Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: The Assassin's Resolve
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“What do you mean by that?”
“Your hands. Both hands have symmetrical calluses. It’s not easy to develop symmetrical calluses unless you’re using dual swords.”
“…….”
“Moreover, the calluses near your pinky are thicker than those between your thumb and index finger. That means you’re accustomed to gripping your sword in reverse.”
What did that imply?
Obviously, short swords rather than a longsword.
Dual short swords—daggers, in other words.
Few wielded swords like that.
It was a weapon more common among assassins than knights.
“You have sharp eyes. But to say I’m an assassin based on that alone… that’s quite the leap.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“You’re right, it is a leap.”
“I was just joking around, but you’re taking it too seriously.”
Kallias laughed heartily, but Pedro’s face grew paler by the second.
“Pedro.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t like the Church.”
“Yes? But you’re a Heretic Inquisitor…”
He didn’t like the Church.
“That’s exactly what I mean. Carpe is where I was born and raised, but I’ve never been fond of the Church. Ironically, though, I do love the sword.”
“What are you trying to say…?”
Pedro couldn’t grasp what he was getting at.
“Pedro.”
“Yes.”
“Carpe is rotting away right now. The nation isn’t functioning. Starving people are everywhere, and far too many meet meaningless deaths. I want to wield my sword with purpose.”
“…….”
“I’ll change Carpe. I’ll change the Church. But I’m still too weak. There’s a limit to what one man’s strength can achieve. Power is different.”
“You’re going to build a force?”
“I’m already doing it, bit by bit. Not just Flora—I’ll sponsor many more children. They’ll grow up to become knights under my command. All for Carpe.”
“And what will that accomplish…?”
“You’re stating the obvious.”
Kallias sighed, then glared at Pedro.
“I’m going to destroy the Empire.”
Gulp.
Pedro swallowed involuntarily.
“The Empire…”
“I can do it. But first, I need to cut away the rotten roots.”
“Why tell a mere soldier like me?”
“Don’t you get it?”
Kallias smirked, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and stood.
“Think it over. If you still don’t understand, come find me.”
* * *
‘He already knew everything.’
Pedro wandered the streets in despair.
Even the familiar commute home after years felt strangely new.
Had there always been flowers here?
New shops had opened, new faces appeared.
But none of it mattered to him.
Irrelevant. Utterly irrelevant.
His colorless eyes roamed the streets.
“Daddy!”
Color returned.
It was Flora.
“Daddy? What are you doing here? Let’s go home!”
“…Alright.”
Her lark-like chatter with her friends turned to swords and knights.
Pedro quietly listened to his daughter.
They arrived home, set the table together, ate, and washed up.
Night deepened, and the child fell asleep.
“Goodnight, Daddy~ Yawn.”
“Sleep well.”
He brushed back the hair of his daughter, collapsed in bed, and pulled the blanket over her.
Closing the door behind him, the forced smile faded from his lips.
His eyes lost their color once more.
Click.
Pedro retrieved a box hidden in a groove behind the living room frame.
Clack.
Inside the box lay two curved daggers.
The grips were well-worn.
His dulled eyes regained their gleam.
Not a father’s eyes, but an assassin’s.
Creak.
Pat pat pat.
Emerging into the backyard, assassins in black masks and garb awaited him as if expected.
They were already in agreement.
He could turn back, return to the home with his child.
But Pedro clamped his mouth shut and didn’t turn.
His jaws clenched, cheeks bulging.
The daggers gripped in reverse trembled slightly.
“Are we going?”
The trembling stopped.
No words were needed.
A nod sufficed to set them in motion.
Whoosh.
His view shifted in an instant.
Past buildings and woods.
A villa nestled in the mountains.
The iron gate was locked tight, but it posed no issue.
Pat pat.
He leaped over, landing inside the estate in one bound.
Silence.
Positions already secured.
He entered the target’s room.
Flinch.
The target sat on the bed’s edge, sword resting on his shoulder.
“This villa suits me well. So I’d appreciate it if you’d take this outside.”
The target spoke with eyes closed.
At the sight of Kallias, two assassins drew their swords and swung.
Two blades thrust from both sides.
“Hah.”
But with a short sigh.
With a single draw from its sheath, he neutralized them both.
Clang clang-!
“Urk!”
“Guh!”
He’d merely struck their swords, yet the assassins shuddered as if struck full-body and collapsed.
Paralyzed.
“Let’s go.”
Whoosh.
The assassins pursued Kallias as he leaped out the window.
How far did they run?
Kallias halted in a clearing midway up an unnamed mountain, bathed in moonlight, exhaling white breath.
“The moon’s nice. So quiet.”
He sheathed the sword in its scabbard into thin air and drew a new one.
A sword without a sheath.
A balanced broadsword, sturdy-looking.
Assassins versus Kallias.
No words passed between them.
The moment he fully drew his sword, three assassins charged.
But the result was the same.
The charging assassins lost limbs in one exchange.
And heads in the second.
Slash.
Kallias shook the blood from his blade, gazing coldly.
Eyes devoid of emotion.
Eyes that simply performed necessary tasks calmly.
‘He’s like us.’
Eyes akin to those who made killing their trade.
Lost in that thought, he realized he was the last assassin left.
As if a barrier surrounded him, none had even brushed Kallias’s clothes before dying.
He hadn’t moved a step from his spot, slaughtering them all.
