Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Getting Misunderstood
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The next day, the day of the martial arts tournament preliminaries.
Krash swept a hand over his face, looking more exhausted than ever.
"You're really getting it good, aren't you?"
He couldn't even muster a response to Crimson Garden's cackling laughter from beside him.
It had started from yesterday and gone all the way through this morning.
Krash had been utterly tormented by Cecily.
'This is why I hate geniuses.'
Especially the brainy ones.
Every word out of her mouth sucked up information like a sponge, leaving him drained from arguing with her nonstop.
Right now, all he wanted was to wrap up this tournament and head home.
Stick around any longer, and he might give away that he was a Valheim.
"Now's the time!"
At that shout, a boy swung a club at him from behind.
Making noise during a sneak attack? Way too green.
Krash didn't even draw his sword. He just raised his arm and uppercut the leaping examinee's jaw.
"Gah!?"
The kid tumbled across the ground with a scream.
Krash mercilessly stomped his gut, and the boy's eyes rolled back as he passed out.
"Whoa, how many is that now?"
"That squinting monster..."
"And what's with that crow? It stays glued to his shoulder no matter how he moves."
Krash turned at the voices, and those who'd met his eyes flinched back.
"Scary. Gotta be from the underworld."
"Did you see him finish that guy off? Don't want any of that splashing our way."
This was the preliminary exam grounds.
The twist this time: a massive brawl.
Groups of a hundred, and only the top four advanced.
In the chaos, Krash had so much leeway he was lost in thought.
His hard work hadn't been for nothing—he ruled this place like a king.
'Strongest among the fifteen-and-under? How strong could they really be?'
Hardly anyone his age could match him.
Especially since all the real prospects for Raheln Academy were long gone.
'Fox ruling where the tiger's absent.'
Krash assessed himself without a shred of arrogance.
Having seen true geniuses, he had the clearest view of his own abilities.
"Kyahahaha! Why you standing around like idiots? You're all dead!"
"Gaaah! Run!"
"It's a monster!"
Of course, a few stood out.
Like that musclebound hog charging around like a raging buffalo over there.
His massive frame didn't look a day under fifteen. No one could block his bull rushes.
And that wasn't all.
The aura cloaking his body shifted with precise control.
'That guy's probably...'
One of the guys who'd entered Raheln Academy via this tournament, he recalled.
Unfortunately, the name escaped him.
Even if Krash was treated like half-baked, he was still a Valheim.
He rarely crossed paths with commoners.
"Kyahahaha!"
But that laugh was getting annoying.
Infusing aura into his voice, maybe? It grated on Krash's ears. He glanced over, and their eyes met.
The hog's eyes flashed wide.
"Oh ho, what're you looking at?!"
His next words made Krash's eyebrow twitch.
"I'm looking at you, you pig bastard."
Krash didn't hold back the taunt.
A vein bulged on the hog's forehead.
"Pig? Piiig?! Who's a pig?!"
He immediately charged at Krash like a human cannonball.
That hulking body barreling forward was intimidating, sure.
But only by human standards.
In the World Erosion, even giants were just small fry.
Proof? Krash stood there watching until the guy was right in his face.
"Die!"
The hog lowered his shoulder to ram Krash flying—
Booom!
Dust exploded under his feet as he halted abruptly.
Krash's outstretched hand pressing down on his head had stopped him cold.
The hog blinked in shock.
Up close, his eyes looked surprisingly innocent. Krash smiled slowly.
"Strength your specialty?"
His fist clenched—
Crack!
The hog's face crumpled under the punch.
Thud! Crash!
He flew into the air and rolled across the ground.
Face smashed, front teeth gone, eyes rolled back—no consciousness left.
Krash had driven Inch Strength right in.
Whoosh—
The arena fell deathly silent for a moment.
The kids stared wide-eyed, flicking between Krash and the hog.
Hard to believe tiny Krash had one-shotted that behemoth.
Krash scowled at their stares.
"Show's over?"
The kids snapped back to fighting each other.
No one dared touch Krash now.
Touch him, and you're out—they figured.
"Puhahaha! Masterpiece."
From behind, roaring laughter erupted.
A man with his face wrapped in black bandages stood there.
Tall for his growth spurt age, he grinned at Krash through the gaps.
"What's so funny?"
Krash bristled—unless it was someone he favored, he was prickly.
But even after seeing Krash's display, the guy showed no fear.
"How could I not laugh? A fun guy's shown up. You, right? The one sent by the Night Raven assassin clan this time."
Krash blinked. What nonsense was this?
'Night Raven—the most dangerous outfit in the Empire's underworld.'
Had they entered anyone in this tournament?
Even Krash couldn't track every detail in the Empire.
'But I've never heard of Night Raven at Raheln Academy.'
The Empire wouldn't let lunatics like that in.
