Chapter 19 - It's Easy to Fool Someone When You're Smart Enough
It's Easy to Fool Someone When You're Smart Enough
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 19. It's Easy to Fool Someone When You're Smart Enough
At Danel's words, the air in the training ground froze.
The deep blue Aura emanating from Vince's sword was aiming at Danel's neck.
"Do you think that makes sense right now?"
"No, if you do this, I feel a bit wronged?"
Vince shouted angrily.
"Wronged!? Didn't you hide the fact that you could handle Aura!! How dare you try to kill an Ashuhalt direct line?"
Vince's low voice resonated through the training ground.
An ordinary mercenary would have knelt under that overwhelming pressure, but Danel rather wore a strange smile on his lips.
He slowly withdrew Hayang and answered.
"Hmm… that's a bit strange?"
"What do you mean!"
At Vince's shout, Danel shrugged his shoulders and continued.
"Didn't you say so to Lady Arisa, Lord Vince. That using a wooden sword dulls the sense, so spar with a real sword. Doesn't that mean there is development only when there is tension like actual combat? My using Aura is in the same context. Wouldn't using Aura create much more tension?"
"Kuh…! I'm talking about you deceiving us!"
"That is not a problem."
"What?"
"Is there a law saying a guy who uses Aura shouldn't hide it pretending not to, because it's actual combat? And, if you saw, you would know…."
Danel's eyes shone coldly.
"If I really intended to kill, could I not have killed her?"
"!!!"
At those words, Vince felt his chest chill.
In the first place, this situation was like being eaten by his own logic.
Moreover, if the guy really had hidden skills and showed all of them, Arisa's head might have flown off by now.
Because Danel's sword strike was something even Vince barely blocked.
"This damn bastard…."
Vince gritted his teeth.
Danel faced Vince's gaze head-on and measured the distance of the heart inwardly.
'Hmm… unexpectedly patient, huh? Shall I cross the line just half a step more?'
Deciding so, Danel threw a dagger-like remark at Vince's pride once more.
"Honestly, I was a little disappointed. My master said if it's swordsmanship in the North, Ashuhalt is the best and there would be much to learn, so I came…. Well, it's not as good as the rumors."
However, Vince focused more on the word in front of Danel than the words disparaging Ashuhalt.
"What? Master?"
'Done. Vince, this brother… bites very well as I throw.'
Danel didn't miss this gap and added cunningly.
"Then could I have used Aura at this age without a master? It's a cultivation method I learned quite hard in my own way."
This single remark from Danel caught two rabbits perfectly.
One was elevating his skill by touching Ashuhalt's pride, and the other was creating a plausible excuse of being a 'disciple of a reclusive master' for his unidentified skill.
Vince's eyes sank deep.
'White Aura… a color I've never seen anywhere. Who on earth is the master?'
"For reference, I can tell you my master's name. It's not really a secret."
Vince asked back thinking what kind of luck this is.
"What!? Who is it, that person."
Danel took out one of the most intense names from the memories of his past life.
A name that doesn't exist in this world, but spirit is felt just by the name.
"He said his name is Cheok Jun-gyeong."
"Cheok… Jun-gyeong…?"
Vince frowned and repeated the name.
Unfamiliar.
As a noble family of the North, he knew the names of most masters, but he had never heard of such a strange surname and name.
"Did he say he's a person of 'Daeryeo (Great Goryeo)'?"
In this world, exchanges between the West Continent and East Continent were almost cut off due to the danger of sea routes.
'Daeryeo' was almost the only country among them that occasionally traded with the Empire.
Danel used that setting wonderfully.
"Well, looking at the name, it seems so. I also know nothing but Master's name. He only passed down this one Aura cultivation method. He didn't even teach me swordsmanship separately."
Only then did Vince nod as if understanding why Danel wandered mercenary life for 10 years even with such Aura.
"Was that the reason you rolled as a mercenary for 10 years? To find your own swordsmanship to contain the Aura passed down from your master?"
Danel opened his eyes wide and pretended to be exaggeratedly surprised.
'Ha? He really deduces everything on his own? Very convenient…? This brother?'
"Oh… Lord Vince is amazing as expected. How do you know so accurately when I didn't even say it? I got goosebumps."
At the sudden praise, Vince coughed dryly and sheathed the sword he was holding.
"Hmph, it's an obvious story easily deduced. No wonder… the swordsmanship was crude compared to the Aura operation. It showed a lot that it was learned only in actual combat without basics."
At Vince's indifferent words, Danel felt slightly scratched.
'Crude, he says….'
Certainly, it might be so now.
It wasn't wrong.
Because Danel's current swordsmanship was merely overlaying Aura on purely physical movements.
But Danel knew.
While existing swordsmanships were tailored to Aura, his swordsmanship would become one optimizing Aura and even the detailed movements of muscles.
And Trace will make him fly fast to that state.
Vince was still lost in worry.
Because the existence called Danel was too heterogeneous.
'Fighting with this guy here causes more loss than gain. I don't know what his goal is.'
Why he provoked him, why he tried to kill Arisa.
No, whether he really tried to kill her. Looking at the guy's attitude, it didn't seem like he intended to kill Arisa.
If he kills Arisa within Ashuhalt, Danel cannot leave alive either.
There was no way this snake-like guy would take such a dangerous risk.
'No, this bastard. Surely he attacked Arisa convinced that I would block it unconditionally?'
