Chapter 2: My Sorry State…
“What do we do…”
“He’s going to die like that…”
Sixteen? Seventeen?
A boy and a girl were fighting.
Both holding bright blue longswords.
Blood dripped endlessly, and the eyes glaring at each other grew more and more venomous.
The children surrounding them had all gone pale, not knowing what to do.
Among them. There was a man laughing alone.
He looked to be in his mid-twenties, clad in a black shirt with black light armor thrown over it.
All the children were watching only that man’s reaction.
Year 1351 of the Continental Calendar. April 6th.
Just before the miracle occurred, this was the story of that morning.
---
If you asked why I lived,
I was just living.
After losing my arms and legs and cracking my Aura Core, truthfully, I had simply wanted to die.
After all, even the closest of my friends had all died.
The only reason I couldn’t was that the remaining children lingered in my mind.
But the funny thing was, there wasn’t much I could really do for them by staying alive.
Even if I lived on, there was nothing more I could achieve.
All I could do was struggle not to lose anything else.
Still, since the children still needed me…… I was just enduring as best I could.
So, if I was being honest, I had no motivation.
“Teacher Ransen! Teeaaacher! Hurry! Hurry! Something bad happened! Big sis and big bro are fighting!”
So when a six-year-old brat, Seon, came running up and tugged at my sleeve, I only reacted half-heartedly.
It wasn’t the first or second day the kids had gotten into fights.
But since Seon’s flailing gestures were so desperate, I pretended not to notice and let myself be dragged along.
While limping on my leg.
Thinking how today my left leg with the prosthetic, and my right hand with the artificial arm, ached even worse than usual.
‘Who’s fighting today?’
These days, there were so many kids that it was hard to recall them all at once.
When we had first arrived here, we had still been young, just sixteen of us.
The last descendants of the Banroa Kingdom.
But the number of children kept increasing.
In the ruins of Kushan City and in the Ilneon Dungeon, abandoned orphans kept appearing, and since their ages were close to ours, they trailed after us everywhere.
It was the same even after we became Count Kxias’s retainers and started living in our own mansion.
The younger ones would keep bringing in orphans as if picking up stray cats, and our family only grew larger.
Seon was the youngest who had come in that way.
This boy, who knew nothing of our past, was simply happy to play with his older brothers and sisters.
Since there was such a large age gap between us, he called me teacher, or “sir.”
“Teacher Ransen! Hurry!”
“Yeah, yeah. Alright.”
The Ilneon Dungeon, the children’s hideout, was right beside the mansion we lived in.
Seon ran nimbly between the collapsed piles of stone, descending the stairs that led underground.
Limping after him down the dark dungeon corridor, I suddenly froze in place.
‘The smell of blood!’
And not just any smell—thick, heavy blood.
My instincts rang a warning.
This wasn’t just a simple fight.
“Seon. Wait here for a moment.”
Boom!
I struck the ground with my intact right leg and sprinted forward.
The corridor of the ruins rushed past, compressed backward in my vision.
At its end, a scene unfolded before me.
Daisy and Seklan were fighting, covered in blood.
‘Why are they…?’
Daisy was the youngest among the siblings from Banroa.
The last remaining bloodline of the Marquis House of Julian.
When she was little, she had followed me around more than anyone else.
Seklan, though not from the Banroa Kingdom, had been with us for ten years—like family.
What’s more, the two of them were same-aged childhood friends.
And now they were fighting with real swords?
Impossible.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
Kwaang!
I stomped the ground with all my strength.
Cracks split across the solid granite tiles, and an explosion-like roar echoed through the ruins.
Daisy and Seklan flinched in surprise and leapt apart.
Slowly, I turned my gaze.
The mastermind behind this situation stood right before my eyes.
Among the children, all between five and eighteen, there was one man who stood out—twenty-seven years old.
His name was Nagi.
A retainer of Count Kxias.
In the past, I had often run into him.
Now, it had been three years since our last encounter.
“What are you doing right now?”
When I asked, he smiled as if genuinely pleased to see me.
