N/T: Translation made by our friend 'Irving'. A big round of applause for him :)
C 338
"I-Intruders... Argh!"
The caretaker who had been standing behind them tried to scream but lost his throat.
"Huff..."
Dorian, who came after that, raised his thumb. His fingers trembled, perhaps due to tension.
"Maintain your composure."
Raon chuckled lightly and gently patted the two children in front of him. Their wounds were deep, but fortunately not fatal.
"Who... who are you?"
The blue-haired girl who had introduced herself as Pine trembled as she spoke.
"Just passing villains."
Raon couldn't reveal his true identity, as there was a possibility of Derus tracing them here.
"Ah, villains? But you said you'd help us find our names..."
"That's right. I'll help you find your names and let you leave this place. I'm the kind of villain who catches other villains."
"Ah!"
Pine's expression contorted in a bizarre manner. Due to emotional control, she couldn't cry even though she wanted to.
"Tsk."
Raon furrowed his brow, feeling the bitterness rise on his tongue. Seeing the distorted expressions of these children who didn't know how to react, his stomach churned. It felt like he was seeing his past self reflected in their twisted expressions.
'Was I like this?'
No, he must have been even worse.
In his past life, he hadn't found any redemption, completely burying his emotions.
He must have been unable to make even these twisted expressions, hiding behind a mask and smiling through unbearable pain.
Uuuh...
Raon raised his head to look at the ceiling shared by all. Above and below, things were getting busier.
'Is he coming?'
The movement was faster than he had anticipated. There was no time for a leisurely conversation with the kids here.
"Just wait a bit."
Raon lowered his gaze and stimulated the mana circuits at the back of the children's necks to make them faint.
"Wait, why are you making the kids sleep?"
Dorian, who had been watching the children collapse, tilted his head.
"To protect them. They might be brainwashed and attack you. And..."
Raon cast a cold gaze toward the passage where the assassins were approaching.
"Things might get a bit messy."
Today, he had decided to reveal his true nature. The children would witness something they should never see, so it was better to let them sleep.
"Uuh..."
Dorian swallowed hard, poking the children lying on top of each other with his finger. He swallowed his saliva.
"Did you, did you really make them unconscious? They will wake up again, right?"
"Don't worry. They will wake up."
Raon reassured him with a faint smile, his voice wavering slightly in confidence.
"Can you handle this?"
"Y-yes, of course."
Although his voice lacked confidence, it was Dorian, so he decided to trust him.
Raon approached the entrance he had used to come down to this place.
Phew!
From the passages on both sides, two masked figures concealed themselves in the shadows and rushed toward them.
"Swoosh!"
Raon swung the longsword Dorian had given him down with force.
"Whoosh!"
The finely honed blade sliced through the masked figure approaching from the right, cutting through the torn flesh and spilling a cruel amount of blood.
"Ugh!"
The masked figure on the left aimed a thrust at Raon. He turned his body with his left foot as a pivot and raised his longsword to parry the attack.
"Kyaah!"
With a perfectly executed sharp strike, Raon's longsword cut the masked figure in half along with their scream, ending their life abruptly.
"Whew!"
From the upper passage connected to the orphanage, caretakers and assassins descended. Without any hesitation, they charged forward, wielding swords and daggers. They displayed the true demeanor of assassins.
"They're just the same. Never changing."
Raon stepped forward with his right foot. He swung the longsword he had kept to his left horizontally. The blade, imbued with precision and swiftness, created a crimson wave in the air.
"Whoosh!"
The approaching masked figures, charging like a swarm, were cleaved in half, along with their weapons.
"Ah..."
"Ugh!"
"What is this...?"
These shadows, trained in the harshest conditions not to utter a scream, fell into the sea of blood, unable to believe their own deaths.
Thud.
Raon stood at the entrance of the passage, stepping on the hot blood staining the ground.
He had dealt with all the assassins who had come down here. Now he needed to go up and confront Lisbon, the one in charge.
"Dorian."
Raon turned to look at Dorian behind him. Even after witnessing such brutality, Dorian's expression remained unchanged.
"Yes..."
"I ask for your assistance."
With those words, he ascended the stairs.
As soon as he emerged from the stairs, swords thrust at him from all directions. Sinister auras clung to the blades, aiming for his heart and throat.
Thwack!
Raon slammed the ground and leaped upwards.
Szzzing!
