Chapter 1044

“Hoo….”

Rektor let out a heavy sigh as he held his teacup.

‘Things aren’t going well.’

He had thought Darkhan, who had valued Raon’s talent from their first meeting, might at least hear them out. But perhaps frustrated by his lack of enlightenment, Darkhan hadn’t even given them a chance to speak.

‘We’ve waited a week, as much as we could.’

They had waited and watched Darkhan for a week, as Raon suggested, but it seemed like a waste of time.

‘Tap.’

Rektor set the empty teacup on the table and stood up.

‘I should tell him it’s time to go back.’

It would be a great help if Darkhan stopped Derus Robert, but given the current situation, that didn’t seem likely.

Rather than wasting time on something impossible, it was better to return quickly and think of other countermeasures.

‘He should still be there.’

Rektor recalled the alley where Raon and Darkhan had been that morning and left the teahouse.

He entered the back alleys of the royal capital, turning over words to persuade Raon, when a thick voice echoed from afar.

“Hah, just a penny, please!”

It was Darkhan. He was begging people, his voice lower in tone than before.

“Don’t cling to me.”

A seemingly affluent middle-aged man frowned, but tossed a silver coin from his pocket.

‘What’s going on?’

Rektor’s eyes widened as he watched Darkhan succeed in begging.

‘He could barely manage it before.’

Darkhan’s success rate had been so low he couldn’t get a single coin even after begging all day.

Though he wore an eyepatch, he acted as if he could see, and his massive frame, like that of a giant, made his failures at begging feel almost inevitable.

‘Is he just lucky today?’

After that, Darkhan received a silver coin from a young woman dressed like a noble.

“Th-thank you!”

Darkhan hugged the fallen silver coin like it was precious and bowed to the noblewoman.

‘No, now that I look…’

Has his posture changed?

The Darkhan from before would stretch his broad shoulders and keep his back straight, extending his hand in a way that felt threatening even while begging.

The local beggars and thugs had him pegged and treated him as a punching bag whenever they were bored, but ordinary people couldn’t help but find him frightening.

But now, Darkhan spread his knees, drew in his shoulders, and hunched his back. Like that, his large frame made him look even more pitiful.

‘He succeeded again?’

Perhaps he wasn’t the only one thinking it, because quite a few people were tossing him money.

‘Did he gain some enlightenment?’

If Darkhan up until this morning had merely been acting like a beggar, now he had truly become one, tapping a broken bowl. It was as if he’d seized enlightenment about human life in an instant.

‘Then he might listen to our story…’

Just as Rektor approached Darkhan, expectation rising—

“That’s not it!”

A young man who looked like the words “true beggar” were carved into his face appeared beside Darkhan and smacked the back of his head.

“The angle! The angle of your hands is too wide!”

The beggar youth spread his own hands to show Darkhan the proper begging posture.

“If you maintained a 45-degree angle between your right and left hands like I am now, you’d get a gold coin, not a silver one!”

He stretched both hands in front of Darkhan’s sightless face, telling him to watch and feel it properly.

“The trembling is too artificial too. Tremble with different rhythms, like you’re sick!”

The beggar youth kicked Darkhan’s back, shoving him toward the front of the alley.

“P-please, just a penny….”

As if struck by the beggar youth’s words, Darkhan began begging again. Seeing his fingers trembling at a 45-degree angle, Rektor’s hand unconsciously went to his pocket.

‘Wh-what is this…?’

A charm spell? He really does look pitiful.

Even knowing Darkhan’s true identity as the Dark Sword Saint, pity welled up, making him want to give money.

‘Huh, how can this be…’

As he let out a hollow laugh and shook his head, the beggar youth who had instructed Darkhan flashed a faint smile.

“Huh…?”

Rektor’s jaw dropped as he looked at the beggar youth.

‘C-could it be Raon?’

Though disguised differently from the morning, that beggar youth was unmistakably Raon.

“Not bad. But there’s still room for improvement.”

Raon clicked his tongue as if something was still lacking.

“You’re blind, right? Then you shouldn’t pick up or receive money directly. If you pretend to search for coins deliberately dropped on the ground, you’ll look even more pitiful.”

“I see! Definitely!”

As if learning another lesson, Darkhan clasped his hands toward Raon. It was a respectful posture, as if he were truly treating Raon as his master.

“Then I’ll try again.”

“Good. Express what you feel through begging.”

“Got it!”

Raon nodded and stepped back, while Darkhan stepped forward again and began begging.

“P-please, just a penny….”

As Darkhan hunched over and flailed about as if truly blind, people passing through the royal capital tossed him silver coins.

“Th-thank you!”

Remembering Raon’s words, he didn’t pick up the money right away, instead sweeping the ground with his palm.

“Huh!”

Without realizing it, Rektor flicked a silver coin from between his fingers toward Darkhan.

