Surviving as the Emperor's Assassin

Chapter 3. I Ran Into Bandits.

“Master. What kind of sight is this? The Sword Saint of the Empire in jail?"

The blond young man spoke as if resentful.

The old man, sitting across the iron bars, replied calmly.

“I taught my disciple poorly.”

“Luke Ivers, that bastard is the one at fault!”

Luke Ivers, the Emperor's assassin.

The old man's disciple, and to the young man, his fellow disciple.

Knowing both the old man and Luke, the young man's anger was even greater.

“I told you before that he was the type to cause trouble someday!”

“Well, considering his nature, it was rather obvious.”

Of course, he hadn't thought he'd commit something this major.

In a way, he had surpassed expectations.

“This isn't just the Empire's problem. Chaos will spread throughout the continent.”

The Empire was undeniably the center of the continent.

There wasn't a single nation that wouldn't be affected by this incident.

“Is it that serious?”

“Master!”

“We may have lost an excellent Emperor, but is the Empire some corner store that will collapse overnight? There will be shock, but it's not something we can't overcome. No need to make such a fuss.”

The old man spoke firmly.

Realizing further talk wouldn't change the old man's mind, the young man let out a deep sigh.

“Why did you let him go? The one who killed His Majesty the Emperor……”

Even if he was his disciple, there are lines one shouldn't cross.

The Imperial Palace was in an uproar over the failure to prevent the Emperor's assassination and the escape of the culprit.

The fact that the culprit happened to be the old man's disciple added suspicion that the old man had condoned the culprit's escape, leading some extremists to argue that the old man should be executed.

Considering the old man's standing within the Empire, the possibility was low, but it signified the gravity of the situation.

The old man pretended not to hear and avoided the young man's gaze.

“Do you not trust me either? I didn't let him go. I lost him.”

“That’s exactly my point! If you had truly tried to catch him, Master, there's no way you would have lost him!”

The master's answer only frustrated the young man further.

“You overestimate me too much.”

“Master!”

“Yelling at your supposedly great master like that. Calm down a bit.”

The old man grumbled lightly and stretched.

“Anyway, with things like this, it seems unlikely I'll be able to go meet him.”

“Meet who? If necessary, you could summon them here, couldn't you?”

The young man tilted his head as if he'd heard something strange.

Even if imprisoned, he was the ‘Sword Saint’.

Few would refuse the old man's summons.

“My new disciple.”

“Pardon? After getting burned by that Luke fellow, you've taken another new disciple?! What kind of person is he?! I need to check him out! If he's also someone who'll tarnish your name, Master……!”

The old man covered his ears at the flood of nagging.

Seeing as there was no news of his capture, it seemed he had escaped properly.

‘I can't let that body go to waste.’

A body blessed by the heavens.

Although Luke, due to his twisted mind, ended up causing problems, now that another soul resided within…… taking him on as a new disciple was tempting.

* * *

“A sudden chill……”

I abruptly shivered.

Did I catch a cold?

It wouldn't be strange, since I ended up sleeping outdoors after failing to find a place to stay.

“What a damn fine morning.”

The sky was clear.

My life, destined to be lived as a fugitive, was dark.

Until I fell asleep, I held onto a sliver of hope that I would wake up on a soft bed, but naturally, that didn't happen.

In other words, today too, I had to run hard.

Thirsty, hungry, tired, unwashed, and itchy all over, possibly from insect bites.

But what mattered was that I was still alive.

Abandoned by parents, failed exams, the company I finally got a job at went bankrupt, got scammed by a friend—yet I persevered through it all.

I will survive. Definitely.

“Was it Luke? That damn bastard……. If I ever find him, I won't let him off easy.”

He threw a perfectly fine person into this situation, and now he's probably sleeping soundly, right?

Just when things were finally looking up, getting caught up in this infuriated me.

Returning what I received in kind is my creed.

I will definitely survive and make that bastard feel this way too.

“Ugh.”

I jumped up and stretched.

Despite only having caught a wink under a cover of fallen leaves, my body felt remarkably good.

It was an incredibly sturdy body.

Looking now, the muscles were firm, feeling quite trained.

Since he was the disciple of that old geezer who easily dispatched the monster snake, the original owner of this body, ‘Luke’, must have been someone who wielded a sword similarly.

“But, which way should I go?”

I had definitely checked the direction before falling asleep, but darkness and daylight were completely different worlds.

I started walking, vaguely retracing my memory.

First, I need to find a road.

Avoiding capture is important, but what's the use if I starve to death because I can't find civilization?

For now, the goal was to avoid the most dangerous Imperial Capital (皇都) and reach a town where people live.

“Alright. Found a road, at least.”

After considerable wandering, I reached a path.

Though it wasn't wide and was just an unpaved dirt road, it was still a road.

Walking along the road, I saw people gathered by the roadside.

Men in rather shabby clothes.

The men were chatting about something with tired faces.

They didn't seem too busy, anyway. Maybe I could ask for directions?

“Excuse me, could I ask…….”

As I approached, the men suddenly drew weapons all at once.

From tools like hammers and sickles to explicit weapons like bows and daggers.

Is there a culture in this world where they show weapons as a sign of welcome... No way.

Damn it.

When things go wrong, they really go wrong.

* * *

“Lucky us. Prey walked right in first thing in the morning.”

A man with a bushy beard said, thrusting a sickle at me.

The other men slowly moved to surround me.

“Sorry, but could I just leave?”

I forced a smile and backed away, trying somehow to get through this situation.

I quickly counted the bandits.

……Twelve? There are twelve of them?

“You think? If you don't want things to get rough, get over here and get down.”