The assassins anticipated it and raised their swords immediately. Their murderous intent pressed against his skin like thorns.
"It's futile."
Simultaneously, Raon brought his longsword down towards the assassins' blades. He invoked the absorption technique, creating a counterforce.
Szzzing!
The assassins' swords clung briefly to the longsword, then were forcefully repelled. They couldn't resist the rebound, and their grips loosened as they dropped their weapons.
"Swoosh!"
Raon turned his body in mid-air, swinging the longsword down. The sword strokes poured forth like beams of light, cleanly severing the necks of four individuals.
"Thud."
Raon, with an emotionless expression, walked out of the orphanage director's office. His steps turned the carpet beneath into a canvas of blood.
"This... this guy!"
An elderly woman at the exit waved the staff she held. She was the orphanage director who had been conducting brainwashing operations, just as expected, for the higher-ups in the shadows.
"Fire!"
Flames erupted from the old woman's staff. The intense heat melted the passage like cheese.
"Whew!"
Raon didn't step back in the slightest. He raised his longsword towards the formidable flames.
"Swoosh!"
The razor-sharp wind blade he wielded sliced through the fiery storm diagonally.
"Who are you?"
The old woman squinted her eyes as she chanted.
"A dead man speaking."
"What nonsense..."
As the old woman tried to step back and use magic again, her body leaned sideways. It followed the flow of the wind.
"You..."
The old woman looked with bulging eyes at her body, which had been cut in half.
"You've come."
Raon quietly turned around. Standing there like a shadow was a middle-aged man with deep blue hair and scars on his left cheek. Lisbon. He was a caretaker in his previous life, the one who had made him kill number 9, and he had been a loyal follower of Martio.
"Quite the performance."
Lisbon raised his chin with cold eyes.
"How did you know about this place?"
"Well."
"Judging by the look in your eyes, you seem like you want to be a saint of justice or something. You took the wrong path."
He drew his sword from his waist with deliberate slowness.
"Your family, your friends, your acquaintances, everyone you know will be brought here and killed because of you."
Lisbon aimed his blade with a sinister tone.
"That's how it's going to be."
Derus, Martio, Lisbon - they all pretended to be bold in front but held grudges and sought revenge from behind. The words filled with malice were not lies.
"I wonder if I can still tease that arrogance of yours."
Lisbon chuckled coldly. He thought of Raon as a knight intoxicated with a sense of justice.
"Is that so?"
Raon smirked. In this life, not a single one of his new family or friends was an easy target. If someone like Lisbon tried anything, his body would be riddled with holes before he even crossed the main gate.
"Try it if you can."
"You fool."
Lisbon flicked his finger, and then he rushed forward, smashing the ground. The dense energy from his sword pressed against Raon's entire body.
"I told you. You made a mistake. It's too late to regret it!"
Lisbon, thinking that Raon was frightened, laughed mockingly as he swung his sword downward. The powerful energy emanating from his sword twisted and fell diagonally.
"Boom!"
Raon lowered his center of gravity, pushing his left foot forward. Simultaneously, he thrust the blade at the center of the energy Lisbon had generated.
"Whoosh!"
"Crack."
The scorching heat emanating from Raon's ordinary longsword shattered Lisbon's energy, tearing his arm apart. Even from his scorched shoulder, not a drop of blood flowed.
"Arrhhhgggh…!"
Lisbon, staring at his missing right arm in despair, let out a piercing scream as if his throat were being torn apart. His eye pupils shook as if they were about to pop out.
It was overwhelming. Raon's power had already reached a level where he could crush even a Master-level swordsman without using sword techniques.
"Thwack!"
Raon approached Lisbon, who was screaming, and struck his left chest. It was an action to stun the Rage Worm, which was likely residing in his heart.
"Grrrk!"
Lisbon was pushed backward, tumbling on the ground as he took advantage of that shock. Raon stepped on the opposite side.
"This... this can't be!"
It was me who made the mistake.
Even one collision was enough to tell. He couldn't win against that. The monster in front of him was unbeatable by any means.
'Damn it!'
He had taken precautions because he didn't seem strong enough. It was a mistake. He should have reported to Derus first.
'But there's still a way out.'
His specialty wasn't swordsmanship but the magic of manipulating shadows. With the Black Shadow Technique, he could escape even from that monster.
"Goaah!"
