Running Away From The Hero! Chapter 1

Chapter 1. I didn’t know back then.
Edited by: Liky-Liky
Proofread by: FallenS0ul

Normally, when you go to a fantasy world;

You might become a legendary hero.
Or you might plug in your stick everywhere and create a giant harem.
Or instead, you could start a revolution and defeat evil emperors and mages.

Yeah, no. That kind of a thing never actually happens.

Understanding the language of the world when you reincarnate?

Don’t make me laugh. That kind of s.h.i.+t’s only for the main character.
Ah, it’s not that I couldn’t talk. But, do you honestly think that some people in a different dimension would know Korean?
Language magic? Of course it exists. But what kind of a crazy idiot would use it on a baby?
In the end, I had to study my a.s.s off, and learn the common tongue.

After that, my social cla.s.s.

Yahoo! I’m a commoner! Of course I wouldn’t be a n.o.ble.
Then, I can just use my knowledge from my other world to… nope.
You should know as well, Korea’s education sucks b.a.l.l.s. There’s no way to use it other than for tutoring.
You’re not really sure? Try going to college. Everything you learned for the last 12 years of your education is now useless.

You can’t even apply what you learned to anything either!

Korean? Nope! English? Nope! Korean History and World History? Nope!
I somehow managed to be called a genius for my math skills. But… h.e.l.l, apparently you qualify as a genius as long as you can add and subtract.
In other words, you can be a genius with your elementary grade knowledge! And where do you get to use your genius skills? When selling crops! As expected, reality is bulls.h.i.+t.

And a while later, my parents pa.s.sed away. The reason? The works of a black wizard, and the oppression from an evil n.o.ble!

…Actually, they died after getting involved in a hero’s chase.
If I were to explain it clearly, it’s like one of those scenes in an action movie where the heroes get into a car chase with the villains.

It’s a scene that makes you ball your fists and shout out excitedly. Now, try imagining that happening in real life.

It looks good in movies, but it causes all kinds of harm in reality.

That “harm” included the death of tens of people and the injury of hundreds.

Even though they’re parents from another world, I should take revenge for my them… nope.
It’s not that I don’t want to, but in the chase, there were just so many powerful skills flying around everywhere. There’s no way to chase after them, and in the first place, I didn’t even know how to continue living.

And… So I begin training! Nope.
Knight school? I’d rather build an inn with the admission fee.
Magic, or summoning spirits? I said this before, but I’m no main character. No talent, meaning: 0% chance that’s ever going to happen!

Then what do I do?
Crack!

“K, kuuh…”
“Should have handed it over when I told you to.”

In a dark alley, a boy with a knife in his hand was threatening a single man.
Ah, isn’t this the kind of thing the main character goes through when he’s still weak? But the thing is.

Crack!
“Ah, fine, I’ll give it to you!”
I’m the one with the knife.

I only have one advantage in this world: a free mind.
Around here, peasants never really get educated, so they just live their lives like machines, but I’m different! Steal a bit, beat up some people, do whatever you can to live!

What happened to my morals? If you’re going to talk about morals, first talk to the G.o.d who summoned me here with no warnings! Yeah, they have real G.o.ds here!

I just kind of drifted off into this kind of a lifestyle.

“…Well, that’s just my life, isn’t it.”

No love life! To think that there would be no love, even in a fantasy world!
No, wait, I wasn’t trying to talk about that. Right now, I’m working as a petty official in an evil organization.
Mm? What’s a petty official? Hey, don’t underestimate petty officials d.a.m.n it.
This evil organization was formed by gathering all kinds of people in the back alleys. In other words, even petty officials have a pretty high position in the organization! I actually have a higher rank than most people.

Of course, in return for risking my life at work, I get paid pretty well. You get to take in quite a bit of money when working with dirty stuff like this. If your pay is s.h.i.+t then what you’re doing is s.h.i.+t, no one would ever do these kinds of things, after all.
And like that, I lived, working hard as a petty officer and avoiding heroes as much as I could.

At some point, I reached my 40s and was promoted from a petty officer to an instructor.

Hm, now I’m finally strong! Nope. As I mentioned, I have no talent. I never had the talent for magic or summoning spirits, and even though I’m pretty good with a sword in my hand, at a place where using a life sword is everything, I’m pretty much useless.

Ah, what’s a life sword, you ask? It’s like a sword aura that you see in novels. They call it life sword here, because you put in energy into the sword. A sword that has been injected with evil energy through the use of dead people or evil magic would be called death sword. You know, these words actually sound like their respective Korean versions, which makes things a bit easier.

But there are some problems that result from that as well. Everyone knows a desk is called a desk, yeah? But then in this world, the word for “desk” would be p.r.o.nounced as “chair.” It seems trivial, right? It actually drives you crazy.

Back to the original topic. I’m an instructor right now! I’m the guy who makes talent sprout out of kids!

But because they’re still kids, they can’t use the life sword yet. They might have the talent, but to me, who battled in land, sea, and sky, and even experienced traveling between dimensions, their talent is nothing!
And the children in this world are all like blank slates! My brainwas.h.i.+ng powers are seriously top-cla.s.s in the organization as well… if G.o.d didn’t exist in this world, I probably would’ve ruled this world as a weird leader of a cult. After all, I even managed to strengthen the organization through the mystical art of the pyramid scheme!

Anyway, I, as the head instructor of the organization, looked at the future members of this place, and spoke coldly.

“I am your instructor, Naruan.”

Why do I speak coldly? Of course, it’s to intimidate them!
Even talented kids get intimidated if I speak like this.
Of course, there are some that don’t get intimidated.

Let’s see, those kinds of kids would be… number 17, 46… and 102?
These guys are the real gems here!

“From now on, you will completely obey the instructions of your instructors. If you get curious about anything, you may ask your instructor questions. But as the answers may differ from each instructor, it would be a good idea to share the information with others.“

I speak as if I’m allowing them to do something, but with this, the instructors can’t say whatever they want! Why? Because I allowed everyone to share information! Why did I allow it? It’s definitely not because the instructors would say all kinds of things about me to their disciples, causing me to be seen in a bad light and eventually be fired… it’s definitely not that, I swear. Hum, hum.

