The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1209

 Chapter 1209

 

“Huh…?”

Charlie’s eyes widened as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

“T-taking someone’s tower? What are you talking about? No one has ever done something like that!”

He let out a loud cry, as if asking why such nonsense was being said.

“No one’s done it?”

Raon tilted his head, looking at Charlie.

“Why not? Wasn’t fighting over towers the obvious thing?”

In a land steeped in nothing but vile desire, the idea of not coveting someone else’s tower felt even more baffling.

“Well, th-that is…”

Charlie swallowed hard, about to explain—

“The reason is simple.”

The priest Srude stepped forward and raised his index finger. Even that gesture looked uncannily similar to Derus.

“They don’t want to lose what they already have.”

He shrugged, as if asking whether Raon already knew that.

“They don’t want to lose it?”

Raon let out a hollow laugh.

“You mean to tell me these fiends, who came all the way here to fulfill their filthy desires, won't fight to the death because they're afraid of losing what they have?”

It made no sense to him, and he frowned deeply as he looked at Srude.

“As you said, believer, in the beginning, people did wager their towers in duels.”

Srude nodded calmly, as if acknowledging Raon’s point.

“Because the tower masters had poured deep, dense desires into their towers, the victor gained an enormous amount. On the other hand, the loser lost everything and, in an instant, fell from a position of power to the very bottom in an instant. After witnessing such miserable and empty endings, the duels for towers became fewer and fewer, until now, no one attempted them.”

He twisted his lips into a sneer, as though mocking the sheer number of cowards.

“So once they have a tower, they don’t even attempt duels anymore?”

Raon lowered his brows slightly, pressing for an answer.

“No. That’s not it.”

Charlie shook his head calmly.

“They fight duels every day. They just don’t put their towers, their entire existence, on the line.”

He curled his lips upward, explaining that instead of risking their towers, they wager only small amounts of desire, slowly raising their towers bit by bit.

Hah….

Wrath scrunched his nose in disbelief.

They’ve given up fighting and are just sucking blood like mosquitoes!

He sneered, saying that humans like that were exactly why this heaven had been created.

“I—I actually understand them.”

Charlie took a short breath.

“A tower master is a noble of this heaven. If you win, you become an even greater noble. But if you lose? You don’t just fall to being a commoner, you end up worse than a beggar. At that point, it feels safer not to risk it at all.”

He pressed his lips together, saying that even if he were a tower master himself, he wouldn’t stake his entire tower in a duel.

“Especially since many of them failed to achieve anything in the outside world before becoming nobles here. Of course they’d want to protect the status and power they barely managed to obtain. It’s only natural.”

“And that’s exactly why you’re stuck in this sorry state.”

Raon clicked his tongue as he looked at Charlie.

“This place is built so that as long as you don’t give up, you can keep challenging yourself endlessly. But the moment it gets painful or difficult, you throw everything away. Of course there’s no progress.”

Derus Robert had designed this heaven to drain every last fragment of human desire, squeezing it out like water from a dry rag.

The ban on murder and the existence of desire-based duels were all part of that design, measures meant to extract desire without leaving even a trace behind.

Yet people failed to understand that structure. Even here, they continued living like losers, just as they had outside. The sight was both pitiful and frustrating, as if they were steeped in failure.

“…Hmm.”

Charlie lowered his head, sighing as if he had nothing to say.

“Y-you’re right. I wasn’t like this when I first came here either…”

At some point, he too had given up on challenging himself and started choosing only the easy path. He clutched at his own hair in frustration.

“Ahahahaha!”

The priest Srude clapped his hands and burst into laughter.

“Impressive! Truly impressive!”

He nodded, saying he hadn’t expected someone who’d arrived so recently to speak like this.

“Or perhaps that’s exactly why. You’re still new here, you haven’t yet been shaped by this place’s bad influence.”

Srude looked genuinely pleased with Raon, unable to suppress his delighted laughter.

