Redo of a Romanceless Author’s Life Devoid of Love; Another Chance at Youth Chapter 105

Chapter 105. Boxing Day: Fighting with your Life on the Line. (3/3)

Contrary to my expectations, he didn’t show any visible anger at all and instead smiled like he thought my response humorous. He strengthened his grip on my wrists to the point I thought my bones would shatter.

“You’d like to slap my mother in the afterlife you say? It’s a sha she’s still alive.”

“If she’s not available, I’ll find your grandmother and slap her in her daughter’s place.”

“Hahahaha! Yes, yes, please do that favor. I never did get along well with my grandmother and always thought she had a very slappable face.”

What the hell is this guy’s problem? Do you get off to chatting with the guy you’re about to kill in cold blood?

“Anyway, putting matters of slapping aside, you didn’t answer my question.”

“Humans, have this thing called the fight or flight response, right? It beca imdiately obvious flight was not an option to . Let’s say I tried to run away, you’re obviously much better built than and could easily catch . Even in the off chance I were to miraculously escape, you could just track down again at any ti in the future and I’d be back to square one.”

I could have tried running to Rosa back in the car for help, but would I even make it that far? Probably not. My body was already exhausted from shopping all day. I didn’t have the stamina left to do anything. Everything in my body had been aching before the adrenaline had kicked in. It just wasn’t an option on the table for in my current condition.

Even if I sohow made it to her, she was with Irene’s family. I didn’t know what sort of man her father was. Would he rcilessly kill in front of them anyway then kill them too for seeing it? Rather than take the chance to get them involved and have them die, it was better to fight for my own survival even if it ant killing Rosa’s father.

Let’s say I tried to call Rosa to have her et up halfway while I fled for my life, would I be given the leisure to do so by him? No.

“Oh, your logic is certainly sound. But why not grovel, prostrate yourself, and beg for forgiveness to have your life spared? That’s another flight option available, is it not?”

“You’re an assassin, a cold-blooded killer who doesn’t know the aning of the word rcy. There’s no chance you’d ever have your heart swayed by soone begging for their life. I’m sure you’ve had countless people beg for their lives up until now and have still ruthlessly taken their lives. You’re accustod to such things by now. Completely numb to it even. Your eyes easily give that much away.”

“Certainly.” His eyes narrowed as he gazed at with a sharp glint in his eyes.

“Boy, would you like to be an assassin?”

“Hell no. Just stop talking rubbish and kill now if that’s what you wanted to ask. I want a quiet peaceful life, not a pain in the ass one that will run ragged into the ground.”

“By the way…” he hesitated a bit.

“What?”

“... just how far have you gotten with my daughter?”

“She’s quite docile in bed.” I wanted to piss him off a bit with my response, but his response left baffled.

“Oh, is that so?”

He didn’t seem mad at all despite my words being intended to incite him.

“Yes…” What is with this conversation before I die?

“So you’ve done it then?”

I let out a sigh, “Haaaah, are you worried about her purity as her father or sothing? I really wouldn’t have expected that from soone who should be a cold-blooded assassin.”

“Answer the question, you said she’s docile in bed, so how far did you get exactly?”

“Why are you so hung up on this? Does it even matter? If you want to know, just go ask your daughter or sothing.”

“How far?”

“You’re annoyingly persistent. Should assassins even talk this much to the person they’re about to kill?”

“Don’t question . I’m the one asking the questions here. How far?”

“I guess you could say just about everything before crossing the line.”

“Huh? Wait… you an… you haven’t had sex yet?”

“No,” I answered bluntly.

“So… I don’t have a grandchild on the way yet?”

“No.” What the hell is with this guy’s line of questioning?

“Haaaaah. And here I was looking forward to a cute grandkid to dote on. What the hell? Apologize to for getting my hopes up.”

“Huh? What do you an?” I was left dumbfounded by his words that didn’t line up with my expectations.

“Haaaah. My daughter is going to kill because of you.”

“Wait, hold up. I’m having a hard ti keeping up now. What do you an? Aren’t you going to kill ? Why are you suddenly the one worrying about being killed by your daughter here?”

“I wasn’t actually going to kill you. I just wanted to play a bit of a prank, but then… you went and did this.” He looked helplessly at my bleeding hand. Well, the blood wasn’t leaking out as much as before because of his tight grip on my wrist.

He released my right hand and suddenly took out a long bandage from his pocket then started wrapping it tightly starting from my hand up my arm to limit the blood loss and stop the bleeding.

“Uh… but you threw a knife at to kill . In what way is dying considered a prank?”

“What? It’s quite a common prank among us assassins. It’s done to fresh graduates from the academy where young assassins are raised. We tie fine strings to the knife and stop it right before it actually enters their throats. It’s quite amusing to see their reactions, almost dying right after graduation only to survive in the end. You weren’t supposed to seriously try and block it with your hand, you idiot.”

“That’s just awful! What are you going to do when soone seriously dies from this ridiculous and unreasonable prank?”

