Chapter 5

Infinite Skill Copying with EX-Grade Interpretation Chapter 5

Knock, knock.

I knocked on the door, which was so old it was practically half-rotten. There was no answer.

‘There’s no way he’d be out at this hour.’

While waiting, I peeled off the flyers plastered all over the door.

Chinese restaurant delivery menus, loan shark advertisements, even talismans of unknown origin.

No matter when I came, the area in front of this door was practically a gathering place for all the alley’s trash.

Before long, heavy footsteps sounded from inside. The footsteps stopped in front of the door and remained silent for a moment before a raspy voice spoke.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, old man. Hurry up and open the door. I’m freezing to death out here.”

“Tsk, you again? You sure never get tired of coming around.”

Creeeak─.

As the door opened, a massive old man appeared. Frowning beneath eyebrows that hung down below his eyes, he looked me up and down.

“Well, look at you, brat. You’re practically dying. Did someone finally stick a knife in your gut?”

[The ability ‘Interpretation’ is activating.]

[Interpreting the true intentions of the target ‘Winters.’]

─This stupid bastard got himself hurt again. Always making me worry.

He cursed me with his mouth, but his heart was remarkably warm. Seriously, old man, would it kill you to relax your face when you talk?

“Well, something like that happened. Could you let me inside first? I’m in such bad shape that I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

“Tsk, come in.”

As I stepped inside, a familiar sight greeted me. The interior was as disgustingly filthy as ever.

Armor, weapons, and bizarre antiques of unknown origin were piled haphazardly like junk.

I passed between precarious towers of clutter that looked ready to collapse if I reached out the wrong way and settled down in front of the counter.

Once I sat down, the old man approached, handed me a glass, and perched himself opposite me.

“Here, drink it all. It’ll work better than most painkillers.”

“How thoughtful of you to give me some fucking strong liquor.”

I downed the glass the old man had handed me.

Perhaps the old man wasn’t wrong, because after drinking a glass, the pain seemed to ease a little.

Once I had enough breathing room to relax, our conversation naturally began.

“Right, I’ve already heard about those loan shark bastards. Are you all right?”

“News sure travels fast around here. Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks to that, all my debts have disappeared.”

Given how well-connected the old man was, it seemed he’d already heard what happened to the loan sharks.

“Things are going to be noisy for a while.”

“...Come on, surely not.”

“You may not know this, brat, but those bastards were connected to quite a few organizations. You do know that, don’t you? Ugh, fine. Well, I suppose it’ll be all right as long as you don’t get caught.”

“Exactly. Anyway, could you take a look at this?”

Rather than talk about things that gave me a headache, I wanted to get to the reason I’d come here.

“So, what have you brought me this time? I’ll warn you in advance, I’m short on money these days, so I can’t offer much.”

“Seriously, when have you ever had plenty of money? That’s not why I’m here, so just take a look at this.”

Thud─.

I placed the sword hanging at my waist onto the table.

A wooden scabbard sealed with a purple cord. The moment the old man saw it, his expression changed completely.

“Kid.”

His voice dropped an octave. I instinctively grew tense as well.

“Where did you get this?”

“Well, an opportunity came up.”

“No, tell me properly. Did you do something?”

“Do what?”

“Did you hurt someone, you little brat! There’s no way you could’ve simply gotten your hands on something like this.”

His gaze was piercing. I’d intended to brush it off as a joke, but his expression was so serious that I eventually had no choice but to confess.

Besides, this old man knew how to keep his mouth shut. I’d known him for years.

“I wasn’t the one who attacked first. We ended up fighting, I won, and I took it. It caught my eye.”

“Tsk, so you did end up killing someone. Fine... So, what do you want to know about it?”

“Do you recognize it, old man?”

“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I? I’ve seen everything that’s happened in this city.”

A native of the city. A living fossil. True to his nicknames, he seemed to have seen through the sword’s origins.

“Plum Blossom. There used to be a guild by that name.”

“Plum Blossom? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Of course you haven’t. That guild collapsed decades ago.”