Vince fell into a labyrinth himself trying to grasp Danel's inner thoughts more and more.
Danel laughed looking at Vince inwardly.
'He must be confused. Because he doesn't know my intention. Why? Because I really have no intention.'
Danel's real purpose was rather providing information.
To make Vince perceive him as 'talent to be managed' rather than a suspicious figure anymore by leaking his strength and background.
Danel decided to remove his anxiety now.
Because showing 'desire' the opponent can understand is the best solution.
"Don't I have quite some skill?"
"What?"
"I asked if I'm quite skilled? Please speak honestly. With that level, am I not a talent Ashuhalt would covet?"
"…Right, I honestly admit it. Quite skilled."
"Then please give me an opportunity."
"Opportunity?"
"I heard there are disquieting movements in the North. I mean give me a chance to build achievements and offer them to Lady Lorraine."
The moment he heard those words, Vince's rigid shoulders relaxed minutely.
'It was this……!'
Desire for success.
Ambition to raise status by setting merits.
That was the kind of human group Vince could understand and control best.
But there was still an unresolved question.
"You, why do you care so much about Lorraine? It doesn't look like simple loyalty. There wouldn't be much she can give you."
Danel answered without hesitation this time.
"Can I speak honestly?"
"Speak."
"You won't kill me, right? It would be a bit unfair if my head flies off after speaking. Please promise you absolutely won't kill me."
"Should I kill you now?"
At Vince's fierce reaction, Danel grinned and threw a bomb.
"Isn't she pretty, Lady Lorraine."
"……What?"
Vince's expression was truly 'astonishment' itself.
"I said she's pretty. Pure, and that cold gaze she shows sometimes is also attractive. She has a cute taste too. Isn't it natural for a man's gaze to go there? I'm not saying I'll marry the Lady right away or anything. Just watching from the side is good, you know something like that."
"Ha……? Are you boldly declaring in front of me, Lorraine's brother, that you will seduce Lorraine?"
"Is that not allowed? You said she's an abandoned child not treated well within the family anyway. I just want to help such a Lady sit in a shining seat. That is my desire."
"……??"
Vince felt a throbbing headache.
This bastard must be crazy.
Or fearless.
But paradoxically, that absurd answer silenced all suspicions about Danel.
'A terrible coincidence. A reckless mercenary bastard who learned cultivation method from a reclusive master flowed in here falling for Lorraine.'
And the start of all this was Lorraine's 'bear hunt.'
It was a simple and clear conclusion.
Vince shed a hollow laugh and shook his head.
"You, were you always this bold? You seem to find the name Ashuhalt funny."
"Funny? I rather want to grow that name stronger and protect the Lady under it. Isn't it quite romantic?"
Vince turned his body feeling his mind would be polluted if he conversed any longer.
'It's also funny for me to persecute a guy like this in the name of Ashuhalt.'
That was what Vince despised the most.
"One time. I will give you just one chance. Prove if you are really useful. I'll think about the rest then."
Danel smiled a smile of victory.
"That is sufficient."
Leaving the spot, Vince left a stern word to Arisa who was still standing blankly.
"If you realized your lack, overcome it with training, Arisa. Do not forget the gap you saw today."
Arisa answered with a crawling voice unlike her usual self.
"……Yes, Brother."
"Right, I believe you will overcome it well."
Vince receded like that.
He did not know.
The fact that he just completely dragged a giant snake named Danel into his house.
After Vince left, only Arisa and I remained in the training ground.
I approached Arisa with the expression of a gentle sheep again, as if asking where the fierce appearance earlier went.
…Did she notice I tried to kill her?
No, that can't be.
Rather, she might get angry because I hid my skills.
It was then when I was inwardly nervous and reading the mood.
Arisa raised her head flashingly and stared at Danel.
Her eyes were not filled with fear, but shining like a child who discovered a treasure seen for the first time in life.
"What are you?"
"Yes?"
"What on earth are you! What kind of guy are you to appear in front of me only now and make my heart beat like this!"
"Yes…?"
'What is she saying right now?'
As I stepped back in panic, Arisa approached one step closer tightly.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed red.
"I decided. I can't give up on you. I heard everything you said to Brother just now. Sister Lorraine is your type? Fine. I'll run to Sister right now and learn everything from the perfume Sister uses to cosmetics and dressing style!"
"Yes…? No, that's not it…."
"I'm a bit lacking right now, but wait just 2 years! I still have to grow a little more, so in 2 years, I'll become much closer to your type than Sister Lorraine! Even looking like this, we're sisters so we resemble each other."
"Yes…??"
The story fell deeper into a labyrinth I couldn't understand.
"Hmm, right. Sister Lorraine probably has to do a political marriage. She has to help the family doing even that. But Father said I don't have to do such things because I'm the capable youngest. So you just have to marry me. Okay?"
"Yeeees!!!!???"
Arisa's nonsensical words covered me more powerfully than Vince's Aura pressure.
'H, how do I escape this place? It's my first time experiencing something like this!'
R, right! Let's call that person!
I looked at Vince's receding back and shouted urgently.
"L, Lord Vince!!"
But Vince didn't look back.
"L, Lord Vince!! Lord Vince!!"
Even calling more desperately was the same.
Arisa tilted her head.
"Why call Brother? He's not even visible anymore?"
'N, no!'
Only then did the genre of this reality come to my mind.
'R, romance was something that barged in unexpectedly like this?'