The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1551 Behind the spacious open lot where the main building of the Sullion family was being constructed. Hwaaaaa! Runaan swung her sword with a graceful posture, as if she were a heavenly maiden descended from the sky. Proving that she was a Transcendent who could freely wield the energy of nature, she made snowflowers bloom with blue Sword Aura formed of cold energy, even without using aura. Chiaaaang! Runaan's swordsmanship fell gently as if painting a storm of snow and frost, then surged violently, scattering cold energy in every direction. It was an elegant yet ferocious sight, as though the goddess of snowflowers were raising a blizzard to soak the world. She unfolded a swordsmanship that completely dominated the surrounding space so that enemies couldn't even dare to approach. "Wooooow!" "I-is that even a human's swordsmanship…." "That's not swordsmanship, that's like watching art. How can swinging a sword be that beautiful…." "I could never copy that, but I want to…." The Sullion family's swordsmen, who had been watching Runaan, burst into repeated gasps of admiration, moved just by witnessing her swordsmanship with their own eyes. They were touched, even tearing up, that someone from their own family could be this strong and beautiful. "Like this…." After finishing her swordsmanship display, Runaan returned to her starting position and sheathed her sword. "Just do it…." She bowed her head toward the Sullion family's swordsmen, meaning for them to try copying her, saying it wasn't difficult. "Huh…?" "Y-you want us to copy that right now?" "W-what, I don't even understand what's going on…." "Not to mention the aura control, I don't even understand the footwork…." The Sullion family's swordsmen trembled their jaws, as if asking how they could possibly copy that after seeing it just once. "Huh…?" Runaan tilted her head at the sight of the bewildered Sullion family swordsmen. "You just copy it, that's all…?" She blinked, seeming more confused than they were. "J-just like that?" "There's no such thing as 'just do it' in swordsmanship!" "That's right! First you have to read through the sword manual repeatedly and learn each stance one by one to master swordsmanship!" The Sullion family's swordsmen frowned, saying they couldn't copy swordsmanship just by watching it with their eyes. "That's how we did it…." Runaan shook her head calmly. "I always watched Raon and copied him… and then it just naturally sank in…." She rested her hand on her sword, saying that swordsmanship would be learned on its own if they just kept copying. "Ngh…." "I-isn't that something only geniuses can do?" "We've really never learned swordsmanship that way before!" "S-shouldn't we solidify the basics first to properly learn swordsmanship?" "If you just give us the sword manual first, we'll study it and come back!" The Sullion family's swordsmen shook their heads, as if it was hard to follow Runaan's teaching method. "Lady Runaan isn't Lord Raon, and we aren't Lady Runaan either!" "That's right! It's a problem if you bring the Light Wind Palace's methods all the way here!" "My lady! Sullion has its own way of doing things!" The middle-aged and elderly officers, who had lived long enough to know better, lowered their hands as if refusing the training, saying they couldn't accept Runaan's methods. There were even swordsmen who still called her "my lady," as if they hadn't fully accepted that Runaan had become the head of the Sullion family. About a third of the family's swordsmen lowered their hands together, following their opinion. "It's a problem to act like the head of house just because you became a Transcendent." "Right. No matter how much she's the previous head of house's daughter, we can't accept her bringing habits learned at the Light Wind Palace all the way here." "We'll have to teach the young lady that the Sullion family has its own Sullion family laws." Several officers snorted, saying they would nip it in the bud so that Runaan couldn't wield the head of house's authority as she pleased. "Dear." Clara, Runaan's mother and the previous mistress of the Sullion family, bit her lip slightly. "Is it really alright to leave it like this?" She shook her chin, as if worried about the current situation. "Don't worry." Rokan, Runaan's father and the previous head of house of the Sullion family, shook his head firmly. "Runaan grew up not in Sullion, but in Zieghart. Even if that child achieved great achievements in Zieghart, she has to prove herself anew to become head of house here." He lowered his brow, saying that if it was Runaan, she could wisely overcome her subordinates' defiance. "This is a moment we must absolutely not interfere in. Only when Runaan subdues them with her own strength can she become a true head of house." Rokan took Clara's hand, saying that the Sullion family's officers wouldn't truly reject Runaan either. "From