The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1546 (Side Story) "Raon felt disappointed about that too." Sylvia slipped up behind Alice and cut into the conversation. "Not getting to hear you call him 'nephew,' older brother." She sighed, saying Raon had been disappointed that he never properly got to hear Karoon call him "nephew." "T-that's!" Karoon turned around with startled eyes, as if he had never even imagined Raon thinking such a thing. "Wow! Our ice-block little brother making a face like that—Raon really is something!" "Tomorrow the sun's going to rise in the west! Brother, have you been wearing some strange mask? Come to think of it, you might've been bewitched by Eden." "Heh heh!" Alice praised Raon for turning Karoon into that, Balder made a fuss claiming Karoon's soul had been swapped, and Sylvia burst out laughing behind her hand. It was the moment the four siblings, who had once blown nothing but cold air at each other like the frigid northern wind, truly became a family. "T-the Master of the Central Martial Palace, making an expression like that!" "H-his personality has completely changed from before." Krein and Dorian, too, felt the change in Karoon and gaped in astonishment. "I thought Lord Karoon only had one kind of face…." "Push him just a little more and he might cry?" "I can't resist seeing the new head of house cry!" "I guess it's the Sword God! Even after ascending, his influence is no joke!" Zieghart's swordsmen, sensing how much softer Karoon's demeanor had become, tossed out jokes along with their smiles. The swordsmen did not avoid saying Raon's name in order to let him go; rather, as if determined to never forget him, they kept repeating the name "Raon" even while revealing their sorrow and longing. There is a saying that a hero is never forgotten, living on forever on the bookshelves of people's hearts. Raon, too, despite having left this world, had left a deep mark in everyone's heart. "Thanks to you, it feels like Zieghart has truly become one." Burren clenched his fist tightly, feeling a surging resolve well up in his chest. "You're watching too, aren't you?" He looked up at the sky and let out a bright, clear smile. "Thank you, Raon." * * * "Hm…." Karoon stood on the ground where the main building had once stood and bit down hard on his lip. He tried to force his emotions down, but seeing the ashes once again, melted away before destruction, an unbearable emptiness and rage rose up inside him. "There's really nothing left at all. Even North Grave Mountain has been completely erased." Balder clicked his tongue long and loud. "At this point, might it be better to rebuild the family somewhere else?" He clicked his tongue, saying it seemed better to give up this location and look for a new place. "I was thinking the same." Alice frowned, fanning herself with her hand. "Unlike the Holy Sword Alliance's sacred ground, this land still bears the curse left behind by the Demonic Dragon of Destruction. Dealing with that energy alone will take a lot of effort and money." She shook her head, saying the heat of destruction left behind by the Demonic Dragon still remained in Zieghart's land. "I want to stay here. No, I want to stay even if it's just me alone." Sylvia fidgeted with her hands, her brows drooping. "Someday, that child…." She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone knew what came next. "It's all difficult!" Gambling Monster threw an empty liquor bottle and stomped his foot. "Settling somewhere else and rebuilding the family right here—both are going to be a goddamn difficult job!" He pulled out a new bottle as he walked toward Karoon. "So you decide! New head of house!" Gambling Monster said the decision was Karoon's and extended his hand as if for a handshake. "…." Karoon narrowed his eyes at Gambling Monster before taking his hand. "This is…." Karoon's eyes widened as he felt something seeping into him through Gambling Monster's hand. "If it's you, you should be able to feel it." Gambling Monster brushed off his own hand that was holding Karoon's with the liquor bottle and smacked his lips. "The treasury…." Karoon moved his fingers, releasing the energy that had just seeped into him. "Why do you have Zieghart's treasury?" His jaw trembled faintly as he looked at the door of Zieghart's treasury floating up behind him. "Why do you think?" Gambling Monster poured the liquor bottle into his mouth and then lowered it. "That brat told me to pass it on to you, so I've been holding onto it." He wrinkled his nose, saying he'd received Zieghart's treasury from Raon. "He said that if he ever happened to disappear, I should pass it on to you." Gambling Monster clicked his tongue, saying it seemed Raon thought he might disappear after the war. "Even in the midst of all that, making this old man run his errands—what a damn brat indeed!" Despite calling Raon a damn brat, he let out a sigh with bitter eyes. "The previous head of house…." Karoon let out a low groan, sensing Raon in the weight he felt from Zieghart's treasury. "It's more than enough money to buy new land and found a family, so do as you wish. That brat Raon must have left you the treasury hoping for exactly that." Gambling Monster delivered the Treasury, but stepped back as if he wouldn't interfere with the decision. "Father…." Burren looked at Karoon, biting down hard on his lip. "Do as your heart tells you, Father." He steadied his breath, gripping his sword firmly, as if to say he would follow whatever decision Karoon made. The other Zieghart swordsmen, too, silently watched Karoon, as if they would follow his decision just like Dogoe and Burren. "…." Karoon closed his eyes and examined the Zieghart treasury he had received from Dogoe. 