Volume 6 Chapter 144 – Nameless (3)
[Translator – jhei]
[Proofreader – yukitokata]
Four days had passed. Every day after waking up, Jin ate breakfast with the man, roamed the streets, returned by sunset, and ate dinner.
The carefree days made him feel like he came to a remote vacation spot instead of Samil. Whenever he roamed the streets or resided in the house with the man, there wasn’t a single assassination attempt.
Jin’s days were very peaceful.
The place he resided in was an intermediate cadet’s home.
The cadets in the streets were worse than his landlord. The fact that he came back alive from the house reminded those below that Jin was not someone to mess with.
‘No one’s going for me after the first day. Feels a little weird.’
Flip, flip.
Leaning on a tree, Jin flipped through an encyclopedia about different poisons and poisonous plants from Samil’s library.
As much as a visitor could borrow it, it didn’t have much information in it. However, since Jin didn’t know much about poisons, he was very intrigued.
A pair of eyes hiding behind a tree across from him watched him intently.
‘Heehee. Out of everyone in the family, he seems to like books.’
Yona was very busy supervising her younger brother.
Aside from the fact that she hadn’t seen him in a long time, Yona had her own reason to watch him.
Jin’s skill level.
She had to identify that in order to send assassins at his level. And based on her observations, his skills were unbelievable for a 16-year-old.
‘Not only is his aura spectacular, but his ability to detect danger is also remarkable. Like a veteran who survived death multiple times.’
Even for a Runcandel, that much experience was rare.
Usually, if they didn’t push themselves on the verge of death because they were a Runcandel, then experiencing life or death situations was hard.
‘He would’ve overcome those situations at least once or twice at the age of 16… What kind of life did this kid live through?’
Just as Yona said, pureblood Runcandels usually went through similar experiences during their flag-bearer conquests. However, she felt that the youngest didn’t just experience it once or twice.
She wasn’t wrong. In fact, Jin had overcome more challenges and hardships than any other Runcandel.
Although Yona didn’t know it, Jin had the experience of someone who had lived until their mid-40s—including his past life. And since he was a weakling in his past life, he had to live through many more things the hard way.
‘Very interesting! Intermediate or intermediate-advanced wouldn’t be enough… I should send some advanced assassin groups.’
“Heehee~”
Yona lightly giggled and left the forest.
‘Hm?’
Jin looked at where she was last. And then he thought to himself.
‘Something was over there again… It’s been so many days since I’ve started sensing these. Ha. Ever since the clapping sound, I think I’m going crazy.’
* * *
Reaper Scans
* * *
“You, can’t you leave my house now?”
The next evening, the intermediate cadet spoke in an exhausted voice right after serving dinner.
“Am I perhaps eating too much or disrupting your daily life?”
Jin asked with widened eyes, and the man shook his head.
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then why…?”
The man sighed deeply.
“I gave up trying to assassinate you.”
“Ah…”
“At first I thought you were a fearless child. A child who grew up as an offspring of a clan only knowing the good side of the world. Something pathetic like that. And I was very wrong.”
“I see.”
They awkwardly smiled at each other.
“…But for four days, I tried to find an opening. I couldn’t get a single opportunity. Four days. So I admit, I am not at a level to kill you.”
“Hm, it would be right for me to leave after hearing that reason. But why give up without even trying…?”
“Failing an assassination attempt on a visitor causes deductions. Usually, I’m supposed to finish you off by the end of day one, but you didn’t offer any openings. And I’m about to be promoted anyway.”
‘Do I show sympathy…?’
Jin thought for a second, but then just shrugged.
“It was a meaningful four days for me. I learned a lot by staying alert this entire time. I hope you learned something new as well.”
And for once, the man laughed out loud.
“Kuhaha! I didn’t think you’d answer like that. I learned a lot too. My skill level stagnated for a while, but this experience really stimulated me… I give you my thanks.”
The man offered his hand.
“I’m not trying to kill you here. However, after you leave my house, I hope you get out of Samil safely.”
Jin grabbed his hand after pondering for a bit.
“I hope you become a Nameless Assassin and come work for me someday. I won’t ask for your name. Though, I will return the hospitality.”
For the first time in the man’s house, Jin had a comfortable meal.
Immediately after, he packed his bags and left. It was a dark night with no moon or stars in sight.
‘Now I don’t feel bad about going to the inn.’
Even at the inn, the inexperienced insects wouldn’t bug him.
Thinking this, Jin started walking.
However, not even five steps away from the house, he instinctively felt something and looked below his feet
‘Huh? This is…?’