After saying a few other things to keep my reputation in the organization from going down.

“I’ll take care of numbers 17, 47, and 102. Separate them from the rest of the group, and bring them to me.”

As the head instructor, I usually have to show some good results to the organization. Fearless kids are usually talented, which makes things easier.
If they aren’t? I’ll have to work my a.s.s off. That usually does it. But in that case… I’d be the one who has to work…

The three kids were dragged in front of me by the other instructors. As expected… I struck gold.

They all look quite amazing, despite being a little over ten. Since all of them have short hair, I can’t really distinguish what gender they are, but they’re sure to grow into beautiful men/women in the future. Hmm… even so.

What matters about becoming either a beautiful man or woman, you ask?

It’s easy to trick people. What’s the one thing that matters the most when someone falls in love? The heart? Ha, nice joke. It’s the looks. Fate? First love? They only exist because of good looks. Of course, there are cases where people get in love with ugly, or average looking people. But that kind of love is something that develops only after a long time! When you first meet an ugly person, you get plagued with bad impressions of the person!
But if that person was pretty? You begin liking him/her immediately.

In other words! Villains have to look pretty as well! Ah, that doesn’t mean I am, though. I’m pretty old, which means that I already have a pretty good resume. I don’t need to rely on my looks.

Well, that’s that. Let’s find out their gender first.

“…Hm, quite girlish.”

I never directed the comment to anyone. If I just make a comment like this, then…

“Who… are you calling girlish?”

The kids are unafraid, even when I intimidate them with an emotionless face? They aren’t actually unafraid. Rather, they’re pretending to be unafraid. Why? Acting afraid would hurt their pride. And what happens when I poke that pride? Well, the answer would be disciple 102, who is currently glaring at me while gritting his teeth. Anyway… 2 girls? Huh…

It feels like the organization’s taking in a lot of girls because the new Sword Saint was female. Well… I suppose it’s a good thing? When I was a newbie, there were only brawny men around me… Hm… that’s why I never got a girlfriend. No, really. …Probably.

The fact that I’m thinking this while saying something completely different just goes to prove that I am an experienced villain. My mouth, retaining the coldness from before, spits out a word.

“You.”

When I just give a glance, 102 blushes a bit, but stays silent.

“I dislike talkativeness. Prove that you’re not girlish through results, not words.”

Of course, I’d have to be very talkative and humble when I’m in front of a hero, but in the organization, results mattered more. Being talkative just means there’s more paperwork.

But I didn’t know back then.. Why these kids came here, and what their presence here would eventually cause!

 

Chapter 1. I didn’t know back then.

1.25 Their Story.

[1] 17’s Story

The first daughter of the great Nerumia Family in the Karuan Empire.
This is the ident.i.ty of me, Nerumia El Ria. So why am I here?

There is only one reason for me being here. This organization was suspected of stealing the latter parts of the family’s sword arts as well as the family heirloom.

A year back, our family suffered from the humiliation of getting the latter part of their sword arts stolen, but the bigger problem than that was getting the heirloom stolen.

The Nerumia Family was with the Empire since its birth. And the heirloom had been with us for up to 700 years. We only found out later that it had been stolen.

For up to half a year, we had been using a fake heirloom that had even the imperial palace fooled. If it wasn’t for the fact that the heirloom actually had a special spell cast on it, no, if it wasn’t for my grandfather who came to visit us from the wizard’s tower after 3 years, we may have been using that heirloom up to this point.

Our family focused more on magic than swords, which was why we had been searching for the thieves slowly and carefully.

But this time, the heirloom was stolen. The object that represented our family had been stolen. Because of this, the entire family had been sent to try to find the heirloom, and this was the same for me.

As a child, however, there weren’t many things I could actually do. I could only disguise myself as a slave, and enter the organization that way.

Once I entered, I was taken to train for up to three months. For me, this was like normal training, but it seemed to be different for other children, seeing how there were quite a lot of kids disqualified.
And now, we get a.s.signed to different instructors.

On the platform in front of us, an instructor began to talk with a cold face.

“I am your instructor, Naruan.”

He seemed to be in his early 40s. Seeing how there were other instructors behind him, he was probably the head instructor.
As expected of a member of an evil organization, his emotionless face along with his cold voice had an effect of making chills run down your spine.
Kids around me, and even me, flinched from his voice, but I tried my best not to be subdued by his voice, and glared at the man. Then, at that moment…

‘W, what was that?’

At that instant, it almost felt like the man was watching me? Or did he manage to notice how I actually glared at him?

The head instructor continued on with his emotionless face.

“From now on, you will completely obey the instructions of your instructors. If you get curious about anything, you may ask your instructor questions. But as the answers may differ from each instructor, it would be a good idea to share the information with others.”

In a place where there may be spies, he goes on and allows the sharing of information. The man is clearly stating that they have the capability to catch all kinds of spies under any kind of situation, and that our life is in their hands.

The instructor’s finished speaking after a short moment, and his last words immediately made me paralyzed.

“I’ll take care of numbers 17, 47, and 102. Separate them from the rest of the group, and bring them to me.”

It wasn’t just me, but out of three people, he had picked me.
Was this… coincidence? Or did he already realize who i was?

Hundreds of different thoughts floated up my head, but in the end, I was taken up to instructor Naruan by one of the other instructors. Instructor Naruan glanced at each of us for a bit, then made a single comment with his cold voice.

“…Hm, quite girlish.”

I thought that the comment was directed towards me, but it did not take a while to realize that that was a mistake.

“Who… are you calling girlish?”
“You.”

102 was currently looking at the instructor with gritted teeth. He really was pretty enough to be mistaken for a girl. But, I feel like I’ve seen him before? Am I just mistaken?
I thought for a moment, because the boy reminded me of someone, but strangely enough, I couldn’t come up with anything.

