Chapter 2

The Genius Knight Who Devours Memories

Chapter 2

Riiing-!

A sharp ringing echoed through his skull.

Clang- At the same time, the sword slipped from Rohan’s grasp and fell.

This was a side effect that occurred whenever he took the memories of a living being, but with humans, the pain was much worse.

The surrounding noise buzzed in his ears like tinnitus.

“Hans! Hans! Somebody bring a tourniquet, fuck!”

“What are you doing? Get that bastard!”

“Kill him!”

Shing, shing, shing!!!

The sound of swords being drawn from their sheaths echoed throughout the area.

Only after some time passed did Rohan manage to regain his senses.

‘They look familiar.’

When he raised his head and looked ahead, the soldiers’ faces seemed familiar.

It was because he had absorbed the memories of the soldier he had killed.

Gleaming swords were pointed at him from every direction.

“You son of a bitch. Do you know who you just killed?!”

One of them, unable to contain his agitation, charged forward.

As the man rushed at Rohan, the other soldiers hesitated with their swords raised.

If they joined in carelessly, they might cut down their own comrade as well.

‘That’s Dave.’

The man he had just killed was the spy, Hans.

The one charging at him was Hans’s close friend.

The man raised his sword and lunged forward, but Rohan remained calm instead.

‘He got a wound in his side during the battle not long ago.’

Rohan already had the memories of the man he had killed.

Fragments of information about the swordsmanship the man had cultivated throughout his life had also been organized in his mind.

‘Can I apply his swordsmanship right away?’

He was curious.

He could simply use the man in front of him to find out.

But Rohan’s sword had fallen from his hand.

There was no time to pick it back up.

“Die!”

The man swung his sword diagonally.

Using an evasive technique from his memories, Rohan narrowly avoided the blade.

An evasive technique taken from Hans’s memories.

‘It works!’

The corners of Rohan’s lips twitched without him realizing it.

Another person’s memories had translated into his own movements.

His heart raced at the realization that the experiences of the dead could truly become his own.

“You’re smiling? You crazy bastard.”

When Rohan grinned while dodging the sword, the man lost control of his emotions and swung again.

In an instant, Rohan’s eyes scanned the man’s movements.

His footsteps. The preparatory motion before swinging the sword. The direction of the hand gripping the sword.

After taking in all that information in an instant, the path of the man’s sword formed in Rohan’s mind.

‘The second form of Karnia swordsmanship.’

Horizontal slash.

Retract the sword, then slash diagonally.

Then a thrust.

It was swordsmanship he had never seen before, yet the movements looked as familiar as though he had practiced them until last night.

Whoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

The man swung his sword, but the blade cut only through empty air.

That did not mean his swordsmanship was crude.

With Rohan’s original physical abilities, dodging it should have been impossible.

‘My body can’t keep up.’

That was truly how Rohan felt.

It was as though his mind and body were moving separately.

He had only been able to dodge because he understood the swordsmanship and could predict the path of the blade.

If he had been unable to predict its path, he would undoubtedly have been injured.

“Urgh!”

The man’s face flushed bright red with agitation.

Having lost his reason, he began swinging his sword ruthlessly.

‘I can’t read it.’

He could no longer predict the attacks.

It was swordsmanship that did not exist in Rohan’s memories.

‘This is bad.’

If he could not predict the path, then even if he saw the attack, he would not be able to dodge it.

His body could not keep up with his mind.

After assessing the situation, Rohan created some distance.

Dave strode toward Rohan.

Just as the man, certain of victory, raised his sword high.

Rohan lowered his body and rushed into the man’s embrace.

“Huh?”

Dave let out a startled sound.

The longsword he belatedly brought down ceased to be a threat once the distance between them had narrowed.

Rohan wrapped both arms around the man’s waist and hooked his leg around Dave’s in an attempt to trip him.

Perhaps because of the difference in their size, the man only staggered once before regaining his balance.

Just as composure returned to the man’s face.

Rohan immediately moved the arms wrapped around Dave toward his side, then pressed his fingers hard into the spot where the wound was.

“Gah, gaaah!”

Dave’s back arched like a taut bowstring.

Clang, he dropped his sword into the air and tried to force Rohan away.

But Rohan used all his strength to relentlessly press down on the wounded area.

“Aagh! S-stop! Stop!”

Dave’s groans grew louder.

Crack... pop...

Before long, a strange sound that should not have come from a human body could be heard.

It was the sound of the barely closed wound tearing open again.

The robe Dave wore was instantly dyed red with fresh blood.

“Ughhh... s-stop!”

He struggled in agony, but every time he thrashed, Rohan’s fingers only dug deeper into the wound.

“Ughh- Krrk...”

Eventually, with a wet rattling sound in his throat, Dave’s eyes rolled back.

Like a pillar toppled by the wind, his large, rigid body fell backward with a thud.

Once the massive body blocking his view disappeared, Rohan saw countless eyes beyond it staring at the scene as though entranced.

