The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

“How do you find academy life?”

Despite the instructor’s lively question, the boy did not respond.

“I thought it wasn’t such a difficult question, but you can’t answer it, huh? If you like it, you like it; if you don’t, you don’t. Just speak honestly.”

“It’s just so-so…”

The boy responded dryly.

“Looking at your expression, it seems like you want to end this boring counseling session quickly. I’m sorry, but I can’t help it. Conducting quarterly personal consultations with students is a mandatory part of being an academy instructor, so it has to be done.”

I know.

However, even if she was the well-reputed Instructor Silica, she would not sincerely deal with someone like him, known as the incompetent of his family.

Up until then, the boy had been harboring very negative thoughts.

“For the youngest of the House of Duke Vert, the guardians of the continent, to show such a listless appearance, it’s not a good look. Your brother Cranz seems to have adapted very well; why didn’t you ask him for help?”

Cruel.

The demon known as his brother, she knew all too well how he was treated, yet to suggest asking for help as if it was nothing, was cruel.

Overwhelmed with emotion, the boy clenched his fists tightly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry, it seems I’ve inadvertently upset you.”

It felt like mockery rather than an apology.

“I think we’ve had enough for now. There’s no need to allocate any more of your precious time to me. I’ll take my leave now.”

“What are you talking about? The conversation is just starting now?”

She stopped the boy as he tried to stand up.

“I’m actually very interested in you, Cyan.”

“Are you talking about me?”

“Of course! With a student who has a dark attribute of 84%, an unprecedented attribute score, wouldn’t it be strange for an instructor not to take an interest?”

Up until then, the boy had thought the instructor was mocking him.

“Isn’t it just a worthless attribute without any real substance?”

“That’s a dangerous thing to say, isn’t it? There’s nothing in this world that’s worthless. Even a stone lying on the roadside has its own value.”

“…Yes?”

The boy looked confused.

“Do you think your attribute is without substance? That’s possible. Since there hasn’t been proper research on the dark attribute yet. But do you know? The fact that it hasn’t been thoroughly explored means that, conversely, there are unexplored, infinite possibilities…”

Although they might sound like empty words at first, the young eleven-year-old boy, still naive at heart, was quickly captivated by her rhetoric.

No one around the boy had ever spoken to him like this.

He also felt something different from the usual Instructor Silica.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because as an instructor, it’s natural to wish for a student’s growth.”

To wish for growth.

The boy had been abandoned by his family itself after a sparring session with his brother.

To hear once again that someone wished for his growth, the boy couldn’t help but be engulfed in complex emotions.

“I look forward to your infinite growth, Student Cyan~!”

Instructor Silica encouraged the boy with a bright, beaming smile. However, the boy didn’t know at that time.

That the infinite growth she spoke of wasn’t as an innocent student, but was aimed at his development into a cruel assassin…

* * *

The streets of Luwen at dusk were no different from those of other cities.

Walking, while reminiscing about the connection with her in a past life, I soon found myself nearing my destination.

The street lights were sparse, and no one was in sight, a quiet street.

In the places where the lights were on, there would be scholars studying magic, merchants preparing for the next day’s business, and some lights would be on without any particular reason.

However, the place where she and I had arrived was not only devoid of light but was also filled with a gloomy aura.

Along with the chilling cold, a damp moisture soaked through my body.

-Screech

Silica produced a small mana sphere in her hand and placed it on the doorknob.

The blue mana sphere turned black upon contact with the doorknob, and soon after, a metallic ‘clank’ sound was heard.

-Creak

“Go ahead.”

She opened the door herself and instructed me to enter first.

-Whoosh

The moment I stepped in, I felt a sinister killing intent coming from ahead.

I continued to walk deeper, paying no attention to it.

Silica said nothing, silently following behind me.

Probably to block my retreat, ensuring I couldn’t run away.

It wasn’t a forceful kidnapping, nor was I blindfolded to block my vision.

She had simply brought me here, without any restrictions, so I could find this place again by myself later if I wanted.

It wasn’t because she trusted me.

Whatever her intent, it was to end my existence here, in this place.

And it seemed it wasn’t out of goodwill, as the closer I got, the thicker the surrounding killing intent became.

-Swish!

A sharp blade flew towards me out of the darkness.

When I dodged it with a slight move, as if it was expected, numerous blades flew towards me from all directions.

I rotated my body, creating a spiral sword energy.

-Clang!

The generated sword energy flew in all directions, deflecting all the blades, which then clattered to the ground, powerless.

The blades were dripping with a green, viscous liquid.

“You’re not saying anything.”

She spoke to me.

Maintaining silence even after dismantling the trap meant that I knew about it from the start.

“Isn’t this trap a bit too light for an invader?”

At my remark about the trap being light, she let out a faint laugh.

At that moment, I sensed a terrifying speed of killing intent approaching from the front.

In total, there were six people.

Without waiting, I advanced to meet them first.

All six assassins wielded dual swords coated with poison.

-Swish

The leading assassin swung his sword at me.