“I dislike talkativeness. Prove that you’re not girlish through results, not words.”

While I had been thinking, Naruan threw the sentence at me. After this, he scanned us once more with his cold eyes, went to his work table, and began to do paperwork.

“…”
“…”
“…”

All three of us looked at each other with confused faces. After a moment of silence, 102, seemingly tired of the silence in the room, glared at the instructor and opened his mouth.

“What… are you doing?”
“Work.”

The instructor said this in the most natural manner, as if what he was doing the the most obvious thing to do in the world. 102 was rendered speechless for a second because of this, but he soon shouted out some words through his gritted teeth.

“T, then, what are we supposed to do?!”
“Your rooms can be found when you open the door that’s next to you. Most of your essential tools should be located there, and if you need anything else, come to me.”

The instructor said this as he pointed to a door in the side. Before 102 began to complain once more, the instructor said something that made me, no, if I didn’t see wrong, all three of us freeze.

“I’m not talking about tha…”
“Training begins 7 o’clock in the morning, and ends at 6 in the evening. You can do whatever you like during the times other than this. This is my building, a building that I alone manage. I do not care about what you do in here. There is no need to hide your secrets about revenge, desires, or stories to everyone in the building other than me.”

As expected… he knew? No, then what did his words just now mean? My head automatically rotated left and right.
My eyes met with those of the people next to me. 46, and 102 were probably making the same face as me at the time.

And… their eyes were both saying this.

[You as well?]

And about the time when fear, shock, and terror began to crawl up in our hearts, the instructor, who still wasn’t even glancing at us, opened his mouth with words that contained both coldness and a hint of joy.

“Training starts tomorrow… rest well.”

And, from that point on, I began to experience something that I could never forget, no, something that had changed me completely.

 

Chapter 1. I didn’t know back then.

“Phew…”

After confirming that the kids entered their rooms, I let out a sigh.
Honestly, maintaining a cold aura like this is really annoying. But what am I supposed to do? If I don’t do that, I’d be seen as an idiot.

A long time ago, I acted as a kind instructor, but then the kids saw me as a total idiot. They didn’t even listen to me. It’s like how you enjoy a kind teacher’s cla.s.s, but have s.h.i.+tty grades in it, and even though you hate a cla.s.s where a scary teacher waves around his metal bat threateningly, you have good grades there.

The bat is not at fault here. Humans, who refuse to move unless. .h.i.t by the bat, are the problem here.

Even so, as a person who worked as an instructor for a long time, I have several strategies that work quite well in training children.

Strategy number one!

Act as if you know everything about your students!
Honestly, what kind of an idiot would enter an evil organization? Especially those kids who have talent.
The kids become pretty good at handling tasks after being trained for a few months. Why would they enter an evil organization, when they could be doing something more legal with their newfound skills?

Like all other villains, they all have a similar story. They might want something, or they might want revenge. Or they might have some other story they can’t talk about.

Well, mostly they’re just people who have a degree of hate against the n.o.bles. Sometimes, spies do come into the organization, but when you act like you know everything, they just can’t do anything.

And whenever I reach a barrier while teaching… hehehe, I can just make use of my brainwas.h.i.+ng- I mean educating- skill!
There’s no way mere ten year olds can resist something that even older kids can’t take. I didn’t type in “reading” and “psychology” in my hobbies list for nothing, you know?!

Strategy number two! The room that the kids went into!

That room was originally supposed to be made for me. So why am I not going in there?

Well, there are two reasons, with one of them being safety. An evil organization has a lot of hate directed at it, and heroes occasionally attack us for no reason at all. The room that I made to hide away from those heroes was this, my office.

If you look carefully, you’ll find that there are no windows in the office. Then, there are only two entrances one can enter this room through. First, there’s the main door that the kids used to get in, and there’s the other door that leads to my private chambers. If you get in through the other door, you’ll find the children, but if you go through the main door, you’ll find yourself in company with a bunch of alarms and traps.

And as long as I’m inside the office, I can get a sense of what the h.e.l.l’s going on before anyone else. Adding to that, this office has all the tools required for me to control the traps in the building, and it even has several escape tunnels. In other words, this place is a steel fortress. I can proudly say that this room is safer than the room that the master of our organization uses.

Because of that, I sleep in my office! My waist hurt a bit at first, but I got used to it eventually. My life is more important.

The other reason why I’m not going into my room is because it makes it easier for me to administrate the kids, and at the same time, make them like me a little more.
What’s so good about making them like me, you ask? These kids are like my potential life insurance! If one of them becomes successful, I need to stick by him/her as much as I can, but would I be able to do that if I treat them badly? I’d be lucky if I got out alive.

Because of that, I need to become a tsundere instructor who is both kind yet harsh to his students.

Hm, as expected, the power of tsunderes are amazing. It works particularly well around here, especially because no one knows about the concept of tsunderes.

The point of this would be to say stuff like [Hm, I’m not training you because I want you to get strong. It’s all for the organization!] and [I’m not healing you because I’m worried! This is all for the organization!], to make the kids think something along the lines of [Ah, he’s doing it all for us…]. I have to be careful, though. I might end up becoming a cold-blooded instructor if I make a mistake.

Well, there are many other points other than just that one, but that’s another story for another time. Right now, I need to do paperwork.

I’ve mentioned before that I had no talent whatsoever, but there is still that one advantage I have against others: The Korean buff!

No one can catch up to my office work speed! I, who has been trained by countless sleepless nights in the office, have no equal, other than perhaps the prime minister of the Empire!

Work work work! Infinite work power!

Find the core statement of a paper, and stamp! I am the man who is faster than no other in paperwork!

After quickly finis.h.i.+ng my work like so, I do a quick stretch, then enter the kids’ room with a knock.

Knock knock.

“I’m going in.”

And the first thing I see when I get in is… what the?

“What’s going on.”

I said this with a lower voice than the one that I normally use.

Why? Because it looked like these kids were trying to rank themselves already, haha.
17 had a staff in hand, and 46 had a dagger both hands. 102, on the other hand, had a longsword, which seemed a little too big for him.

