Chapter 80 - A Man Named Zoack
My name is Zoack. Since I was a child, I have lived in the world of darkness.
Robbery, assassination, guarding VIPs, spying. For someone like me who has had no parents since birth, that was the only way to survive in the filthy slums.
I know no meaning to life other than fighting. Family, friendship, romance—I know nothing of the various forms of ordinary happiness.
Before I could learn of them, my world was overflowing with blood, and my values had twisted into something distorted.
Living such a lifestyle, there was no way I could lead a normal life, and even as an adult, I repeatedly engaged in struggles within the dark world.
In the midst of doing such underworld work, I have one vivid memory.
It was a job to assassinate a certain nobleman living in the royal capital. An assassination, something I had done many times. Since I had been doing it since I was a child, it was the job I was most confident in.
Starting with stealth techniques that no one would notice, I had confidence that I wouldn't lose to anyone even if guards showed up. That's why I thought this time, too, would end easily as usual.
However, those expectations of mine were betrayed, and as soon as I broke into the nobleman's mansion, a single black-haired man stood in my way.
That man's name was Aldred. He was an A-rank adventurer who had recently become famous in the kingdom.
However, that is strength in the surface world. That must be the case when facing monsters.
There was no way he possessed such skill in interpersonal combat in the underworld. No matter how strong he might be against monsters, he was bound to be a step behind when facing a human.
Underestimating him like that, I tried to cut down the obstacle as I always had, but it didn't go easily.
The man named Aldred possessed extraordinary swordsmanship and physical abilities, not just against monsters but in interpersonal combat as well.
All of those qualities surpassed mine, and the only thing I could win with was the interpersonal combat experience I had accumulated. By making full use of that, I was barely able to exchange blows with Aldred.
No matter how fast and sharp I thrust my sword, Aldred swung his sword with speed and sharpness that far exceeded mine. Even when I aimed for his vitals mixed with feints, he parried them without being shaken. And as if in return, he used feints to aim for my vitals, such as my wrists, neck, and flanks. I desperately dodged those and swung my blade.
Rolling through the narrow hallways of the mansion shrouded in darkness, kicking off walls, and making full use of tools.
Even so, perhaps he was getting used to it every time our swords met, but gradually his sword began to catch my body more often.
My clothes were torn, and my skin was cut, drawing blood. Even so, I swung my sword in a trance and continued to fight using all sorts of hidden weapons.
Even in a situation where I normally would have long since abandoned the job and retreated.
It was fun to be able to cross blades with an opponent who surpassed my own skill.
The pain of my skin being cut, the sensation of slashing, the dull pain of being punched and kicked—I couldn't help but enjoy the time that made me conscious of death.
One of my eyes was slashed by Aldred's blade, and even while soaked in blood, I was laughing.
I can't forget the unprecedented time of struggle, the pain given and the pain received. Only at that time did I truly feel that I was alive.
I want to enjoy this fun time more. I want to exchange blades more.
However, my wish did not come true, and I was forced to retreat by an unrefined intruder.
If I were to be cut down after crossing blades with Aldred, that would be one thing, but I had no intention of being killed by anyone else.
However, this might have been for the best. Because next time, I can fight Aldred in a more perfect state.
Thinking that, retreating here might have been the right answer.
Having been repelled by Aldred and failing my underworld job, I decided to hone my skills, burning for the next rematch.
So that next time, I won't fall behind and can cross blades. So that next time, we can unfold a battle at an even higher peak.
I honed my skills while imagining the battle with Aldo over and over again.
The time spent then was a very fulfilling time in my life.
If I swing my sword, what will Aldred do? If I use a new tool, how will Aldred handle it? Will he fall for this feint? In what kind of place would it be advantageous to fight? Just thinking about it was fun.
While I was honing my skills like that, it seemed Aldred had subjugated a dragon and was being praised as a hero by the citizens.
While I was honing my skills, he had also reached a far-off height.
While I was getting stronger, he was making even greater leaps. Even if I chased him by one step, I was happy to see him pulling away by two or three steps.
That is exactly the kind of opponent who defeated me.
As someone burning to defeat Aldred, I felt my spirit rising.
And after honing my skills for a long time, I tried to challenge Aldred to a rematch.
However, the person I saw there was a man with such a spineless face that I couldn't believe he was my rival.
While the royal capital was bustling with the Dragon Slayer's banquet, the man named Aldred looked as if his spirit had vanished. His sharp gaze, like an unsheathed sword, was weakly clouded and unreliable. He was wandering the streets of the royal capital alone and lonely with a ghost-like gait.
"...Hey, Aldred."
"............"
While feeling a sense of incongruity, I approached Aldred and called out to him. However, he didn't seem to notice me and passed by as if nothing had happened.
"Hey, Aldred."
"...What is it?"
I hurriedly placed my hand on Aldred's shoulder. Then Aldred looked at me listlessly.
Those black eyes were hollow somewhere, and it didn't seem like he was looking at the being in front of him. They were weak eyes, as if something important had been lost.
Then, after staring at me for a while, Aldred muttered as if remembering.
"...Ah, the assassin from that time. Do you have business with me?"
"No, I no longer have any business."
Faced with Aldred's excessive transformation, I reflexively said such a thing.
"...I see."
Then, Aldred seemed to lose interest in me and started walking again with a weak gait.
It couldn't even be compared to the figure that stood boldly before me in the nobleman's mansion.
I couldn't believe he was the same person who had crossed blades with me that night.