But he wasn’t the only one who pitied him.

People watching Darkhan seemed to believe he was truly blind, reaching into their pockets and carefully handing him money.

“Th-thank you.”

As if ecstatic at becoming a true beggar, Darkhan shed tears from his empty eye sockets.

“Mmm!”

Raon nodded grandly, as if proud of the sight.

“Hah….”

Rektor shut his eyes tightly, looking at his former superior satisfied with his beggar act, and his grandson proudly teaching beggar techniques.

“Am I dreaming right now?”

And a nightmare at that?

===

“So…”

Rektor let out a hollow laugh, still dumbfounded.

“You taught Darkhan how to beg?”

“Yes.”

Raon nodded as he stripped off the rags even a beggar wouldn’t wear.

“At first, I thought it was nonsense…”

Darkhan turned to Raon with a gentle smile.

“But the kid was definitely right.”

He placed his weathered hand over his chest and let out a low breath.

“I was only acting as a beggar, but my soul was always the Dark Sword Saint. Even when stepped on by other beggars or ignored by gamblers, I stayed composed, thinking I could always kill them.”

Darkhan clasped his hands together, laughing at his former self.

“But that way, nothing changes. It’s literally just wasting time, wearing down body and spirit. I could feel I was on the wrong path, but I didn’t know what to change, so I stayed still. Then this kid said something.”

He pointed at himself and lowered his chin heavily.

“‘Don’t look down on beggars.’ Only then did I realize I was doing something pointless.”

Darkhan said that thanks to those words, he could change his mindset, and he let out a thin smile.

“Now it’s as if I’ve truly become a beggar. My heart feels uneasy, worrying about tomorrow’s meal. This must be the true life of a beggar.”

He said his heart was uneasy, yet the discomfort that had been itching at his mind had disappeared—and he froze solid.

>> Hah…

Wrath blinked as if dumbfounded.

>> Gaining enlightenment by learning to beg? Does that make any sense?

Wrath shook his head, saying he couldn’t understand.

“C-could it be…”

Rektor swallowed dryly as he looked at the frozen Darkhan.

“It’s enlightenment. It probably won’t last long.”

Raon nodded calmly, wiping the charcoal soot from his face.

“No, you. I mean, uh…”

Rektor stammered, as if unsure what to ask first.

“How do you know so well about begging?”

He finally decided to ask that first.

“Acquired during information-gathering missions.”

Raon waved it off like it was nothing.

“All the world’s rumors reach a beggar’s ears.”

For information gathering and disguises, there was no better role than a beggar.

A beggar was someone who wouldn’t seem out of place anytime, anywhere, in any situation—so even the Shadows sincerely taught beggar acting.

But since he couldn’t speak of his past life, he could only explain it as something he’d learned on missions.

“…I see.”

Rektor nodded, partly convinced, though the doubt hadn’t fully left his eyes.

“Then—”

“Haa!”

As he tried to speak again, Darkhan exhaled a turbid breath.

“Only now…”

Darkhan swept back the hair falling over his eyepatch and clenched his fist.

“My head feels cool, like it’s been doused with cold water. The afflictions themselves have flown away.”

He drew a faint smile, saying he had gained important enlightenment.

“Thanks to you. Raon Zieghart.”

Though a sword-obsessed eccentric, Darkhan bowed his head to Raon with a martial artist’s sincerity.

“It’s nothing.”

Raon shook his head calmly.

‘I moved because I was a bit annoyed…’

Things just happened to turn out like this.

He wasn’t a god, nor had he moved by calculating every outcome.

He had simply hated Darkhan’s clumsy beggar act and taught him a bit, but because Darkhan followed along better than expected, his irritation had been neatly resolved.

“Now speak. What is the request you have for me?”

Darkhan wiggled his finger. With that ease in his voice, it seemed he would agree to most things.

“Before stating the request, I have a question. What do you think of the Four Demons?”

Before asking him to stop Derus, Raon brought up the Four Demons first.

“The Four Demons?”

Darkhan smacked his lips.

“Right now, I have no feelings. Though I think they’re pathetic.”

He shook his head, showing neither favor nor malice.

“Even toward the Heavenly Demon?”

“I know he’s strong, but he’s not a swordsman.”

Darkhan snorted, saying he had no interest in someone who wasn’t a swordsman, no matter how strong.

“Then I can make the request.”

Raon nodded, looking at Darkhan’s eyepatch.

“Derus Robert will soon move to attack the Five Kings. Can you stop him?”

“Derus Robert?”

Darkhan muttered Derus’s name and scratched the bridge of his nose.

“Yes. At present, only the Northern Extermination King and you can stop Derus.”

“He’s gotten that strong?”

Darkhan’s mouth opened slightly, as if surprised.

“To the point I can’t read his martial force.”

Rektor frowned, saying it was completely different from before.

“Even you, in your current state, might not be able to win.”

