TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 26
The next day, the day of the Martial Arts Tournament preliminaries.
Kraush ran his hand down his face, looking more exhausted than ever.
“I’m really getting it bad this time.”
Even as Crimson Garden snickered and mocked him from the side, Kraush couldn’t muster a reply.
From yesterday all the way through this morning.
It was because Kraush had been thoroughly tormented by Sizelry.
‘This is why I hate geniuses.’
Especially when it comes to brainpower—it’s even worse.
Every word he said was instantly turned into information for her to exploit, leaving him drained from their verbal sparring.
At this point, all he wanted was to finish the tournament quickly and go home.
If he stayed any longer, his identity as Balheim might be exposed.
“Now’s my chance!”
At that moment, a voice rang out, and a boy wielding a club attacked him from behind.
Calling out during an ambush? He’s still way too young.
Without even drawing his sword, Kraush raised an arm and struck the leaping applicant’s jaw.
“Kraaagh!?”
The boy let out a scream and tumbled to the ground.
Without mercy, Kraush stomped on the boy’s abdomen, causing his eyes to roll back in their sockets.
“Wow, how many is that now? Seriously.”
“That slit-eyed monster.”
“And what’s with that crow? It moves like that and doesn’t even fall off his shoulder.”
When Kraush turned his head toward the voices, those who met his gaze flinched and backed away.
“Scary. He’s definitely from the underworld.”
“Did you see how he finished him off? Let’s not get caught in the crossfire.”
Kraush was currently in none other than the preliminary testing grounds.
The unique feature of this preliminary round was the chaotic free-for-all.
Participants were divided into teams of 100, from which only the top four would advance.
In such a preliminary, Kraush was so composed that he had room for stray thoughts.
As proof that his efforts hadn’t been in vain, he was reigning as a dominant force here.
‘Being a “strongman” among 15-year-olds… How strong can that really be?’
Within his age group, there weren’t many who could match Kraush.
Especially since all the kids aiming for Rahelrn Academy were already out of the picture.
‘It’s like a fox ruling where there’s no tiger.’
Without letting even a shred of arrogance take root, Kraush evaluated himself coolly.
Having seen true geniuses, he was exceptionally grounded in self-awareness.
“Hahaha! Why are you just standing there? You idiots! You’re all gonna die!”
“Aaaaah! Run away!”
“It’s a monster!”
Of course, there were still skilled individuals among them.
For instance, that muscle-bound lunatic charging around like a mad buffalo over there.
The sheer size of that guy, which made it hard to believe he was under 15, made him unstoppable just by charging forward.
But that wasn’t all.
The aura surrounding his body was moving with precise control.
‘That guy, if I remember right.’
He’s one of the few who entered Rahelrn Academy through the Martial Arts Tournament.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember his name.
Even if Kraush was treated as a half-penny, he was still Balheim.
There weren’t many reasons for him to cross paths with commoners.
“Hahaha!”
But that laugh was starting to get on his nerves.
Is he infusing his voice with aura? Kraush, his ears stinging, glanced over, meeting the guy’s eyes.
In that instant, the guy’s eyes widened menacingly.
“Hey, what are you staring at?”
And the words that followed made Kraush’s eyebrow twitch.
“You looked at me, you muscle pig.”
Kraush didn’t hold back from the provocation.
The muscle pig’s forehead furrowed deeply in response.
“Pig? Pig! Who are you calling a pig!?”
And immediately, he started charging at Kraush like a battering ram.
With his massive frame barreling forward, he certainly appeared threatening.
But that was only within the bounds of human limitations.
In the World Erosion, no matter how big a person is, they’re just a small animal.
As proof, Kraush simply stood there watching as the guy closed in.
“Die!”
The muscle pig aimed his shoulder to ram Kraush and send him flying—at that moment.
Thud!
A cloud of dust rose at his feet as he was forcibly stopped in his tracks.
All because Kraush extended a hand and pressed down on his head.
The guy blinked once in disbelief.
Seeing his eyes up close, Kraush noticed that they seemed surprisingly innocent. He began to smile slowly.
“Is brute strength your specialty?”
And as Kraush clenched his fist,
Thwack!
The guy’s face crumpled under Kraush’s punch.
Crash! Boom!
He was sent flying into the air before tumbling to the ground.
His face shattered, he lay there unconscious, one of his front teeth missing as his eyes rolled back.
