“Rogues only swing their daggers from behind!”
It felt like I’d heard that at least half my life.
Thrown into the world without even knowing my parents, the first thing I learned was how to scavenge corpses on the battlefield.
Then the targets of my pickpocketing shifted from corpses to living people, and on top of that, I even learned how to pick locks.
“Scoundrels like you are lucky if you only rob our pockets!”
Even while getting paid as a guide leading Adventurers, disdain followed me everywhere.
‘Can’t be helped.’
Scorn was the stigma that came with being a rogue—our inevitable fate.
Heroes and their praise were never meant for us.
Or so I believed, until—
“Hey, wanna try disarming traps with that lock-picking skill of yours?”
“Huh?”
One day, an idiot who called himself a hero appeared.
‘What’s this guy even doing?’
And there were plenty of idiots like him.
“I’m a Dwarf!”
“I’m a Saintess!”
“I’m a Witch!”
The self-proclaimed leader among the fools declared,
“And I’m the man who’s going to become a hero!”
‘Tch, idiots.’
He was the head of a bunch of fools who claimed they would kill the Demon King in the East and save the world.
No one ordered them to do it. At that time, no one even considered killing the Demon King.
In other words, they were idiots who voluntarily took on a job that paid nothing and had no chance of success.
“But the treasure in the Demon King’s castle? That’s all mine.”
Yet strangely, when I looked into his eyes, I wanted to follow him.
At least that life was better than being a hated rogue.
Of course, I was quick to realize that expecting anything was idiotic on my part.
“R-rogue! My staff fell into that pit…!”
“Brother! Get this arrow out of my ass!”
“Brother… If you get me out of this trap, you’ll have God’s blessing…”
“Sorry, rogue…”
They couldn’t avoid even the simplest traps.
The dumb heroes weren’t much better than them.
In the end, we always ended up cleaning up their messes.
‘But—’
On the journey to the Demon King’s castle, I felt something for the first time.
‘Joy.’
It was an experience that added color to my otherwise gray life.
The journey to the Demon King’s castle was hard on body and mind, but it was enjoyable.
We fought off the fiends blocking our way and smashed the Demon King’s minions’ heads in.
‘Adventure always comes to an end.’
The Demon King greeted us with all kinds of traps and monsters.
After breaking through all those traps and monsters, we finally reached the Demon King’s audience chamber.
There, the final battle to end it all inevitably took place.
“Finally… it’s over…”
The hero stood, battered and broken, atop the Demon King’s corpse.
Missing an arm and his left eye, he still smiled foolishly and extended his hand.
“Here’s the promise… take it…”
Even in that moment, he kept his promise.
I’d known it from the first time we met.
Sure enough, he was an idiot through and through.
“… Fine.”
The strange jade the Demon King guarded was both the end of the adventure and the payment for a guide.
The hero’s party rogue took that treasure, and—
‘Damn it.’
One hundred years later, only I remain.
*****
Damn it.
Rogue Eugene snapped back from his memories with a click of his tongue.
That after a century, he was alone.
Just thinking about that reality made curses rise from his throat.
‘Why is it only me who ended up like this?’
People often fantasize about immortality.
At first glance, not aging and never dying sounds great.
But in other words, everyone around you dies, and you’re left all alone.
‘I can’t even end my own life.’
The immortality curse on my body is a cruel one.
I don’t age, but even if I try to kill myself, I can’t die.
I’ve even wrapped myself in bombs and exploded, but I survived.
‘How do I know?’
Because I tried.
It was when I was drowning in sorrow over losing a lover.
I thought if I blew my body to pieces in an explosion, I wouldn’t revive.
So I actually did it, but the result was not what I expected.
‘I woke up naked.’
Since then, I realized the truth of this curse.
It’s not a blessing of immortality.
It’s a curse that refuses death.
‘It’s a punishment.’
A life sentence in the prison called existence.
“100 years.”
It’s been a century wandering the world without dying.
No matter how many foreign lands I visited or how much I wandered the demon world’s territories,
that wandering life without a home didn’t change.
It wasn’t even an adventure.
‘Especially since I can’t form bonds with people.’
Bonds with people destined to die lead only to the sorrow of eventually losing them.
That’s why no matter how many people I meet, it always feels hollow.
‘In the end, all that remains.’
Are only memories of my comrades from a hundred years ago.
That time taught me the joy of adventure and life for the first and last time.