“We’ll just bury them and laugh it off as being their bad luck. If they were destined to die from sothing simple like that, then they would have died out in the field when trying to complete their first contract. We don’t need useless people to beco assassins after all. Only the cream of the crop survives through the treacherous training.”

“Out of curiosity, when do people start attending this sort of academy?”

“When they’re 18 and have completed a normal education. Before attending academy they hone their bodies and skills on their own ti.” They aren’t brought up from a young age forcefully, but rather willingly?

“Then... will you be making your daughter attend it too?” I asked this to clarify my line of reasoning.

“Only if she wants to.”

“Huh? You’re not forcing her to go?”

“Nobody who attends is forced to. They attend and beco professional full-fledged assassins of their own free will. If you force soone to be an assassin when they don’t want to, they’re just going to end up being useless in the end. Unless you sincerely want to do sothing, you’ll never truly be good at it. That’s how the academy goes about things.”

“Oh. I see. So it’s basically like university then.”

“Yeah, people are free to go if they want. If they don’t want to, they don’t have to.”

“But is it not expected of an assassin's child to attend? Do they not feel pressured into it by their fellow peers?”

“Of course, it’s quite similar to university for normal civilians like you. If they have the skills and talents required to beco an assassin, fellow assassins typically expect that they will do so.”

“I see. Do you expect your daughter to beco an assassin too?”

“I do expect her to…”

I took careful note of his selection of words and clarified, “Do you… want her to?”

The man let out a helpless smile and said, “You’re quite sharp to pick up on the difference between expectations and what soone wants, aren’t you?”

“aning?”

“What sort of father would want his precious cute daughter to go and beco an assassin who could die at any point in ti? I just want her to do what she wants. But… ever since she was young, she’s always been saying how she would work hard and beco an assassin I could be proud of. She’s always had every intention to follow in my footsteps.”

“Since early childhood, she always obediently followed her mother and father, wherever we went, from country to country without ever voicing a single complaint. However… when she turned 15, perhaps as if she’d entered a sowhat rebellious phase, she finally made a selfish request for the first ti.”

“She wanted to attend high school without constantly having to move from country to country and change schools, is that it?”

“Yes. It seems... sothing happened in her last year of middle school which made her want to experience a normal high school romance. To do so, she wanted to attend the sa high school for three years. She said once she finished high school and was satisfied, she’d end her relationship, attend the academy as she’d always intended to since there wasn’t anything else she knew how to do or wanted to do.”

“I see. It seems we’ve gotten a bit sidetracked with this topic. So, you really aren’t going to kill for proposing to your daughter?”

“No, I’d never really kill my daughter’s boyfriend, er, no, fiancé now I suppose. I have no such desire to do so. Rather, I personally prefer you alive and around my daughter. I’d also hope you’d push her down and get married even faster.”

“To give her a reason to not beco an assassin and follow in your footsteps?”

“Haha… yes.”

“Well… I don’t think you really have to worry about that, to be honest.”

“I… don’t? What do you an?”

“Have you not talked to your daughter recently?”

“No, I’ve been quite busy and haven’t had the chance.”

“Then I guess you don’t know.”

“Know what?”

“She has sothing she wants to be. Sothing that isn’t an assassin that is.”

“What? Really!” He stood up and firmly placed his hands on my shoulders with great excitent in his eyes. Looking at him right now, I could hardly believe he was the sa man who was supposed to be a cold-blooded assassin.

“Boy, if you’re lying to , I will be very mad.”

“I’m not lying. She wants to be a teacher.”

“A… teacher? That girl? But her grades are… a bit…” Rosa’s father averted his eyes to the side, unable to say it.

“She got the highest grades among first years for the final exams in the first sester.”

“What! Who did? That stupid girl did? Why did nobody tell in a report yet! Were they trying to keep it a surprise so my daughter could tell herself?”

Hey. Old man, don’t call your own daughter stupid.

“I shit you not. It’s the truth. You can verify it yourself if you want.”

“No… if you’re saying so much... I’ll just take your word for it. But... a teacher, huh? That’s quite unexpected. How’d that even happen?” He looked at curiously.

When the morally questionable scenes that led up to it flashed through my mind, I awkwardly responded, “It’s a… long story.”

“I see. I see. You should tell about it soti. I’d like to hear about it… but… we should really do sothing about your arm. You pulled out the knife and ended up losing a lot more blood as a result.”

“Ah. Now that you ntion it.” With the adrenaline that kicked in at the onset finally wearing off, I was assaulted by a sudden dizzy spell. I felt lightheaded and weak. Drowsy, the world felt like it was spinning.

I raised my right hand over my forehead and staggered forward, losing strength in my knees.

I felt short of breath. My heart was beating hard. The pain that I’d previously been numb to in my left hand which ran all the way up my arm returned.

“Lie down. Haaaah. You’ll probably need a transfusion. My daughter is seriously going to kill if I can’t fix this. I might need to go into hiding for a while until she cools down.”

Those words were the final words I heard from Rosa’s father before I collapsed onto the couch and lost consciousness.