The man threateningly flicked the sickle.

Who encounters bandits often in their life, but being surrounded by twelve of them was certainly not a common experience.

Yesterday, a chase, rats, a snake.

Today, bandits.

I was already worried about what misfortune tomorrow might bring.

“If it's money you want, I'll give it to you.”

I took out the money pouch the old man had given me last night from my clothes.

It wasn't that I didn't mind losing it without spending a single coin, but it wasn't more precious than my life.

“What, you had money too? We're really incredibly lucky.”

“Wasn't money your goal?”

“Haha! We were gonna capture you and sell you as a slave!”

The men burst out laughing.

They were after my body.

If only their goal had been money, I could have paid and left.

“That's a bit problematic……”

Being sold into slavery itself wasn't good, but the bigger problem was the possibility of my identity being revealed in the process.

A future of being nicely packaged and sent straight to the execution block was vividly clear.

“You talk too much. Don't you get the situation?”

The man standing behind me swung a club.

His intent seemed to be to instill fear with moderate pain to prevent resistance.

‘Huh?’

Whoosh.

The club leisurely cut through the air.

“Oh? You dodged?”

The man swung the club down again, this time with more force.

I saw it clearly.

It felt awkward to intentionally get hit, so I grabbed the man's wrist and gave it a light twist, causing the club to fall from his hand.

“Ugh?!”

The man's cry echoed futilely.

Having lost even his club, the man posed no threat.

When I released his wrist, he scrambled backwards.

“You bastard! Don't resist!”

The man with the bow quickly aimed at me and released the string.

An arrow streaked towards me.

‘It's slow?’

Subjectively, it felt like a lightly thrown paper airplane.

Catching the arrow as it approached right before my eyes was simple.

‘That old geezer’s sword swings were incredibly fast, though.’

It wasn't just because it was dark and hard to see.

It was definitely much faster than this.

Throwing my body to dodge was all I could manage then.

Well, no matter how you looked at it, he wasn't just an ordinary old man.

“He caught the arrow……?”

The bandits were clearly flustered.

Judging by their reaction, catching an arrow wasn't a normal occurrence in this world either.

“Don't be scared! He's alone! And unarmed!”

“Just kill him already.”

“Yeah. Just taking the money is profit enough!”

While I was replaying my recent actions, the men surrounding me cautiously closed the distance.

I parried a dagger coming towards my stomach.

I dodged a hammer aiming for my head by ducking, and tripped the man holding the sickle.

When I rammed a nearby bandit with my shoulder, his body rolled away like a toy.

The other bandits following behind him tumbled down like bowling pins.

“Wh-What the?!”

“Be careful! He's no ordinary guy!”

Unlike moments ago, the bandits' faces had lost their composure.

And I was the opposite.

‘Hey, I'm pretty good at fighting?’

More accurately, it wasn't me, but this body that fought well.

I could see the bandits' movements clearly.

The presence of weapons or their numbers didn't matter at all.

I didn't feel like I would lose.

“So this is the 'blessed body'.”

The words the old man had casually mentioned came to mind.

It was certainly impressive.

Even though I had never properly fought before, just moving moderately made the bandits unable to even lay a hand on me.

I felt like I could do anything.

Maybe I could even shake off pursuers if they came looking...

‘No. Let's not get carried away.’

I calmed the surging excitement.

I mustn't forget I almost died facing that old geezer just yesterday.

It meant this body wasn't invincible.

‘It's not that I'm strong, it's that these guys are weak.’

Hadn't I often seen news about bandits getting caught after their victims fought back during an attempted crime?

Bandits are often closer to civilians who just happen to be holding weapons, without proper training.

Even moderately trained soldiers probably couldn't be subdued this easily.

And if I met someone strong like that old geezer, I'd be completely helpless.

I mustn't lower my guard.

“Attack him all at once!!”

“Get him!!”

* * *

The bandits grit their teeth and charged.

Even just parrying moderately sent them flying through the air.

Soon, most of the twelve bandits were sprawled on the ground.

Groaning without their weapons, they were a pitiful sight.

“Is that all already?”

The bandits, who had charged with such vigor, now hesitated, faltering after being unilaterally beaten.

While I felt a bit hesitant about beating people up like this, honestly, a part of me was also enjoying it, like being the protagonist of a game or novel.

Anyway, now was a chance to savor the feeling of being the stronger one.

“H-Hey!!”

The man with the sickle spoke up, his face pale.

“Changed my mind! Just give us the money, and we'll let you go!”

Did he give up on selling me as a slave?

Looks like this guy isn't completely clueless.

That's probably why he's the leader of the bandits.

But he's too greedy.

“Don't you understand the situation?”

I threw back the words one of the bandits had said earlier.

Money? What money?

He should have begged me to just leave, to spare his life.

As I loosened up and approached, the man with the sickle cowered as if frightened.

“Wh-What do you want!?”

“Oh. Still using informal speech, huh.”

Seems he couldn't abandon his pride in front of his subordinates.

Looks like some ‘persuasion’ is needed.

As I picked up a fallen club, the man dropped his sickle and politely knelt.

“What…… do you want?” (Polite form)

“How nice it would have been if you were like this from the start. I just wanted to ask for directions, and you tried to rob me. So heartless.”

Finally, a proper conversation became possible.

“I'm going to ask a few things, so answer with sincerity.”

Directions were one thing, but right now, I lacked common knowledge about this world.

At this rate, wherever I went, I'd surely draw suspicious glances every time I opened my mouth.

Even uneducated criminals should be able to teach basic common sense, right?

“Ask anything!” (Polite form)

At my words, the bandit nodded his head desperately.