The kids all simultaneously turned to look at me……. something feels wrong! The moment I thought that, my villainous senses cried out.

-danger!

The moment I stepped backwards, I was able to hear a small chant from 17’s mouth.

“Burn, h.e.l.lfire!”

As soon as the words were spoken, a flame rose out of her staff! f.u.c.k! They weren’t trying to rank themselves! This is mutiny!

s.h.i.+t! It looks like these kids were more prideful than I thought. I didn’t even prepare anything yet, and they get into a mutiny already!

But this is my house! My fortress! I already have several defensive mechanism that I prepared in advance!

The moment the staff got aimed towards me, I lift my foot, and smashed it on a spot next to the door.

Boom!

“W, what the!”

A vibration that shook the entire room rang out! Huhahaha! This is the power of a cultivator’s attack! ….well, I actually just stepped on a spring trap below the room.

The three most important components of magic are the contract, the imagination, and concentration. Unless one is a magician of considerable power, it is easy to break their concentration with a simple shake like this. A child’s magic like this should…

Bang!

Easily be destroyed… eh…

A part of the wall flew off. This much vibration should’ve broken a spell of a novice magician though?

I was surprised, but thankfully, my instincts worked faster than my thoughts. I crouched down, and took out a single dagger from my pocket. And at that moment, a dagger flew my way!

A dagger that was in 46’s left hand was flung towards me. Hmph! I struck away the dagger with ease, looked at 46 and 102, and instantly formulated a plan in my head!

First of all, I’ll scare 46 with my dagger….

Stab.

Eh?

It felt like my process of thought just stopped right then. When I made a stabbing motion to scare 46, the boy accelerated forward towards me, and stopped the dagger by sacrificing his left hand!

What the h.e.l.l, did this kid just pull of something that even I, who lived for 30 years on earth and 40 years in this fantasy world, don’t dare attempt?

But this time, my head moved along with my instincts. I quickly gave up my dagger, dodged the one that 46 was swinging with his right hand, and grabbed onto 102’s attack with my left hand.

Kuaa! As I thought, that kid’s completely crazy! Hurts like h.e.l.l!

I can’t be distracted by pain, though! My life’s more important! In 0.5 seconds, I grabbed the surprised 102 all the while holding onto his sword, and threw him to 17. Then, I threw the longsword in my hand lightly into the air, and sprayed the blood that came out of my left hand into 46’s eyes. I then kicked his abdomen, and made him fly into the other two kids. Ah, of course, I made it hurt a little more than it should’ve as revenge.

And before the longsword it the floor, I kicked it so that it lodged itself right in front of the kids, and walked away towards the kitchen all the while talking in a cold voice.

“I’ll prepare food. Clean the room during that time.”

Ah, my hand seriously hurts.

 

Chapter 1. I didn’t know back then.

“Phew…”

After confirming that the kids entered their rooms, I let out a sigh.
Honestly, maintaining a cold aura like this is really annoying. But what am I supposed to do? If I don’t do that, I’d be seen as an idiot.

A long time ago, I acted as a kind instructor, but then the kids saw me as a total idiot. They didn’t even listen to me. It’s like how you enjoy a kind teacher’s cla.s.s, but have s.h.i.+tty grades in it, and even though you hate a cla.s.s where a scary teacher waves around his metal bat threateningly, you have good grades there.

The bat is not at fault here. Humans, who refuse to move unless. .h.i.t by the bat, are the problem here.

Even so, as a person who worked as an instructor for a long time, I have several strategies that work quite well in training children.

Strategy number one!

Act as if you know everything about your students!
Honestly, what kind of an idiot would enter an evil organization? Especially those kids who have talent.
The kids become pretty good at handling tasks after being trained for a few months. Why would they enter an evil organization, when they could be doing something more legal with their newfound skills?

Like all other villains, they all have a similar story. They might want something, or they might want revenge. Or they might have some other story they can’t talk about.

Well, mostly they’re just people who have a degree of hate against the n.o.bles. Sometimes, spies do come into the organization, but when you act like you know everything, they just can’t do anything.

And whenever I reach a barrier while teaching… hehehe, I can just make use of my brainwas.h.i.+ng- I mean educating- skill!
There’s no way mere ten year olds can resist something that even older kids can’t take. I didn’t type in “reading” and “psychology” in my hobbies list for nothing, you know?!

Strategy number two! The room that the kids went into!

That room was originally supposed to be made for me. So why am I not going in there?

Well, there are two reasons, with one of them being safety. An evil organization has a lot of hate directed at it, and heroes occasionally attack us for no reason at all. The room that I made to hide away from those heroes was this, my office.

If you look carefully, you’ll find that there are no windows in the office. Then, there are only two entrances one can enter this room through. First, there’s the main door that the kids used to get in, and there’s the other door that leads to my private chambers. If you get in through the other door, you’ll find the children, but if you go through the main door, you’ll find yourself in company with a bunch of alarms and traps.

And as long as I’m inside the office, I can get a sense of what the h.e.l.l’s going on before anyone else. Adding to that, this office has all the tools required for me to control the traps in the building, and it even has several escape tunnels. In other words, this place is a steel fortress. I can proudly say that this room is safer than the room that the master of our organization uses.

Because of that, I sleep in my office! My waist hurt a bit atifirst, but I got used to it eventually. My life is more important.

The other reason why I’m not going into my room is because it makes it easier for me to administrate the kids, and at the same time, make them like me a little more.
What’s so good about making them like me, you ask? These kids are like my potential life insurance! If one of them becomes successful, I need to stick by him/her as much as I can, but would I be able to do that if I treat them badly? I’d be lucky if I got out alive.

Because of that, I need to become a tsundere instructor who is both kind yet harsh to his students.

Hm, as expected, the power of tsunderes are amazing. It works particularly well around here, especially because no one knows about the concept of tsunderes.

