Conquering the Academy with Just a Sashimi Knife (Novel) - Chapter 103 - Night of Purge (2)

Chapter 103 – Night of Purge (2)

===================

Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

======================================

It was a long night, with a great deal of time still left before dawn.

“-Haaam, I’m tired.”

A man clad in heavy armor yawned so wide it looked like his mouth would split apart. Thick fatigue and weariness clung to his eyes. Suddenly, he jabbed the man beside him in the ribs with his elbow.

“Hey. Rookie.”

“Rookie, Kim Pil-su!”

The bright corridor rang with a booming voice.

“What, did you boil down your frustration and drink it? Why’s your voice so damn loud?”

“I’ll correct it!”

“Ah, forget it. Why is it that every time a new recruit shows up, they always end up being blockheads like this? No fun at all.”

The senior frowned and shook his head. The rookie looked completely at a loss under that unimpressed expression.

“How’d you end up rolling into the Elder Guard anyway?”

“…Th-that is… I came in order to serve the noble elders!”

“This bastard’s totally by-the-book. Oh my, our rookie came here to serve the noble elders, did he?”

“Th-that’s right!”

“Quit bullshitting and be honest. You came for this, didn’t you.”

The senior made a circle with his thumb and forefinger.

The rookie shook his head vehemently at first, but under continued pressure, he reluctantly nodded. Only then did a satisfied smile appear at the corner of the senior’s mouth.

The rookie lowered his eyes. Once his worldly inner thoughts had been laid bare, embarrassment washed over him.

Watching his reaction, the senior spoke in an ambiguous tone.

“You and I, we’re already dirty people splashed with shitwater.”

“…Dirty.”

That one unpleasant word lingered in his mouth. It had been about two months since he enlisted.

In that place, the rookie had already seen and experienced far too much.

The Elder Council, admired by the world. When he first enlisted, the rookie had felt pride in the thought that he would be serving such a body.

But his admiration for the Elder Council had shattered only a week after enlistment.

The public did not know. They had no idea how ugly the Elder Council truly was.

The kind of people who would cast others aside without the slightest hesitation the moment they judged them inconvenient, treating people like objects.

The memory of clutching the toilet and dry-heaving the first time he saw that hidden side of them came back vividly to mind.

The rookie was miserable.

But the source of his pain was not only the Elder Council’s disgusting nature.

It also made him sick to his stomach to see how he himself had gradually compromised with reality and become complicit.

“……”

The senior glanced at the rookie’s dark expression. Scratching near his eyebrow, he moved his lips.

“Well, anyway, we’re just here to squeeze out more mon-”

Before the senior could finish speaking, an artificial shadow rippled behind his back. At once the edge of a blade flashed in the moonlight.

Seogeok-! Thud.

A fountain of blood burst from the now-empty space above his shoulders.

The smell of blood spreading through the corridor made the scene feel terrifyingly real. The headless body collapsed backward.

Clang.

The sound of metal striking the floor spread softly.

The rookie looked at what had been his senior, then raised his eyes.

“……!”

Figures creeping out through the darkness where the moon did not shine.

Presence suppression so complete he hadn’t sensed them at all, and blood-red eyes gleaming eerily against the pitch-black backdrop.

Only two clues. But that was enough for the rookie to recognize who they were.

The assailant who had taken the senior’s life wiped the blood off his blade.

Looking down at the headless corpse, he recited in a low voice:

“Choi Man-su, for the crime of taking part in cleaning up after Elder Cladi’s affairs for nearly five years, I pass judgment. Rest in peace.”

As he said that, the assassin traced the sign of the cross toward the corpse. The rookie could only stare at the sight in stunned disbelief.

‘A-Auditore……!’

The rookie forced strength into his terror-frozen hand and barely managed to grasp his sword hilt.

That didn’t mean he could simply offer up his neck and die obediently.

Step, step.

Amid the thick smell of blood, footsteps came from further down the corridor. At once, the shadows pressed themselves flat against the walls and made way.

As the sound drew closer, cold crept down his spine. When the clouds shifted aside, the bright full moon lit up the corridor. Then another figure came into view.

Black hair, hands shoved deep in his pockets, wearing a relaxed, expressionless face. It was Kang Geom-ma.

At last Kang Geom-ma stopped directly in front of the rookie.

Moving only his eyes, he looked down at the rookie’s hand gripping the hilt.

“……”

Kang Geom-ma stared at him for a long moment, then passed him by just like that.

Right after, the dark lions melted into the shadows like a haze.

Thud.

The rookie’s hand, which had been clamped around the sword hilt, slipped away from it.

The rookie’s eyes never turned back. He kept them fixed straight ahead until the footsteps faded entirely.

* * *

Thirty minutes had passed since we began wandering through the annex.

Whenever sentries blocked the way, Auditore cut them down without hesitation.

Only the smell of blood scattered through the stillness; no screams could be .

These assassins severed the vocal cords before anyone could even cry out.

Unless one’s skill was exceptional, killing someone in a single blow was no easy thing.

They leapt out of the shadows without warning.

They snuffed out lived, then vanished like a heat haze.

Watching the scene felt like seeing something out of a movie, and inwardly I clicked my tongue in amazement.

Their hands were ruthless and knew no mercy, but it wasn’t indiscriminate slaughter.

They singled out only those who deserved to die and cut them down.

They politely recited the reason each one had to die, then finished with the stylish line, `Rest in peace.`

It was a little middle-school-edgelord-ish, but seeing it unfold in person still struck a chord in me as a man.

Cool was universal.

‘…That aside.’

