Rohan rubbed his eyes and got up. The men in black were so flustered they couldn't react right away.
But soon they pointed their swords at Rohan. Rubbing his eyes, Rohan looked at the metal glinting faintly in the dark.
"What? You here to kill me?"
At his calm expression, the intruders were the ones thrown.
"Don't resist, and we'll send you off peacefully."
Rohan quietly sized up who they were. Faces shown openly, uncovered. It meant they were certain to kill him.
They were faces he didn't know. Still, he had a good idea who had sent them.
"Both of you are at the 4th Stage of the White Ice Ring."
The intruders looked at each other, flustered. They were startled that he had named their level at once.
They couldn't bring themselves to believe Rohan had eyes that could see through a 4th-Stage realm. The intruders assumed Rohan had figured out who they were.
"That's right. We're not trainees like you."
"Then you must be the ones who stalled out and are sucking up to our third brother."
Anyone who failed to reach the 5th Stage of the White Ice Ring before turning 20 had no future in the Baltran family. These two had probably finished their training around the same time as Tiok and were still stuck at the 4th Stage with nothing to show for it.
For them, with 20 drawing near, the only thing left to lean on was being taken in personally by a pure-blooded Baltran.
Rohan looked at the two with pity for a moment. Even if they assassinated him, they were cards to be thrown away in the end.
The ambitious Tiok would never take in men who couldn't even reach the 5th Stage.
'He's worried getting rid of me while I'm still young will be a black mark, so he found scapegoats.'
Most likely, after assassinating Rohan, these two would take the blame and be killed. All it would take was dressing it up as the work of a hostile family.
"Still, sending two of you. My brother's really been working hard."
But of all times, they had to try the assassination now.
Rohan couldn't help laughing.
If they had come just one day earlier, it would have been a problem. At that time Rohan had been at a mere 2nd Stage, and he hadn't even formed his ice rings.
Not that he, once the Mercenary King in his past life, would have gone down easily just for lack of magic power.
'Fighting with only fire mana would've been a bit much, though.'
Rohan calmly reached for the sword beside him. The intruders didn't rush in recklessly either.
The first reason was that they had heard the rumor that Rohan was strangely fixated on his opponent striking first in his spars. There was no longer any reason for Rohan to avoid attacking first, but they couldn't know that.
As for the second reason.
"However gifted you are, and however much you're a direct-line Baltran, you're just an eleven-year-old brat. Since you're going anyway, it's better to go easy."
They were confident they could finish the assassination without trouble. They'd heard Rohan was at a mere 2nd Stage. They'd heard he had knocked down his seniors as soon as he entered the intermediate class, but that only applied to trainees.
But soon, seeing the magic power Rohan was giving off, they shut their mouths.
Blue light rippled along Rohan's sword. They thought he was simply drawing out 2nd-Stage magic power.
But soon another, red light covered the blade. If one side was cold and straight, the other burned hot and wild.
"A famous sword is a famous sword."
Rohan spoke, looking at his sword, frozen on one side and blazing on the other. Then his gaze turned to the intruders.
"Tiok sent me a gift like this. You'll make perfect test subjects."
His sword swung. The men in black didn't even think of blocking and backed away.
That was how unusual Rohan's attack was.
"What on earth is that sword?"
They thought it was the sword's power, not Rohan's, that made fire and ice magic power coexist.
Rohan snorted.
"For assassins, you sure talk a lot."
Their faces twisted. They had only been rattled for a moment. Rohan was still a trainee, and they were 4th-Stage knights.
"Since you're going to die anyway, you're running your mouth freely."
The two thrust their swords forward at the same time. They thought one of them could handle the job alone, but there was always the chance of something going wrong. On an assassination mission against a pure-blooded Baltran, they couldn't let their guard down.
Rohan held his sword at a slant and knocked away the two swords in quick succession. The intruders' attacks kept coming.
The two swords came at Rohan's body side by side, but Rohan shifted his body just right, moving between the two swords as he blocked them.
At times like this, his small eleven-year-old body came in handy.
Even the 4th-Stage magic power wrapped around the intruders' swords couldn't break Rohan's sword. If anything, they were being overpowered by Rohan.
As Rohan's skill turned out better than expected, the intruders grew anxious. The assassination they'd thought would end easily was dragging on.
They had been crushed under the pressure of having to kill a direct-line Baltran. They wanted to finish this quickly.
The intruders looked at each other and nodded. They performed the 5th Chapter of the Baltran Sword Style, which they had learned in training.
The tips of their swords traced small circles and came stabbing at Rohan.
The 5th Chapter was the last swordsmanship that could be learned in training, and the final line permitted to those from other families.
To learn beyond it, the only way was to reach the 5th Stage of the White Ice Ring and be knighted by the House of Baltran.
But Rohan was of the direct line. And yet.......
'Of course I don't know it.'
In his past life, he had never even made it into the advanced course. Clicking his tongue once more at his foolish past self, Rohan took their swords. Rohan's feet were pushed back.
As long as they were performing the 5th Chapter of the Baltran Sword Style, Rohan had to perform swordsmanship to counter it.
His movements changed. Crisp yet smooth, they were different from the family's sword style, which called to mind cold ice.
Each swing of the sword grew bigger, and his footwork grew bolder. If the family's swordsmanship drew soft curves, now he was cutting sharp lines, whoosh— whoosh—.
The intruders noticed it too.
"You! You learned another family's swordsmanship?"
"That's right. The 5th Chapter of the Andelian Sword Style."
They were startled once by the name Andelian, and once more by the number 5.