The point of this would be to say stuff like [Hm, I’m not training you because I want you to get strong. It’s all for the organization!] and [I’m not healing you because I’m worried! This is all for the organization!], to make the kids think something along the lines of [Ah, he’s doing it all for us…]. I have to be careful, though. I might end up becoming a cold-blooded instructor if I make a mistake.

Well, there are many other points other than just that one, but that’s another story for another time. Right now, I need to do paperwork.

I’ve mentioned before that I had no talent whatsoever, but there is still that one advantage I have against others: The Korean buff!

No one can catch up to my office work speed! I, who has been trained by countless sleepless nights in the office, have no equal, other than perhaps the prime minister of the Empire!

Work work work! Infinite work power!

Find the core statement of a paper, and stamp! I am the man who is faster than no other in paperwork!

After quickly finis.h.i.+ng my work like so, I do a quick stretch, then enter the kids’ room with a knock.

Knock knock.

“I’m going in.”

And the first thing I see when I get in is… what the?

“What’s going on.”

I said this with a lower voice than the one that I normally use.

Why? Because it looked like these kids were trying to rank themselves already, haha.
17 had a staff in hand, and 46 had a dagger both hands. 102, on the other hand, had a longsword, which seemed a little too big for him.

The kids all simultaneously turned to look at me……. something feels wrong! The moment I thought that, my villainous senses cried out.

-danger!

The moment I stepped backwards, I was able to hear a small chant from 17’s mouth.

“Burn, h.e.l.lfire!”

As soon as the words were spoken, a flame rose out of her staff! f.u.c.k! They weren’t trying to rank themselves! This is mutiny!

s.h.i.+t! It looks like these kids were more prideful than I thought. I didn’t even prepare anything yet, and they get into a mutiny already!

But this is my house! My fortress! I already have several defensive mechanism that I prepared in advance!

The moment the staff got aimed towards me, I lift my foot, and smashed it on a spot next to the door.

Boom!

“W, what the!”

A vibration that shook the entire room rang out! Huhahaha! This is the power of a cultivator’s attack! ….well, I actually just stepped on a spring trap below the room.

The three most important components of magic are the contract, the imagination, and concentration. Unless one is a magician of considerable power, it is easy to break their concentration with a simple shake like this. A child’s magic like this should…

Bang!

Easily be destroyed… eh…

A part of the wall flew off. This much vibration should’ve broken a spell of a novice magician though?

I was surprised, but thankfully, my instincts worked faster than my thoughts. I crouched down, and took out a single dagger from my pocket. And at that moment, a dagger flew my way!

A dagger that was in 46’s left hand was flung towards me. Hmph! I struck away the dagger with ease, looked at 46 and 102, and instantly formulated a plan in my head!

First of all, I’ll scare 46 with my dagger….

Stab.

Eh?

It felt like my process of thought just stopped right then. When I made a stabbing motion to scare 46, the boy accelerated forward towards me, and stopped the dagger by sacrificing his left hand!

What the h.e.l.l, did this kid just pull of something that even I, who lived for 30 years on earth and 40 years in this fantasy world, don’t dare attempt?

But this time, my head moved along with my instincts. I quickly gave up my dagger, dodged the one that 46 was swinging with his right hand, and grabbed onto 102’s attack with my left hand.

Kuaa! As I thought, that kid’s completely crazy! Hurts like h.e.l.l!

I can’t be distracted by pain, though! My life’s more important! In 0.5 seconds, I grabbed the surprised 102 all the while holding onto his sword, and threw him to 17. Then, I threw the longsword in my hand lightly into the air, and sprayed the blood that came out of my left hand into 46’s eyes. I then kicked his abdomen, and made him fly into the other two kids. Ah, of course, I made it hurt a little more than it should’ve as revenge.

And before the longsword it the floor, I kicked it so that it lodged itself right in front of the kids, and walked away towards the kitchen all the while talking in a cold voice.

“I’ll prepare food. Clean the room during that time.”

Ah, my hand seriously hurts.

 

Chapter 1. I didn’t know back then. (4)

1.5 Their Story

[2] 46’s Story

I was born in a normal family, and grew up like a normal kid. That’s… what I thought was going to happen for the rest of my childhood.

But this normal family got destroyed in an instant. Like all normal peasants, we lived by farming, and like all other normal peasant family, our family got in danger when we pulled up a poor harvest.

In the end, we began borrowing money, and… that was the start of our destruction.

Were we unlucky? The people we happened to borrow money from happened to be a part of an evil organization, and our debt increased tremendously day by day.

Laws did not apply to those people, and we could not fight back.

Eventually… my parents were not able to pay off the debt, and got dragged away by them. And… I never got to see them again.
They probably died. I was young, but I still knew that by instinct.

It probably happened then. The process of my emotions dying, that is. Slowly, my emotions began to disappear, apart from pure rage.

I eventually returned to the place where I lived, and lurked in the dark alleys.

I always fought the other kids who offered me to join their group. How much time pa.s.sed ever since I first started doing that? Eventually, a man came to me.

“Do you want to join us?”
“…What kind of a group is it.”

The man smirked, and opened his mouth.

“An evil organization. You’d die as a tool in the end, but… if you manage to survive, you may be able to collect quite a bit of cash.”
“…I’ll go.”

This was my goal from the start. Even if this organization was unrelated to the death of my parents, I just have to get stronger here. Thinking this, I spent my time in the organization.

Every day, there was harsh training. But I endured.

And one day, I found him. One of the men that threatened my parents every day. I was at the right place. But I stayed patient, and bided my time.

Ten years. Give me ten years.

I was a peasant’s child anyway. There was no way the organization knew about my plan. That’s what I had thought.

…That was what I had thought, before I met a single instructor.

Naruan, the head instructor.

I was dragged away with two other children by him to his office, and talked a little. But during the conversation, there was one thing that made me freeze.

“Training begins 7 o’clock in the morning, and ends at 6 in the evening. You can do whatever you like during the times other than this. This is my building, a building that I alone manage. I do not care about what you do in here. There is no need to hide your secrets about revenge, desires, or stories from everyone in the building other than me.”

