Episode 179. Punishment (5)
It’s night again.
It’s already the second day since I started training.
This time, there were three people standing on the plain. Grokal had claimed to be an observer.
“Don’t worry, Master. The grooms will understand that the servants are away. They will think it is to keep watch over the surroundings. There is Tina in the carriage, taking the place of Master.”
Grokal, worried that he might not be allowed to observe, tells Rubin the reason before he can even ask.
Finally, after receiving permission to observe, he plopped down about ten paces away from the two men. Then he thought back to what Damon had said the night before.
I said that before the end of the journey, the youngest master might be able to stop all six swordsmen.
‘No matter what Damon said… … .’
As is typical of the vassals of the main family, Grokal held a deep respect for Damon, no less than Killian, who had raised Siren.
He had even crossed swords with Damon. So he knew all too well how difficult it was to block all six-star swordsmanship, and what it meant.
‘That means he’ll soon reach 6 stars. Lord Rubin is thirteen now… Even if he reaches 6 stars by the age of twenty, it will be something that will astonish the world.’
at that time.
“Damon.”
Rubin opened his mouth.
“You told me to give it my all, didn’t you?”
“Yes. As you know, this kind of training opportunity is rare, so I am asking you to seize the opportunity.”
“Yes, it’s a rare opportunity. So this time, I’m going to try different methods.”
Grokal, who was watching, crossed his arms. What are you trying to do? Then, something happened that made his eyes widen on their own.
At first, it was a blizzard created by the Blood Frost. As he was seeing Rubin’s soul weapon for the first time, he couldn’t help but be surprised from there.
Wheeeeeeeeee.
The blizzard, following the will of the Blood Frost, swept only towards Rubin and Damon. It felt like watching magic. The two of them were trapped in a white canvas.
The second number of Rubin’s following.
“… … !”
A flow that Damon and Grokal could not help but feel. Rubin’s dark energy had caused something. It was the first time the two vassals had seen such a dark energy.
Wooooow.
The ‘shadow field’ was unfolding. The dark smoke spread out in a hemispherical shape, stopping the flow of air.
Wheeeeee… Saaaaat… … .
The blizzard that had been raging stopped all at once. It didn’t just subside or stop, it literally ‘stopped.’ Like a painting.
-What the heck… What the heck is going on? Did they stop time or something?
Haneke, who had been watching the situation, intervened. He seemed genuinely surprised.
‘The effect is similar, but the concept is completely different. It’s like eliminating gravity.
The ‘shadow field’ that slows down the enemy’s movements. But this time, it was used differently. It trapped the blizzard in perfect weightlessness.
Grokal, who had been thinking of a ‘blank sheet of paper’ until just now, was amazed and thought that the two of them had really entered the sheet of paper.
“That’s really a brilliant idea.”
The inside of the station was filled with snowflakes that seemed to hang in midair, surrounding them.
If you swing your sword in this, its trajectory will be clearly visible, like paint drawn on a white piece of paper.
Moreover, all the grains of this blizzard were fully transmitted to Rubin. Rubin would feel every blade swing within this force field as if it were his own skin.
Rubin spoke softly.
“Shall we begin now?”
“… Yes. Let’s begin.”
Damon unleashed his six-star swordsmanship. The white drawing paper was drawn in a slanted manner following the sword’s trajectory. The crystals of the eyes moved slightly, and Rubin read them.
‘It’s not an inherited swordsmanship, it’s Damon’s own swordsmanship.’
Rubin thought back to the advice Damon had given him the night before.
I had to abandon the idea that what I was facing now was the swordsmanship of the Assassination Swordsman. I had to read the flow that the sword itself radiated, which was different from the swordsmanship that had been passed down from 1st to 5th stars.
‘Those who possess the six-star darkness all possess their own unique darkness. That darkness leads them to become the creators of swordsmanship.’
Rubin focused on the darkness of Damon, not the sword. Focusing on the sword was the job of the blood-frost blizzard that was frozen in zero gravity.
Rubin now had two sets of eyes. Blood Frost read the sword’s trajectory, and Rubin reads Damon’s darkness.
Chaeng! Chaeng!
The clash of swords continued. Both Damon, who was teaching, and Grokal, who was observing, gradually began to tremble. It had been a long time since they surpassed the record of the last round that had taken place last night.
Buck! Hit! Buck!
Chaeng! Chaeng!
With the continued sword fighting, I was soon approaching the seventy-five mark.
Meanwhile.
“… … !”
The duel ended on one side. The one who stopped was Rubin. He deliberately gave up his defense.
Damon said, catching his breath.
“Your Majesty, I know you can hold out more.”