As I watched Aldred's back in a daze, anger began to well up from deep within my chest.
Don't mess with me. I didn't hone my skills to defeat a man with such a spineless face.
Even though we could taste a denser time of death now than on that night. Even though I finally found a reason for living...!
While spitting out various bursts of anger in my heart that had welled up for the first time in a long while, the next thing that welled up was a question.
Just why. What on earth happened to the mind and body of Aldred, who killed a dragon?
I searched for the reason why Aldred had become so pathetic.
They said it was because he was seriously injured while facing the dragon.
No. From what I saw, there was nothing wrong with Aldred's body.
They said it was because he no longer had a reason to continue the adventurer business thanks to the large reward money he received.
No. If that were the case, he would have long since been living a normal life at the stage of an A-rank adventurer. There's no way he would go out of his way to take on a life-threatening quest like dragon slaying. Besides, I hear he is greedy for strength and shows no interest at all in money.
Various other speculations were flying around, but I couldn't believe any of them were correct. Even if I tried to ask his party members, who would surely know that information for certain, they wouldn't tell me, being wary of me.
The reason why Aldred had become like that was not understood at all.
Even so, I thought that as the months and years passed, that man would return to his original state.
I believed that he would eventually recover, and if he took up his sword again, he would return to being the spirited man he was before.
I believed that.
However, that trust of mine was betrayed.
The information I heard after seeing Aldred in the royal capital was the disbandment of the A-rank adventurer party 'Black Silver' and that its leader, Aldred, had disappeared.
What I felt after hearing that was not anger, but a feeling of exasperation at the disappointment.
I don't know what happened to Aldred, but his greedy thirst for strength had been lost.
Judging that the man's thirst for strength was only to that extent, I went on living as usual.
However, as I returned to underworld work and crossed blades many times, what I felt was a tremendous emptiness and longing.
No, his sword is not this slow. This kind of thing is as if it were stopped compared to him. He would dodge an attack of this level as a matter of course. He used not just his sword, but his entire body as a weapon to construct his attacks.
I took on all sorts of assassination requests and jobs where clashes with troublesome powerhouses were expected, but there was no one stronger than Aldred, and no one who could make me boil with excitement.
There was no one who could give me a fight that made me feel death like that night.
The emptiness of having found my reason for living as a person, yet being unable to obtain it. Unable to endure that, I found myself searching for Aldred before I knew it.
As I thought, the only opponent who can satisfy me is Aldred. While remembering the battle of that night, believing that he still possesses that strength now.
And perhaps having taken notice of me searching for Aldred, Clark Raymond of a Count's house approached me with a negotiation.
It was that in exchange for giving me rough information on Aldred, he wanted me to bring Aldred back to the kingdom.
That man named Clark was likely trying to increase his authority by bringing back Aldred, whom the kingdom was searching for desperately, or by incorporating him into his own faction. It's the usual pathetic desire for promotion common among nobles.
However, from my perspective, if I could get even a faint lead on Aldred and be able to fight him, I had no choice but to nod.
And so, following the nobleman's information, I searched mainly in the west. Then, at a transit point, I luckily found the female mage from the same party as Aldred, tracked her, and came to the westernmost edge of the Kingdom of Sylphide. To a rural village called Nordende.
To face Aldred's sword once again. To unfold that deathmatch where blood and flesh surge. Praying that his pathetic state has recovered even a little.
Such expectations of mine were betrayed yet again.
Aldred had completely departed from the path of battle. He had made a woman in a rural village and was swinging a hoe instead of a sword. I couldn't believe the sight I saw with my own eyes.
An adventurer who boasted that much strength is being a farmer in the countryside?
While being struck by a shock akin to dizziness, I attempted to approach while erasing my presence, as if clinging to a last hope. If it were the him from before, he would surely detect me if I got any closer.
I was on guard like that, but Aldred never did notice.
Without noticing my presence, he was talking with the woman and the villagers.
Seeing his excessive corruption, when I reflexively released bloodlust out of anger, he only barely felt a sense of incongruity.
Seeing him like that, I made a decision.
That something was needed to make him get serious.
At first, I thought I should just have a fair duel. Even if he hasn't held a sword in a long time, he should be able to fight. Even if I could defeat him easily, it would be fine because it's necessary to put an end to things within myself. However, that won't do.
If I'm going to cross blades anyway, I want him when he's serious.
I thought of a way to make the man who threw away his sword get serious.
And that method came to mind immediately.
I just have to kidnap the woman Aldo loves and take her hostage. If I do that, he will come desperately. At the same time, his companion, the female mage, won't be able to make a move carelessly either.
Thinking that, I continued to wait patiently for the moment they showed an opening.
Aldo, Aldred and the female mage left the house together.
The only one remaining in the house was Aldred's woman. Convinced of that, I waited for the timing when the two were far away and there were no people around, and started walking toward his house.
"Yes!"
As I walked to the door and knocked, Aldred's woman came out without any caution.
Opening the door without checking the person—isn't that as good as saying please stab me with a blade and barge in?
"...Um, who might you be?"
Perhaps because she didn't recognize my face, Aldred's woman looked up at me with a somewhat frightened look.
I'll have this woman play the role of making him get serious.
"You are Aldred's woman, aren't you?"
"—Eh?"
Just to be safe, I will say that there are no cruel scenes such as NTR or rape in this work, so please rest assured.
It's difficult to write the feelings of a battle maniac.