Blood pooled everywhere.
Rumble.
Thunder cracked the sky.
Clouds veiled the moon.
With even that light gone, visibility dropped to zero.
That was the signal.
Shoooo—
Mist rose from the assassin’s dual blades.
The pure white fog instantly enveloped the area, shrouding target and self.
Pat pat pat!
Keeeng! Kigeek! Kaang-!
In the thick fog, clashing blades sparked, revealing each other briefly.
Thrust, block, slash.
Fierce exchanges continued.
Whirl.
He tossed one dagger into the air, attacked with the other, flipped midair, and kicked the spinning dagger.
Whirl, clang!
Kallias blocked even that, but Pedro snatched the stray dagger and flowed seamlessly into the next attack.
Two reverse-gripped daggers plunged from above.
Splurt—Boom!!
The fog rippled.
A level beyond the previous assassins.
Kallias, stepping back once, furrowed his brow.
“Insolent…”
Thud-!
The fog settled instantly; the assassin’s movement hitched.
Oppressive pressure filled the area.
Legs quaked, body weighed tons.
Yet the assassin moved.
He yanked the dagger from the ground and clashed again.
Clang! Paak! Crack!!
Slice.
“Urk.”
Manageable before the sword’s power fully unleashed, but hopeless after.
The subtle pressure restricted movement; each new scratch made his body heavier, like waterlogged cotton.
Roaring, he fell but rose to charge again.
Yet each time, it felt like wading through water. The fog from dual blades had long dissipated.
Keeing, clang!
Crash!
“Grr!!”
Second fall. Third. He rose again.
But rising only made his body heavier, like lead.
Still, the assassin kept rising.
Rumble boom!!
Drip, drip.
Pour.
Clouds hid the moon, then lightning rained down as expected.
The downpour from the pierced sky weighed his heavy body further.
“Pedro. Do you want to live?”
“I won’t beg for my life.”
The assassin wrenched his daggers from the wet earth and barely stood.
Legs trembled; the arm raising his sword shook.
Yet he bared his teeth and charged Kallias.
Clang thwack!
Thud-!
Kicked, the assassin sprawled in the rain.
Thinking he wouldn’t rise, Kallias frowned at the man standing again.
“Give up.”
“For me, giving up is death. Stop me? Then kill me!!”
“What about Flora?”
Flinch.
A father’s eyes flashed in the assassin’s, but only briefly.
“I’ve lived as an assassin my whole life. When ordered to kill, I killed targets. That’s how I must live. It’s courtesy and atonement to them.”
Kallias, listening quietly, clicked his tongue.
“If they order Flora’s death, will you kill her yourself?”
“…….”
“You can’t even kill your own child, yet call yourself an assassin.”
“Please. Kill me. Or die.”
Rumble!
Amid pouring rain and thunder, the assassin’s face appeared and vanished.
“If you die, I can’t save Flora. I’ll kill her myself.”
“…….”
“If I kill you, someday that child’s blade will turn on me. No secret stays perfect forever. One day, the girl’s sword—sharper than any—will aim at me. So I have no choice but to kill you before then.”
Better to shatter an uncontrollable blade.
“I’ll ask once more. Do you want to live?”
“…….”
Thwack!!
“Guh!”
Kicked again, the assassin rolled on the ground.
Irritation crept onto Kallias’s face.
He’d expected difficulty, but not this stubborn.
“Say you want to live! For your daughter! For her future, bow to me!! Do that, and I’ll spare you!”
The assassin’s eyes wavered.
But steadied soon after.
With firmer resolve, he looked up at Kallias.
“There’s no guarantee my sword won’t turn on you again. A blade turned once… can it not twice?”
“…….”
“Kill me. She’s clever. She was a tool for disguise. If I die like this, that was her fate.”
“At least when you proudly spoke of your daughter to me… that was genuine.”
“It was a lie. To an assassin, blood ties are mere tools.”
Kallias drew a new sword.
A blade with graceful lines, even in this dark, damp sky.
Judgment Sword—Mida.
“Is it true?”
“It is.”
But contrary to the assassin’s words, the blade’s hue had changed.
Seeing it blackened, Pedro screamed desperately.
“Kill me!!”
“Shut up.”
“Kill me! Kill me!!”
“Is it because if you don’t die, Flora dies?”
The assassin’s body trembled.
“I know it’s your superiors. That’s the assassin’s lot—everything held hostage.”
“…….”
“Stay here.”
“I can’t.”
“Do you think I’m trying to persuade you? No. This is an order.”
“But…”
The assassin bowed his head.
If he could simply sever ties, none of this would’ve happened.
His shoulders bore the weight of past sins.
And doing so would endanger not just him, but everyone around.
He couldn’t allow that.
“I take what I want. If someone else touches it, I cut off their hand first.”
“Why go this far?”
The assassin lifted his sluggish body and looked up at Kallias.
“I tried to kill you.”
“So? Half of Carpe wants me dead. The Empire even more so. I have more enemies than you. One more like you changes nothing.”
Thwack!!
“Urk, why hit me…”
“Would a father value his daughter’s life so lightly? Flora’s pitiable. Better I adopt her.”
“…….”
“Will you live?”
“Is that… allowed?”
“No one confirms your life for you. Want to live? Then live. Your choice.”
Moreover, you have.
“A clear reason to live.”
Children need fathers.