If it was a guild even the old man remembered, it couldn’t have been an ordinary organization. It must have been at least a mid-sized power, if not greater.

“It used to be one of the three major guilds that ruled this city.”

“Then why did it collapse?”

“They made too many enemies. The other guilds bombarded them until they were destroyed. See here? The plum blossom pattern at the base of the sword.”

There really were red plum blossom petals engraved where he pointed. They were so small that I’d mistaken them for a rose. Experience certainly counted for something.

“Then was the guy carrying this sword some kind of disciple?”

“Who knows? Maybe he bought it from a fence like me, or perhaps he inherited the remnants of that fallen guild. There’s no way someone properly trained would’ve been taken down by a brat like you.”

I chuckled along with the old man, but my gaze remained fixed on the sword.

So this was a remnant of an old guild... Just as I carefully raised the blade.

Zap─!

“Ugh...!”

“What is it? Are you hurting somewhere?”

“No, I just suddenly got a headache...”

Sparks flashed before my eyes again. A familiar warning sign.

It was a signal that all the necessary information had been gathered.

[Interpretation is resuming.]

Memories poured into my mind.

「Listen here. Swordsmanship is what you call efficiently cutting off people’s heads. That’s what swordsmanship is.」

Memories unfolded like a panorama. The brutal history of the Plum Blossom Guild, which had hunted humans rather than monsters in an age of barbarism.

They had developed their own unique swordsmanship and seized countless interests. And destruction awaited them at the end.

The memories of a man who had refused to let go of his sword even amid the burning conflict. His stance and sword strikes were deeply engraved into my body.

[You have acquired the skill ‘Demon Flash (A).’]

“...A-rank?”

I opened my eyes.

A skill of the same rank as Shadow Step.

The moment I saw it, another shiver ran down my spine.

[Demon Flash (A)]

─A quick-draw sword technique. Deflects an opponent’s attack and severs their neck with the speed of a demon. Its power increases dramatically when activated as a counterattack.

What an insane ability. Deflecting an opponent’s attack while simultaneously taking their head?

Suppressing my amazement, I took the blue orb out of my pocket.

“Do you happen to know what this is, too? I can’t figure out what it is.”

The old man accepted the orb and examined it from various angles. Only after a long while did he speak.

“Tsk, I feel like I’ve seen something like this before... but I don’t know. It isn’t a gemstone, though. Anyway, it looks expensive, so keep it somewhere safe.”

“That’s the plan.”

Even the old man didn’t know. What on earth could it be?

In any case, I’d gotten everything appraised, so I was about to put my questions aside and stand up.

Jingle─!

The bell at the entrance rang.

White suits and sunglasses. Two men wearing a combination that looked awfully familiar stood there.

“We’re not open right now. Don’t you know the rules?”

“Sorry about that, old man. We’re looking for something.”

[Interpreting the target’s true intentions.]

─The bastard who killed Liam will definitely come to sell off the stolen goods.

Liam. The name of the hunter I’d killed.

I was certain. These bastards were his associates.

“Has anyone come by trying to sell a sword or an orb?”

“A sword? An orb?”

The old man’s gaze flickered toward me for the briefest instant. Less than a tenth of a second.

But he immediately shook his head without changing his expression.

“No one’s come to sell anything like that recently. I doubt there’s an idiot stupid enough to carry something so valuable around these back alleys. Heh heh, he’d get robbed immediately.”

“Still, why don’t you think carefully, old man? Are you sure there wasn’t anyone?”

“What would I gain by hiding something like that? Plenty of fools have died doing that.”

“Hmm...”

He was covering for me.

But the men in suits didn’t seem ready to abandon their suspicions.

Their persistence made me tense up despite myself.

At the very least, I needed to prepare...

[Attempting interpretation.]

[A difference in level is detected.]

[Attempting interpretation again.]

It was the same as before. These guys were on a higher level than me.

Would it be impossible to interpret them until I weakened them, like with Liam? But using Weakening here would only put me at a disadvantage.

And facing two of them at once, rather than just one, would be impossible... What should I do?