“Stop talking nonsense. It’s not something you could actually do anyway.”

Raon frowned at Srude.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

Srude raised his index finger again and stared at Raon with deep, piercing eyes.

“Do you truly intend to fight a duel by staking your tower, even if it means losing everything?”

His eyes flashed sharply as he asked in earnest.

“Of course.”

Raon nodded without the slightest hesitation.

“Even if I lose and have nothing left, I’ll start again from the bottom.”

Even if all his desire were taken, he would rise immediately and take on a new challenge. He clenched his fist.

“How fascinating.”

Srude bowed his head, his shoulders trembling.

“Very well.”

“What’s ‘very well’ about this?”

Raon straightened his back and frowned as he looked at the smiling Priest Srude. Every time he saw that man, Derus Robert came to mind, so he used this moment to openly vent his irritation.

“I’ll notarize it.”

Srude raised his hand and tapped his chest.

“From now on, anyone who challenges you to a duel with their tower at stake will receive double the reward upon victory. Naturally, the same applies to you.”

He nodded, explaining that while the risk remains exactly the same, the gains from such tower-staked duels would be doubled.

“D-double?”

Charlie stared wide-eyed, as if he had never even imagined such a thing.

“That should do it.”

Raon nodded heavily as he looked at Srude.

Double…

Wrath narrowed his eyes, muttering to himself.

Is he testing you?

‘No.’

Raon shook his head firmly.

‘He suspected me at first, but I deceived him completely when I offered up my desire. He genuinely likes me.’

Why?

‘Because I can fix this stagnant heaven.’

Raon twisted his lips as he looked at the towers.

Fix?

‘Yeah. The only way to gather more desire is for people who hoard it to clash repeatedly, staking everything they have. But now that they’ve gotten stronger, they just sit still, obsessed with protecting themselves. It must be frustrating for him.’

Derus must have designed this system expecting people to fight for even greater power once they gained strength. But contrary to his expectations, the humans here were too steeped in defeatism.

Those who had barely succeeded were obsessed only with self-preservation, so even if he didn’t say it out loud, frustration must have been boiling inside him.

So when I offered to resolve that stagnation in his place, it was only natural that he welcomed me like a benefactor and offered extra rewards.

“However, this condition will apply only when a duel is fought by staking towers, not desire. If you win, twice the tower your opponent has built will be added on top of your own tower.”

Srude smiled brightly, saying it would be very entertaining.

“That’s enough.”

Raon extended his hand, indicating that he wanted nothing more than that.

“Then when will you begin?”

Srude clasped his hands politely, saying he would prepare to announce it accordingly.

“That’s a stupid question.”

Raon shot an irritated glare at Priest Srude, who was wearing the same friendly smile as Derus Robert.

“Right now.”

*   *   *

Night fell over the temple after Raon left.

“You’ve brought back something very interesting.”

Priest Srude turned around, revealing a cold gaze.

“Yes. He was too intriguing to leave in the Land of Clouds.”

Baif bowed deeply before him.

“By the way, did you examine him?”

He narrowed his eyes, as if that were what he was most curious about.

“Because of what you told me, I examined him thoroughly. He’s nothing more than a wretch who believes he’s lived a tragically miserable life.”

Priest Srude nodded, recalling the pitiful image Jilpen had shown him.

“Just as I thought.”

Baif let out a short sigh of relief.

“What, did Karifen provoke you or something?”

Priest Srude let out a cold chuckle, as if he already understood the source of Baif’s concern.

“No. I simply wanted to make sure.”

Baif shook his head vigorously, saying he just wanted to be careful for the sake of this Heaven.

“That Jilpen fellow is like a frog that only looks upward. All he does is jump and jump again.”

Priest Srude waved his hand dismissively, indicating there was no need to think too deeply about him.

“Still, thanks to that frog, it seems this heaven is about to undergo a major change.”

