They had already gone through the same situation. Since it was their second time receiving such a cold response from the estate, people weren’t surprised and spent the next couple of days in silence. Some people even brought leisure games such as chess or books to pass the time. Still, it didn’t change the fact that they were all wasting their time.
But Zich couldn’t allow Hans and Snoc to spend their time idly. He thought he had given them enough time to rest while they were staying at the hotel in Ospurin.
“Huff! Huff!”
“Haa! Haa!”
Harsh breaths kept escaping out of Hans and Snoc’s mouths. Saliva dried off their lips, their mouths gave off a stuffy smell, and their clothes were soaked with sweat. Yet, Zich’s eyes didn’t hold an ounce of sympathy in them.
“Your arms are starting to fall, huh?”
Zich raised his voice; and Hans and Snoc fixed their position instantly. The two were bending their knees like they were sitting on a chair and raising their arms in a horseback riding pose. However, they weren’t doing the normal version of the pose. Pouches filled with stones from their surroundings hung from all over their bodies. In addition, they weren’t even allowed to use their mana and had to endure the weights with just their muscles. Sweat poured down from their bodies like rain.
“You have to train your physique thoroughly. If you thought that there was no need to physically train because of mana or your power over the earth, immediately throw away such thoughts! The only thing you can believe in an emergency is your physical abilities.”
Zich also worked to increase his physical skills to their maximum potential. This process only involved simple, hard work. It was something that even Zich couldn’t substitute with knowledge or tricks. And even if there was an efficient path, there were no easy paths.
“Besides, physical training will help you in normal times. If you guys were magicians, I might not have made you go through all of this. But you guys are not rear-supporters like them! Snoc! Using your power over the earth, you can attack from close-by and far away as well. Not doing all you can do is just being lazy.”
Zich’s eyes looked at Hans this time.
“And Hans, you go around with a sword anyway, so you have no excuses! Both of you train properly!”
[Yes!]
“Your arms are getting lower again!”
Zich’s voice rang out, and the two fixed their positions again. The training continued, and Hans and Snoc endured it with all they had. Small groans escaped their lips, but they didn’t cry out. Even if they cried out in intense pain, they knew that the possibility of Zich shortening or stopping their training was a far-fetched fantasy. In fact, they would be grateful if they didn’t get more training for groaning at this level of training.
However, today was slightly different.
“Stop.”
Drop!
Drop!
Hans and Snoc collapsed on the ground. The stone pouches attached to their bodies spilled out. They grabbed their aching muscles and groaned, but even while doing that, the two stared at each other and tilted their heads. Zich wouldn’t have stopped them this early. He would have forced them to maintain this pose at least until sunset.
“What happened?” Hans asked.
“It’s nothing. It seems like we have a guest.”
“A guest.”
“Come out.”
The bushes rustled and Hans and Snoc raised their guards. People came out of the bush. There were five people in total, and all five of them disguised their identities with black robes. Hans and Snoc didn’t let their guard down—a suspicious person could be much more dangerous than a monster.
“Who are you guys?” Zich asked calmly.
No one answered, but it wasn’t difficult to guess their motives. Seeing their drawn-out swords, they didn’t seem like they were approaching them with goodwill.
“Did you guys come for me?” Zich asked with his eyes wide open like he couldn’t believe it.
“Really, how come there are so many people who don’t even value their lives?” Zich complained as if the whole world wouldn’t leave him alone when he simply wanted to live in peace. However, his face said the complete opposite.
“Hey, senior.” Snoc asked Hans.
“Why?”
As if their training wasn’t for naught, Snoc talked to Hans while keeping his eyes on the mysterious intruders.
“In contrast to what he says, Sir Zich looks very happy. Am I mistaken?”
“No, you’ve correctly judged his expression.”
Hans’ gaze on the mysterious figures changed from wariness to sympathy.
“It’s because playthings have come at the right moment when he was bored.”
In addition, the people who appeared right in front of him looked undeniably “bad”.
Although Hans and Snoc talked in hushed voices, everyone within the area had enough training to hear their conversation. As if their pride had been hurt, bloodthirst exploded out of the robed figures. The intent was strong enough to make Hans and Snoc flinch, and Hans instinctively reached for his sword while Snoc touched the ground with his hands. However, Zich remained calm.
“Who sent you?”
There was no answer again. However, Zich also didn’t expect a response.
“Okay, let me see. I can tell that you guys are assassins. I wonder who has a grudge against me?”
Before his regression, Zich didn’t—no, he couldn’t deeply think about matters like this. Even without deep contemplation, Zich thought of many people, as many as the fingers and toes on his hands and feet who wanted to kill him. And if he thought a little deeper, he would need more than a hundred thousand pairs of hands and feet to count the total number of people who held a serious grudge against him.
However, Zich was living a second life. He was clean and pure. He could only count the people who wanted to kill him with one hand.