“Wow! Brother Ransen! We finally meet again!”
“I said, what are you doing.”
“Ah… this?”
Nagi jerked his chin toward the bloodied Daisy and Seklan, then waved his hands lightly as if it were nothing.
“An interview.”
“An interview?”
“Yes. If they show a bit of promise, I’ll take them in as clansmen. Of course, directly under me.”
“…Clansmen?”
What kind of vampire nonsense was this?
After Blood Count Delkash had died, Count Kxias had taken his true blood and become a vampire.
He had wanted to overcome his aging, declining body.
Now, half of Count Kxias’s retainers were vampires.
Which meant, what this bastard Nagi was saying…
He intended to drain Daisy or Seklan’s blood, killing them… and then rebirth them as vampires.
And not just any vampires, but lowly clansmen who would be forced to obey Nagi absolutely.
It had been a long time since I had been this furious.
Every strand of my hair stood on end.
But whether oblivious or deliberately provoking me, Nagi went on talking at his own pace, completely unconcerned.
“Yes. Clansmen. But I’d only heard rumors—so you really were living in a place like this? Still, Brother, you must have saved up some money. Why live out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“Your filthy blood…who do you think you’re worthy to mix it with?”
“Ah, that’s right. This is an ancient ruin, isn’t it? Was it two hundred years ago? They say an elixir was excavated here. What a shame. If you had that, you could’ve fixed your body, Senior.”
“Are you asking to die?”
“Still, isn’t this place a little dangerous? They say these ruins were built more than ten thousand years ago…… what if it suddenly collapses on us?”
“Does Count know about this?”
That one word—Count.
At that, Nagi’s expression changed.
“Count? Ah… Brother, you really… still don’t understand the situation.”
Nagi stepped toward Ransen, his eyes glistening.
“Do you still think you’re a Swordmaster? With your limbs cut off, reduced to a cripple—do you really think Count cares even one bit about you anymore?”
“So you came here on your own? Even knowing this was our Family’s territory?”
“Yes. I knew it was your Family’s land. But there’s a rumor going around. That the great Swordmaster Ransen lost all his limbs because of nothing more than a bunch of brats.”
“What…?”
A smile crept across Nagi’s face.
Not the false smile from before, but a genuine smile, one flickering with madness.
“So it’s true, isn’t it? You’re like this because you tried to protect these kids?”
Nagi’s gleaming eyes swept across the children one by one. As if to memorize every single face.
“Not that I’m thrilled about it, but should I just take them all in as clansmen? Even if the lowest clansmen get a little stupid…… they’d still live better than they do now.”
His provocation worked perfectly.
Every hair on my body stood on end from the threat I felt.
And in his eyes, mine must have looked like they were blazing.
Not as a figure of speech—truly burning.
“Don’t touch the kids. If you do, you’ll die.”
“You think you still have the ability for that?”
At that moment,
I made up my mind.
Swaeeek!
I drew the sword from my waist and swung it in one motion.
Kill him. Just kill him, and strip every treasure he had left to beg forgiveness from the Count. That would be better.
But the blade never reached Nagi’s throat.
Tatak!
Like they had fallen straight from the sky, two figures appeared—a man and a woman.
Both with pale faces. Which meant they were Vampire Clansmen.
Chaaeng!
The woman blocked my attack, while the man crouched low and swung at my intact right leg.
Kakakang!
Like sparks flying, offense and defense clashed in an instant.
‘Low-grade Expert level…?’
No, with the superior bodies and aura of vampires, they could even be considered mid-grade.
So they were fairly high-ranking clansmen……
But so what?
Swoosh— I moved, dodged the attack, and immediately drove my fist and foot into them.
“Kuuk!”
“Keok!”
That had to hurt.
I had struck their vital points cleanly.
Both of them rolled across the ground, tumbling back before collapsing to the floor.
But before long, their eyes filled with malice, and they stood up again to swing their swords.
I tilted my head slightly, avoiding the strikes with ease.
“New recruits, are you? No fear at all.”
“Well, you’re just a has-been, after all.”
