The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman

are called friends.”

I immediately nodded.

I was happy.
The way he called me ‘people’, and the fact that someone could finally understand me made me so happy that I thought I would have no regrets even if I died.

Tyler taught me more about the world, since he was aware of my desire for knowledge.
Thanks to him, I gained various bits of knowledge and even learned to read a map.

“Can I make a request?”

Once I learned various things about the river and ocean, Tyler extended his hand with a smile.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“A request?”

“Yes.
Friends usually grant each other’s requests.”

I immediately nodded without even considering it because he said it was a friend’s request.

“This area is dangerous for ships to pass because of the amount of sunken rocks.
I’d like you to create a waterway.”

Since I was already capable of reading a map and had various pieces of knowledge, it wasn’t a difficult request.

I went around to various rivers from morning to night every day to create waterways for Tyler.

Human villages were burned, and countless people died every time a waterway was completed, but Tyler simply said that it was human culture and smiled gently at me.

I trusted him because he was my friend.
I simply accepted what he said like an idiot.

“Can you tell me more about your people?”

Once I completed half of the Gazel River’s waterways, Tyler asked me to teach him about the Blue Lughs.

I was happy.
I was so glad that my friend was interested in me, just like the way I was interested in humans.

I told Tyler about the Blue Lugh tribe.
I told him how we communicated with each other, how we lived, and what we liked and disliked.

However, he wanted even more.

He wanted to know how the Blue Lughs were using water sorcery, what weaknesses we had, and why the Gazel River was cleaner than other rivers.
Even though I had a feeling that I shouldn’t answer those questions, he didn’t hesitate to ask them all.

I hesitated, then shook my head in the end.
I wasn’t too sure, but I had a feeling that I shouldn’t answer him.

“I’m disappointed.
You don’t even want to grant the request of the only friend you have.”

Tyler left after saying that.

I was anxious.
Because the only person who could understand me had disappeared, my hands trembled and I was unable to breathe.
I couldn’t even eat anything from the anxiety, and I stayed awake all night long.

Tyler returned one week later and gave me a gift instead of being angry at me.
He apologized to me while giving me some human food and new books.

“I’m sorry.
I just wanted to know more about my friend’s race.”

His words blew away my anxiety and nervousness at once.
I was so unbearably happy that I ended up telling him every secret of the Blue Lugh tribe.

I told him about the Water God Stone, which was the tribe’s treasure and allowed us to purify water and command the Blue Lughs.
I told him that the Blue Lughs became emotionally agitated if they were in dirty water, and I also explained to him our custom treasures children.

When I think about it now, I answered him because of anxiety, not because of happiness.
I offered them as a hostage, because I was terrified that Tyler might leave me.

Tyler thanked me while smiling brightly, and my anxiety disappeared upon seeing his smile.

He returned two days later and asked me to visit Siren River, since he had a gift for me over there.

I was overjoyed and swam to Siren River without rest, but I couldn’t find the gift, no matter how long I looked for it.

I waited until sunset, but I still couldn’t find anything.
I figured that Tyler must’ve made a mistake and returned.

And I saw it.

The bloodbath filled with screams, with green blood flowing into that clean Gazel River.

The corpses of my tribe were spread all over the ground, and those who were alive had iron collars around their necks.

“Oh, you are back.”

Tyler casually waved his hand while smiling like always.
The blood of my siblings was smeared all over his hand and face.

“I easily managed to get them thanks to you.”

He lifted the Water God Stone while stepping on the chieftain’s head.

“They went on their knees once I took a child hostage.
Thank you, friend.”

I lunged at him while screaming loudly for the first time in my life, and I can’t remember what happened after that.

When I regained my consciousness, I was alone deep under the Gazel River, and the corpses of my parents and siblings were placed on top of me.

The large scar on my back suggested that it wouldn’t have been strange if I were dead.
They must’ve believed that I was dead because of my family and left me alone.

I cried.

I cried and fainted.
I repeated that process over and over for an entire week.

I piled up all my hard feelings in my heart and chased after my tribe.

I did my best to stop my tribe from killing people while staying deep and far enough to avoid Tyler finding out about me.

However, there was nothing I could do.

All I could do was save a few people, and I couldn’t muster the courage to ask for help from other people because of what happened with Tyler.

Whenever I witnessed Tyler becoming a hero by killing the Blue Lughs that he was controlling himself, my heart kept falling into darkness.

Just like always, I despaired today because I was incapable of saving people, and a human appeared in front of me.

Even though he looked far scarier than Tyler, I could feel warmth from his gaze for some reason.

That was why I unconsciously spoke the human language that I hadn’t used for a very long time.

* * *

“…I see.”

Raon closed his eyes.

‘That’s too harsh.’

Pitiful wasn’t enough to describe him.
The Blue Lugh’s life was so deplorable that he could say that it was almost as bad as his previous life.

‘But… Why am I getting angry right now?’