'There's enough money.' It really is an amount that could found a brand new family. Zieghart's treasury had already held great wealth, but with the gold coins Raon had amassed added on top, it had now grown into an astronomical sum. With this much, any piece of land at all could be bought. 'On the other hand, rebuilding Zieghart here is a difficult task.' As he had just felt, a great deal of the Authority of Destruction still remained in the fallen land of Zieghart. Rebuilding the family while clearing away that curse would be far harder than simply buying land elsewhere. 'But still….' Karoon clenched his fist, gazing at the north, now wide open after North Grave Mountain's disappearance. 'Just as Father did, and just as Raon did.' I too want to ascend the throne on this land. As he had told everyone, Zieghart was not a place but people. But the Zieghart he wanted to build was the great path that his father and Raon had walked, and so he wanted to stand where they stood. 'In order to achieve that….' I have to be the one to act. Turning this fierce yet empty land back into a great Zieghart was the first great feat on his path to following Glenn and Raon. "I…." Karoon ended his deep contemplation and slowly lifted his eyelids. "I want to rebuild Zieghart on this land once more." As if he had already finished thinking it through, he delivered not a suggestion but a decision. "It will certainly be a difficult task." Karoon nodded, pressing down on the ground where the Demonic Dragon's curse still burned. "This land is still full of the curse, and with North Grave Mountain collapsed, it has become an exposed, blind spot easily taken from behind by enemies." He said he wanted to rebuild House Zieghart on this land once more, laying out its current weaknesses exactly as they were. "But Zieghart's spirit still remains in this cold earth!" Karoon stamped his foot and raised his voice. "The previous head of house, Sword God Raon Zieghart, inherited the Iron Will left behind when the First Patriarch of Zieghart sealed the Demonic Dragon of Destruction, and in the end cut off the dragon's head. Because Zieghart's conviction, passed down for a thousand years, still continues to this day, I want to rebuild the family on this very land!" As if he had already made his decision, he lifted his chin with a resolve so firm it was almost cold. "I will erase the curse of destruction that remains on this great land! I will bring down a bloody hammer upon any enemy who comes targeting this blind spot! And once the curse and the enemies on this land are gone—" Karoon drew the sword from his waist and drove it down into the earth where the dragon's curse still lingered. KABOOOOOOM! His sword blossomed with a brilliant blue light and began erasing the endless burning heat of destruction from the land. "I will ascend, by my own will, to the throne I received from the previous head of house!" As if he felt he still could not fill the void Raon had left, Karoon cried out that he would ascend to Zieghart's throne only after erasing every last curse, and pulled his sword from the now-cleansed earth. At Karoon's feet, two shadows overlapped. The shadow of Glenn Zieghart, the towering tree he had looked up to his whole life and his father, and the shadow of his nephew Raon Zieghart—whose very existence he had once dismissed, but who had effortlessly surpassed him and succeeded their father just as Karoon himself had long wished to. Karoon had never managed to surpass either his great father's shadow or his talented nephew's shadow. Neither of them had waited for him—both had left this world before their flowers had even fully bloomed. The sorrow and the wishes of two generations met and finally settled upon the tip of Karoon's sword. The weight of Zieghart's blood and conviction, along with the fated burden left behind by those who had gone before, pressed down on his shoulders as if it would break them. For Karoon—for the man he used to be—it was surely a weight he could never have borne. But he was no longer a leader standing alone. "Let it be as the head of house wills!" "We will follow in the new head of house's footsteps!" "Zieghart! May you live forever!" "Follow the path of the Sword God!" In place of the family's pillars, now crumbled to ash, swordsmen who shared his heart stood behind him to support him, and in place of a golden throne's splendor, the trusting gazes of those swordsmen, blossoming with loyalty, fell at his feet. Through countless hardships and sacrifices, Zieghart had, for the first time in a thousand years, become one once again. FWOOOOOOOSH! Without hesitation, Karoon thrust his sword toward the sky. It was his declaration, as the new head of house, sent to the father and nephew who had reached the heavens. CHAAAAAANG! The Zieghart swordsmen, as if resolved to follow the new head of house's conviction and will, drew their swords without a moment's hesitation and raised them toward the same direction. Karoon Zieghart and his household stood atop the family that had turned to ash and vanished after a thousand years, and took their first tiny step forward. It was the beginning of a great yet arduous journey, undertaken under the name of Head of House Karoon Zieghart. The Story of Karoon Zieghart (End).