“Let’s stop here for today. I want to carve the trajectory of your sword more accurately.”
I knew that if I could block all of the combinations even once, my training with Damon would end at that point.
I had to use Damon strategically. The more I sucked up Damon’s sword, the more Rubin would sprout a 6-star sword.
Damon couldn’t help but laugh, since he had completely lost control of the class.
Saaaaaaaa… … .
As Rubin’s shadow field disappeared, the blizzard, freed from its weightlessness, began to move again. The surreal sight was almost bizarre.
‘I have more and more things to say to you, Master.’
Damon turned his head towards Grokal, who had been watching from the side. Both of them had dumbfounded expressions.
However, he was aware that a new hope was sprouting in his family, and so there was also a sense of satisfaction behind his expression.
“Let’s go. The carriage is already far away.”
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
Rubin was already on the street. As he had been holding off the sword strike for a long time, the distance between him and the carriage had widened considerably.
From now on, it will only get worse. Catching up with the carriage has become another form of training.
* * *
The Roinen Mansion.
A place where the wind blowing from far away suddenly stops.
No wind can break through the fog surrounding the mansion. In that sense, the fog is like a castle wall. It is solid and never stops.
The Roinen Mansion cannot be found even with high-dimensional detection magic or similar magical tools. This is because the fog surrounding the mansion warps space dozens of times a day.
If a normal person were to be trapped in this fog, the only outcome would be death, unless there was mercy from the mansion.
Dribble, dribble, dribble.
Somewhere in the fog, you can hear the sound of a stream flowing. However, when you go through the fog, you will not find the stream, but an old man standing there drinking from a water jug.
It was Killian, a vassal of Siren’s Roynenser long ago. He still drank the Roynens’ family wine, ‘Oakum’, without fail.
He made a liquor by mixing blueberries and patchouli grown in his mansion, and he would walk along the wall of fog and sip oacum when the fog was at its most toxic. It was one of his long-time hobbies.
Now he was drinking under the optimal conditions he had come up with. But-
“As expected… I can’t get inspired by myself.”
A voice filled with regret.
I don’t know why, but as soon as I remembered, my steps moved towards the person I was going to clink my glasses with.
Thud thud.
As they discovered Killian crossing the garden, the vassals who had been hiding here and there came out and saluted him.
Killian waved his hand at him and passed the main building straight away. As he got closer to the annex, his pace quickened.
“…sonny.”
“Whaaaaaah!”
Puree was startled by the low voice behind her. She screamed as she threw the tray with the plates in it, and Killian frowned and caught the plates before they hit the floor. They were just as Puree had thrown them.
“… Mr. Lee.”
Puree frowned and revealed her true colors. Killian chuckled as if he found it amusing.
A rather strange sight in such a cold and chill place as the Roinen Mansion.
But considering the unique personalities of the two people, this was also an everyday occurrence.
Even Killian, who was respected by all his vassals and collateral heads, would put aside his annoying temper when it came to Puree, whom he had raised as a child.
“What are you so busy with?”
“…Father, you too. The young master will be here soon!”
“You haven’t forgotten that it’s been a week since he cleaned his room, have you?”
“There’s still a long way to go! I have to clean up the first floor tomorrow.”
Killian put his hand on his forehead and shook his head.
He had recently returned to the Roinen mansion after wandering aimlessly around the continent. It had been a long time since he had seen Puree, but the adopted daughter did not become the drinking buddy her father had wanted.
“He came for the funeral, not to sit down here.”
Of course, Puree didn’t know that either.
The Emperor had ordered a funeral, and beyond that, there would be pressure on the Assassin Swordsman. Not only she, but all of her vassals knew this.
“After the funeral, he will go to a new city. This funeral… will be an important turning point for him and for us, the Roinen family.”
“… I know that too, Father.”
Perhaps because he didn’t like the atmosphere that was getting too tense, Puree pretended to walk briskly and cleaned up Rubin’s room. He even snatched the tray that Killian was holding.
“Okay, bye! I’m busy.”
“Eight.”
Killian shook his head in regret. There was nothing he could do. He had no choice but to tilt the water bottle and drink the Oakum alone.
Just as I was about to turn around and leave, Puree, who was busy cleaning the room, suddenly turned her head and glared at Killian.
“But didn’t your father decide to take the place of the direct subordinate?”
“That’s right. He just went to get him.”
“That guy, that guy… … .”
“Are you telling me not to call Damon that, or are you telling me not to call Rubin that?”
“Both of you! That’s fine. If you’re going to replace the Lord, you shouldn’t be here. Hurry up and go to the Lord!”
