The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 1043:
“That beggar….”
Raon fixed his gaze on the beggar wearing an eyepatch and grabbed Rektor’s clothes.
“That’s the Dark Sword Saint Darkhan, right?”
Even now, it was hard to believe it, but Darkhan—the former Holy Sword Alliance Lord who bore the epithet “Datk Sword Saint”—was crawling on the ground, pretending to be a beggar.
“Yes.”
Rektor nodded slowly and let out a sigh.
“That’s why I said you wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”
“You’re right. If I’d heard in Zieghart that Darkhan had become a beggar, I would’ve worried about Grandfather’s condition first.”
Rektor had only told him Darkhan’s location, not what he was doing. Raon now understood why.
‘A Transcendent. And a top-tier Transcendent mastering the Heart Sword, reduced to a beggar. Who would believe that?’
Even if he trusted Rektor, he would never have believed it.
>> I’ve lived a long life and seen plenty of madmen, but….
Wrath looked Darkhan up and down and let out a hollow laugh.
>> It’s been a truly long time since I’ve seen one as mad as that. His brain must be wired completely differently.
Wrath said his brain was wired differently and stared at Raon.
‘Why are you looking at me?’
>> Because you’re a lunatic no less than that madman.
Wrath said they were on the same level and jerked his chin.
‘Hey! No matter what, I’m not on that man’s level!’
Raon shook his hand, refusing to accept it.
>> The details are different, but the level of madness is the same!
Wrath snorted, insisting it was certain.
‘I’m telling you, it’s not!’
Raon shouted not to compare him to Darkhan and turned his gaze back to the gambling house.
“Ughhh….”
Darkhan, as if unaware of their arrival, shuffled with stumbling steps toward the entrance.
“Please, just some spare change….”
He grabbed the ankles of people entering and leaving, begging for money.
“Ugh, filthy!”
“Get lost!”
People kicked Darkhan away and walked inside.
>> Watching that reminds me of that ear-slapper.
Wrath drew a faint smile, recalling Rimmer groveling in a gambling den.
‘That guy got kicked out for gambling. This one….’
Raon examined Darkhan’s appearance and shook his head.
‘He’s putting on a clumsy beggar act.’
If Rimmer had been thrown out after losing his money and clothes to gambling, Darkhan was living as a clumsy beggar while showing no interest in gambling whatsoever.
‘But….’
He’s injured?
Raon frowned as he watched Darkhan touch the spots where people had struck him.
‘Don’t tell me… he lost his martial power?’
Darkhan was a monster among Transcenders, perched at the very top. Ordinary punches and kicks shouldn’t leave a mark—yet his body was covered in bruises and wounds.
>> That’s not it.
Wrath shook his head, telling him to look closer.
>> That bastard has hidden his Aura beneath his soul and regulated his body to match an ordinary human. In reality, he’s grown stronger than when we saw him before.
Wrath gestured for him to look with his newly acquired eyes.
‘Hmm….’
Raon smacked his lips and activated the [Azure Mind’s Eye].
Whoosh.
As icy frost seeped into his pupils, Darkhan’s immense soul—and the terrifying Aura writhing beneath it—came into view.
‘You’re right….’
Darkhan had intentionally regulated his Aura and body to create a state identical to an ordinary person. He was putting on a shabby beggar act despite possessing martial power and a soul stronger than before.
‘He already knows I’m here.’
Darkhan wasn’t even looking this way, but he must have sensed Raon and Rektor watching.
Since they were already discovered, there was no need to lower his voice or conceal his presence.
“Why is Darkhan doing that?”
Raon looked at Rektor and let out a low breath.
“It’s obvious.”
Rektor frowned as if the answer were predetermined.
“To raise the realm of his Heart Sword.”
“That must be it.”
Raon nodded calmly. Even by his own reasoning, there was no other reason.
‘To get stronger, he plucked out his own eyes and even became a beggar….’
Raon had thought he’d put in more effort than anyone else to become stronger, but it seemed he still couldn’t compare to Darkhan.
“Let’s go. He already knows we’re here.”
Raon brushed the dust off his shoulders and approached Darkhan, who was leaning against the gambling house wall.
“Long time no see.”
Since Darkhan wasn’t the type to care about honorifics, Raon greeted him like a friend he’d seen yesterday.
“Huu….”
Darkhan exhaled a turbid breath, still clinging to the beggar act, and raised his head.
“Who are you?”
He spoke as if he didn’t recognize him.
“Going to keep up the act?”
Raon bent his knee and looked at the black eyepatch covering Darkhan’s eyes.
“Tch.”
Darkhan clicked his tongue, annoyed.
“What is it?”
Only after forming a thin, supple barrier that enveloped just himself and Rektor did he use his original voice. It was an eerily smooth application of Aura.
“Your business with me should already be concluded, no?”
Darkhan wrinkled the bridge of his nose, as if he didn’t understand why they’d come. As expected, he knew they’d seen through him.
“I have a request.”
Raon clasped his hands together.
