The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman

s hands.”

“I know, right? He’s saving us without asking for anything in return.
I don’t know about the South-North Union, but we can trust Sir Tyler.”

The villagers were still talking about Tyler, even though he had left a long time ago.

Raon licked his lips while watching the excited villagers.

‘They are absolutely fond of him.’

Considering the reactions of the crew and the villagers, the village was pretty much under the South-North Union’s control—or, more specifically, Tyler’s control.

‘This isn’t going to be easy.’

It looked like it would be difficult to set up Zieghart’s flag in the village.

‘But it was already beneficial to come here.’

Raon smiled while thinking about the water walking technique Tyler had shown him earlier.

‘I learned something nice.’

* * *

[Translator – Kyangi]

[Proofreader – Harley]

* * *

Raon and the Light Wind squad returned to visit the village chief.
Even though the village chief was well advanced in years, he had a sturdy body.
Judging from his hands, he must’ve been still working on something that required strength.

“Thank you for coming.”

The village chief bowed with a smile, but he couldn’t hide the reluctance around his mouth.

When you ’re just trying to make great content at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Can you tell us about the situation for now?” Raon asked after greeting him back. 

Since Rimmer didn’t like doing something annoying like that, Raon needed to do his job instead.

“Hmm, the Blue Lughs started to leave their residence to hang all around the Gazel River a few months ago.
We didn’t mind them because they weren’t harming us, but the problems started to occur two months ago.”

The village chief sighed, then continued.

“The Blue Lughs usually hide away as soon as they hear the sound of a ship, yet they suddenly attacked a fishing boat.
It would be difficult to believe for those who knew about the Blue Lughs, but I saw that happen with my own eyes.”

“Hmm…”

Raon nodded.
It was the same thing he’d heard when Rimmer told them about the mission.

“They became more and more aggressive over time and ended up sinking the boat—they even started to attack people.
Now, they even attacked the big merchant ship that you saw earlier.”

“Why are they attacking the ships and the people?”

“I have no idea.”

The village chief helplessly shook his head.

“Unlike the other demi-humans, the Blue Lughs are unable to speak the human language.
The situation is troublesome in various ways, because we have barely any connection with them despite having seen each other for a long time.”

His clenched fist was trembling.

“When we were wondering what to do about the continued attack of Blue Lughs, the warriors from South-North Union acted on our behalf, as they happened to pass by on the river.
They defeated the Blue Lughs in an instant even though they were supposed to be invincible in the water, and even saved the people who fell in.”

A smile appeared on the village chief’s face as soon as he mentioned the South-North Union.

“Sir Tyler gladly accepted our request for occasional patrol and is currently checking around Gazel River every single day.
The same went for today, when he immediately came to save the crew upon hearing the news about the Blue Lughs’ attack.

He hesitated for a while before slowly opening his mouth.

“I-I’m really sorry for the Zieghart swordsmen who came all the way here, but we are thinking about leaving the village’s protection to the South-North Union.”

The village chief finished his sentence despite his trembling lips.

“I see.”

Since Raon was expecting it, he simply nodded.
Everyone inside the village was currently fond of Tyler.

‘And they are also closer.’

The South-North Union was closer than Zieghart to the village.
It wasn’t strange for them to ask help from the people who would visit them more often because they were located nearby.

“I-I also have a question.
Including the Zieghart’s investigators who came earlier, whose request did you receive to come here…?”

“That’s…”

“I requested them.”

When Raon was about to answer, a deep voice could be heard from outside.
The door sprang open, and two young men entered the room.
One of them had a build as sturdy as a general, and the other one had clear eyes despite being thin.

“Belga! Morin! Why did you do that?”

The village chief frowned, but the young men didn’t care about him and simply bowed to Raon and Rimmer.

“Thank you for coming.”

“Did the two of you call us?”

“Indeed.”

The bulky young man called Belga nodded.

“Why did you call us when it looks like you are on good terms with the South-North Union?”

Rimmer tilted his head.

“That’s because we can’t trust them.”

“B-Belga! You rascal!”

“Even though they are pretending to be kind neighbors, they were originally bandits.
They are people who steal from others, and don’t value lives.”

Belga continued, despite the village chief trying to stop him.

Raon created an aura barrier around the place just in case, so that they wouldn’t be heard from the outside.

“Bandits create a road at least, but pirates simply extort money by placing a ship on a river that already exists.
Tyler is no different.
He’s pretending to be a hero, but what he’s doing is still the behavior of a pirate.
That’s why I can’t trust them.”

