Chapter 15: Second Episode: Chapter 6 (1/2)

Chapter 15: Second Episode: Chapter 6

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

To Oscar, Thirteen was like a treasure trove. Whatever he picked up from Thirteen, it had shone its brilliance.

Everyday, the child had to do a strange partial squat-like stance. Initially, he suspected Thirteen to have the hobby of abusing children, as after his Horse Stance training* his legs would be stiff beyond compare. After a while, the child noticed his pudgy torso was becoming lighter and lighter when using the breathing technique Thirteen taught him. He could leap across the three-meter-wide pool with relative ease.

Thirteen thought Oscar was a really hardworking disciple. He didn’t know what supported him to not fall even when he’s exhausted. He eventually increased the strength of Oscar’s training to three times his own during his childhood. He knew the child’s physique was not suitable for Eastern martial arts, but it didn’t matter, as the child was like a stubborn donkey, as long as he pointed out a direction for him, he would follow it.

Oscar’s first victim was the stone wall of the dungeon. Sporting a durable body, it smirked at the child for his powerlessness. The child didn’t give up, he kept throwing his straight punches, simple, straight punches. His fists were already sore and peeling, but the child didn’t seem like he felt those. He’s slowly digesting the words of the King of Assassins, who said, ”What you hit is not the surface of the wall, but the structure of it. It’s very easy to destroy something solid, you just have to damage its structure.”

Oscar tried studying the stone wall’s structure, but he couldn’t see any at all, only stones.

The stone wall began to be scared. This kid just does not give up on hitting it. It already forgot when it started, and it didn’t know when it’ll end. Its fear stemmed from an accident when the chubby kid punched it with a regular punch, but hurts to its core with the punch’s strength phasing through the wall’s strong shell.

Oscar could feel the wall’s shiver. He’d just tried a new way to direct his power under the guidance of Thirteen. He felt a swirl of air accompanied his punches for the first time, so he used it to try and penetrate the wall. His fist recognized the rebound of the stone wall, but he ignored the tiny resistance and pushed through. Even though that had split his flesh a little, he was ecstatic that the wall finally caved and cracked, meeting Thirteen’s requirement of him.

After that, Thirteen insisted for the boy to keep his Horse Stance training and wall punching, but he also increased the amount of his activity. The new ‘victims’ were the Woods family. Thirteen snuffed out the only light source in the dungeon, and the youngster commenced his harassment toward the poor rats.

It didn’t go well at first, Oscar couldn’t keep up with the rats. Sometimes he could see them, but they always managed to slink back into the darkness. The boy can sometimes even hear the teasing from the Woods family. But as usual, Oscar doesn’t not give up. Thirteen instructed him to differentiate their sounds and determine their locations, while waiting for the best timing to strike.

The child succeeded again. Even though the Woods family were on constant vigilance, they would still suddenly find themselves in the grasp of a fleshy hand. The rats were getting frantic, they’d slowed down, they’d silenced their steps, they’d avoid dangerous areas, but that kid would appear almost everywhere, catching them four to five times a day. The Woods family decided after their own ‘family meeting’ that they would yield to him. The kid isn’t a cat, if he likes to catch them without harming them, then let him. The rats accepted the fact at the end.

The rats’ compromise had proven to be a great discontentment to Oscar. He was still not reaching the standard Thirteen set upon him. The kid found Warden Hanning and asked him for a pet that is ferocious, agile, extremely irritable, as well as rat-catching.

The warden knew the boy was under some sort of special training, so he allowed it. He forked out a big amount of money to obtain a cougar. As the natural enemy of most small creatures, he chose the most untamed one of all the cougars. He knew this thing wouldn’t cause the boy much trouble, the King of Assassins will take care of everything.

The truth couldn’t be further away from Moranzo’s imagination. Oscar didn’t even get much contact hours with Thirteen, the King of Assassins of the Westland would close his eyes after giving out his mission for Oscar. Oscar would need to brainstorm ways to complete each of his tasks.

For example, this teeth-gritting cougar. It pounced right after it was released in the dungeon, exterminating the Woods family, the weakest of the whole bunch. After that, the cougar tried to target Oscar as its next prey. Even though the kid’s punches sometimes lead to loosening of its teeth, it didn’t matter, its lightning speed managed to evade most of his attacks.

Oscar wasn’t upset at the cougar that caused him frequent scratches, that was just part of his training. As Thirteen put it, he wasn’t supposed to have emotional changes during training which would only lower his success rate, or even cause his failure.

The boy succeeded eventually. The cougar had already given up on landing a hit, but no matter how it focused on evasion, the punches would still land on its head, without fail. After it realized he’s not a power to mess with, it also succumbed to building rapport with the chubby boy.

Thirteen was really satisfied with his student, but he knew the boy still needed polishing, physically, mentally. He threw the kid the dagger he poached from the idiot assassin, knowing the boy needed to master at least one type of weapon.

Oscar had etched the words of Thirteen’s teaching into his brain when he accepted the dagger. Any kind of weapon will have its own set of movements. Regardless of the attacking angle or the timing of the attacks, the purpose of it was to leave wounds on the enemies’ bodies.