But Krash knew one wildcard in the Empire.
'Sigrin Epania.'
That damned Third Princess, who'd inherited memories from the same loop.
A chill ran down his spine.
Whatever she was scheming in the Empire's underbelly...
The Empire's fall had ties to that world, after all.
"No idea what you're misunderstanding, but..."
"No use playing dumb. That crow on your shoulder's proof."
The crow as proof?
Krash glanced at Crimson Garden.
Figures—this guy was causing the mix-up.
"Plus, that shady vibe you're giving off screams underworld."
Darling's transformation potion had amplified the suspicion, even visually.
"Don't worry. Not here to hassle you guys. Your backers alone would scare off anyone else anyway."
He smirked.
"Fellow underworld types—let's get along."
He waved and sauntered off after that.
Krash stared after him, deep in thought.
'Talent from the Night Raven, huh.'
Whoever it was.
'Definitely feels like messy variables incoming.'
In the worst way possible.
'Guess I need to check it out.'
Preliminaries over, Krash proudly claimed one of the top four spots in his group.
No one had dared challenge him after he demolished the hog.
Barely any stamina spent.
Now, he was tailing someone.
The bandaged guy from earlier.
'Gotta be tied to the underbelly.'
Krash had never set foot in the Empire's underworld.
Just bits of hearsay—no clue how they really operated.
Not like he, an outsider, could know everything about the Empire.
So he'd decided to shadow him and find out.
"Do you really need to go through all this hassle?"
As Krash hugged the alley walls,
Crimson Garden spoke up out of nowhere.
"Hassle?"
"Stuff like tailing people."
Krash blinked.
What else was there?
"Tsk tsk. You only know how to learn from me, not how to use me properly. What a worthless disciple."
With that, Crimson Garden spread her wings and took flight.
She soared up, then landed smack in front of the bandaged guy.
"Whoa, a crow?"
He froze, startled in the alley.
His shoulders twitched violently.
By the time Krash caught up, he stood there dazed.
"What'd you do?"
"Light mind-control spell. He'll answer anything now."
Krash knew she was versatile, but this?
Made tailing pointless, sure.
"Hey, bandage-head."
The guy blankly turned to Krash.
Krash fired off the question.
"What's the deal with the Night Raven?"
"The Night Raven was nearly wiped out recently."
The words tumbled out: Night Raven on the brink of annihilation.
"Wiped out? Didn't they enter the tournament?"
"It was the new master's orders—crush them and claim them."
Night Raven's master? Krash probed, puzzled.
"Sigrin Epania?"
Only she seemed the type.
"No."
Wrong answer.
"No?"
"Yeah. The one who crushed and took the Night Raven is the Second Prince."
Krash frowned.
'Second Prince with the Night Raven?'
Even more baffling.
The Second Prince had long been devoured by the First, reduced to a puppet.
Didn't make sense.
'And to begin with...'
Krash knew the Night Raven's secret.
'Their real backer was always the Imperial Family.'
The Night Raven, jokingly called an assassin dynasty.
Underworld origins, yet elite killers worthy of the name.
What did that mean?
'They handle the Empire's dirty work.'
Assassination specialists.
They took fat commissions from all sides.
Signature trait: something crow-related.
Rumors spread so wide that crow emblems meant safety in alleys.
'The Imperial Family exploited that.'
They monitored which nobles used the Night Raven to check each other.
Cleverly balancing noble power through them.
This stayed secret until the Empire's fall.
No one outside the Family knew.
So a Second Prince takeover? Nonsense.
The true owners were the Imperial Family.
And even before that—an even bigger issue.
'Night Raven wiped out, fine. But how does a street thug know about Imperial involvement?'
Too many red flags.
'Wait.'
Something clicked in Krash's mind.
'Sigrin. That bitch's doing.'
He scowled.
'She's crushing the Second Prince early to weaken the First's faction. This rumor was planted on purpose.'
His brain raced.
This smelled like deliberate disinformation.
Second Prince swallows Night Raven, plots something big.
'Second Prince walked right into Sigrin's trap.'
She baited him into taking the Night Raven poison pill.
Still eyeing the throne, he'd blabbed to boost his power once it was known.
Sigrin fanned the flames from the shadows.
Enough for this thug to hear.
Krash mulled it over.
'Trap to snag the Second Prince, got it.'
But what then?
Night Raven specialty: assassination.
So, Second Prince uses them to kill someone...
'Sigrin knows the First Prince well, though.'
He's no pushover.
Even puppeteering the Second, Night Raven couldn't touch the First.
'So, manipulate Second to assassinate someone else.'
Who?
Krash pondered, then slowly raised his head.
"Shit."
His eyes narrowed.
He'd figured out Sigrin's assassination target via the Second Prince.
'Cecily Epania.'
The Fourth Princess.