'Let's check this out now, shall we?'
Raon sat on the shrunken Wrath and recalled the reward message.
[You have achieved a great feat.]
[You have contemplated
[All ability scores increased by 100 points.]
He slowly scanned through the message, stopping at the second line.
'Contemplated death?'
The "great feat" right above it was something he'd seen so often he could recite it from memory, but he had never once seen this line about contemplating death before.
'It must be because I glimpsed Derus Robert's memories.'
It was clear that such a message appeared because, thanks to Glenn, he had absorbed a portion of Derus Robert's Soul Sword into his own soul and witnessed the bastard's memories.
'No, that's not all.'
Raon smacked his lips lightly as he looked at the message that appeared on the fourth line.
[New trait
It wasn't just seeing Derus Robert's memories; the death aura that the bastard possessed had been created as a trait. With a soft whoosh, Raon summoned the dark energy residing deep within his soul to his pinky finger. A very faint black flame, like dying embers, ignited at the tip of his finger.
'Death aura.'
Though very weak, it was the exact same power that Derus had wielded.
'To think that I, who possess the
Honestly, obtaining an ability he'd never even considered was a bit bewildering.
-Huh...?
Wrath, who had been lying collapsed, widened his eyes as he saw the death aura burning from Raon's finger.
-W-what! Why do you possess a death aura!
He pushed himself away from Raon and leapt up.
'It seems Derus Robert's Soul Sword was reversely absorbed into me.'
Raon wiggled his finger as he explained that Derus's power seemed to have been absorbed when Glenn cut the connected Soul Sword.
-I-insane...
Wrath gaped in disbelief.
-Instead of being absorbed, you absorbed it reversely? What kind of creature are you!
He trembled his chubby cheeks, seemingly unable to comprehend Raon's existence.
'Well, it's not particularly useful anyway.'
Raon shook his head as he extinguished the Black Flame on his fingertip.
'It doesn't grow even when I inject aura into it.'
Unlike other abilities, the death aura didn't grow when he injected his aura into it. Since it originated from Derus, it seemed it couldn't grow with ordinary mana.
-Foolish...
Wrath twisted his lips as he looked at Raon.
-Look at the name of that ability! It's death aura, so wouldn't you need to witness death for it to grow!
He wrinkled the bridge of his nose, wondering why Raon didn't understand something so obvious.
'Witnessing death means...'
-Either kill someone or face a deadly crisis yourself, one of the two.
Wrath nodded, saying those were the only two ways to strengthen the death aura.
'That makes sense.'
Raon nodded as he felt the death aura retreat back into his soul.
'Thanks for telling me.'
He waved his hand at Wrath, saying he was always helpful.
-Huh? Aaaargh!
Wrath screamed as he suddenly realized he had provided significant help.
-Y-you! How did you brainwash this king! I had no intention of helping you!
He clenched his fist, demanding that Raon undo the brainwashing immediately.
'I didn't do anything; you volunteered all the information yourself.'
Raon chuckled as he looked at Wrath's deeply furrowed brow. He couldn't understand how this creature, so eager to show off his knowledge, could claim to be brainwashed.
-I will never forgive you!
Wrath ground his teeth loudly, as if to say "just you wait."
'Do as you please.'
Raon smirked and checked the next messages.
[Trait
[Trait
[Trait
[Trait
[Trait
[Trait
[Trait
[Trait
[Trait
This time, the messages were about trait growth. Just seeing these traits that could be helpful in the upcoming war improved his mood.
-T-this damn...
Wrath bit his lip as he quickly scanned through the trait messages.
-Why does Array Analysis increase, and why do Divine Power Resistance and Light Attribute Resistance increase separately!
He struck at the message with his bread-like round fist, complaining that he couldn't understand the system at all.
'They gave it because I deserved it, I guess.'
Raon pushed away the struggling Wrath and checked the final messages.
[New title
For the first time in a while, a new title appeared rather than an enhancement to an existing one. However, he couldn't determine its meaning from the name alone.
'Let me check its details.'
He summoned the title and checked its details.
'What does this mean?'
Even after rereading it, he couldn't grasp its exact meaning. The part about not being tainted by death seemed positive, but he had no idea what ability it conferred.
'Wrath.'
Raon called to Wrath while pointing at the title's description.
'Do you have any idea what this means?'
