Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

39 – Interim Assessment (14)

“Listen well, the Emperor… is the sun.

Do you understand what this means?”

Of course, when I first heard it, it sounded like utter nonsense.

“He is the sole and supreme being, the ruler of this empire.”

The man standing next to the first speaker continued.

I didn’t care if the Emperor was the ruler or a slave,

I just wanted to be sent home.

“And you, you have been chosen as the moon of that sun.”

“You will become the moon that supports and is responsible for the empire’s hidden face.”

“Accept it as an honor…and survive.”

After that, it was beatings disguised as training.

They taught us by striking and striking and striking,

Continuing the training to a level bordering on abuse.

Forcing us to succeed in attacking the instructor in a room without a single light,

Or bringing heated pokers to our bodies under the guise of torture training.

The only things properly learned in that godforsaken space were throwing techniques and hand-to-hand combat.

And how to wield a dagger.

*

‘I never wanted to recall it again…’

The experiences from then once brought me trauma,

So I tried my best to never even think of it.

My whole body was slashed and hacked, never free from bruises.

Missing fingernails and toenails became commonplace,

And sometimes, due to clumsy breakfalls, bones would break as well.

Even now, I feel like the screams of the children from back then still echo in my ears.

Moreover, the instructor in charge of us was so inflexible that if any kid couldn’t keep up with the training,

He would beat them mercilessly.

‘If you have the will to avoid the blows, then you can keep up with the training.’

Every time he uttered those words, I thought countless times about wanting to stab that large scar on the instructor’s right eye

Again.

Just like this.

*Thunk*—

“Kraaa!!”

The fiend’s forepaw, filled with clear killing intent towards me, swung horizontally,

But I barely reacted, leaping upwards.

From that position, I dove into his already-blinded right side,

And although the fiend twisted its body to the left to secure its vision,

To me, who had learned throwing techniques to the point of exhaustion, that enormous physique looked like nothing more than

An unmoving target.

I generated a handaxe in my left hand and hurled it into the fiend’s eye,

Performing a breakfall to protect my falling body.

However, the fiend wasn’t just going to meekly accept the attack.

Whether it saw the handaxe flying, I didn’t know, but the fiend seemed to have already given up on its right side.

It didn’t even make an attempt to evade.

Instead, it chose to use its left forepaw to swat me,

And thanks to that, I had no choice but to bounce and tumble across the ground three or four times again.

“Guh… ke… keh-leuk.”

I could feel my ribs were broken, and it felt like I stabbed my organs at the same time when they broke,

And red blood continuously poured out from my mouth.

I was certain I’d blocked it, but my right arm wasn’t unscathed.

From the elbow down, there was no feeling.

“Are…are you alright?!”

“Jenison?!…Grahk.”

Luckily, I’d been flung right back into the thick of it, where my companions were locked in a desperate struggle with the teeming monsters.

The Saintess, who was busy healing and buffing the party, saw my state and rushed towards me.

Immediately, divine power flowed from her hands, coaxing my bones back into place.

The punctured organs felt as though they were knitting back together as if it never happened.

I grimaced at the returning pain, but only for a moment.

Hastily, I lifted my head to take in the battlefield.

Breehan, the one ambushed, seemed outwardly fine but lay unconscious.

Albert, Huben, and Sino were flailing at the front, desperately trying to fill Breehan’s gap.

The Princess and Isabella were fervently unleashing their magic, blasting away at the unending tide of beasts.

Kaelin, too, seemed to be trying to control the monsters, but it wasn’t working.

She was also resorting to attacking them with her own magic.

With one fewer warrior holding the line,

I wanted to heap praise on the others for holding up so well, but that wasn’t the immediate problem.

Over there, in the distance, a wolf was still watching us, watching the Saintess and me.

Its crimson gaze had shifted, now fixed solely on me.

From the beast’s right eye, a liquid identical in color to its pupil wept down its face.

The hand axe I’d driven into it was now shattered and discarded on the ground.

Awooo──

I struggled to rise, my body now partially restored, but

Then the King’s howl began, and

It stole our attention, all of us were compelled to look at it.

The monsters, which had been ceaselessly attacking us, stopped their assault as if on command.

They simply stared at the wolf, just like us.

Shoom─

Suddenly, the violet mana stone embedded serenely in its forehead began to glow.

An immediate change swept through the surrounding monsters.

The one that had resembled a mass of tentacles sprouted even more limbs,

The avian-shaped one grew even larger, more monstrous,

And the insectoid creatures developed sharper teeth and claws.

Awooo──

Again the Black King’s howl echoed, and

With one unified motion, the monsters launched themselves at us,

“Gah… what is this…?! Suddenly!!”

“They’ve gotten faster…?”

“I…I really can’t control them anymore…?”

We were simply overwhelmed, helpless against creatures that had undergone such drastic changes.

“Kuh… ugh.”

“It’s… growing difficult.”

”’…If that beast lunged now, we wouldn’t stand a chance…”’

Everyone thought this as they stared, but the black wolf was gone.

Some wondered who it would attack, others pleaded silently that it wouldn’t come for them, but

fortunately, none of them were touched.

The wolf had been fixated on one man from the start.

The man barely managed to track the Black Wolf’s attack, its movements too swift to follow,

dodging by moving backwards.

The wolf was not pleased.

He was just a pup, not even fully grown.

His magical power was unremarkable compared to the others.