Rohan was a direct-line Baltran. He had learned the swordsmanship of the family the Baltrans were most hostile to, and if he was at the 5th Chapter, his level of mastery was not low either.
Only then did the intruders begin to have the question they naturally should have had.
"When on earth......?"
"Shouldn't you be asking first why the Andelian family taught me their swordsmanship?"
Barely managing to block Rohan's sword, they still nodded.
Even in a life-or-death fight, they were curious. How he could have learned the swordsmanship of an enemy family.
Rohan raised one corner of his mouth and answered.
"Their family head is a little fond of me."
The head of the Andelians? Why you?
A bigger question followed right on its tail. But the intruders never got their answer.
Rohan's sword cut through both their necks, one after the other.
"Sorry, that last attack was the 6th Chapter. It's been so long I get them mixed up sometimes."
The one saying this was eleven years old. At what age had he learned it, to call it so long ago?
The two met their deaths with deeply aggrieved faces.
"What a funny one you are. A direct-line Baltran knowing the Andelian Sword Style. And mastered up to the 6th Chapter, at that?"
The owner of the long, stretched shadow approached. It was Doflamingo.
"Oops. I ran my mouth freely thinking I'd kill these guys, and you were here."
"What on earth are you?"
Sword still in hand, Rohan shrugged both shoulders.
"You knew I wasn't ordinary. That's why you woke me instead of stopping them yourself, isn't it?"
With a serious look in his eyes, Doflamingo smiled with only the corners of his mouth.
"That's right, I figured you could handle it. But I thought you'd use magic; I never imagined you'd use those southern bumpkins' swordsmanship."
Heh heh. Watching him laugh, Rohan wondered what that expression of his really meant.
"Just keep wondering. I have no intention of telling you."
"Did you regress?"
Rohan's eyes twitched. It was a tiny movement, but Doflamingo didn't miss it.
"I'm right. Now it all makes sense. From knowing who I am to a child of the Baltrans being skilled at magic. I thought there were so many things about you I couldn't understand. If you came back against the flow of time, it's all possible."
Tch. Rohan smacked his lips.
He had expected it. He had shown Doflamingo too much.
Still, who'd have thought he'd catch on this easily?
Rohan had wanted to tell the truth only to a trustworthy comrade he could undertake his great work with. At least, he had wanted them to be the first to know.
And the first one turned out to be Doflamingo.
He looked at the tall man, now grinning so wide the corners of his mouth nearly touched his ears.
'He's strong, but.......'
He didn't inspire the slightest trust.
To begin with, looking at him watching Rohan with the corners of his mouth raised to the limit.
Even Rohan, who had come back against the flow of time, had no idea at all what he was thinking.
***
Ron found his way into a cave that lay beyond the Wall. A very complex, long passage stretched on.
He ran into monsters several times on the way, but they were no great problem for Ron. He kept following the vast energy he sensed, and at the end of the passage he came face to face with a man sitting cross-legged.
"What is it?"
Gion asked with his eyes still closed. Ron knelt on one knee and answered.
"The youngest young master sparred with senior trainees in the intermediate course."
"It is not yet time to decide promotions, is it?"
"It was a spar for show. Young Master Rohan defeated top-ranked trainees with a spear and a whip rather than a sword."
Gion's eyes opened. Meeting those eyes, Ron flinched and bowed his head.
"Did Rohan ever learn to use a spear and a whip in the beginner course?"
"The whip, never, and the spear he practiced only occasionally. Even that was at a very basic level. Orin, his instructor, reported that the young master was... like the reincarnation of the War God, who could wield every weapon skillfully from the moment he was born."
Gion smiled inwardly. Wielding every weapon freely from childhood, without being taught.
It was a tale that always followed legendary warriors.
A similar story followed him as well. That was why he knew.
There was no such person. He too had trained where no one could see, sacrificing sleep.
He had the talent to learn faster than others. He had also the blessing of his bloodline, which had given him a sturdy body.
But there was no such thing as a talent for wielding every weapon freely from birth.
What kind of talent did his youngest son have?
"Ah, and there is other news as well."
Gion nodded silently, meaning go on.
"Last night, two assassins broke into the villa where Young Master Rohan is staying."
"Judging by your attitude, Rohan seems to have dealt with them."
Gion smiled with satisfaction. His closed lips made a straight line, but the slightly raised ends of his mouth showed.
"Yes. That is so. However.... The assassins turned out to be knights of our own family."
"Our own family's people?"
"To be precise, not full knights but apprentices. Fellows about to be thrown out because they still hadn't reached the 5th Stage even at nineteen."
Nineteen years old. Not good enough to become full knights.
It wasn't hard to deduce who had put them up to the assassination.
Gion was a little surprised to learn Tiok had already made his move. He had expected someone to move against Rohan soon, given how he'd been acting, but he hadn't thought it would be this fast.
Gion rose from his seat. He had been about to enter secluded training ahead of reaching the 10th Stage.
"I will go to the main castle for a while."
"Pardon?"
For such a man to stop his training and go to the main castle, Ron could only be surprised.
"It seems I cannot leave Rohan in training as he is. I will go and give him a task."
A task?
It was unprecedented. Gion had not involved himself at all until even the eldest, Rohas, finished his training.
Ron stood beside Gion as he prepared to return. His face was as calm as ever. There was no reading any emotion in it.
Was this a father's affection for his youngest son? Or a special favor for Rohan, who was still far too young compared with his siblings?
It might simply be a test for his youngest son.
Whichever it was, it would not look good in the eyes of the other siblings in the contest for the headship.
For Ron, Gion's true intentions were far too hard to fathom.