-...Hmph.
Wrath stared at the title intently before snorting.
-I-I don't want to tell you!
He turned his head away abruptly, declaring he wouldn't tell.
'Hmm.'
Raon looked at Wrath's round back of the head and twisted his lips upward.
'You don't know. If you did, you would have already blabbed about it.'
It was obvious that if Wrath knew, he would have already explained everything, since he suffered from an incurable need to show off his knowledge, as he had done earlier with the death aura.
-This bastard...
Wrath's lips trembled, his face reddening as if struck in a vital point.
'Before you attack, look at this first.'
Raon pointed to the message that was floating at the end.
[You have suppressed
[All ability scores increased by 1 point.]
He waved his hand, advising Wrath not to repeat the same mistake.
-Oh forget it! I don't care!
Rather than being deterred, Wrath seemed to take offense and charged at Raon with even greater fury than before. Fwoooosh! Of course, the result remained unchanged.
[You have suppressed
[All ability scores increased by 1 point.]
After being thoroughly defeated twice with full force, Wrath sank weakly to the ground, completely drained of energy.
-Sniff...
He buried his face in the ground, sniffling as if saddened by his situation.
'I need to train now. So stay put for a while.'
Raon waved his hand at Wrath as he stood up.
'There's not much time left.'
He didn't have much time left to grow strong enough not to be completely outmatched by Derus. Having confirmed all his rewards, it was time to focus intensely on his swordsmanship. With a smooth swish, Raon drew his Heavenly Drive sword and was about to begin practicing his swordsmanship.
[
A message appeared indicating that the
'Hmm...?'
Raon turned his gaze to Wrath, who was still sprawled on the ground, sniffling.
'Could it be that the death aura is also related to the Devildom?'
He narrowed his eyes as he felt the slightly grown death aura within his soul.
'Or maybe...'
***
The next evening, after finishing his training, Raon headed not to the annex building, but to the mansion of the Ragged Saint Federick.
"Go to that room over there."
Federick pointed to a room on the right without even greeting him, as if he already knew the purpose of Raon's visit.
"Thank you."
Raon bowed his head to Federick and then opened the door on the right and went inside. In the room were Sylvia, Edgar, and Rector who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Father. Please have some fruit. The oranges are delicious."
"Exactly. This neighborhood has everything. It's in the north but has two Bead Ice Cream shops. That says it all."
Sylvia was peeling fruit and handing it to Rector, while Edgar was rambling about various things as he watched.
"Hmm, you've come."
Rector greeted him with his only remaining left arm, saying it seemed like it had been a while.
"Haah..."
Raon exhaled a sigh of relief as he saw Rector's improved complexion and physical condition. He had worried there might be serious after-effects, but fortunately, there didn't seem to be any major issues.
"Are you alright?"
Still, to be sure, he directly asked about Rector's condition.
"I'm fine. They say it's thanks to your good emergency treatment."
Rector smiled gently, saying he was able to save his life thanks to Raon's treatment.
"You should appreciate your son and daughter-in-law."
Edgar arrogantly nodded his chin at Rector with his arms crossed.
"Son and daughter-in-law?"
Rector furrowed his brow as he looked at Edgar.
"I survived thanks to Raon, so why should I thank you?"
"Sylvia and I gave birth to Raon, and Sylvia raised him!"
Edgar snorted, asking if Rector didn't even know the story of the chicken and the egg.
"Honey!"
Sylvia slapped Edgar's back with her palm, telling him to stay quiet.
"Oof!"
It must have been a touch infused with aura, as Edgar jumped up with a scream.
"Sigh, you still give me a headache even after all this time."
Rector massaged his temples, saying that just looking at Edgar's face was exhausting. However, contrary to his words, he softened his expression as if he didn't actually mind.
"..."
Raon glanced at Rector's right shoulder... Where a robust arm should have been, there was only a blood-soaked white bandage.
'Will he be okay?'
Having lost his right arm—which was like life itself to a martial artist—in an instant, Raon couldn't imagine how Rector must feel.
'If Master were here, he would have given good advice.'
Since Rimmer had already experienced this, he would have been able to offer Rector good words of comfort, but Raon couldn't think of what to say.
'No, I can't always depend on him.'
Raon shook his head as he touched the Wooden Ring Sword imbued with Rimmer's spirit.
'Now I must act on my own.'