I ducked to dodge lightly and then swung my sword at the two assassins following behind, not the leader.

-Clang!

The assassins couldn’t withstand the sword strike and dropped their daggers, and then I punched them in the abdomen, knocking them unconscious.

“……!”

The three assassins following in succession hesitated in surprise.

For assassins, who should not allow even a second’s gap, hesitation is akin to suicide.

I mercilessly charged at them and struck their heads with the end of the sword hilt, not the blade.

-Thud

They fell powerlessly, and the leading assassin, who had missed me just before, charged at me again, showing his back.

-Clang!

The bravely crossed blades were meaninglessly blocked by the tip of Kaeram’s sword.

-Thump!

As my clenched fist made contact with the fellow’s abdomen, all six assassins were now incapacitated without even being able to launch a proper attack.

“……”

Silica watched the whole situation from behind but didn’t say anything in particular.

Without asking anything further, I continued down the path that lay before us.

Had we walked for about 5 minutes?

The narrow corridor suddenly widened, revealing a spacious square.

Without hesitation, I kept moving forward, and the moment I arrived at the center of the square.

-Pa-pa-pak!

From four directions, precisely east, west, south, and north.

Four assassins, bearing a more intense killing intent than before, appeared and charged towards me.

The difference this time was that instead of daggers, they wielded scimitars, with blades curved like crescent moons.

They maintained exactly the same speed without any of them appearing faster or slower than the others, and each adopted a different stance as if to perform a prepared formation.

The Formation of the Dead Angle.

One of the secret techniques of the Mist, creating an unavoidable angle of death to quarter the opponent’s body.

This technique could only be performed by advanced assassins who were selected for their quick movements and innate senses, after undergoing intensive training among the members of the Mist.

In other words, these members were on a completely different level from those we had seen before.

Silica, once again, stood at a distance, observing how I would handle the situation.

Despite the escalating situation, I remained calm, waiting for them to come close enough.

-Swish

The moment the four curved blades aimed precisely at my abdomen, a powerful red wave surged from beneath my feet.

“……!”

-Thud!

The wave simultaneously struck the four assassins and disrupted the formation of the Dead Angle that was about to be completed.

“Ugh!”

Unable to withstand the wave, the assassins were thrown back, with some even dropping their swords.

They hurriedly regained their composure and reformed their ranks, but their wrists, still holding the swords, trembled, showing a different demeanor from before.

-Swish

Silica, who was watching, gestured with her arm to stop them.

The assassins, following her signal, stepped aside without any retort.

She then asked me, “Did you use the wave of killing intent?”

The wave of killing intent.

A unique technique of assassins, manifesting the murderous aura intended to kill and emitting it from the body.

Those who approach with a mediocre killing intent are repelled without touching and lose their fighting spirit, a technique to subdue an enemy without swinging a sword.

Unlike other techniques named ‘Shadow Arts’ of the Mist, this was a secret technique directly taught to me in a past life by her, the clan leader.

“I didn’t define it as a specific technique, but that’s a good name. I’ll call it that from now on.”

I answered with a sly smile.

“……”

For a brief moment, I felt her lips slightly curl up.

After walking through the square and into another corridor for about 5 minutes,

I felt a killing intent different from the assassins who had tried to stop me so far, swirling in the blowing wind.

Soon, two assassins appeared at the end of the corridor.

They held neither daggers nor scimitars.

Instead, they gripped hooks shaped like the sharp claws of a beast, ‘claws’, in their hands.

According to the highest-ranking knights, a sword is not meant to subdue an opponent but to protect oneself and others from danger.

But not these weapons.

They exist solely for the purpose of inflicting injury and death.

They are designed not just for silently killing the opponent with minimal movement but to inflict the greatest pain possible by unleashing everything at one’s disposal.

Moreover, these weapons were not used by regular or even advanced members of the Mist but only by the executives.

In other words, these two were not mere members but experts with extensive experience in assassination.

The best under the clan leader herself.

-Swish

Without delay, the two who locked eyes with me charged at high speed.

As if to use mana or a secret technique, the claws shimmered with light and mist.

In response, I also adjusted my grip on the sword, awakening the dormant power of the mist.

-Ssssss

Like a dragon exhaling its breath, the mist that spewed from my mouth soon enveloped my entire body.

A technique that, a year ago, could only be used with the power of Kaeram, but not anymore.

Having consumed the blood of beasts and training my body, I could now freely wield the Mist Sword technique without the power of the magic sword.

I quietly recited towards the two assassins charging at me like arrows.

“Mist Sword: The steadfast mainstay of the…!”

-Clang!

In the instant I was about to recite the last word of the technique,

The raised sword collided not with a claw but with a blood dagger wrapped in black mist.

It was the clan leader’s sword.

“I can’t hold back any longer!”

Like a madman with a soaring spirit, she had lost all traces of her previously calm demeanor.

“Show me your true power! Cyan Vert!”

In her eyes was not killing intent, but genuine joy, delight.

(To be continued)