Reincarnation of the Sword Master - Chapter 18

Chapter 18 – Processing (2)
Translated by : betterdays
Proofread by : ch17175

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“We don’t know why… But our ‘God’ gave us his trust and prediction of the future, and so we prepared…… then one day, the prophecy came true, and the heroes from all edges of the continent disappeared like a lie. And that was our cue to go forth.”

“Hmm.”

Asher shook his bloodsoaked hand, and the droplets of blood spattered onto the ground. He wiped his face with a towel and looked at the bloodied man in front of him.

“Twenty years ago.”

The heroes disappeared the day he died. If that was the case, some of his friends might have even disappeared.

He wondered what this was all related to. But yet… his friend Van Ester had been a hero who had disappeared 20 years ago as well, and had come back. There must be more, he thought.

Asher continued afterwards, to ask more questions but the man didn’t know anything important. In fact, Asher even tried a little bit more torture just to be safe, but the man really didn’t know much more.

‘Why did he disappear?’

Van Ester, his friend had shown him a bit of why he had left, yet there was still a lot more that wasn’t said. His true reason for leaving in the first place, was shrouded in mystery.

“…was it because of him that you targeted me?”

“Yeah… about half a year ago, a prophecy came from our ‘God’… to kill all those who are related to the past..”

“Half a year ago…?”

Once again… it didn’t seem to be random this time. Things were lining up too well, Asher thought. It was the time of his reincarnation. His thoughts became complicated.

“And…”

“And?”

“The order.. To kill you… it was a direct prophecy that we must kill you. It wasn’t anything ambiguous like the ones in the past…. Our ‘God’ clearly marked you as a target needing to be killed at all costs.”

“…….”

Asher squinted at the man. So their so-called God was after him. Did they possibly know about Asher’s reincarnation?

“Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh….”

The man was chained up and breathing heavily. His mind had reached its limit with fear and shock as he spasmed uncontrollably.

“Now… please….”

“Hmm.”

Asher scratched his chin. He grabbed the chain with a suspicious face.

“Okay, I’ll give you some rest.”

Asher lifted the sword. The man opened his eyes wide and struggled.

“Me, kill me?” You lied! I thought you said I could go peacefully!”

“I never said I’d save you. You were mistaken.”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“You’re an assassin and you’re begging for your life…. How ironic is that?”

The man’s body shook and trembled, as he tried to call forth the power from his god, but to no avail, Asher stood calmly with the sword, and swung it down in a straight line.

***

It was getting dark already. People started to go back to their homes, organizing their workplaces and hitting the taverns for liquor.

“Oh, you’re here?”

Reika spoke, sweating. Asher nodded politely in response.

“Hm. I’m sorry it took a bit longer than expected.”

“It has been a long time, I was starting to get worried. Everything’s fine but… huh-? There’s a smell of blood.”

Reika stiffened her face and stepped backwards as she was approaching Asher.

“What the! Why do you smell like blood?”

“Does it smell that bad?”

“It’s awful.”

Reika frowned.

“I think it’s even more smelly because my sweat is all over the place as well.”

“Even with a bath, this kind of thing will never fade Reika. If you’re going to live as a swordsman, you’re always going to have a light smell of blood and iron on you.”

“What happened to you…?”

The village was quiet the entire time Asher had been gone. The incident didn’t blow out of proportion. And Asher had never gone out with the smell of blood that thick on him.

“Just a thing or two. Where’s Luke?”

“He’s probably at a bar in town. He’ll be back soon. You aren’t going to tell me, are you?”

“He is well aware of what happened, actually. But, it’s still too early for you to know.”

When Reika was ready to go out and see the world for herself, and find out the cruel harsh reality that lay outside the Halvark manor surrounded by aristocracy, he would tell her. But she wasn’t ready yet. If he did tell her, then she would just be scarred and be torn apart mentally.

“I need to go back to the village for now, Reika. I’ll see you tomorrow. And since we took a break from teaching today, I’ll make up for it with some intense training tomorrow..”

“…wait.”

Reika blocked him with a stiff face. Reika remembered that Asher had said he was following Luke’s orders. And yet, he came back with a bloody smell. Reika grabbed the sword.

“I can’t let you go.”

“Oh, you still care for him it seems?”

Asher smiled. She didn’t mean to stop him from doing anything like that. Reika shook her head.

“What are you talking about? I don’t just care about you. I’m worried about you.”

“…….”

Asher paused at the unexpected remark. She was worried about him, and not her family.

“Honestly, whatever happens to that bastard doesn’t matter to me.”

She had little affection for Luke. She was originally a sincere and steady person, so she couldn’t have liked Luke who always made trouble and bothered the residents. The emotion exploded last time, when Luke made fun of Asher and tried to humiliate him, and now she didn’t even want to be on speaking terms with him.

So, she didn’t care for him. In the first place, Reika was going to leave the manor eventually. This estate was too small for her, who was determined to walk the path of the sword. She was worried about her parents, but she was the eldest daughter anyway. There was no birth right for her to succeed the title. It would be better for her to leave on her own will, rather to be used as a political chess piece for some other family that forced a marriage onto her.