He let out a deep smile, saying that both the quality and quantity of desire produced here would likely double from now on.

“Indeed. If the reward for tower-staked duels is doubled, no one will be able to resist challenging him!”

Baif smacked his lips, remarking that no matter how obsessed those vermin were with self-preservation, that reward would be impossible to ignore.

“He will be pleased as well. Not just desire, but….”

When Priest Srude spoke of him, his eyes lost focus slightly, as if he were gazing upon a higher being.

“There will be more shadows as well.”

*   *   *

“How annoying!”

Raon lay sprawled among the bushes, his brow tightly furrowed.

“Making me wait an entire day, this Heaven sure handles things damn slowly!”

Priest Srude had asked him to wait one day before officially starting the tower-staked duels.

Actually, the processing wasn't slow, but he took the opportunity to curse freely at Srude, Derus’s avatar, and scrunched his nose in irritation.

“Um… excuse me….”

Charlie swallowed dryly and approached Raon’s side.

“Are you really going to do it? If you lose, you’ll lose everything.”

He frowned, saying that if Raon were defeated, all the desire he possessed would be taken away in that very moment, dropping him to the lowest rank.

“If I don’t, when do you think I’ll ever finish building that tower? Stealing desire from fledglings won’t get me anywhere, no matter how many years pass, I’ll never reach that sky.”

Raon raised a finger and pointed toward the blackened sky of heaven.

‘That place can’t be reached by ordinary means anyway.’

It might look close, but no amount of ordinary desire duels would ever reach that sky.

The only way to generate results significant and visible enough to draw the attention of an archangel was to fight duels with towers at stake.

“Y-you really have nerves of steel, Sir Jilpen. It’s like your guts are so swollen they’re about to burst.”

Charlie shook his head, saying that if it were him, he would never fight a duel and would simply enjoy life as a tower master.

“That kind of life is meaningless.”

Raon clicked his tongue sharply.

“It’s worse than a house cat that grew up eating feed in the Land of Clouds.”

He sneered, saying that rather than live such a wretched life, he would rather die.

“Th-that’s….”

Charlie opened his mouth, then closed it again.

“You’re right. It really is a wretched life.”

He bit his lip, as if realizing that what he had wanted all along was nothing more than a sandcastle.

‘This one, too….’

Raon gave a faint smile as he watched Charlie reflect on himself.

‘He’s usable.’

Seeing Charlie continue to gain moments of inner realization even now, Raon judged that although he was rather timid, Charlie was a usable talent in his own way.

“But then why are you sleeping out here, Sir Jilpen?”

Charlie tilted his head in confusion.

“You’ve gained new desire, couldn’t you go back to the lodging and sleep there?”

He blinked, pointing out the desire Raon had gained from the duel upon leaving the temple.

“It’d be a waste.”

Raon replied immediately.

“With the desire I have now, I can build the Tower one more level higher.”

He smacked his lips, saying he was saving it to build the tower higher.

“Ah….”

Charlie gaped in disbelief.

“W-wait. Then why do you spend so much money on food?”

He blinked again, clearly unable to understand.

“You need to eat to fight.”

Raon frowned, as if asking why that even needed to be said.

‘Actually, I want to save on food too, but….’

Absolutely not!

With a Demon King that obsessed with eating picking a fight, there was no way I could cut back on food.

‘And it could raise suspicion.’

Back in the Land of Clouds, I had always eaten excessively. If I suddenly changed my diet now, it could draw unwanted attention. There was no choice but to keep eating large amounts of food.

Hmph!

Wrath snorted and shook his head.

One day you’ll thank the King of Essence. Once you—

‘Wait.’

Raon raised his hand and shut Wrath up.

‘It’s finally here.’

Huh? What’s finally here?

Wrath tilted his head, confused.

‘The reply to the message I sent when we arrived.’

Raon curled his lips as he looked at the gently rustling bushes.

‘It’s Evelyn.’

 

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