So he had thought, and dismissed him.

But he had revised that opinion quickly.

After the man sacrificed his arm, gouging out the wolf’s right eye.

The searing pain, his first experience with such agony, was beyond imagining, and

the wolf gnashed its teeth, consumed by rage.

Unlike other magical beasts, he was intelligent and possessed great power.

He had every right to feel superior, and that superiority had been utterly crushed by a mere pup.

The fact that a man who looked as though he’d have trouble dealing with a low-grade beast on his own had torn out his eye.

The wolf’s target had shifted to this man, incensed by the audacity,

Ignoring the throbbing agony in his socket, he bared his fangs.

‘First… before learning to defend… I’ll practice taking a hit.’

The beast’s forepaw swung down toward my torso.

My body not fully recovered, it was hard to evade, so

I was sent flying once more, slamming into the ground.

Blood tried to escape my lips again, but I gritted my teeth and held it back,

and lifted my head to see the black paw descending again.

*Thwack*

*Thwack*

*Thwack*

The beast seemed thrilled as it pounded me with its forepaw

And even though I was desperately blocking with both arms, the look on my face, though unseen, must be a sight.

Because even with the steel plates strapped to my arms, the force reverberated through me.

Knowing I’d die if this continued, I desperately sought a way out

And as the brute prepared to bring both paws down on me at once, I kicked off the ground and leaped away.

‘Defense must be flawless. Even a glancing blow means failure.’

The steel plates were already crushed, and my arm, which reinforced it, also

A pain, like something cracked, shot through me, searing bone.

I bit down, enduring it, but he wouldn’t grant me time to heal.

Again, he lunged, thrusting his jaw towards my throat.

‘If defense fails…give flesh, take bone.’

With a last, desperate surge of strength, I jammed my already limp left arm into his jaw.

*Crack*.

His teeth sank in again, bringing fresh agony, but it was better than death.

Thinking that, I tried to gouge out his left eye, but

my right arm, too, was as good as broken, useless to exert any force.

He simply clenched his jaw and severed my arm.

My bones shattered, my muscles screamed, but I couldn’t spare them a thought.

I had to find some way, any way, to inflict even the slightest damage upon him.

I crashed to the ground with a thud, and claws raked towards me, but

I hastily conjured another left arm, braced myself on the ground, and dodged.

‘…If your opponent is stronger than you…what then… is it?’

He *was* strong.

He wasn’t called an intermediate demon for nothing.

He seemed to possess intelligence almost on par with humans, but

from the moment he lost an eye, he became unnervingly cautious.

He attacked only when I was completely unable to retaliate,

waiting only for the chance to strike with impunity.

I regretted, a little, that I hadn’t done more than just gouge his eye – I should have ended it.

And because I’d been constantly creating weapons, my mana was almost completely depleted.

‘…A funny thing to say, wouldn’t you agree?’

‘I guarantee it.’

I drew a breath.

Slowly, very slowly, I closed my eyes.

I struggled to control my wildly racing heart, calming it.

Even if I’d grown used to the pain, my arms and legs still trembled like aspen leaves.

I am not strong. I am no hero. I have no sense of justice. I am selfish,

a coward fit to exploit anyone if it suits me.

Once more, I take up the sword in hands stained with all sorts of blood.

The hands that have taken lives screamed in protest.

*Stop*, they pleaded, *run away*, *aren’t you tired?*, *there will be another chance*.

To silence the voices echoing in my head, I sliced off an ear.

The pain was fresh, sharp, unfamiliar.

And I clenched my still trembling hand, steeling my resolve.

*Do you know when opportunity will knock? What will running solve?*

*Do you, soaked in the blood of others, have the right to complain of hardship?* I kept telling myself.

I opened my eyes to find teeth, like small, wicked blades, rushing towards me.

I settled into a stance, a familiar sensation washing over me.

Graduation trials, the instructors called them, a challenge to overcome oneself.

Countless daggers and hidden weapons hurtled towards me, carrying a clear intent to kill.

Some boys clutched at the corpses of their fallen comrades, weeping openly, while others used those bodies as shields, stabbing at the instructors’ guts.

In that chaos, the scarred instructor, facing me, gave a subtle nod.

Before I could decipher its meaning, he drew his blade.

The surge of steel.

My reaction, undeniably late.

A look of pity flashed in the instructor’s eyes.

Yet, I survived.

Thanks to techniques learned through relentless beatings, ingrained in my very being.

“If you live through this… there’ll be damn few you can’t kill.”

“How do I know? …Because that’s how it was for me.”

Moonlit Nine Swords, First Form:

Moon Shadow.

I lunged.

It was evaded with impossible ease.

A single thought echoed in everyone who witnessed it.

As if one shadow mirrored another,

the distance between the black wolf and the dark-haired boy closed rapidly.

The wolf’s sweeping paw struck only air,

leaving its chest completely exposed to the boy’s attack.

Following that, a rising, crescent-shaped strike.

Moonlit Nine Swords, Third Form:

Crescent Moon Slash.

*Thwack*—

“Kruaaargh!!!”

“….”

“..Heh?”

Even Albert, who believed himself well-versed in swordsmanship from watching the family knights train,

and Sino, who had endured countless blades while learning assassination,

and all the other students who had been glancing back and forth between the wolf and the boy as they fought,

were forced to halt their own battles, utterly captivated by the sword stroke.