“N-Nonsense! He asked nothing in return after helping us!”

“Gazel River will be included in their domain once they take over our village.
I’m sure they are stopping themselves from extorting from us because of all the potential gains!”

“Seriously, you rascal!”

“Moreover, it’s strange that the South-North Union made their move as soon as the Blue Lughs changed…”

“Belga! Morin!”

The village chief shouted so loud that the room felt like it was trembling, and Belga and Morin closed their mouths in surprise.

“Be careful of what you say.
The entire village could end up burning because of a single word from you.”

“But…”

“Kids have no say in this matter! Since the Blue Lughs are gone, you should set sail as planned! Morin, you should also go there to help them!”

“Ugh…”

Belga bit his lip.
He looked at Raon for a moment before bowing at him and left.

“Huhuhu! They are just too young.
I’ll apologize in their stead.”

The village chief smiled awkwardly and wiped off the sweat falling from his temple.

“It’s okay, I understand.
Young ones are bound to act up,” Rimmer insisted while grinning.

“Thank you for understanding.”

“About that, I heard this place had some famous liquor.”

“Are you talking about the White Red Wine?”

“Yes, that one! Can I have a taste of that? I’d like some liquor because I came a long way.”

“S-Sure.”

He requested some liquor while pretending he wasn’t interested in the mission.
He was bobbing his finger at the same time.
He was apparently telling Raon to go outside to talk to the young men.

Raon silently stood up and left the village chief’s room.
The two young men he saw a moment ago were walking towards the village’s outskirts.
The smaller one among them was limping, and that must’ve been why they were still nearby.

“We met a moment ago.”

Raon caught up to them in no time, blocking their way.

“Gasp!”

“Th-The Frostfire Sword of Valor!”

It looked like they knew who Raon was, since they didn’t hide their surprise, unlike when they were in the room.

“I-I’m honored to meet you.
My name is Belga!”

“I’m Morin.”

They nodded, Belga vigorously and Morin calmly.

“I came to see you because I was curious about something.”

“What?”

“What did you mean when you mentioned earlier that there was something strange about the South-North Union and the Blue Lughs?”

“Please come here for a moment.”

Belga looked around him as he guided him to a narrow alley.
He leaned his back towards a wooden wall and slowly opened his mouth.

“The South-North Union originally didn ’t use this waterway.
However, they suddenly appeared when the Blue Lughs became extremely aggressive and started to attack people, becoming heroes in the process.”

Belga frowned.

“The timing was just too perfect to be a coincidence.”

“That’s right.
I’m glad they’ve saved the people, but it’s just too big of a coincidence.”

Morin nodded in agreement.

“It’s impossible for them to know when people are dying, no matter how knowledgeable they are about the waterway.”

“Hmm…”

Raon licked his lips.
They were right about that, but that couldn’t be considered proof.

“Additionally, people’s impression of those thieves is currently too good because the South-North Union had no influence on our village before.”

Belga sighed.

“I have a friend in a village that went under the South-North Union a few years ago.
He said that he was happy about that at first because it became safer, but he turned into a completely different person in a few years.
He just kept chasing after money, with no room to think about anything else.”

“He didn’t tell me the reason why, but he kept freaking out whenever I mentioned the South-North Union.
I’m sure they’ve done something to them.”

Morin also shook his head, telling him that the South-North Union shouldn’t be trusted.

“The elders forgot about the fact that the South-North Union can’t easily attack us because we are located right next to Zieghart’s domain, and they are being too optimistic about receiving the South-North Union’s help.”

“We will convince him, so can you give us some time?”

The two people begged him as they bowed.

“I…”

As Raon was about to respond, someone was shaking their hands towards them from the village’s main entrance.

“Belga!”

“Come here already!”

They seemed to be Belga’s companions who were about to go fishing with him.

“You should go.
We should continue this talk later.”

“Yes! We will visit you again after putting our thoughts together.”

“See you.”

They bowed at him again, then ran out of the village.

“Tyler from the South-North Union.”

He remembered the way Martha said that people like Tyler were huge snakes on the inside.
Her judgment about appearances was unexpectedly correct sometimes.

‘She might’ve been right about that.’

He couldn’t completely believe what Belga and Morin had said, but he did find Tyler’s reaction slightly strange.

It was probably a good idea to prepare to fight the South-North Union, on top of the Blue Lughs.

Raon smiled while thinking about the wave of Tyler’s footwork.

‘Shall I try walking on the water?’

____

____