Now I only live by ruminating on the remnants of the past.
‘So I have to go.’
This year marks 40 years since the hero’s death.
It’s also the 100th anniversary of the Demon King’s defeat.
Since the hero has been elevated to the status of Imperial Guardian Saint,
there will soon be a festival held in the imperial capital in his honor.
‘Before the festival gets too noisy, I’ll at least pour some alcohol on their gravestones.’
The hero and his companions’ graves lie in the Imperial National Cemetery.
While visiting the hero, I also planned to pay respects at the dwarf and saintess’s graves.
This trip to the Imperial Capital train was for that purpose.
‘I wonder if that witch will show up.’
The only one of my comrades still alive was the witch.
She suppressed old age and illness with magic and was still alive.
As the former chairwoman and elder of the Imperial Magic Society, she had been secluded in the Magic Tower for 40 years.
‘She’s probably still immersed in her research.’
The reason she cut off contact with the world and stayed in the tower was a vow she made while closing the hero’s aging, wrinkled eyes.
She promised to find a way through magic to reunite with everyone.
‘Looks like she won’t come out this year either.’
In the 40 years since, I’d never seen her at the graves.
After not seeing each other’s faces for so long,
even the memory of how she looked has faded.
‘The more I think about it, the more depressing it gets.’
When I’m down, I want to put something in my mouth.
Smoking a cigarette is good in times like this.
Remembering this, I took out dried tobacco and a lighter.
Click click.
Just as I was about to light the lighter,
Screech!
“Excuse me! Mind if I share this seat?”
Suddenly the door opened, and a girl burst into the cabin.
With short blonde hair and wearing a uniform that looked like a school outfit, she seemed to be a student.
Since this was a long-distance train, sharing seats wasn’t unusual.
But—
‘What kind of ridiculous amount of luggage did she bring?’
“Ugh…!”
The girl pulled four large suitcases behind her.
Each was a large bag, and the cabin quickly filled with them.
In such a cramped space, smoking would only be annoying.
‘Smoking in a small space with thick smoke makes it hard to breathe.’
So I put the tobacco and lighter away again.
I hadn’t reserved a single room, so I had no right to refuse sharing a seat.
Still, I was annoyed by how cramped the cabin became after her arrival.
“Ahem!”
I didn’t have the right to say anything, but I figured giving her a glare was okay.
“I-I’m sorry, hehe…”
She scratched her head apologetically.
She probably realized herself it was a mistake to bring so much luggage into the cabin.
I thought she should’ve left her bags with the station staff, but she explained,
“I don’t have any money… I’m sorry!”
“Tch.”
Station staff don’t store luggage for free.
Cargo space is limited, and charging fees is good business.
The longer the train travels, the more expensive the storage fees become.
‘There are about eight hours until the destination.’
I didn’t want to spend eight hours cramped like this.
But money wasn’t an issue.
I still had the payment from my last mercenary job.
For an immortal like me, a few coins weren’t something to obsess over.
‘But I’m uncomfortable.’
Click!
I rang the call bell for the attendant.
Soon footsteps approached in the corridor, and the attendant peeked in.
“What’s the matter, sir?”
“Store all this luggage.”
“Huh?”
The girl’s eyes widened the moment she heard that.
She probably didn’t expect a stranger to offer to pay for her bags.
But this was just a small investment for my own comfort.
“Will this be enough?”
Without hesitation, I handed over one silver coin from my pouch.
“Th-that’s more than enough!”
The attendant accepted the coin with a trembling voice.
One silver coin is equivalent to a month’s living expenses for a single household nowadays.
Even after the fee, the change would be more than enough.
“Y-you don’t need to give me change…”
“Keep it as a tip.”
“Gah! Thank you, sir!”
The attendant took the bags with a bright smile.
The cabin became more spacious and comfortable again.
I reached for my tobacco again, but—
“T-thank you, mister…”
The girl sitting opposite me bowed her head.
She thought I had paid the fee for her luggage.
And since that was basically true, I didn’t deny it.
“Just know I appreciate it.”
I answered shortly, then opened the window and lit my cigarette.
The scent of spring drifted in as the smoke escaped outside.
As we sat silently guarding the cabin,
rustle rustle…
“Hm?”
I turned toward the sound and saw the girl quietly unfolding a newspaper.
Watching her, I felt an odd sense of familiarity.
‘She looks like someone I know.’
