The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1242 "They say it wasn't the Heavenly Demon or Eden itself that moved." Burren stroked his chin while clasping his hands behind his back. "The Lord's Manor's opinion is that it was the work of a small number of ghosts that escaped the Heavenly Demon's control." He explained the current situation calmly with a composed tone. "The witnesses were ordinary people, so they couldn't accurately identify what kind of helmets and masks those bastards wore. This mission is to investigate Birdnew Village together with the Shadow Agents' operatives to identify their true nature." Burren's voice carried a power that overwhelmed the audience. He now possessed the dignity befitting someone who could lead a faction. "However, there's also the possibility that Eden might be backing them, so prepare thoroughly to handle any situation." Burren raised his tightly clenched fist to his chest, saying they must be able to fight and defeat Eden anywhere, anytime. "Yes!" The Light Wind Palace swordsmen swallowed dry saliva at Burren's serious aura and raised their voices. "We depart tomorrow at dawn." Burren lowered his hand and slowly looked up at the sky where the sun was setting. "As I mentioned earlier, our main mission is to escort the Shadow Agents' operatives, so thoroughly complete your preparations and gather in front of the main building by dawn tomorrow." He moved to the edge of the platform and waved his hand as if to dismiss them. "Yes!" The swordsmen bowed respectfully to Burren, who stood in the position of Light Wind Palace's leader in place of Raon. "Damn those Eden bastards! To attack a village under our protection!" "We must find them and smash those damn helmets of theirs." "That's right! I'll plant Zieghart's flag on their helmets!" "Let's make them feel Zieghart's terror!" "The Heavenly Demon doesn't seem like much, does he? He can't even control his subordinates!" "That's right. He openly revealed that he has no control." The Light Wind Palace Swordsmen headed to their quarters to pack, cursing the Heavenly Demon and Eden. They clenched their fists, radiating a fierce fighting spirit as if to show them a lesson. "I did ask you to bring something interesting, but..." Martha bit her lip slightly while looking at Burren standing on the platform. "I didn't want to hear news about a village being completely destroyed." She sighed as if old memories had surfaced. "I don't bring missions for your entertainment." Burren clicked his tongue at Martha and came down from the platform. "Whether they were trying to provoke us or not, they say there weren't any corpses left in their original state." He frowned as if feeling sorry for those who died in Birdnew Village. "Those vermin bastards!" Martha stomped her foot hard as if anger had surged at Burren's words. Since she even used aura, the entire fifth training ground shook. "To not even leave behind corpses..." Dorian initially trembled his shoulders as if afraid, but when he learned that the people of Birdnew Village had suffered terribly, he gritted his teeth audibly while expressing his emotions. "That's it! That's right! Get angry like that!" Krein patted Dorian's shoulder repeatedly, telling him to pour that anger onto those Eden bastards. "The masks... you don't know...?" Runaan approached Burren and exhaled cold breath. "Y-yeah." Burren stroked his chin bewilderedly while looking at Runaan's ice-cold eyes. "As I said, all the witnesses were ordinary people, and they only saw shapes from afar, so they couldn't identify the types of masks or helmets. However, seeing that the martial artists who were standing guard were taken down without even leaving a signal, they seem to be strong." He told them everything he had learned through the report from the Lord's Manor and Karoon's words. "I understand..." Runaan nodded with a corpse-like face and stepped back. Her face was naturally pale, but now it was as pale as someone who had never seen sunlight since birth. "R-Runaan." Burren swallowed dry saliva and called out to Runaan. "Are you really okay? If you're not feeling well, maybe you should sit out this mission..." He reached out his hand, thinking Runaan's condition was too poor. "I'm fine..." Runaan calmly shook her head. "I'm... alright.... No, I'm more at ease than ever before..." With a complexion and voice that clearly showed she was not alright, she slowly lifted her face, claiming she was better than anyone. Her hair fell to the side, revealing the corners of her eyes, which were stained as black as a dead person's. "Uh..." Burren's chin trembled as he looked at Runaan's face. He had seen people's under-eyes darken from fatigue, but this was the first time he had seen the eyelids darken so much, which was bewildering. "I'm going too." Runaan said she was fine and gripped her sword. If anyone said she should stay behind, she looked ready to draw her sword. Strangely, while her physical condition seemed at its worst, her martial prowess seemed to have risen even higher than when she previously fought Martha. "But..." "Leave her be." When Burren still tried to stop Runaan, Martha stepped forward. "Despite how she looks, she's incredibly stubborn. And..." Martha bit her lip slightly while looking at Runaan's clouded eyes. "If she stays here like this, she might really die." She clicked her tongue, saying it would be better to let her go outside and at least get some fresh air. "That makes sense..." Burren nodded heavily. As Martha said, if they left Runaan here alone, something terrible might really happen. "Hey." Martha waved her hand toward Runaan. "Go quickly and pack your things. And..." She placed her hands on her hips and leaned her upper body forward. "Stop sleeping so much. It seems like it would be better if you didn't sleep." Martha frowned while telling her not to sleep. "......" Runaan stared intently at Martha's face, which couldn't hide the worry within despite