That bastard Nagi clearly had some inferiority complex toward me. Every time he opened his mouth, it was “has-been, has-been.”
Fine. Let’s show him how a so-called has-been fights.
Seokeok!
“Aaaagh!”
I slashed at the wrist of the man charging at me.
Blood spurted out like a fountain from the severed artery.
“You……!”
The woman, seeing this, rushed at me, but the result was no different.
Bba-eok!
“Keok!”
I lightly kicked her stomach, knocking her down, then stabbed my sword down into her ankle.
“Aaaagh!”
Chwaaaak!
She curled up, clutching her ankle, but blood poured between her fingers in thick streams.
The male clansman was in no better shape.
Both of them had suffered critical injuries, unable to recover their senses.
Though, of course, they were vampires—like mosquitoes, they’d heal quickly enough.
“Take a break for now.”
I hadn’t killed them on purpose. I only needed to kill Nagi. There was no need to provoke Count Kxias any further than that.
Nagi. If I remembered correctly, he had been a Sword Expert, mid-grade.
With his talent, by now he was probably a High-grade Expert.
Objectively speaking, I was at a disadvantage.
My damaged Aura Core could only output a level below mid-grade, and both my hand and leg were artificial.
But still—
‘A former Swordmaster is a joke, is it?’
A High-grade Expert was more than manageable.
I shook the blood from my blade in the air.
“Nagi. I know you’ve got an inferiority complex toward me.”
“Me? Toward you?”
He said that, but his eyes flicked over my prosthetic arm and leg.
See? Inferiority complex, no doubt about it.
“Not an inferiority complex? Then maybe it was because of that girl you liked?”
“What?”
“You know, four years ago. Was her name Xenia? But that wasn’t my fault. She said your face made her sick. Every time she ate with me, she begged me not to let you talk to her.”
“…Ha?”
“Still, I did stand up for you back then. Told her you weren’t such a bad guy.”
“Good grief…”
Kiiiiing!
For the first time, Nagi erupted in rage.
The red aura he exuded flooded out, swallowing the surroundings.
The younger ones, who had been watching nervously, shrank back and retreated from the oppressive force.
Wooooong—
I, too, drew up my aura.
The Banroa royal family’s aura cultivation method, Iron Heart, raised a jet-black aura into the air.
But compared to the ominous crimson aura Nagi exuded, mine was nothing more than a candle flickering in the wind.
‘The difference in output is too big. A frontal clash won’t work. I’ll have to use a feint and take his head in a single strike.’
Once I had resolved myself, action came swiftly!
Boom!
I stomped down hard enough to shatter the ground and charged forward.
A bluff.
Like a man staking his life on a single sword strike, I raised my blade high.
He wouldn’t be able to resist blocking it.
That had been the reason for my childish provocation in the first place.
To rile him up, narrow his vision!
And in that instant when he fell for the feint and swung his blade uselessly, I would cut his throat.
But then—
Seokeok!
My sword split cleanly in half midair.
Jureureuk—
Even though Nagi’s sword hadn’t touched me, cold blood trickled down my cheek.
“Brother.”
Nagi smirked, and from his blade, crimson aura unraveled like countless strands of thread.
It wasn’t that he had seen through my intent.
It was simply that the aura threads he spread across the surroundings had sliced my sword apart.
Those dangling threads of aura surrounded me.
Aura Threads.
A technique only a Peak Expert could display.
The very reason Peak Experts were extraordinary.
‘If it’s like this…… then there’s no answer…….’
Nagi hadn’t even moved from his spot, and yet he had subdued me completely.
“Why have you become so pathetic, Brother? They said your core was cracked, but your condition’s even worse than I heard.”
“……”
“Surprised? Did you think I couldn’t reach peak rank? After becoming a vampire…… it wasn’t even all that difficult, you know?”
“……”
The elongated aura threads flicked at my neck like a snake’s tongue.
I couldn’t move an inch.
The certainty was overwhelming—that if I did, I would die instantly.