Some might have thought it was problematic that there were already people who wanted revenge on Zich so soon after his regression and his decision to live a kind life. However, the assassins’ appearance made Zich feel more accomplished.
‘To think that I can count the number of people who want revenge with just one hand. I am living this life right.’ Zich rejoiced.
The first possible suspects were the Steelwalls, but as soon as he thought of them, Zich erased them from his mind.
‘They are busy organizing their house. They won’t have time to spare for me, and they don’t even know where I am.’
And considering the Steelwalls’ unique character, they weren’t the type to send assassins. Of course, they were flexible enough to send assassins if a war broke out or if their opponent had sent assassins to them first (such flexibility allowed them to survive on the frontlines). But they also weren’t the type to send assassins to the Count’s eldest son for separating from them when he had already given up the inheritance.
The next line of people Zich thought of was the Bellids. However, the Deputy Mayor had been dragged off, and even the Karuwimans assured Zich that they were going to prevent information about his involvement from spreading to protect his identity. Thus, the Bellid guys were probably only gnashing their teeth at Karuwiman.
His third prospect was the assassins at Suol who tried to make Snoc into the Earth’s tyrant.
‘They look exactly like those guys.’
However, Zich killed all the assassins at that time. He didn’t miss a single one, so it didn’t seem likely that their organization received any information about Zich. That led to the fourth prospect: Biyom Dracul. Zich’s help and support to Joachim must have been an eyesore to Biyom.
‘No, I went too far with that one.’
Zich was a collaborator at most; it was too far-fetched to think that Biyom would have already discovered Zich’s skills. In the first place, it was hard to believe that Biyom even knew of Zich’s existence.
‘Hm, I don’t know.’
It only gave him a headache to think about something he didn’t know. Thus, Zich stopped thinking.
‘I should extract more information after catching them.’
“Hans, Snoc.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Take one guy each.”
Both of their faces stiffened.
“B-But Sir Zich. We don’t have that much strength left from the training. I can’t even move my muscles…”
Hans, who had served Zich for a bit longer, spoke out on Snoc and his behalf. However, Hans also wasn’t making up excuses. Anybody could see that Hans and Snoc’s bodies weren’t in a good shape. Even if they weren’t able to fulfill the planned training schedule, Zich’s training wasn’t normal. But even Hans didn’t think this excuse would actually work on Zich; and unfortunately for him, these kinds of predictions were always right.
“What if in the future you defeat an enemy using everything you have, but the enemy’s support arrives afterward? Then, are you going to tell them, ‘I’m tired, so let’s fight next time?’ Do you think your opponent will really say, ‘Okay then, I will come later?’”
Of course, his protest didn’t work on Zich. Hans forcefully moved his weak legs. His legs trembled like he was a newborn deer, and as he lifted his sword, his arms trembled too. His sword felt like a lump of iron. The sword, which had felt familiar after swinging it around for so long, now felt unfamiliar to him. But in comparison to him, Snoc still had more leeway. Even without muscles or stamina, Snoc could easily use his versatile skills with mana.
However, Zich didn’t want Snoc to have it easy.
“Snoc, coat yourself with rock armor and only injure your opponent with a sword. And Nowem, get off of him.”
“Ehh!”
Snoc screamed at the command that bound both his hands and feet.
Koo…
Nowem didn’t want to part from Snoc, and he glanced at Zich. However, he saw Zich’s menacing glare and jumped off Snoc’s shoulders. Although Nowem used to be the symbol of terror as the great Mining Monster, he couldn’t defy Zich. That was how scared he was of Zich.
“Good. If both of you are prepared, put some distance between each other. I’m going to throw each of you an opponent.”
Zich talked as if he was sharing some fish he was going to catch, and Hans and Snoc put some distance between each other as Zich told them to.
The assassins were furious at Zich’s words, and they didn’t feel the need to hold back. They quickly began to move. Although Zich decided that Hans and Snoc would each get an assassin, none of the assassins intended to follow that. They all rushed towards Zich, who was the closest one to them. They planned to finish off Zich first and deal with Hans and Snoc later since they both looked exhausted.
Five daggers lunged toward Zich at once, and in response, Zich took out a sword.
Chachachachang!
There were five consecutive sounds. As if they had planned before, all the assassins raised their daggers at the same time. Of course, they hadn’t made a plan like that—it was because Zich had bounced off all their daggers at once.
Zich walked towards the assassins who were now full of openings.
Punch! Punch!
With two loud crashing sounds, two of the assassins’ bodies bounced off. Considering that their bodies were flying into the air, they didn’t receive much damage. The two assassins laughed at Zich’s light kicks and landed on the ground lightly. However, when they saw that there was a person next to them, they scowled because they realized the purpose of Zich’s attacks and why he had kicked them into the air.
“Finish them well!”
After delivering one assassin to Hans and Snoc each, Zich smiled at the three assassins left in front of him.
“You guys can play with me. Don’t worry. I will go easy on you guys so that you can still move your mouths afterwards.”
Zich swung his sword at the assassins again.