Lisbon clung to the wall to move stealthily in the shadows. However, when he tried to plunge into the darkness, his body tilted and fell to the ground.
"What, what's happening?"
His legs suddenly lost all strength, and it felt like his flesh was burning with pain. He turned his stiff neck to look behind him.
"Huh? Aaargh!"
In no time, both of his legs were severed and lying scattered on the ground.
"My... my legs! How..?"
"Pathetic."
"Uhhhh...."
Raon approached Lisbon with heavy footsteps. Each thudding step made Lisbon's entire body tremble.
"Your subordinates never scream until they die, and you've already screamed twice."
"Th-th-that..."
"Didn't you say screaming is a disgrace for an assassin?"
Lisbon's trembling became more intense at those words. He gritted his teeth and raised his head.
"W-who are you..."
"A specter."
Raon coldly smiled, raising his longsword.
"I'm a specter who returned from hell to erase you all."
He swung the sword, driving it into Lisbon's left chest.
"Grrrk!"
He made sure it only grazed the heart, preventing him from dying instantly. Blood flowed from his chest.
"Aaaargh!"
Lisbon screamed, struggling, but the sword lodged in his chest wouldn't come out.
"Scream."
Raon gripped the sword tightly, sending a sinister gaze.
"Scream so that the children whose lives you've taken, those buried without anyone knowing, can hear. And..."
"Grrk..."
Lisbon's eyes narrowed at the menacingly dry tone.
"Scream for the nameless friend above the sky. Cry out for Number 9, whose name we didn't even know."
Thinking of Number 9, whose name he didn't even know, Raon gripped the hilt of his sword with strength.
"You, you are the Shadow's..."
"Your screams will become their requiem."
Raon twisted his sword, reopening Lisbon's wounds. An agonizing wail of despair escaped his lips.
"Aaaargh!"
* * *
After removing all traces, Raon descended back into the underground.
"Is it over? I heard an incredible scream..."
Dorian swallowed hard as he sheathed his sword. His shoulders and waist bore the marks of battle, and assassin corpses piled up beside him. It seemed like a tough fight.
"Yeah, they won't be able to do such things again."
Raon nodded as he pushed the corpses in the underground passage. He had erased any potential traces.
"Should we wake up the children now?"
"Hmm..."
Raon still looked at the children who hadn't awakened yet. Tears were evident in their closed eyes; it must have been exhausting.
"No, since we can't take them with us anyway, it's better to leave it to the people who will come soon."
"Will they do a good job?"
Dorian sighed and gently stroked the head of the child in front of him.
"I didn't know there were children living such lives. I thought I had a tough life myself, but it was a blessing."
He shook his head with an embarrassed expression.
"You are you, and the children are the children."
Raon shook his head.
"Only you know the difficulty of your own struggle. There's no need for self-blame."
That's right.
Wrath rose up from the Ice Flower Bracelet and nodded.
What's important is not the past but the future. Tell him to walk while thinking about the future.
Raon chuckled and looked at Dorian.
"He says to think about the future, not the past. What's important is moving forward."
"Who's saying that?"
"Some strange person with an appetite."
The king is not a strange person! He is a proud demon!
'Right, right.'
He nodded lightly.
"After hearing that, I feel a little better. Please thank that strange person for me."
Dorian wiped away the children's tears and smiled.
"Hmm..."
Raon looked up, narrowing his eyes. The sounds of knights in armor were approaching from a distance. The familiar aura could be felt; it was Borini Kitten, whom he had recently fought.
"It's time to go."
"Is Sir Borini Kitten coming?"
"Yeah."
He nodded and quickly scribbled two letters on small pieces of paper. He left one on the altar and placed the other in Pine's pocket. Lastly, he put a purse of gold coins for the children beside him.
"It's a bit disappointing. I wanted to see these kids' smiles."
Dorian also took out snacks and candies from his bag and placed them all on the floor. Tears welled up in his eyes.
"You'll see them soon. They'll come to Zieghart."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Raon nodded and gestured with his hand.
"Let's go now."
"Okay!"
To avoid running into Borini Kitten, they stuck together and ran through the underground passage. When they were about to exit, Raon, with his keen senses, found a small hidden room behind a wall.
"Hmm?"
Raon stopped and stared at the bookshelf. A smile appeared on his lips.
"I guess we should give out some loot."