Especially her sapphire-colored eyes and the shape around them reminded me of someone.
But after meeting so many people in a hundred years, I couldn’t recall who.
Maybe one of the people I met long ago was an ancestor of hers.
‘Not something I’m eager to know right now.’
Since staying here would only make me stiff, I thought about getting some fresh air.
So I stood up and called to her.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“Watch my seat until I get back.”
If someone else came and took my place, that wouldn’t do.
“Y-yes! Come back safe!”
Thanks to the favor I showed earlier, she agreed brightly.
I left the cabin and headed to the end of the train corridor.
Opening the door at the end, a gust of wind poured in.
Swoosh… clatter clatter!
With the sound of the wind came the wheels of the train.
Heavy chunks of metal moving in unison.
That power moved this iron beast, carrying hundreds of people faster than horses.
‘I couldn’t have imagined this a hundred years ago.’
Back then, we mostly traveled on foot or horseback.
The demon beasts wandered the land, and roads weren’t developed.
But now, thanks to research brought back from the demon world,
technology had advanced.
One such innovation was this steam-powered train.
‘One of the few perks of this immortality curse,’
I could witness the world changing with my own eyes.
The future built with the hero’s two hands after the Demon King’s defeat—
Who could have imagined it would flourish like this?
This scene was the only solace in my wretched life.
“Hm? You out here for some fresh air too?”
A guard stood there.
The empire had only existed for 70 years after expanding from a kingdom.
Perhaps for this reason, it was impossible to station peacekeepers across the vast territory.
So they often hired security personnel on trains to prepare against bandits.
“Want a cigarette?”
The guard offered me one, perhaps because he was lonely.
“No thanks.”
I lit the cigarette he gave me and inhaled deeply.
As I exhaled, my eyes caught his rifle.
Having worked as a mercenary, my eyes naturally went to weapons.
“Is that a new rifle?”
Unlike older models with long barrels and only a stock,
this had an angular metal box attached below the middle of the barrel.
It looked like a new model with a magazine-fed mechanism.
The guard noticed my interest and lifted his rifle to show it off.
“It’s the latest composite rifle released by Vulcan Company.”
‘Vulcan Company, huh?’
It was named after the dwarf, one of the hero party’s companions.
More precisely, his forge had transformed into a company.
Now it was the empire’s largest arms manufacturer supplying weapons.
“What’s a composite rifle?”
“The magazine has magic circles set up so it can fire different magical bullets as needed.”
The guard answered simply.
He probably hadn’t even fired the rifle himself.
There wasn’t much opportunity to use guns in the empire’s center.
“Hm.”
The rifle’s magazine had two magical symbols.
One was a circle that produced fire bullets.
The other produced electric bullets.
So this model could use only two kinds of magic.
“That would definitely increase tactical options on the battlefield.”
Fire bullets could blast enemy fortifications.
Electric bullets could electrocute foes in damp terrain.
I could think of at least three or four ways to use them.
“Sounds like you’re a mercenary. Have you been on many battlefields?”
The guard asked suddenly.
There’s a certain recognition among people in the same trade.
Plus, there was a hint of hope in his eyes—he seemed like a rookie.
He looked barely out of his teens.
‘A greenhorn with no battlefield experience.’
I’d heard a lot of inexperienced young people were entering the mercenary business.
The empire’s vast territory meant wide frontlines and high internal security demand.
So besides the standing army, mercenaries were in demand and paid well.
Of course, being a mercenary was dangerous, so it was often a dreaded profession.
“I’ve fought a lot.”
That was all I said.
I wasn’t obligated to say which battlefields.
I’d passed through so many, I didn’t feel like naming any.
“Oh… so you’re heading to the Imperial Capital to apply for Ranger?”
“Ranger?”
What nonsense was that?
“Yes! They’re recruiting experienced mercenaries these days!”
The guard’s eyes sparkled.
“These days, young people in the field dream of joining the Rangers after gaining experience!”
“Hmm…”
Is that the so-called path to promotion nowadays?
It’s true the Rangers have been looking for experienced mercenaries recently.
But even if you get selected, it doesn’t guarantee success.
“Why would you do that?”
“Huh!?”
The guard looked incredulous at my answer.
“Why do you say that? The Rangers are the empire’s elite forces!”
“Hmm…”
The Rangers are one of the better fighting units in the empire’s military.