her scowling expression. "I understand..." Unlike Martha, she gave a half-hearted nod, turned her back, and left the training ground. "Runaan seems more serious than I thought..." Burren chewed his lips while looking at Runaan's back. "Y-yes. I saw Lady Runaan's face after a long time, but I didn't expect her to be so hurt..." Krein quickly scratched his cheek as if scared. "Uh, it's not her face that's the problem. Her mind is too..." Dorian said Runaan's heart was more broken than her face and trembled his chin. "T-this seems like something that can only be resolved when Lord Raon comes out." He exhaled roughly, saying he didn't know what to do. "No!" Martha shook her head firmly. "Who knows when Raon will come out for us to wait! And now we need to learn how to solve things without Raon!" She placed her hand on her sword while telling them to stop depending on Raon. "This time I'll solve it! That girl is..." Martha tightly closed her mouth while looking at the training ground door that had turned white as if frozen after Runaan left. "Because she's my friend." * * * "Haah..." Runaan entered her room in the main house and exhaled a low breath. She was about to lie down on the bed as usual but stopped for a moment. "She told me not to sleep...?" Martha had told her not to sleep this time rather than to sleep, with an angry expression. She couldn't understand what the intention was. "Why...?" Runaan walked slowly to the vanity table in front of the bed. The lights were off, but since the sun hadn't set yet, there was no problem seeing in the mirror. "Why on earth...?" The Runaan reflected in the mirror had corpse-like pale skin with both under-eyes and eyelids stained black, and her lips were grayish as well. It was a face that seemed closer to death than even a person over 100 years old, but she tilted her head as if not noticing anything strange. "I look better than usual though...?" Runaan said her skin was actually better than before and caressed her roughened cheeks with both hands. "Yeah. I should sleep after all..." She seemed to think Martha's advice was wrong and nodded before heading back to the bed. "Haah..." Runaan now carelessly threw aside even her beloved sword that she always held in her arms and threw herself onto the bed. As always, as soon as she laid her head down, she fell into a dream world different from reality. "Mmm..." When Runaan slowly opened her eyes, she saw a fountain magnificently built with various statues. She approached the fountain and looked at her face in the water again. Baby-soft yet white jade-like skin, eyes without a single dark spot, and lips as red as ripe apples. Even she herself was amazed by the face she saw. "Yeah." Runaan curled her lips into a gentle smile. Unlike in reality, in this world, she showed a smile more beautiful than anyone's. "I'm fine after all..." Runaan was nodding satisfactorily while looking at her face and smile. "Runaan!" From behind the lake, the dream world's Raon came running out. "Raon..." Unlike reality, Runaan drew a fresh smile and waved her hand toward Raon. "We're almost there." Raon crossed the lake and approached Runaan. "What do you mean, we're almost there...?" Runaan tilted her head, not understanding what Raon meant. "The day we'll meet in reality!" Raon said they would meet not just in this dream but soon in reality as well, and firmly grasped Runaan's hands. "You're coming out of seclusion...?" Runaan smiled as if pleased and nodded her head. "......" Raon didn't answer about the seclusion and spread his arms to embrace Runaan. "I'll never let you go again." "Ah, yes..." Runaan nodded awkwardly with a flushed face. "Never again." Raon coldly muttered the word "again" as if once wasn't enough. Whoooosh! The face that Runaan couldn't see was eerily sinister and maliciously distorted. * * * Drip. Drip. Drip. Red drops of blood fell one by one down Glenn's sleeve. He raised his left hand and looked at the small wound carved on the back of his hand. "Hmm." It was such a small wound that it would disappear just by touching it with his finger, but Glenn let out a low exclamation as if surprised while examining the wound. "Even though my martial prowess is controlled in this training ground, I wasn't being careless." Glenn curled his lips into a long smile and nodded his head. "Impressive." He added words of admiration and clapped with the hand that had been bleeding. "Huff! Huff!" However, the person receiving that praise was sprawled out on the training ground, gasping for breath mixed with blood. "T-thank you..." Raon barely lifted his head to look at Glenn. Blood was flowing down his entire body, and he gasped for breath like someone about to die, having exhausted both his physical strength and mental power. "But I'm still far from... urgh!" Raon tried to get up again but collapsed forward as if overwhelmed by exhaustion. Blood flowed from where he lay, soaking the training ground's sand. "How tenacious." Glenn let out a hollow laugh while looking at Raon's fingers that still wouldn't let go of his sword. The word "tenacious" seemed to exist for his grandson. "I-I haven't shown you everything yet..." Raon said he could do more while blinking his eyes. Despite his words, he seemed to have poured out all his strength and couldn't move any further. "When you first came here, you said you wanted to be of help to me." Glenn calmly nodded while looking at the wound on his hand that wouldn't stop bleeding. "Your fighting spirit. No, sparring with you has been of great help to me. Thanks to you, I feel like I've reached my prime strength. No, I've surpassed even that." He said he had achieved more than his intended purpose and wiped the blood from the back of his hand. "I should be able to defeat the Heavenly Demon easily." Glenn smiled calmly as if confident. "Then..." "Go up." He pointed upward with his finger while looking at the stirring Raon. "Now it's time for you to stand as a head of house."