As I was thinking that, their gazes naturally shifted toward me, sitting in the corner.

At that moment.

Whack─!

“Aagh! You crazy old man!”

“You brat, what kind of look is that to give our guests! Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry. He’s my grandson. The little bastard never goes outside and just sits there glaring at people.”

The old man suddenly smacked me across the back with a thick book.

The two men stared at us for a moment, looking dumbfounded, before letting out small chuckles.

“...No, it’s fine. Ha. What a waste of time. Let’s go.”

“Yes, sir.”

Fortunately, the act worked.

Once the door closed and the men in suits disappeared, the old man let out a sigh.

“You little bastard... What the hell did you do to get involved with dangerous people like them?”

“Who the hell are those guys?”

That was what I wanted to know.

All I’d done was mess with some loan sharks in the back alleys, so I couldn’t understand why bastards like those kept getting involved one after another.

“They’ve been making quite a name for themselves in the back alleys recently... Forget it. Just stay hidden for a while. Don’t get caught and end up crippled.”

A place to hide...

Until recently, I’d been living under a mountain of debt. There was no way I had enough money to move somewhere else on a whim.

But going back to the dormitory was risky, since those bastards were likely to visit... I also needed somewhere to hide the orb and sword.

In that case...

“Is that the only place...?”

“Do you have some kind of hideout?”

“Yeah. There’s a place other people can’t find... No, a place they can’t reach.”

I had a very suitable location in mind.

A place that belonged to me alone, where others couldn’t go.

“Ha, fine. As long as you’ve got somewhere. Don’t go starving, and come by once things quiet down.”

“Seriously. I eat better than you do, old man. Stop worrying about other people and take care of yourself. You’re already about the age where dementia should start setting in.”

“Good grief, what use is worrying about a sucker like you? I’m telling you to bring something worth money next time. Got it?”

Heh.

At those words, I quietly smiled and stepped outside.

Of course, as I left, I carefully checked whether those men were still around.

Fortunately, whether they had completely discarded their suspicions or not, they were already gone.

I spread Interpretation in every direction, but their traces merely continued toward the distant downtown district.

‘Still, what the hell do those guys actually do?’

They possessed far too much to simply be considered some moderately influential thugs.

More than anything, their attitude had been far too businesslike for people supposedly avenging a colleague.

It felt extremely unbalanced.

‘So it really is this.’

This orb. I had a feeling it was something far beyond what I had imagined.

And I had the sense that their organization was much larger than I had thought.

But even setting all of that aside.

“This pisses me off...”

I’d finally gained my freedom, and the mere fact that another bunch of shitty bastards had gotten tangled up with me again was infuriating.

To an unbearable degree.

If this had been the old me, I probably would’ve simply hidden quietly.

And I would’ve kept peeking my head out, waiting for them to pass.

But...

‘Things are different now.’

Because I had a way to gain power.

I hadn’t been planning to stay quietly in that place anyway, but now I had even more reason to find a way to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

_______________

“Hmm, this should be good enough.”

I smiled as I looked around the room after finishing the cleaning.

The sage’s workshop on the fifth floor of the Tower, a place no one had discovered for more than a hundred years.

At first, it had been nothing more than a cave unsuitable for human habitation, but after cleaning it up a little, it had turned into a space perfectly adequate for someone to live in.

...At least, you could say it was somewhere I could stay for a few days.

Moreover, since the door couldn’t even be opened without the relic, this place was a perfect hideout that no organization could reach.

For me right now, there was nowhere more perfect.

“All right, then. Shall I start practicing right away?”

I leaned the sword against the wall and sat down on the floor.

That hopeless difference in speed I had felt while fighting Liam.

But now, I had gained one more new skill.

Demon Flash.

A top-tier A-rank skill capable of overturning a situation with a single quick draw.

Interpretation wasn’t simply an ability to read information. It was an ability to see what others couldn’t and make it entirely my own power.

“I’ll get stronger somehow and crush every last one of them.”

The quiet declaration echoed through the silent workshop.