He had already received mountains of help from Rimmer. From now on, he needed to resolve everything himself.
'If it's Grandfather...'
The Sword Demon Rector would surely understand his intentions. Raon took a deep breath inwardly and approached Rector, who was arguing with Edgar.
"Grandfather."
"Yes."
Rector nodded as if to say go ahead and speak your mind.
"The war with Derus Robert is not far off. It will be a brutal battle where the living will die, and the dead will scream as they are brought back to life…"
Raon looked with unwavering eyes at the scars etched into Rector's face and body.
"I need your help then, Grandfather. Please become stronger than you are now and fight alongside me."
Though he knew it was an unreasonable request, he bowed his head as he asked the elderly swordsman who had lost his right arm to fight together.
"Raon! You!"
Sylvia put down the half-cut fruit and stood up as if to say "what are you talking about?"
"W-wait! I understand how you feel, but you're rushing too much! Father is still a patient!"
Edgar also shook his chin as if he realized Raon was serious.
-A-are you serious? You unfilial bastard!
Wrath also gaped as if he hadn't expected Raon to say such things.
"..."
Rector kept his gaze fixed on Raon, not even looking at Sylvia and Edgar. His eyes turned red as if filling with indignation.
"Um, Father."
"Father. Raon is still young so..."
Sylvia and Edgar approached Rector as if trying to calm him down.
"Kuh..."
Rector raised his left arm as if telling Sylvia and Edgar not to come any closer.
"Khahahahaha!"
He burst into a hearty laugh while looking up at the ceiling, as if thoroughly delighted.
"F-Father?"
"Father..."
Edgar's eyes widened in complete confusion.
"Since I was brought here, everyone has been treating me like an old man confined to the back room, telling me to just rest..."
Rector looked at Raon with eyes full of affection.
"Only my grandson has considered me. No, has considered the swordsman named Rector."
He was so moved by Raon's words that his eyes turned red.
"Yes! This old man will erase everything that stands in your way!"
Rector nodded with a face full of confidence, as if telling Raon to wait just a little longer.
"Yes. I'll be waiting."
Raon bowed deeply, saying he would trust and wait for Rector.
"Then."
Without looking back, he left the hospital room.
"Uh..."
"Huh?"
Sylvia and Edgar alternated bewildered glances between Raon's retreating figure and Rector.
"What is this..."
The two blinked, still unable to understand what had happened.
"There's no need to be so confused."
Rector waved his hand at Sylvia and Edgar.
"You thought of Rector the human. Raon thought of the Sword Demon Rector, the martial artist. Seeing how welcome Raon's words were to me, it seems I still want to live as a martial artist."
He smiled softly as he looked at the door through which Raon had left.
"As you said, Edgar. I truly have a good grandson."
"Hmm..."
Edgar rolled his eyes and lowered his voice.
"I said you have a good son, not grandson..."
***
After leaving Federick's mansion, Raon headed to the fifth training ground as if nothing had happened.
-Hey!
Wrath jumped in front of him, blocking his view.
-What exactly happened back there!
He waved both arms, demanding an explanation.
'Grandfather has lived his entire life as a martial artist.'
Raon recalled Rector's depressed expression that he had seen as soon as he entered the hospital room.
'Having lost an arm—his right arm at that—and spent much of his vitality, everyone who saw Grandfather would have been worried and only told him to rest.'
-Hmm, that's probably true.
'But Grandfather seemed to want to keep fighting. The fire in his eyes hasn't disappeared yet.'
Though Rector's face was deeply lined, showing the passage of time, his eyes were still alive. Raon had merely thrown a bit of kindling onto that fire.
-Huh...
Wrath frowned as if in disbelief.
-How come you, who's usually so oblivious, noticed this?
He let out an empty breath, wondering how Raon had known such a thing.
'Maybe it's because it's not about people, but about martial artists.'
Raon was shaking his head, saying he wasn't sure himself, when—
"Lord Raon!"
The Shadow Agents' Leader Chad came running while waving his hand.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me Derus again..."
Raon frowned as he went to meet Chad. Seeing his urgent expression, he recalled the disgusting face of Derus Robert that he had seen a few days ago.
"No! It's not that..."
Chad opened his mouth immediately, without even taking a breath.
"A holy war has broken out in the Suphren Holy Kingdom!"