A trap used to catch large beasts. If one stepped on the middle, a sharp steel trap would grip onto one’s ankle.
About thirty of those were scattered across Jin’s path.
—When against assassins, you must think of them as illusionists or scammers, Young Master.
If he didn’t think of Garon Altemiro’s advice again, Jin would’ve been caught by the traps.
‘Above!’
Shing!
Jin unsheathed Baradmante and looked at the roof of the house. Someone had their head peering over the side.
An advanced cadet sent by Yona. The cadet bit on a long tube, preparing to shoot a poison dart.
The traps were to slightly falter Jin’s focus for a split second so that the blow dart could actually hit its target.
Pfft!
The dart was shot before Bradamante could be fully unsheathed.
Thankfully, Jin could deflect it with the half-unsheathed sword. However, he couldn’t counter it.
The cadet then pulled on a string that was tied to all of the traps.
The dozens of bear traps in the front yard all flew towards Jin. The steel mouth would bite into his skin and inject its poison the moment it touches him.
‘Holy shit!’
The sight resembled a pack of alligators charging towards him.
Clang! Ka-clang! Kang!
Jin fully unsheathed Bradamante and deflected all of the traps, swinging the sword as fast as he could. As the blade left pale-white afterimages, some of the traps remained on the blade.
That was the cadet’s goal. Should the assassination fail, the cadet planned to neutralize Jin’s sword to buy time and escape. 𝑖𝘦.𝘤𝑜𝘮
They already failed as soon as the dart was deflected, so the cadet had no intention of killing Jin with the traps.
The cadet thought that Jin would get rid of the traps on his sword first instead of chasing the culprit. They also wished the sword would break.
“You bastard!”
Yet there was no way some bear traps would scratch Bradamante, a blade forged from a thousand-year-old steel. With the bear traps clinging onto his sword, Jin chose to jump onto the roof.
The blade now resembled a bat more than a sword. Jin threw the metal stick towards the cadet.
Wooooong!
Bradamante let out a ringing sound as it travelled through the air. Because of the traps, the blade couldn’t cut anything. However, the massive stick hit the cadet’s thigh and then fell to the ground.
Clang!
Jin jumped off the clay rooftop and onto the cadet who lost balance.
‘Gotcha!’
The two tangled together and fell on the roof. Jin immediately got on top of the cadet and wrapped his fist in aura, ready to strike his opponent’s face.
“I admit failure!”
The cadet shouted in a frantic voice.
“What?”
“I admit failure, my fellow. So please stop. You’ve won.”
“Would you stop in my position? I won’t kill you. Thank your cadet status.”
Crack!
Jin struck the cadet regardless, and their nose and cheekbones flattened out. Blood splattered everywhere, yet Jin didn’t stop until the cadet fainted.
‘What a mess as soon as I left.’
He haphazardly cleaned the blood off his fist. There were six traps biting down on his sword, so he couldn’t use it before he got rid of them.
‘I should get rid of these. I’ll need at least three minutes…’
Jin stopped his hand extending towards the traps and looked around.
They were on the roof, so there was no place to hide the body. There were also many other spaces for other people to conceal themselves on the adjacent roofs.
‘First, I need to move somewhere safe. Since this guy placed those traps, they knew I’d leave the house today.’
Jin concluded that the advanced cadet definitely heard the conversation he had with the intermediate cadet. He had mentioned that he would leave after dinner, and the advanced cadet chose to attempt the assassination then.
‘That guy didn’t backstab me. Moreso some higher-up ordered him or something. Or maybe, after evaluating my skill level, someone ordered to hunt me down.’
Right as he thought so—
Fwiiiiiiiit!
Fwit!
Arrows flew towards him from both sides. And as expected, they were poison-tipped arrows. Jin could barely evade them, but he couldn’t extrapolate the source due to more arrows flying towards him.
Arrows continued to rain towards him, and he couldn’t even deduce how many people were shooting.
He had to get on the ground. He needed at least the building wall to block the arrows coming from one direction.
‘Shit, I feel like there’s something else waiting for me on the ground…!’
However, he had no choice. If he didn’t want to turn into a porcupine, he had to get on the ground.
Jin gritted his teeth and jumped off the roof.
Yona smiled, satisfied.
‘Hehe, suffer a little, youngest brother. After being chased like this for a week, you’ll awaken your Mind’s Eye. It’s already half open. If you don’t survive, and end up dying… it’ll be a little sad, but it can’t be helped.’
“Hm-hmhm~”
Yona hummed a tune as Jin sprinted away. She truly wished for Jin to grow stronger.
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