WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 1: Prologue
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“The Master did not speak of strange things, feats of strength, disorder, or spirits.”
[The Master Did Not Speak of Strange Things, Feats of Strength, Disorder, or Spirits.]
The Analects, “Shu Er”
* * *
Fwoooosh!
The heat was scorching.
A building burned before my eyes.
Inside and outside, it was sheer pandemonium.
“Argh!”
“Save me!”
People ablaze ran wildly through the raging Fire Demon.
In my hand was a sickle, wet with something.
A sickle meant for cutting medical herbs was soaked in blood. It was a horrifying sight.
“Aaaargh!”
“H-help me!”
Those who burst from the burning building rolled frantically across the ground, trying to extinguish the flames clinging to their bodies.
But the fire engulfing their entire bodies would not go out so easily.
They died amid the agony of their flesh burning away.
Despite the gruesome sight, I did not feel the slightest guilt.
No. I did not even know what guilt was.
[Cough, cough... Promise me.]
[What should I promise?]
[Never... reveal your true nature...]
[...Grandfather.]
[Is that how this old man taught you!]
[...All right.]
The promise I made to Grandfather before he died continued to linger in my mind.
But I had not kept that promise.
No, perhaps it had been a promise I could never keep.
‘I’m sorry, Grandfather.’
I could not stop until I found that bastard who had left Grandfather in such a terrible state.
Even if the end was the very reality Grandfather had feared.
The more blood I saw, the harder it became to control myself.
What expression was I wearing now?
Even as I watched this horrific scene of burning flesh and spilling blood, I could feel the corners of my mouth twitching.
This was clearly an emotion called pleasure.
‘My true nature...’
Was evil my true nature?
At least, it felt freer than the self Grandfather had taught me to be.
As though I had cast off shackles.
“Phew.”
It did not matter.
The scent of blood had put me in a good mood, and I was drawing closer to a clue about that bastard.
Now I only had to deal with the survivors before leaving.
Holding my sickle, I walked toward the few people still alive.
One step, then another. They stared at me with eyes full of terror.
Their fear did not feel unpleasant.
If anything, it seemed to tease my killing intent.
Step!
As I took another step, someone who had been trembling in fear shouted at me.
“S-Sickle-Slaying Fiend!”
Sickle-Slaying Fiend...
It was a nickname I had gained while following that bastard’s trail.
Whenever I found even the slightest connection to that bastard, I killed everyone involved. Before I knew it, people had begun calling me the Sickle-Slaying Fiend.
They called me that because of the sickle marks left on the corpses. It seemed my notoriety had spread without my knowing.
In barely a month.
It must have been because I had targeted somewhat larger towns instead of remote mountain villages.
Thanks to that, I had learned a valuable lesson.
‘I should burn them all.’
So I would not leave needless traces on the corpses.
No.
Would it be better not to use a sickle at all?
Whatever. I could think about it later. First, I would kill them all.
Whoosh!
I raised my sickle toward a survivor crawling across the ground.
“Eek!”
The survivor’s face turned pale as they curled up.
Ignoring them, I swung the sickle,
Thud!
“Urk!”
Something struck my abdomen, and an immense force flung me backward.
Even after I rolled across the ground several times, that force did not fade.
Only after rolling for some time did I finally stop. A strange force churning my insides made me vomit.
“Bleurgh.”
Waaaaah!
As I vomited, I heard cheers.
They seemed to be the cries of the survivors who had been so terrified moments ago.
My stomach still churned, and I could not properly summon strength into my entire body, but I forced myself to raise my head.
‘What in the world?’
As I wondered, I saw someone raising a hand.
The person accepted the crowd’s cheers as though they were a hero.
Then they shouted boldly.
“Indeed, Sickle-Slaying Fiend. To think you endured the Force of ki I used at the third level.”
‘Force of ki at the third level?’
What was this person babbling about?
The only thing I understood was the name, Sickle-Slaying Fiend.
“Cough... Cough...”
I forced back another wave of vomit.
I did not know who this person was, but one thing was certain. They were dangerous.
I tried to force myself up, but my feet and legs would not move.
“Your evil deeds end here, Sickle-Slaying Fiend!”
The person slowly approached me.
‘Dangerous.’
I clenched my teeth.
If I could not move, my life might be in danger...
Swish!
‘!?’
What?
They had seemed to be walking slowly, but suddenly they were standing in front of me.
‘Fast.’
How could a person move that quickly?
It was absurd.
“Hmm.”
The middle-aged man let out a low sound.
I had not noticed from a distance, but he had a long scar above his left eyebrow.
He held a blackened sword in his right hand, as though it had been scorched. Its sharpness was anything but ordinary.
‘I have to get away.’
Every one of my senses warned me.
They told me that no matter how I struggled, I could not do anything against this man.
Then, with a face far colder than before, the middle-aged man spoke quietly.
“I wondered who had been snooping around. To think it was a teenage brat who still reeks of milk.”
He felt like an entirely different person.
But something else in his words caught my attention.
‘Snooping around?’
Then this man was...
Grab!
“Urk!”
Before I could even think further, the man seized me by the throat.
Though I was seventeen, my body was no smaller than that of an average grown man.
Yet he lifted me with absurd ease.
I looked at the back of his hand and his wrist. There was no change in his muscles.
Then how was he lifting me as though I weighed no more than a feather?
As I wondered, the man frowned.
“You... have not learned Martial Arts.”
“Martial... Arts?”
“You do not even know what Martial Arts are? Ha!”
The man looked astonished.
What were Martial Arts that he would react like this?
“Interesting. A brat who has not even learned Martial Arts survived this one’s palm strike...”
“Cough, cough. What are you even...”
Stab!
“Gasp!”
My abdomen burned.
The black sword blade had pierced through my abdomen before I knew it.
The man gave a sinister smile and spoke in a voice filled with killing intent.
“It would be best to kill you now, before you cause trouble later.”
Shlick! Stab!
“Urk!”
The moment he pulled the sword from my abdomen, he stabbed my left chest.
As the sword pierced my chest, blood surged into my throat along with unbearable pain.
“You should have lived quietly. Why run around and hasten your own death?”
“Ghk... Ghk...”
As I moved my lips soundlessly, the man threw me to the ground.
Then he turned away, raised his black sword, and shouted.
“The Sickle-Slaying Fiend’s evil deeds end here! Rest easy, everyone!”
He acted like a righteous hero again.
Not knowing his true nature, the survivors cheered in joy.
The wound in my pierced chest hurt, but that man’s hypocritical display made rage surge within me.
I had finally found someone who might be my enemy, only to be defeated so helplessly.
I had never stood a chance against him to begin with.
‘Grandfather...’
My vision slowly blurred.
Would I go to Grandfather’s side without even taking revenge?
He would surely scold me terribly for breaking my promise...
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