“Not interested.”
Darkhan shook his head without even hearing him out.
“It’s a request, but it’s also something that could help you.”
Raon bit his lip slightly, telling him to at least listen before deciding.
“Help me?”
Darkhan looked up and sneered.
“Didn’t I tell you I value you not for your current martial power, but for your future potential?”
He shook his head firmly, saying he had no interest in Raon as he was now.
“Unless you bring Glenn Zieghart before me this instant, you have nothing to offer. Be on your way.”
Darkhan snorted, telling him not to disturb his training.
“Disturb your training? What meaning is there in that beggar act?”
“Because it’s something I haven’t done.”
Darkhan let out a thin smile and scratched the ground with his finger.
“I stood above the heavens from the moment I was born. My family was good, my talent overflowed, so I always reigned above others.”
He lowered his chin, saying he’d lived more splendidly and loftily than anyone.
“That’s why I want to experience life at the very bottom. A path I haven’t walked. Doing things that don’t suit me….”
Darkhan touched the eyepatch over his empty eye sockets and curled his lips.
“…is of great help to the growth of my soul and swordsmanship.”
He said that was why he’d become a beggar and clenched his tanned hand into a fist.
“My mind is itching right now. If I focus a little more on this life, I feel I can gain new enlightenment. Don’t disturb me.”
Darkhan waved them off, telling them to leave.
“Hmm….”
Raon lowered his eyebrows as he watched Darkhan return to begging.
‘He doesn’t seem like he’ll listen.’
Normally, Darkhan might at least hear him out, but right now, he seemed on the verge of enlightenment and had no interest in anything else.
“Darkhan.”
Rektor looked at Darkhan and jerked his chin.
“When do you think that enlightenment will come?”
“As you well know, enlightenment isn’t something a martial artist can schedule. It feels close, yet just out of reach, so I’m even more clueless.”
Darkhan scratched his temple, frustrated.
“Then, could you at least just listen—”
“It’s alright, Grandfather.”
Raon grabbed Rektor’s arm as he tried to approach.
‘He’s in a state where words won’t get through.’
Darkhan was someone who held his swordsmanship talent in the highest regard. If he’d gone this far, it was better not to bother him now.
“Let’s go.”
Raon retreated, still holding Rektor’s arm.
“A wise judgment. After I gain enlightenment, I’ll at least hear you out.”
Darkhan released the barrier the moment they stepped away.
“…….”
Raon leaned his back against the alley wall where he’d first watched Darkhan, saying nothing.
“Are you really alright with this? If we retreat like this….”
Rektor narrowed his eyes, worried about the war with the White Blood Cult.
“Of course I have no intention of leaving it at this.”
Raon curled his lips as he watched Darkhan clumsily beg.
“It seems a method will present itself soon.
“Tsk.”
Raon smacked his lips as he watched Darkhan kneeling and begging in a back alley of the royal capital.
===
>> Haaaam!
Wrath yawned so wide his mouth looked like it might tear.
>> How long do you intend to stay here? The food isn’t bad, fitting for a kingdom of pleasure, but it’s boring!
Wrath grabbed Raon’s shoulder, saying he’d rather gamble or something.
‘How long have we been here?’
>> A week! You’ve been watching that beggar for a week!
Wrath twisted like a rose vine, complaining he was dying of boredom.
‘I see.’
Raon clicked his tongue as he watched Darkhan beg from passersby.
‘A whole week of that….’
Darkhan changed locations frequently and begged from people.
As if truly committed, he was kicked by gamblers, hit with thrown objects by merchants, and stepped on by other beggars—yet he never revealed his true identity.
However, despite all that, Darkhan’s success in begging was extremely rare.
‘I see what the problem is.’
Raon curled his lips as he watched Darkhan get beaten all day long without getting anything.
‘That’s just a martial artist wearing the mask of a beggar.’
His instincts from his days as an assassin—when he’d disguised himself as countless beggars—told him so. Darkhan was only pretending.
‘It’s time to move.’
>> Huh?
Wrath blinked, asking what he meant.
>> That bastard told you not to come! Requests won’t work on him now.
Wrath shook his head as if no words would reach the current Darkhan.
‘Who said anything about making a request?’
Raon looked at Wrath and let out a thin smile.
‘I’m going to teach him what a proper beggar is.’
He pulled out rags from his subspace pouch that even a beggar wouldn’t wear, changed into them, and smeared charcoal soot across his face and body.
After making himself look like a beggar who hadn’t eaten in ten days, he approached Darkhan.
“Hm….”
Darkhan frowned at him.
“I clearly told you to get lost. I have no interest in requests or the like.”
He revealed a chilling gaze, irritated. Cold killing intent that made Raon’s spine tingle seemed to pierce his heart.
“Request? What nonsense are you spouting.”
Raon shook his head, repeating what he’d told Wrath.
“I came to teach you what a beggar is.”
He said he’d show him directly, then knelt and bent his waist forward like a hunchback.
“I… I haven’t eaten for a week….”