Maybe because it was an elder’s annex, it was absurdly huge.

It felt like we’d been walking around forever, yet it was still hard to get our bearings.

Auditore silenced every enemy we encountered, but at this rate, we would be discovered before long.

‘We need to find the room Cladi’s staying in as fast as possible……’

Sseuseu-

At that moment, a presence that hadn’t been there before bloomed at the back of my neck.

A human-shaped shadow that had appeared out of nowhere.

It was Altair, who had been following us with his presence completely erased. Leaning on his cane as he limped, he stepped out of the darkness.

“Well now, this is much larger than expected.”

Altair began speaking as he stroked his beard.

“…Don’t you people normally do advance reconnaissance before coming? With Auditore’s information network, I would’ve thought you’d know the layout of any place by heart.”

“I’m grateful for the high opinion, but even we have our limits when it comes to gathering information. Places like institutions or villas where the elders reside are secrets among secrets.”

“I see.”

“Even if it’s frustrating, bear with it just a little longer. Our children will find it soon enough.”

Well, if the layout of a residence belonging to the Elder Council, the highest of high nobles, were public knowledge, that would be stranger. Sensitive as they were about their safety, of course they’d had taken measures so no one could dig it up.

Finished with that stray thought, I kept walking. Altair followed along beside me with his easy smile.

“Ugh!”

“Ghk-”

“Ihk.”

“Aak!”

Short screams rang out one after another from all around us.

The candles of life were being snuffed out everywhere.

As we kept walking, the same scene played out again and again. Flashing suits of heavy armor collapsed, while Auditore shook the blood from their blades and made the sign of the cross.

The guards tried to fight back, but were helplessly cut down by surprise attacks.

Those who didn’t lose their heads instead lost arms or legs.

I crossed the blood-sloshed corridor with light steps. Then, suddenly curious, I asked Altair:

“This is a strike against an elder. Are you really not worried about it, Patriarch?”

“Hmm? Worried about what?”

Altair looked genuinely puzzled and asked me the question back.

“The fallout’s going to be severe, isn’t it? Even rotten fish is still fish, as they say. No matter how clear the evidence is, punishing an elder has to be a major risk burden even for Auditore.”

“Hahaha! I’ve thought it before, but you’re deep for someone so young.”

He laughed heartily, then answered at ease.

“If I’d been worried about something like that from the start, I wouldn’t have come to Korea in the first place.”

“……”

“More importantly, with solid evidence already in hand, wouldn’t it be the greater problem if we, the House of Order, failed to move? It is a family duty that has continued since long ago. We’re not so light that we’d be shaken just because we dealt with one elder.”

As he said that, Altair suddenly patted my back.

“And even if the aftermath were to reach us, what of it? With you, the next Seven Star, coming alongside us! I, who maintain neutrality, somehow find my heart leaning toward you, hahaha!”

“Ah……”

A groan escaped me on its own.

Unlike earlier, when I’d said it so boldly, embarrassment came over me a beat late.

‘I’m the next Seven Star who would succeed the Sword Emperor.’

At the time it had been a declaration of resolve, but thinking back on it now, it was unbearably cringeworthy. Really, absurdly so.

Seeing my strange expression, Altair gave a look as though he understood everything. He seemed to have misread my inner thoughts, but I didn’t bother correcting him.

‘With a sharp old man like this, it’d probably be better to leave some room for imagination.’

As we kept moving, a single assassin suddenly appeared before us.

Just from the presence, I recognized who it was. It was Nox.

After bowing his head to Altair, he opened his mouth.

“A hundred meters ahead, there is a three-way junction. The room on the right is where Cladi is currently staying in seclusion. Everyone other than me is waiting by the door.”

“I see. Understood.”

“Patriarch.”

“Is there something else to report?”

“Well, it’s just that……”

Nox hesitated. In response to the patriarch’s question of what was wrong, Nox answered with an uncertain expression.

“I don’t have enough experience to say for certain, but I felt something unnatural beyond the door.”

“Unnatural? You mean even with presence detection, you couldn’t identify it?”

“Yes… only vaguely, but it felt like… magic.”

At those words, Altair and I looked at each other once. As if the same question had crossed both our minded.

A brief silence swallowed the corridor. It was the sort of stillness that stirred unease in the heart.

Altair was just about to harden his expression and speak.

“Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

A long, drawn-out scream rang out.

At the same time, the gaze of the three of us turned to the right as though by prior agreement.

Then the rich scent of blood hit the tip of my nose.

There was a moment where our eyelids only blinked blankly once. Then cracks spread across the faces of Altair and Nox.

“Patriarch, this is definitely……”

“Our children.”

The moment the words ended, the two of them ran off, leaving only a haze behind them.

I too immediately kicked off the ground after them.

With nimble footwork, we reached the target area in no time.

The sudden sprint forced ragged breath out of me. I took a moment to steady it, then lifted my chin.

The first things I saw were the backs of Altair and Nox, who had arrived first.

The two of them stood there frozen in shock, staring straight ahead. I raised my gaze a little more.

A large double door stood wide open as if on display. There was no sign of the assassins who were supposed to be waiting there.

“Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

From beyond the doorway, where deep darkness pooled, another scream burst forth.

Then came the wet, ripping sound of flesh splitting as blood sprayed out.

One severed arm rolled across the floor and came to a stop at Nox’s feet.

“……!”

With trembling hands, Nox picked it up. A dagger engraved with the crest of Auditore.

At that, Nox turned pale and stared into the room.

A darkness deeper than Auditore’s own shadows.

Was revealing itself from beyond.