

Rimer’s emerald eyes gleamed with brilliant light.

‘I’ve never seen anyone like him before.’

He possessed a more lavish blessing from nature than his own kin, granting him an exceptional ability to discern the condition and potential of others.

He had believed that only the strongest warriors on the Continent lay beyond the reach of his perception.

‘But….’

Today, that conviction shifted for the first time.

Lunan and Buren running at the front, the branch family members and recommended students grinding their teeth behind them—none of them escaped his sight.

I could see how they would grow, how they would become stronger.

Just one exception. Raon Zigheart alone remained hidden from my sight.

‘Why can’t I see him?’

His future, his potential—shrouded as if by storm clouds, utterly obscured from my perception.

A lack of talent? No, that wasn’t it. It meant his presence transcended my ability to comprehend—as if I were gazing upon someone far stronger than myself.

“How fascinating.”

Rimer smiled faintly. In this tedious age, a truly captivating human had finally appeared.

*

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*

“Look at that.”

“So arrogant, yet dead last?”

“Last place is generous. He’ll drop out soon enough.”

The collateral branch children curled their lips as they watched Raon running in the lower group.

“A boy raised softly in the Annex Building could never run properly.”

“Look at that flustered expression.”

“He won’t last even ten minutes.”

The other children besides the three burst into giggles.

Yet Raon’s serious expression stemmed not from exhaustion or fatigue.

‘Training, and they only have us run? That’s it?’

In my past life, when I trained my stamina, they would release a starving beast behind me.

Running until my stamina was depleted—compared to those days, this was like lying down and eating rice cakes.

This is far too easy.

—————
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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