Raon approached a young woman walking with a man of noble bearing, hunched his shoulders, and raised a trembling finger.
“Please, just one copper coin.”
Even though he’d eaten a greasy lunch with Wrath not long ago, he panted like he truly hadn’t eaten in days.
“How pitiful….”
The young woman clung tightly to the man’s arm.
“Tch, consider yourself lucky.”
The nobleman clicked his tongue and tossed a gold coin at him.
“Th-thank you. Thank you so much!”
Raon bowed his head and carefully picked up the gold coin.
After that, he targeted the elderly and young women, obtaining five silver coins and two gold coins.
“H-how….”
Darkhan let out a hollow breath as he watched Raon earn in less than an hour what he couldn’t get even after begging for a week.
“You….”
Raon looked back at Darkhan and let out a short breath.
“You’ve hardly ever succeeded in begging. Do you know why?”
He shook the gold and silver coins on his fingers.
“What does that—”
“You decided to become a beggar, but you haven’t thought about what a beggar is.”
Raon clicked his tongue and examined Darkhan’s posture.
“If you keep your knees together and your shoulders squared like that, you’re a martial artist, not a beggar. Who would pity you?”
Raon sneered at Darkhan’s proud, upright posture and shook his head.
“You can’t become a true beggar like that.”
He told him to get a grip and punched the ground.
“Huh? Wha….”
Darkhan swallowed dryly, unable to comprehend what was happening.
“Look at this.”
Raon raised the hand he’d used to get the gold coin.
“What do you think?”
“It looks like a dirty hand.”
Darkhan muttered it was dirty, as if sensing the charcoal soot despite being unable to see.
“Then how about this?”
Raon lowered the hand slightly and made his fingers tremble as if from a chill.
“It looks… a bit pitiful….”
Darkhan let out a low groan, sensing the trembling.
“Right. Begging isn’t about taking from others—it’s about receiving. In other words, you have to look pitiful, no matter what. Remember the angle and tremor of the hand I’m showing you now.”
Raon told him to feel it properly and kept his hand trembling.
>> Wh-what is this?
Wrath also blinked, unable to understand the situation.
“Try it. Exactly as I showed you.”
Raon told Darkhan to do it himself and stepped behind him.
“Hm….”
Darkhan rolled his eyes and, as shown earlier, spread his knees slightly, narrowed his shoulders, and raised a trembling hand.
“And you don’t beg from just anyone. Usually, the elderly or young women. Especially women accompanied by men—they have a higher chance of giving.”
Raon nodded, saying you had to choose your targets well.
“Now try it yourself.”
“That’s… right!”
Darkhan nodded and was about to move, but then he looked back.
“Your tongue is so nimble I almost fell for it completely.”
He shook his head, unfolding his hand.
“I’m not doing this to become a real beggar and earn money. It’s to gain enlightenment—”
“Pathetic, Dark Sword Saint Darkhan.”
Raon’s voice turned icy as he bared his teeth.
“Don’t look down on beggars!”
After creating a barrier, he shouted fiercely enough to make both their clothes flutter.
“You said you became a beggar to walk a path you haven’t walked before? Do you think enlightenment will come just by skimming the surface of that life? That’s not asceticism—it’s a waste of time!”
He shouted that if Darkhan was going to do it, then do it properly. If not, quit right now.
“A beggar’s life is more desperate than a martial artist’s! If you don’t beg, some other bastard begs and steals your dinner! If you stand around blankly, even your broken rice bowl gets kicked away! If you truly want enlightenment, you have to become a beggar from the depths of your heart!”
Raon shouted for him to get a grip and slapped Darkhan’s cheek.
>> M-madman!
Wrath’s mouth fell open.
>> Ru-run away right now! That madman is going to draw his sword… Huh?
Contrary to Wrath’s fear, Darkhan didn’t get angry. He froze in place.
“Haa….”
After a long while, Darkhan knelt before Raon.
“You’re right.”
He touched the cheek he’d been slapped and looked up.
“I kept feeling something was lacking, and you’re correct. I was still thinking of myself as the Dark Sword Saint.”
Darkhan said he hadn’t truly lived a life of abandonment and clenched his fist until blood seeped out.
>> Huh? Is this for real?
Wrath’s chin trembled, flustered that things weren’t going as expected.
“Teach me!”
Darkhan shouted and bowed his head to Raon.
“Good.”
Raon placed his hand on Darkhan’s head and nodded.
“I’ll teach you what a true beggar is. Starting with your posture again.”
He smiled deeply and explained the begging posture once more.
“First, the angle of your arm and hand matters. The trembling comes after.”
Darkhan, as if sensing Raon’s sincerity through the Heart Sword, hunched his body like a real beggar and formed the proper begging angle with his hands.
>> I was completely mistaken….
Wrath shook his trembling head as he watched Raon teach Darkhan the posture of a true beggar.
>> In this world. No, in all dimensions, there is no one crazier than you!
Who dares teach a Transcendant to act like a beggar!