…So he knew.

I could tell that the other children had some kind of story behind them as well, seeing how their face was similar to mine. Then… the man knew that I was here for revenge.

What should I do… I thought of all kinds of things, but the instructor didn’t even glance at us, and spoke coldly while doing his paperwork.

“Training starts tomorrow… rest well.”

Was this perhaps what a dragon’s spell was like? We mindlessly obeyed his words and walked into our rooms. After a moment of silence, 102 opened his mouth.

“…You guys… as well?”

I looked at 102, who had spoken with a trembling voice, and nodded.

“Revenge.”
“I… have something to find.”

After hearing our answers, 102 looked up at the ceiling for a second, and opened his mouth.

“I… well, it’s nothing.”

Silence continued. We both began to think on our own.
He knew? Why’d he take us in despite that? What happens now?

I am not afraid of death. Rather, life seems meaningless. But… I wanted revenge. It’s meaningless, but… I wouldn’t know the purpose of my life in this dark, grey world if I didn’t have a goal like it.

Because of that…

“Should we kill him.”

The two people flinched at my words, then began to think. 102 seemed to have made his decision after a moment, and opened his mouth with a determined face.

“I’m against it. My goal is… survival, after all.”
“Me too.”
“Well… do what you want, then.”

There was no guarantee that we could it anyway. No, we wouldn’t be able to win. I wasn’t really serious when I offered that suggestion.

I tried to begin talking again, but.

Knock knock.

A chill ran down my spine just then, so I took out my daggers in wariness.

It wasn’t just me. The others took out their weapons as well, and made a nervous face. And at the same time.

“I’m going in.”

The instructor entered the room as he said that.

He took a look at us once, then spoke with an even colder voice than before.

“What’s going on.”

At that moment, we all exchanged a look with each other. And at the same time.

“Burn, h.e.l.lfire!”

A red energy formed on 17’s staff. Once that energy turned into a flame and was about to fly off, the instructor slammed the ground with his foot.

And…

Boom!

“W, what the!”

17 and 102 shouted out in surprise. I was surprised as well. The whole building shook with just that? It didn’t make sense. He was definitely stronger than first-rate.

That was what I was thinking now, but I was able to realize that I had thought wrong after the fight. The place outside the room had little to no damage. Meaning… the instructor only used minimal amount of power needed to defend.

But I did not realize that at the current moment, and just frantically threw the dagger in my left hand.

Was I not focused enough? 102 and I attacked the moment the instructor turned his attention to the fire, but even faster than that, the instructor pulled out a dagger and swung it towards me.

‘I’ll throw away my left hand!’

I threw away my left hand, and stopped the instructor’s dagger. At the same time, 102’s sword and my dagger moved towards the instructor, but the instructor threw away his dagger, and grabbed onto the blade of 102’s sword.

The instructor didn’t let out even a tiny moan, and proceeded to throw 102 towards 17. At the same time, he threw the longsword into the air.

‘…Not yet!’

The enemy was empty handed, and compared to that, I had a dagger. I might not be able to kill him, but the others might be able to do the job if I injured him enough. I ran towards the instructor thinking that, but then the instructor sprayed the blood in his hands into my eyes.

‘?!’

My vision turned red at that exact moment. At the same time, my abdomen was filled with pain as well! Then, I seemed to have flown towards the other two kids, and felt even more pain as I landed on them.

Clank!

Something landed right in front of me. It was… it was probably the longsword from a moment ago. I couldn’t see, but I could tell. If it landed just a little farther than it did just now, it would’ve struck my heart, instead of the floor.

My heart beat furiously, and I was able to realize something.

‘I don’t want to die.’

To be more specific, I was afraid of death.
Once I realized this, I was filled with fear and self-disgust.
Until I heard the instructor’s voice, that was.

“I’ll prepare food. Clean the room during that time.”

…What is this? What is this voice that is cold, and the same time, makes me feel quite useless?

I’m being filled with fear, and I’m also filled with self-loathing, but the man who made me realize that I was afraid of death seemed indifferent to everything.

Once I came back to my senses, I realized that I was cleaning the room with the other children.

And funnily enough… the food I ate that day was truly delicious.

 

Chapter 1. I didn’t know back then. (5)

Hohoho… I cooked food with an injured hand.

Ha, they’re just devouring my food as if they don’t even remember what just happened… how carefree. Even while my left hand is screaming in pain! Well, I should just endure for now. I suppose I’ll look back at this in my retirement years and smile… let’s just be satisfied with that.

I created a fusion dish between this world’s cuisine, and earth’s cuisine and fed the children. The taste? Hoho… my skills were accepted in the Organization’s kitchen back in the old days. Of course the dish is tasty! I’m planning on making the kids like me more by giving them good food.

Even the young n.o.ble girl who came here a long time ago to spy on us became all tsundere-like after eating my dish, saying “Hmph! I’m just using you because I like your dish, not because I need you or anything, alright?” Well, that girl wasn’t dere at all though. She was just tsun.
The kids began to eat like starved beggars once they came in contact with my food. No, actually…

“…Do you have more?”

Hoho, look at this wicked child. 46, who has a hole in her hand just like me, looks up and me and asks for more food. Hah… Whose fault is it that I have a hole in my hand in the first place?! I want to say that, but… this is for my future.

“If it’s food, I can always give more.”

The kid went into the kitchen, brought more food, and continued to eat. The two other kids did so as well.
What the… did they come here because they got hungry? Occasionally we do get kids like that, and they seem to be one of those kids. Eat, eat. If you’re hungry, you can always eat some more.

And about ten minutes later.

“…More.”
“Understood.”

Stop eattiiinnnnggggg! My food! I didn’t eat dinner yet either! I’m hungry too, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!
I made a lot, but these kids are simply ripping through the food. These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds… is this revenge? Are you planning on making me skip dinner as revenge for getting beat up?!