Even though Raon was completely unrelated to him, he couldn’t suppress his anger.
It wasn’t just the emotion he had received from Wrath, but the wrath he had from the beginning was also being stimulated.

He opened his eyes and looked at the flowing water.
The young Blue Lugh’s eyes were reflecting on the surface because he was sitting close to the river.

‘Is it because he’s similar to me?’

The way the Blue Lughs were attacking people, with Tyler leading them with collars, looked exactly like his previous life.
The life where he had to murder people against his will because of the brainwashing he was under.

The Blue Lughs were a reflection of his previous self, who used to be controlled by Derus.
That was the reason he was getting so agitated.

“I-I don’t understand why I’m telling you about this either.”

The Blue Lugh tilted his head in bewilderment.

“I have a few questions for you.”

“Yeah.”

Raon looked around and the Blue Lugh nodded.

“I heard that the Blue Lugh’s aggression started a long time after the Gazel River turned muddy.
Why did that happen?”

“Th-They purposely delayed it to prevent people from making the connection between the river’s change and the Blue Lugh’s aggression.
In the meantime, he ordered my tribe to investigate the sunken rocks and the depth of the river in order to create a waterway in this river.”

“I see.”

The crew had mentioned that the Blue Lughs were moving all around the place after the water turned muddy.
They must’ve been working on investigating the sunken rocks and the depth of the river because of Tyler’s orders.

“So, Tyler must be controlling the Blue Lughs with that so-called Water God Stone to attack people, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And his purpose should be taking over this place.”

“That’s right.
H-He said he’s going to own the entire Gazel River.”

“I see.”

Raon chuckled.
Considering that he was trying to create a waterway through the entire Gazel River, Tyler must’ve been planning to bring everything around the river under the South-North Union’s submission, including Doran Village.

‘They must be underestimating Zieghart.’

Considering the fact that he was even targeting Zieghart’s domain, Zieghart must’ve looked easy for Tyler.

‘I need to teach him a lesson.’

Since he was the first one to pick a fight, Raon decided to teach him what happened to anyone who bothered Zieghart.

“Th-Then…”

The Blue Lugh stood up, since he finished telling his story.

Kuuh!

Wrath bit his lip despite having been silently listening to the Blue Lugh’s story without saying anything.

Raon! Are you planning to let him go like that? Why aren’t you being nosy like you always are?

He was sniffing as if he were going to start crying at any moment.

Raon chuckled.

‘Demon king, huh…’

Wrath was brought to tears from the Blue Lugh’s story, while Tyler took advantage of the young Blue Lugh’s psychology to turn the Blue Lughs into his slaves when he was pretty much an infant.
Raon couldn’t tell which one of the two was the real demon king.

Hey! You bastard!

‘Just wait and see.’

Raon was about to call out the young Blue Lugh but stopped himself.

Just like himself in his previous life, the young one didn’t even have a name.
His back looked so small and pathetic because of the lonely life he’d been leading, unable to be a part of any group.

“You said you didn’t have a name.”

The Blue Lugh stopped walking upon hearing Raon’s low voice.

“What did Tyler call you?”

“He called me ‘you’, or ‘friend’…”

The Blue Lugh shuddered without looking back.

“Did he not create a name for you?”

“No.”

Considering the fact that he didn’t even name him, Tyler must’ve been planning to take advantage of him all along.
Raon was filled with disgust.

“Did you not name yourself?”

“It’s meaningless to have a name that no one would use.”

His words were tugging on his heartstrings.

Raon raised himself up.
He walked next to the Blue Lugh and looked at the river.

“Do you know the word ‘flumen’?”

“I-I don’t.”

“It means ‘clean river’ in an ancient language.”

“Clean river…”

“Your name shall be Flumen.”

“Huh?”

The Blue Lugh’s jaw dropped as he looked back.

“Since Tyler doesn’t know his place and dared to breach Zieghart’s domain, I’m going to get rid of him.”

Raon extended his hand.
He decided to lend the helping hand that he’d never received from anyone in his previous life.

“You shall help me, Flumen.”

“I…”

Flumen didn’t respond.
He stared blankly at him before gritting his teeth.

“I don’t trust humans!”

“If that’s the case, then why did you tell me your story? Why did you save humans?”

“That’s…”

He slowly opened his mouth after hesitating for a long time.

“I-I didn’t want my tribe to kill people…”

“Is that so?”

Raon smiled faintly.
Flumen’s words made him make up his mind.

“I’ll take care of Tyler.
You shall save your tribe.”

“No, Tyler is powerful.
I can see it.”

Flumen’s eyes were shivering.

“Tyler’s mana is greater than yours.”

“I guess his would be.”

Tyler was a monster who was about to reach the intermediate level of Master.
He was obviously stronger than Raon, who was only at the novice level of Master.
However, that couldn’t be a reason why he would be incapable of killing him.

“Don’t worry.”

Raon smiled and grabbed the hilt of his sword.
The dark eyes reflected on the surface of the river were sparkling with crimson lightning.

“I’m pretty good at getting rid of trash.”

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