He said the outcome couldn’t be predicted and lightly bit his lip.

“I ask you. Stop Derus Robert.”

Raon bowed his head to Darkhan.

“I know your ultimate goal is Grandfather. But in that fight, one of the two will disappear, so tasting it first isn’t bad either.”

“No…”

Darkhan wagged his finger at himself. As expected, it seemed it wouldn’t work.

“If it was something like that, you should’ve said it sooner!”

He shook his head as if asking why Raon hadn’t led with it.

“If you’d just said Derus had gotten that strong, I would’ve agreed to fight immediately.”

Darkhan shrugged, acting as if this should have been obvious.

“No, you’re the one who wouldn’t let us speak!”

Rektor stomped his foot, asking what nonsense this was when Darkhan had sealed their mouths with killing intent.

“Did I?”

Darkhan scratched the back of his head as if he’d forgotten his own words and actions.

“Well, let’s leave the past behind. I’ll stop Derus.”

He nodded, agreeing to the request with absurd speed.

“And…”

Darkhan looked at Raon and tapped his temple.

“I’ll give you a small lesson too.”

“A lesson?”

Raon lowered his eyebrows slightly.

“What does that mean…?”

“I like transactions. Since I gained enlightenment thanks to you, I should repay it.”

Darkhan laughed, saying he simply wanted to return what he’d received.

“I’ll evaluate your swordsmanship.”

He nodded, saying he would evaluate it.

“Was it really such a great enlightenment?”

“At my level, even the smallest enlightenment becomes precious. What you did for me is by no means small.”

Normally, one might downplay another’s contribution, but Darkhan acknowledged it as greater than it seemed.

“Lately, what are you stuck on?”

Darkhan spread both arms as if willing to listen to anything.

“Hm…”

After some thought, Raon slowly parted his lips.

“The power of my Heart Sword seems weaker than I thought.”

“Huh…?”

Darkhan froze for a moment, then let out a hollow laugh.

“H-Heart Sword? You’ve reached the Heart Sword realm?”

He shook his head as if he’d had no idea.

“Yes. Though I still need to borrow this sword’s power.”

Raon said he still couldn’t do it alone and drew the Soul Requiem Sword.

“Then you should’ve said so first! If you were a swordsman walking the same path, I would’ve listened to everything!”

Darkhan wagged his head, asking why Raon hadn’t said it sooner.

“No, you’re the one who wouldn’t listen!”

Raon shouted at Darkhan, just like Rektor had.

>> Hah, this king misjudged again.

Wrath grabbed his head, listening to the conversation between Raon and Darkhan.

>> That guy really is your equal. You’re both just madmen!

===

Back alleys of the Oskot Kingdom.

“What kind of lesson are you going to give?”

Raon faced Darkhan before the moonlit ruins of a building.

“From now on, I will shoot a Heart Sword at you.”

Darkhan clenched empty air with his right hand as if gripping a sword.

“You try to defend with your own Heart Sword.”

He arrogantly lifted his chin, as if telling him to block it properly.

“Wait!”

Rektor raised his hand toward Darkhan.

“Raon hasn’t been in the Heart Sword realm for long. He’s not at a level to block your sword.”

He shook his head, telling him to stop.

“That kid can’t even use the Heart Sword alone, so the difference in power is clear.”

Darkhan chuckled, looking at Rektor.

“But what you’re thinking won’t happen. My current Heart Sword is special.”

He waved his hand, saying there was no need to worry.

“As Darkhan, I lie like breathing. But as a swordsman, I never break a promise.”

Darkhan nodded, telling him to trust him.

“Grandfather.”

Raon looked at Rektor and smiled faintly.

“It’ll be fine.”

He asked him to wait and took another step toward Darkhan.

“Let’s begin.”

He drew the Soul Requiem Sword, gripped it tight, and gritted his teeth.

“Good mindset.”

Darkhan curled his lips and extended the hand holding the formless sword.

‘Whoooooosh!’

Not even a breeze blew, yet terrifying killing intent slammed into his soul like a typhoon. It was the wave of Darkhan’s Heart Sword.

‘Crackle!’

Raon clenched his teeth and linked the resentment dwelling in the Soul Requiem Sword to his own soul.

Like rivers gathering into a sea, souls of different colors intertwined, forging a sharper soul sword.

‘Now!’

Raon hurled his own sword toward Darkhan’s surging Heart Sword.

‘Chaaaaang!’

Sword and sword. Soul and soul collided, the impact sounding like thousands of glass panes shattering at once.

‘Koooooong!’

After squeezing his eyes shut against the tremendous wave and opening them again, the world had changed.

“This is…”

Instead of the ruined back alley, an impossibly vast gray space stretched out before him.

“Welcome.”

Darkhan stood at the center of the gray space, looking down at him with curled lips.

“To my Heart Sword.”