now on, in public settings, don't call Runaan by her name either—call her head of house." He lowered his chin gravely, saying that from now on they had to lend Runaan their strength. "Hmm…." Clara narrowed her eyes at Rokan's slightly trembling hand. "That's not what I meant…." * * * "…." Runaan looked at the swordsmen's defiant faces, then lowered her eyes. "Understood…." She lifted her eyelids, picturing in her heart the face of the person she most wanted to see right now. "Ahem!" "Then hurry and bring us the sword manual first!" "That's right. Also show us a demonstration with the stances accurately divided by technique." "Exactly! If you've come to the Sullion family, you should follow the Sullion family's ways!" The Sullion family officers, thinking they had won, nodded with sighs of satisfaction. "There's no sword manual… and no accurate stance divided by technique, either…." Runaan shook her head calmly. "Huh?" "T-then what was it you said you understood?" The Sullion family's swordsmen felt a sense of dread from Runaan's calm expression and swallowed hard, stepping back. "What to do in a situation like this…." Runaan looked at the Sullion family's swordsmen, the corner of her mouth curling up thinly. "I understood…." She said she knew how to make the defiant swordsmen quiet down, and drew her sword. "Guh!" "M-my lady. No, head of house! Why are you drawing your sword?" "A-are you really going to do this?" "We're the executives! You need us around to manage the kids below us!" The officers and swordsmen who had been complaining to Runaan hurriedly waved their hands. "Raon said… officers, soldiers, whatever… kids who don't listen…." Runaan aimed her sword, glowing a deep blue, at the swordsmen. "A beating is the answer… for starters…." She kicked off the ground, her eyes flashing with a chillingly sharp light. "Let's start with a beating..." Like Raon, Runaan didn't go back on her own decisions, and she charged straight at the old swordsman standing at the very front. Rather than simply attacking, she brought her sword down beautifully onto the back of the old swordsman's head, using the swordsmanship she had demonstrated just moments ago. THWACK! The old swordsman was struck with such force that his eyes nearly popped out, and he collapsed to the ground without even managing a scream, unable to get back up. "That's the first technique…." Runaan nodded, as if asking whether they had watched closely, and turned her eyes. "Next…." Not satisfied with just taking down the old officer, she immediately moved to find her next target. WHAM! As if she'd already decided on her next opponent, Runaan swung her second technique as though she would punch straight through the middle-aged officer's stomach. "Guaaagh!" The second officer to be struck foamed at the mouth, his whole body trembling with his head buried in the ground. "That's the second technique." Runaan tilted her head toward the swordsmen, as if telling them to watch closely. "Uh…." "W-wait!" "I-is this really happening right now? Isn't this a dream?" "What kind of head of house beats their own family members!" The swordsmen couldn't close their gaping mouths, seemingly shocked at Runaan's cold-blooded side, which they were seeing for the first time. "You said to teach you the techniques properly…." Before they knew it, Runaan had taken down the fifth officer and dusted off her hands. "Now for the sixth technique…." As if she intended to take down one person per technique, she moved toward her next opponent. "Aaaaaargh!" "Run for it!" "T-the head of house has gone mad…. No, the mad head of house is here!" Both officers and ordinary swordsmen fled from Runaan, and an untimely game of tag began in the Sullion family's open lot. Of course, no one actually got away—everyone was struck by her sword and collapsed as if dead. "Ah…?" Rokan Sullion's eyes trembled as he watched the officers and swordsmen who had collapsed as if dead, unable to rise again. "Ru-Runaan. What is this…." He gaped, his mouth open wide enough for a fly to fly in, apparently stunned by the situation unfolding completely differently from what he'd expected. "Ugh, I told you so." Clara sighed as she looked at the stunned Rokan. "Whether it was really alright to leave it like this." Unlike Rokan, she shook her head, as if she'd anticipated a situation like this from the very start. "Y-you knew? That things would turn out like this?" Rokan swallowed hard, watching Runaan take down two swordsmen at once even in this very moment. "You wouldn't have known, but this is the kind of training Runaan received at the Light Wind Palace. Lord Raon taught swordsmanship like that, with his body." Clara narrowed her eyes, saying she'd watched Raon teach the other swordsmen before. "The place where Runaan grew up and got stronger is the Light Wind Palace, so of course she can't help but follow his example. And they say the actual growth results were good, too." She