Published at 17th of August 2020 6:30 am

Chapter 78: The Man Named Zoak

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My name is Zoak. I’ve been living in the underground world ever since I was a child.

Robbery, assassination, spying, and being a bodyguard for important people. Since my parents weren’t with me when I was born, I could only survive in the dirty slums by doing those things.

I had no reason to live other than to fight. Family, friends, love, I did not have any of those happy things that everyone else had.

My world was filled with blood and my values had been distorted before I got to learn about them.

There was no reason for me to lead a normal life when I have always lived my life the same way, so even after I became an adult, I kept on fighting in the underground world.

In all the dirty work I did, a vivid memory exists in me.

It was a job to assassinate a noble who lived in the royal capital. I had already done that kind of job many times before that. It was a simple task that I could just easily finish ever since I was a child.

Starting with my stealth techniques that no one could see through, I was confident that I would not lose regardless of who was guarding that noble. That’s why I thought I would just finish that job easily like I usually do.

However, as soon as I entered the noble’s mansion, I was unexpectedly confronted by a man with black hair.

That man’s name was Aldred. He was an A-ranked adventurer who had become famous in the kingdom recently.

However, that just means that he’s strong in the outside world…when he’s up against monsters, that is.

There’s no way he has that much experience fighting against humans. No matter how strong he is against monsters, he would most likely be a step behind against human opponents, I thought.

I made light of him like that and decided to cut him down like all my victims until that point, but it wasn’t that easy.

That man named Aldred had both extraordinary sword skills and stamina even against humans.

He was superior in almost every way. The only thing I had on him was the experience I accumulated from fighting against humans all my life. I used that advantage to the most I could and was only able to somehow cross blades with him.

No matter how fast and sharp my strikes were, Aldred was much faster and sharper with his sword. Even when I mixed in feints as I suddenly struck at his vitals, he dealt with them without losing his composure. And in return, he would use feints of his own as he attacked my vital areas such as my wrists, neck, and under my arms. I used all my energy to evade his moves as I swung my blade.

I rolled through the completely dark, narrow corridor of the mansion and dashed around the walls while I made use of my tools.

But even with that, the number of times his sword caught my body was gradually becoming more frequent. Perhaps he was getting used to the way I moved every time our swords clashed.

My clothes became tattered, my skin was cut and my blood was flowing out. Still, I continued to fight in a trance with my blade as I occasionally threw my throwing daggers at him.

In a normal situation, I would have abandoned the job and retreated at that point.

However, being able to fight someone who was stronger than me was too much fun.

The feeling of pain from having my skin cut, the feeling of slashing at him, the dull pain I felt from being hit and kicked, and the feeling of being so close to death was so fun that I couldn’t leave.

Aldred’s blade cut my eye, but even after I became soaked in blood, I was laughing.

Those moments of struggling that I had never experienced before, the pain that he inflicted on me and the pain I inflicted on him were all unforgettable. That time was the only time I ever felt alive.

I wanted to enjoy the moment longer. I wanted to keep on crossing blades with him.

However, my wish was unanswered as I had to inevitably withdraw due to the insensitive intruders.

I didn’t care if I got cut down by Aldred, but I had no intention of getting killed by somebody else.

But withdrawing had its merits too since I’ll be able to fight him again in a better condition next time.

With that thought in my mind, I thought that withdrawing might just be the right move.

After I was repelled by Aldred and failed my mission, I decided to devote myself to training as I became excited for our next fight.

I trained so that I will be able to fight him without falling behind next time. I trained so that we will be able to fight at an even higher level next time.

I recalled my battle against him over and over as I trained with all I had.

Those days were the most fulfilling days of my life.

What will Aldred do if I move my sword like this? How will he answer if I use these new weapons? Will he get caught by this feint? What kind of environment would give me an advantage in the fight? It was fun thinking about those things.

While I devoted myself to training like that, it seems that Aldred had slain a dragon and was being praised by the people as a hero.

He had also reached a high place as I improved myself.

As I became stronger, he too has reached an even higher place. I was glad to see that when I became a step closer to him, he widened his lead by another 2, 3, steps.

That’s what the person who beat me should be like.

To me, who had a passion for defeating him, it was very motivating.

Then after I trained for a long time, I tried to challenge him again.

However, the person I saw at that time was just a man with an unmanly look on his face that didn’t really look like he could be a worthy opponent for me.

The man called Aldred looked like he had lost his fierceness in all those dragonslayer banquets in the royal capital. His gaze that used to be as sharp as a drawn sword looked cloudy and filled with uncertainty. It was like a ghost had grabbed a hold of one of his legs as he wandered the streets of the royal capital by himself.

「……Oi, Aldred」

「……」

I approached him and called out to him as I felt a sense of uneasiness. However, that guy walked by me as if he didn’t hear me.

「Oi, Aldred」

「…What do you want?」

I quickly put my hand on his shoulder. Then, he looked at me with an uninterested look.

His black eyes were hollow; it was as if he wasn’t even looking at me. I felt like something important in him had gone missing.

Then after looking at me for a moment, he looked like he remembered who I was and murmured out,

「…Ahh, you’re the assassin from that time. Do you have some business with me?」

「No, not anymore」

I answered like that to his unchanging expression without thinking.

「……Alright then」

Then, Aldred started walking again as if he had lost his interest in me.

