Chapter 5 - Raising the Count's Family (3)
Ron decided not to postpone it.
Envy and jealousy had a tendency to expand over time.
In all his life, he had never seen someone who knew their place and backed down on their own.
'Letting them off won't solve anything.'
It was a pathetic sort of pride that didn't know its place.
If left alone, guys like this always caused trouble.
In his two past lives, he had experienced similar situations without fail.
Based on his experience thus far, he felt the need to fix their habits from the get-go.
If that still doesn't work.
It's unfortunate, but he planned to quietly erase them.
Ron did not hesitate to kill.
The ones who deserve to die must be killed, that's what makes things easy.
It was a very simple logic.
"If you don't want to be embarrassed, let's follow obediently. I don't have time either."
"...Just don't you regret this!"
So they have some sense.
If they had yelled and screamed that they wouldn't go, it would have become tiresome in many ways.
Fortunately, these guys valued their social standing.
After quietly moving to an inconspicuous place.
"Alright, is this good enough? Come on, bring it on!"
They thought they'd have a brawl right away, but Ron stopped their hasty behavior.
"Wait."
"...Gnash!"
To prevent any noise from being heard, he secured a space and spread out a Qimen formation to blend in with the surrounding terrain.
The reversal of the Five Elements, the stillness of the Four Symbols, I name this the Taiji Void Formation.
It was a type of illusion technique, but it wasn't as grand as its name suggested.
It was a temporary screen that separated the space to block line of sight, and it could be found easily enough if one was determined to look.
As Ron did something suspicious, Dein's group became extremely wary.
The memory of Ron dealing with the assassins came to mind, and they grew afraid.
"...What in the world are you trying to do?"
"So you were in league with the assassins after all!"
"Do you think you can beat us by doing that!"
They say a scared dog barks the loudest.
Regardless, Ron finished setting up the Qimen formation.
Now, no one could come, nor could they be seen.
It's not a world where you win just by having a loud voice.
Ssiik!
An isolated space where no one comes, a place Ron usually enjoyed.
That's why he had become independent from the old man's house and built his own.
Time for himself.
That solitude was a man's romance.
Who was it that said that?
Being alone is lonely, and being with two is torturous.
Wrong.
Being alone is peaceful.
The more connections you have, the greater the responsibilities you have to bear in life.
What's more, his two past lives were ones where he had to take responsibility for the entire world.
The memories of being gaslighted from one to ten, being told, "It has to be you."
However, Ron doesn't think of himself as a pushover.
His relationships were too deep to abandon the connections he had built.
He couldn't say he could live happily even after abandoning them.
Humans are not beasts, so they cannot forsake their bonds.
As long as his personality was one that couldn't forsake a debt of gratitude.
'I should keep my human relationships as narrow as possible.'
Meeting various people would only repeat a tiring life.
The narrower the connections, the more he could minimize his responsibilities.
"I'll let you know from now on whether it's a trick or not, so come in one by one. Who's first?"
"...!"
Dein, Rotan, and Zenon hesitated, unable to give an answer.
They hadn't expected him to demand a 1-on-1 fight after threatening them to come to an empty lot.
Judging by his arrogant attitude, they thought he would tell them to come at him all at once.
"As knights of the great House of Count Leonard, surely you're not planning to attack together?"
The faces of the three stooges, struck where it hurts, were filled with anger.
Since they weren't brainless idiots.
"...We won't fall for your cunning attempt to divide us!"
"Just as I expected, you're just chaff who can't do anything alone."
"This bastard! How long are we going to listen to him, let's get him all at once!"
Dein, Zenon, and Rotan drew their swords and charged toward Ron.
Although they were trainees, they had learned the standard basic joint attack of the Dawn Knight Order, the Triangle Formation.
Dein aimed for Ron's head, while Rotan and Zenon aimed for his left and right flanks.
Swaek!
Ron didn't back down and charged as well.
In the fleeting flow of the moment where their distances intersected.
Hwik!
Ron dodged Dein's thrusting sword by a paper-thin margin and struck him on the chin.
Peok!
Dein, hit by the fist, felt his consciousness cut off as if struck by lightning, and his form collapsed.
Cheok!
Ron grabbed the collapsing Dein by the collar and threw him at the incoming Rotan, then parried the sword of Zenon, who was aiming for his flank, with his scabbard, making him lose his balance.
These movements unfolded in a single fluid motion.
Peopeok!
Zenon's head snapped left and right.
