Master Assassin of the Ronan

Chapter 43: The Road to Kapotini (2)

“This, this…you little rat, what have you done!”

Deckers shouted as he stood up, trying to snap out of his shock. But it didn’t change a thing; his entire body, trembling uncontrollably, testified to that.

It had only taken an instant. In that moment of unseen movement, five of his men lost a leg each.

Was he from a prestigious swordsmanship family? Or maybe a student from a magic academy? Damn it! I really messed up this time, didn’t I?

“Is this filthy place your hideout?”

Rubin walked further into the cave. Looking around, he saw that calling them a disorderly mob would be an understatement.

Even among bandits, there were levels. Some bandits were skilled enough to threaten knights from noble houses, while others were just village thugs.

These guys were clearly the latter.

“Have you killed people here?”

Unintended traces of bloodshed lay scattered around.

Judging from their crimes, it looked like things had gone wrong during a hostage negotiation.

Rubin realized that these clumsy fools had killed a few children here.

“Do you think you can kill me with that?”

Rubin turned his head and asked. Deckers, who thought he was sneaking up quietly, flinched.

But he had no intention of surrendering so easily. His opponent was just a kid, barely ten years old.

No matter how skilled the boy was, he couldn’t possibly match someone like himself, who could wield aura.

“I don’t know what you did just now, but….”

A translucent layer coated the longsword Deckers held.

“That’s enough arrogance, kid.”

“Aura?”

“I thought I’d finally hit a payday, but things…went south. Because of you, five of my men are….”

“Why are you panting like that? Need to use the bathroom?”

“What, what did you just say!”

Deckers, enraged by Rubin’s mockery, struggled to control his aura, staggering as if holding something too heavy for him.

“Quit twisting yourself like that, just go and do your business. I’ll wait.”

Deckers, glaring furiously, stumbled as Rubin walked past him to the entrance of the cave with movements too quick to follow.

“Actually, I’ll just leave. Come out when you’re done.”

“You, you little brat!”

Finally, Deckers decided he needed to end this right now. He charged toward Rubin, slashing his aura-filled sword with all his might.

Boom.

“What?”

With a resounding vibration, dust filled the air.

And then, in the next moment—

“Aaargh!”

Where Deckers had swung his sword, his men lay dead, all five of them coughing blood as they took their last breaths.

“Damn it! My aura, my aura….”

Exhausted after a single attack, Deckers could only watch as his men, along with their aura, disintegrated into dust.

He seemed oblivious to the fact that poorly controlled aura was no different from a blind siege weapon.

“I just have a few questions.”

Amidst the dust that hung like a wall, Rubin’s silhouette appeared, a dagger gleaming in his hand.

“C-could it be?”

The blade glowed with a brilliant light. It was undoubtedly aura. Deckers began to wonder if this entire situation was just a dream.

This boy could be, at most, thirteen, if even that.

And he could manifest aura?

As he moved through the dust, the boy flicked his arm lightly.

Unlike Deckers, the boy not only manifested aura with ease but even maintained its flow while swinging.

Rubin drew close to Deckers and asked quietly.

“What family are you from?”

It was a question asked only because he could manifest aura at all.

After all, wielding aura usually meant he had once belonged to a family of swordsmanship or a knightly order.

“Oh, come to think of it, it doesn’t matter.”

“…What?”

It was clear he’d been cast out.

Most swordsmanship families would discard anyone lacking in talent without a second thought.

Given his advanced age and the fact that he could barely manifest aura, he was of no value to keep around. So Rubin changed his question.

“Are there others in the village helping you?”

“…….”

“Or is the whole village part of your gang?”

“…….”

Deckers tried to grip his longsword, but his aura wouldn’t manifest again. He didn’t even have the strength to move the blade.

Moreover—

Every time their eyes met, he felt like he was being strangled.

Some strange pressure was slowly closing in on him, tightening around his throat.

Unable to move a muscle, Deckers was trapped by Rubin’s gaze.

“If you’re not going to answer, then fine.”

Rubin looked down at his aura-filled dagger. Using aura on this kind of scum felt like a waste.

He withdrew his aura as well as the Dark Ripple that had been slowly crushing Deckers.

It was as if the water he’d been submerged in suddenly drained away, and Deckers felt his body loosen.

Now was his chance.

This was his only opportunity to counterattack.

Swish.

But before he could even muster the strength to grip his sword, Rubin’s dagger flashed, slicing across his throat.

“Gah…kugh….”

Rubin stood up and surveyed the now-cleaned corpses of the bandits.

-I suppose it’s time to work on aura control at the next opportunity.

Haneke, who had watched everything, spoke up.

Rubin was already at the stage where he could freely manifest aura.

The next step was to learn to control it. And that was a skill one could only cultivate through real combat experience.

‘There will be another chance. A shame, but—’

Rubin began walking down toward the village.

‘Haneke, were you able to discern anything about that bandit’s aura?’

Every aura had its roots. Just as Rubin’s was Brion, that bandit leader must have had a lineage as well.