He looked nothing like the person who stood before me that night at the noble’s mansion.

It seemed impossible for this person to be the same person who crossed swords with me that night.

When I looked at his back as he walked away while spacing off, rage boiled in my chest.

Don’t fuck with me. I did not devote my life to training to beat such a weakling.

Even though we can fight to the death for even longer than we did that night right now…Even though I had finally found a purpose in my life…!

While different words of anger surged up in my heart, a question rose to my mind.

What the hell happened to the Aldred who had slain the dragon? What the hell happened to his body and his spirit?

I searched for the reason why he ended up like that.

Some said that he was injured when he was fighting against the dragon.

No. From what I saw, there wasn’t anything strange about his physical body.

Some other people said due to the large sum of money he made, he had no reason to be an adventurer anymore.

No. If that’s how he is, he would have already retired after he became an A-ranked adventurer. He would not accept a quest to defeat a dragon and risk his life. Moreover, I heard that guy is all about getting stronger and he didn’t care about money at all.

All kinds of rumors were on the street, but it didn’t seem like any of them were right. I was going to ask his party members about what happened since they would know about that type of information, but I didn’t because they would have been cautious against me and not tell me anyway.

I had no idea why he was like that at all.

But despite everything, I thought that man would return to his normal self after a few months.

He was eventually going to stand back up and pick up the sword again with the fierceness he had before.

I believed in him.

However, that trust I had in him was betrayed.

From the information I gathered after my last encounter with Aldred at the royal capital, his A-ranked party, “Black Silver” was disbanded, and the party’s leader, Aldred, had vanished.

After I heard that, what I felt was not anger, but an unexpected disappointment.

I don’t know what happened to him, but he had lost his thirst for strength.

After I saw that his thirst for strength had degraded to that level, I went back to how I used to live my life.

However, after returning to doing dirty work behind the scenes, no matter how many people I fought, all I felt was a tremendous emptiness and longing.

No, that guy’s sword was not that terrible. He would be able to stop an attack like this. He will definitely be able to dodge attacks like these. Not just the sword, he would use his entire body as a weapon to attack.

I took on all kinds of assassination requests, hoping that I would run into some troublesome influential people and be surprised by an opponent stronger than Aldred, but I never ran into anybody that was stronger than him or anybody that could get my blood going.

No one could give me a thrilling fight to the death like he did on that night.

I could not bear the emptiness of finally finding a purpose in life but not being able to attain it. When I realized that, I was already searching for Aldred.

Only Aldred could satisfy me as an opponent. As I recalled the battle on that night, I believe that he’s still got it in him right now.

Then, maybe because word of me searching for Aldred got out somehow, Earl Clark Raymond approached me to negotiate.

In place of giving me the information he has on him, he wanted me to bring Aldred back to the kingdom.

That man named Clark was probably trying to raise his authority in the kingdom by finding and bringing back Aldred who the kingdom was eagerly looking for, or by recruiting him into his own camp. It’s a stupid desire that you can typically find in nobles.

However, I can’t say no if I could get some information about Aldred and fight him again.

And so, I searched especially in the west according to the noble’s information. Then luckily, I ran into the female wizard that was in Aldred’s party at a staging post and followed her to the westernmost part of the kingdom of Sylpheed. I arrived in a countryside village named Nordende.

I came here so that I could meet Aldred and cross swords with him again. I came here so that I could feel the rush of a fight to the death again. I was praying that he had recovered from that miserable state of mind.

But my expectations were betrayed again.

Aldred had completely taken a path away from the fighting. He got a woman in this countryside village and he was swinging a farming hoe instead of a sword. I could not believe my eyes.

An adventurer as strong as him is farming in the countryside?

In the midst of feeling a shock that made me almost dizzy, I decided to at least conceal my presence and approached him as my last hope. This guy in the past would have for sure noticed me if I got any closer to him.

Although I was being careful, Aldred did not notice me at all.

He was just talking with his woman and another villager.

When I saw that he had fallen that far down, I let my killing intent come out in a fit of anger. It was then he finally noticed that something was wrong.

After seeing him like that, I decided.

I need to do something to make that guy get serious again.

At first, I thought a fair and square fight would have been fine. He should still be able to fight even if he didn’t hold a sword in a long time. Even if I just beat him unsatisfyingly, it’s fine because I need to do so to put an end to my obsession. However, I couldn’t do it.

If I’m going to cross swords with him anyway, he needs to be serious.

I thought about methods to make this guy who abandoned the sword get serious.

Then, I quickly thought of a way to do so.

I can kidnap the woman Aldred likes and use her as a hostage. If I do that, that guy will definitely go crazy. And with her as a hostage, his female wizard companion wouldn’t be able to barge in on the fight as well.

With that in mind, I waited for an opening from those guys patiently.

Then, Aldred and the female wizard left his home together.

The only one who remained in the house was Aldred’s woman. After I was sure of that, I waited until those two got far away and walked up to their house with that unexpected timing.

「Coming~!」

When I walked up to the door and knocked on it, Aldred’s woman answered the door without being careful at all.

Opening the door without checking who it is…Aren’t you just telling people to stab you with their sword and break into your house?

「……Um, who might you be?」

Maybe it’s because she has never seen me before, Aldred’s woman looked up at me with a frightened expression.

Let’s use this woman to make that guy get serious.

「So you are Aldred’s woman, right?」

「――Huh?」

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