The strongest emotion visible in their eyes was bewilderment.

“W-what?”

“Dave lost?”

It seemed no one had expected Rohan to win.

When they saw blood dripping from his hand, some of them turned deathly pale.

Someone among them shouted.

“W-what are you standing around for?! Kill him!”

“He attacked two of our men! Kid or not, just kill him!”

As though coming to their senses, the men began shouting at the tops of their lungs.

They raised their swords all at once and rushed toward Rohan.

“Stop!!”

A tremendous voice thundered throughout the area.

It was so loud that his eardrums rang.

Supern’s figure appeared in front of Rohan in an instant.

‘When did he...?’

To Rohan’s eyes, it looked as though the man had vanished from far away and suddenly reappeared.

Supern’s hand roughly seized Rohan by the throat and lifted him into the air.

“Ghk.”

Rohan struggled, but it was like trying to move a boulder.

Not even the slightest movement came from him.

Though it lasted only an instant, Rohan felt the overwhelming gap in their strength.

It felt as though an insurmountable wall stood before him.

Yet intense curiosity blossomed in Rohan’s mind.

‘He’s strong. Is Reinag even stronger than this?’

If so, just how strong would Rohan have to become?

While his mind was busy gauging his goal, his body was choking and his vision was beginning to blur.

“You... you’ll have to take responsibility for what you did.”

Supern’s voice sounded like that of a beast.

That was Rohan’s final memory.

______________

Splash-!

Cold water poured over his face, and Rohan opened his eyes.

He found himself inside a prison.

Beyond the bars stood Supern.

In his right hand was a green brooch.

‘That is...’

An artifact that detected lies.

Its brilliant green light would turn red when it detected a lie.

Rohan recognized it immediately.

Because the memories of Hans, the soldier he had killed, were already inside his head.

“Explain.”

Supern spoke briefly.

Rohan answered immediately.

“The man I killed was a Noxis spy.”

There was neither reason nor need to lie.

As expected, Supern’s eyes naturally turned toward the brooch.

The green brooch showed no change.

“Evidence?”

“There should be a vial in the corpse’s clothes. It contains poison. He was going to put it in the soldiers’ rum.”

“A vial.”

Supern immediately gestured with his chin toward one of the soldiers stationed at the entrance of the underground prison, signaling him to check whether the vial existed.

The soldier gave a brief bow and hurried out of the prison.

Supern’s gaze returned to Rohan.

“How do you know that?”

How should he answer?

Rohan’s eyes turned toward the brooch.

If he told a clumsy lie, it would be exposed immediately.

Should he reveal that he could take memories?

‘...No.’

It seemed better to conceal anything related to memories.

The brooch’s ability was to detect lies.

That was separate from detecting another person’s abilities.

As long as he spoke only the truth, there would be no problem.

After briefly organizing his thoughts, Rohan answered.

“I saw it. I saw him pour the vial into the barrel placed at the back.”

“You saw it?”

He had indeed seen it through the man’s memories, so it should not count as a lie.

As expected, the brooch still showed no change.

“That alone wouldn’t have been enough to be certain he was a spy.”

“There was a memory of him wearing a Noxis military uniform.”

“...”

When the brooch remained unchanged, Supern wore an expression of disbelief.

It lasted only a moment before his face returned to its usual impassiveness.

“For now, I understand. But.”

Supern stopped speaking and stared quietly at Rohan.

Though his middle-aged face was covered in scars, his eyes still shone sharply.

“You had learned swordsmanship. Noxis swordsmanship, at that.”

“I only imitated what I saw.”

“You saw that too? Have you ever learned swordsmanship?”

“No.”

“Hah-!”

An exclamation of disbelief escaped him.

Meanwhile, the soldier who had left to check for the vial returned.

“Commander Supern. On Hans’s corpse... there is a vial!”

Supern’s brow furrowed after receiving the vial.

Rohan asked.

“What happens to me?”

“You used Noxis swordsmanship.”

That was clearly grounds for execution.

“No matter how ignorant of the world you are, you killed an Imperial soldier using Noxis swordsmanship...”

“He was a spy.”

“That still requires further investigation.”

Rohan stood and took a step toward Supern.

“I want to become a knight.”

“You must not become a knight.”

“Why? You said you’d let me join if I knew how to use a sword.”

Supern himself had nodded at those words.

Supern fell silent for a moment and stared intently at Rohan.

“Knowing how to swing a sword isn’t enough to become a knight. You... don’t have the temperament to be one.”

“...”

“We’ll investigate a little more and then release you. If we let you live, never come near this place again.”

It was an unmistakable order to stay away.

Rohan stared blankly at Supern as he walked away.

Just as he turned around and was about to leave the underground prison.

A strange voice came from deep within the prison.

“Knight Commander. Give us some water.”

“We’re all going to die at this rate.”

The words were a request, but the tone contained mockery.

Looking more closely, five men wearing Noxis uniforms were tied up.

Their uniforms were stained with blood in many places, as though they had undergone all kinds of torture, and they looked haggard.

