The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1163

Chapter 1163

 

As I took Heavenly Drive and Wooden Ring Sword that Dorian held out, my eyes slowly drifted shut.

Whoooosh!

Time stopped, and the world solidified. In this moment, it felt as though only I and these two swords existed.

‘A sword….’

When I entrusted Heavenly Drive and Wooden Ring Sword to Dorian and left the training ground, I did not think about swords or training.

No, even if such thoughts rose up, I forced them deep down into my heart. Because if I thought about swords even after coming outside, there would be no meaning in giving up training.

At first, no matter what I did, I couldn’t shut out thoughts about swords and training.

Even when I ate delicious food, watched people, or played with children, swords were always drifting in the deepest part of my mind.

Thinking it would be better to at least work rather than simply playing around, I dyed my hair and eyes black, dirtied my skin, and got a job at the largest general store in Zieghart.

Before a few days had even passed, I grew close to my coworkers, exchanged all sorts of small talk, and easily became familiar with the customers as well. What I learned about supplies from Dorian seemed to have helped a lot.

From the moment I adapted to the work at the general store, time began flowing extremely fast.

From morning until noon, I organized goods at the store, and in the afternoon, I wandered around here and there like an unemployed man.

As I continued this strange life, one that couldn’t quite be called ordinary, the swords and swordsmanship that flowed through my mind faded hazily like mist.

About ten days after being hired at the store, for the first time, other thoughts rose before thoughts about swords.

What food should I try changing up today with Wrath?

What fun story should I tell the children who come to the park?
Heavy supplies are coming to the store tomorrow, so should I go to work a little earlier?

As I researched ways to make delicious food even more delicious with Wrath, and took naps listening to the children’s laughter at the park, thoughts of swords and swordsmanship didn’t rise at all anymore.

The breathing of martial arts that I had honed all my life stopped, and silly thoughts, like a little kid wondering what to play tomorrow, ruled my head.

Isn’t this dangerous?

I became scared. Alarms of ominous danger rang repeatedly in my head.

A fear came that my swordsmanship realm, built until now, might collapse, and that I might fail my revenge.

Even so, I had to keep going.

I had already started walking a new path, and the path I could return to had collapsed long ago.

Fortunately, because a friend who had been with me all my life stayed by my side, I could erase the fear a little.

Pork and tomatoes are said to go really well together?

Wouldn’t it be fine to wrap fried fish not with basil, but with something like chicory?

Mint chocolate ice cream is the greatest food. Do not throw it away!

If you make beef into juice, couldn’t you drink it even while sleeping?

Dipping sauce or soaking it? The King of Essence prefers to just chomp it! Hurry and move that fork!
A sword? Speaking of swords, He’s craving a long silver-cutlass fish. Tasteless? That is because you haven’t gone to a place that cooks it well!

The King of Essence is still hungry!

Most of it was about eating. No, all of it was about eating, but still, having him next to me helped, in its own way. Probably.

As I played and ate with the glutton, worked, and built friendships with the residents of Zieghart whose faces I hadn't even known, I became increasingly immersed in this current life.

And then, the thoughts about swords that I had forcibly pressed down were swept away like the ebbing tide.

Now I didn’t need to try to avoid thinking of the sword. If I lived each day earnestly, the things about being a swordsman became blurry like a dream.

The fear of forgetting swords, swordsmanship, and revenge disappeared as well. I simply devoted myself to the life I had now.

And the moment I forgot the sword, and forgot the fear—

A new sword rose within me.

A sword of the heart, a sword of the soul.

The form of the Heart Sword, forged through my soul, became so clear it felt as though I could grasp it.

I had thought I had already solidified the framework of my Heart Sword. I believed that if I grew like this, I could complete an invincible Heart Sword like Glenn.

But I was wrong.

Just as Darkan wasted time acting like a clumsy beggar, I too was wasting time.

I had a life as a swordsman, but I did not have a life as a human.

Among joy, anger, sadness, and pleasure, I possessed only anger, so of course the sword forged from my soul was clumsy.

But after living, even for a short while, as an ordinary person, laughing and enjoying happiness through small conversations, feeling annoyance toward the arrogant son of the store owner, dreaming of marriage while watching an elderly couple over sixty walk while tightly holding hands, and even feeling a desire to have children as I watched kids listen to stories with sparkling eyes—

Only then did I realize.

I was not an incarnation of revenge bundled tightly by wrath.

I was not a sword, I was human.

An enlightenment without awakening or trance.

But I felt that I had changed more than at any other time in my life.

When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw Heavenly Drive crying as if in welcome.

The further I distanced myself from the sword, the closer my heart became.

A sword is not a divine relic for seeking truth, but a tool of killing. What matters is my heart.

I lifted my gaze and looked at Glenn, standing upon the platform.

He must have been worried while still believing in me, because a dark wrinkle had formed at the corner of his eye.

‘I should show grandfather as well.’

What I gained and returned with in these two months.

I drew Heavenly Drive from its scabbard. I felt it again, this sword held no will of its own.

What mattered was the heart of a human.

Raon lifted Heavenly Drive, wrapped in a will as small yet vivid as a seed sprouting in early winter.