“Asher, I know how you feel. But you’re a commoner. If you touch an aristocrat, it’ll be hard for my parents and I to protect you.”

***

“Hahaha!”

Asher was probably dead by now! Luke grinned. He knew Asher had been acting differently for the past few months. But his opponent was a famous assassin, and one from the Motorola family at that!. Even if Asher was strong, their levels had to be different. It was obvious to Luke that Asher would die miserably.

“slurrrrrp-.”

‘Ah, I feel so good. I’ve never felt so good in my life.’

Luke gloated as he was feeling as if all his stress had been thrown away. It was hard to think about how Asher would have sullied his glory as the heir to the Halvark estate in the future.

“Ahhhh- Okay.”

Luke eventually left the tavern to enter the manor, and arrived at his room. He locked the door and lay on the bed as he closed his eyes.

“Oh, here you are.”

As soon as Luke was about to fall asleep in a good mood, he heard a voice next to him. Luke hurriedly got out of bed and shouted in shock and fright.

“You! You! Who are.. you?!”

“Calm down, Master Luke.”

In the dark, the owner of the voice gradually approached. Luke’s pupils dilated when he saw the dark figure’s face.

“Asher?”

What? Asher had assumed him to be dead. Luke raised his head and opened his mouth blankly with all kinds of negativity.

“How come…?”

“Why? You make it sound like I’m not supposed to be here.”

Asher approached a step forward with a smile. Luke flinched and took a step back.

“What’s wrong with you? Master.”

A whispering voice echoed throughout the room into Luke’s ears. Luke shivered.

He felt like he was going to die. The fear of death struck him, and then soon disappeared as he gathered his wits about him.

“…Oh, no. I’m just surprised.”

‘Cause you’re supposed to have shown up in town.’

Luke smiled rather brazenly.

Yeah, there was no evidence. An assassin doesn’t tell his victims who his client was. Even if the assassin did, he couldn’t touch him without evidence.

Luke was an aristocrat, and Asher was a commoner. It was that simple in his mind. Luke shouted confidently.

“How dare you come into the sleeping quarters of an aristocrat? Get out right now! I’ll punish you later.”

“Oh you, punish me?”

Asher muttered without bothering to hide his laughter. Luke flinched at the smile, but didn’t loosen up on his stance.

“Isn’t that what you already did? I went to the place that Master Luke wanted me to go, and I was attacked by a bunch of thugs, and they happened to say Master Luke was the one who ordered them to do so.”

“…Really?”

‘You worthless things!’

Luke spat out a curse in his head. He couldn’t believe that the assassins were called mere thugs, and that they were beaten by Asher. Not only that, but they had given up his identity as the client!

‘Motorola is full of trash idiots.’

Though quite flustered, Luke recollected his expression, feigning ignorance and then distorted his face in anger at the indirect accusation.

“Are you implying that I commissioned assassins in the Halvark territory?”

Luke clenched his fist.

“How dare you say such nonsense!”

There was no evidence except for the assassins themselves. Since it came down to this, Luke figured he could just press it down with his power as the successor.

“I can’t believe you insulted myself, a noble! I will have this brought to my father and you will be punished immediately! I’m sure you’ll be kicked out of the town with this!”

“Master.”

And Asher called out to Luke in a soft voice.

“Do I look like an idiot?”

The calm air around Asher completely disappeared with those words, and a heavy pressure started to exude from Asher’s figure.

“Huh…?

Luke couldn’t figure out the situation and spoke with a stupefied expression.

“Go right now, how dare you…”

“That’s enough, Master.”

Asher slowly moved on to Luke.

“I don’t want to have a dirty argument with you. It didn’t have to be this way, but it seems you wish for it to be.”

Luke’s face turned pale. When Asher approached him closely, the concentration of the pressure became more intense.

“Ah-ahhh…”

“You are nothing to me.”

Asher pushed Luke’s chest lightly. Luke fell and sat down on the bed.

“I also want to be nothing to you, just like you want.”

The intangible pressure Luke was feeling started to press down on Luke firmly and he paled. A cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck as his eyes widened in fear.

“Do you understand?”

“Gasp!”

The pressure then disappeared. Luke held his chest and exhaled. Tears and snot flowed out of his eyes and nostrils, followed with a nauseating pressure.

“Wow….”

Asher looked down at Luke.

“You will be the lord one day and I’ll be out of this town. And I’m leaving it at that. That’s it for our relationship. You don’t need to have any worries beyond that.”

In Luke’s mind suddenly he realized Asher wanted nothing to do with his power as the successor.

Luke’s face turned brighter than before, perhaps he understood Asher’s meaning.

“Give me a chance…”

“You don’t have to beg for anything.”

Asher patted Luke on the head.

“Let’s just be indifferent to each other. Like watching a bug passing by, without any interest. Do you agree?”

Luke furiously nodded his head. Asher put his hand down.

“All right.”

Asher stepped back. His body gradually began to disappear into the shadows.

“It’s like a contract of sorts, do you understand me. I’m not going to visit you anymore and you should do the same….. But if you try to break it this ‘contract’…”

Asher disappeared, leaving the last word.

“I’ll be back for you.”

Chapter 18 – Fin