Supern glanced at them and spoke in a low voice.

“You have quite a lot of demands for men who massacred civilians. You’ll all be executed after midnight tonight.”

Civilians.

At that word, Rohan suddenly remembered his mother.

The corner of Rohan’s mouth twitched.

The look in Rohan’s eyes changed as he stared at them.

Though it was clearly a death sentence, they merely snickered at Supern.

Creak, thud. With the sound of the old underground prison door opening and closing, Supern disappeared.

Before he knew it, only Rohan and the five Noxis soldiers remained in the prison.

‘There were Noxis soldiers here?’

An indescribable feeling surged within him.

Rohan knew exactly what this feeling was.

It was the same emotion he had felt while hunting rabbits, then foxes. Foxes, then wild dogs. Wild dogs, then wolves.

‘There’s less than an hour until midnight, right?’

The bell had just rung eleven times.

Rohan’s grin widened further.

_____________

After midnight passed and the bell rang once, Rohan opened his eyes.

There was only one passage into the prison, so the only guard on duty was stationed at the entrance.

The man assigned to guard duty from midnight onward was Kaisen.

He was someone who was always scolded for dozing off while on duty.

By now, there was a high chance that he was deeply asleep.

‘This should be enough time.’

Rohan stood up.

Perhaps because he had spent so long sitting on the rough ground, his body cracked as he moved.

Far away, the Noxis soldiers were being held.

At the sound, several of them raised their heads, but soon lowered them again.

They seemed to have little strength remaining.

‘Was it around here?’

Rohan withdrew his gaze and began digging at a spot on the ground.

The shadow cast by the third iron bar from the torch lighting the prison interior.

The prison floor was made of dirt, making it easy to dig.

After digging for some time, Rohan’s hand soon struck something.

‘Found it.’

What he pulled out was a key.

It was information that had flowed into him from Hans’s memories.

Hans, who had been a Noxis spy, had hidden an emergency key inside the prison in preparation for the possibility that he himself might be imprisoned.

Rohan immediately reached through the bars and inserted the key into the lock.

Click... creak...

The noise from the old hinges filled the inside of the prison.

At the same time, all the Noxis soldiers raised their heads.

They seemed startled by the sound of a prison door opening.

Rohan waited for a moment, but no sign of anyone came from the entrance.

As expected, Kaisen seemed to be deeply asleep.

‘Now.’

After opening the door, Rohan took a torch from the wall and approached the Noxis soldiers.

Fwoosh-

Rohan shone the torch into the cell and examined the soldiers’ faces.

They ranged from young men to middle-aged men with graying hair.

After studying their faces, Rohan spoke.

“You’re Noxis soldiers, right?”

The soldiers, whose eyes had widened like rabbits’, shuffled toward Rohan.

They pressed their faces against the bars and spoke.

“Kid. Open this door too.”

“Let us out too. We’ll do anything you ask.”

“What do you want? Help us survive.”

Rohan ignored their words and said.

“Then you must know a lot, right?”

The soldiers’ expressions quickly turned fierce.

They looked as though curses might burst from their mouths at any moment, but they forced themselves to smile.

The key to the lock on their cell was in that boy’s hand.

“Of course. Plenty. Let us out and we’ll tell you everything.”

“That’s right. What do you want to know? We’ll tell you anything.”

“Shh. Keep this up and an officer might come.”

Despite their attempts to coax him, Rohan remained unmoved.

Only the crackling sound of the torch in Rohan’s hand echoed through the prison.

When they realized Rohan had no intention of opening the door, curses finally spilled from their mouths.

“Fuck. Now even some brat is coming here to interrogate us.”

“Open the door while we’re still asking nicely. Then we’ll tell you what you want to know.”

The corner of Rohan’s mouth twisted upward.

Then he muttered as though speaking to himself.

“There’s no need for that.”

The large man, irritated, could no longer hold back and cursed.

“Fuck! What the hell are you trying to do? You need us if you want information. It’s already past midnight, and did you think we wouldn’t realize the only reason we’re still alive is because you need information?”

“I’ll find out everything anyway. That’s not what I’m curious about.”

Rohan looked coldly down at the five men.

Rohan understood very well what it meant for soldiers to harm civilians.

From the memories of those he had killed, it was clear these men were trash not worth saving.

Instead of emotional agitation, another emotion could be seen in Rohan’s eyes.

“If you burn to death, will I still get your memories?”

It was curiosity.

Rohan picked up a jar of torch oil sitting against one wall.

Glug, glug, glug—.

The oil soaked the dry straw inside the cell and the soldiers’ clothes.

“W-wait! Who the hell are you to do something like this...!”

“The Knight Commander won’t let you get away with this if he finds out!”

Rohan tilted his head.

“The Knight Commander himself said you’d be killed at midnight.”

“W-wait!”

Without hesitation, Rohan threw the torch into the cell.

Fwoooosh—!

“Gaaaaah!”

The screams of all five men erupted at once.