However, Killian did not leave. As Puree said, he had to stay by Siren’s side to replace his direct subordinate, but in reality, he could not do that.
‘It’s best not to bother Siren right now. Well, Siren is avoiding it herself, after all.’
Siren was away from the family. She will be back today or tomorrow. She was spending time away from the mansion and in her own place.
A place where even the most inexperienced people have a hard time setting foot, the ‘Monster Zone’. That place is teeming with monsters that even Killian finds difficult to deal with. In such a dangerous place, Siren will be swinging her sword.
Siren could have destroyed the monsters there at any time, but she didn’t. There was no place where she could swing her sword freely, so she always left some behind for breeding.
‘If it were normal, it would be training… … .’
This time the meaning was a bit different. I guess the most likely word would be ‘mourning’.
Siren was not trying to raise the level of nothingness, but was letting go of her feelings for her dead son.
Even if they are those who take death as their karma.
Even if he is a cold-blooded assassin who never performs any rituals that remind him of death.
He wasn’t a human being without sorrow.
‘And if she’s a siren… … .’
Killian knew Siren’s life all too well.
She remembered everything she had lost until she became who she is now. Maybe he remembered things that even Siren had forgotten.
Killian walked back into the fog, lost in thought. The lingering taste of Oakum in his mouth was bitter.
That night. When the head of the household, Siren, had not yet returned. There came a moment when Killian, who was guarding the mansion in place of the head of the household, looked very serious.
A fairly strong dark smoke was approaching the mansion.
As soon as he felt this, Killian closed the lid of the water bottle tightly. At first, he thought it was Damon coming back, but upon closer inspection, it was not.
The identity was soon revealed.
‘I think you’re one of the Black Spirits. Why did you come so quickly? There’s no Siren either.’
Killian, who had expected the heads of the eight great families to arrive one after another starting tomorrow, couldn’t help but frown.
He crossed the garden to greet the black shadow. He sent a signal to the gatekeeper to open the gate.
Drumroll.
The door opens with a dull sound, revealing a solid wall of fog. A figure appears, walking towards me, thumping.
“Oh, is that Killian?”
As soon as he heard the voice, Killian smirked. He thought he knew who it was.
It was Benik Benar, the head of the black shadow family, ‘Benar’.
Benar stood before Killian, cutting through the fog in the darkness. He had an appearance that was creepy to anyone who saw him.
The face was very grotesque. The bridge of the nose was completely cut off, leaving only two holes in the middle of the flat face. The left ear was also cut off, and the right eye pupil was empty. If both eyes were closed, you would believe it was a corpse.
The gray hair that gives away his age remains only at the back.
Benic was ninety years old. He was the head of the family who should have lived at least twenty years longer than Killian.
Even so, he has not given up his position as head of the household. His child is now sixty years old, and his grandson is also thirty years old.
‘An old man who is terribly obsessed with the status of a black shadow.’
So his grotesque face is a trace of the glory that allowed him to ‘come in and out’ of the dark shadow for decades.
‘Still, the last one arrived first.’
A low-ranking member who has been giving up the position of Heukyeong and then regaining it for decades. He is the head of the family who is acknowledged to be the weakest among the eight.
“Welcome, Benik Benar. But what can we do? The master is out right now.”
Killian spoke softly. Even he, who spoke to the heads of the collateral families, was respectful to the Dark Spirits.
“I guess I came too early.”
A voice that sounded like scraping iron. If the listener wasn’t Killian, it would have sent shivers down his spine.
Benick hesitated as he reached for the missing bridge of his nose.
“It’s a scar I got recently, so I’m not used to it yet. Hehe.”
“… I see. It’s humid outside. Let’s come inside.”
Just as Killian was about to lead Benic into the mansion.
The footsteps of the two people suddenly stopped. This was because an incomprehensibly vast darkness was approaching.
The two slowly turned their heads back. Soon, a smile appeared on Killian’s face.
“Fortunately, our master is coming back at this very moment.”
“Is that a good thing? It seems like you still have some life in you.”
A figure crossing the wall of fog.
As the Siren approaches, the entire fog becomes filled with the smell of blood. How many monsters have she slaughtered on her way? The smell of blood is not diluted even by the fog.
“Welcome, Benic. It’s been a while.”
Siren, whose entire body except her face is covered in blood. Not a single drop of her own blood has been shed.
She gave a brief greeting to Benick with a blank expression on her face and passed them both by.
Thud thud.
Siren disappears into the mansion, leaving behind bloody footprints in her wake.
“… … .”
“… … .”
The two people who stayed behind couldn’t move for a while as they searched for traces she left behind.