Dagger is definitely one of the weapons with the shortest range, so its will be one of the hardest weapons to master. Enemies wielding spears and longswords will definitely be near impossible for Oscar to hurt. Limitations. It is already a divine gift from the God of Light for a dagger to appear in a prison, it’s impossible for Thirteen to start training Oscar from the most basic weapons.

At this point, Thirteen had already started teaching the boy all about assassination, this ancient art form already has a complete theoretical system in the East.

Young O’Neil Andrew Morisette didn’t know what assassination entails, although he had nearly killed two children, but those are brawls. There is a critical difference between an assassin and a brawler, and this child will be trained under the most advanced assassination skills in this gloomy dungeon.

Thirteen’s assassination art came from the East, passed down by the assassin syndicate for hundreds of years. This syndicate had been nurturing the finest in the lands for the longest of time, and at the same time researching new techniques of grim-reaping.

Why call assassination a technique? Simply, because no one will willingly be killed, so the technique of the assassin plays a crucial role in getting the job done.

Oscar reckoned the first assassin who came up with the theory to be a great philosopher in the Eastern continent, as he defined an assassin to be ‘the hands that assassinate’. However, this definition must not be just any pair of hands smeared with blood. According to this Eastlander, elimination by eradication is a systematic, comprehensive project of mankind that demands for willpower, valor, creativity, and even artistry. It had been going on since humankind rose to power, and will keep going on without a finishing date. The assassins were born due to this project, and from its foundation, it had established its longevity in human history. This is due to the many needs for people to be killed, and many people’s need to kill.

Assassins don’t need a reason to kill, there were only business deals between the service demand, and the supplier. Can a human life be measured with currency? Definitely, at least for assassins, it is so. Doesn’t matter if the mark was an important person with infinite influence or an old lady without a single coin, as long as someone in the world named the price of their lives, the assassins will carry out the deed, and that was all.

The skills that Oscar was slowly developing include Concealment, Evacuation, Facade, and Communication.

Concealment is a skill all assassins need. Without a clever cover, the assassin’s operation and even his life would be in jeopardy. The concealment they need is not the usual definition of it, in other words, not about covering themselves with a patch of turf or or burying themselves in the soil. The highest form of concealment is to fully assimilate into the surrounding including the flow of blood, breath, and the body’s metabolism. It was said that concealment is just a concept, to apply it to the environment, it would take a whole other set of skills.

Evacuation, no matter if the assassin could finish the job, as soon as they end their operation or notice the mission is bound for failure, the only thing they can do is to run. It is the only way to leave the scene with the shortest delay. Only by exiting the scene without leaving tracks that a mission could count as successful. If tracks were found and followed by the other party, the getaway would be ladened with obstacles, or even dangers. That was why the skill of evacuation is necessary.

Depending on whether the assassin was exposed, evacuation can be as easy as reaching a specific location as planned, under constant vigilance even when there was a partner, or be as hard as escaping with all of their skills. It includes their choice of path to evacuate and their methods of dealing with pursuers, hunting dogs, interceptions, trap-setting, and handling injuries.

Facade is Oscar’s weakest skill. The assassins’ marks are all people from real world with real job. In their process of getting close enough to their marks, there are times they need to assimilate into their marks’ environment to cover up their real identity, this involves a facade. The assassin will need to pretend to be someone who could get close to their marks in their living or work environment. If they misunderstand what a particular facade entails, it might lead to their discovery. That is why a Facade is so important.

About Communication, Thirteen taught Oscar sign languages in great detail, however, Oscar was much more interested in the long-distance communication methods, fantasizing about keeping mail pigeons or even the small hawk eagles with strong flying abilities that Thirteen talked about.

In the dark dungeon, the kid had no way to examine or even practice the knowledge he learned, even the dagger seemed superfluous.

Oscar’s brain is really extraordinary, he understood that it takes a really good assassin to kill his marks with a dagger. Since the dagger’s range is limited, only the best assassins can appear in front of his marks without them knowing. As a novice with only theoretical understanding, it was impossible for Oscar to get close to his marks without trouble.

The boy also understood, as a successful assassin, Thirteen’s pride comes not from the dignitaries he had killed, but from the fact that he’s still alive. In his ruminations, he kept repeating Thirteen’s words, ”What is most important for an assassin? Not the marks’ death, but his own survival during missions.”

Sacrifice is a major teaching within the House of Andrew, the chubby boy had inherited it, so it took him a long time to decipher this concept of survival. Yes, life is the most important thing, an assassin should always work under the guarantee of his survival. Assassins are different from suicide killers, assassins use their intelligence to kill, suicide killers use their lives. Little Oscar never wanted to be a suicide killer.

Inevitably, Thirteen became Oscar’s only sparring partner. The boy kept slashing and piercing at him, and even though it was what Thirteen requested, he was still pretty surprised by how engrossed the boy is by the act.

Initially, the boy’s movements were slow and clumsy. To Thirteen, of course. His breathing too rough, his actions too slow, his dagger didn’t even have a sense of threat to it, however soft he made his noise, it was still too loud. This level of knifing was not even worth Thirteen’s time, but he still trained the kid with patience. To him, seeing the kid’s growth was very satisfying.