Surviving as the Emperor's Assassin

Chapter 16. I Killed Someone.

“Got some nerve, mercenary friend. To spout such nonsense in front of me.”

Starting the first greeting with a compliment, it seemed this friend wasn't so bad-tempered either.

“Haven't seen your face around, haven't been in Dejong long?”

Sleeping Wolf scanned me, sizing me up.

“A few days?”

Surprisingly, it hadn't even been a week.

“Is that so? Then you might not know how dangerous it is to mess with Sleeping Wolf in these slums.”

“You're that great? You don't look it.”

Come to think of it, the nickname is quite humble too.

Shouldn't a sleeping animal you shouldn't disturb be at least a lion?

“Hmph. Why are kids these days so fearless?”

Sleeping Wolf let out a deep sigh and glared at me.

“You'll be dead soon anyway, but let's hear your name at least.”

A swaggering, threatening tone.

However, asking for a name instead of recklessly attacking meant he was using his head.

He seemed wary, leaving open the possibility that I might be a skilled fighter they couldn't handle.

“Ben.”

I answered lightly.

“Ben? Ben, huh. That name, I feel like I've heard it recently.”

Wrinkles formed between Sleeping Wolf's eyebrows.

A sycophant-looking organization member stuck right behind Sleeping Wolf whispered something in his ear.

“Ah, Green Ben. Why the hell are you wearing red clothes? It's confusing.”

Soon, the corners of Sleeping Wolf's mouth lifted.

He must have concluded I was an opponent they could handle themselves.

To think my name had already spread this far.

Well, they're the type to be weak against the strong and strong against the weak.

They'd probably put all their effort into gathering information to avoid picking a fight with someone strong, even by mistake.

Regarding mercenaries, just slipping a few coins to the Mercenary Guild would probably get them a ranked list.

So my personal information is being sold here too.

“The other one looks like a lackey. Think you two can handle this many?”

Sleeping Wolf, now more relaxed, sneered.

“Forget it. This one alone is more than enough.”

Just thugs from a mid-sized city.

If they had ability, there'd be no reason for them to be rolling around in a place like this.

They would have made a name for themselves as mercenaries or pulled off big jobs in the capital.

Dozens or hundreds of guys like these didn't mean much.

“Brother……!! Saying I alone am more than enough……! I will do my best not to disappoint you, Brother!”

Pol looked at me, seemingly moved.

He seemed to be misunderstanding, but there was no need to correct him.

“Tsk. Ignorance makes one brave, they say. Boys, rough him up moderately.”

Realizing conversation wasn't working, Sleeping Wolf ordered his members.

The organization members rushed forward.

Their actions were unmistakably those of thugs, but perhaps due to insufficient nutrition, they were generally small.

At least the leader, Sleeping Wolf, was quite burly, but that seemed more fat than muscle.

Compared to them, how was Luke's body?

The lines looked somewhat slender due to his height.

Looking closely, one could see it was packed solid with trained muscle.

It was obvious what the outcome would be when bodies seemingly needing rehabilitation clashed with an athlete-level physique.

If only their equipment was decent, but what could guys who, at best, had clubs and couldn't even afford common leather armor do?

“Try not to kill them if possible.”

I instructed Pol.

Even if they were criminals, killing those who didn't need to be killed would lead to bad dreams.

Pol nodded as if understanding.

“Oofcha.”

* * *

I slammed my fist into the face of a guy charging straight at me.

With the added momentum, his body spun in the air like in a cartoon.

The way he collapsed limply looked quite precarious.

‘He’s not dead, right?’

The body sprawled on the ground like a dead frog twitched.

Fortunately, he seemed to still be breathing.

“Hmm.”

Need to control my strength.

With one guy taken down so artistically, the momentum of the rest immediately faltered.

The sight of them flinching and hesitating to attack was far from the picture I wanted.

“Hyaa!”

Contrary to expectation, Pol performed his role perfectly, like a fish in water.

Charging exaggeratedly like a pro wrestler, the Sleeping Wolf members in his path collapsed chaotically.

The sight of two people flying from a single kick was quite impressive.

‘I can't lose either.’

I struck the guys coming at me.

This time, I used slightly less force, so the one hit managed to endure, stumbling back a bit.

To the guy making a 'Maybe I can take him?' face, another hit.

His body flew like newspaper caught in the wind and crashed into a flimsy shack.

The shack collapsed, and the body instantly disappeared into the debris.

If he hit something wrong, he might be dead.

‘Damn it.’

Slightly less force, and they're fine; slightly more force, and they die.

It required delicate control, like adjusting the water temperature in the shower.

“……”

While the organization members fell like autumn leaves, the supposed leader of the organization just stood there dumbly.

“What? You're not attacking?”

I deliberately stomped my feet and charged.

Sleeping Wolf's face turned white.

Finding his expression amusing, I drew my sword.

“St-Stop him!!”

Seeing a person who easily beat up his members barehanded now chasing him with a sword, Sleeping Wolf completely lost his fighting spirit.

The organization members disobeyed Sleeping Wolf's command and split left and right.

As expected of a criminal group, they had no loyalty.

What bound the organization was only fear of the leader.

In other words, facing someone more fearsome than the leader, betraying him faster than anyone else was a natural phenomenon.

“Talk, let's resolve this through talk! There must be a reason you came here!”

Sleeping Wolf, backing up until he hit a wall, hastily gathered his words.

“Does this look like a situation for negotiation?”