* * *
Borini Kitten looked at the orphanage called "Cloud's Home" and swallowed hard.
"Is this really a place where assassins are raised?"
When he unknowingly intruded into his own room and found a letter left there, he had initially wanted to ignore it. But the moment he read its contents, he acted immediately.
"They kidnap young children and raise them as assassins."
Seeing such a crucial message, he couldn't ignore it.
"There might be a trap, though."
"Once we go, we'll find out. Just stay alert."
Borini Kitten tapped the back of a subordinate knight and entered.
"Blood?"
Inside the orphanage building, blood pooled on the floor, and corpses with slashed throats were piled up in corners. However, these were the masked individuals who should not have been here.
"Hmm..."
Borini Kitten bit his lip.
"Is it really true?"
Time had not passed long enough for corpses to decompose entirely. What remained was the eerie presence that an assassin would have, nothing more.
"Search the place."
"Yes!"
Under Borini Kitten's command, the knights scattered in all directions.
"There's a staircase leading downstairs here."
Borini Kitten heard a report from one of his subordinates and entered the daycare director's office. There, a passage leading underground was open.
"Let's go."
Borini Kitten descended the stairs with tension in the air. They went quite deep before reaching the ground.
"Ugh!"
"Ah..."
The two of them gasped when they saw the floor covered in blood and children lying unconscious.
"This!"
Borini Kitten hurriedly rushed to the children, saving them from their predicament.
"Haah..."
They were alive!
Fortunately, there were no dead children. They had all been put into a state of unconsciousness by tampering with their mana circuits. It seemed the work of the person who left the note.
"Their condition is not good."
All of them wore torn clothes, and despite their clean faces, their bodies were covered in scars from knife wounds. It was evident that these children had undergone assassin training, given the identical scars in the same places.
"We found some torture tools over here."
"Ah, there's a room filled with children's bones."
"There's a children's room that's uninhabitable..."
As more reports from the knights came in, anger welled up inside Borini Kitten, and he could only clench his fists.
"Dammit..."
Honestly, when he came here, he hoped the note's contents were fake. If it was true, it would be a heartbreaking and horrendous situation.
But his hopes weren't realized. This place was a hell designed to raise children as assassins.
"Haah..."
Borini Kitten sighed heavily as he stood up. Frowning, he glanced back and noticed a piece of paper on a small altar. The paper was folded into a triangle, just like the ones found in the rooms.
"Did that person leave this?"
As he unfolded the paper, there was writing in the same handwriting as the note that brought them here.
[A person who can treat the children will arrive soon. Please take care of them until then.]
It seemed like a request for the protection of the children.
Borini Kitten trembled as he held the paper.
"What should we do?"
"Wake them up gently and take them all with us."
"Continue investigating this place. We need to find out who's responsible."
"Yes!"
The knights split into groups, with some waking up the children and others collecting evidence.
* * *
"Hmm..."
Number 45 opened his eyes, sensing someone's touch.
"Is it him?"
Thinking it might be the tall man who had been the fourth caretaker and whom he had last slashed, he raised his head. But it was a knight in silver armor, someone he had never seen before, who had his shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
"Oh, yes..."
As he answered, he turned his head. The man who had saved him was nowhere to be seen, and only the knights were milling about.
"Was it a dream?"
No.
The warmth of the hand that had stroked his head still lingered. That warmth couldn't have been a dream.
"Number 45...."
When he turned his head, Number 86 was looking at him. Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Number 86!"
Number 45 bit his lip and rushed over to embrace Number 86.
"Hmm..."
The knights were taken aback when they saw each other referred to by numbers instead of names but remained frozen in place. One of them heaved a deep sigh and approached.
"My name is Borini Kitten. I'm a knight of Owen Kingdom."
He slowly extended both hands.
"Come with me. I'll help you live like proper human beings."
"Ah..."
Number 45 couldn't grasp that hand. He knew who Borini Kitten was, but he was afraid to follow him, fearing that something similar might happen again in a new place.
"Uh..."
Shaking his shoulders in uncertainty, a neatly folded note fell from his pocket. When he picked it up, there was writing on it.
"We'll meet again. Follow the knights."
'This is...'
He could tell who had written it. It was the person who had saved them, promised to find their names.
Number 45 carefully folded the paper and put it back into his pocket. Thinking of that person, he gathered his courage and held the knight's hand.
"Yes. I'll go."