A single line of sword path was drawn without a sound.

The downward strike he had repeated from the moment he first held a sword until now fell, wrapped in the heart of a human.

The moment the sword’s edge, which had reached the sky, tilted toward the ground—

Everyone standing in the training ground collapsed where they were, with a chilling sensation as if their hearts were sliced in half.

The thin and slender sword of the heart had now been honed to the point where mere will alone could kill an enemy.

“Uuugh….”

“Th-this is supposed to be swordsmanship?”

“I can’t breathe…”

The swordsmen whose aura was weak couldn’t withstand even the manifestation of the Heart Sword, and began foaming at the mouth.

Ironically, because he became a human, he obtained a sword that could cut humans.

Ssshhh.

He sheathed not Heavenly Drive, but the sword of his heart.

“This is…”

Receiving the horrified gazes of the swordsmen behind his back, he bowed his head to Glenn.

“This is the sword I have realized.”

*   *   *

“M-my heart is still attached properly, right?”

Krein clutched his chest, where something cold seemed to have passed through, and gasped for breath.

“I felt like my neck flew off…”

Dorian trembled, saying it wasn’t his heart but his neck that felt cut.

“H-Heart Sword? It’s completely different from before.”

Burren furrowed his brows, recalling Raon’s Heart Sword in the fifth training ground.

“Even though it wasn’t aimed at me, it was far more chilling than back then.”

He scrunched his eyes as if he didn’t even want to remember it.

“So this is the real Heart Sword!”

Martha rubbed her neck with both hands, baring her teeth in a grin.

“Real swordsmanship has no end! This is insane!”

Yet she squeezed her grip around her sword until it cracked, as though she wanted to continue walking this path no matter what.

“Hoo…”

Runaan, rare for her, opened her eyes wide and exhaled a breath tinged with frost.

“It felt… kind of sad….”

As if she had not only seen Raon’s sword but also felt his emotions, she bit her lip softly.

“Ahahahahaha!”

Aris grabbed her stomach and shook her head.

“I told you there’s never any need to worry about my nephew! Though I didn’t expect him to come back having changed this much!”

She smirked, saying Raon never failed to exceed expectations.

“It’s impressive, but…”

Balder pressed a hand to his chest that had felt that chilling sensation, frowning.

“When are you making my martial arts manual, huh!”

He sniffed, saying Raon felt further and further away.

“What do you think?”

The Sword Sovereign nudged the War King with her elbow.

“Thanks to training here, I thought I’d caught up to our lord, but doesn’t it feel like he's gotten even farther?”

She let out an empty laugh, as though she hadn’t expected such a result.

“The moment our lord picked up his sword, it was already over.”

The War King quietly shook his head.

“Now, he cannot be caught.”

He drew a faint smile with a cold expression, saying the distance between him and Raon had widened even more.

“…”

Karoon said nothing, simply gazing steadily at Raon standing beside him.

“I see. So you really are that type.”

He gave a composed smile, without any sign of being overwhelmed, even though he felt Raon’s change closest.

“Still, it seems manageable.”

*   *   *

After feeling Raon’s sword directly, Glenn swallowed dryly.

How can this be…

He advanced all the way there alone?

The Raon who had been in the training ground had not been able to break out of his eggshell.

With his feet trapped in distress, no matter how wildly he struggled inside, he could never get out.

Fortunately, with help from those around him, he overcame the distress, but because his enlightenment was shallow, he lacked far too much to advance to the next level.

That was why I didn’t instruct him.

I planned to let him rest for a while and ease his mind, then give him separate advice later, but I never imagined he would return after gaining enlightenment on his own like this.

This isn’t shallow enlightenment.

Raon had not merely cracked his shell, he had shattered the egg entirely and stepped outside. It would not be strange to say he had become an entirely different person.

Especially his emotions have changed greatly.

Raon’s emotions had always been faint, and he constantly gave off a dark atmosphere. I did not know the exact reason, but I could feel a strong sense of revenge toward Derus.

But now, he was drawing a smile more pure and lovely than other young men of his age. And it was not false, it was a smile of genuine happiness.

‘I thought it would take at least a year.’

The Raon who had trained fiercely in the training ground had been the spitting image of my own past, when I had pursued only strength.

A time when I punished those who opposed him, focused solely on my own might, and pushed away not only the house but even his family.

The time when I even rejected my own children to concentrate on strength had been my sin, and the worst moment of my life.

‘And the one who made me escape from that was that child.’

To think there isn't even time for me to give help.

Just as I came to understand the preciousness of family and escaped my distress, I had wanted to pass that realization on to Raon as well, but Raon had crossed that wall through his own strength alone.

I can’t believe it even after seeing it. How much faster is he than me?

It was a span of time that could not even be measured with numbers. Raon had now stepped to a level that could no longer be described with the words genius or monster.

I could no longer lower Raon’s level out of the clumsy desire to witness his growth from up close.

“Remarkable.”

Glenn raised both hands before his chest and applauded Raon.

“I never imagined you would achieve growth like this on your own. The you of now…”

He looked at Raon, standing calmly, and drew a pleased smile.

“…is worthy of being called an absolute being.”

 

Advance Chapters