I clicked my tongue lightly.

If you're going to bow, bow properly; what's this half-hearted act?

Understanding my meaning, Sleeping Wolf raised both hands high above his head, signaling surrender.

“What do you want?! Just name anything!”

“Don't be so tense. Makes it seem like I'm threatening you or something.”

I casually slid the sword back into its sheath.

“First, let's go somewhere quiet. Somewhere out of people's sight.”

At my words, Sleeping Wolf nodded, trembling.

* * *

“No one will come here.”

Sleeping Wolf, thoroughly schooled in manners, bowed his head deeply.

A fairly large building.

Inside, the ground had been dug out to expand the space, making it even larger than it appeared from the outside.

In size alone, it was bigger than the Mercenary Guild building.

I slowly looked around.

The building's structure itself was a mess, but the interior was richly decorated.

There were quite a few luxurious items unsuitable for the slums, indicating these guys had earned considerable money through illegal means.

Pol was sniffing around here and there like a dog out for a walk.

“Told your subordinates not to approach either, right?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Sleeping Wolf nodded eagerly.

Excellent.

What happens here from now on must remain a secret between the three of us.

“Got paper and pen?”

A fairly large-scale organization.

To run efficiently, records would be essential.

“Here it is!”

In less than a minute, Sleeping Wolf brought paper and pen and offered them.

“Thanks. Mind if I use the desk?”

The materials were ready.

I sat at the desk and began writing on the paper.

“What are you writing?”

Sleeping Wolf was clearly curious about what I was writing.

“Swordsmanship.”

Since there was no need to hide it from this guy, I answered.

A part of the Celestial Sword.

Transcribing the swordsmanship I could currently use into words.

I considered adding illustrations, but with my drawing skills, it would be worse than useless, so I quickly gave up.

Even though my body knew it, expressing it in words was difficult.

It was the agony of creation, something I had never experienced before.

“Pardon?”

Even after hearing my answer, Sleeping Wolf tilted his head strangely, as if unable to understand.

“Need physical evidence.”

And, if things unfolded according to my plan, this could also become a 'justification' for me to openly use swordsmanship in the future.

“What does that mean……”

Sleeping Wolf gaped.

“Hey, Sleeping Wolf. Bit inconvenient to call you that, what's your real name?”

“……It's Joshua.”

Sleeping Wolf answered hesitantly.

“Doesn't suit you.”

The sound of the name didn't quite connect with that menacing face.

“……”

Joshua calmly lowered his gaze, as if he knew I would react this way.

There was a reason for his attachment to the nickname.

“Joshua. Ever killed anyone?”

I moved my hand busily.

Just writing what I knew resulted in too little volume, so I added various embellishments here and there.

Despite diligently increasing the volume, it only amounted to a few pages.

Quite insufficient.

Will this be okay?

“……Yes.”

Joshua answered, watching my expression.

So he was a murderer after all.

In a world like this, running a back-alley force, it would be stranger if he hadn't killed at least one person.

“How many?”

I spread the papers on the desk and fanned them with my hand to dry the ink quickly.

“……Personally killed, about three.”

Joshua answered after thinking for a moment.

Three.

Fewer than I thought.

“What kind of people were they? Tell me honestly.”

The ink dried instantly.

I stacked the papers describing the Celestial Sword, placed a cover sheet on top, then punched holes at regular intervals along one edge.

Using a string found lying nearby, I bound them through the holes, making it look somewhat like a book.

With this, the proof that Joshua learned swordsmanship was complete.

Having finished my task, I focused on Joshua's story.

“Killed the boss of the organization that previously ruled here……”

That guy probably deserved to die too.

This one was ambiguous.

“A woman who ran away without repaying her debt……”

Killed for not repaying a debt.

An excessive act, but by the morals of this town, it could be seen as natural.

“And, one brat who wouldn't follow orders. Those three.”

As I continued nodding, Joshua's voice gradually grew more confident.

“What did you order?”

I looked up at Joshua.

“It's a basic thing to do when joining the organization. Extorting some money from the surrounding residents and such……”

Joshua even chuckled slightly as he answered.

“How old was he?”

“11 years old…… I believe.”

A reaction suggesting he didn't even remember well.

“Yeah. That was too much.”

Forcing an 11-year-old child into crime, then killing him for refusing.

He might argue it was an unavoidable action to maintain organizational discipline or whatever.

“The crime is severe.”

A crime deserving death.

It should be okay to kill someone like this.

“I-I was wrong! Please just spare my life!”

Joshua prostrated himself and begged.

“Sorry, but for me to live, someone has to die. Saving you is kinda difficult.”

“Then the story just now was……”

Joshua's voice trembled.

“No matter how necessary the killing, killing a good person does make me feel guilty. Killing you probably won't hurt my conscience. Thanks.”

As a modern person, I naturally had a strong aversion to murder.

“You bastard, you tricked me……!!”

I grabbed Joshua as he screamed and charged, then slammed him onto the floor.

He looked too unharmed right now, which wasn't natural.

Clothes needed to be torn a bit, maybe some abrasions.

“Keok-!!”

I rolled Joshua's body on the floor.

A few rounds of Joshua's meaningless resistance and my light responses.

Finally, I picked up the sword.

“You son of a……!”

Joshua spat out some curse at the end, but there was no reason to listen.

Puk.

The sword cleanly pierced Joshua's chest.

Blood gurgled and overflowed.

Joshua's struggling movements ceased.

It was a monumental first kill.