The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

“……”

After somewhat bravely opening his mouth, the old man immediately fell silent.

He seemed slightly taken aback by my indifferent response.

“I thought you’d show at least a skeptical reaction, but it’s surprising. Wasn’t my introduction impressive?”

“Not really.”

“Well, what a peculiar young man you are.”

The old man continued speaking with an uncomfortable cough.

“I’m not boasting, but I’ve had some experience with a sword since I was young. After joining the imperial knights at the age of twenty, I was soon transferred to the Knights of Light. This emblem is evidence of that.”

The old man proudly lifted the faded emblem placed on the table.

“It’s a very famous place now, but back then, I simply followed because they said they needed me, without knowing what it was about. Then, shortly after joining, they dragged me somewhere and suddenly began indoctrinating me.”

“Indoctrination?”

“Yes. A saint named Nephrodite appeared, saying that we, as Knights of Light, must eradicate the mist devotees who disturb the order of light. They claimed it was the will of the gods, and only the all-powerful Knights of Light could carry out the mission bestowed by the gods. Isn’t it ridiculous? They said these mist devotees were just people who denied their humanity without any explanation of what they had done wrong, and we had to eliminate them…”

It wasn’t a story I hadn’t heard before, so it didn’t surprise me much.

“So, what do you think I did?”

“You did as you were told.”

“Exactly! Honestly, what could I have thought at such a young age? I thought it was right to just follow orders.”

The old man chuckled, then seemed to fill his empty glass by himself.

“I endured that tedious preaching for about a week, but as soon as rumors spread that they appeared, I grabbed my sword and ran a month’s journey. The first impression with them was quite fantastic. It was completely different from what I had imagined!”

“Were they dancing naked or something?”

“Well, that might have been better! At least I would have agreed they were lunatics. But what I saw wasn’t that! They were doing something very ordinary yet great. It was charity!”

“Charity?”

“Yes, charity! They were distributing food and relief supplies to those suffering from hunger and cold! They didn’t ask for anything special! They just unilaterally extended kindness to them!”

[……]

A smile appeared on Kaeram’s lips as she listened quietly.

It wasn’t a smile born out of amusement at the old man’s story, but rather a subtly wicked smile, born out of some uneasy feeling.

“We had to kill them. They deceived people with unidentifiable relief goods, accusing them of ridiculous crimes. It was the first time. It was the blood of humans, not demonic beasts or monsters, that stained my sword…”

A slight tremor was visible in the old man’s hand holding the glass.

Without showing any expression, the old man continued speaking.

“It still weighs on me. They were shouting that they had done nothing wrong. Well, I don’t particularly regret it. If I hadn’t killed them back then, I would have been labeled a heretic and died for it.”

It was a kind of justification for survival.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I didn’t find fault in it either.

It was just the powerless response of someone.

“Through one atrocity, they gained enlightenment and returned with sharpened knives. Instead of helping those suffering, they began to eliminate the source of that suffering. That’s assassination. You’ve heard of the Mist, right? They’re a renowned assassination group.”

I nodded silently.

“We couldn’t just sit idly by, so we set out to find them again. The second time we saw them, they no longer looked human. Not that they weren’t real people, just… they felt different, you know? Curiosity outweighed disgust. Along with heightened expectations. The merciless revenge of the unjustly persecuted heretics against the world.”

Assuming the old man’s words were sincere, one thing could be certain.

That the expectation he mentioned,

Was not fulfilled.

“But unfortunately, my wish didn’t come true. They suddenly disappeared without a trace. It was reported to the public that they were eradicated by the Knights of Light, but that’s not true. Everyone, including you, was deceived.”

The old man refilled his empty glass with alcohol.

“It was disappointing. Utterly disheartening. I wanted to know, you see. The true nature of those deemed the embodiments of evil in the world. But they just vanished without giving any answers. And so their traces were erased, and indifferent time continued to flow endlessly.”

The old man’s eyes, as he quietly observed the filled glass, subtly turned towards me.

With a somewhat different and eerie atmosphere than before.

“Do you know why I went to the monastery? I wanted to confirm something. Whether those mist followers talked about among the youth these days were indeed the ones I saw. But they weren’t. The monastery folks were just fake followers. The real mist followers I saw weren’t like them…”

“What evidence do you have to be so sure?”

“As you grow older, memories may fade, but the body’s senses do not. But did you know?”

The old man flickered his eyes with a strange smile.

“Your gaze now is very similar to those Mist assassins I saw sixty years ago. It’s almost uncanny. The eyes of relentless killers! Wonder why?”