With even inch strength applied, his consciousness was completely obliterated.
Ssshhh—
The arena fell into brief silence at the sight.
The kids stared wide-eyed, looking back and forth between Kraush and the muscle pig.
It was hard to believe, even with their own eyes, that Kraush, much smaller than the muscle pig, had knocked him out with a single blow.
And Kraush scowled at their gazes.
“What are you staring at?”
At that moment, the kids resumed fighting among themselves.
None of them had the courage to challenge Kraush anymore.
They figured that provoking him meant instant elimination from the tournament.
“Hahaha, what a masterpiece.”
Meanwhile, a roaring laugh came from behind Kraush.
There stood a man with his face wrapped in black bandages.
He was quite tall, likely in his growth phase, and he looked at Kraush with a grin visible between the bandages.
“What’s so funny?”
Kraush, ever prickly toward anyone who wasn’t someone he favored, asked irritably.
But even after witnessing Kraush’s earlier feats, the man showed no fear.
“Of course, it’s because an interesting friend has shown up. It’s you, isn’t it? The one sent here by the Night Crow, the famed Assassin Family?”
Kraush found his words completely absurd.
‘The Night Crow is the most dangerous group in the Empire’s underworld.’
Did they send someone to participate in this Martial Arts Tournament?
Even Kraush couldn’t possibly know every little thing happening within the Empire.
‘But I’ve never heard anything about the Night Crow at Rahelrn Academy.’
“Would the Empire be crazy enough to let the Night Crow enroll in the first place?”
But Kraush knew there was one variable within the Empire.
‘Sigrid Ephania.’
The damned 3rd Princess who must have inherited memories from the same timeline as him.
A cold chill ran down his spine.
It was the feeling that she might be up to something behind the scenes in the Empire.
After all, the Empire’s downfall wasn’t entirely without the influence of its hidden side.
“I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you’re having, but…….”
“Stop feigning ignorance. That crow on your shoulder is proof, isn’t it?”
Proof? A crow?
Kraush glanced at Crimson Garden.
Thanks to her, it seemed like he was caught up in an unnecessary misunderstanding.
“Besides, the suspicious aura emanating from you screams ‘underworld’ to anyone who looks.”
It appeared that Darling’s transformation medicine had further amplified the misunderstanding, even altering his appearance.
“Don’t worry. I don’t particularly intend to keep you in check. Judging by your backer, there probably isn’t anyone left to mess with you anyway.”
He said this with a sly grin.
“Let’s get along, as fellow underworld folk.”
Saying all he wanted to say, he waved his hand and walked away.
Watching him leave, Kraush stood there, lost in deep thought.
‘A talent from the Night Crow, huh.’
He didn’t know who it might be.
‘But it definitely feels like a filthy variable is about to arise.’
And it was certainly not in a favorable direction.
‘I’ll have to check this out somehow.’
＊ ＊ ＊
After the preliminaries ended, Kraush confidently remained among the group of four.
Thanks to his destruction of the Muscle Pig, no one dared to challenge Kraush further.
As a result, Kraush had barely expended any stamina.
Now, Kraush was tailing someone.
And that someone was—
None other than the Bandage Man who had spoken to him earlier.
‘He’s got to be someone connected to the underworld.’
Kraush had never directly ventured into the Empire’s underworld.
He’d only heard some stories; he didn’t know precisely how they operated.
After all, Kraush, not being a citizen of the Empire, couldn’t possibly know everything about its workings.
And so, Kraush decided to follow him to learn about the Empire’s underworld.
“Do you really have to go through all this trouble?”
While Kraush was closely following through the back alleys—
Crimson Garden suddenly spoke up.
“Trouble? What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about this sneaky tailing business.”
Kraush blinked.
His expression clearly asked, “What other way is there?”
“Tsk, tsk. You know how to learn from me, but you don’t know how to use me. You’re such a hopeless disciple.”
At that moment, Crimson Garden spread her wings and soared into the air.
In an instant, she flew high into the sky and landed squarely in front of the Bandage Man.
“Huh, a crow?”
The Bandage Man, walking down the alley, stopped in surprise at the sight of Crimson Garden.
At that moment, his shoulder twitched violently.
By the time Kraush caught up, the Bandage Man was standing there, dazed.
“What did you do?”
“A light brainwashing spell. In this state, he’ll answer whatever we ask.”