It’s not like I can cook for myself later, either. I have my reputation and pride as an instructor. What do I mean by that? Think about it, everyone’s gone, and I’m just eating alone in the kitchen. I’m lonely enough as a solo, d.a.m.n it! No, wait, that’s not what I was trying to talk about. Anyway, as I kept giving the children more food, I realized that 46 was looking up at me.

What do you what? I gave you food, so what else do you want?

When I looked at the kid with eyes that implied such a feeling, the kid looked down and whispered just loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“…Aren’t you going to eat?”

At that moment, the other two kids flinched. Does it feel bad? Does it feel bad to miss out on more food? No, before that, what the h.e.l.l is this kid saying? Is this some weird form of the carrot and stick strategy? Or did you feel bad when you tried to eat all my food? Well, whatever!

“I’ll eat.”

Hum, hum, I definitely didn’t give up my pride and reputation just for food. This is… um… let me think… um… yeah! This is to recreate a warm feeling of a family! I’m definitely not hungry! I’m just doing this to get close to them, and establish an even better relations.h.i.+p with them!

I’m also taking my sweet revenge by eating the food they were going to eat as well!
Did my revenge work? The kids made a dumb face for a moment, but once I asked “Aren’t you going to eat?” with a low voice, they began eating like dogs again.

…Yeah. Eat a lot. Eat a lot and become my life insurance!
Hum, hum.. I should eat.

And the next day.

“We will start with basic training.”

I looked at the three kids that were gathered at my personal training field, and smiled evilly inside. I pointed towards the field behind me with my head, and spoke.

“Run.”

The three kids made a confused face towards me, and I again spoke to the three kids with vengeance in mind.

“Breakfast is at 8:30AM.”

I ignored the kids, whose faces had become more confused than ever, and kept talking.

“From now on, you will work on training your strength from 7 to 8.”

This is my revenge!

“Run around the field for an hour with all your strength. But… for the one who ran the least amount of laps, there will be no breakfast.”

At that moment, 46, who was the fastest to understand, no, the fastest to perform this task, began to run.

Hoho, that kid… I’ve noticed from the mutiny and the dinner yesterday, but she’s the type to never starve anywhere. What a good kid.

The other 2 kids seemed to realize what was going on, and began to run. I looked at those kids, and took out my trump card.

“Apart from hurting others excessively… I will allow you to fight.”

Puhaha! You d.a.m.n kids! This is my revenge that carries my 20 years of experience!

To add, breakfast will be exquisite as well! Since I can’t actually afford to make them starve, I’ll just give the one in the last place plain old porridge or something. What’ll that guy feel when he looks at the others eating good food, while he just sips on tasteless stuff, I wonder?
Things will probably turn into a full scale war in a few days. Rankings in the army is the most vicious compet.i.tion for a reason. And I even made it so that you could interrupt each other!

I will destroy your teamwork, so that you will never raise a mutiny against me ever again!

Truly, this is three birds with one stone! Revenge, destroying teamwork, and making the kids try to look good in front of me! Huhahahaha!

 

Chapter 1. I didn’t know back then. (6)

1.75 Their story.

[2] 102’s story.

I am the direct descendant of the Karuan Empire’s Royal family, and I am also 17th in line for the next throne. If I were to speak simply, I was the 7th child of the current emperor’s little brother.
Why am I here? Peasants often think that those in the royal family live a good life, but in reality, the peasants are the ones who have it easy.

They teach you a bunch of stuff just because you have royal blood, people starts forming factions in my name when I don’t even want them to, and when I decided to run away from everything, they say I’m just hiding to grow in power and try to kill me…

If I were to just say the conclusion as to why I’m here, I lost in the faction war, basically.

Wait, I didn’t have any faction behind me in the first place, so why’d I lose in a faction war? I don’t get it. Whatever, this was what happened, so I guess I’ll just live with it.

The n.o.bles were unable to kill me because of my royal blood, and instead gave me a great mission to infiltrate into the Evil Organization of the empire.

Hahaha… the h.e.l.l? Do they think I age tens of times faster than people just because I have royal blood? What are they expecting from a fourteen year old like me?

The Evil Organization probably knows about me as well, if they aren’t brainless idiots. No, perhaps the faction that sent me here told them about it?

Ah, but apparently that plan to destroy the Evil a.s.sociation was for real. When the time comes, the Evil Organization’s probably going to use me as a hostage, then the faction would kill me off and call me an honorable sacrifice.

I don’t have any desire to die though! The ones who should die are the oldies who sent me here in the first place!

…There was a time when I thought that, but now, things are different.
I only think about a single thing nowadays.

“I can’t loooossee!”

I run like there’s no tomorrow. I run, and I run again.

The instructor gave us a nonsensical mission. And the punishment for being unable to fulfill that mission was cruel. Breakfast was extremely tasty, while lunch and dinner was dull. But what, no breakfast? Are you kidding me?

Well, it’s not like he’s making us starve. But white porridge? What the h.e.l.l? It’s not tasty, nor is it nutritious! But see, you have to make someone else fail other than you to not eat that thing.

For the first few days, I restrained myself and ran leisurely.

I tried to be patient at first.
I tried to be patient when the second time rolled around as well.
It was becoming hard to be patient by the third time.
When the fourth time came, I could see myself running like there was no tomorrow.
By the fifth time, I could see that 17 was beginning to slow.

It looked like the girl had quite good stamina for a wizard, but a wizard was still a wizard. By the next day, it was possible to see her get even slower.

But I failed to realize that she was only doing this in preparation for the next day.

“Slip.”

I thought I heard wrong.

But when I saw 46 fall over in front of me, I looked back with a shocked face.

“What the h.e.l.l! What’s up with that staff, d.a.m.n it!”

But instead of replying, she,

“Slip.”

Cast a spell.

“Uwah!”

Once the floor became slippery, I tried to balance myself, but it failed! My b.u.t.t hurt quite a bit, but I felt a sense of treachery even more in my chest.

“…This is training as well.”
“Liar! Your eyes are completely dead! You look like you’re not understanding at all what you’re doing here?”