-Hard to say. It was too weak for me to recognize.

Having served for decades as the Grand Marshal of the Empire, Haneke was familiar with the aura of most renowned swordsmanship families. But discerning the aura of a mere bandit was nearly impossible.

‘You said each aura has its own characteristics—like color or form.’

-Yes, but not all of them.

Aura was a force optimized by the sword technique it was based on.

Its nature changed depending on the philosophy embedded in the sword style.

Haneke had seen aura in the form of massive scythes and in branching, sharply extended shapes.

However, the aura that the bandit leader had shown was so unstable that it was impossible to make out.

It was such a miserable aura that even tracing its origins was impossible.

-One thing is certain, though.

‘What’s that?’

-He wasn’t long for this world anyway. Even if you hadn’t killed him, he was a man destined to die soon.

Rubin nodded.

Aura was the foundation and pride of a swordsman.

Though the bandit’s lineage was untraceable, if incidents like this continued, even the order that cast him out would have taken action.

‘Honor is to be praised; dishonor is to be eradicated.’

This was, after all, the creed by which swordsmen lived.

Rubin leapt onto a tree to confirm the village’s location. It was time to head back to the tavern at speed.

* * *

“Deckers is probably doing fine, right?”

Menkers sat in a corner of the tavern, fiddling with his glass. His gaze was fixed on the woman and man by the counter.

A middle-aged woman and a man a bit younger than her. They looked like ordinary people, but even that was unusual in a small village like Nekia Village.

Nekia Village was as remote as remote could get, far from any major city or landmark.

In a place where even royal officials rarely visited, it was the first time in a long while that he’d seen people arriving in a carriage.

And that carriage included a noble’s child who employed these two as servants.

“Seems like there’s money to be made here. For sure.”

When Menkers had entered the tavern, the child was already gone. Which meant Deckers’s men had been here.

It wasn’t hard to lure a child around ten years old. A strange-looking item or a harmless lie would do the trick.

Of course, if things went wrong, they could end up stinging a hornet’s nest. Children of martial or swordsmanship families could easily trample over common adults.

But thankfully, their carriage bore no family crest, suggesting they were either hiding it or they were just wealthy commoners.

“Even if it’s all for show, Deckers can at least manifest aura. He should be able to handle the usual stuff.”

Menkers stayed in the tavern, waiting for the right moment while keeping an eye on the woman, who was engrossed in the snail race, and the man who seemed wary of her every move.

Then, suddenly, a commotion erupted.

“This is rigged! It’s absurd! Why do they keep stopping just when I pick them?”

“That’s why I told you to stop earlier.”

“Hey, driver! Don’t you think something feels off?”

“Feels off? What do you mean?”

“How would I know? Anyway, this snail race reeks! There’s this musty stench. It can’t be a coincidence that my pick keeps coming in last!”

“I think it’s best if you stop now.”

The driver awkwardly tried to calm the woman, but she was unyielding.

“I told you, I’m doing this with my own money, okay? I got permission from Lu…uh, from Young Master Luden.”

Through this exchange, Menkers discovered that the child’s name was “Luden.”

That was enough.

He couldn’t wait any longer.

“Guess it’s time to get involved.”

Deckers and Menkers were once low-ranking knights of the prominent Flonica family in the area.

Though they served the family with loyalty, they never managed to shed their status as low-ranking knights. Not reaching first rank, the family decided the two brothers were worthless.

Deckers had managed to manifest aura, but his skills fell far short of others, and Menkers hadn’t managed even that.

Ultimately cast out by the Flonica family, they set up a scheme in the small village of Nekia.

One of them would kidnap a child, while the other would “rescue” the child.

The role of defeating the kidnapper and rescuing the child—and collecting a reward—was Menkers’s, as he had a far cleaner appearance than Deckers.

Menkers quietly approached the two and spoke.

“Excuse me, ma’am?”

“Hmm, yes? What is it?”

“Didn’t you have a child with you just a moment ago?”

Only then did the tutor glance around.

The young master, who was supposed to be with them, was nowhere to be seen, and her face showed a hint of worry.

However, their reactions were more subdued than expected.

“Probably just went to the bathroom. Stop sticking your nose in, will you? I’d like to concentrate on my bet.”

Then, the woman turned back, lost in selecting a new snail for the race.

Strange people.

Aren’t they supposed to be escorting a noble child?

“Recently, there’ve been rumors of children going missing around here….”

“Ugh, stop pestering me!”

As Tina turned to glare at Menkers, the child appeared before them.

The same child who should have vanished by now.

“Were you still betting on snail races?”

Rubin casually passed between them and sat down in the empty chair.

Only thirty minutes had passed since Deckers’s men had abducted the child.

This shouldn’t have been possible.

Why was he here?

Caught off guard, Menkers hesitated, suddenly aware of the child’s eyes on him.

The child’s gaze was direct.

Meeting that gaze, Menkers felt something entirely new—a feeling he’d never experienced from any child before.

“Ugh….”

It was a primal fear, stirring deep within him.