A left-right combination as fast as lightning.
He lost consciousness with the first blow and regained it with the second, but his shaken body staggered.
As control over his body collapsed, he was about to crumple to the ground.
Just as Zenon forced himself to regain his senses and control his body, a pain surged from his abdomen.
Pu-eok!
Ron's right knee slammed into his abdomen.
Zenon's back bent like a shrimp, and he threw up what he had eaten yesterday.
Kuwek!
Ron left the collapsing Zenon behind and aimed for Rotan.
Rotan, who had almost killed Dein, barely shook off his panic and swung his sword, but.
Ppaak!
Using his footwork, Ron didn't go straight but moved to the side and delivered a calf kick to the inside of Rotan's shin.
It looked like a casual kick, but you could feel its power once you were hit.
If you can walk upright after taking this, you might be suspected of being an ogre, the incarnation of calves.
Kkeuak!
Just as Rotan, thinking his leg was broken, staggered and was about to fall, a kick that bent softly like a whip from bottom to top came at him.
By the time the shadow of the foot covered his eyes, it was already too late.
Ppaaak!
The kick accurately struck Rotan's neck.
A tearing sound was heard as the ankle and neck met precisely, and Rotan's head hit the dirt ground as if hammered in.
The sight of his body collapsing like a wave was a masterpiece.
Deoldeoldeol!
Dein, who had almost had his life ended by Rotan's sword, couldn't hide his trembling.
The life-flashing-before-his-eyes moment that had just passed wouldn't leave his mind.
"...Wait!"
Ron provided perfect rest to Dein, who was on his knees.
Peo-eok!
It was the perfect position to deliver a textbook mid-section kick.
The dull impact chaotically shook the night.
Don't suspect that his skull might have been shattered.
Ron was a master of power control.
Cheolpeodeok!
The hard ground created a rebound, and Dein, as if bouncing off from the left, fell to the right.
Bururururu!
It was the dust-covered trio, proving they were alive with intermittent convulsions.
"Hey, how long are you going to lie there?"
Ron stepped on them to wake them up.
Peopeopeopeok!
If you sleep on the ground, your mouth might get crooked, so he stepped on them in the opposite direction to balance it out.
Keo-eok!
Keuaaak!
As he balanced them left and right, their consciousness came and went, repeatedly compounding the pain.
It went beyond simple pain, and the pain, or rather fear, was imprinted into their very bones.
After stomping on them to his heart's content, Ron.
Re-established who was the boss.
"Get on your knees. I'll count to three."
"...Keuuu!"
Three!
Without waiting any longer, he stomped on them randomly.
It was a merciless beating with no set rules, but the location and intensity were phenomenal.
He struck the fatal pressure points that would cause instant death by alternating them with vital pressure points to amplify their life force.
So, just when they thought they were about to die, they would be revived to savor the pain of resuscitation.
They couldn't even faint at will.
Just as they were about to faint, their minds would become crystal clear, and they would receive all the pain that had accumulated like mileage points all at once.
The three stooges were terrified by the horrific pain they had never experienced in their lives.
Keuaaaak!
After beating them to his heart's content.
"Three."
"...What?"
If you have the mind to answer, you should have quickly gotten on your knees.
"...Wait!"
The price for kicking away the opportunity was solely the burden of Dein, Zenon, and Rotan.
Ron did not stop the beating for even a tempo, crossing between vital and fatal points.
"It's good for you, eat up."
It looked brutish on the outside, but it was no different from a type of interrogation by torture.
If not, no matter how much they were young knights who trained in Aura, they would have been crippled and sickly for the rest of their lives.
However, there wasn't much to be gained from this interrogation.
The energy amplified by the vital points was focused on the fatal points and completely dissipated.
So there was nothing to be gained, and only the pain was intensified.
The Infinite Beating Grand Method.
It was a technique developed by Ron in a past life, created by fusing interrogation torture with life-and-death torture.
There was no better technique for torturing someone alive.
You could push a person to their limits, but they would never die, and you could continuously inflict pain.
The most surprising thing about this technique is that the opponent never faints, and their mind never breaks.
Since the mind and body do not collapse, the pain could be inflicted with the clarity of a 32K resolution.
That's why those who experienced it also called this technique the King Yeomra's Hell Grand Method.
'It's on a different level from barbaric techniques like bone-crushing and tendon-pulling.'
Just as Ron, who had stopped the beating, was about to count to three again.
Chwajak!
Where did they get such strength?