nodded, saying that the swordsmen who trained while getting beaten like that grew at an explosive rate. "Explosive rate, my foot…." Rokan stopped listening to Clara partway through and leapt to his feet. "They'll be uprooted before they even get the chance to grow!" He screamed as he watched five swordsmen go flying, spattering blood. "Runaan! Stop it! They're all going to die at this rate!" Rokan shouted for her to please stop and ran toward Runaan. "This is the moment we must absolutely not interfere in, and I have to call her head of house, he said…." Clara chuckled as she watched Rokan's back as he desperately ran off. "Honestly, he can never keep a promise when it comes to his daughter. Though this time it's the opposite." She nodded, as if she'd known this would happen, then turned her gaze toward Runaan. "Runaan. You've really changed a lot. Well, I suppose…." Clara let out a sound of admiration, seemingly refreshed at the sight of her ever-timid youngest daughter fearlessly beating down swordsmen left and right. "When you love someone, you want to be just like them." She curled up the corner of her mouth, thinking of the person who had influenced Runaan so much. "Thank you, Lord Raon." * * * "There…." Runaan raised her hand and pointed at the swordsman on the right. "Your balance is broken…." She shook her head slowly, saying there was a problem with the very stance of holding the sword. "W-we'll correct it right away!" Upon hearing Runaan's correction, the Sullion family officer bowed his head until it nearly touched the ground, then straightened his twisted toes forward. "That footwork over there is backwards…." This time, Runaan turned her gaze to the swordsman on the opposite side. "Guhhh! I'm sorry!" The second swordsman to be pointed out also shouted in anguish and bowed his head, as if he'd made a fatal mistake. "The angle of your sword is wrong…." "I'm sorryyyyy!" Every time Runaan pointed out a mistake, the swordsmen screamed as they slammed their heads into the ground, as if torturing themselves. "Keep going…." Even after ten hours of continuous training, Runaan, her expression not having changed one bit since the start, ordered the swordsmen to keep swinging their swords. "Uhhhh…." "I-I'm gonna die…." "Dying while swinging a sword is still better than dying from being beaten…." "A-actually, getting beaten unconscious might be better at this point." The Sullion family's swordsmen swung their swords while staggering about like zombies. Raon would at least let the swordsmen rest in between, but Runaan showed no such consideration. It was, quite literally, a reign of terror. Her word and her orders were law. "Again…." Runaan flicked her finger, telling the swordsmen to keep honing their swordsmanship. "Aaaaaaaargh!" "Uraaaaaah!" "Yiaaaaaah!" The swordsmen swung their swords with everything they had, as if fighting a Life-and-death duel. Not wanting to be struck by Runaan ever again, they showed remarkable spirit, swinging their swords with precision even as exhaustion made their bodies waver. "Stop…." When Runaan nodded, seemingly satisfied, the swordsmen collapsed right where they stood, drenched in cold sweat as if they'd used up every last bit of strength. "I-I'm gonna die…." "It's really tough…." "Did the Light Wind Palace swordsmen do training like this every single day?" "So that's why those kids got so strong…." "Still, doing training like this after so long, it feels kind of fulfilling." Though it was tough, a few of the swordsmen wore faint smiles, saying they could feel themselves growing stronger through Runaan's training. "Fulfilling, you say…?" Runaan watched that for a moment, then approached the swordsman who had said it felt fulfilling. "Yes! I used to think I'd been living a lazy life, even by my own judgment, but with training like this, even though my body screams, my heart feels at ease instead!" "I reflected on how my Martial Prowess was far too lacking during the war, so thank you for giving me such a great opportunity!" "I'm happy too, because I can feel myself growing stronger!" "Thank you, Head of House!" The swordsmen wore bright smiles, saying that thanks to Runaan, they finally felt, after a long time, like they were growing again. "Well then…." Runaan licked her lips and raised a finger toward the swordsmen. "Want to try one more training session…?" Feeling her own mood lift at the sight of the swordsmen's happy expressions, she proposed a new training regimen. "Of course!" "We'll do it as many times as it takes!" "We will follow you, Head of House!" Trusting Runaan, the swordsmen raised their hands, saying they would follow her. However, they would come to curse this choice in the days to come. "The name… of the new training is…." Runaan parted her lips as she watched the swordsmen's sincere smiles. Her small but refreshing smile twisted sinisterly, like a demon risen from hell. "It's focus enhancement training…."