Kraush had known Crimson Garden was versatile, but he hadn’t expected this.
With such a method, there was no need to follow him around.
“Hey, Bandage Man.”
As Kraush called out to him, the Bandage Man stared blankly in his direction.
Looking at him, Kraush immediately asked a question.
“What happened with the Night Crow?”
“The Night Crow was nearly wiped out not long ago.”
At that moment, the news of the Night Crow’s near-destruction spilled from his mouth.
“Wiped out? But I heard the Night Crow participated in the Martial Arts Tournament.”
“That was under the orders of their new master, who wiped them out and brought them under his control.”
Hearing about the Night Crow’s master, Kraush, though puzzled, asked for confirmation.
“Was it Sigrid Ephania?”
The only one capable of such actions was Sigrid.
“No.”
But the answer he received was different.
“No?”
“Yes. The one who destroyed the Night Crow and seized control was the 2nd Prince.”
Kraush furrowed his brows.
‘The 2nd Prince took over the Night Crow?’
His expression grew even more perplexed.
The 2nd Prince had long been overshadowed by the 1st Prince, serving merely to expand the latter’s power.
For someone like him to have swallowed up the Night Crow didn’t make sense.
‘And above all—’
Kraush knew the Night Crow’s secret.
‘Their true backer has always been the Royal Family.’
The Night Crow, often jokingly referred to as an Assassin Family.
They were an elite group so skilled in assassination that they were recognized as a family despite being from the underworld.
What did it mean for them to be exceptional in assassination?
‘They were the ones handling the Empire’s dirty work.’
Their specialty was assassination.
Thus, they were a group that carried out high-paying assassination missions from various quarters.
Their defining trait was one thing: possessing something related to crows.
So widespread was this rumor that carrying a crow emblem in the back alleys was said to guarantee safety.
‘And the Royal Family exploited that.’
The Empire’s Royal Family cleverly used the Night Crow to monitor which nobles employed them and to balance power among the factions.
By doing so, the Royal Family naturally controlled the power dynamics among the nobles.
This was a fact that remained unknown until the Empire’s fall.
Within the Empire, no one but the Royal Family knew this truth.
Therefore, the claim that the Night Crow had switched allegiance to the 2nd Prince was utterly absurd.
Because the original master of the Night Crow was none other than the Royal Family.
Furthermore, there was an even more implausible detail.
‘Setting aside the Night Crow’s destruction, how does a mere back-alley thug know about the Royal Family’s involvement?’
There were too many strange points.
‘Wait a second.’
Something clicked in Kraush’s mind.
‘Sigrid. That woman’s doing.’
Kraush’s brows knitted together.
‘She’s deliberately spreading this rumor to crush the 2nd Prince early and weaken the 1st Prince’s forces. This is all part of her scheme.’
Kraush’s mind worked rapidly.
To Kraush, it was evident that this rumor was deliberately fabricated.
It suggested that the 2nd Prince had swallowed the Night Crow and was scheming something.
‘The 2nd Prince has fallen into Sigrid’s trap.’
Sigrid had intentionally set the trap so the 2nd Prince could take in the Night Crow, and the 2nd Prince, still coveting the Emperor’s throne, had eagerly swallowed the poison known as the Night Crow.
The 2nd Prince, believing that revealing his possession of the Night Crow would strengthen his influence, likely couldn’t hold his tongue.
And Sigrid must have fueled the rumors from behind the scenes to amplify the effect.
To the point where even the Bandage Man here was aware of them.
Having reached this conclusion, Kraush fell silent, lost in thought.
‘I understand it’s a trap to catch the 2nd Prince.’
But what exactly is the plan after making him swallow the Night Crow?
The Night Crow is an expert in assassination.
Which means the 2nd Prince intends to use the Night Crow to assassinate someone…
‘Sigrid must know the 1st Prince well, too.’
He is not a man who is easily taken down.
No matter how much Sigrid manipulates the 2nd Prince from the shadows, assassinating the 1st Prince using the Night Crow would be impossible.
‘Then the plan must be to control the 2nd Prince and have him assassinate someone else.’
But who could the target be?
Deep in thought for a moment, Kraush slowly began to lift his head.
“Damn.”
Kraush’s eyes crumpled into a furious glare.
He had realized who Sigrid was aiming to have assassinated through the 2nd Prince.
‘Sizelry Ephania.’
The 4th Princess.