Dein, Zenon, and Rotan politely got on their knees.
They were fidgeting, worried they might get stomped on again.
Their bodies screamed from the lingering traces of pain.
Hoo.
Ron made a proud expression.
"A shame."
O-ssak, Bururu!
At Ron's evilness as he licked his lips, Dein, Rotan, and Zenon could now see clearly what they had provoked.
It was a Pandora's box that should never have been opened.
'...I see!'
They were able to realize one thing.
Ron had never stood out before.
Within the knight order, he was a ghost-like presence who might as well not have been there.
Until now, it hadn't seemed strange, but thinking about it, it was too strange.
'…It doesn't make sense!'
The knight order is no different from a community of fate.
They eat, sleep, and repeat the routine of training together.
They move together in the same space for years, yet no one was conscious of Ron.
Does that make sense logically?
In the knight order, Ron used to disappear as soon as training was over.
He had no point of contact with anyone and didn't hang out with anyone.
To only realize that now.
It's completely incomprehensible, but what if the knight order had consciously excluded Ron?
It wasn't that he had no presence, but that he was a being that shouldn't be touched.
And they had touched him without an ounce of fear.
'Damn it, if I knew he was this kind of guy, I wouldn't have touched him!'
'All I had to do was stay quiet!'
'But still, he could have just talked it out, there was no need to go this far!'
Although they lowered their heads, unable to even lift them, a sense of resentment grew inside.
Even though he was stronger than expected, the fact that Ron was a commoner did not change.
"You know what to do from now on, right?"
"...Of course, something like today will never happen again!"
"That's a lie."
"...No! Really... Keuak!"
Ron could tell what his opponent was thinking just by looking at them, but that was an insight accumulated from the experience he had built up in his past lives.
Of course, this time, it wasn't that insight that made him notice.
-Progress: -78.99%
Surprisingly, the status window was seeing right through their inner thoughts.
In truth, rather than seeing their thoughts, the progress rate changed every time a condition that hindered the raising of the count's family was improved.
Even if it was only by 0.01%.
For them to only amount to this much, they were truly dust-like existences.
Peopeopeopeok!
After beating them continuously, he made them kneel again.
Making someone kneel may not seem like a big deal, but for the person on the receiving end, it's a great blow to their pride.
Why?
Because the opponent thinks it's no big deal.
Pride is inherently relative.
The range that pride allows changes depending on the opponent.
"You know, right?"
"I promise! I'll never come near you again!"
"That's a lie."
"No, it's not! Why don't you believe me?"
"It doesn't make sense to say you won't come near me in the same knight order."
"...Uh, that's true.... Keuak!"
In the end, they were guys who were experiencing firsthand that if your head is bad, your body suffers.
Peopeopeopeok!
Dein, Zenon, and Rotan, who had been beaten for a long time, did not dare to rebel.
They didn't know how he did it, but he was reading their inner thoughts like a ghost.
The more they knew, the more they feared Ron.
If they had known he was that kind of person, they would never have touched him.
-Progress: -78.97% ... -78.98%
The progress rate of Raising the Count's Family was fluctuating back and forth.
"You still don't have faith in me."
"...I believe you, really!"
"You're on the fence."
"...How did you?"
It went beyond scary to eerie.
At the chilling thrill, Dein, Zenon, and Rotan were beaten while at a loss for words.
Peopeopeopeok!
They were hit, and hit again.
'…Why am I not fainting!'
It wouldn't be strange to faint at this point! But his mind was as calm and clear as a tranquil lake.
The method is clear.
To be liberated from this pain, he must forget his grudge against Ron.
No-thought, liberation from pain!
It was an infinite hell of beatings that could only be escaped that way.
Not a single point of suspicion or doubt is allowed.
He didn't know how he knew, but Ron knew their inner thoughts inside and out.
The more they realized the reality, the more Dein, Rotan, and Zenon felt a sense of awe.
-Progress: -78.4%
At the fixed progress rate, Ron swallowed a dry laugh.
'So this works.'
He was going to use his last resort if it didn't, but Raising the Count's Family had vouched for it.
-Reward: 1 Coin
It even gave him a reward for his efforts.
Moreover, if these guys were to betray him, all the responsibility would fall on the Count's Family.
Above all.
'It doesn't matter if I change.'
The factor that affects the progress rate was likely the change in others, those related to the count's family.
Although there was still a lack of confirmed data, he could confirm it through the test subjects of the count's family.