But with the long-standing knight orders, are they truly elite?
He continued as if he was their spokesman.
“If you join, you get at least an officer’s rank and a huge salary with soldiers under your command!
And if you retire from the Rangers, the emperor grants you a title and land!
It’s a chance to rise from commoner to noble!”
‘Tch.’
There’s always a catch.
Those benefits are only given because they make enough profit off those elite Rangers.
“I didn’t become a mercenary with that in mind.”
I just ended up as one.
“But…”
The guard glanced at my waist.
“Looking again, don’t you think you’re a bit underarmed for a mercenary?”
“Could be because I don’t have a gun.”
These days, it’s standard for mercenaries to carry at least a pistol on their hips.
‘They’re easy to handle.’
As gunpowder tech improves, guns have better reliability and firepower than swords.
Of course, knights who use sword and magic together often don’t use guns.
But for mercenaries without magic or martial arts skills, guns are the best.
‘But—’
That’s only for weaklings.
Swish!
Instead of answering, I drew my shuriken and spun it in my hand.
“I personally prefer this feel.”
“Feel?”
The guard gave me a strange look.
Mercenaries usually care about performance, not ‘feel.’
But I wasn’t concerned about performance since I couldn’t die anyway.
“Besides, I can survive easily with just daggers and shuriken.”
Though not as easy as guns, daggers and shuriken offer tactical flexibility.
With just a few magic tricks, daggers and shuriken can turn the tide of battle.
Even the elite Rangers favored that combination.
“But isn’t that too old-fashioned in a gun era? Even Rangers mostly use guns…”
This guy’s talking tough in front of a master.
“Don’t you know the saying, a master doesn’t care about tools?”
And you think all Rangers prefer guns?
Bet you haven’t even fought real Rangers.
Look at you blabbering without knowing a thing.
“Well…”
No matter what I said, our opinions wouldn’t change.
Our conversation fell silent.
I just smoked my tobacco quietly.
Clatter, clatter…
“Hm?”
Amid the train’s noise, I heard horses’ hooves.
There’s no ranch around here, so the only reason for hoofbeats is one thing.
‘Bandits!’
As soon as the thought crossed my mind,
Bang!
Gunfire rang out.
I reflexively reached out, stopping my hand just in front of the cigarette smoker’s face.
Crack!
A bullet crushed in my grasp.
Had I been a moment slower, that lead would have hit the guard’s forehead.
The bandits’ first job is always to eliminate outside security.
“Hee, eek…!”
The guard finally realized what was happening and dropped to the floor.
He should have returned fire, but instead, he froze in fear.
This job probably wasn’t for him.
Bang! Tatang!
More gunfire.
This time, lead shot came flying at me.
They aimed to kill me, but—
Swish!
I drew my dagger, spun it, and slashed through the air.
Clang! Kachang!
With metal ringing and sparks flying, the bullets scattered.
‘No magic detected.’
Fortunately, they only fired guns.
No mages among them made dealing with them simpler.
Bullets flying at supersonic speeds? I can easily deflect them.
“Hey, rookie!”
“Y-yes…!”
I glanced at the trembling guard.
Just moments ago, he was boasting about old-fashioned weapons.
Now that he actually needed to fight, he was shaking in fear.
“Get lost! You’re just a nuisance!”
I barked with frustration.
Tatang!
At the same time, I swung my dagger, knocking down a sniper’s shot.
“Th-thank you!”
The guard scrambled inside the train, pitifully grateful.
I didn’t think he was cowardly or incompetent.
A clumsy partner is more dangerous than none.
“No more distractions…”
I stomped the floor with my foot.
Boom!
The metal floor dented as I leapt upward.
Holding the high ground is always advantageous.
I had to figure out how many enemies there were before planning tactics.
Whoosh…
Climbing atop the train, the wind hit my face hard.
“Whew!”
The gust was strong enough to blur my sight and hearing, but I soon adapted.
I fought monsters in worse conditions a hundred years ago.
Regaining my vision, I looked down at the bandits approaching the train.
“Stop the train! Nobody needs to get hurt!”
“Don’t be foolish! Drop your weapons!”
“We want money, not blood!”
The horse-riding bandits rode up along the train’s side and threatened us.
Ten on the left, ten on the right.
Twenty bandits surrounded the train.
“What a noisy bunch.”
Today, these guys picked the wrong target.
‘Because I’m the founder of the Rangers.’