“So, what should I do? Should I drag this fine face of yours with deep cuts? Make sure you never run your mouth about someone else’s looks again?”
Cruelty flickered in Nagi’s eyes.
I quickly worked my mind.
‘A way to overturn the situation?’
There wasn’t one.
Then…
‘I’ll have to change my strategy.’
I bit my lip hard, then,
I smiled.
A pitiful, servile smile.
I lowered my eyes immediately.
My trump card tactic.
Changing posture.
“Haha… Nagi. Can’t you let me off, just this once?”
“Hm?”
Nagi’s voice lifted strangely.
“What’s this? Are you begging now?”
The delight that tinged his voice.
Of course. Did he think I didn’t know him?
This was exactly what he had always wanted.
Crushed by inferiority under me… he had always wished for this.
To trample me, to see me fall.
And I could gladly grant him that desire.
If it meant protecting the children,
I could truly do it well.
“But Brother, isn’t this a little insincere? You should at least be on your knees.”
“Knees? Haha…”
I pretended to hesitate.
Of course, I could kneel a hundred times if I wanted to, but not now.
If I did, he’d lose interest instead.
What he wanted was to break me, not to look at someone already broken.
If I had already been broken? He would have vented his anger by killing all the children and then leaving. That’s exactly the kind of man he was.
“What’s this? Can’t do it?”
His eyes curved like a crescent moon.
Puhk!
Bbeok!
His fist, heavy like a mace, struck me.
Two molars shattered and flew, ribs cracked with a crushing sound.
“Keuk…!”
All I could do was swallow the groan.
“It’s not like I told you to get on all fours and lick my boots, is it? Hm?”
Jjak! Jjaak!
With every word, Nagi slapped my face.
Even as my face swelled up, I only forced out an awkward smile.
From here on, it was all about acting.
Kneeling, but only as if reluctantly, forced to crush my pride…
Nagi’s eyes gleamed.
He looked around threateningly.
His gaze fell upon the children, lips curling into a cruel grin.
‘Now…!’
I acted startled.
“Stop…”
I forced my voice to sound as wretched as possible.
“Please stop…”
Slowly… ever so slowly, I bent my knees and lowered my head.
“Please stop… I’m sorry…”
Nagi looked down at me.
Crack.
He stomped on the crown of my head with his dust-covered boot and pressed down hard.
It worked!
Yes. It worked.
Nothing else mattered.
“Ah, this is something. Seeing Brother kneel again like this…it makes me feel some kind of way…”
Even as he said that, his foot pressed harder against my head.
“Phew… You’re really making me softhearted. Fine! For your sake, I’ll let it go just for today.”
Let it go, my ass.
He was just savoring the taste, saving the best bite for later.
From now on, he would slowly, thoroughly break me.
Toying with me, dangling false hope.
Even so, at least I could get through today.
“Why live like this? I only feel sorry for you. Truly pitiful.”
He stood me up, brushed off my clothes, then turned to his subordinates.
“Let’s go.”
“Y-yes!”
“Yes, sir!”
The two vampires, their wounds already healed, hurried to follow behind Nagi.
“See you again, Brother. Tomorrow, then.”
Step, step.
Nagi waved his hand lazily as he walked away.
I kept my head lowered, standing still until the sound of his shoes had completely faded.
As if I were chewing on my own misery.
‘…Gone?’
Only once I was sure he had disappeared did I groan softly and collapse where I stood.
The whispers of the children reached me.
“Teacher…”
“No way. Teacher lost…”
“Teacher… knelt…”
“What do we do…”
I turned my head without thinking, and my eyes met Daisy’s.
She was standing with her fists clenched tight.
Her pupils trembled violently.
The shock seemed too great for her.
I wanted to say something, anything, but in the end, I swallowed the words.
When I looked at myself in that moment,
I did look rather pitiful… it was just that kind of sight.
‘That’s enough.’
I had given up my pride, given up vengeance,
given up, given up, and given up again—resigned to a wretched life of only giving things up.
Even so, living on…
was something I couldn’t abandon, for the sake of protecting all of you.
Well, that was enough.