“……”

“You smell of it! Not the scent of low-quality fakes! The smell of real killers, who shed blood and made others shed it too! I felt it vibrating from you even before you entered the tavern!”

Now, there was even a hint of madness in the old man’s eyes.

I adjusted my posture without showing any expression and said,

“Excuse me, sir. You don’t seem to have lost your mind, but if what you’re saying is true, shouldn’t you not be here in front of me right now?”

Unless you’ve given up on life.

The old man shrugged in response.

“My life has been lived to the fullest. What is there to fear? As you grow this old, everything in life becomes meaningless. Then doubts arise. Was the life I lived really the right one?”

“Even the moment of such reflection might not come, right?”

“Young people have remarkable confidence. After all, age is just a number. Wasn’t there an incident about seven years ago? A mere thirteen-year-old boy wiped out senior imperial knights and disappeared effortlessly, wasn’t there? I wonder what that boy is doing now.”

That boy is now in an ordinary tavern, listening to the strange old man’s story.

“Oh, by the way, I haven’t mentioned my name.”

“Do I really need to know?”

“Even dumb animals respond when given a name. Besides, shouldn’t we at least know each other’s names for the sake of any future meetings? Just in case we happen to meet again.”

The old man straightened his clothes as if he were about to say a grand name.

“My name is…”

“….”

“Jereon.”

-Clang!

As the knife and fork collided, a loud noise echoed.

In my hand was a dining knife with a blade on one side,

In the old man’s hand was a fork with bread skewered on it.

“Was my story quite amusing to you? I didn’t expect such a rough response like this.”

How long would it take for me to stab the old man’s neck with the knife on the table?

One second? Half of that?

I would dare say, with a speed that the dull senses of a human could never react to.

Yet the old man blocked it.

Not quite leisurely, but effortlessly.

As if he had anticipated my movement and been on guard from the beginning.

“Did the retired commander come here for charity work for the future generation?”

Jereon.

There would probably be only one person on this land who could confidently say that name.

The former commander of the Knights of Light, and before that, a knight known as the Executioner.

Why the Executioner?

Because he was the knight who best executed the so-called praised order of light.

He led the way in killing mist devotees more than any other knight.

“I told you, didn’t I? I just came here to find the truth.”

The old man didn’t deny his identity.

“Whether it’s a Knight of Light or a Paladin, it’s all ancient history anyway. It’s not my concern now. And besides…”

Suddenly, beads of sweat trickled down the old man’s forehead.

“Even if you weren’t so wary, I’ve been standing at the crossroads of life and death since earlier.”

At his words, my gaze turned towards Kaeram, who sat beside the old man.

Her unyielding gaze and arms folded arrogantly.

But her sharp fingers held an unseen power of mist.

She had been wary of the old man long before me.

“Miss, were you hiding a dangerous blade behind that pretty face of yours?”

[Don’t play around, old man. If you don’t want to see your own organs with those disgusting eyes of yours.]

Kaeram retorted the old man’s casual question with a fierce smile.

“If life’s end is to be sealed by the hands of a lovely lady, it wouldn’t be too bad.”

At this, Kaeram’s gaze became even sharper.

“But unfortunately, that’s not the case for me. I haven’t chosen my partner for the final dance.”

The old man’s gaze turned towards me again.

But my gaze went in a different direction, not towards the old man.

-Swish

The drinkers who had been casually drinking moments ago began to approach me.

Some even came up from downstairs.

It wasn’t alarming.

I had already sensed the change in the atmosphere around us the moment the old man came to our table.

“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t come here to target you from the beginning. I told you, didn’t I? The smell wafted from the entrance. It’s just a pure coincidence.”

It’s not just arrogance from having more numbers.

You can tell by the approaching footsteps.

Not green knights, not amateur mercenaries,

But seasoned warriors who have wielded swords and shed blood for decades.

They soon surrounded my table.

“Just to be clear, I didn’t come here to harm you. I just want to know. If you want, I can even change seats. This time, it’ll be your story, not mine…”

“Hey, old man.”

Interrupting the old man’s words, a strange silence fell.

“What’s with the leisurely attitude right now?”

“Hehe. Leisure? I’m sincerely trying to…”

The old man’s eyes, which had been laughing carelessly, suddenly turned away from me.

Kaeram, who had been sitting here just a few seconds ago, had disappeared, leaving only indifferent dust in the air.

The old man’s gaze turned back to me after a short while.

“Did you underestimate the true mist followers too lightly?”

In my hand was no longer a dining knife, but the living essence of Kaeram, still young.