She simply ran even as she heard my screams. And every now and then,

“Wall.”
“Hole.”

She’d say that and make traps.
In an instant, the field turned into an obstacle field.

“…Can’t lose.”

At the same time, 46 jumped over the holes and the walls, and chased 17.

“Crazy. They’re all crazy.”

That’s what I thought at the time. 3 days was enough to change my thought, though.

“Huaaa!”

I cut down the sand wall in front of me. Holes? Run over them! The frozen floor? Use the sword to skate over them! Why? For food!

And perhaps this was just an illusion, but at some point, I could feel the ice cold instructor stare at us with an extremely evil face. Mm… after checking again, it seemed to be an illusion.

That instructor was definitely a demon. How is it that he stayed calm even after he put us in such a situation?!
A month has pa.s.sed like so. And now, I was thinking of food more than anything else in my life.

 

Chapter 1. I didn’t know back then. (7)

Puhahahaha!

Oops, 102 stared at me with a dumb face for a moment. Back to my poker face. Back to my poker face! 102 looked at me again as if he saw a ghost, then turned back. I then proceeded to laugh even more inside. 17! You amazing b.a.s.t.a.r.d!

Now, everyone apart from 102 has gotten rid of their ‘kid’ status. They are now a proper member of the Organization.

What about 102? He’s still immature. He’s still not a proper villain!

102 doesn’t know. He still doesn’t know that I hid his longsword under 46’s bed before he woke up.

102 doesn’t know. He still doesn’t know that 17 had cast a slip spell on his shoes so that they untied easily.

17 never missed a single breakfast for a month now. It’s quite amazing. And 46! 46 had the courage to throw away her shoes the moment she found out they had a slip spell cast on them! 17 immediately began recognize 46 as an ally, not an enemy.

In other words, 102 was pretty much the person who always ate porridge.

“Now… we should start the real training.”

A month had pa.s.sed already. In 2 months, the Organization would do a mandatory test on all the student. I’m not worried for the other two, but 102 is probably going to be in trouble.

His skills weren’t too bad, but he’s just too honest. He’s probably from a fallen n.o.ble family or something. Sometimes those kind of kids come in, and they often are too honest, and get backstabbed a lot. Well, that’s not the case for the guys I teach, though!

What is the reason why I’m the head instructor? I’m the head instructor because I can change young fallen n.o.bles into a proper villain!

7 out of the 10 skilled rookies under the boss were all trained by me. I suppose that says everything.

Well, there’s only 3 out of those 7 that will properly listen to me those… but those three can probably talk the other 4 into making them do what I want, so it doesn’t really matter.

I’m still far away from my ultimate goal though. I just managed to train rookies! My aim is to create the boss’ right arm! Even though we might look like this, we’re actually the biggest Evil Organization inside the biggest nation in the world.

Where there is light, there is darkness. And it’s not like that darkness will fade that easily either. There is only one reason why I am working here in the first place!

This is a place that will never fall! In other words, I can have a job for life! I’m planning on making a council of elders or something after training a lot of core members in the organization. I’m planning on recreating that council made up of useless old men who take care of all the important decisions in novels.

If you don’t understand, it’s kind of like the Gorosei in One Pxxce? Mm… they actually work though. Anyway, I’d just be happy if the three generals, I mean the Organization’s boss would move every time I got s.h.i.+t on!
Anyway, I began to work a little more, so that I could train the future’s boss. Even though I look like this, I’m actually strong enough to win against a medium rank, no, a high rank knight! Hahaha! I am the master of swords!

…Well, so what? I can’t use the life sword. Honestly, knights these days have pretty s.h.i.+t sword skills. What the h.e.l.l. They just take all attacks with their armors, and go chop chop with their life sword.

Of course, sword skills matter a lot if the enemy could use the life sword as well, but it ultimately boils down to how much more energy you have.

You have nothing to say even if I use unfair ways to win! Life sword is a cheat from the very start, d.a.m.n it!

I can only wait till the Organization develops a life sword neutralizer. Once it comes out… just you wait, I’m going to make as much fun of knights as I can, and go chop chop as the knights clumsily move around in their armor.

But then again, it’s not like I know when it’s going to be out either. Ah, I’m getting depressed again. Well, whenever I get depressed!

“5 minutes left.”
”Huaa!”

There’s no better way to solve depression other than to watch kids suffer!
17’s magic spells begin to barrage upon 102 as he speeds up! A wall of soil appears in front of the kid! 102 slices through it! But that was a fake! There was a hole up ahead!

“U, uwah!”
“Water!”

Ohh! 3 combos! The element is different this time as well! Hoho, what a result. I didn’t expect her to be able to do such a thing thanks to the training. As expected, I must be pretty awesome.

Water fell onto the kid, and the kid began to flop around in confusion. And once he escaped, 17 immediately began to throw down even more traps.

Mm… as expected, those kids learned well. They managed to figure out it was easier to take down one enemy as a group rather than to fight fairly.

Even now, 46 was running as fast as she could while dodging the holes. She was ahead of 102 by 4 laps already. She was still trying her best, despite being in the safe zone… how amazing.

“D, d.a.m.n it! I, I escaped!”
“Wind, pus.h.!.+”

Crack!
“Wha- whoa!”

102 barely managed to escape, but 17 immediately pushed him back into the hole.

…But by the way. You said it was wind, but it actually just looked like you just beat him back into the hole with your staff?

“D, d.a.m.n it, so you’re resorting to physical attacks?!”
“…It’s wind magic.”

Hoho, extra points for 17. She’s already learning how to be stubborn as a mule.

And with that, 17 begins running again! And 102 decided to give us all a good laugh by falling into a new hole right after he escaped the one he was just in, and he decided to finish off the viewers by becoming a foothold for 46 when he jumped back up.

“1 minute left.”

And in the end, 102 was the loser! This was supposed to be where I was supposed to begin real training, but I just couldn’t stop myself from seeing any more of this!

But I didn’t know back then. I didn’t know that this would be the start of compet.i.tive training in this world.